Researchers at the Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS), who for the past year have been applying the revolutionary technology of embedded networked sensing systems to critical scientific and social applications, provided an overview of the center's research at its first public research review Friday, Oct. 10, at the Tom Bradley International Center on the UCLA campus.

CENS, currently one of only 11 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 University of California, Los Angeles, 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.

According to CENS Director Deborah Estrin, a computer science professor in the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, 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 an extraordinary number of ways.

"This technology is helping us connect the physical world just as the Internet has allowed us to connect the world of computers," Estrin said. "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 use tiny devices - called sensors and actuators - that can be densely distributed within a natural or man-made environment to monitor and collect information on such diverse subjects as plankton colonies, endangered species, contaminants in soil and air, artificial structures such as buildings, and even physiological information about medical patients.

Microprocessors are connected to cameras, microphones, motion detectors and other sensors, which are spread across a wide area to collect data. Central servers sift through the data and present only the interesting information. The result is a sensor network that gathers information about the physical world more thoroughly and more precisely than any team of researchers has yet been able to do.

The public review included an ethics panel that examined the legal and privacy issues associated with pervasive computing and similar technologies such as camera-equipped cell-phones, radio frequency identification tags and electronically monitored public spaces.

"There are technological and economic forces that will give the physical world many of the attributes of cyberspace, with far-reaching social and legal consequences," said Gregory Pottie, deputy director of CENS, as well as associate dean of research and physical resources at the UCLA School of Engineering and a CENS review panelist. "The common question is how the technology and public policy processes should be shaped to ensure that the outcomes serve rather than hinder democratic values," Pottie said.

David L. Tennenhouse, vice president in the Corporate Technology Group and director of research for Intel Corp., delivered the keynote address. Tennenhouse is a former director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Information Technology Office, where he devised research strategies on the networking of embedded and autonomous systems.

Among the projects reviewed is a study involving CENS researchers who are updating a network of earthquake sensors throughout a 17-story building on the UCLA campus. The Factor Building, home to the UCLA School of Nursing and medical research laboratories, is the most heavily instrumented structure in North America, providing scientists with an unparalleled opportunity to learn more about how buildings respond during earthquakes.

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

"Our vision of dense arrays of networked sensors in buildings and bridges has tremendous potential to advance our understanding of the complex behaviors of real structures in earthquakes," said John Wallace, a civil engineering professor at UCLA. "This will ultimately improve seismic safety."

In another project conducted this summer, CENS researchers began the deployment of devices across 30 acres of wilderness in the San Jacinto Mountains near Palm Springs, creating a sensor network of cameras and motion detectors used to observe bluebird populations and microclimate variations. Yet another project with the LA Unified Sanitation District tracks the transportation of pollutants in soil and groundwater in order to measure contamination levels.

The center supports internships for undergraduate science and engineering students who gain research experience in the emerging fields of micro-sensor technology, wireless communications and embedded networked systems.

"In addition to participating in a hands-on research experience, students engage in academic seminars and professional development opportunities, and receive help with graduate school preparation," Estrin said. "More importantly, students are becoming an integral part of our multidisciplinary CENS community."

This year, Estrin was among those named to Popular Science's "Brilliant 10 List" of top scientists for her work on embedded systems. Administrators at UCLA and the NSF believe her efforts will help to raise the profile of women in engineering and computer science, and attract greater interest in the field among young women.

A full agenda and more event details for the research review are available at http://www.cens.ucla.edu/Events/ResearchReview.htm.

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

-Chris Sutton
10/01/03