Navy supports mobile communications research

April 26, 2010

Cloud-computing development seen as promising step for improving information networks for defense operations<separator></separator>More security, reliability and mobility are the big targets in the realm of wireless communication technologies.<separator></separator>Dijiang Huang’s promising research in computer and communications networks – specifically in the emerging area of secure mobile cloud computing – has earned him a grant from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Young Investigator Program to help take aim those goals.<separator></separator>The Arizona State University assistant professor is one of 17 researchers to win one of the ONR program’s 2010 Young Investigator awards –  from among more than 200 who applied – and the only one to earn such a grant in the area of secure networking and communication.<separator></separator>Huang teaches in the School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering, a part of Arizona State University’s Ira A. Schools of Engineering.<separator></separator>Beyond communications and computing, his expertise extends to areas of cryptography, attack analysis, privacy preservation, and attack-resilient networking protocol design.<separator></separator>The ONR grant will provide up to $510,000 over three years to support Huang’s effort to develop a framework for advanced mobile wireless computing and communication systems that will employ cloud-computing techniques.<separator></separator>Cloud computing is Internet-based computing that works similarly to a public utility, providing on-demand information and software services directly to computers and mobile devices.<separator></separator>Cloud components – the various service providers – communicate with each other using programming interfaces, typically web services. This involves having multiple programs – each of which performs a single high-quality service – that work together to provide an array of computing functions.<separator></separator>A more sophisticated use of these techniques involves applications called cloud-mobile hybrids, which combine the high capacities of cloud-computing resources with mobile computing devices.<separator></separator>Dijiang will develop such a novel “mobile cloud” framework, called MobiCloud, tailored to the needs of mobile defense operations.<separator></separator>His goal is to develop a new mobile service model that uses mobile devices as cloud-service nodes with a range of capabilities comparable to cell phones, global-position tracking systems, sensing and networking technologies.<separator></separator>In addition to ONR, Huang’s research has earned support from the National Science Foundation, the Air Force Research Laboratory, and the Consortium of Embedded Systems at ASU. He is a founding member of ASU’s Information Assurance education and research center.<separator></separator>Huang teaches a range of undergraduate and graduate computer science courses that include computer and network security.<separator></separator>He came to ASU in 2005 after earning a degree in telecommunications from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications in China, and advanced degrees in computer science and telecommunications from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Engineering Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering