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

在没有针对COVID-19的药物干预措施的情况下，政府及当局不得不依赖其他措施来遏制疫情的影响。世界上几乎所有地方都实施了社交距离措施和在家避难令，导致人们需要在家工作，包括上学。这种情况再次凸显了数字鸿沟的问题。即使在今天，也不是每个美国人都可以使用计算机和宽带互联网连接。该项目的目标是双重的：（a）了解匹兹堡服务不足的社区如何获得互联网接入以及他们面临的问题，（B）通过利用和显著增强现有的无线网状技术，确定改善服务不足社区连通性的方法，这将允许与有需要的社区共享高度未充分利用的带宽资源。该项目力求弥合在大流行情况下当地的信息鸿沟-这一鸿沟正在导致福祉鸿沟，在这种情况下，对网络技术的依赖正在影响人们的生计。预计该项目的主要技术贡献是设计网络，利用低成本网状网络将网络容量从未充分利用的地点“运送”到服务不足的地点。与以前的网状网络方法不同，这个问题的约束是不可变的位置和可以分配的容量与所需容量之间的权衡。对这些自由度的限制将影响网络设计，以及机制（路由，无线信道化，自适应速率），以动态地提供容量的位置有需求。该项目还将提供一种数据驱动的方式，以确定和定位未充分利用的网络资源，以及需要网络接入的服务不足的地区和人口。这一问题的层面很多，没有得到很好的理解，涉及社会、基础设施和技术因素。该项目将支持MetaMesh在运营和扩大PittMesh方面的工作，PittMesh是服务不足社区的重要资源，特别是在危机时期。此外，研究结果可以支持政策的制定，以促进未获得服务的社区的连通性。虽然这将适用于广泛的紧急情况，如2019冠状病毒病大流行关闭，该项目将探索政策建议，以支持更窄的应急响应，以及促进对服务不足的社区的弹性服务。在一个正在向在线互动转变的世界中（无论是中期还是长期），宽带连接实际上是一项必不可少的家庭公用事业。有关该项目的更多信息可以在以下网站找到：http://www.pitt.edu/~kpele/PROJECTS/covid-netaccess.htmlThis奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得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来支持。

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.