Title: Networking Technology and Systems (NeTS)
Date: 05/08/06
Replaced: NSF 05-505

Networking Technology and Systems (NeTS)

Program Solicitation
NSF 06-516
Replaces Document NSF 05-505

[NSF Logo]   National Science Foundation
             Directorate for Computer and Information Science and
             Engineering
                   Division of Computer & Network Systems

Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p.m. submitter's local time):

     March 02, 2006

          Second Wednesday in January beginning in 2007

REVISIONS AND UPDATES

In furtherance of the President's Management Agenda, in Fiscal Year 2006,
NSF has identified programs that will offer proposers the option to utilize
Grants.gov to prepare and submit proposals, or will require that proposers
utilize Grants.gov to prepare and submit proposals. Grants.gov provides a
single Government-wide portal for finding and applying for Federal grants
online. A complete listing of these programs is available on the Policy
Office website at: http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy.

In response to this program solicitation, proposers may opt to submit
proposals via Grants.gov or via the NSF FastLane system. In determining
which method to utilize in the electronic preparation and submission of the
proposal, please note the following:

  A. Collaborative Proposals. All collaborative proposals must be submitted
     via the NSF FastLane system. This includes collaborative proposals
     submitted:

        * by one organization (and which include one or more subawards); or
        * as separate submissions from multiple organizations.

     Proposers are advised that collaborative proposals submitted in
     response to this Program Solicitation via Grants.gov will be
     requested to be withdrawn and proposers will need to resubmit
     these proposals via FastLane. (Chapter II, Section D.3 of the
     Grant Proposal Guide provides additional information on
     collaborative proposals.)

  B. All Other Types of Proposals That Contain Subawards. All other types
     of proposals that contain one or more subawards also must be submitted
     via the NSF FastLane system.

     The following items are major revisions to the previous program
     solicitation:

        * Programmable Wireless Networks (ProWin), Networking of Sensor
          Systems (NOSS), and Networking Broadly Defined (NBD) have been
          updated; and
        * A fourth research area -- Future Internet Design (FIND) -- has
          been added.

SUMMARY OF PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS

General Information

Program Title:

     Networking Technology and Systems (NeTS)

Synopsis of Program:

     Computer and communication networks are among society's most
     important infrastructures. Networks are vital to the operation of
     many sectors of our society &mdash; from financial and
     manufacturing to education and healthcare &mdash; and they are
     engines for economic growth. However, with the existing network
     architecture stressed and reaching the limits of its
     capabilities, significant innovations are necessary to give rise
     to new applications and to meet current and future demands on the
     existing Internet.

     The Network Technology and Systems Program (NeTS) envisions
     making significant progress towards realizing a network and
     communication infrastructure that:

        * Protects users' privacy, as well as computers and devices
          from malicious attacks and natural disasters, helps hold
          malicious users accountable for their actions, and is
          trusted enough to manage society's other critical
          infrastructure such as the power grid, banking and others;
        * Bridges the physical and virtual environments through
          instrumented and managed sensorized physical environments,
          enabling a new class of science and engineering explorations
          and provides increased efficiency, safety, and quality of
          life for individuals and organizations;
        * Supports pervasive computing and builds on current trends of
          more and more computer and communication devices in our
          lives;
        * Enables continued innovations and discoveries in science and
          engineering through access to a global grid of networked
          instruments, supercomputers, ever-expanding storage
          capacity, and massive databases and data mining
          capabilities; and
        * Enables broad innovation of new services, business models,
          and innovation commons for a wide variety of creative
          endeavors in all fields.

     The NeTS program solicitation invites research proposals in the
     field of networking and covers all aspects of networking
     research. It includes research on future end-to-end Internet
     architectures; sub-network architectures enabled by disruptive
     technologies such as programmable wireless, mobile wireless,
     wireless sensors, and optical networks; and strategic research on
     current Internet including measurement, modeling, and
     understanding of complex networks. The NeTS program also seeks to
     develop innovative curricular and educational materials that will
     help prepare the next generation of networking professionals.

     Proposers are encouraged to make bold assumptions about the
     future of networking. Proposals should describe high impact
     projects that address novel network architectures, protocols
     and/or technologies. NeTS proposals are solicited in four
     research areas:

          I. Programmable Wireless Networks (ProWiN): Funded
          projects will seek to exploit the capabilities of
          programmable radios to make more effective use of the
          frequency spectrum and to improve wireless network
          connectivity.

          II. Networking of Sensor Systems (NOSS): Funded
          projects will seek to create architectures, tools,
          algorithms and systems that make it easy to assemble
          and configure networks of sensor systems.

          III. Networking Broadly Defined (NBD): Funded projects
          will include a balance of theoretical and experimental
          research and/or education projects that expand our
          understanding of large, complex, heterogeneous
          networks, design of access and core networks based on
          emerging wireless and optical technologies, and
          continue the evolution of Internet.

          IV. Future Internet Design (FIND): Funded projects will
          seek to design a next-generation Internet which we will
          call the "Future Internet" from core functionalities to
          designing for security and robustness, manageability,
          utility and social need, new computing paradigms,
          integration of new network technologies, higher-level
          service architectures, and new theories of network
          architecture.

     A range of project types will be supported:

        * Individual and Small Group projects;
        * Large Group projects;
        * Planning grants;
        * Workshops in new and emerging areas; and
        * Infrastructure projects.

     More information on award types can be found in Section IV. of
     this solicitation; proposers are encouraged to fully consider
     this information prior to submission of their proposals.

Cognizant Program Officer(s):

   * Darleen L. Fisher, Program Director, Directorate for Computer &
     Information Science & Engineering, Division of Computer and Network
     Systems, 1175 N, telephone: (703) 292-8950, fax: (703) 292-9010,
     email: dlfisher@nsf.gov

   * Guru Parulkar, Program Director, Directorate for Computer &
     Information Science & Engineering, Division of Computer and Network
     Systems, 1175 N, telephone: (703) 292-8950, fax: (703) 292-9010,
     email: gparulka@nsf.gov

   * David Goodman, telephone: (703) 292-4550, email: dgoodman@nsf.gov

Applicable Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number(s):

   * 47.070 --- Computer and Information Science and Engineering

Eligibility Information

   * Organization Limit: None Specified.
   * PI Eligibility Limit: None Specified.
   * Limit on Number of Proposals: An individual may appear as PI, Co-PI,
     Senior Personnel, or Consultant on no more than two NeTS proposals.

Award Information

   * Anticipated Type of Award: Standard or Continuing Grant or Cooperative
     Agreement
   * Estimated Number of Awards: 60 to 80
   * Anticipated Funding Amount: $40,000,000 pending availability of funds

Proposal Preparation and Submission Instructions

A. Proposal Preparation Instructions

   * Full proposals submitted via FastLane:

        * Grant Proposal Guide (GPG) Guidelines apply

   * Full proposals submitted via Grants.gov:

        * NSF Grants.gov Application Guide: A Guide for the Preparation and
          Submission of NSF Applications via Grants.gov Guidelines apply
          (Note: The NSF Grants.gov Application Guide is available on the
          Grants.gov website and on the NSF website at:
          http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/docs/grantsgovguide.pdf) To
          obtain copies of the Application Guide and Application Forms
          Package: click on the Apply tab on the Grants.gov website, then
          click on the Apply Step 1: Download a Grant Application Package
          and Application Instructions link and enter the funding
          opportunity number, (the program solicitation number without the
          NSF prefix) and press the Download Package button.

