Introduction
My
research interests lie at the intersection of technology and policy.
Specifically, I work on
developing
technical methods of incorporating policy requirements into network systems and
solving
public
policy problems through the development of new technology. As such, my
technology work
is
motivated by timely problems within the policy space and my policy work is a
response to
network
technology change. These types of problems have a highly interdisciplinary
nature. Such
interdisciplinary
research not only presents new and interesting challenges, but also requires
the use
of
quantitative and qualitative techniques that span traditional boundaries
between soft and hard
science
and often requires collaboration with individuals from various disciplines. My
collaborative
work
has led me to participate in a number of research groups throughout the campus,
including
the
Silicon Flatirons Program, Computer and Communications Security Research Center
(CCSC),
Alliance
for Technology Learning and Society (ALTAS) and the Center for Science and
Technology
Policy
Research (CSTPR). My collaborations have also led to co-advising Ph.D. students
and
proposal
writing with faculty outside of Computer Science. In venturing outside of the
University,
I
have established research relationships with individuals from other
universities and with foreign
governments
(e.g., Turkey and Australia).
My
work in bridging the gap between technology and policy has led to invitations
to participate
in
various national advisory boards (i.e., the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) Technical
Advisory
Committee and the FCC Network Reliability and Interoperability Council [71]) as
well
as
participation in various national institutes (i.e., the Aspen Institute, the
Institute for Regulatory
Law
and Economics and the Digital Age Communications Act Projects [1, 12]). I have
also obtained
grants
from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency
(DARPA),
Cisco and IBM that focus specifically on these interdisciplinary problems.
My
research interests break down into the following three areas: 1) building and
assessing
adaptive
wireless networks [4, 3, 2, 7, 8, 9, 10, 16, 15, 14, 13, 17, 19, 31, 38, 76,
81, 58, 40, 57, 49, 72,
82,
78, 80, 79, 75, 77], 2) developing security and signaling systems [6, 18, 29,
26, 27, 21, 22, 30, 34,
35,
61, 70, 73, 69, 56, 28, 62, 63, 54, 48, 46, 51, 52, 71, 45, 44, 60, 64, 65, 43,
74, 25] and 3) developing
policy
and assurance models [33, 8, 7, 23, 32, 36, 11, 20, 40, 39, 57, 66, 1, 12, 42,
50, 55, 37, 47, 59,
53]. While all of these topics are
influenced by policy, they are fundamentally technology issues and
therefore
require technical solutions, or at a minimum, a thorough understanding of the
technology.
Prior Research
My
early research focused on the performance and design of signaling protocols and
architectures.
This
included work in the areas of active networks and signaling network systems
[45, 53, 44, 60,
64,
65, 43]. Part of this work demonstrated the viability of a particular state
machine model in
application
to active network session management. My other early signaling work
demonstrated
that
a number translation technique based on intelligent networking could readily
scale to the needs
of
the public switched network. My more recent signaling research has focused on
security and safety
mechanisms
for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) [74, 51, 56, 63, 46, 62, 30, 45, 44,
34]. In this
work,
I proposed new security techniques for implementing trait-based access to
resources. This
work
led to contributions within the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) - the
standards body
for
the Internet (see RFC 4234).
As
part of my Ph.D. research, I examined emerging distributed network signaling
protocols [65].
This
work was of interest to the Federal government and led to my invitation to join
the FCC.
While
working in the Federal government I became increasingly interested in the
public policy of
emerging
network systems - specifically the interplay of network technology and policy.
My initial
work
in this area was the development of the first layered model for examining
various policy issues
of
modern networks. This work began as an internal FCC working paper in 1998,
which I later
developed
into a series of related publications [59, 37, 32, 35, 53, 60, 39]. This model
has since
received
considerable attention, with a number of legal scholars extending my work (for
example
see
[83]).
