University of Notre Dame, ASSIA, and City of South Bend Team Up to Tackle Digital Divide

The University of Notre Dame, in collaboration with technology partner ASSIA and the City of South Bend, is embarking on a groundbreaking initiative to address the challenge of accurately measuring Internet access and speeds to bridge the digital divide. The research project aims to provide reliable data to enable better-informed public broadband investments and ensure Internet Service Providers deliver on their commitments.

The existing techniques for measuring Internet access and speeds, such as FCC maps, Ookla, and M-Lab speed tests, have well-documented limitations. Current methodologies must accurately capture the user experience of home internet over Wi-Fi, leading to challenges in identifying and addressing poor Internet connectivity.

The University of Notre Dame team, led by Professors Monisha Ghosh and Aaron Striegel, along with technology experts from ASSIA and representatives from the City of South Bend, has developed an innovative approach to tackle this issue. By soliciting participation from households experiencing poor Internet performance, the team will deploy Raspberry Pi devices to conduct performance tests over wired and wireless connections. These tests will provide a comprehensive view of the lived Internet experience, including diagnostic information on the Wi-Fi environment.

The University of Notre Dame’s rigorous data collection process, approved by the Notre Dame Institutional Review Board, ensures the strict anonymization of all collected data, focusing solely on performance metrics and Wi-Fi environmental data. This anonymized data repository will enable in-depth analysis to identify patterns and root causes for poor Internet connectivity in partnership with ASSIA.

The collaborative research effort involves a multidisciplinary team of experts, including grad students and postdocs from the University of Notre Dame, technology specialists from ASSIA, and representatives from the City of South Bend.

If you want to participate in the research projects, please contact Tiffanie Sammons.

Learn more about the project at: https://wireless.nd.edu/research/new-methods-for-residential-broadband-monitoring/