We develop end-to-end tools for representing, analyzing, and designing current and next generation information and communication packet switched (Infocom) Networks. These systems with 10⁷-10⁹ mobile wireless devices are capable of generating 10¹⁴- 10¹⁶ packets/hour, and include mesh networks, sensor networks, 3G+ wireless networks and hybrid networks. Such networks are becoming increasingly important in settings such as disaster relief and monitoring of natural environments, where it is difficult or expensive to have a fixed infrastructure.

  Our research focuses on the development of analytical and computational methods to address problems in these two areas. Tools are being developed to fill the technology gap that exists in advanced methods for design, analysis, and development of 3G+ and 4G telecommunication networks as well as infrastructure interdependency-aware analytical tools for wireless and wireline networks. Current systems and tools do not usually scale beyond 100,000 nodes and the methods for generating and analyzing realistic multi-hop wireless radio networks, for efficient storage and behavioral analysis of packets, and for understanding protocol interactions do not currently exist.

  Tools and techniques that we have developed can be used for a number of problems related to network planning, security, and operational efficiency assessment. For example, these methods can be used for assessing the vulnerability of Infocom networks and recovering the network in case of failure. The tools can be used to optimally deploy mesh networks by taking into account the predicted load, network structure, and the use of specific protocols. Another important emerging application is to study the use of cognitive radios for improving system performance. Networks built using cognitive radios can opportunistically use available radio spectrum for improving overall system performance.

  This research is supported by the NSF Networking Technology and Systems (NeTS) program and by an internal grant from Virginia Tech. Our earlier work has been supported in part by funding from DARPA, DHS, and other federal and commercial sponsors. We are also part of Wireless@VT.

  Before moving to Virginia tech, group members worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory as part of a large multi-disciplinary team of researchers that built the Urban Infrastructure Suite (UIS) of simulations for the Department of Homeland Security as part of the National Infrastructure Simulation and Analysis Center (NISAC). UIS has been successfully used in a number of customer defined case studies and exercises related to infrastructure protection and criticality analysis. These studies have demonstrated that interdependent infrastructure simulations like UIS can be scaled to solve real world problems consisting of approximately 9 million individuals over large urban regions. UIS continues to be used at Los Alamos for DHS applications. An integral part of UIS is AdHopNet (now called MIITS),a large scale modeling and simulation system for representing and analyzing integrated telecommunication networks. MIITS is also being used to design and analyze adhoc sensor networks at Los Alamos National Laboratory and has been used in numerous DHS sponsored case studies in the last five years.