{"id":308192,"date":"2005-11-12T12:00:05","date_gmt":"2005-11-12T20:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new-cm-edgedigital.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/?p=308192"},"modified":"2016-10-19T09:23:01","modified_gmt":"2016-10-19T16:23:01","slug":"sensor-networks-get-kick-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new-cm-edgedigital.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/blog\/sensor-networks-get-kick-start\/","title":{"rendered":"Sensor Networks Get a Kick-Start"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>By Rob Knies, Managing Editor, Microsoft Research<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Feng Zhao has a vision. He sees a future in which a Reality Browser enables people from around the world to query the physical world, live and up close, from anywhere. He sees a virtual global observatory, a Macroscope, if you will, that enables a user to monitor Earth\u2019s entire environment simultaneously.<\/p>\n<p>To underscore Microsoft Research\u2019s continuing commitment to such innovations in the discipline of sensor networks, Zhao\u2019s Network Embedded Computing (NEC) group, together with the External Research & Programs (ERP) group, were organizers of Sensor Networks Workshop 2005, held Oct. 10-11 in Woodinville, Wash. The event gathered industrial and university researchers to brainstorm about next-generation sensor networks and their integration with Web services and other IT infrastructures. From all indications from the attendees, it was a smashing success in this burgeoning field.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThink of it as a kickoff summit for the next leap in sensor networking,\u201d said Stewart Tansley, an ERP program manager. \u201cWe brought together some of the best, leading lights in the area to discuss key challenges and opportunities\u2014all the experts in the same room, cooperating and creating.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Attendees for the event included 22 academicians from leading universities, guests from Intel and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and 20 participants from Microsoft. Five of Microsoft Research\u2019s six labs were represented, as were the <a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bing.com\/mapspreview\" target=\"_blank\">Virtual Earth<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/new-cm-edgedigital.pages.dev\/mappoint\/en-us\/home.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">MapPoint<\/a> product groups.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery research discipline needs a grand challenge,\u201d said Zhao, senior researcher and manager of the NEC group. \u201cThis workshop has given the field an opportunity to consider that challenge and drive novel research directions to tackle it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The workshop focused on three areas:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Foundations<\/strong>\u2014covering fundamental issues arising from sensing, system architecture, and programming.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Services<\/strong>\u2014addressing data management, service composition, and interoperation.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Platforms and applications<\/strong>\u2014examining what it takes to make sensor networks a more practical platform solution for problems arising from scientific research, as well as from consumer and business applications.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cIt was a snapshot of the state of the art,\u201d said Zhao, co-author, with Leonidas Guibas, of <a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"http:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/wireless-sensor-networks-feng-zhao\/1111340585\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Wireless Sensor Networks: An Information Processing Approach<\/em><span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>On the back cover of that book, <a href=\"https:\/\/new-cm-edgedigital.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/people\/gbell\/\" target=\"_blank\">Gordon Bell<\/a>, Microsoft Research senior researcher, is quoted as saying, \u201cWireless sensor and actuator nets, also known as motes and smart dust, are an emerging computer class based on a new platform, networking structure, and interface that enable novel, low-cost, high-volume applications.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This field of study holds vast promise. Take Zhao\u2019s Reality Browser concept, for example. He envisions an ecosystem in which a network of sensing devices can communicate with a server such disparate information such as whale-migration patterns, real-time traffic, and viticulture monitoring, for anybody able to query that server.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s the temperature of my favorite beach?\u201d Zhao smiled.<\/p>\n<p>There are a number of ways in which sensor networks could play a valuable role in helping people glean the most from the world around them. In a keynote speech entitled <em>Challenge Problems in Sensornet Research<\/em>, delivered at Harvard University on Oct. 18 during the 2005 Networking of Sensor Systems Principal Investigator and Informational Meetings, Zhao cited four distinct areas:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Environment:<\/strong> volcano study, underwater monitoring, and rain-forest conditions.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Education:<\/strong> K-12 interactive learning and virtual laboratories.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Leisure:<\/strong> virtual travel and microclimate trackers.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Getting around:<\/strong> Where is the nearest available parking space? What is the traffic like on the bridge? How long is the queue at the gas station? Where is the bus?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>But such broad-ranging networks present special challenges, as Tansley noted during the Wireless Sensing Solutions conference, held in Chicago in September. In a talk called <em>Wireless Sensor Networks: Bridging the Physical and Enterprise Computing Worlds with IP<\/em>, Tansley voiced a need for new programming models, architectures, and tools; the importance of developing an improved ability to compute despite environmental and system uncertainties; and a need for innovative applications.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s great to see startups begin to tackle practical problems,\u201d Zhao told his Harvard audience. \u201cBut the research community must set its sights further and higher to lay the groundwork for a new industry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hence the need for the Sensor Networks Workshop 2005. The goal of the workshop was to enable participants to gain a better understanding of the state of the art and to identify a key set of open research problems, as well as to identify areas for potential collaboration.