TOPICS INCLUDE:
• Linking physical and digital worlds
• Smart infrastructures
• Resource usage
• Data, data from everywhere
• Predictive modeling
• Measurement and control
• Participatory sensing
• IT & health systems
• Efficient cities
CONFERENCE OVERVIEW
More and more, we're being told we live in a world of less and less. So many resources that once seemed so abundant—ecological supplies, human talent, economic energy, time, wisdom—seem to be so much more finite than we thought. Why do we know this? Frankly, it's because the saturation (abundance? concentration?) of computational networks and global digital media make it possible to sense and measure just about everything. Maybe for the first time we're becoming more acutely aware of our limits and constraints. In so many ways, we need to cope much more intelligently with and within our limits. We need to do more with less.
The deployment of pervasive sensors and its accompanying software are exactly the tools we’ll need for optimized systems. More-from-less innovations will often involve pushing connected digital infrastructures into the nooks and crannies of our physical world, and then monitoring and directing demand in smart, quantitatively informed ways. We clearly need smart grids for water and energy, and breakthroughs in these areas are largely being driven by digital networks. In transportation systems, instrumentation of vehicles and infrastructure, in addition to the people themselves, promises efficiencies that could dramatically reduce dependence on costly, limited energy sources and greatly streamline travel. Or eliminate it when virtual travel or video conferencing suffices. Design and production, on-demand and just-in-time, will amplify our product and service flows.
With more measurement, communications, and information capture and analysis, we can tune resource usage to meet specific needs. For example, could data from personal devices and real-time community health indicators be used to construct sophisticated health models that predict, explain, and alert individuals and communities about risks, vulnerabilities, and interventions? No doubt they can; our costly health systems can no longer afford to be without crucial instruments like these.
What opportunities, technologies, creative ideas, and potential pitfalls will we encounter on the road to optimized and responsive systems? Which areas are ripe for development now, and which await fundamental breakthroughs in sensors, modeling, or market and social acceptability? The answers will enable institutions and industries to function economically at every scale and every level.
STEVENS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
September 30
THE STEVENS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
The Stevens Institute inspires students to acquire the competencies needed to lead in scientific discovery and in the creation, application and management of technology to solve complex problems and to build new enterprises. Stevens’ vision is embodied in a concept referred to as "Technogenesis®," the process of education that begins with the inception of an idea and proceeds through the engineering and marketing phases of the development of a product or service which germinates from the idea.
MARITIME SECURITY LABORATORY (MSL)
MSL conducts applied research aimed at reducing maritime vulnerabilities. MSL develops technologies to address threats across multiple timescales, ranging from terrorist incidents to coastal hazards. These assets include sensors, vehicles, and models focused on the surface, underwater, and urban realms. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, MSL draws upon the resources of the Center for Decision Technologies, the Wireless Network Security Center, the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, the Computer Science Department, the Mathematics Department, and the Ocean Engineering Department.
Research disciplines include environmental observation and prediction, computational fluid dynamics, underwater acoustics, mathematical modeling and infrared analysis of wakes, signal processing and detection theory, information theory, data transmission and compression, video techniques including automated tracking and ranging, sensor development, optimal deployment and operation, and operations research. MSL has substantial expertise in:
• Diver/intruder/vessel detection and classification;
• Agile UUV operations;
• Vessel tracking with infrared and video cameras;
• Hostile intent assessment of small boat trajectories;
• Estuary/ocean observing and forecasting;
• Vessel traffic monitoring from space;
• Chemical/biological/radiological prediction for urban areas;
• Natural hazard mitigation in the urban/coastal zones.
THE DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING INSTITUTE (DMI)
DMI is an interdisciplinary center that integrates design, materials and manufacturing science with modern software and systems engineering leading to cost effective, high performance, and environmentally friendly products and processes. DMI's current research span design automation, manufacturing and production automation, intelligent systems and engineered materials, including:
• MEMS research, design, and prototyping;
• Wireless control of remote weapons stations;
• Modeling, simulation, and optimization of production systems;
• Simulation-based design and optimization to assess and optimize components and sub-assemblies for low cost, high production rates and integrating new materials.