2217144
Project Grant
Overview
Grant Description
Collaborative Research: PPOSS: Large: Scalable Specialization in Distributed Edge-Cloud Systems - The Extended Reality Case. This project will develop design methodologies for a scalable, domain-specific, heterogeneous, distributed edge/cloud system with stringent constraints on latency, energy, thermal power, computational requirements, and size. The work will use a distributed multiparty augmented/virtual/mixed reality (collectively, extended reality or XR) experience as a target parallel and distributed application with challenging quality-of-experience goals, scalability requirements, design constraints, and diverse and fast-evolving algorithmic components.
There are orders-of-magnitude gaps between desirable design goals and today's state-of-the-art, making this a long-lived multidisciplinary research challenge. The project brings together work in computer architecture, programming languages and compilers, systems, security and privacy, and accuracy and correctness. It will result in innovations that cut across the system stack to improve quality-of-experience scalability with the number of users and devices and device resources, XR device performance scalability with hardware parallelism, and design methodologies scalability with system complexity.
The project will disseminate its research results through considerable open-source software artifacts, building on the team's previously released ILLIXR system (the first open-source end-to-end single-device XR system), in addition to publications in top venues and talks in academic and industry venues. High-performance, energy-efficient distributed applications such as multiparty XR (and numerous others) have the potential for transformative impact on a vast number of societal activities such as medicine, education, entertainment, manufacturing, science, and more.
The team will work in close collaboration with industry partners for direct technology-transfer avenues. The PIs will continue their past record of strong involvement of undergraduates, women, and minorities in research; leadership in establishing the CARES movement; and other efforts to broaden participation in computing. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
There are orders-of-magnitude gaps between desirable design goals and today's state-of-the-art, making this a long-lived multidisciplinary research challenge. The project brings together work in computer architecture, programming languages and compilers, systems, security and privacy, and accuracy and correctness. It will result in innovations that cut across the system stack to improve quality-of-experience scalability with the number of users and devices and device resources, XR device performance scalability with hardware parallelism, and design methodologies scalability with system complexity.
The project will disseminate its research results through considerable open-source software artifacts, building on the team's previously released ILLIXR system (the first open-source end-to-end single-device XR system), in addition to publications in top venues and talks in academic and industry venues. High-performance, energy-efficient distributed applications such as multiparty XR (and numerous others) have the potential for transformative impact on a vast number of societal activities such as medicine, education, entertainment, manufacturing, science, and more.
The team will work in close collaboration with industry partners for direct technology-transfer avenues. The PIs will continue their past record of strong involvement of undergraduates, women, and minorities in research; leadership in establishing the CARES movement; and other efforts to broaden participation in computing. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Awardee
Funding Goals
THE GOAL OF THIS FUNDING OPPORTUNITY, "PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF SCALABLE SYSTEMS", IS IDENTIFIED IN THE LINK: HTTPS://WWW.NSF.GOV/PUBLICATIONS/PUB_SUMM.JSP?ODS_KEY=NSF22507
Grant Program (CFDA)
Awarding Agency
Funding Agency
Place of Performance
Urbana,
Illinois
61801-3620
United States
Geographic Scope
Single Zip Code
Related Opportunity
Analysis Notes
Amendment Since initial award the total obligations have increased 66% from $2,250,000 to $3,740,368.
University Of Illinois was awarded
Scalable Specialization in Edge-Cloud Systems for XR
Project Grant 2217144
worth $3,740,368
from the Division of Computer and Network Systems in October 2022 with work to be completed primarily in Urbana Illinois United States.
The grant
has a duration of 5 years and
was awarded through assistance program 47.070 Computer and Information Science and Engineering.
The Project Grant was awarded through grant opportunity Principles and Practice of Scalable Systems.
Status
(Ongoing)
Last Modified 9/18/25
Period of Performance
10/1/22
Start Date
9/30/27
End Date
Funding Split
$3.7M
Federal Obligation
$0.0
Non-Federal Obligation
$3.7M
Total Obligated
Activity Timeline
Transaction History
Modifications to 2217144
Additional Detail
Award ID FAIN
2217144
SAI Number
None
Award ID URI
SAI EXEMPT
Awardee Classifications
Public/State Controlled Institution Of Higher Education
Awarding Office
490501 DIV OF COMPUTER COMM FOUNDATIONS
Funding Office
490505 DIV OF COMPUTER NETWORK SYSTEMS
Awardee UEI
Y8CWNJRCNN91
Awardee CAGE
4B808
Performance District
IL-13
Senators
Richard Durbin
Tammy Duckworth
Tammy Duckworth
Budget Funding
Federal Account | Budget Subfunction | Object Class | Total | Percentage |
---|---|---|---|---|
Research and Related Activities, National Science Foundation (049-0100) | General science and basic research | Grants, subsidies, and contributions (41.0) | $2,250,000 | 100% |
Modified: 9/18/25