Since
joining the University of Colorado, my research has focused primarily on
wireless network-
ing
and network security. In addition to my work in signaling security (as
previously described), I
have
also worked on selective encryption for voice and video communications [27, 28,
21, 26]. In
this
work, we developed cryptographic techniques to minimize the computation
required to provide
encryption
of multimedia data. In the area of radio networking, my recent work has focused
on: 1)
the
development of improved handoff techniques for cellular and wireless LANs [4,
3, 2, 72], and 2)
the
development and evaluation of agile radio networks [7, 8, 9, 10, 16, 15, 14,
13, 17, 19, 31, 38,
76,
81, 58, 40, 57, 49, 82, 78, 80, 79, 75, 77]. My work in dynamic cross-layer
cognitive radio has
gained
substantial interest in the research community and was recently presented at an
NSF GENI
workshop.
My other work in agile radio systems addressed the development of system
anomaly de-
tection
and the reduction of computation required to configure a dynamic radio network.
My policy
work
has focused on: 1) developing an assurance model for VoIP emergency services
[69, 54, 55, 29],
2)
defining the role that technology plays in the debate over federalism [1, 66,
50], 3) developing a
model
to study the impact of network security as a mechanism for consumer lock-in
[22, 25], and
4)
examining network neutrality from a technology perspective [57, 20].
I
am also active in the area of education research through the American Society
for Engineering
Education
(ASEE). I began participating in ASEE four years ago with the submission and
pub-
lication
of a paper concerning pedagogical issues for remote laboratories. Over the
years I have
published
five papers in the area of engineering education and have gotten more involved
with
leadership
in the ASEE. I served as a reviewer for Engineering and Public Policy Division
in 2004,
as
program chair in 2005 and as division chair in 2006 and 2007 [5, 24, 67, 68,
41].
Future
Research
Since
arriving at the University, my work has shifted from a broad interdisciplinary
examination
of
networking to a focused research effort addressing the emerging area of agile
radio networks.
Such
research represents a perfect match for my interdisciplinary research
background and a prime
example
of the intersection of technology and policy. Should frequency agile radio technology
develop
to its full potential, communications equipment will be able to dynamically
gain access to
spectrum
in a way not previously possible. This dynamic access to spectrum, together
with software
driven
device reconfiguration, will allow for tremendous gains in available bandwidth
and therefore
offer
the opportunity to support a much more rich content on such wireless devices.
Thus, the scarce
resource
of radio spectrum will be much more efficiently and fully utilized. Of
particular interest
to
computer scientists, this technology opens a host of interesting topology,
operating systems and
architecture
issues that have not been available to the researcher. These topics have been,
and will
continue
to be, my primary research focus.
The
support that I have received from NSF and DARPA has allowed me to focus
exclusively on
wireless
networking. My research agenda for the next few years will concentrate on the
development
and
assessment of protocols and algorithms for such networks. This work will
include: 1) distributed
control
in cognitive radio networks, 2) cooperative protocols for spectrum sharing, 3)
topology
algorithms
for directional adaptive radio environments and 4) wormhole routing to radio
mesh
networks.
While I will not abandon my interest in public policy, I will focus my efforts
primarily
on
spectrum related issues. For example, part of my recent DARPA project focuses
on resolving
spectrum
policy problems in the area of frequency agile radios [7].
Student
Supervision
My
Ph.D. students all work on research topics relating to wireless networking.
Troy Weingart, who
recently
completed his Ph.D., worked on cognitive network algorithms to improve system
reliability.
Christian
Doerr is continuing this research and focusing on distributed control for
cognitive mesh
radio
networks. Damon McCoy and Kevin Bauer are working on privacy in wireless
networks. Tae
Sam
Kim is just beginning work on the use of cooperative protocols to improve
throughput in
cognitive
SDRs. Gary Yee and Eric Anderson are working on directionality in wireless
networking.
Since
coming to CU Boulder, I have sat on ten Ph.D. committees (eight of which have
completed).
I
have also supervised 12 M.S. theses (within ITP and Computer Science) and sat
on 17 M.S. theses
committees
(within ITP and Computer Science). Additionally, I have advised ten M.S.
