NSF Convergence Accelerator Track G: SONIC: Securely Operate through 5G Networks with Informed Control

凭借其强大的学术界-产业界-政府合作伙伴关系，SONIC团队有能力将各种研究成果转化为实用的解决方案，以支持国防部通过5G网络安全运行的目标。该项目的成功不仅将直接使国防部和其他政府机构受益，从而增强国家安全，而且还将产生更广泛的社会影响。拟议的融合研究，特别强调一些新兴技术，将使5G/NextG网络能够安全地支持各个工业领域的各种应用。参与机构积极参与各项业界倡议；这使该团队处于有利地位，可以影响标准制定，并为5G/NextG和其他新兴技术做出贡献。简而言之，拟议的融合研究将有助于推动美国成为当前、新兴和未来无线系统的领导者。在更大的科学和更广泛的社会背景下，拟议的研究将加速基于5G/NextG网络的新服务和应用的开发，其中许多尚未被想象，这将为社会带来巨大的利益。该项目将开发一种旨在通过具有知情控制（SONIC）的5G网络安全运营的方法。SONIC的基本原则是利用智能来确保通过5G网络运营的所有操作方面。SONIC旨在优雅地适应可能在不同操作环境中可用的操作机制。例如，非合作环境中的智能将实现有限的行动/响应空间，而具有开放RAN功能的合作网络中的相同智能将实现更广泛的行动范围。同样，SONIC解决方案空间涉及一系列技术风险，即从成熟的技术（例如，反向多路复用多个移动网络运营商，e-SIMs）到新兴的5G抽象（例如，网络切片），再到相对不成熟的超5G方法（例如，开放的RAN抽象）。SONIC团队带来了一系列专业知识，包括移动网络、开放式RAN、频谱管理、无线通信、网络经济和政策、网络协议和安全、网络测量、数据挖掘和机器学习。此外，SONIC团队涉及广泛的组织，包括学术界，移动网络运营商，小型企业，技术公司/国防承包商和政府机构。该项目解决的主要安全问题是对5G网络的性能、可用性和稳健性的威胁。具体来说，通过SONIC，与网络状态、网络外部威胁或操作/态势感知相关的情报，驱动网络或网络选项的选择（用于非合作网络），或与网络的交互（用于合作网络），以确保通过可用网络和环境运行的最佳性能、可用性和稳健性。该项目通过推进和整合新颖的架构、结构和机制解决方案来提高安全性，增强可用性和弹性，从而实现通过5G网络安全运营的零信任目标。SONIC没有寻找实现零信任的点解决方案，而是提供了一个强大、灵活和智能的框架，通过5G网络安全运行，以支持国防部的任务。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。

With its strong academia-industry-government partnerships, the SONIC team is well positioned to convert diverse research outcomes into practical solutions to support DoD’s goal of securely operating through 5G networks. The success of the project will not only directly benefit DoD and other government agencies, thereby enhancing national security, but will also produce broader societal impacts. The proposed convergence research, with its particular emphasis on a number of emerging technologies, will enable 5G/NextG networks to securely support diverse applications in various industrial sectors. The participating organizations are actively involved in various industry initiatives; this puts the team in a strong position to influence standards development and contribute to 5G/NextG and other emerging technologies. In a nutshell, the proposed convergence research will help advance the US as a leader in current, emerging and future wireless systems. In a larger scientific and broader societal context, the proposed research will accelerate the development of new services and applications over 5G/NextG networks, many yet to be imagined, that will bring enormous benefits to society. The project will develop an approach that aims to Securely Operate through 5G Networks with Informed Control (SONIC). The underlying principle to SONIC is to use intelligence to secure all operational aspects of operating through a 5G network. SONIC aims to gracefully adapt to operational mechanisms that might be available in different operating environments. For example, intelligence in a non-cooperative setting will enable a limited action/response space, whereas the same intelligence in a cooperative network with open RAN capabilities will enable a broader range of actions. Similarly, the SONIC solution space involves a range of technical risks, i.e., from well established technologies (e.g., inverse-multiplexing multiple mobile network operators, e-SIMs), to emerging 5G abstractions (e.g., network slices), to relatively immature beyond-5G approaches (e.g., open RAN abstractions). The SONIC team brings a range of expertise, including mobile networking, Open RAN, spectrum management, wireless communication, networking economics and policy, network protocols and security, network measurement, data mining and machine learning. In addition the SONIC team involves a broad range of organizations, including academia, a mobile network operator, a small business, a technology company/defense contractor, and a government agency. The primary security concerns the project addresses are threats to the performance, availability and robustness of 5G networks. Specifically, with SONIC, intelligence related to the state of the network, external threats to the network or operational/situational awareness, drive the selection of networks or network options (for non-cooperative network), or interactions with the network (for cooperative networks), to ensure the best performance, availability and robustness of operating through the available networks and environment. The project addresses the zero trust goal in securely operating through 5G networks by advancing and incorporating novel architectural, structural and mechanistic solutions to add security and enhance availability and resilience. Instead of looking for point solutions to enable zero trust, SONIC provides a powerful, flexible and intelligent framework for securely operating through 5G networks to support DoD missions.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.