EAGER: Toward a Decentralized Cross-administrator Zone Management System: Policy and Technology

EAGER：走向去中心化的跨管理员区域管理系统：政策和技术

• 批准号: 2331936
• 负责人: Eric Burger
• 金额: $ 30万
• 依托单位: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-10-01 至 2025-09-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2331936&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; Toward; Decentralized; Cross; administrator

The problem of radio spectrum congestion limits the growth of wireless communications and sensing, which is essential for all aspects of modern society. This project investigates use of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), of which the famous example is Blockchain, to support automated and secure dynamic allocation mechanisms that enhance spectrum efficiency and availability. The project explores use of DLT for interaction among mutually distrustful Zone Management Systems (ZMS), a general category of automatic spectrum management mechanisms that includes currently deployed Spectrum Access Systems and future derivatives. Multiple ZMS must collaborate even though they do not trust each other, as in current SAS where competing administrators manage a single shared band, or in future radio dynamic zones like a radio telescope observatory where the observatory ZMS trades spectrum back and forth with the ZMS for a neighboring mobile wireless operator. Use of DLT enables a new collaboration approach that reaches agreement faster, delivers more optimal outcomes, is better protected against malicious ZMS, is more auditable by regulators, and enhances data privacy for spectrum users compared to current SAS designs. This project investigates DLT for ZMS collaboration from technical and policy perspectives and seeks to impact future Federal Communications Commission regulations.Collaboration among multiple SAS today relies on each SAS running the same decision algorithm on the same input data. The new architecture explored in this project assumes each ZMS runs a proprietary decision algorithm on proprietary data – which increases efficiency while enhancing innovation and flexibility – and achieves coherent spectrum assignment decisions through a distributed agreement process and an auditable record to prevent cheating. Within the new architecture, this project focuses on policies and enabling technologies for privacy-preserving information exchange and Byzantine-resilient collaboration among participating ZMS. Project work includes: (1) Evaluate multiple DLT technologies such as proof-of-stake systems that are more energy-efficient than Blockchain. (2) Identify essential data that must be exchanged among ZMS. (3) Develop a lightweight (i.e., time bounded), secure, reliable, and trustworthy DLT-based protocol for assignments. (4) Explore an off-chain secure contract execution approach to reduce protocol execution complexity. (5) Apply privacy-enhancing technologies including multiparty computation and trusted execution environments to safeguard the privacy of ZMS proprietary data and algorithms and spectrum users. (6) Investigate methods to satisfy FCC policy goals such as ways to assure contiguous channel and geographic assignments.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.

无线电频谱拥塞的问题限制了无线通信和传感的发展，这对现代社会的各个方面都至关重要。该项目研究了分布式账本技术（DLT）的使用，其中著名的例子是区块链，以支持自动化和安全的动态分配机制，提高频谱效率和可用性。该项目探讨了DLT在相互不信任的区域管理系统（ZMS）之间的交互，ZMS是自动频谱管理机制的一般类别，包括当前部署的频谱接入系统和未来的衍生产品。多个ZMS必须协作，即使它们彼此不信任，如在当前的SAS中，其中竞争的管理员管理单个共享频带，或者在未来的无线电动态区域中，如射电望远镜观测站，其中观测站ZMS与ZMS来回交换频谱以用于相邻的移动的无线运营商。DLT的使用实现了一种新的协作方法，与当前的SAS设计相比，该方法可以更快地达成协议，提供更优化的结果，更好地防范恶意ZMS，更容易被监管机构审计，并增强频谱用户的数据隐私。该项目从技术和政策角度研究ZMS协作的DLT，并寻求影响未来的联邦通信委员会法规。如今，多个SAS之间的协作依赖于每个SAS对相同的输入数据运行相同的决策算法。该项目中探索的新架构假设每个ZMS都在专有数据上运行专有决策算法-这在提高效率的同时增强了创新性和灵活性-并通过分布式协议流程和可审计记录来实现一致的频谱分配决策以防止作弊。在新架构中，该项目侧重于参与ZMS之间隐私保护信息交换和拜占庭弹性协作的政策和实现技术。项目工作包括：（1）评估多种DLT技术，如比区块链更节能的权益证明系统。(2)确定必须在ZMS之间交换的基本数据。(3)开发轻量级（即，时间限制）、安全、可靠和值得信赖的基于DLT的协议。(4)探索链下安全合约执行方法，降低协议执行复杂度。(5)应用隐私增强技术，包括多方计算和可信执行环境，以保护ZMS专有数据和算法以及频谱用户的隐私。 (6)研究满足FCC政策目标的方法，例如确保连续信道和地理分配的方法。该奖项反映了NSF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。