NSF invests more than $17M to advance U.S. technological leadership in next-generation wireless networks
Awardees will demonstrate technological solutions that transform the nation's economy and benefit all Americans, from enabling autonomous vehicles to making remote medical procedures possible
The U.S. National Science Foundation Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (NSF TIP) announced an inaugural investment of more than $17 million over two years to three teams comprising multiple industry and academic partners through the Breaking the Low Latency Barrier for Verticals in Next-G Wireless Networks (NSF Breaking Low) initiative. These NSF Breaking Low teams aim to identify and solve critical architectural, technical and technological issues that address key barriers in current fifth-generation (5G) and next-generation (Next-G) wireless networks.
"NSF is committed to ensuring America remains the world's leader in key technologies — including innovative low-latency wireless communications technologies that will not only improve wireless connectivity for everyday use but, more importantly, also power a whole range of scenarios that require extremely reliable wireless networks," said Erwin Gianchandani, assistant director for NSF TIP. "The NSF Breaking Low program was designed specifically to advance U.S.-developed wireless telecom technologies and also position the U.S. to take the lead in many emerging application ‘verticals' such as telemedicine, remote health care and intelligent transportation."
Most current public cellular and wireless local area network deployments are unable to consistently support sufficiently low end-to-end latencies and can manage to do so only under specific conditions. Critical bottlenecks in the end-to-end network path and a lack of low-latency technology development present challenges to advancing telecommunications networks to meet the needs of many industries. Leveraging new modes of interaction for people across the U.S., Breaking Low aims to alleviate these bottlenecks and spur emerging applications of wireless telecommunications networks to transform the way we live and interact with each other.
Breaking Low used the "Ideas Lab" process, an interactive workshop of experts and stakeholders from across multiple sectors and with a range of perspectives, to collaboratively develop innovative approaches and solutions to specific problems or grand challenges. The Ideas Lab specifically focused on identifying opportunities to develop and validate solutions to meet or exceed Next-G mobile wireless network specifications to transform the nation's communications abilities as well as spur new and emerging application industries. Breaking Low has also sought to transcend traditional barriers, bringing together leading industry leaders with academic researchers and students.
The Breaking Low initiative is part of NSF TIP's broader portfolio of investments to accelerate use-inspired and translational research and development, as well as workforce development to advance U.S. competitiveness in key technology areas. Learn more about TIP's work in emerging technologies.
About NSF TIP
The NSF Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (NSF TIP) seeks to engage all Americans in accelerating critical and emerging technologies to advance U.S. competitiveness. The directorate partners across sectors to advance three primary focus areas — accelerating technology translation and development, fostering regional innovation and economic growth, and preparing the American workforce for better-quality, higher-wage jobs. For more information about NSF TIP, visit nsf.gov/tip/latest.