B. Budgetary Information

   * Cost Sharing Requirements: Cost Sharing is not required by NSF.
   * Indirect Cost (F&A) Limitations: Not Applicable.
   * Other Budgetary Limitations: Not Applicable.

C. Due Dates

   * Full Proposal Deadline Date(s) (due by 5 p.m. submitter's local time):
          March 02, 2006
               Second Wednesday in January beginning in 2007

Proposal Review Information

   * Merit Review Criteria: National Science Board approved criteria.
     Additional merit review considerations apply. Please see the full text
     of this solicitation for further information.

Award Administration Information

   * Award Conditions: Standard NSF award conditions apply.
   * Reporting Requirements: Additional reporting requirements apply.
     Please see the full text of this solicitation for further information.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

     Summary of Program Requirements

  I. Introduction

 II. Program Description

III. Eligibility Information

 IV. Award Information

  V. Proposal Preparation and Submission Instructions
       A. Proposal Preparation Instructions
       B. Budgetary Information
       C. Due Dates
       D. FastLane/Grants.gov Requirements

 VI. Proposal Review Information
       A. NSF Proposal Review Process
       B. Review Protocol and Associated Customer Service Standard

VII. Award Administration Information
       A. Notification of the Award
       B. Award Conditions
       C. Reporting Requirements

VIII.Contacts for Additional Information

 IX. Other Programs of Interest

I. INTRODUCTION

Computer and communication networks are among society's most important
infrastructures. They are vital to the operation of many sectors of our
society &mdash; from financial and manufacturing to education and
healthcare &mdash; and they are engines for economic growth. With the
existing network architecture stressed and reaching the limits of its
capabilities, significant innovations are necessary to realize new
applications and to meet current and future demands on the existing
Internet.

The next-generation network must overcome the limitations of existing
networks and add new capabilities and services. Future networks should be
available anytime and anywhere, be accessible from any communication
device, require little or no management overhead, be resilient to failures,
malicious attacks and natural disasters, and be trustworthy for all types
of communication traffic.

NeTS will fund research and education projects in four targeted focus
areas. These areas are Programmable Wireless Networks (ProWiN), Networking
of Sensor Systems (NOSS), Networking Broadly Defined (NBD), and Future
Internet Design (FIND). Focus areas are chosen to initiate and sustain
research and education activities in promising new areas; foster the
development of a research area where concentrated efforts facilitate
significant advancements; encourage multi-disciplinary collaborations,
particularly among research teams who typically have not worked together;
or enable the development, implementation, and testing of innovative
networking systems and technologies in an area that is ripe for a move from
conceptual design to experimental research and prototyping.

To meet emerging requirements for the Internet&rsquo;s technical
architecture, the protocols and structures that guide its operation require
coordinated, coherent redesign. The NeTS solicitation encourages
fundamental and possibly radical innovations in the broad area of
networking leading to the next generation of network architectures. A new
approach will require rethinking of the network functions and addressing a
range of challenges. These challenges include, but are not limited to, the
following examples:

   * Fundamental policy and engineering trade-offs in the design of
     secured, privacy protecting, and robust networked systems;
   * A new or hybrid paradigm of communication that goes beyond packet and
     circuit switching; seamless integration of physically embedded network
     infrastructure with the rest of network infrastructure;
   * New models of information dissemination;
   * Co-design of data, control, and management planes;
   * Self-evolving networks with virtualized overlays; and
   * Architectures that promote healthy industry structure and payment for
     services.

Finally, NeTS also will support projects that develop innovative curricular
materials that have the potential to greatly improve higher education on
networking systems topics. Investigators who wish to make contributions in
this area may propose to do so either as part of a broader research and
education project or as a stand-alone educational project. Whatever the
case, proposals must provide strong justification for the need for the new
educational materials, and must include plans for evaluating their
effectiveness and disseminating them to the community.

II. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

NeTS will fund research and education projects, as described below, in four
areas:

     I. Programmable Wireless Networks (NeTS-ProWin);
     II. Networking of Sensor Systems (NeTS-NOSS);
     III. Networking Broadly Defined (NeTS-NB);
     IV. Future Internet Design (NeTS-FIND)

I. Programmable Wireless Networking (NeTS-ProWiN)

The Programmable Wireless Networking focus area supports the creation of
innovative wireless networking systems based on programmable radios:
wireless, multimodal (multi-interface) and/or frequency-agile data
communication devices with rich control and monitoring interfaces. The
objectives are to:

   * Capitalize on advances in processing and radio technology and on
     recent developments in spectrum policy;
   * Improve network connectivity and resilience as well as usage of shared
     spectrum resources; and
   * Enhance the wireless networks community by intermixing the networking,
     radio, and policy communities, integrating education with research
     through focused activities, and diversifying participation.

Programmable wireless networks will need to route messages through the
network and interoperate with the larger Internet, manage spectrum
resources dynamically, self-organize with a rapid initial configuration,
accommodate mobility, support a variety of network services, use adaptation
to ensure quality of service, and support multiple users and domains. It is
anticipated that this focus area will, within a few years, result in
multiple programmable wireless radio platforms, prototypes of dynamic
spectrum management systems, and wireless network testbeds that exploit the
capabilities of dynamic radios and innovative spectrum approaches.

In order to realize this vision, the Programmable Wireless Networking focus
area seeks proposals on the following topics. Proposals on other wireless
networking topics should be submitted to the component of Networking
Broadly Defined (NeTS-NBD), rather than to this focus area.

   * Topology Formation and Interdomain Operations: Projects will develop
     algorithms for topology discovery and optimization in programmable
     wireless networks and protocols for subsequent network configuration
     including connectivity across different networks. Programmable
     wireless systems may take advantage of both dynamic spectrum access
     and availability of several overlapping networks. For example, by
     simultaneously using multiple spectrum regions, multimodal and
     frequency-agile radios offer the capability to construct more complex
     topologies than have heretofore been possible with traditional radio
     or wired networks. When overlapping networks are available, flexible
     wireless topologies provide opportunities for improved connectivity
     and resilience by exploiting the capabilities of the different systems
     and administrative domains. Proposed algorithms must determine what
     topologies are possible and how to choose among them, and protocols
     must automatically configure the network based upon the topology
     chosen. The impact on network behaviors, such as convergence and
     stability, should also be assessed. Projects must include evaluation
     methods for the network architectures and protocols. Projects should
     address innovative approaches to topology formation, routing,
     inter-layer interaction, and management rather than internetworking
     &ldquo;handoff&rdquo; or translation issues currently being addressed
     by standards organizations and industry.

   * Programmable Wireless Network Testbeds: Projects will develop testbeds
     for assessing new wireless network architectures including new
     techniques for wireless topology optimization and routing. To date,
     most wireless experiments and testbeds focus on performance metrics,
     and occasionally on resource use such as power, rather than attempting
     to understand the interrelationship between algorithms and protocols
     and the underlying resource, spectrum. Testbeds should investigate the
     relationship between spectrum use and other factors such as routing
     algorithms, topologies, protocols, policy mechanisms, and services. In
     addition to developing architectures and associated facilities,
     projects will define metrics and establish common frameworks for
     measuring spectrum use. The expectation is that these projects will
     develop flexible architectures and facilities for collaborating with
     related wireless efforts and for incorporating programmable radios
     such as those developed in prior NeTS projects. (Additional radio
     platform efforts are not encouraged under this solicitation.) Testbed
     efforts must provide milestones for developing the architectures and
     facilities. Innovative plans for wider access to the testbed by the
     research community and collaborative efforts are encouraged.

