[Ns-developers] GSoC Application: UAN Framework

[Andrea Sacco]

Hi all,
I've write down a draft of the proposal, and I would be glad to know what
you think about it. I've followed the guide lines I've found on the gsoc
site.
Watining for comments.

Best Regards,
Andrea Sacco
-------------- next part --------------
About You

Identity Information

Name: Andrea Sacco
Email: andrea.sacco85 at gmail.com
Country: Italy
Institution: Master of Science in Telecommunications Engineering, University of Florence (Italy)
Advisor: My Master thesis work is supervised by Prof. Romano Fantacci and Prof. Tommaso Pecorella, both from the University of Florence, and I've  
collaborated with Prof. Alvaro Suarez from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain)


Background
I've started using ns-3 about 4 months ago for a research project with Underwater Wireless Networks related to my master thesis work. I've found and solved a  
bug into the ns-3 UAN module [1]. I try to be as much active as possible into the ns-3 mailing lists.
My research in the field of underwater wireless networks started about seven months ago and, during this period I think to have accumulate a good knowledge  
of the field.


Education
I am currently finishing the Master of Science in Telecommunications Engineering at University of Florence (Italy), which I started in 2007. I plan to  
defend my Master Thesis on July. I already have a Bachelor of Science in Information Engineering (curriculum Telematics) achieved in Dec. 2007.

My experience with C++ started about 3 years ago with a course of Principles of Informatics II, where I was studying OO programming with C++ and the main  
development and testing techniques. In these years I've used C++ to develop some projects for the courses I was taking at University, like storage  
interface with MySQL for microwave passive sensor images and an online chess game.


Work and Research
Below are my work and research experiences:

- 10/2009 3/2010, Internship under the Erasmus Placement programme at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC). I've collaborated with the  
Telecommunications Networks Lab of ULPGC with the Prof. Alvaro Suarez and Prof. Elsa Macias Lopez. A brief description of my work is: gathering and analysis  
of ZigBee Sensors network data through on-field measurements (crossbow sensors and software). Study of protocols, network architectures and practical  
applications of Underwater Acoustic Sensors Networks. Simulation in NS-3 environment of a monitoring application.

- 5/2009 7/2009, Software researcher and developer at University of Florence, PIN S.c.r.l. Research and development of algorithms for processing passive  
microwave sensor data. Matlab and C++ code.

- 10/2008 12/2009, Geoin S.r.l.Via G. da Cascia, 27, 50100 Florence (Italy). Development and extension of a JavaScript Framework for the management of High- 
interactivity WebGIS services.

- 5/2008 7/2008, Software developer and designer at University of Florence, PIN S.c.r.l. Development of a web-3D application for location-based mobile  
services for the archaeological park of Metaponto (Italy).

- 5/2008 7/2008, Software researcher and developer at University of Florence, PIN S.c.r.l. Research and development of algorithms for processing AMSR-E  
satellite data.

- 10/2007 12/2007, Software designer and developer at University of Florence, PIN S.c.r.l. Design and development of a software platform for location-based  
mobile services, inside a project commissioned from Regione Basilicata. The project was presented during the ICTTA'08 international conference held in  
Damascus, Syria from 7 to 11 April 2008, and published on IEEE [2].


Personal Interests
Besides the interests in web evolution, networking and underwater sensors, I'm interested in surf, snowboarding, rugby, and music (singing and playing  
guitar)


About The Project

Project Proposal
Underwater Acoustics Networks is a research field that, in the last year, is gathering attention from researchers all over the world. Unfortunately, making  
on-field measurements are very expensive and there are no commonly accepted standard to base on. Thus, the priority to make research work going on, is to make  
a complete simulation framework that researchers can use to experiment, make tests and make performance evaluation and comparison. The NS-3 UAN module is a  
first step in this direction, trying to offer a reliable and realistic tool. This project, will integrates the efforts of UAN module, extending it to make a  
simulation framework that researchers will be able to use for their researches. The extension will consists of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV)  
simulator (navigation and movement) and a power management layer.


Interest
I'm attracted to this project because I think it is a great opportunity to give a contribute to the open source community as well as to the researchers that  
are seeking for a practical and reliable solution for their experiments.

