Seismic readings, pollution, terrestrial, underwater ecosystems
and urban traffic and air quality may soon be precisely monitored
through the use of new technology being researched at the Center
for Embedded Networked Sensing’s new facility.
Thursday evening the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering
and Applied Science celebrated the grand opening of its new
6,000-square-foot facility, which is located adjacent to Boelter
Hall.
The new facility will house a multi-disciplinary team
researching embedded networked sensing technology, in which small
wireless sensing devices placed throughout the environment are used
to collect data about subjects ranging from soil moisture to levels
of water and air pollutants in big cities.
The data is then compiled and made available for a wide variety
of scientific research.
“(The center’s) mission is to connect the physical
world with the Internet and computer networks,” said Greg
Pottie, deputy director of the center and assistant dean and
professor at the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied
Science.
The sensors range from the size of two AA batteries to the size
of a cell phone and cost between $200 and a few thousands dollars
each, depending on their function, said Deborah Estrin, director of
the institute. The devices are battery-powered and can communicate
wirelessly with each other from the field.
The new building, whose $4 million construction costs were paid
for by grants to the school of engineering, is itself brimming with
networked sensors, equipped with cameras and microphones, which
record data on the flow of people in and out of the facility.
“The great thing about this building … is that as new
research comes along we can test it in the building,” said
Dave Avery, administrative director of the institute.
The program offers summer internships and year-long research
programs to both graduate and undergraduate students.
Ignacio Zendejas, a fifth-year computer science student who
interned with the center last summer, said the program offered him
real-life experience in his field.
“(CENS) directly influenced what I’m going to do
when I graduate, which is go to graduate school,” he
said.
Zendejas added that he will continue working with the
center.
Pottie said the institute focuses on the fields of seismic
science, contaminate transport in ground water, marine microbiology
and terrestrial ecology.
But Sasank Reddy, an electrical engineering graduate student
working with the center said the program has recently moved toward
monitoring everyday living conditions.
“For example, if you wanted to find a quiet place at UCLA,
you could have these sensors sense the sounds around campus,”
Reddy said.
He said embedded networked sensing technology could also be used
to detect the parts of Los Angeles with the most air
pollutants.
Estrin said the center is also moving toward using cell phones
as embedded networked sensing devices.
She added that cell phones are wireless and often have cameras,
and it is possible they could be used to record everyday details
such as traffic tendencies in large cities.
Since the creation of the program in 2002, UCLA has been a
leader in embedded networked sensing technology research.
“We’ve had a history of innovation (in ENS)”
Pottie said.
While the center’s research is headquartered at UCLA, USC,
UC Riverside, CalTech and UC Merced are also involved in the
project.