Optical fiber backbones provide gigabit per second data rates enabling end-to-end multimedia services to homes, offices, classrooms and even mobile users. However, there is a significant gap between such backbones and end users both in availability and capacity. This has been referred to as "the last (or first) mile problem" and continues to be the greatest obstacle we face in implementing broadband networks from anywhere to anywhere.
In this project, software for autonomous network reconfiguration (topology control) is being developed, which will promote survivability (bi-connectedness), scalable autonomous physical and logical reconfiguration, maximum data rate and maximum availability at all times and everywhere in a wireless backbone.
In a unique manner, reconfigurable optical wireless communications, with up to gigabit per second transmission rates are used in combination with directional RF communications. This offers the capability for autonomous physical and logical reconfiguration. This is referred to as topology control, uniquely combining autonomous backbone formation with assured, agile, optical wireless and RF links.
Innovative advanced software methodologies and techniques for topology control are being developed. The software includes: traffic engineering and reconfiguration algorithms; multi-objective optimization; and topology discovery, dissemination, and survivability. Software and methodologies designed to respond to degradation in the network link(s) as well as for network recovery will include: traffic engineering; multi-objective optimization techniques with embedded uncertainty modeling; and topology discovery, dissemination and survivability. Evaluation of the algorithms and software will be achieved using analytical and discrete event simulation techniques.
