›› MIND Lab Seminar Series: 1 October 2008

An Introduction to Sensor Networks: Issues in Programming and Privacy

James Horey
Ph.D. in Computer Science (University of New Mexico)

›› Logistics

Date: Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Time: 2:00p to 3:00p

Location: AVW 4185

›› Abstract

Sensor networks are usually envisioned as wireless networks of embedded computers that are equipped with several environmental sensors. Such sensors include, but are not limited to: thermistors, photometers, humidity sensors, accelerometers, and GPS. Using these devices, researchers have imagined (and in some cases implemented) applications that perform environmental monitoring, disaster response, and social monitoring. Some day, we may even be immersed in a sensor rich world where users are able to interact and query the physical world much like today's internet.

In this presentation, I'm going to give a basic overview of this field including some technological highlights and recent research trends. Afterwards, I'll focus on two broad topics of research that I'm interested in: programming models and privacy. I'll discuss why programming sensor networks is challenging, and how these challenges can be resolved using an appropriate programming model. I'll then segue into a brief conversation regarding some privacy-preserving algorithms that I developed for sensor networks. Finally, I'll examine some future problems and extensions of my work that hopefully will spawn active discussions and future collaborations.