For further information, visit the focus area web site at
http://www.nsf.gov/cise/cns/prowin.jsp.

II. Networking of Sensor Systems (NeTS-NOSS)

An individual sensor system can sense its immediate environment, process
what it senses, communicate its results to others over a wireless link, and
possibly take an action in response. Sensor systems are enabled by
developments in digital sensors, digital actuators, and low power RF radios
and by integrating these in a single chip with a processor-memory system.
While a single sensor system has very limited use, a network of sensors can
be used to instrument and manage large environments and systems.

Significant scientific and technical progress is required to realize the
potential of networks of sensor systems. This focus area examines
networking aspects of small sensor systems that are used as building blocks
in large-scale, in-situ sensing applications. Sensor systems contain new
types of computing machines, run different kinds of network applications,
execute in different physical environments, and have large numbers of
nodes. Moreover, a sensor system needs to operate with severe power and
other resource constraints, and it needs to communicate and cooperate with
a large number of other sensor systems over wireless links that have severe
bandwidth and range constraints. In short, building networks of sensor
systems requires overcoming many challenges.

The overall goal of the focus area has been to make it as easy in the next
few years to assemble a network of sensor systems as it became in the 1980s
to assemble a LAN of workstations using the BSD UNIX protocol stack and
socket interface and Ethernet line cards. The focus area will achieve its
goals by

   * Creating strong foundation and system knowledge for the design and
     development of networks of sensor systems that are easy to manage,
     evolve, and secure, and that can provide quality of service
     guarantees;
   * Developing a range of efficient and usable network sensor system
     platforms and tools;
   * Creating a few sensor network architectures and their reference
     implementations;
   * Creating a few network programming systems and their reference
     implementations; and
   * Creating network testbeds for sensor systems with diverse applications
     and platforms in order to gain significant experimental knowledge and
     experience.

The emphasis of this focus area for this and coming years will be on sensor
network architectures, network programming systems, and their reference
implementations. Successful proposals in this focus area will address at
least one of the following topics:

   * Architectures: Efforts in this area will either build on already
     proposed and funded sensor network architectures or propose a new
     comprehensive architecture. An architecture proposal needs to describe
     a coherent vision of how all the parts of a sensor network system
     should fit together.

   * Architecture Components: Efforts in this area will focus on
     development of components of either one of those already funded or a
     concurrently proposed architecture. Proposals in this round must
     explicitly consider how their work will further advance integrative
     architectural goals and how they would contribute to realization of a
     comprehensive architecture. Proposals could target, but are not
     limited to, architectural components such as routing, in-network
     processing, localization, calibration, energy and resource management,
     higher-level naming services, storage services, debugging, network
     management, integration of sensing modalities, and statistical
     techniques. The focus area encourages proposals on security and
     privacy solutions for networking of sensor systems as well as
     proposals on architectures that would support limited mobility of
     sensors to achieve better coverage and efficiency.

   * Sensor Network Programming Systems: Successful efforts in this area
     will focus on development of a sensor-network centric
     macro-programming paradigm (e.g. declarative, data-centric, data-flow,
     and others) and a complete associated tool chain. Proposals should
     describe how the proposed paradigm could be used to implement
     qualitatively different applications, and should also address how they
     would work with previously funded or concurrently proposed sensor
     network architecture(s). Proposals could address, but are not limited
     to, research areas such as macro-programming abstractions, programmer
     control for resource management, compile and run-time optimization
     techniques, code annotation and profiling, optimized code distribution
     mechanisms, and program analysis techniques. Output of this research
     should be a software artifact that can be integrated with one or more
     programming paradigms.

   * Reference Implementations: Successful efforts in this area will
     produce a reference implementation of already funded or newly funded
     architectures and potentially a unified network architecture that
     encompasses elements of other architectures. Proposed work should
     carefully justify the design of the unified network architecture, and
     describe a work plan that leverages existing funded work to maximize
     return on investment. It should also carefully describe a set of
     realizable milestones for producing increasingly complete and robust
     versions of the reference implementation. At bi-annual NOSS meetings,
     PIs will be expected to demonstrate versions of increasing capability
     to the community, and discuss integration related tasks with other
     awardees in the program.

   * Hardware and Software Platforms: The program will fund the development
     of sensor system platforms that can be networked and used to prototype
     other system components and testbeds. The platforms have to possess
     capabilities that are required for research on networking of sensor
     systems and that are not available in commercial systems. Proposals
     may also request support for distributing sensor system platforms. A
     PI who desires to distribute a platform to others must have
     significant interest from the community and should talk to a cognizant
     Program Director before writing a proposal.

   * Testbeds and Applications: Projects in this area will build testbeds
     and deploy real applications in collaboration with applications
     researchers. Proposals must show how the testbeds would be used to
     demonstrate key networking capabilities and gain experimental
     experience and insights.

Potential PIs may want to look at some example sensor network architectures
such as SNA at UC Berkeley, Tenet at UCLA/USC, COMPASS at Rice, Wavescope
at MIT, and others at the focus area web site at
http://www.nsf.gov/cise/cns/noss.jsp.

Research or development projects on physical sensing devices, distributed
real-time embedded sensor systems, or sensor applications that do not
include a significant networking component should consider other
appropriate NSF programs.

For further information, visit the focus area web site at
http://www.nsf.gov/cise/cns/noss.jsp.

III. Networking Broadly Defined (NeTS-NBD)

The NeTS-NBD component of this solicitation is concerned with advancing
state of the art in key networking areas that are not covered by other
focus areas as well as strategic research on the Internet and its
evolution. The NeTS-NBD component will fund proposals in a wide range of
areas including but not limited to the following:

   * Broadband Access Networks: Projects in this area will enable
     innovative network architectures, protocols, and systems for wired or
     hybrid wired/wireless broadband access networks. Examples include
     optical/wireless access networks, that explore, for example, the
     &ldquo;sweet spot&rdquo; up to which fiber should be the carrier
     before wireless takes over; &ldquo;self-organization&rdquo; of the
     wireless part of the network while working in conjunction with the
     optical part; efficient control and management of large access
     networks; architectures and protocols that would enable new services;
     efficient interconnection methods between broadband access networks
     and metro and backbone networks;

   * Wireless Networking: Projects in this area include research management
     and control of wireless networks including support for
     auto-configuration and self-organization under policy and security
     constraints; creation of survivable systems in the face of the
     challenges of the wireless environment; issues in wireless networks
     from a systems perspective such as the interactions of protocol layers
     and different access networks including cross-layer optimizations and
     feedback/control mechanisms; theoretical and systems aspects of
     pervasive systems including capacity and hierarchy; unique security
     challenges posed by fluidity, scale, and performance issues in
     wireless networks; and realistic and affordable means for carrying out
     representative, repeatable, and verifiable experiments to validate
     research on wireless networks including open tools and simulation
     models, as well as experimental facilities to access realistic
     environments and map experimental results to simulation models.

