CBET-EPSRC: TECAN - Telemetry-Enabled Carbon Aware Networking

应对气候变化事关生死存亡。虽然有许多促成因素，但能源生产和消费对环境有最直接的影响之一。其中很大一部分可以归因于计算机网络，一些报告估计，它们消耗的能量是所有数据中心的1.5倍。然而，与其他大规模计算基础设施相比，计算网络的碳排放是极其困难的。一个流量可以跨越世界不同地区的多个管理域，在由不同能源供电的设备中进行处理，并与数以万计的其他流量共享能源消耗。该项目的目标是量化并随后减少计算机网络的碳排放。具体地说，它提出了一个全面的研究议程，将：(1)确定涵盖数据传输的端到端环境成本的指标；(2)利用可编程网元通过开发新的碳智能网络遥测解决方案来收集和报告指标；以及(3)设计利用这些测量的新颖、碳感知的网络路由算法。总体而言，该项目将能够准确计算计算机网络的碳排放量，并开发新的路由算法，以最大限度地减少互联网的碳排放，应对气候变化。如果该项目成功，该项目将帮助我们实现英国政府制定的目标，英国政府承诺到2050年实现“净零”。具体地说，它将帮助通信提供商将碳排放降至最低；使政策制定者能够可靠地检查公司是否满足政府的净零目标；并允许消费者根据其可持续性声明选择通信和信通技术提供商。

Addressing climate change is of existential importance. Although there are many contributing factors, energy production and consumption has one of the most direct impacts on the environment. A significant portion of this can be attributed to computer networks, with some reports estimating that they consume 1.5x the energy of all data centres. However, in contrast to other large scale compute infrastructure, accounting for the carbon emissions of the network is extremely hard. A traffic flow can cross multiple administrative domains in different regions of the world, be processed in devices powered by different energy sources, and share the energy consumption with tens of thousands of other traffic flows.The goal of this project is to quantify, and subsequently reduce, the carbon emissions of computer networks. Concretely, it proposes a comprehensive research agenda that will: (1) identify metrics that cover the end-to-end environmental cost of data transmission; (2) leverage programmable network elements to collect and report the metrics by developing novel carbon-intelligent network telemetry solutions; and (3) design novel, carbon-aware network routing algorithms that utilize the measurements. Overall, the project will enable accurate accounting of computer networks' carbon emissions and develop novel routing algorithms to minimize the carbon emissions of the Internet, combating climate change.If successful, the project will help us meet the targets established by the UK government, which has committed to achieving 'net-zero' by 2050. Specifically, it will help communication providers to minimize their carbon emissions; enable policy makers to reliably check that companies meet government's net-zero goals; and allow consumers to choose communications and ICT providers based on their sustainability claims.