Embedding the Internet: Center for Embedded Networked Sensing
Holds Public Review at UCLA

Date: September 17, 2004
Contact: Chris Sutton ( chris@ea.ucla.edu )
Phone: 310-206-0540

Researchers at the Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS), who are applying the revolutionary technology of embedded networked sensing systems to critical scientific and social applications, will provide an overview of the Center's research at its second public research review on October 15.

UCLA alumnus Vinton G. Cerf, widely known as one of the "Fathers of the Internet" for co-designing the TCP/IP communications protocols, will be the keynote speaker. Cerf is senior vice president of Technology Strategy for MCI.

Embedded networked sensing systems like the ones being developed at CENS can monitor virtually any environment.

CENS, currently one of only eleven Science and Technology Centers in the United States, was established in 2002 by a contract worth $40 million over 10 years from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Funds were awarded to UCLA as the lead institution, with partner institutions University of Southern California; University of California, Riverside; California Institute of Technology; University of California, Merced; California State University, Los Angeles; and Jet Propulsion Laboratories. The Center also receives an additional $12 million in funding from UCLA and the partner institutions.

"Embedded networked sensing systems may prove to be as important a technology as the Internet, expanding people's ability to interact with the physical world in revolutionary ways," said CENS Director Deborah Estrin, a computer science professor in the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. "Not only can we collect information not available before, but this allows us to design systems to automatically take action once a pollutant, structural failure or other hazard is detected."

Embedded networked sensing systems will use tiny sensors and actuators to monitor and collect information on such diverse subjects as plankton colonies, endangered species, contaminants in soil and air, man-made structures such as buildings, and even physiological information about medical patients.

The public review will focus on the sensor technologies being developed by the Center's engineers, particularly in the area of software development and systems involving robotic elements. A session will also address the social, legal and ethical implications of embedded networked sensing systems in the public sphere.

"While it is difficult to predict the social outcomes of any new technology, we believe it is the responsibility of technology developers to engage with the broader community so that appropriate societal values can be built into the regulations and the information technology itself," said CENS Associate Director Greg Pottie.

Cerf, the keynote speaker, holds a bachelor of science degree in mathematics from Stanford University and master of science and Ph.D. degrees in computer science from UCLA. In December 1997, President Clinton presented the U.S. National Medal of Technology to Cerf and his partner, Robert E. Kahn, for their roles in founding and developing the Internet.

Cerf serves as chairman of the board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and was founding president of the Internet Society from 1992-1995. In December 1994, People magazine named Cerf one of that year's "25 Most Intriguing People."

The public review runs from 9:00 am to 5:30 pm on Friday, October 15, at the Tom Bradley International Hall on the UCLA campus. A full agenda and more event details are available at http://www.cens.ucla.edu/portal/events/2ndResearchReview.html.

To learn more about CENS and its research, visit the CENS Web site at http://www.cens.ucla.edu.