   * Optical Networking: Projects in this area will research innovative
     optical network architectures, protocols, and systems, especially
     those enabled by emerging optical technologies such as photonic
     integrated circuits (PICs). PIs are encouraged to take a long-term
     perspective on role of optics in networks (e.g., optical backplanes to
     optical switches/routers with the goal to reduce power and increase
     efficiency of communication). Optical networking systems are meant to
     push the envelope beyond large electronic cross-connects. Example
     topics include architectures that build on transparency and ability to
     dynamically reconfigure the networks for much higher capacity and
     flexibility at much lower cost; innovative ways to interface computers
     and networks via optical interfaces; control plane technology and
     algorithms that allow rapidly dynamically reconfigurable optical
     network infrastructures to be realized; systems and architectures
     enabled by programmable optics with integrated electronics;
     interfacing optical technology with other network technologies such as
     wireless; and efficient configuration, monitoring, and management of
     large optical networks. Optical systems proposals should include one
     or more researchers with optical networking as well as systems-level
     expertise and address networking problems.

   * Network Measurement, Modeling and Understanding: One topic in this
     area is to develop mathematically rigorous models to study and analyze
     the dynamics and properties of large-scale networks. One of the goals
     is to understand the fundamental performance limits of networks and to
     design algorithms that allow us to approach these limits. Another
     topic is to address the fundamental methodological barriers that make
     it hard to reproduce experiments or to validate simulations in real
     world systems. The goal here is to understand network behaviors for
     varying time-scales, a range of spatial topologies, and a range of
     protocol interactions. Toward these aims, NeTS will support the
     development of scalable, non-intrusive mechanisms, tools, and
     methodologies for measurements, traffic characterization, and
     simulations. This includes creating Internet-scale simulations to
     construct simulations of computer networks that are accurate and fully
     detailed and are on the scale of 100 million network elements or more,
     as well as using large-scale simulation methods to be able to explore
     and analyze the performance of any Internet protocol (e.g. BGP) when
     under specific attacks designed to disrupt the utility of that
     protocol.

   * Strategic Research for the Internet: NeTS will also consider
     compelling, far-reaching projects that are aimed at addressing the
     strategic evolution of today's Internet and its capabilities in terms
     of scalability, robustness, security, and ability to support new as
     well as existing applications. Proposals are expected to address major
     limitations to the evolution of the Internet and to describe how the
     proposed solutions could be integrated into the Internet-i.e., into
     the existing TCP/IP protocol stack-and into existing network
     components such as routers, switches, and firewalls.

IV. Future Internet Design (NeTS-FIND)

The NeTS-FIND focus area is a multi-year three-phase effort based on a new
conceptualization of networking research that alters the nature of the
research process-moving away from business as usual within the relevant
research communities and towards a more collaborative, more integrated,
more inclusive program of research. FIND will support fundamental and
possibly radical innovations in networking, leading to architectural
proposals for a next-generation internet which we will call the "Future
Internet".

This program solicitation, phase one, invites basic research proposals that
address elements of the new Future Internet architectures. In phase two,
NeTS will issue a new program solicitation. We expect that one or more
architecture teams will begin to assemble an overarching and coherent
architecture, building on the insights from the work put forward in phase
one. In phase three, selected architectures are expected to be reduced to
practice-fleshing out the details of protocols, and producing integrated
code that could run on a research infrastructure. We assume that initial
experiments in these later phases will lead to iteration in design, so
there will be continuing opportunities to propose and integrate new
concepts into a future architecture.

FIND is based on the premise that to achieve substantive change in what the
Future Internet might be, the research community must not ask how to make
the existing Internet better through an incremental change, but instead ask
what is the network that is desired in 10 or 15 years and how should it be
designed. In order to envision a Future Internet that might be rather
different from that of today, FIND calls for research that addresses the
question of how to design a Future Internet, knowing what is now known
about requirements and mechanisms, considering lessons from the past,
incorporating what is good, proposing new approaches where they are needed,
and fitting these ideas into a fresh overall architecture. In this respect,
the process of design has been called &ldquo;clean slate&rdquo; in that the
research is not to be constrained by features of the existing network.

Requirements for a Future Internet

Proposals to FIND should consider what would be required in a Future
Internet. Candidate requirements for a Future Internet might include the
following.

   * Security and Availability: A Future Internet must offer greatly
     improved security and robustness. Security should be defined broadly
     to include network support for end-node security, and high
     availability and resilience to failure and attack. The Future Internet
     should be robust enough to support critical societal functions, be of
     service in times of crisis, and balance societal needs such as privacy
     and accountability.

   * New Networking Technologies: The importance of wireless brings a focus
     on mobility, location-awareness and processing/bandwidth limitations.
     The emergence of new optical capabilities implies networks that are
     more reconfigurable, dynamic, and flexible, and have much higher
     capacity at much lower cost.

   * New Computing Paradigms: A Future Internet must support the computing
     environment of ten years from now which includes many small computing
     devices providing processing, human interfaces, sensing, storage,
     communications, and so on. All these devices must be networked
     together, must be able to discover each other, and configure
     themselves into larger systems as appropriate.

   * Application Support: Tomorrow&rsquo;s more complex applications will
     benefit from a richer and more advanced set of application-support
     features. The emergence of overlays may signal a fundamental
     re-layering of a Future Internet.

   * Network Management: A Future Internet should be easier to configure,
     debug and manage, both for the large network provider and the
     consumer. This will contribute to improved ease of use, higher
     availability, lower costs of deployment and operation, and broader
     applicability.

   * Economic Concerns: A Future Internet should foster, rather than
     inhibit, investment and the development of new functionality.
     Architecture should provide incentives for its own deployment,
     encourage deployment of new network facilities, and encourage
     innovation in applications.

   * Planning for Change: The architecture for a Future Internet should
     allow for continued evolution and enhancement while preserving the
     consistency of the architecture.

In total, requirements such as these define a transformed global network
that can be an objective of research and development, a benefit to society,
and a driver of new investment and innovation.

FIND Research Topics

The FIND focus area solicits research across a broad range of topics. The
criterion for funding is relevance to architecture, by which we mean the
basic design principles and structures that will define a Future Internet,
rather than the specific technical area. Research on the architecture and
design of specific subnet technologies, such as wireless or optics, is not
appropriate for this focus area unless the primary motivation of the work
is to inform architectures at an internetworking level-a level that spans
heterogeneous networking technologies and defines the basis on which
end-points communicate. The list at the end of this section offers examples
of research topics.

NSF does not assume that individual proposals will put forward a complete
architecture framework for a Future Internet, nor does it expect formation
of large architecture teams in phase one. The focus area is intended to
encourage the basic research necessary to inform the development of one or
more Future Internet architectures. Research is encouraged that looks at
specific mechanisms or approaches that might be a part of a future
architecture, or that compares or re-evaluates existing ideas free from the
constraint that they interwork with the existing Internet. The community is
encouraged to propose and evaluate requirements for a new architecture, to
reason carefully about architectural responses to these requirements and to
propose, develop and demonstrate new ideas that might be a part of a new
architecture. There will be an emphasis across the funded projects on
community building, discussion and debate on requirements, and
consideration of mechanisms, approaches and proposals. To accomplish these
goals, there will a series of working meetings, currently anticipated to be
three in each year. FIND participants must commit to attend these meetings,
and must budget accordingly. Budgets should also allow for student
attendance at student meetings at least once a year.

