CAREER: Lagrangian Sensing in Large Scale Cyber-Physical Infrastructure Systems

University Of California-Berkeley, Berkeley CA

Investigators

Abstract

This project includes the development of theory and algorithms, the design of a system architecture, and the prototyping, testing and large-scale deployment of two mobile sensing platforms. The two applications are highway traffic estimation and river flow estimation using GPS-equipped smartphones. The algorithms run online, gather mobile data and send it to a server, which uses inverse modeling to estimate the state of the system. It broadcasts information back to the smartphones and to the internet. A field operational test, called Mobile Millennium is aimed at reaching thousands of users in California. The river flow monitoring project is aimed at deploying a hundred drifters in the Sacramento Delta. The contributions are in the field of Lagrangian sensing in large-scale cyber-physical infrastructure systems. "Lagrangian" refers to a form of sensing in which sensors measure quantities along their trajectories; "cyber-physical" refers to the flow of information and computing in a system governed by physical phenomena. The project investigates the following question: how to reconstruct the state of a distributed system from mobile sensors which cannot control their motion? The mathematical techniques used include inverse modeling, applied to partial differential equations. This project addresses some important issues related to transportation and clean water. With the free downloadable smartphone software, commuters have real-time traffic information to increase their travel efficiency. By involving students from underrepresented minorities, the UC Berkeley Disabled Student Program, and the Berkeley High School, this research provides a valuable opportunity for students to develop their interest in engineering.