SBIR Phase I: MobIQ: A SIM-Based Solution To Software-Defined IoT Network Services

这项小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力将源于推进物联网（IoT）和4G/5G/超5G生态系统的应用领域。如果取得成功，所获得的成果将直接惠及目前84亿无线“联网设备”的很大一部分，市场规模估计为2730亿美元。它将促进“随时随地、随时在线”的网络服务，并进一步帮助实现许多新兴的物联网应用（如安全驾驶、远程医疗、智慧城市、可穿戴设备）。预计该技术将为物联网供应商、服务提供商、移动虚拟网络运营商创造新的商机。如果成功，它将促进从以运营商为中心的网络生态系统向以用户/应用为中心的生态系统的演变。这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目将开发一个基于软件的解决方案，为物联网应用提供可靠的软件定义网络服务。第一阶段的目标是为数十亿物联网设备和应用提供“随时随地”的网络服务。与当前基于基础设施的解决方案（使用软件定义网络或网络切片）不同，拟议的技术提供了一种基于设备内sim卡的软件解决方案，无需升级基础设施或添加设备硬件。它使sim卡内可见的“黑箱”移动网络操作，执行设备内优化使用现成的机制，并提供进一步的增值云服务，为网络范围的优化和管理通过众包。该技术可以很容易地部署在当今的物联网设备（包括低端和高端）上，并为两个客户群体（通过NSF I-Corps访谈验证）——物联网移动虚拟网络运营商和物联网应用供应商——提供“必备”功能。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。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will result from advancing the application territory of Internet-of-Things (IoT) and 4G/5G/Beyond-5G ecosystems. If successful, the obtained results would directly benefit a large portion of the current 8.4 billion wirelessly "connected things" with an estimated $273 billion market. It will facilitate "always-on, anytime, anywhere" network services and further help enable many emerging IoT applications (e.g., safe driving, remote healthcare, smart city, wearables). The technology is expected to create new business opportunities for IoT vendors, service providers, and mobile virtual network operators. If successful, it will facilitate evolution from an operator-centric network ecosystem to a user/application-centric ecosystem.This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop a software-based solution to enabling dependable, software-defined network services for IoT applications. The objective for Phase I is to provide "always-on, anytime, anywhere" network service for billions of IoT devices and applications. Different from the current infrastructure-based solutions (using software-defined networking or network slicing), the proposed technology offers an in-device, SIM-based software solution without infrastructure upgrades or added device hardware. It enables in-SIM visibility to "black-box" mobile network operations, performs in-device optimizations using readily available mechanisms, and offers further value-added cloud services for network-wide optimization and management via crowdsourcing. The technology is readily deployable on today's IoT devices (both low-end and high-end) and provides "must-have" features for two customer segments (validated through NSF I-Corps interviews) - IoT mobile virtual network operators, and IoT application vendors.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.