INSPIRE: Exploiting Cross-Disciplinary Synergies For Efficient Perishable Commodity and Information Distribution

该INSPIRE奖由计算机和信息科学与工程局(CEISE)计算机和网络系统部(CNS)的网络技术和系统(NETS)、工程局(ENG)的化学、生物工程、环境和运输系统(CBET)司以及综合活动办公室资助。几十年来，人们对商品配送、物流和信息网络等学科进行了广泛的研究，但几乎都是在各自的领域。在物流领域，生鲜食品和其他易腐商品的配送正变得至关重要，但易腐商品尚未很好地融入物流。这项提议的目的是揭示涉及延迟敏感内容传输的易腐烂商品分销网络和信息网络之间的协同作用，并利用它们来解决这两个领域的复杂问题。这种协同研究特别及时，因为(A)信息和通信技术(ICT)在物流领域的迅速注入，以及(B)这两个领域的碳足迹迅速增加。首席调查员对易腐烂商品的分配和计算进行的初步审查显示了一些协同作用，并启发了本提案将详细审查的一些跨领域方法。特别是，在下一代网络的背景下，正在积极研究以内容为中心的网络(CCN)范例，并启发提案将审查的易腐烂商品分发的类似方法。包裹的捆绑和拆解在物流中起着至关重要的作用，它不仅启发了人们对多种易腐烂商品进行捆绑的审查，从而提高了效率，而且还促使人们通过特别适合于海量数据传输的光网络来捆绑数据中心网络中的内容。虚拟化是云计算系统中的一项众所周知的技术，该项目将在PCDN的背景下对其进行探索。PCDN的高得多的复杂性不仅带来了新的挑战，还激发了涉及延迟敏感型处理的更复杂的计算虚拟化方案。物流方面的物质限制，如调度卡车司机的人力因素和不同的产品可用性，使得PCDN的效率特别低，估计只有十几岁。该项目不仅研究了更好地适应这些限制的机制，而且还研究了受这些解决方案启发的新的数据中心光纤网络方案。最后，该提案寻求PCDN中的环境影响权衡(例如，最大限度地减少食品变质与减少空卡车里程)和数据中心(例如，最大限度地减少冷却与最大限度地使用服务器)之间的协同效应。这项研究正在研究这些问题和其他问题，并为它们开发适用于PCDN和IN的技术。研究的更广泛影响是开发跨域技术，这些技术可以在PCDN和IN领域中用于更好的资源效率。这些方法有可能对这两个地区的环境可持续性产生积极影响。例如，即使在发达国家，也有很大比例的新鲜食品(可能接近50%)在供应链的某个点被丢弃，这在农业(如水、肥料、电力使用、化肥径流等)、食品加工和食品分配方面对环境产生了巨大的影响。因此，管理上哪怕是很小的改进，都可能带来丰厚的环境红利。随着信息和通信技术被注入到人类生活的方方面面，包括有形基础设施和人类健康，IN方面的碳足迹也在不断增加。因此，IN领域的效率也可能产生重大的积极影响。

This INSPIRE award is funded by the Networking Technology and Systems (NeTS) in the Computer and Network Systems Division (CNS) in the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), the Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems (CBET) Division in the Directorate for Engineering (ENG), and the Office of Integrative Activities. The disciplines of commodity distribution logistics and information networking have been studied extensively for many decades but almost exclusively in their own domains. In the logistics area, the distribution of fresh food and other perishable commodities is becoming critical but the perishability has not been well integrated into the logistics. The purpose of this proposal is to expose synergies between Perishable Commodity Distribution Networks (PCDN) and Information Networking (IN) involving transport of delay sensitive content, and exploit them to solve complex problems in both fields. Such a synergistic study is particularly timely because of (a) rapid infusion of information and communications technologies (ICT) in the logistics space, and (b) rapidly increasing carbon footprint in both areas.The Principal Investigators' (PIs') preliminary examination of perishable commodity distribution and computing in general have shown a number of synergies and inspired a number of cross-domain methods that this proposal will examine in detail. In particular, the content centric networking (CCN) paradigm is being actively examined in the context of next generation networks, and inspires similar approaches for the perishable commodity distribution that the proposal will examine. Bundling and unbundling of packages plays a crucial role in logistics and inspires not only the examination of bundling of multiple types of perishable commodities for higher efficiency but also bundling of contents in data center network via optical networks that are particularly suited for bulk data transfer. Virtualization is a well-known technique in cloud computing systems and the project will explore it in the context of PCDN. The much higher complexity of PCDN not only brings new challenges but also inspires more sophisticated virtualization schemes for computing involving latency sensitive processing. Physical constraints in logistics such as human aspects of scheduling truck drivers and varying produce availability make the efficiency of PCDN particularly low, estimated to be in the teens. The project not only examines mechanisms for better accommodation of these constraints but also examines a new data center optical networking scheme inspired by such solutions. Finally, the proposal seeks synergies between environmental impact tradeoffs in PCDNs (e.g., minimizing food spoilage vs. reducing empty truck miles) and data centers (e.g., minimizing cooling vs. maximizing server usage). This research is examining these and other issues and developing techniques for them for both PCDN and IN.The broader impacts of the research are the development of cross-domain techniques that can be used for better resource efficiency in both PCDN and IN areas. These methods have the potential to positively impact the environmental sustainability in both of these areas. For instance, even in developed countries, a huge percentage of fresh food (perhaps approaching 50%) is discarded at some point in the supply chain, which has a huge environmental impact in terms of agriculture (e.g., water, fertilizer, electricity use, fertilizer runoff, etc.), food processing, and distribution of the food. Thus an even small improvement in the management could result in rich environmental dividends. The IN side also has a consistently increasing carbon footprint as ICT is infused into all aspects of human life including physical infrastructures and human health. Thus the efficiencies in the IN domain could also have significant positive impact.