| NSF Org: |
CCF Division of Computing and Communication Foundations |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | February 18, 2016 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | January 16, 2020 |
| Award Number: | 1563753 |
| Award Instrument: | Continuing Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Phillip Regalia
pregalia@nsf.gov (703)292-2981 CCF Division of Computing and Communication Foundations CSE Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering |
| Start Date: | July 1, 2016 |
| End Date: | June 30, 2022 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $799,963.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $839,963.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2017 = $16,000.00 FY 2018 = $430,450.00 FY 2020 = $10,000.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1 SILBER WAY BOSTON MA US 02215-1703 (617)353-4365 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
8 St. Mary's St. Boston MA US 02215-2421 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | Comm & Information Foundations |
| Primary Program Source: |
01001718DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001819DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01002021DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT |
| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.070 |
ABSTRACT
This project addresses the technical means of maintaining and sharing the huge amounts of diverse data that are being generated from the computing devices that increasingly envelop everyday lives, specifically by improving synchronization technology. The goal is to synthesize various approaches that have been developed, often in an ad hoc manner and in various fields, into a general, holistic solution that includes benefits from new analyses and solutions. The approach is fundamental in nature, and its effectiveness shows promise for impact on a diverse set of technologies, including mobile and cloud computing, digital currency, security, and biological sequencing. Part of the work involves outreach to younger students, such as initial efforts at setting up a novel computing-based summer program for high school students.
The project focuses on four research thrusts. The first involves an analysis, comparison, and improvement (where possible) of core point-to-point synchronization primitives from the existing literature. The second thrust generalizes these primitives to higher-dimensional data, such as files, images, video, databases, and graphs. The third research thrust involves developing approaches for synchronizing data from many synchronizing parties communicating through a variety of channels. Finally, the project aims to implement a general data synchronization engine based on the research results, together with an evaluation of various applications.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
This project developed an important tool in the quest to tame the huge amounts of data that are produced from our increasingly computerized world. Specifically, this project sought to unify existing approaches for maintaining consistency of data across many devices. This kind of consistency is needed "under the hood" for many common computing applications, be it synchronizing documents between work and home, or sharing financial transactions throughout a blockchain network.
The main technical outcomes from the project were:
1. Publication of a comprehensive comparative analysis of data synchronization protocols at the state of the art, together with a novel understanding of their relative strengths and weaknesses for various applications.
2. Development and public release of a software library that incorporates many of these protocols. This software allows software developers to seamlessly include state-of-the-art synchronization protocols in their own projects. The library also includes measurement capabilities, through which developers can test different protocols and parameters and establish which are most effective in their settings.
Significant broader contributions include:
3. Revealing to the cryptocurrency community how they might benefit from improved data synchronization in the dissemination of digital transactions across their network.
4. Incorporating a wide variety of students at all stages of development (most notably high-school students and undergraduates) in the research problems that were addressed. Dressed in applications such as Bitcoin mining, these
research ideas then filtered back to the students' local communities through club presentations. The project also employed a local high school teacher to better understand the dynamics of STEM self-selection for maturing students.
Last Modified: 09/01/2022
Modified by: Ari Trachtenberg
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