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（CISE）计算机和网络系统司（CNS）的网络技术和系统（NetTS），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，人们对商品分销、物流和信息网络等学科进行了广泛的研究，但几乎都是在其各自的领域内进行的。在物流领域，生鲜食品和其他易腐商品的配送变得越来越重要，但易腐性尚未很好地融入物流。这项建议的目的是暴露易腐商品分销网络（PCDN）和信息网络（IN）之间的协同作用，涉及延迟敏感内容的运输，并利用它们来解决这两个领域的复杂问题。这种协同增效研究特别及时，因为（a）物流领域信息和通信技术的迅速注入，和（B）这两个领域的碳足迹迅速增加。首席研究员（PI）对易腐商品分销和计算的初步研究显示了一些协同作用，并激发了一些交叉-本提案将详细研究的域方法。特别是，以内容为中心的网络（CCN）模式正在下一代网络的背景下积极研究，并激发了类似的方法，为易腐商品分销的建议将审查。包裹的捆绑和拆包在物流中起着至关重要的作用，不仅激发了对多种易腐商品捆绑的检查以提高效率，而且还激发了通过特别适合批量数据传输的光网络在数据中心网络中捆绑内容。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，而且还激发了用于涉及延迟敏感处理的计算的更复杂的虚拟化方案。物流中的物理限制，如调度卡车司机的人力方面和不同的产品供应，使PCDN的效率特别低，估计在十几岁。该项目不仅研究了更好地适应这些限制的机制，还研究了受这些解决方案启发的新数据中心光网络方案。最后，该提案寻求多氯二苯并呋喃环境影响权衡之间的协同增效作用（例如，最小化食物腐败对减少空卡车英里数）和数据中心（例如，最小化冷却与最大化服务器使用）。这项研究正在研究这些和其他问题，并为他们开发技术的PCDN和IN。更广泛的影响的研究是跨域的技术，可用于更好的资源效率在PCDN和IN领域的发展。这些方法有可能对这两个领域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%）在供应链的某个环节被丢弃，这对农业产生了巨大的环境影响（例如，水、肥料、电力使用、肥料径流等），食品加工和食品分配。因此，即使是管理方面的微小改进也可能带来丰厚的环境红利。智能网方面的碳足迹也在不断增加，因为信息和通信技术被注入到人类生活的各个方面，包括物理基础设施和人类健康。因此，IN域中的效率也可以具有显著的积极影响。

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.