Capstone
pro
jects and 8 Independent Studies. My undergraduate research involvement has
included six NSF
REU
students (between 2003-2005) and two students from Computer Science at CU.
[1]
R. Atkinson, K. D. Dixon, R. L. Gifford, K. Lassman, D. C. Sicker, S. Titch, A.
D. Thierer, and
P.
J. Weiser. A digital age communications act - report from the working group on
federal-state
framework,
release 2.01. the Progress and Freedom Foundation. October 2005.
[2]
J. H. Baek, J. Y. Seo, S. Lim, and D. C. Sicker. An enhanced location-based
location update
scheme
in mobile cellular networks. ETRI Journal, 27(4):456–460, 2005.
[3]
J. H. Baek, J. Y. Seo, and D. C. Sicker. Optimization of an improved dynamic
movement-based
location
update scheme in mobile cellular networks. In Lecture Notes in Computer Science
3483,
pp.528-537, 2005.
[4]
J. H. Baek, J. Y. Seo, and D. C. Sicker. Performance analysis and optimization
of an improved
dynamic
movement-based location update scheme in mobile cellular networks. In
International
Conference
on Computational Science and Its Applications (ICCSA), 2005.
[5]
Barnes, Fuchs, Silverstein, Ko, Lookabaugh, Brown, and Sicker. Integrated
utilities engineering
management
MS program. In 37th Annual IEEE Frontiers of Power Conference Proceedings,
2004.
[6]
K. Bauer, D. McCoy, D. Grunwald, T. Kohno, and D. Sicker. Low-resource routing
attacks
against
TOR. In Proceedings of the 2007 ACM Workshop on Privacy in the Electronic
Society
(WPES
2007), 2007.
[7]
B. Bernthal, D. C. Sicker, D. Hatfield, P. Weiser, and T. Brown. Trends and
precedents
favoring
regulatory embrace of smart radio technologies. In IEEE/ACM DySPAN (Dynamic
Spectrum
Access Networks), 2007.
[8]
T. Brown and D. C. Sicker. Can cognitive radios enable broadband? In IEEE/ACM
DySPAN
(Dynamic
Spectrum Access Networks), 2007.
[9]
M. Buettner, E. Anderson, G. Yee, D. Saha, D. C. Sicker, and D. Grunwald. A
phased array
antenna
testbed for evaluating directionality in wireless networks. In ACM MobiEval,
2007.
[10]
J. Chapin and D. C. Sicker. Safety and certification for new radio
technologies. In IEEE
Communications,
2006.
[11]
C. Cooper, J. Mindel, and D. C. Sicker. The Internet Interconnection Conundrum.
iUniverse
Press,
2007.
[12]
K. Dixon, J. L. Gattuso, R. L. Gifford, R. J. May, H. A. Shelanski, D. C.
Sicker, J. B. Speta,
and
D. Weisman. Digital age communications act - proposal of the regulatory
framework
working
group, release 1.0. The Progress and Freedom Foundation. June 2005.
[13]
Doerr, Weingart, Sicker, and Grunwald. Multimac - an adaptive MAC framework for
dynamic
radio
networking. In IEEE/ACM DySPAN (Dynamic Spectrum Access Networks), 2005.
[14]
C. Doerr, D. Sicker, and D. Grunwald. Optimizing for sparse training of
cognitive radio
networks.
In First International Workshop on Cognitive Wireless Networks (CWNets), 2007.
[15]
C. Doerr, D. Sicker, and D. Grunwald. What a cognitive radio network can learn
from a school
of
fish. In Wireless Internet Conference (WICON), 2007.
[16]
C. Doerr, D. C. Sicker, and D. Grunwald. Toward a model for characterizing
cognitive radio
networks.
In IEEE GlobeCom, 2007.
[17]
J. Fifield, D. Grunwald, and D. C. Sicker. Experiences with a platform for
frequency-agility.
