CSR: Small: Virtual Sky: Morphable Geo-Spatial Computing for the Internet of Planes

在不久的将来，大多数飞机将配备先进的技术来感知飞行状况，并直接与附近的飞机通信。通过共享信息，每架飞机都可以向飞行员提供任务关键信息，而不仅仅是一架飞机所能感知到的信息。一个例子是在飞机的传感范围之外警告危险的天气状况。该项目将创建一个虚拟天空平台，使飞机网络（称为飞机互联网（IoP））能够正确、可靠、快速地融合和分析感知数据，以支持更安全、更高效的航空旅行。该项目分为两个重点。首先是为飞机创建分布式算法，以获得一致、准确的飞行条件估计。贡献将包括分析算法的正确性和性能，以及研究它们在全球尺度动态网络（如IoP）中的理论极限。第二个研究重点是开发和评估使用实时飞机和天气数据的大型虚拟天空原型。原型机还集成了一个飞行模拟器，该模拟器将用于研究有人类飞行员参与的应用程序的好处。为该项目开发的解决方案已应用于许多其他数据丰富的移动计算平台，包括提供道路和交通状况实时信息的地面车辆网络，以及用于搜索和救援或野火监测的自主无人机网络。该项目还包括移动和边缘计算方面的课程开发和推广活动，包括树莓派黑客马拉松，将为学生提供传感器和边缘计算设备的实践学习。该项目的所有研究成果，包括数据、源代码、出版物和其他项目工件将在项目存储库中公开提供：http://nsl.cs.rpi.edu/iop。原型软件将在GPL许可下作为github.com上的开源存储库发布。在项目结束后，研究产品的维护期限不少于三年。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

In the near future, a majority of aircraft will be equipped with sophisticated technology to sense flight conditions and to directly communicate with nearby aircraft. By sharing information, each plane can provide mission critical information to its pilot beyond what can be perceived by a single aircraft. An example is warning of dangerous weather conditions just outside of an aircraft's sensing range. This project will create a Virtual Sky platform that enables the network of planes, called the Internet of Planes (IoP), to fuse and analyze sensed data correctly, reliably, and quickly, to support safer and more efficient air travel. The project is divided into two thrusts. The first is to create distributed algorithms for planes to learn a consistent, accurate estimate of flight conditions. Contributions will include analysis of the correctness and performance of the algorithms and a study of their theoretical limits in global-scale dynamic networks like the IoP. The second research thrust is the development and evaluation of a large-scale prototype of the Virtual Sky that uses real-time aircraft and weather data. The prototype also integrates a flight simulator, which will be used to study the benefits of the application with a human pilot in the loop.The solutions developed for this project have applications in many other data-rich mobile computing platforms, including ground vehicle networks, to provide real-time information on road and traffic conditions, and autonomous drone networks, for search and rescue or wildfire monitoring, for example. This project also includes curriculum development and outreach activities in mobile and edge computing, including a Raspberry Pi hackathon that will provide students with hands-on learning with sensors and edge computing devices. All research products of this project, including data, source code, publications, and other project artifacts will be made publicly available at the project repository: http://nsl.cs.rpi.edu/iop. The prototype software will be published as an open source repository on github.com under the GPL license. The research products will be maintained for a period of no less than three years after the end of the project.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.