Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

This application will research, in collaboration with our industry partner, Cisco-Canada, dependable software systems for 5G enterprise networks. 5G is an emergent communications standard that promises ""extreme mobile broadband"" - high data-rate, low-latency, high-coverage wirless communication. As such, 5G will revolutionize communication systems, and have a significant impact on the quality of living of Canadians, in particular, those who live in remote areas and are not well served by the current communications infrastructure. In addition, 5G is expected to be the foundation for providing new capabilities of scale, such as mission-critical services and massive Internet of Things (IoT) over wireless. Under the grant of this application, we will investigate a number of scientific and engineering research challenges, and make contributions in the following areas of research: (1) assurance in distributed software systems for 5G enterprise networks, (2) effective ways of programming the network, (3) dependable network slicing capabilities at the software layers, and, (4) issues in identity, trust and obligation that arise in 5G systems, in particular, in the enterprise setting. Our research, under this grant, broadly addresses a fundamental recognition in the context of 5G that while the underlying physical communications technologies are critical to realizing its promise, innovation is needed at these higher layers of the software-hardware stack as well, as providers will only be able to differentiate themselves based on their offerings at these higher layers, for example, via their cloud and distributed-software services. As 5G is set to revolutionize wireless communications, our research is of high value to Canada, and Canadians. Canada not only relies on such innovations in communications technologies, but also should remain at the forefront of their evolution. Our industry partner, Cisco-Canada, benefits directly from the outcomes of this research, and will be able to leverage them in their products and services in 2-3 years from the time of this work. Our research will also train a number of highly qualified personnel at the confluence of software and communications systems, in which there is severe shortage here in Canada.*