Winter
2003
Sensing the Future
page
1 |
2 | 3 |
4 | 5
Kaiser
and Pottie were developing some of the first sensor-node networks
in the mid-1990s when they met Estrin, who infused their work with
a new information-technology vision: that of larger-scale distributed
systems, self-configuring and capable of adaptive in-network processing.
Estrin, the daughter of two UCLA computer science professors, was
at the time a member of the computer science faculty at USC, working
on Internet routing protocols. With the growing commercialization
of the Internet, she was becoming concerned about the decreasing
likelihood that the problems she was tackling would actually be
applied to Internet technology. "I have great respect for theoreticians,
but I need to know that what I'm doing will eventually be usable,"
she says.
Seeing
the wide-ranging and far-reaching applicability of wireless-sensing
network technology, Estrin not only began to tackle the research
challenges, but also became a leader in promoting the field. Last
September, Popular Science magazine named her to its annual "Brilliant
10" list of young scientists doing extraordinary work. Estrin
hopes the clear connection between development of the emerging technology
and the ability to address global concerns will similarly engage
a wider range of talented students, helping to attract more diversity
to the engineering field. With that as a goal, CENS has focused
on including undergraduates in its experimental research; 23 of
them accompanied Kaiser to Washington for the NIMS test installation
last summer.
Estrin
believes key strategies that contributed to Internet architecture
are relevant to the new endeavor, including the focus on building
relatively simple systems that can be expanded and can readily proliferate
over a variety of settings with time. While CENS researchers such
as Pottie address fundamental theoretical questions designed to
test the limits of wireless-sensor networks, most of the focus is
on experimental work, with the technologists and scientists working
in close collaboration to hone the systems. "By concentrating
on scientific applications at this early stage, we can explore the
base technology and make much better progress more quickly,"
Estrin says.
Initially,
CENS is focusing on four applications. At the James Reserve near
Palm Springs, researchers created a sensor network of cameras and
motion detectors across 30 acres of wilderness to continuously monitor
and characterize everything from microclimate dynamics to bird-nesting
behaviors. A second group is using embedded systems to track the
flow of contaminants in soil. A third CENS team employs the technology
in an effort to understand and ultimately predict the conditions
under which specific populations of marine microorganisms develop.
And at the 17-story Factor Building on the UCLA campus, still another
research group is installing a spatially dense network of seismic
sensors to afford an unparalleled opportunity to learn about how
buildings respond during an earthquake.
<previous>
<next>
|
