CCRI: Medium: Collaborative Research: mu-Net: Infrastructure to Advance Mobile Underwater Wireless Networking Research

包括海洋、湖泊和河流在内的水环境是生命的基础。一个令人兴奋的方向是使用一组机器人来支持水环境中的科学和发现。目前，国家机构还没有共享的基础设施来调查一组机器人如何在水下环境中相互协调。该项目开发了一种低成本和灵活的基础设施，称为Mu-Net，以支持来自全国各地机构的用户的实验室测试和现场实验。Mu-net基础设施是阿拉巴马大学和佐治亚理工学院的合作项目，通过降低研究参与门槛来促进水下技术的发展。它还支持对下一代劳动力的培训，以管理和保护海洋资源。Mu-net基础设施使用面向服务的、非分层的软件体系结构，以促进综合传感、通信和导航。它包括1)用于模拟和仿真的可重新配置的开源软件套件，2)用于实验室测试的微型水上机器人，3)用于湖泊测试的商用现成的自主水面机器人和自主水下机器人，以及4)支持共享使用的用户服务。Mu-Net框架融合了以网络为中心的结构和以自主为中心的结构的功能，以增强协作机器人的灵活联网能力。智力上的优势在于，基础设施使研究能够在多个方向上进行。能够实现的研究包括合作和协调的海洋机器人、水下移动通信网络、海洋机器人的联合组网和导航以及水下物联网。Mu-net基础设施旨在打破水下网络-机器人学科壁垒，促进这两个领域之间的密切互动。它大大降低了研究人员在海洋生物学、食物来源和经济发展等广泛领域的参与门槛。它有可能激发更多对地球广阔水体的探索，用于科学和商业活动。该项目使用一系列社区参与活动，如年度研讨会、会议特别会议、暑期培训学校和部署营，以扩大用户社区。此外，在具有成本效益的资产和用户通过社交媒体参与的推动下，Mu-Net吸引了从海洋素养教育、劳动力培训、学术研究到工业技术开发等不同教育和研究目的的广泛采用。项目网站是gtsr.gatech.edu/munet.html，用户可以在这里访问实验管理门户网站、开源模拟器、设计库和测试数据等。项目网站在项目期间定期更新，并计划在项目结束后至少三年内保持不变。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The aquatic environments, including the oceans, lakes, and rivers, are the basis for life. An exciting direction is to use a group of robots to support science and discovery in aquatic environments. Currently, there are no shared infrastructures available to the nation’s institutions to investigate how a group of robots can coordinate with each other in the underwater environment. This project develops a low-cost and flexible infrastructure, referred to as mu-Net, to support both laboratory tests and field experiments for users from institutions around the nation. The mu-Net infrastructure, a collaborative project between the University of Alabama and Georgia Institute of Technology, advances underwater technologies by lowering the research participation threshold. It also supports the training of the next generation workforce to manage and preserve marine resources.The mu-Net infrastructure uses a service-oriented, non-hierarchical software architecture to facilitate integrated sensing, communications, and navigation. It consists of 1) re-configurable, open-source software suites for simulations and emulations, 2) miniaturized aquatic robots for laboratory tests, 3) commercial-off-the-shelf autonomous surface vehicles and autonomous underwater vehicles for lake tests, and 4) user services to support shared usage. The mu-Net framework merges the functionality of network-centric and autonomy-centric structures to enhance flexible networking capability for collaborative robots. The intellectual merit resides in that the infrastructure enables research in multiple directions. Examples of the enabled research include cooperative and coordinated marine robotics, underwater mobile communication networks, joint networking and navigation of marine robots, and underwater Internet of Things.The mu-Net infrastructure aims to break down the underwater networking-robotics disciplinary barrier and promote close interactions between the two fields. It significantly lowers the participation barrier for researchers in a wide range of areas like marine biology, food sources, and economic development. It has the potential to inspire more exploration of the earth’s vast water bodies for scientific and commercial activities. The project uses a spectrum of community engagement activities, such as annual workshops, conference special sessions, summer training school, and deployment camps, to expand user communities. In addition, enabled by the cost-effective assets and fueled by the participation of users via social media, mu-Net attracts widespread adoption for different education and research purposes, ranging from ocean-literacy education, workforce training, academic research, to industrial technology development.The project website is gtsr.gatech.edu/munet.html, where users can access experimental management portal, open-source simulators, design repositories, test data, and so on. The project website is regularly updated during the project period and is planned to be maintained through at least three years after the expiration 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.