The following list of example topics illustrates the scope of anticipated
research. Proposals submitted to FIND should have an architectural focus.
Proposals that deal with a specific topic (e.g. network management,
measurement) should submit to other focus areas of NeTS.

   * Creating New Core Functionality: Reconsideration of basics including
     packets and other modes of multiplexing and data delivery; addressing,
     naming and identity; routing and delivery; support for mobility;
     overlay networks, and services required to support overlays;
     architectural implications of performance objectives; and other
     elements of network services. Architectural principles such as
     rethinking the end- to-end arguments, layering and roles, soft state,
     and fate sharing.

   * Design for Security: Techniques for high availability and
     architectures that are resilient under attack; secure protocols that
     resist flooding attacks; deterrence and forensic analysis; mechanisms
     for blocking unwelcome traffic from hosts and regions of the network;
     network support for end-node security, such as dealing with
     &ldquo;zombies&rdquo; and &ldquo;botnets&rdquo;; and frameworks and
     design techniques for secure applications.

   * Design for Manageability: Enhancing network protocols and mechanisms
     to facilitate management; development of management abstractions,
     automated methods for gathering and maintaining network configuration
     information, higher-level languages for specifying network
     configuration and policy; cross-layer integrated management; secure
     approaches to network management, architecture for cross-region
     coordination, fault reporting and diagnosis.

   * Design for Utility and Social Needs: Multi-disciplinary research on
     social and policy issues in the design of mechanisms, such as
     balancing privacy, identity and accountability; designing for regional
     difference and local values, architecture for trust, and linking
     mutual trust to limits on activities; recommendations on policy and
     mechanism design for surveillance, identity tracking, and response to
     malicious behavior, in the context of multiple jurisdictions; design
     for utility in times of crisis including mechanisms for priority
     access, robust fall-back modes for the network and for applications,
     access to emergency services; design for usability such as
     self-configuration of network management and diagnosis at the consumer
     level, approaches to providing user-comprehensible error reporting.
     Proposals with a focus on societal needs should include researchers
     with expertise in networking as well as social science.

   * Architectural Implications of New Wireless and Sensor Network and
     Embedded Computing Technology: Support for mobility including
     addressing and location dynamics, mobility of subnets, Internet-level
     handoff, and security concerns with mobile hosts; location awareness
     and dynamic resource location; support for wireless including
     architectural implications of dynamic variation in performance and
     capacity allocation as well as cross-layer protocol support; embedded
     processing and sensors including implications of low power and
     intermittent operation, application and data driven routing;
     architectural support for discovery, self-organization and service
     composition.

   * Creating Higher-Level Service Architectures: Conceptualizing
     networking at a higher level, closer to what users want to do rather
     than at the level of circuits, routers, and connections, including
     architectures for information handling supporting search, retrieval,
     naming and storage; architectures for management of location with
     awareness, location-based services, search and introduction based on
     location, and architecture for identity systems.

   * Patterns and Architecture for Application Design: How applications and
     services should be designed to exploit new architectures including
     making large-scale distributed applications secure, robust and
     manageable; developing principles and patterns for distributed
     applications; and economic incentives for applications.

   * Optical Network Architectures and Their Implications: Designing in
     robustness with proactive pre-planning of recovery methods in advance;
     responding to differing needs with differentiated survivability
     methods; how to cope with large-scale network disasters so that if
     some parts of the network are working, they can still support as many
     services as possible; research on large-scale correlated failures or
     attacks; implications of advanced optics including dynamic allocation
     of capacity to flows and aggregates in the backbone; integrated
     internetwork/optical management.

   * Holistic Network Design: Designing networks so that applications,
     network architecture and physical layers work together harmoniously so
     that the network architecture layer works with lower layers to
     determine if good-quality paths exist and can be allocated to the
     application to meet its needs.

   * Developing Theories of Network Architecture: Investigating network
     complexity, scalability, limits to robustness and economic incentives;
     methods for architecture specification, validation and testing;
     theories of change including approaches to architecture that will
     survive evolution over time.

For further information, visit the FIND web site at
http://www.nsf.gov/cise/geni/wsr.jsp.

Projects that primarily address network security or trustworthiness should
be submitted to the Cyber Trust program rather than to the NeTS program.

III. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

   * Organization Limit: None Specified.
   * PI Eligibility Limit: None Specified.
   * Limit on Number of Proposals: 2. An individual may appear as PI,
     Co-PI, Senior Personnel, or Consultant on no more than two NeTS
     proposals.

IV. AWARD INFORMATION

The NeTS program emphasizes high-impact systems-oriented research with
significant experimental and testbed components. Projects should clearly
articulate ways in which the architectures, algorithms, protocols, and
systems can be evaluated through experimental, emulation, simulation, or
analytical means. NeTS will also support theoretical research projects that
are closely tied to systems development and that advance understanding of
complex networking systems.

The scope of the proposed project should determine the requirements for a
particular number of investigators and students, as well as the type and
cost of equipment. In the case of FIND submissions, the cost of travel to
three annual PI meetings for the PI and one annual PI meeting for a
student. These requirements in turn will determine the proposal budget.

The NeTS program expects to make the following types of awards:

   * Individual investigator and small group awards that last up to three
     years and average about $120,000 per investigator per year.
   * Large group awards that last up to four years and request up to
     $500,000 per year. Multi-investigator projects must convincingly argue
     why the collaboration is needed, discuss the management and
     collaborative aspects of the project, and have a compelling strategy
     for achieving demonstrable impact.
   * Infrastructure awards that develop and possibly distribute platforms
     for networked sensor systems or build proof-of-concept testbeds.
     Awards last up to three years and average about $500,000 per year.

Investigators should also consider the Major Research instrumentation (MRI)
http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5260 and Computing Research
Infrastructure (CRI) programs
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2004/nsf04588/nsf04588.htm to support
instrumentation and equipment.

   * Small planning grants to support community building and to develop
     large-scale collaborations around one or more research topics. The
     need for such a planning grant must be clearly justified in the
     proposal. Proposing principal investigators (PIs) are expected to be
     established researchers; NeTS planning grants are not intended for new
     investigators seeking to strengthen their ability to write competitive
     proposals.
   * Workshops in new or emerging areas in networking to bring researchers
     together, including those from multiple disciplines.

Principal investigators considering planning grants or workshops must
discuss their idea with a cognizant Program Director prior to submitting a
proposal.

In unusual circumstances, the Division of Computer and Network Systems will
entertain proposals that are beyond the scope and funding levels noted
elsewhere in this solicitation. Such proposals would be expected to explore
groundbreaking or paradigm-changing ideas or to pursue a grand challenge
requiring the work of a substantial number of researchers. Projects of this
type might well include multidisciplinary investigators and cross CNS or
CISE programs. PIs who have in mind such a project must first brief the
appropriate CNS program officers and the CNS Division Director. PIs may
submit a full proposal only after being given permission to do so. The
briefing must take place before the program solicitation deadline so the
Division can plan for the receipt and review of this kind of proposal.

