EAGER: Collaborative Research: Lighting a Dark Fiber Experimental Research Network in Harlem

Columbia University, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

This project pursues a new and transformative experimental platform that combines intelligent and open, 'white box' capabilities spanning optical, wireless, and data networking in a research network deployed in Harlem, New York. Thereby, it brings advanced network research into one of the most dense urban areas. This research network will exist in parallel with the recently deployed LinkNYC network such that research elements can be flexibly introduced and studied independently or together. Two different experiments using combinations of programmable wireless, data, and optical interfaces will investigate the performance of this platform for use in smart city network research. This project will enable research on smart city networks in a dense urban environment, where they are most needed. Furthermore, by placing the network in Harlem, the project will take a step toward bridging the digital divide. The advanced networking technologies will include a hub installation in the Harlem Gigabit Center, which is a community resource and innovation center. By partnering with Silicon Harlem, this project will engage the Harlem community in the development of this network and provide educational opportunities for the new Gigabit Center, area schools, and education organizations. The intellectual merits of this project include transformative advances in the study of metropolitan networks for smart communities and the Internet of Things. The project will uncover new ways to implement and evaluate networks in the field that include multiple software defined technologies based on optical, data, or wireless networking. The use of wavelength switching will be studied in real time on a metro network scale and in response to application and network requirements. Applications that involve multi-node multicast wireless and disaster response fiber reconfiguration will be evaluated using the multilayer white box network developed in this project. The broader impacts include (i) development of a new testbed approach to investigating networks for smart cities and white box networking applications, (ii) support of bridging the digital divide by placing advanced network technologies in Harlem, (iii) engagement of the Harlem community in this network, and (iv) enriched educational experiences for multiple student populations.