CRI: IAD: Programmable Network Infrastructure with Emerging Technologies

University Of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell MA

Investigators

Abstract

The proposed project aims to build a programmable network infrastructure for advancing research and education in areas of computer network and wireless communication technologies at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. This infrastructure provides an extensible network test bed that is highly desirable in network research and education, but not yet available from conventional off-the-shelf network devices. The objective of the project is to build a programmable network platform for collaborative research and education. In particular, this research will (1) construct a network infrastructure with programmable components for experimenting new network designs; (2) study the programmability of the infrastructure and evaluate its performance on network processing; (3) apply the infrastructure in a broad range of research topics, including network security, network processor design, and dynamic spectrum sharing; (4) integrate experiment, theory and computational research in networks and communications into educational modules. The proposed programmable network infrastructure is a customized network infrastructure equipped with high-speed wired switches, wireless routers with programmable radio interfaces, and spectrum analyzers for physical layer measurements. The incorporation of network processors, FPGAs, and software radios provides programmability at each layer of the network and within each device, making it possible to conduct experiments on packet-processing workload characterization, security protocol evaluation, dynamic spectrum access, and sliced network services. Such experimental research provides necessary validation to theoretical results and leads to new research directions. Most importantly, the proposed infrastructure will foster collaborations among co-PIs to study principal research challenges towards the GENI architecture.