The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) (Arlington, Virginia) recently announced a $6.1 million, five-year award to accelerate fundamental research on wireless communication and networking technologies through the foundation's Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research (PAWR) program.
Nonprofit group US Ignite, Inc. (Washington, DC) and Northeastern University (Boston, Massachusetts) were selected as the award recipients. Through the award, they will collaborate with NSF and industry partners to establish and oversee multiple city-scale testing platforms across the United States.
“The planned research platforms will provide an unprecedented opportunity to enable research in faster, smarter, more responsive, and more robust wireless communication, and move experimental research beyond the lab,” says Jim Kurose, NSF’s assistant director for computer and information science and engineering.
Over the last decade, the U.S. use of wireless, Internet-connected devices has nearly doubled. As the momentum continues, the need for increased capacity to accommodate the corresponding traffic also grows, the NSF explains. This surge in devices, including smartphones, connected tablets, and wearable technology, places an unprecedented burden on conventional 4G LTE and public Wi-Fi networks, which may not be able to keep pace with the growing demand.
In response, NSF established the PAWR program to foster use-inspired, fundamental research and development that will move beyond current capabilities and enable future advanced wireless networks.
Source: NSF, nsf.gov.