RI: An Infrastructure for Wide Area Pervasive Computing

Regents Of The University Of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

This project is to create the pilot for a pervasive computing facility through all areas of a building, including offices, lecture rooms, hallways, and common areas. The pilot will include a heterogeneous space comprising a significant fraction of a building. In this area, there will be a sensor network, capable of tracking hundreds of mobile clients to a granularity of less than 10 feet as they move freely through the building. Research Impact: The proposed facility will be used to advance research at a number of levels, from low-level system building to human-oriented applications. There are three main avenues through which this facility will advance research. First, it will be used to understand issues of scale and heterogeneity in the deployment of novel technologies that have been developed at the University of Michigan, ranging from nano-sensors to cognitive orthotics. Second, the mobility traces collected from the consistent use of this facility will lead both to the creation of new benchmarks for mobile system/algorithm designers as well as to superior building design. Third, given that the system requires the tracking of many building occupants, there will be an opportunity to study interesting issues of privacy and the manner in which individuals exercise choice. Broader Impact: At the University of Michigan, there are a number of on-going and planned research efforts that leverage sensor technology and/or mobile environments. Access to a large pervasive computing facility will be crucial to testing these technologies at scale and taking them to the next stage towards commercialization. More important, the pervasive computing facility will be deployed in the building in which the project team works everyday, along with many colleagues and students. This gives rise to a unique "living laboratory" experience through which to appreciate both the technological and social effects of the pervasive computing facility.