I consider myself the best candidate for this project because I've a good quantity of experience with both ns-3 and the underwater networking. Moreover my  
master thesis involves in simulations with uan module and I've been an active member of the ns-3 community, also founding and solving a bug (Bug 800).

Future Plans
I'm planning to continue my work in underwater networking as a researcher, in the years to come. During these years, I've had the opportunity to work both in  
a research environment and in a company one and, I think my way should be research. For that, I'm seeking for a place, in Europe or outside, where to make  
research in the underwater field, as well as in other fields like web evolution, web science, web 3.0 applications.


Approach
The work will be divided into two main parts:
 - the AUV simulator
 - the power management layer

Thus, the project components will be:
1) AUV simulator
2) power management layer
3) Helper and utility classes for 1) and 2)
4) Test cases


Components Description:

1) AUV simulator
   Implement a model of the real world movement/navigation of AUV. This involves implementing two classes modelling the two major categories of AUVs: electric  
motor propelled and "sea gliders".
   Modelling the AUV navigation, involves in considering a real-world AUV class and model its features into the simulator.
   Thus taking into account weight, maximum velocity, directional capabilities, emerging and submerging times.
   Regarding the sea gliders, will be modelled the "gliding" movement and its times.

2) power management layer
   Implement a power management layer for the Acoustic transducer. This will basically give an interface to manage the power consumption of a generic  
transducer, exposing some methods to put the transducer into a specific state (TX, RX, IDLE, SLEEP, etc.) for a specific amount of time. Internally the class  
will then store the power consumption relative to the time spent into each state. To compute specifics power consumption, the power management will have to  
be supplied of a specific power profile, tracing up the specific transducer power characteristics.

3) Helper and utility classes for 1) and 2)
   An Helper class will be implemented for the AUV simulator to allow users don't mind about the back office operations. Some utility classes will be  
implemented to let users set the navigation route more easily, improving usability.
   An Helper class will be implemented for the power management layer too.

4) Test cases
   Following the ns-3 development model, test cases will be written as required to test the working of the AUV simulator, of the power management layer and  
the utility classes.


Deliverables
1) Two AUV simulator classes.
2) A power management layer class.
3) An Helper class for AUV simulator.
4) An Helper class for power management layer.
5) Test cases for 1) and 2).
6) Example scripts for 1) 2) and the relatives helper classes.
7) Documentation.


Plan
1) 24/05 - 30/05		Design the overall architecture, make UML diagrams, identify the key aspects and problems of the implementation
2) 31/05 - 09/06		Implement the electric motor propelled AUV simulator
3) 10/06 - 16/06		Test Cases for electric motor propelled AUV Simulator
4) 17/06 - 26/06		Implement the Sea Gliders AUV simulator
5) 27/06 - 03/07		Test cases for Sea Gliders AUV simulator
6) 04/07 - 11/07		Example scripts for AUVs simulator and Helper class
7) 12/07			Mid Term Evaluation submission
7) 13/07 - 22/07		Implement the power management layer
8) 23/07 - 29/07		Test cases for power management layer
9) 30/07 - 05/08		Example scripts for power management layer and Helper class
10) 09/08			Suggested 'Pencil Down'
11) 06/08 - 16/08		Documentation and Integration of the project
12) 16/08			Final Evaluation submission


Timezone
I will be working from 09:00 to 18:00 CET, thus from 08:00 to 17:00 UTC. During the summer, I will be in Italy, in my hometown Prato.


Commitments
Since I'm applying to GSoC with a work that is part of my master thesis, I will have to defend my master thesis in mid-July. The planned date for the  
defence, is July 14th-15th. I've done all of my classes so, I will lost only one day of work that I can easily recover in a week-end.


References

[1] NS-3 Bug 800, http://www.nsnam.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=800
[2] Mazzetti, P.; Nativi, S.; Sacco, A.; Bigagli, L.; , "Integration of REST style and AJAX technologies to build Web applications; an example of framework  
for Location-Based-Services," Information and Communication Technologies: From Theory to Applications, 2008. ICTTA 2008. 3rd International Conference on ,  
vol., no., pp.1-6, 7-11 April 2008
URL: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=4530218&isnumber=4529902