RII Track-2 FEC: Advancing Research Towards Industries of the Future to Ensure Economic Growth for EPSCoR Jurisdictions - Advanced Wireless - Integration with Infrastructure System

该研究基础设施项目的重点是使用物联网（IOT）和微型机器人的先进无线集成基础设施系统（AWISI）。工程基础设施，如建筑物、水坝、桥梁、地下管道等，通常被视为静态的，但实际上是动态的。变化发生的时间尺度从几毫秒到几十年不等。建筑、维护、抗灾能力、应急响应和应对天气事件和人口增长的适应性控制都是需要动态和适应性管理方法的例子。无线方法消除了为通信、传感和控制而铺设电线的大部分资本成本，并且很容易适应情况的变化。本项目将开展基础研究和研究基础设施建设，重点关注三个主要领域：由人工智能（AI）、物联网和微型机器人实现的先进无线研究；2. 基础设施用例包括沿海结构、地下基础设施、公路结构、新结构的快速原型评估和岩土结构。目标是将用例开发为工程基础设施测试平台（eit），以支持先进无线方法的研究和实施；和3。劳动力发展和拓展，将利益相关者、K-12到博士后水平的学生和初级教师整合在一起，参与研究工作的各个方面。该项目跨越两个不同的符合ii级资质的EPSCoR管辖区，佛蒙特州和缅因州，并以三家参与机构（佛蒙特大学、缅因大学和佛蒙特技术学院）的专业知识为基础。该项目为期四年，在应对快速变化的技术领域开展试点项目，并促进招聘多样化和早期职业教师。预计将有6名初级教师，1名博士后，16名研究生，7名本科生，以及可能超过100名K-12学生（其中很大一部分来自代表性不足的人群）参与该项目。无线、微制造和工程基础设施行业具有巨大的经济增长潜力。这项研究工作利用了最近和正在进行的无线通信技术的快速进步，用于遥测，传感，具有微型机器人实施的物联网设备，日益复杂的人工智能方法，以及高度依赖工程基础设施的集成社会，它要求安全，无处不在，可靠和环保。研究的无线技术包括利用人工智能控制无线传感器网络，以及如何将其集成到新兴的5G/6G开放无线接入网框架中；无线与物联网和微型机器人设备的集成，为工程基础设施提供实际的广域覆盖，包括无法到达的区域；以及与地下和其他无法进入的基础设施通信的专门技术。这些多个领域（包括经济和社会方面）的进步融合，将使信息流具有改变工程基础设施建设、维护和使用的潜力。这些发展将在海岸结构、地下基础设施、高速公路结构、原型结构的快速评估和大型岩土结构的一系列eit中实施和评估。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 focus of this research infrastructure project is Advanced Wireless Integrated Systems for Infrastructure (AWISI) using Internet of things (IOT) and microrobots. Engineered infrastructure, i.e., buildings, dams, bridges, underground piping, etc. is often viewed as static, but actually is quite dynamic. Changes occur at time scales ranging from milliseconds to decades. Construction, maintenance, disaster resilience, emergency response and adaptive control in response weather events and population growth are examples that require dynamic and adaptive management approaches. Wireless methods eliminate much of the capital cost of placing wires for communication, sensing and control, and easily adapt as situations change. This project will engage in fundamental research and research infrastructure development by focusing on three main areas: 1. Advanced wireless research enabled by artificial intelligence (AI), IOT and micro-robotics; 2. Infrastructure use cases covering coastal structures, underground infrastructure, highway structures, rapid prototype evaluation of new structures, and geotechnical formations. The goal is to develop the use cases into Engineering Infrastructure Testbeds (EITs) that support research and implementation of advanced wireless methods; and 3. Workforce development and outreach that integrates stakeholders, students at K-12 up through postdoc levels, and junior faculty in all aspects of the research efforts. The project spans two different RII-eligible EPSCoR jurisdictions, Vermont and Maine, and builds on expertise at three participating institutions -- University of Vermont, University of Maine, and Vermont Technical college. The project duration is four years with pilot projects in areas that address a rapidly changing technical landscape and promote the recruitment of diverse and early career faculty. It is anticipated that six junior faculty, one postdoc, 16 graduate students, 7 undergraduates, and perhaps over 100 K-12 students with a substantial fraction drawn from underrepresented populations will participate in this project. There is potential for large economic growth in the wireless, microfabrication and engineered infrastructure industries. This research effort takes advantage of recent and ongoing rapid technology advancements in wireless communication for telemetry, sensing, IOT devices with micro-robotic implementations, increasingly sophisticated AI methods, and an integrated society highly dependent on engineered infrastructure that it demands to be safe, ubiquitous, reliable, and environmentally friendly. Wireless technologies to be researched include use of AI to control wireless sensor networks and how to integrate them into the emerging 5G/6G Open-Radio Access Network framework; integration of wireless with IOT and microrobot devices to provide practical wide area coverage of engineered infrastructure, including inaccessible regions; and specialized techniques for communicating with underground and other inaccessible infrastructure. Convergence of progress in these multiple domains, including economic and social aspects, will enable information flow with the potential to transform the construction, maintenance, and use of engineered infrastructure. These developments will be implemented and evaluated in a set of EITs for coastal structures, underground infrastructure, highway structures, rapid assessment of prototype structures, and large geotechnical formations.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.