NeTS-NR: Strategies to save energy in the internet

Portland State University, Portland OR

Investigators

Abstract

National Science Foundation Network Technologies and Systems (NeTS) CISE/CNS Review Analysis and Recommendation Proposal Number: 0435328 PI: Suresh Singh Institution: Portland State University Title: Strategies to Save Energy in the Internet Abstract: This proposal makes a case for using sleeping as a way to reduce the energy consumption of internet devices. The benefits of doing so include, reducing energy needs which will promote a more global deployment of the internet, making the internet more reliable in the presence of unreliable power supply, and enabling disaster-hit portions of the internet to continue functioning for longer periods on the available UPS power (Uninterruptable Power Supply). The approach for reducing the energy consumption proposed here is to use packet-level information to put hardware components within switches and routers to sleep. The focus is on energy-conservation within the context of an organization's Autonomous System (AS) which provides many energy-saving opportunities. The research challenges include developing algorithms for sleeping, maintaining network-level QoS (Quality of Service) despite sleeping, and analyzing the impact of sleeping on current internet protocols. The methodology used to study these problems will rely on measurements, simulation, and prototyping. The impact of this work will be to reduce the energy consumption by internet devices nationwide by between 35% - 55%. In addition, the new technology will enable American manufacturers of internet equipment to expand their market abroad where energy costs a far more than in the US. The expected results of this work include specific sleeping algorithms that can be directly employed in future internet devices, a prototype device that demonstrates the key concepts, and research papers published in major venues for internet related research.