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.