Enabling Public Security and Forensics: NSF Programs and Initiatives

As the physical and cyber we live in worlds converge, public security and forensics increasingly become problems of the information and communication network infrastructure that supports our society. Wireless communications, traditional telephony, the Internet, broadcast communication networks; to name a few, are elements of the networking fabric that weaves together our work, entertainment, health, education, finances, and security. As networking research has torn down the barriers between layers of the classic communication and information system architecture, information theory, signal processing and communication theory have come to directly impact applications and services. National Science Foundation (NSF) supports this view with several new research programs such as clean-slate Internet, cybertrust and sensor networking, while evolving the long standing programs in signal processing and communications. True to NSF tradition of leading and following the research community, this keynote talk aims to simultaneously present the stage, and receive direction.