CCRI:New:An Instrumented Multi-Platform Overlay for Networked Systems Research

This project will create practical software infrastructure to enable researchers to develop networked systems innovations by developing, evaluating, and distributing networking software that operates over smartphones, laptops, servers, and routers. Many networking and distributed systems research projects are envisioned to improve how users, devices, and servers connect and communicate.

However, smartphones represent the predominant user platform, while most academic systems researchers can only justify prototype development and evaluation in Linux, due to the complexity and engineering effort associated with other types of systems. The infrastructure developed in this project – software able to operate over multiple device types while providing built-in experimental data capture – will dramatically simplify the steps needed for researchers to prototype & evaluate their work in modern device contexts.

Just as it is easier to search for keys under a streetlight, it is easier to design research projects within the comfortable limits of available research platforms; the goal of this project is to dramatically broaden those limits.

The benefits of using a modern research platform extend beyond more relevant academic research evaluations. First, commercialization and real-word adoption are more likely. Research activities that target modern platforms simplify the pathway between research innovation and translation into real-world use through open-source projects and commercialization.

Second, by targeting platforms like smartphones, research products can be more readily used by people for both research evaluation and, when relevant, actual usage by non-researchers. It is difficult to generate “killer apps” for a networked system innovation if the research products cannot be used by people. Third, graduate research assistants, in the course of their training in research projects, will benefit from the use of the tools and techniques needed to develop and evaluate on modern platforms.

Students graduating into research positions will begin with a modern systems foundation, while students graduating into industry will have desirable knowledge and practical skills. Fourth, the intrinsic experimental data and telemetry gathered through this infrastructure will enable energy-oriented experimentation, which can aid researchers in pursuing research agendas in sustainability.

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.