<\/p>\n<p>The workshop featured two keynote speeches. Kris Pister, founder and chief technology officer of Dust Networks and professor at the University of California at Berkeley, spoke on From Smart Dust to Reliable Networks, and Tony Hey, Microsoft corporate vice president for Technical Computing, delivered a speech entitled E-Science, Cyberinfrastructure, and Sensor Networks.<\/p>\n<p>On the second day of the event, the participants split into three breakout groups to discuss the aforementioned focus areas. The Foundations group discussed challenges including architecture of heterogeneous sensor networks, performance analysis, tools, and programming models and abstractions.<\/p>\n<p>The Services group brainstormed on application spaces and the properties and the requirements of applications, concluding that more experience is needed to design appropriate service interfaces and to learn more about which services could prove beneficial.<\/p>\n<p>The Applications and Platforms group identified a substantial list of areas in which sensor networks could prove vital, including personal environments, supply chains, industrial modeling and control, and environmental monitoring. The team also discussed creating standard building blocks of hardware and software to make sensor networks efficient and ubiquitous, with the twin goals of reducing deployment cost and effort and of improving interoperability.<\/p>\n<p>The net result was a watershed moment for an exciting computing discipline still in its early stages.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe breakout groups were great,\u201d Zhao said. \u201cPeople shared their insights with one another. It was a great start. A lot of productive connections have been made.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tansley was eager to extend the momentum engendered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt would be nice,\u201d he said, \u201cto host a follow-up event and leverage the relationships built and strengthened during this event.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Zhao acknowledged that workshop-derived energy and looked to the future.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe looked at the foundation and what we are missing in research,\u201d he said. \u201cA notion of synthesizing reliable complex systems from vast numbers of unreliable components\u2014systems that scale\u2014is very interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Rob Knies, Managing Editor, Microsoft Research Feng Zhao has a vision. He sees a future in which a Reality Browser enables people from around the world to query the physical world, live and up close, from anywhere. He sees a virtual global observatory, a Macroscope, if you will, that enables a user to monitor [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39507,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"msr-url-field":"","msr-podcast-episode":"","msrModifiedDate":"","msrModifiedDateEnabled":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_classifai_error":"","msr-author-ordering":[],"msr_hide_image_in_river":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[194476,194485],"tags":[195257,186434,187211,215891,186919,215882,215879,215876,215888,215885,186532],"research-area":[13552,13547],"msr-region":[],"msr-event-type":[],"msr-locale":[268875],"msr-post-option":[],"msr-impact-theme":[],"msr-promo-type":[],"msr-podcast-series":[],"class_list":["post-308192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devices-and-hardware","category-networking","tag-data-management","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-interoperation","tag-leisure","tag-mappoint","tag-reality-browser","tag-sensor-networking","tag-service-composition","tag-system-architecture","tag-virtual-earth","msr-research-area-hardware-devices","msr-research-area-systems-and-networking","msr-locale-en_us"],"msr_event_details":{"start":"","end":"","location":""},"podcast_url":"","podcast_episode":"","msr_research_lab":[],"msr_impact_theme":[],"related-publications":[],"related-downloads":[],"related-videos":[],"related-academic-programs":[],"related-groups":[],"related-projects":[],"related-events":[],"related-researchers":[],"msr_type":"Post","byline":"","formattedDate":"November 12, 2005","formattedExcerpt":"By Rob Knies, Managing Editor, Microsoft Research Feng Zhao has a vision. He sees a future in which a Reality Browser enables people from around the world to query the physical world, live and up close, from anywhere. He sees a virtual global observatory, a&hellip;","locale":{"slug":"en_us","name":"English","native":"","english":"English"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new-cm-edgedigital.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new-cm-edgedigital.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new-cm-edgedigital.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new-cm-edgedigital.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39507"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new-cm-edgedigital.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308192"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/new-cm-edgedigital.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":308867,"href":"https:\/\/new-cm-edgedigital.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308192\/revisions\/308867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new-cm-edgedigital.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new-cm-edgedigital.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new-cm-edgedigital.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308192"},{"taxonomy":"msr-research-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new-cm-edgedigital.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-area?post=308192"},{"taxonomy":"msr-region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new-cm-edgedigital.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-region?post=308192"},{"taxonomy":"msr-event-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new-cm-edgedigital.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-event-type?post=308192"},{"taxonomy":"msr-locale","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new-cm-edgedigital.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-locale?post=308192"},{"taxonomy":"msr-post-option","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new-cm-edgedigital.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-post-option?post=308192"},{"taxonomy":"msr-impact-theme","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new-cm-edgedigital.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-impact-theme?post=308192"},{"taxonomy":"msr-promo-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new-cm-edgedigital.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-promo-type?post=308192"},{"taxonomy":"msr-podcast-series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new-cm-edgedigital.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-podcast-series?post=308192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}