CIF: Small: Collaborative Research: Fundamental Limits of Information Systems: A Computational Approach

CIF：小型：协作研究：信息系统的基本限制：计算方法

• 批准号: 1526095
• 负责人: Chao Tian
• 金额: $ 36.84万
• 依托单位: University of Tennessee Knoxville
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-08-15 至 2018-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1526095&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CIF; Small; Collaborative; Research; Fundamental

Information theory provides a general framework in which the fundamental limits of information systems (wired and wireless networks, cryptographic systems, data compression and storage systems, and others) can be meaningfully investigated. The investigation of such limits is traditionally conducted analytically, requiring in many cases substantial ingenuity. As modern information systems become more and more complex, such an approach becomes rather unwieldy. The main goal of this project is to build upon initial successes in applying a computational approach to characterize the fundamental limits of certain distributed storage systems, and to further understand what it takes for the proposed computational approach to be successful in the broad setting of big-data infrastructure.The proposed computational approach is built upon the vantage point that the overall process of identifying and proving fundamental limits can be alternatively viewed as an optimization problem under the specific constraints of the system at hand and the general constraints of information measures. The difficulty lies in the fact that such optimization programs are usually very large for any practically relevant problems, and numerical results are difficult to interpret. This project pursues three major thrusts: 1) finding more efficient problem representations using symmetry and other constraints; 2) improving the optimization algorithms using domain knowledge; and 3) finding intelligent interpretations of the computed results through duality to facilitate engineering design. The results are expected to have measurable impacts on the following two disciplines: 1) Big-data infrastructure: The ongoing big-data movement calls for information systems with diverse reliability and functionality requirements. By identifying the fundamental limits of such systems, accurate performance evaluations and meaningful design guidelines may be assessed; and 2) Information theory: The proposed study will bridge the disciplines of computational optimization and information theory, and instill more computerized intelligence into information theory research.

信息论提供了一个通用框架，可以在其中有意义地研究信息系统（有线和无线网络、密码系统、数据压缩和存储系统等）的基本限制。对此类限制的研究传统上是通过分析进行的，在许多情况下需要大量的独创性。随着现代信息系统变得越来越复杂，这种方法变得相当笨拙。该项目的主要目标是在应用计算方法来表征某些分布式存储系统的基本限制方面取得初步成功，并进一步了解所提出的计算方法在大范围的大环境中取得成功需要什么。所提出的计算方法建立在这样的有利位置上：识别和证明基本极限的整个过程可以被视为在当前系统的特定约束和信息测量的一般约束下的优化问题。困难在于这样的优化程序对于任何实际相关的问题通常都非常大，并且数值结果很难解释。该项目追求三个主要目标：1）使用对称性和其他约束找到更有效的问题表示； 2）利用领域知识改进优化算法； 3）通过对偶性找到计算结果的智能解释，以促进工程设计。研究结果预计将对以下两个学科产生可衡量的影响：1）大数据基础设施：正在进行的大数据运动需要具有不同可靠性和功能要求的信息系统。通过识别此类系统的基本限制，可以评估准确的性能评估和有意义的设计指南； 2）信息论：所提出的研究将在计算优化和信息论学科之间架起桥梁，并将更多的计算机智能注入信息论研究中。