PhoneLab: A Participatory Smartphone Cloud Testbed (Complete)

The expanding capabilities and growing number of smartphones are producing a new computing infrastructure integrating phones, users, and the cloud. We call this emerging device the phone cloud, and its power is transforming user expectations. They now expect their phones to locate friends; identify the song playing at a restaurant; provide instant access to music, video, and other information; and help document their lives—​all in addition to placing phone calls and sending text messages. Meeting these expectations requires addressing multiple challenges: efficiently utilizing multiple radio technologies and integrated sensors, harnessing powerful processors to support demanding applications, and leveraging distributed storage to move data closer to users. Yet, despite the challenges and transformative nature of the phone cloud, no public testbed exists enabling large-scale realistic smartphone experimentation.

We propose to develop PhoneLab, a new scientific instrument enabling smartphone operating system and mobile application research in a realistic environment at a scale not previously possible. PhoneLab will eventually consist of 1,000 reprogrammable Android devices deployed into the hands of UB students and staff, providing the power, scale, and realism necessary to enable mobile computing research.