RAPID: Understanding and Enhancing Internet Connectivity of Underserved Communities During the COVID-19 Crisis

在缺乏针对 COVID-19 的药物干预措施的情况下，各国政府和当局不得不依靠其他措施来遏制大流行的影响。世界上几乎所有地方都采取了社交距离和居家避难措施，导致人们需要在家工作（WFH），包括上学。这种情况再次凸显了数字鸿沟问题。即使在今天，并不是每个美国人都能使用计算和宽带互联网连接。该项目的目标有两个： (a) 了解匹兹堡服务欠缺的社区如何获得互联网接入以及他们面临哪些问题，以及 (b) 通过利用和显着增强现有的无线网状技术，找出改善服务欠缺社区的连接性的方法，从而与有需要的社区共享高度未充分利用的带宽资源。该项目旨在弥合当地信息鸿沟——这导致了福祉鸿沟——在大流行的情况下，对网络技术的依赖正在影响人们的生计。该项目的主要预期技术贡献是设计网络，该网络可以使用低成本网状网络将网络容量从未充分利用的位置“运送”到服务不足的位置。与以前的网状网络方法不同，该问题的限制是位置不可变以及可分配容量与所需容量之间的权衡。这些自由度的限制将影响网络设计以及动态向有需求的位置提供容量的机制（路由、无线信道化、自适应速率）。该项目还将提供一种数据驱动的方式来识别和定位未充分利用的网络资源，以及服务不足的地点和需要网络访问的人群。这个问题的维度很多，但尚未被充分理解，并且涵盖社会、基础设施和技术因素。该项目将支持 MetaMesh 运营和扩展 PittMesh 的工作，PittMesh 是服务不足的社区的重要资源，尤其是在危机时期。此外，研究结果可以支持制定政策，以促进未获得服务的社区的连通性。虽然这适用于 COVID-19 大流行关闭等广泛的紧急情况，但该项目将探索支持更广泛的紧急响应的政策建议，以及促进向服务不足的社区提供弹性服务。在一个正在向在线交互转变的世界中（无论是中期还是长期），宽带连接实际上是一项重要的家庭公用事业。有关该项目的更多信息，请访问：http://www.pitt.edu/~kpele/PROJECTS/covid-netaccess.html 该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力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 absence of pharmaceutical interventions for COVID-19, governments and authorities had to rely on other measures for curbing the impact of the pandemic. Almost everywhere in the world, measures of social distancing and shelter-at-home orders were put in place, leading to the need for people to work from home (WFH), including schooling. This situation once again highlighted the issue of digital divide. Even today, not everyone in the US has access to computing and broadband Internet connection. The objective of this project is twofold; (a) understand how underserved communities in Pittsburgh gained Internet access and what problems they faced, and (b) identify ways to improve the connectivity of underserved communities, by utilizing and significantly enhancing existing wireless mesh technologies, that will allow to share highly underutilized bandwidth resources with communities in need. The project seeks to bridge local information divide – which is leading to well-being divide – in the pandemic situation, where reliance on networked technologies is impacting people’s livelihoods. The main expected technical contributions of this project is the design of networks that can “ship” network capacity from underutilized locations to underserved locations, using low-cost mesh networks. Unlike previous approaches to mesh networking, the constraints of this problem are the immutable locations and the tradeoffs between capacity that can be allocated and the capacity that is needed. The limitations on these degrees of freedom will influence network design, as well as, mechanisms (routing, wireless channelization, adaptive rates) to dynamically deliver capacity to location which have the demand. The project will also provide a data-driven way to identify and target underutilized network resources, as well as, underserved locations and populations in need for network access. The dimensions of this problem are numerous, not well understood, and span social, infrastructural and technological factor. This project will support the work of MetaMesh in operating and expanding PittMesh, which is a crucial resource for underserved communities especially in times of crisis. Furthermore, the findings can support the development of policies to promote connectivity of unserved communities. While this would be applicable to widespread emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown, the project will explore policy proposals that would support narrower emergency response, as well as, promoting resilient service to underserved communities. In a world that is changing to online interactions (either mid-term or long-term), broadband connectivity is practically an essential household utility. Additional information about the project can be found at: http://www.pitt.edu/~kpele/PROJECTS/covid-netaccess.htmlThis 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.