Collaborative Research: CNS: Medium: Scalable Learning from Distributed Data for Wireless Network Management

The transition to 5G is expected to witness not only an emergence of new applications such as mobile augmented and virtual reality, but also opens up the attack surface to both known, and previously unknown threats. Thus, wireless networks of the future will need better control and management at different temporal and traffic aggregation granularities (e.g., how to allocate spectrum, how to quarantine distributed attacks etc.). This project aims to develop scalable, machine learning based analytics on the data from a large set of geographically distributed wireless core network entities such as base stations. The research will enable new approaches for: (a) compressing the raw data via novel summaries and sketches, that reduce overhead while simultaneously enabling highly accurate scalable analytics (b) scalable yet highly flexible distributed learning approaches that are built upon the emerging federated learning paradigm and (c) flexible allocation of bandwidth to support the control plane analytics that minimizes the impact on the data plane. The proposed research outcomes will be systems, algorithms, and data analytics workflows that will inform the design and management of next generation critical wireless infrastructures. The approaches developed will enable ISPs to better apportion resources and enable better performance for emerging augmented reality applications for societal benefit (e.g., disaster response and management). In addition, the approaches can enable the discovery and profiling of new threats, which will have significant implications on national security. The proposed education activities are expected to provide students with a comprehensive training in networking, security, system building, and data science. Thus, there is significant potential for broader impact in terms of contributions to workforce development in an area of national need. 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.