In
IEEE/ACM DySPAN (Dynamic Spectrum Access Networks), 2007.
[18]
J. Franklin, D. McCoy, P. Tabriz, V. Neagoe, J. V. Randwyk, and D. Sicker.
Passive data link
layer
802.11 wireless device driver fingerprinting. In Proceedings of the 15th USENIX
Security
Symposium,
2006.
[19]
Giacomoni and Sicker. Difficulties in providing certification and assurance for
non-functional
requirements.
In IEEE/ACM DySPAN (Dynamic Spectrum Access Networks), 2005.
[20]
D. Grunwald and D. C. Sicker. Measuring the network. International Journal of
Communi-
cation
(IJoC), University of Southern California, 2007.
[21]
Lookabaugh and Sicker. Security analysis of selectively encrypted MPEG-2
streams. In Mul-
timedia
Systems and Applications VI, International Symposium on ITCom, 2003.
[22]
Lookabaugh and Sicker. Security and lock-in: The case of the U.S. cable
industry. In 2nd
Annual
Economics and Information Security Workshop, 2003.
[23]
Lookabaugh, Sicker, and Savage. Broadband demand and wireless. In 5th Annual
International
Symposium
on Advanced Radio Research, 2003.
[24]
T. Lookabaugh and D. Sicker. Information technology mediated education - revolution
not
evolution.
In 34th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, 2004.
[25]
T. Lookabaugh and D. Sicker. Security and Lock-In, volume 12 of Economics of
Information
Security:
Advances in Information Security Series, pages 225–246. Springer, 2004.
[26]
T. Lookabaugh and D. Sicker. Topics in cable and security. In NCTA Academic
Seminar,
2004.
[27]
T. Lookabaugh and D. C. Sicker. Selective encryption for consumer applications.
In IEEE
Consumer
Communications and Networking Conference, 2004.
[28]
T. Lookabaugh and D. C. Sicker. Selective encryption for consumer applications.
IEEE
Communications
Magazine, 42(5):124–129, 2004.
[29]
T. Lookabaugh and D. C. Sicker. Self-regulation of E911 for VoIP: Lessons for
the cable indus-
try
from environmental voluntary agreements. In 2005 Magness Institute Academic
Seminar,
National
Cable Television Association, 2005.
[30]
S. McGann and D. Sicker. An analysis of security threats and tools in SIP-based
VoIP systems.
In
2nd Annual VoIP Security Workshop, 2005.
[31]
R. McTasney, D. Grunwald, and D. Sicker. Low-latency multichannel wireless mesh
networks.
In
IEEE International Workshop on Wireless Mesh and Ad Hoc Networks, IEEE Communi-
cations
Society, 2007.
[32]
J. Mendel and D. Sicker. Comparing the layered model for telecommunications
policy with
the
eus regulatory framework for telecommunications. Telecommunications Policy
Journal,
pending.
[33]
J. Mindel and D. C. Sicker. Leveraging the EU regulatory framework to improve a
lay-
ered
policy model for US telecommunications markets. Telecommunications Policy
Journal,
30(2):136–148,
2006.
[34]
Peterson, Polk, and Sicker. Trait-based authorization requirements for the
session initiation
protocol
(SIP). In IETF contribution, draft-peterson-sipping-trait-authz- 00, January
2004.
[35]
C. Rohrer and D. Sicker. Implications of DOCSIS-QoS on cable broadband service.
In 32nd
Telecommunications
Policy Research Conference, 2004.
[36]
Savage, Lookabaugh, and Sicker. Broadband internet access: Awareness and use.
In 25th
Annual
Pacific Telecommunications Council, 2003.
[37]
Shah, Sicker, and Hatfield. Thinking about openness in the telecommunications
context. In
31st
Telecommunications Policy Research Conference, 2003.
[38]
Sheth, Doerr, Han, Grunwald, and Sicker. MoJo, a distributed physical layer
anomaly detection
system
for 802.11 wireless lans. In Proceedings of ACM MobiSys, 2006.
