Gregory J PottieProfessor, Electrical Engineering DepartmentAssociate Dean, Research and Physical ResourcesUCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Sciencepottie@icsl.ucla.edu

Tagging the Physical World

Outline

• Relation of sensor networks and RFID• RFID networks as trigger for higher bandwidth

services• Retail example

• RFID and other tags as lowest layer in sensor network • Environmental applications

Embedded Networked Sensing

• Micro-sensors, on-board processing, wireless interfaces feasible at very small scale--can monitor phenomena “up close”

• Enables spatially and temporally dense environmental monitoring

Embedded Networked Sensing will reveal previously unobservable phenomena

Contaminant TransportEcosystems, Biocomplexity

Marine Microorganisms Seismic Structure Response

Science Application System Development

• Biology/Biocomplexity• Microclimate monitoring• Triggered image capture

• Contaminant Transport• County of Los Angeles Sanitation

Districts (CLASD) wastewater recycling project, Palmdale, CA

• Seismic monitoring• 50 node ad hoc, wireless, multi-

hop seismic network• Structure response in USGS-

instrumented Factor Building

• Marine microorganisms• Detection of a harmful alga • Experimental testbed

w/autonously adapting sensor location

Grade 7-12 Science Education:Sensor Networks as Experimental tool

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New Directions

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Coral reef

Global seismic Grids/facilities

Precision Agriculture

Macro-Programming Adaptive Sampling

High Integrity

RFIDs

Security

NIMS

Tropical biology

Theatre,Film,TV Gaming

Science Applications

Bayesian Techniques

RFID and Sensor Networks

• Sensor network:• Nodes include communication, signal processing, and

sensing capability (e.g., for monitoring of physical phenomenon)

• Processing at source and multi-hop communications reduce bandwidth requirements

• Vast range of sizes, capabilities (linux boxes, motes, “dust”)

• Passive RFID tag network:• Readers are the sensor nodes, tags are the objects to be

detected• RFID nodes with sensors and active communication:

• These are classic sensor networks

RFID and Retail Operations

• Scanning: optical scan of bar code for goods/frequent shopper number• Store database for inventory and tracking of

buying habits; cash register• Credit/debit card: magnetic swipe• Remote database for credit information,

with connection to cash register• Both can be replaced with RFID but neither has

any substantial electronic records management implications• In short run, maximal re-use of existing

infrastructure and software

RFID and the Consumer

• Consumers equipped with readers (say extra PDA accessory) may be able to obtain lots of information:• Price, Consumer report• Manufacturing history (sweatshop labor?)• Ingredients list (with automated check against allergies)• Alternative products, possibly with targeted advertising

• Tag acts as trigger for services requiring web access with far higher data rates than store’s financial transactions• Opportunity for e-shopping types of information in malls,

including the pop-up ads (e.g. “Minority Report”)• Could also less conveniently be done with bar codes

RFID and Pervasive Computing

• RFID example of technology that binds information to individual items (including people)• Not the first and won’t be the last

• These technologies in general simplify collection of diverse information about the object• Communications infrastructure needs

dominated by the new services that are enabled, rather than merely reading the tags

• Who controls the data?• Who will pay for the infrastructure follows

Tags and Sensors

• Ecology monitoring• Visual tags on plants or animals• Cameras for studying growth, sensors for

environmental conditions• Need to be sure that it is the same object so

that can accumulate measurements over time and space

• The sensors represent vastly more information than the ID per se, but tags can significantly reduce required signal processing complexity

• Tags can play similar role in military operations (burrs and lures)

• NIMS Architecture: Robotic, aerial access to full 3-D environment• Enable sample acquisition

• Coordinated Mobility • Enables self-awareness of

Sensing Uncertainty• Sensor Diversity

• Diversity in sensing resources, locations, perspectives, topologies

• Enable reconfiguration to reduce uncertainty and calibrate

• NIMS Infrastructure• Enables speed, efficiency• Provides energy transport for

sustainable presence• Use of tags

• Can draw attention of network

Sensor-Coordinated MobilityActuation: Networked Info-Mechanical Systems (NIMS)