AI Institute for Future Edge Networks and Distributed Intelligence (AI-EDGE)

网络和人工智能是两项最具变革性的信息技术，有助于改善人们的生活，有助于国家经济竞争力，有助于国家安全和国防。该研究所将利用网络和人工智能之间的协同作用，设计高效、可靠、稳健和安全的下一代边缘网络（6G及以上）。将开发一种新的分布式智能平面，以确保这些网络具有自修复、自适应和自优化能力。人工智能的未来是分布式的，因为人工智能将越来越多地在各种边缘设备上实现。这些智能和自适应网络将反过来释放协作的力量，以解决长期存在的分布式人工智能挑战，使人工智能更高效、更互动、更保护隐私。该研究所将开发分布式和网络化智能的关键基础技术，以实现智能交通、远程医疗、分布式机器人和智能航空航天等一系列未来变革性应用。对学生、专业人员和从业人员进行人工智能和网络教育，并大幅增长和多样化劳动力，是国家的优先事项。该研究所将开发新颖、高效和模块化的方式，大规模地创建和提供教育内容和课程，并牵头开展一个项目，帮助在人工智能和从K-12到大学生和教师的网络领域建立一支庞大的多样化劳动力队伍。人工智能研究所的重点将放在边缘网络上，这将构成未来网络增长的大部分。这个边缘包括所有通过无线电连接的设备，以及不在互联网核心的数据中心和云计算系统。该研究所的一个关键组成部分是缩短基金会与跨多个学科的用例研究之间相互作用的时间尺度。这将形成一个良性循环，将产生连锁影响，大大加快从研究到实施和技术转让所需的时间。研究任务将通过深入探索三个无线边缘用例来增强和充实：(1)泛在传感/网络；（ii）人机移动性和（iii）可编程/虚拟化6G网络。这些用例本身就很重要，并将关键研究重点及其验证与特定的实验平台联系起来。该研究所将与其行业和国防部合作伙伴合作，促进翻译和采用。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。

Networking and AI are two of the most transformative IT technologies --- helping to better people’s lives, contributing to national economic competitiveness, national security, and national defense. The Institute will exploit the synergies between networking and AI to design the next generation of edge networks (6G and beyond) that are highly efficient, reliable, robust, and secure. A new distributed intelligence plane will be developed to ensure that these networks are self-healing, adaptive, and self-optimized. The future of AI is distributed because AI will increasingly be implemented across a diverse set of edge devices. These intelligent and adaptive networks will in turn unleash the power of collaboration to solve long-standing distributed AI challenges, making AI more efficient, interactive, and privacy-preserving. The Institute will develop the key underlying technologies for distributed and networked intelligence to enable a host of future transformative applications such as intelligent transportation, remote healthcare, distributed robotics, and smart aerospace. It is a national priority to educate students, professionals, and practitioners in AI and networks, and substantially grow and diversify the workforce. The Institute will develop novel, efficient, and modular ways of creating and delivering educational content and curricula at scale, and to spearhead a program that helps build a large diverse workforce in AI and networks spanning K-12 to university students and faculty.The focus of the AI Institute will be on edge networks, which will constitute the majority of the growth of future networks. This edge includes all devices connected through the radio as well as data centers and cloud computing systems that are not at the core of the Internet. A critical component of the Institute is to shorten the time-scale of interactions between Foundations and use case research across multiple disciplines. This will result in a virtuous cycle that will have a cascading impact dramatically accelerating the time it takes from research to implementation and technology transfer. The research tasks will be enhanced and fleshed out by exploring three wireless edge use cases in depth: (1) Ubiquitous Sensing/Networking; (ii) Human-Machine Mobility and (iii) Programmable/virtualized 6G networks. These use cases are important in their own right and connect the key research thrusts and their validation to specific experimental platforms. The Institute will work with its industry and DoD partners to facilitate translation and adoption.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.