CCRI:New:An Instrumented Multi-Platform Overlay for Networked Systems Research

该项目将创建实用的软件基础设施，使研究人员能够通过开发、评估和分发在智能手机、笔记本电脑、服务器和路由器上运行的网络软件来开发网络系统创新。许多网络和分布式系统研究项目被设想为改进用户、设备和服务器连接和通信的方式。然而，智能手机代表了主要的用户平台，而大多数学术系统研究人员只能在Linux中证明原型开发和评估的合理性，因为与其他类型的系统相关的复杂性和工程努力。该项目开发的基础设施——能够在多种设备类型上运行的软件，同时提供内置的实验数据捕获——将极大地简化研究人员在现代设备环境中对其工作进行原型和评估所需的步骤。正如在路灯下更容易寻找钥匙一样，在现有研究平台的舒适范围内更容易设计研究项目；这个项目的目标是大大拓宽这些限制。使用现代研究平台的好处超出了更相关的学术研究评估。首先，商业化和实际应用的可能性更大。针对现代平台的研究活动通过开源项目和商业化简化了研究创新和转化为现实世界使用之间的途径。其次，通过瞄准智能手机等平台，研究产品可以更容易地被人们用于研究评估，并在相关的情况下被非研究人员实际使用。如果研究成果不能被人们使用，就很难产生网络系统创新的“杀手级应用”。第三，研究生研究助理在接受研究项目培训的过程中，将受益于在现代平台上开发和评估所需的工具和技术的使用。毕业于研究岗位的学生将从现代系统基础开始，而毕业于工业领域的学生将拥有理想的知识和实践技能。第四，通过该基础设施收集的固有实验数据和遥测数据将使以能源为导向的实验成为可能，这可以帮助研究人员追求可持续发展的研究议程。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。

This project will create practical software infrastructure to enable researchers to develop networked systems innovations by developing, evaluating, and distributing networking software that operates over smartphones, laptops, servers, and routers. Many networking and distributed systems research projects are envisioned to improve how users, devices, and servers connect and communicate. However, smartphones represent the predominant user platform, while most academic systems researchers can only justify prototype development and evaluation in Linux, due to the complexity and engineering effort associated with other types of systems. The infrastructure developed in this project – software able to operate over multiple device types while providing built-in experimental data capture – will dramatically simplify the steps needed for researchers to prototype & evaluate their work in modern device contexts. Just as it is easier to search for keys under a streetlight, it is easier to design research projects within the comfortable limits of available research platforms; the goal of this project is to dramatically broaden those limits.The benefits of using a modern research platform extend beyond more relevant academic research evaluations. First, commercialization and real-word adoption are more likely. Research activities that target modern platforms simplify the pathway between research innovation and translation into real-world use through open-source projects and commercialization. Second, by targeting platforms like smartphones, research products can be more readily used by people for both research evaluation and, when relevant, actual usage by non-researchers. It is difficult to generate “killer apps” for a networked system innovation if the research products cannot be used by people. Third, graduate research assistants, in the course of their training in research projects, will benefit from the use of the tools and techniques needed to develop and evaluate on modern platforms. Students graduating into research positions will begin with a modern systems foundation, while students graduating into industry will have desirable knowledge and practical skills. Fourth, the intrinsic experimental data and telemetry gathered through this infrastructure will enable energy-oriented experimentation, which can aid researchers in pursuing research agendas in sustainability.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.