Collaborative Research: CISE-MSI: DP: CCF: SHF: MSI/HSI Research Capacity Building via Secure and Efficient Hardware Implementation of Cellular Computational Networks

该奖项由2021年美国救援计划法案提供全部或部分资金（公法117-2）。随着风能和太阳能等可再生能源的使用不断增加，需要分布式人工智能（AI）来综合大量的预测性使用指标，如天气数据和物联网（IoT）传感器数据，以便允许电网在与可再生能源相关联的高度可变性和不确定性的情况下继续可靠地运行。由于这需要实时处理，因此需要一个安全高效的硬件平台;仅凭人工智能软件是不够的。细胞计算网络（CCN）是一种分布式AI框架，具有大脑启发的神经网络架构，适用于关键的网络系统，如电网。因此，将安全且高效的CCN硬件实现用于电力系统应用将加速操作，以在代表性的大规模网络上实现实时性能保证，而不影响准确性，并同时提供对网络物理系统攻击的弹性。从而提高电力系统的可持续和安全运行。该项目开发了CCN单元的同步逻辑和异步逻辑硬件实现，整个CCN系统使用可重构现场可编程门阵列，并探讨近似计算的机会，应用到CCN。由此产生的CCN硬件系统将通过集成到克莱姆森大学的各种实时电力和智能系统（RTPIS）实验室测试平台进行测试，包括电力系统变量的广域预测状态估计，求解动态功率流，以及时空风速/功率，太阳辐照度/功率和建筑物/房间能耗的预测。此外，该项目还与少数族裔/西班牙裔服务机构德克萨斯农工大学金斯维尔分校（TAMUK）和克莱姆森大学合作，让更多TAMUK计算机科学教师参与RTPIS实验室相关研究，并建立了TAMUK优秀西班牙裔学生攻读计算机工程或计算机科学博士学位的管道。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).As use of renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, continue to increase, distributed Artificial Intelligence (AI) is needed to synthesize the large amounts of predictive use indicators, such as weather data and Internet of Things (IoT) sensor data, in order to allow the electric power grid to continue to operate reliably with the high levels of variability and uncertainty associated with renewable energy sources. Since this requires real-time processing, a secure and efficient hardware platform is needed; AI software alone is not sufficient. The Cellular Computational Network (CCN) is a distributed AI framework, with a brain-inspired neural network architecture, which is suitable for critical networked systems, such as the electric power grid. Hence, utilizing secure and efficient CCN hardware implementations for power system applications will accelerate operations to achieve a real-time performance guarantee on representative large-scale networks without compromising accuracy, and will simultaneously provide resiliency to cyber-physical system attacks, thus enhancing sustainable and secure power system operation.This project develops both synchronous logic and asynchronous logic hardware implementations of CCN cells and overall CCN systems using reconfigurable Field Programmable Gate Arrays, and explores approximate computing opportunities for application to CCNs. The resulting CCN hardware systems will be tested via integration into Clemson University’s various Real-Time Power and Intelligent Systems (RTPIS) Laboratory testbeds, including for wide area predictive state estimation of power system variables, solving dynamic power flows, and predictions of spatial-temporal wind speed/power, solar irradiance/power, and energy consumption of buildings/rooms. Furthermore, this project partners a Minority/Hispanic Serving Institution, Texas A&M University – Kingsville (TAMUK), with Clemson University to involve many more TAMUK Computer Science faculty with RTPIS Lab related research, and establishes a pipeline of high-performing Hispanic students from TAMUK to pursue Computer Engineering or Computer Science PhD degrees.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.