"ARI is a platform for partnership among individuals and groups from academia, government and industry." 

                                                                                                                             ~ Prof. Saifur Rahman, ARI Director

Project:  Navy Collaborative Integrated Information Technology Initiative (NAVCIITI): Network Protocol Interoperability

ARI Student:  Kaustubh Phanse

ARI Advisor:  Luiz DaSilva

Sponsor:  Office of Naval Research

A project at ARI aims to bridge the gaps in mobile (ad-hoc) communication.

The project is a part of the Navy Collaborative Integrated Information Technology Initiative (NAVCIITI), Task 3.1. It enables networks operated by different organizations, such as the U.S. Navy and its allies, to effectively communicate through individual networks in an ad-hoc environment.

As individual units (nodes) in a network move, such as they would on a ship or a plane, they continue to communicate through other nodes—i.e. other ships and planes within range. The intermediate nodes act as routers.

“An ad hoc network does not rely on any infrastructure,” said Kaustubh Phanse, an ARI Ph.D. student who is working on the project.

The project creates and presents a Policy-Based Network Management (PBNM) framework for wireless ad-hoc networks.

“PBNM configures and controls the network as a whole, providing the network operator with a simplified, logically centralized and automated control over the entire network,” Phanse said.

PBNM has made the administration of complex operational characteristics in a network, such as Quality of Service (QoS), access control, network security and IP address allocation easier to operate. However, its study and use is limited to fixed, high-bandwidth networks like Internet Service Provider (ISP) and corporate networks. The research in this project intends to extend and apply the existing PBNM approach to the ad hoc network environment.

 “Our research involves both experimental and simulation-based study. To conduct experiments, we have set up a Linux-based test-bed (with wired and wireless capabilities) at the ARI,” Phanse said.

For more information, please visit: http://www.ari.vt.edu/posters/SFM_NAVCIITI_

Open_House_Poster.pdf  and http://www.irean.vt.edu/navciiti/

Sample scenario showing deployment of wireless 

ad hoc networks in a military environment.

An ARI Research Center: The Center for High Performance Manufacturing (CHPM)

The Center for High Performance Manufacturing (CHPM) works to help manufacturing firms research, develop and implement new processes, methods and technologies in order to stay competitive in today’s dynamic manufacturing environment.

The Center is led by Virginia Tech, with participation from James Madison University, the College of William and Mary and Virginia State University. It was launched in July 2001 with $4.35M in funding from the State of Virginia (Commonwealth Technology Research Fund).

Since its inception, CHPM has worked with and is currently working with several companies including: Atlantic Research Corporation, Hussmann Corporation, M/A-COM, Sperry Marine and Thermo King.

CHPM specializes in the following:

Flexible Automation and Lean Manufacturing Technologies

Manufacturing Logistics and Supply Chain Design

Production and Information Systems

Rapid Prototyping and Rapid Tooling

Low-Cost Composite Manufacturing

CHPM’s mission is to help manufacturing firms (especially those in Virginia) become high-performance manufacturers in their respective industries, via research and development of enabling tools and technologies, and the successful transfer and implementation of these items.

The Center's director is F. Frank Chen, Ph.D., who is a John Lawrence Professor of Manufacturing Systems Engineering, in the Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) Department at Virginia Tech.

CHPM’s faculty member at ARI is Sanjay Jain, Ph.D., Research Associate Professor, in the ISE Department at Virginia Tech.

Copyright ARI 2003