[39]
Sicker and Blumensaadt. Misunderstanding the layered models. Journal on
Telecommunica-
tions
and High Technology Law, pages 44–111, 2005.
[40]
Sicker, Grunwald, Anderson, Munsinger, and Sheth. Examining the wireless
commons. In
Telecommunications
Policy Research Conference, 2006.
[41]
Sicker, Lookabaugh, Santos, and Barnes. Assessing the effectiveness of remote
networking lab-
oratories.
In 35th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, Indianapolis, IN, October
19-22,
2005.
[42]
Sicker and Marcus. Regulatory models and VoIP. In 33rd annual
Telecommunications Policy
Research
Conference, 2005.
[43]
D. Sicker. Active and intelligent networks. In 12th Annual IEEE Computer
Communications
Symposium,
Phoenix, AZ, 1997.
[44]
D. Sicker. The effects of emerging signaling protocols on future telephony. CCH
Telecom
Journal,
1999.
[45]
D. Sicker. A multidimensional scaling analysis of emerging signaling protocols.
In Telecom-
munications
Policy Research Conference, 2000.
[46]
D. Sicker. A federated model for secure web-based videoconferencing. In IEEE
Computer
Society
Press Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Technology:
Coding
and
Computing, 2003.
[47]
D. Sicker. A layered model for VoIP. In 36th Annual Hawaii International
Conference on
System
Sciences (HICSS), 2003.
[48]
D. Sicker. Privacy and anonymity through role based authorization. In 31st
Telecommunica-
tions
Policy Research Conference, 2003.
[49]
D. Sicker. Public safety and emergency services in future wireless
communications. In Fifth
Annual
International Symposium on Advanced Radio Technologies, 2003.
[50]
D. Sicker. Delocalization in telecommunications networks. Progress and Freedom
Foundation,
Progress
on Point Report, 2004.
[51]
D. Sicker, A. Chavali, and A. Kalkarni. SAML-SIP profiles for inter-domain
role-based autho-
rization.
In IASTED International Conference on Communication, Network and Information
Security,
2003.
[52]
D. Sicker and et al. Federated model for secure web-based videoconferencing. In
IEEE Society
Press
Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Technology: Coding
and
Computing,
2003.
[53]
D. Sicker and M. Kende. Real-time services and the fragmentation of the
internet,. In Telecom-
munications
Policy Research Conference, 2000.
[54]
D. Sicker and T. Lookabaugh. A model for E911 VoIP certification. In 32nd
Telecommunica-
tions
Policy Research Conference, 2004.
[55]
D. Sicker and T. Lookabaugh. A model for emergency service of VoIP through
certification
and
labeling. In NET Institute Working Paper No. 04 - 19, April 2004.
[56]
D. Sicker and T. Lookabaugh. VoIP security: Not an afterthought. ACM Queue
Magazine,
2(6):56–64,
2004.
[57]
D. Sicker and T. Lookabaugh. Multimedia quality of service and net neutrality
on wireless
networks.
In 9th Annual International Symposium On Advanced Radio Technologies (ISART),
2006.
[58]
D. Sicker, D. McCoy, and D. Grunwald. A mechanism for detecting and responding
to misbe-
having
nodes in wireless networks. In SDR Workshop, IEEE SECON, 2007.
[59]
D. Sicker and J. Mindel. Refinements of a layered model for telecommunications
policy. Journal
on
Telecommunications and High Technology Law, 1(1):101–130, 2002.
[60]
D. Sicker and S. Newman. Evolving regulatory perspectives on telephone network
reliability.
CCH
Telecom Journal, 1998.
[61]
D. Sicker, P. Ohm, and S. Guna ji. The analog hole and the price of music: An
empirical study.
Journal
on Telecommunications and High Technology Law, 5:572–589, 2007.
[62]
D. Sicker and M. Stuka. An evaluation of VoIP traversal of firewalls and NATs
within an
enterprise
environment. Information Systems Frontiers Journal, 6(3):219–228, 2004.
