REU ERWiN

Experimental Research on Wireless Networking (ERWiN)

University of Notre Dame
Computer Science and Engineering

Projects

Wireless networks play an increasingly dominant role in systems and applications such as mobile ad-hoc networks, mesh networks, sensor networks, ubiquitous systems, and embedded computing. The focus of this REU site is on the experimental study of these environments, i.e., we believe in building and working with realistic distributed systems. Students will have the opportunity to collaborate in the development and exploration of new systems and applications. Below is a list of some project categories offered by our REU site. You can indicate your interest in up to three of these categories on the application form (use the project which is a combination of a letter and a single digit). Note that actual projects will be assigned at the beginning of the REU internship.

M1: System Support for Wireless Ad-Hoc and Mesh Networks.
Projects in this category will focus on a number of system-level challenges for wireless ad-hoc networks such as mobile ad-hoc networks, mesh networks, and sensor networks. Topics include operating system features, network protocols (e.g., mobile versions of TCP, MAC protocols, etc.), caching protocols, delay-tolerance features, etc.

M2: Routing in Ad-Hoc Networks.
Routing of network traffic in ad-hoc networks is crucial for the operation of such networks. There are numerous routing protocols available these days, with a variety of advantages and disadvantages. Projects in this category include: experimental comparison of protocols, novel routing protocols that consider a variety of Quality of Service measures (real-time, energy, etc.), and the study of numerous challenges in practical routing approaches (e.g., error in location information for location-based routing protocols).

M3: Applications for Wireless Ad-Hoc and Mesh Networks.
The University of Notre Dame is in the process of establishing an outdoor wireless mesh network which will be available for research and experimentation for REU students in Summer 2009. This networks will provide wireless Internet access and other services to users of mobile devices (laptops, smartphones). Projects in this category will focus on the development of applications that can utilize such a network, e.g., social networking applications, audio and video communications, etc.

M4: Network Measurements and Network Monitoring.
The mesh network described in M3 will be used to perform numerous wireless monitoring and measurement projects. For example, network traffic statistics must be collected on each of the wireless mesh routers and transmitted to a centralized database. In addition, tools to measure network traffic and other activities (e.g., which applications run) on mesh clients (laptops, smartphones) will provide a more complete picture of the events happening in the network.

M5: Context- and Location-Awareness.
In this category, students will execute projects to establish radio maps of network coverage on the campus of the University of Notre Dame, build tools to localize wireless users and to derive the context the users operate in, exploit such location and context information for novel applications, etc.

M6: Visualization.
In this category, projects will develop visualization tools that will be used to monitor, control, and study wireless networks in real-time. These tools will be browser-based and utilize information pulled from databases (e.g., previously collected network information) and directly from wireless routers and clients.

P1: Mobile Mining.
Data mining and machine learning is commonly used to extract knowledge from large sets of data for a variety of purposes. The limited resources of mobile and wireless devices may not be sufficient to perform resource-intensive mining tasks, therefore projects in this category will study challenges with respect to knowledge extraction in wireless and mobile environments.

S1: Wiimote Interactions for Freshman Engineering Education.
The sensors the Wiimote offer a fascinating physical interaction for students beginning with basic programming. The goal of this project is to create a robust, lightweight wrapper for data capture from the Wiimote as input into MATLAB for our core freshmen engineering course, EG 10111. The project will also create basic laboratory modules along with a fully set of open source code.

L1: Application and Network Development for SDRs.
Software-defined radios (SDRs) move much of the networking functionalities of radios and wireless devices from hardware to software. In this project you will develop simple applications (e.g., FM receiver, sensor network applications, mesh routers) and network protocols (e.g., simple reliable transport protocols, MAC layer protocols, etc.) on top of SDRs and experiment with them. For this project, you will collaborate with faculty and students from the Electrical Engineering department and some EE knowledge will be advantageous.

T1: Instant Collaborative Map Editing.
Our society is constantly collecting and updating data about the world in which we live. Utility workers, public health workers, cartographers, and many other professionals roam cities and wild areas to collect data about people and objects. However, once collected, such data is slow to percolate back to the central office, and then eventually into an online database. Solve this problem by making collected data instantly available to anyone within wireless range. Using an existing wireless infrastructure of laptops equipped with GPS, create a software system that allows multiple people to add data to a shared map, and instantly allow peers to see all of the results. Demonstrate it by using it on the Notre Dame campus.

T2: Distributed Telepresence.
There are many situations in which it would be helpful to see through the eyes of another person. Consider giving a friend directions by watching the real time video of a camera in his or her car. Or, consider a military unit where one soldier needs a different view of the battlefied. Using an existing wireless infrastructure of laptops and helmets equipped with sensors and cameras, build software that allows any participant to select and view real time video provided by any other participant in the network.