"Researcher Aims to Boost Rural Access to 5G, Harden Wireless Network Security and Help Conceive 6G"
A map of nationwide 5G coverage from any mobile service provider reveals that rural areas do not have 5G service. The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a three-year, $1 million grant to a University of Kansas researcher to improve the design of 5G connectivity and computing for rural areas or communities with unique network demands based on agricultural and community patterns of living and working. In addition to reimagining rural 5G access, Taejoon Kim, assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science and researcher at KU's Institute for Information Sciences (I2S), will be able to harden commercial 5G networks for use by the US government, military, and infrastructure operators, as well as develop technology for 6G wireless technology, thanks to two additional NSF awards. Kim is the principal investigator for a year-long $750,000 phase one award from the NSF's Convergence Accelerator program to help the Department of Defense (DOD) with end-device enhancements and 5G infrastructure augmentations, allowing US military, government, and infrastructure operators to operate through public 5G networks while meeting security and resilience requirements. The pursuit of 'Zero Trust,' an approach to designing IT that requires all devices on a network to be verified, is the primary motivation for this project, so work will be done to integrate various security solutions to increase the level of trust in 5G networks. Kim and his team's work would also explore aspects of cybersecurity, the resilience of Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms and architecture, as well as cloud radio access networks. This article continues to discuss the NSF-funded research projects aimed at improving rural access to 5G, bolstering wireless network security, and defining 6G wireless communications requirements.