Resilient & Intelligent NextG Systems | 21 581

Opportunity Information: Apply for 21 581

The National Science Foundation (NSF) grant opportunity "Resilient and Intelligent NextG Systems" (RINGS), Funding Opportunity Number 21-581, is a discretionary research grant program designed to speed up high-impact research for emerging Next Generation (NextG) wireless and mobile ecosystems. The core idea is to push beyond incremental improvements in wireless networking by supporting research that can meaningfully shape future communications, networking, sensing, and computing systems, including the large-scale services that run on top of them. While NextG is often discussed in terms of raw performance, this program puts a strong spotlight on resiliency as a first-class design goal, alongside familiar metrics like throughput, latency, and connection density.

In the RINGS program, "resiliency" is treated as a broad, practical umbrella that includes security, adaptability, and autonomy. The program is motivated by the expectation that modern and future networks will carry a growing share of critical and essential services, not just consumer traffic. These services increasingly depend on embedded computation, cross-device coordination, and intelligent decision-making, meaning that network failures or attacks can have outsized consequences. RINGS emphasizes that resilient systems should not simply be hardened against problems, but should be able to degrade gracefully when stressed, maintain partial service when conditions are extreme, and then adapt quickly as conditions change. In other words, it is not only about preventing failures, but also about ensuring the system behaves predictably and recovers effectively when failures, disruptions, interference, or adversarial actions occur.

A key distinguishing feature of this solicitation is its explicit requirement to pursue gains in resiliency across all layers of the networking protocol stack and the computation stack, rather than isolating security or robustness to a single component. That includes research that might span the physical and radio-frequency layers, spectrum use, antennas and MIMO, link and transport behavior, routing and control, network management and orchestration, distributed computing/edge computing, and higher-level services and applications. The program also calls for work that simultaneously advances classic performance goals such as higher throughput (often discussed in Gbps), lower latency (often in milliseconds), and higher device density (important for IoT-style deployments), without sacrificing the resiliency targets. The overall message is that NextG systems cannot be considered "next generation" if they are fast but brittle, or secure but impractically slow; RINGS is looking for integrated technical approaches that improve both.

The program is also structured around the idea that the hardest problems in NextG resiliency and intelligence are inherently interdisciplinary. NSF signals that it wants collaborative, team-based projects that cross traditional discipline boundaries. This can mean combining communications theory with machine learning, systems engineering with cybersecurity, network protocol design with formal methods, or RF/THz hardware considerations with distributed computing and control. The solicitation frames this as necessary to reach the desired leaps in capability, since modern networked systems are tightly coupled across hardware, software, and operational decision-making.

Another important element is the partnership model. In addition to NSF, the program involves collaboration with the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD R and E), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and multiple industry partners. This signals two things: first, that the research is expected to connect to real-world needs around critical infrastructure and national-scale communications; and second, that there is interest in outcomes that could influence standards, best practices, and eventually deployment. While the solicitation remains a fundamental research program, the presence of NIST and industry partners suggests an emphasis on results that can be validated, benchmarked, and transitioned more readily than purely theoretical work.

From an administrative standpoint, this is a grant funding opportunity under CFDA numbers 47.041 and 47.070, categorized under science and technology and other research and development. The award ceiling listed is $1,000,000, and the solicitation anticipated about 48 awards. The opportunity was originally posted on April 28, 2021, with an original closing date of July 29, 2021. Eligibility is listed broadly as "Others" with additional clarification in the full text, which typically implies that applicants need to consult the solicitation for exact institutional eligibility and team composition rules.

Finally, the solicitation includes a list of common acronyms that gives a good sense of the technical landscape the program expects teams to navigate. It references AI, IoT, AR/VR, MIMO, RF, THz, UAS, and PAWR (Platform on Advanced Wireless Research), reflecting the reality that NextG networks are expected to support everything from immersive applications and massive sensor deployments to advanced antenna systems and higher-frequency communications. In practical terms, RINGS is aimed at research that makes these NextG capabilities not only faster and more scalable, but also trustworthy, self-adjusting, and robust under real operational stress.

• The National Science Foundation in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Resilient & Intelligent NextG Systems" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 47.041, 47.070.
• This funding opportunity was created on Apr 28, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jul 29, 2021. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 48 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for 21 581

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: