Collaborative Research: CIRC: Dev: UnionLabs: Facilitating Shared Access to Heterogeneous Wireless Testbeds Through Grassroots-Driven Federation

NSF Award Search · 01002526DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT · $393,750 · view on nsf.gov ↗

Abstract

The wireless research community continues to face major challenges in conducting rigorous, repeatable experiments to evaluate next-generation wireless networks and Internet of Things (IoT) systems. Existing testbeds are limited in availability and often fixed to specific environments, making it difficult for researchers to test how their innovations perform under different conditions. This project addresses these challenges by creating UnionLabs, a new cloud-based federation of wireless testbeds that aims to democratize access to experimental research resources. By enabling seamless remote access to testbeds distributed across multiple U.S. institutions, UnionLabs promotes wider participation in wireless research. It also helps accelerate research in areas such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) for autonomous systems, mobile edge computing, and spectrum sharing. Through integration into university courses, hands-on training opportunities, and public workshops, UnionLabs supports both workforce development and broader engagement. The project establishes an innovative two-tier infrastructure that combines a centralized public cloud platform with edge computing resources located at individual testbed sites. A federation plane hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS) enables seamless integration and remote access to geographically distributed experimental facilities through a unified web-based interface. To validate and demonstrate the scalability of this plat

Key facts

NSF award ID
2549413
Awardee
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (MN)
SAM.gov UEI
KABJZBBJ4B54
PI
Zhangyu Guan
Primary program
01002526DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
All programs
COMPUTING RES INFRASTRUCTURE
Estimated total
$393,750
Funds obligated
$393,750
Transaction type
Standard Grant
Period
10/01/2025 → 09/30/2027