The estimated program budget ($40M), estimated number of awards (60-80),
and average award size/duration are subject to the availability of funds.
Awards may be standard or continuing grants or cooperative agreements.

V. PROPOSAL PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

A. Proposal Preparation Instructions

Full Proposal Instructions:

Proposers may opt to submit proposals in response to this Program
Solicitation via Grants.gov or via the NSF FastLane system.

   * Full proposals submitted via FastLane:

     Proposals submitted in response to this program
     announcement/solicitation should be prepared and submitted in
     accordance with the general guidelines contained in the NSF Grant
     Proposal Guide (GPG). The complete text of the GPG is available
     electronically on the NSF Website at:
     http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=gpg. Paper
     copies of the GPG may be obtained from the NSF Publications
     Clearinghouse, telephone (703) 292-7827 or by e-mail from
     pubs@nsf.gov. Proposers are reminded to identify this program
     announcement/solicitation number in the program
     announcement/solicitation block on the NSF Cover Sheet For
     Proposal to the National Science Foundation. Compliance with this
     requirement is critical to determining the relevant proposal
     processing guidelines. Failure to submit this information may
     delay processing.

   * Full proposals submitted via Grants.gov:

     Proposals submitted in response to this program solicitation via
     Grants.gov should be prepared and submitted in accordance with
     the NSF Grants.gov Application Guide: A Guide for the Preparation
     and Submission of NSF Applications via Grants.gov. The complete
     text of the NSF Grants.gov Application Guide is available on the
     Grants.gov website and on the NSF website at:
     (http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/docs/grantsgovguide.pdf). To
     obtain copies of the Application Guide and Application Forms
     Package, click on the Apply tab on the Grants.gov site, then
     click on the Apply Step 1: Download a Grant Application Package
     and Application Instructions link and enter the funding
     opportunity number, (the program solicitation number without the
     NSF prefix) and press the Download Package button. Paper copies
     of the Grants.gov Application Guide also may be obtained from the
     NSF Publications Clearinghouse, telephone (703) 292-7827 or by
     e-mail from pubs@nsf.gov.

The following instructions deviate from the GPG guidelines:

In FastLane, proposers must select the solicitation number at the beginning
of this solicitation.

To assist NSF staff in sorting proposals for review, proposal titles should
begin with an acronym that identifies the solicitation area being
addressed. Use the following acronyms to identify the area:

   * Programmable Wireless Networks = NeTS-ProWiN;

   * Networking of Sensor Systems = NeTS-NOSS;

   * Networking Broadly Defined = NeTS-NBD; and

   * Future Internet Design = NeTS-FIND.

For example, a NeTS proposal submitted this year might have a title such as
"NeTS-ProWiN: Cross-layer Architectures for Coordinated Spectrum
Management." Proposals not specifically intended for one of the other focus
areas should be submitted to the Networking Broadly Defined area.

Proposers to FIND should address the following points in their submission:

   * Clearly indicate what architectural requirement(s)-such as those
     discussed earlier in this solicitation-the proposed work will address;

   * Discuss how this work would fit into a larger overall architectural
     framework. Discuss what other problems this work might mitigate or
     exacerbate.

   * Using Additional Single Copy Documents in FastLane submit no more than
     two pages describing what infrastructure you would use to validate
     your proposed work, such as simulation, emulation or demonstration on
     a networking infrastructure. If the appropriate infrastructure exists,
     such as ns2, Emulab, or PlanetLab, is sufficient to validate your
     work, so indicate. If you would need infrastructure that does not
     exist, describe the characteristics or features you would require to
     validate your work. This Document will not be seen by reviewers and
     will not be used to evaluate your proposal. This document will provide
     input into the planning process for a new network facility to test new
     architectural ideas.

   * Budget for travel to three FIND PI meetings per year for at least one
     PI and for one student to attend one PI meeting per year for the
     duration of the award.

Every proposal must include a discussion of broader impacts and ideally
will include a substantial educational component, particularly in the
larger proposals. Appropriate goals for the broader impacts component
include the integration of education and research, promoting diversity in
the networking workforce, developing substantial experimental research
educational experiences, and developing curriculum in emerging network
areas. The following URL contains examples illustrating activities that are
likely to demonstrate the broader impacts:
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2002/nsf022/bicexamples.pdf.

Proposers are reminded to identify the program announcement/solicitation
number (NSF 06-516) in the program announcement/solicitation block on the
proposal Cover Sheet. Compliance with this requirement is critical to
determining the relevant proposal processing guidelines. Failure to submit
this information may delay processing.

B. Budgetary Information

Cost Sharing:

Cost sharing is not required by NSF in proposals submitted under this
Program Solicitation.

C. Due Dates

Proposals must be submitted by the following date(s):

Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p.m. submitter's local time):

     March 02, 2006
          Second Wednesday in January beginning in 2007

D. FastLane/Grants.gov Requirements

   * For Proposals Submitted Via FastLane:

     Detailed technical instructions for proposal preparation and
     submission via FastLane are available at:
     https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/a1/newstan.htm. For FastLane user
     support, call the FastLane Help Desk at 1-800-673-6188 or e-mail
     fastlane@nsf.gov. The FastLane Help Desk answers general
     technical questions related to the use of the FastLane system.
     Specific questions related to this program solicitation should be
     referred to the NSF program staff contact(s) listed in Section
     VIII of this solicitation.

     Submission of Electronically Signed Cover Sheets. The Authorized
     Organizational Representative (AOR) must electronically sign the
     proposal Cover Sheet to submit the required proposal
     certifications (see Chapter II, Section C of the Grant Proposal
     Guide for a listing of the certifications). The AOR must provide
     the required electronic certifications within five working days
     following the electronic submission of the proposal. Proposers
     are no longer required to provide a paper copy of the signed
     Proposal Cover Sheet to NSF. Further instructions regarding this
     process are available on the FastLane Website at:
     http://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/

   * For Proposals Submitted Via Grants.gov:

     Before using Grants.gov for the first time, each organization
     must register to create an institutional profile. Once
     registered, the applicant&rsquo;s organization can then apply for
     any federal grant on the Grants.gov website. The
     Grants.gov&rsquo;s Grant Community User Guide is a comprehensive
     reference document that provides technical information about
     Grants.gov. Proposers can download the User Guide as a Microsoft
     Word document or as a PDF document. The Grants.gov User Guide is
     available at: http://www.grants.gov/CustomerSupport. In addition,
     the NSF Grants.gov Application Guide provides additional
     technical guidance regarding preparation of proposals via
     Grants.gov. For Grants.gov user support, contact the Grants.gov
     Contact Center at 1-800-518-4726 or by email: support@grants.gov.
     The Grants.gov Contact Center answers general technical questions
     related to the use of Grants.gov. Specific questions related to
     this program solicitation should be referred to the NSF pr ogram
     staff contact(s) listed in Section VIII of this solicitation.

     Submitting the Proposal: Once all documents have been completed,
     the Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) must submit
     the application to Grants.gov and verify the desired funding
     opportunity and agency to which the application is submitted. The
     AOR must then sign and submit the application to Grants.gov. The
     completed application will be transferred to the NSF FastLane
     system for further processing.

