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条件并直接与附近的飞机通信。通过共享信息，每架飞机都可以向其飞行员提供超过单架飞机所能感知的使命关键信息。一个例子是警告飞机的传感范围之外的危险天气状况。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、快速地融合和分析传感数据，以支持更安全、更高效的航空旅行。 该项目分为两个重点。第一个是为飞机创建分布式算法，以学习对飞行条件的一致、准确的估计。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规模的动态网络（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虚拟天空的大规模原型。该原型还集成了一个飞行模拟器，将用于研究该应用程序与人类飞行员在回路中的好处。为该项目开发的解决方案可应用于许多其他数据丰富的移动的计算平台，包括地面车辆网络，以提供道路和交通状况的实时信息，以及自主无人机网络，例如搜索和救援或野火监测。该项目还包括移动的和边缘计算方面的课程开发和推广活动，包括Raspberry Pi黑客，该黑客将为学生提供使用传感器和边缘计算设备的实践学习。该项目的所有研究产品，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许可下作为开源存储库发布在github.com上。研究成果将在项目结束后至少保留三年。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。

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.