[63]
D. Sicker, Tschofenig, and Peterson. Trait-based authorization mechanisms for
SIP based on
SAML.
In IEEE Globecom 2004, VoIP Security Workshop, 2004.
[64]
D. Sicker and M. Weiss. Funding models for AIN-based LNP. In Telecommunications
Policy
Research
Conference, 1998.
[65]
D. Sicker and M. Weiss. Performance issues of AIN-based local number
portability solutions.
In
6th Intl. Telecommunication Systems Performance and Modeling Conference,
Vanderbilt
University,
1998.
[66]
D. C. Sicker. The end of federalism in telecommunication regulations. North
Western Univer-
sity,
Journal of Technology and Intel lectual Property, 130(3):130–160, 2005.
[67]
D. C. Sicker. Perceptions concerning the inclusion of public policy materials
in engineering
curriculum.
In American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Meeting, 2007.
[68]
D. C. Sicker and T. Lookabaugh. Engineering students and law conferences. In
American
Society
for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference, 2006.
[69]
D. C. Sicker, T. Lookabaugh, and P. S. Ryan. A model for emergency service of
VoIP through
certification
and labeling. Federal Communications Law Journal, 58:146–200, 2005.
[70]
D. C. Sicker, P. Ohm, and D. Grunwald. Issues involving network monitoring. In
Internet
Measurement
Conference, 2007.
[71]
D. C. Sicker and S. Pies. The future of our nation’s communications
infrastructure: A federal
advisory
committee report to the nation. In Network Reliability and Interoperability
Council,
pages
1–110, 2002.
[72]
A. Sur and D. Sicker. Multi layer rules based framework for vertical handoff.
In IEEE Broad-
Nets,
2005.
[73]
H. Tschofenig, R. Falk, J. Peterson, D. Sicker, J. Polk, and J. Hodges. Using
SAML to protect
the
session initiation protocol. IEEE Network, pages 14–18, 2006.
[74]
H. Tschofenig, J. Peterson, J. Polk, D. Sicker, and M. Tegnander. Using SAML
for SIP. In
IETF
Internet Draft (work-in-progress, 2005.
[75]
T. Weingart, D. Sicker, D. Grunwald, and M. Neufeld. Adverbs and adjectives: An
abstraction
for
software defined radio. In Proceedings of the International Symposium on
Advanced Radio
Technologies
(ISART), pages 183–192, March 2005.
[76]
T. Weingart, D. Sicker, and D. G. H. Katz. Identifying opportunities for
exploiting cross-layer
interactions
in adaptive wireless systems. Journal on Advances in Multimedia, 2007.
[77]
T. Weingart and D. C. Sicker. Cognitive and Software Defined Radio. Handbook of
Computer
Networking.
Prentice Hall, 2007.
[78]
T. Weingart, D. C. Sicker, and D. Grunwald. Evaluation of cross-layer
interactions for recon-
figurable
radio platforms. In Technology and Policy for Accessing Spectrum (TAPAS), 2006.
[79]
T. Weingart, D. C. Sicker, and D. Grunwald. A method for dynamic configuration
of a cognitive
radio.
In Networking Technologies for Software Defined Radio (SDR) Networks, 2006.
[80]
T. Weingart, D. C. Sicker, and D. Grunwald. A predictive model for cognitive
radio. In
Military
Communications (MILCOM), 2006.
[81]
T. Weingart, D. C. Sicker, and D. Grunwald. A statistical model for configuring
a cognitive
radio
network. IEEE Wireless Networking, 2007.
[82]
T. Weingart, G. Yee, D. C. Sicker, and D. Grunwald. Implementation of a
reconfiguration
algorithm
for cognitive radio. In IEEE CrownCom, 2007.
[83]
R. S. Whitt. A horizontal leap forward: Formulating a new communications public
policy
framework
based on the network layers model. Federal Communications Law Journal, 56(3),
2004.