VI. PROPOSAL REVIEW INFORMATION

A. NSF Proposal Review Process

Reviews of proposals submitted to NSF are solicited from peers with
expertise in the substantive area of the proposed research or education
project. These reviewers are selected by Program Officers charged with the
oversight of the review process. NSF invites the proposer to suggest, at
the time of submission, the names of appropriate or inappropriate
reviewers. Care is taken to ensure that reviewers have no conflicts with
the proposer. Special efforts are made to recruit reviewers from
non-academic institutions, minority-serving institutions, or adjacent
disciplines to that principally addressed in the proposal.

The National Science Board approved revised criteria for evaluating
proposals at its meeting on March 28, 1997 (NSB 97-72). All NSF proposals
are evaluated through use of the two merit review criteria. In some
instances, however, NSF will employ additional criteria as required to
highlight the specific objectives of certain programs and activities.

On July 8, 2002, the NSF Director issued Important Notice 127,
Implementation of new Grant Proposal Guide Requirements Related to the
Broader Impacts Criterion. This Important Notice reinforces the importance
of addressing both criteria in the preparation and review of all proposals
submitted to NSF. NSF continues to strengthen its internal processes to
ensure that both of the merit review criteria are addressed when making
funding decisions.

In an effort to increase compliance with these requirements, the January
2002 issuance of the GPG incorporated revised proposal preparation
guidelines relating to the development of the Project Summary and Project
Description. Chapter II of the GPG specifies that Principal Investigators
(PIs) must address both merit review criteria in separate statements within
the one-page Project Summary. This chapter also reiterates that broader
impacts resulting from the proposed project must be addressed in the
Project Description and described as an integral part of the narrative.

Effective October 1, 2002, NSF will return without review proposals that do
not separately address both merit review criteria within the Project
Summary. It is believed that these changes to NSF proposal preparation and
processing guidelines will more clearly articulate the importance of
broader impacts to NSF-funded projects.

The two National Science Board approved merit review criteria are listed
below (see the Grant Proposal Guide Chapter III.A for further information).
The criteria include considerations that help define them. These
considerations are suggestions and not all will apply to any given
proposal. While proposers must address both merit review criteria,
reviewers will be asked to address only those considerations that are
relevant to the proposal being considered and for which he/she is qualified
to make judgments.

     What is the intellectual merit of the proposed activity?
     How important is the proposed activity to advancing knowledge and
     understanding within its own field or across different fields? How
     well qualified is the proposer (individual or team) to conduct the
     project? (If appropriate, the reviewer will comment on the quality of
     the prior work.) To what extent does the proposed activity suggest and
     explore creative and original concepts? How well conceived and
     organized is the proposed activity? Is there sufficient access to
     resources?

     What are the broader impacts of the proposed activity?
     How well does the activity advance discovery and understanding while
     promoting teaching, training, and learning? How well does the proposed
     activity broaden the participation of underrepresented groups (e.g.,
     gender, ethnicity, disability, geographic, etc.)? To what extent will
     it enhance the infrastructure for research and education, such as
     facilities, instrumentation, networks, and partnerships? Will the
     results be disseminated broadly to enhance scientific and
     technological understanding? What may be the benefits of the proposed
     activity to society?

NSF staff will give careful consideration to the following in making
funding decisions:

     Integration of Research and Education
     One of the principal strategies in support of NSF's goals is to foster
     integration of research and education through the programs, projects,
     and activities it supports at academic and research institutions.
     These institutions provide abundant opportunities where individuals
     may concurrently assume responsibilities as researchers, educators,
     and students and where all can engage in joint efforts that infuse
     education with the excitement of discovery and enrich research through
     the diversity of learning perspectives.

     Integrating Diversity into NSF Programs, Projects, and Activities
     Broadening opportunities and enabling the participation of all
     citizens -- women and men, underrepresented minorities, and persons
     with disabilities -- is essential to the health and vitality of
     science and engineering. NSF is committed to this principle of
     diversity and deems it central to the programs, projects, and
     activities it considers and supports.

     Additional Review Criteria:

     Additional considerations in evaluating NeTS-FIND proposals include:

        * How well does the proposed work address one or more architectural
          requirement(s)?
        * How well does the proposed work relate to and enhance a larger
          overall architectural framework?
        * How important is this work to the framing of a new architecture?

B. Review Protocol and Associated Customer Service Standard

All proposals are carefully reviewed by at least three other persons
outside NSF who are experts in the particular field represented by the
proposal. Proposals submitted in response to this announcement/solicitation
will be reviewed by Ad Hoc and/or panel review.

Reviewers will be asked to formulate a recommendation to either support or
decline each proposal. The Program Officer assigned to manage the
proposal's review will consider the advice of reviewers and will formulate
a recommendation.

A summary rating and accompanying narrative will be completed and submitted
by each reviewer. In all cases, reviews are treated as confidential
documents. Verbatim copies of reviews, excluding the names of the
reviewers, are sent to the Principal Investigator/Project Director by the
Program Director. In addition, the proposer will receive an explanation of
the decision to award or decline funding.

In most cases, proposers will be contacted by the Program Officer after his
or her recommendation to award or decline funding has been approved by the
Division Director. This informal notification is not a guarantee of an
eventual award.

NSF is striving to be able to tell proposers whether their proposals have
been declined or recommended for funding within six months. The time
interval begins on the closing date of an announcement/solicitation, or the
date of proposal receipt, whichever is later. The interval ends when the
Division Director accepts the Program Officer's recommendation.

In all cases, after programmatic approval has been obtained, the proposals
recommended for funding will be forwarded to the Division of Grants and
Agreements for review of business, financial, and policy implications and
the processing and issuance of a grant or other agreement. Proposers are
cautioned that only a Grants and Agreements Officer may make commitments,
obligations or awards on behalf of NSF or authorize the expenditure of
funds. No commitment on the part of NSF should be inferred from technical
or budgetary discussions with a NSF Program Officer. A Principal
Investigator or organization that makes financial or personnel commitments
in the absence of a grant or cooperative agreement signed by the NSF Grants
and Agreements Officer does so at their own risk.

VII. AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION

A. Notification of the Award

Notification of the award is made to the submitting organization by a
Grants Officer in the Division of Grants and Agreements. Organizations
whose proposals are declined will be advised as promptly as possible by the
cognizant NSF Program Division administering the program. Verbatim copies
of reviews, not including the identity of the reviewer, will be provided
automatically to the Principal Investigator. (See section VI.A. for
additional information on the review process.)

B. Award Conditions

An NSF award consists of: (1) the award letter, which includes any special
provisions applicable to the award and any numbered amendments thereto; (2)
the budget, which indicates the amounts, by categories of expense, on which
NSF has based its support (or otherwise communicates any specific approvals
or disapprovals of proposed expenditures); (3) the proposal referenced in
the award letter; (4) the applicable award conditions, such as Grant
General Conditions (NSF-GC-1); * or Federal Demonstration Partnership (FDP)
Terms and Conditions * and (5) any announcement or other NSF issuance that
may be incorporated by reference in the award letter. Cooperative agreement
awards are administered in accordance with NSF Cooperative Agreement
Financial and Administrative Terms and Conditions (CA-FATC). Electronic
mail notification is the preferred way to transmit NSF awards to
organizations that have electronic mail capabilities and have requested
such notification from the Division of Grants and Agreements.

