Project Grant 2241818

The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $604,728 Project Grant under the Computer and Information Science and Engineering program (CFDA 47.070) to the Regents of the University of Colorado, a U.S. state government institution of higher learning. The grant supports research and development of "Transparent Network Acceleration" (TNA), a novel networking architecture and design flow that can automatically build and deploy efficient hardware and software acceleration for network functions like video conferencing. Key deliverables include developing techniques to introspect Linux kernel dependencies, compile acceleration modules for both in-kernel Express Data Path and FPGA-based SmartNIC platforms, and demonstrate the acceleration of a Selective Forwarding Unit for video conferencing with security and container networking considerations. The award period runs from May 2023 through April 2026.