This program proposes to investigate and experimentally demonstrate UltraFlow - a hybrid future Internet architecture that is secure, dynamic (both agile and adaptive), and significantly more cost effective for future growth in data volumes and number of users. UltraFlow relies on a novel optical network infrastructure comprising new transport mechanisms and a new comprehensive control plane including network protocols from the physical layer up to the application layer. It also integrates the foregoing new network modalities with the conventional TCP/IP network architecture and provides multiple service types to suit user needs.
The proposed UltraFlow technology will have a profound influence on the way the future Internet is designed and perceived by the society, as the new on-demand gigabit service will enable applications that are unimaginable today with existing broadband access, such as instantly-available 3D distributed virtualreality systems, cloud computing and instant file transfer services including telemedicine, education, 3D movies, concerts, sporting events, and government services. It will greatly enhance network security through its secure Control Plane and stimulate large-scale deployment by reducing operating expenses (OpEx). Hence, UltraFlow will have a huge economic and societal impact, as the access network 'touches' hundreds of millions of end-users. The project will expand the participant base of the science and engineering community through sponsoring seminars, undergraduate research opportunities, lecturer trainings, and hosting domestic as well as international scholar visits.
Ultraflow is a joint project, in which three co-PI's will form a management council and share the management of the project and an industrial advisory board from the equipment and service provider sectors.Professor Chan of MIT will lead the architecture research. Professor Fumagalli of UTD will lead the control plane research. Professor Kazovsky of Stanford will lead the access network testbed research and Dr. Kilper of Bell Laboratories will lead the long haul testbed research.
Links to the project description in other teams: MIT and UTDallas.