Consistent with the requirements of OMB Circular A-16, Coordination of
Geographic Information and Related Spatial Data Activities, and the Federal
Geographic Data Committee, all NSF awards that result in relevant
geospatial data must be submitted to Geospatial One-Stop in accordance with
the guidelines provided at: www.geodata.gov.

More comprehensive information on NSF Award Conditions is contained in the
NSF Grant Policy Manual (GPM) Chapter II, available electronically on the
NSF Website at http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=gpm.
The GPM is also for sale through the Superintendent of Documents,
Government Printing Office (GPO), Washington, DC 20402. The telephone
number at GPO for subscription information is (202) 512-1800. The GPM may
be ordered through the GPO Website at http://www.gpo.gov/.

*These documents may be accessed electronically on NSF's Website at
http://www.nsf.gov/awards/managing/. Paper copies of these documents may be
obtained from the NSF Publications Clearinghouse, telephone (703) 292-7827
or by e-mail from pubs@nsf.gov.

C. Reporting Requirements

For all multi-year grants (including both standard and continuing grants),
the PI must submit an annual project report to the cognizant Program
Officer at least 90 days before the end of the current budget period.

Large group projects may be site visited one or more times at NSF's
discretion.

Within 90 days after the expiration of an award, the PI also is required to
submit a final project report. Failure to provide final technical reports
delays NSF review and processing of pending proposals for the PI and all
Co-PIs. PIs should examine the formats of the required reports in advance
to assure availability of required data.

PIs are required to use NSF's electronic project reporting system,
available through FastLane, for preparation and submission of annual and
final project reports. This system permits electronic submission and
updating of project reports, including information on project participants
(individual and organizational), activities and findings, publications, and
other specific products and contributions. PIs will not be required to
re-enter information previously provided, either with a proposal or in
earlier updates using the electronic system.

VIII. CONTACTS FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

General inquiries regarding this program should be made to:

   * Darleen L. Fisher, Program Director, Directorate for Computer &
     Information Science & Engineering, Division of Computer and Network
     Systems, 1175 N, telephone: (703) 292-8950, fax: (703) 292-9010,
     email: dlfisher@nsf.gov

   * Guru Parulkar, Program Director, Directorate for Computer &
     Information Science & Engineering, Division of Computer and Network
     Systems, 1175 N, telephone: (703) 292-8950, fax: (703) 292-9010,
     email: gparulka@nsf.gov

   * David Goodman, telephone: (703) 292-4550, email: dgoodman@nsf.gov

For questions related to the use of FastLane, contact:

   * FastLane Help Desk, telephone: 1-800-673-6188; e-mail:
     fastlane@nsf.gov.

   * Doris A Hutchinson, Program Specialist, 1175 N, telephone: (703)
     292-8950, fax: (703) 292-9010, email: dhutchin@nsf.gov

The primary contacts for the four components are:

   * Programmable Wireless Networks (ProWiN): Darleen Fisher; Guru Parulkar
   * Networking of Sensor Systems (NOSS): Guru Parulkar
   * Networking Broadly Defined (NBD): Darleen Fisher
   * Future Internet Design (FIND): Darleen Fisher; Guru Parulkar

For questions relating to Grants.gov contact:

   * Grants.gov Contact Center: If the Authorized Organizational
     Representatives (AOR) has not received a confirmation message from
     Grants.gov within 48 hours of submission of application, please
     contact via telephone: 1-800-518-4726; e-mail: support@grants.gov.

IX. OTHER PROGRAMS OF INTEREST

The NSF Guide to Programs is a compilation of funding for research and
education in science, mathematics, and engineering. The NSF Guide to
Programs is available electronically at
http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?gp. General descriptions of NSF programs,
research areas, and eligibility information for proposal submission are
provided in each chapter.

Many NSF programs offer announcements or solicitations concerning specific
proposal requirements. To obtain additional information about these
requirements, contact the appropriate NSF program offices. Any changes in
NSF's fiscal year programs occurring after press time for the Guide to
Programs will be announced in the NSF E-Bulletin, which is updated daily on
the NSF Website at http://www.nsf.gov/home/ebulletin, and in individual
program announcements/solicitations. Subscribers can also sign up for NSF's
MyNSF News Service (http://www.nsf.gov/mynsf/) to be notified of new
funding opportunities that become available.

Related Programs:

   * Computer Systems Research
   * Cyber Trust
   * Computing Research Infrastructure

ABOUT THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

The National Science Foundation (NSF) funds research and education in most
fields of science and engineering. Awardees are wholly responsible for
conducting their project activities and preparing the results for
publication. Thus, the Foundation does not assume responsibility for such
findings or their interpretation.

NSF welcomes proposals from all qualified scientists, engineers and
educators. The Foundation strongly encourages women, minorities and persons
with disabilities to compete fully in its programs. In accordance with
Federal statutes, regulations and NSF policies, no person on grounds of
race, color, age, sex, national origin or disability shall be excluded from
participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to
discrimination under any program or activity receiving financial assistance
from NSF, although some programs may have special requirements that limit
eligibility.

Facilitation Awards for Scientists and Engineers with Disabilities (FASED)
provide funding for special assistance or equipment to enable persons with
disabilities (investigators and other staff, including student research
assistants) to work on NSF-supported projects. See the GPG Chapter II,
Section D.2 for instructions regarding preparation of these types of
proposals.

 The National Science Foundation promotes and advances scientific
 progress in the United States by competitively awarding grants and
 cooperative agreements for research and education in the sciences,
 mathematics, and engineering.

 To get the latest information about program deadlines, to download
 copies of NSF publications, and to access abstracts of awards, visit the
 NSF Website at http://www.nsf.gov

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               Send an e-mail to:          pubs@nsf.gov

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PRIVACY ACT AND PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENTS

The information requested on proposal forms and project reports is
solicited under the authority of the National Science Foundation Act of
1950, as amended. The information on proposal forms will be used in
connection with the selection of qualified proposals; project reports
submitted by awardees will be used for program evaluation and reporting
within the Executive Branch and to Congress. The information requested may
be disclosed to qualified reviewers and staff assistants as part of the
proposal review process; to applicant institutions/grantees to provide or
obtain data regarding the proposal review process, award decisions, or the
administration of awards; to government contractors, experts, volunteers
and researchers and educators as necessary to complete assigned work; to
other government agencies needing information as part of the review process
or in order to coordinate programs; and to another Federal agency, court or
party in a court or Federal administrative proceeding if the government is
a party. Information about Principal Investigators may be added to the
Reviewer file and used to select potential candidates to serve as peer
reviewers or advisory committee members. See Systems of Records, NSF-50,
"Principal Investigator/Proposal File and Associated Records," 63 Federal
Register 267 (January 5, 1998), and NSF-51, "Reviewer/Proposal File and
Associated Records," 63 Federal Register 268 (January 5, 1998). Submission
of the information is voluntary. Failure to provide full and complete
information, however, may reduce the possibility of receiving an award.

An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to
respond to an information collection unless it displays a valid OMB control
number. The OMB control number for this collection is 3145-0058. Public
reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average
120 hours per response, including the time for reviewing instructions. Send
comments regarding this burden estimate and any other aspect of this
collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden,
to: Suzanne Plimpton, Reports Clearance Officer, Division of Administrative
Services, National Science Foundation, Arlington, VA 22230.

OMB control number: 3145-0058.

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