EAGER: An Integrated Fiber Sensing and Communication Living Lab in the Research Triangle

光纤网络已经在不同规模上广泛部署，形成了当今互联网骨干网、电信网和智能互联社区的核心基础设施。除了以确定的低延迟提供高带宽数据服务外，由于线性和非线性光散射，每根光纤电缆还可以作为高分辨率传感器，因为它对不同的环境影响（如振动、应变和温度）很敏感。因此，光纤网络可以自然地转变为大规模的分布式传感器网络，光纤足迹是连续的传感介质。拟议项目的目标是利用位于北卡罗来纳州罗利的杜克-达勒姆三角研究园区现有的广泛测试平台，增强传感和测量能力，研究基于光纤传感的异构流量监控及其与大规模数据通信网络的共存。在社会层面，该项目将实现更高效的光谱利用和网络运营，以及更可持续的城市和社区。利用配备先进光纤传感和通信设备的部署试验台，本项目针对两项试点实验，利用独特的大规模光纤足迹(i)基于光纤传感的异构流量检测和监控，用于智慧城市应用的极端噪声测量，以及（ii）集成光纤传感和通信，以提高实际企业级网络的频谱利用率和效率。总体而言，该试验台可以进行前所未有的细粒度、长时间的光纤传感与通信实验与测量，为光纤传感与通信一体化领域的研究提供了平台。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。

Fiber optical networks have been widely deployed at different scales to form the core infrastructure of today's Internet backbone, telecommunication networks, and smart connected communities. In addition to delivering high bandwidth data services at deterministic low latency, each fiber-optic cable can also serve as a high-resolution sensor since it is sensitive to different environmental effects such as vibration, strain, and temperature, due to linear and nonlinear light scattering. As a result, fiber optical networks can be naturally transformed into a large-scale distributed sensor network with the fiber footprint being a continuous sensing medium. The goal of the proposed project is to leverage an existing extensive testbed in Duke-Durham Research Triangle Park in Raleigh, NC, augmented with sensing and measurement capabilities, to investigate fiber sensing-based heterogeneous traffic monitoring as well as its co-existence with data communication networks at scale. At the societal level, this project will enable more efficient optical spectrum utilization and network operation, as well as more sustainable cities and communities.Using the deployed testbed equipped with advanced fiber sensing and communication equipment, this project targets two pilot experiments leveraging the unique large-scale fiber footprint (i) Fiber sensing-based heterogeneous traffic detection and monitoring in extremely noisy measurements for smart city applications, and (ii) Integrated fiber sensing and communication for improved optical spectrum utilization and efficiency in practical enterprise-level networks. Overall, the testbed can be used to conduct unprecedented fine-grained and long-term fiber sensing and communication experiments and measurements, and to serve as a platform for research in the area of integrated fiber sensing and communication.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.