C-POD: An AWS Cloud Framework for Edge Pod Automation and Remote Wireless Testbed Sharing

This paper presents C-POD, a cloud-native framework that automates the deployment and management of edge pods for seamless remote access and sharing of wireless testbeds. C-POD leverages public cloud resources and edge pods to lower the barrier to over-the-air (OTA) experimentation, enabling researchers to share and access distributed testbeds without extensive local infrastructure. A supporting toolkit has been developed for C-POD to enable flexible and scalable experimental workflows, including containerized edge environments, persistent Secure Shell (SSH) tunnels, and stable graphical interfaces. We prototype and deploy C-POD on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud to demonstrate its key features, including cloud-assisted edge pod deployment automation, elastic computing resource management, and experiment observability, by integrating two wireless testbeds that focus on RF signal generation and 5G(B) communications, respectively.

Cloud-Based Federation Framework and Prototype for Open, Scalable, and Shared Access to NextG and IoT Testbeds

In this work, we present a new federation framework for UnionLabs, an innovative cloud-based resource-sharing infrastructure designed for next-generation (NextG) and Internet of Things (IoT) over-the-air (OTA) experiments. The framework aims to reduce the federation complexity for testbeds developers by automating tedious backend operations, thereby providing scalable federation and remote access to various wireless testbeds. We first describe the key components of the new federation framework, including the Systems Manager Integration Engine (SMIE), the Automated Script Generator (ASG), and the Database Context Manager (DCM). We then prototype and deploy the new Federation Plane on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud, demonstrating its effectiveness by federating two wireless testbeds: i) UB NeXT, a 5G-and-beyond (5G+) testbed at the University at Buffalo, and ii) UT IoT, an IoT testbed at the University of Utah. Through this work we aim to initiate a grassroots campaign to democratize access to wireless research testbeds with heterogeneous hardware resources and network environment, and accelerate the establishment of a mature, open experimental ecosystem for the wireless community. The API of the new Federation Plane will be released to the community after internal testing is completed.