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

在新冠肺炎缺乏药物干预的情况下，各国政府和当局不得不依靠其他措施来遏制大流行的影响。几乎在世界各地，社会距离的测量和居家避难令都已到位，导致人们需要在家工作(WFH)，包括上学。这种情况再次突出了数字鸿沟的问题。即使在今天，并不是每个美国人都能使用计算机和宽带互联网连接。该项目的目标有两个：(A)了解匹兹堡未得到充分服务的社区如何获得互联网接入，以及它们面临哪些问题；(B)通过利用并显著增强现有的无线网状网技术，找出改善未得到充分服务的社区的连通性的方法，使之能够与有需要的社区共享高度未得到充分利用的带宽资源。该项目寻求弥合大流行病情况下的地方信息鸿沟--这种鸿沟正在导致福祉鸿沟--对网络技术的依赖正在影响人们的生计。该项目的主要预期技术贡献是设计可以使用低成本网状网络将网络容量从未得到充分利用的地点“运送”到未得到充分利用的地点的网络。与以前的网状网络方法不同，该问题的约束是不可变的位置以及可分配的容量和所需的容量之间的权衡。这些自由度的限制将影响网络设计，以及向有需求的位置动态提供容量的机制(路由、无线信道化、自适应速率)。该项目还将提供一种数据驱动的方式，以确定和瞄准未得到充分利用的网络资源，以及未得到充分服务的地点和需要网络接入的人口。这一问题的层面很多，但没有得到很好的理解，而且涉及社会、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是服务不足的社区的重要资源，特别是在危机时期。此外，这些发现可以支持制定政策，促进未得到服务的社区的互联互通。虽然这将适用于新冠肺炎大流行关闭等广泛的紧急情况，但该项目将探索支持更窄范围的应急响应的政策建议，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(无论是中期还是长期)转变的世界里，宽带连接实际上是一项基本的家庭公用事业。有关该项目的更多信息，请访问：http://www.pitt.edu/~kpele/PROJECTS/covid-netaccess.htmlThis奖项反映了国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.