Martin Weiss, MD - US grants

In the absence of pharmaceutical interventions for COVID-19, governments and authorities had to rely on other measures for curbing the impact of the pandemic. Almost everywhere in the world, measures of social distancing and shelter-at-home orders were put in place, leading to the need for people to work from home (WFH), including schooling. This situation once again highlighted the issue of digital divide. Even today, not everyone in the US has access to computing and broadband Internet connection. The objective of this project is twofold; (a) understand how underserved communities in Pittsburgh gained Internet access and what problems they faced, and (b) identify ways to improve the connectivity of underserved communities, by utilizing and significantly enhancing existing wireless mesh technologies, that will allow to share highly underutilized bandwidth resources with communities in need. The project seeks to bridge local information divide ? which is leading to well-being divide ? in the pandemic situation, where reliance on networked technologies is impacting people?s livelihoods.

The main expected technical contributions of this project is the design of networks that can ?ship? network capacity from underutilized locations to underserved locations, using low-cost mesh networks. Unlike previous approaches to mesh networking, the constraints of this problem are the immutable locations and the tradeoffs between capacity that can be allocated and the capacity that is needed. The limitations on these degrees of freedom will influence network design, as well as, mechanisms (routing, wireless channelization, adaptive rates) to dynamically deliver capacity to location which have the demand. The project will also provide a data-driven way to identify and target underutilized network resources, as well as, underserved locations and populations in need for network access. The dimensions of this problem are numerous, not well understood, and span social, infrastructural and technological factor.

This project will support the work of MetaMesh in operating and expanding PittMesh, which is a crucial resource for underserved communities especially in times of crisis. Furthermore, the findings can support the development of policies to promote connectivity of unserved communities. While this would be applicable to widespread emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown, the project will explore policy proposals that would support narrower emergency response, as well as, promoting resilient service to underserved communities. In a world that is changing to online interactions (either mid-term or long-term), broadband connectivity is practically an essential household utility. Additional information about the project can be found at: http://www.pitt.edu/~kpele/PROJECTS/covid-netaccess.html

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.

This award is a planning grant for the Spectrum Innovation Initiative: National Center for Wireless Spectrum Research (SII-Center). The focus of a spectrum research SII-Center goes beyond 5G, IoT, and other existing or forthcoming systems and technologies to chart out a trajectory to ensure United States leadership in future wireless technologies, systems, and applications in science and engineering through the efficient use and sharing of the radio spectrum. Over the past four decades, worldwide growth of wireless systems has provided tremendous societal benefit, enabling increased digital connectivity, telemedicine, social media, improved weather forecasting and more. It has also put significant and competing demands on many parts of the radio spectrum. To meet these challenges, this project supports the Wireless Innovation and Spectrum Evolution (WISE); which convenes former members of the Senior Executive Service in the FCC and NTIA and university faculty from the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of California San Diego, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez. The WISE group will develop a research agenda and partnerships through workshops and discussions. Students will be supported to participate in these workshops and to develop spectrum science modules for K-12 students.

Through the center development process, stakeholders from academia, the federal government, and industry will be engaged to identify key technology, policies and workforce challenges to be addressed by the center. Six core research focus areas will include: Spectrum Efficiency and Coexistence; Next Generation Radio Devices; Spectrum Science; Modeling and Measurement; Wireless Systems; and Policy, Economics and Privacy. The process of bringing researchers, policy makers, and key stakeholders will result in the development of a vision and road map for an integrated and successful Wireless Innovation and Spectrum Evolution Center.

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.