MICS Newsletter May09

8/14/2019 MICS Newsletter May09

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MAY 2009N E W S L E T T E R The research aim o the HYDROSYSproject is to provide a system inra-

structure to support teams o usersin the on-site monitoring o eventsand analysis o natural resources.

Pages 2&3

The Oce o Equal Opportunitiesat EPF Lausanne has developeda bus geared toward promotingsciences among young people inSwitzerland.

Page 5

Ater having progressed with hiswork or six months, the rst MICSmember to obtain a Spin Fund isabout to pass the baton to a young

business woman...Page 4

Finnish environmental researchers observing data rom a water sensor Erick Mendez


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page 2 | May 2009 MICS NEWSLETTER

hYdRoSYS To MoNiToR

ENviRoNMENTAL PRocESSES

HYDROSYS is an EU-unded 7thFramework project ocusing on

environmental monitoring usinghand-held devices. The project ad-

dresses the need to take a closerlook at ecological processes as a

response to the continuously in-creasing pressure on our ecosys-

tem.

HYDROSYS extends current prac-tice by enabling on-site data col-lection and visualization, enablingnew ways o observing ecologicalprocesses. The research aim o theproject is to provide a system inra-structure to support teams o usersin the on-site monitoring o eventsand analysis o natural resources.

EvENTdRivEN cAMPAiGNS

The project introduces the innova-tive concept o event-driven cam-paigns using hand-held devices,potentially supported by an un-manned aerial vehicle (UAV). Event-driven campaigns provide users

the capacity to analyze and predictenvironmental changes on-site,supporting the process o takingappropriate countermeasures toavoid environmental degradation.

During these campaigns, users willbe able to setup and retrieve datarom xed and mobile sensors andsensorstations, the UAV and exter-nal sources (such as permanent sen-sor networks) in order to generate

dense inormation on a small area.The whole sensor network systemwill gather and store sensor data,and process simulations based onphysical process models. Hence, a

shared inormation system usingheterogeneous data sources willbe provided that supports teamso stakeholders to monitor environ-mental processes on-site, comple-menting remote monitoring and

management.

To enrich the data sets rom a spe-cic location, additional remotelycontrolled cameras will be de-

Finnish environmental researcher observing data rom a water sensor Erick Mendez


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ployed, mounted on sensorstationsand below the UAV. Users will beable to analyze the environmentusing mobile phones and hand-held computers, supported by ad-vanced user interace techniques.

ANALYSiS oF SMALL SiTES

The project will improve monitor-ing and management or envi-ronmental scientists, institutions,service providers, engineeringcompanies and municipalitiesthrough its strong integration ohand-helds and sensor networks.

The project will progress well be-yond the current state-o-the-art,by dealing with short-term eventsand detailed analysis o small sites.

The analysis o such events is hardlysupported by current methods, buthas a large impact on environmen-tal degradation. Furthermore, inor-mation is made available to citizensby providing mechanisms to accesstop-level environmental data.

Within the project, inter-disciplin-ary research will be perormed todevelop user-centered solutions.

When the data is integrated withanalytical tools in a shared inor-mation space it will also aid a widerange o managers and plannerspursuing more environmentally

sensitive solutions to engineeringproblems.

The HYDROSYS consortium closelycooperates with the SwissEx initia-tive, sponsored through the MICScompetence center. HYDROSYSperectly extends the MICS re-search agenda by oering newresearch directions in the eld omobile computing. Though being

a sel-contained project, the HY-DROSYS goals thus can be seen asa building block rom which MICSmembers can benet.

Through this cooperation, HYDRO-SYS gains access to experience andsotware in the eld o sensor tech-nology, data acquisition and man-agement, next to environmentaldata. On the other hand, HYDROSYSoers state o the art mobile tech-

nology, using the latest in interac-tive 3D visualization techniques onmobile devices.

USiNG MicS dEvELoPMENTS

The large number o end-usersinvolved through the coopera-tion strengthens the development

being undertaken in the project.Given the conditions o the deploy-ment, HYDROSYS develops wirelessnetworking inrastructure to accessremote sensors that can be reused

by MICS eorts in the uture. Spe-cically, HYDROSYS will make useo the MICS wireless sensor net-work developments, extending theramework with some modules thatare specically needed or the aimso the HYDROSYS project, includ-ing real-time sensor data process-ing, specic simulation unctional-ity, and data access or hand-helddevices.

HYDROSYS greatly benets romthe sensor technology available,deploying among others the Sen-sorScope sensing technology toresearch among others permarostand water quality monitoring. HY-DROSYS aims at providing an open-source inrastructure that can beused by a wider public.

Ernst Kruijff

Prjet wepage:

ttp://www.yrsysnlne.eu


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A SPiN FUNd SToRY

bEcoMES A START-UP SToRY

Last year, Mounir Krichane was

the rst MICS member to obtaina Spin Fund (see MICS Newsletter

Sept.08) . Ater having progressedwith his work or six months, he is

about to pass the baton to a youngbusiness woman, Sudharshini Ari-

arajah. Update on the status othe project.

- Mounir, remind us what yourproject is about ?

The Spin Fund was to study thecommercialization o a productsuch as SensorScope and to ndan appropriate business model.

The goal was to write up a businessplan and to create a start-up.

- What kept you busy during thepast months ?

To research the best way to com-mercialize the product took sometime. I had to nd the appropri-ate industrial partners. Finally, wechose Cottet Electronic SA or theelectronic side and TIE SA or themechanical one. I also had to think

about our uture clients queries,supply chain and logistics. Since theSensorScope stations are modular,their production is more compli-cated than i we had one standard

item. Finally, I spent a lot o timedoing research or the businessplan and promoting the start-upthrough presentations, conerenc-es and workshops in order to ndnew customers. As a result, at least150 stations should be producedand sold this year.

- Do you already have customers?

The company was actually bornto respond to an existing demandor autonomous networked sens-ing stations rom the environmen-tal sciences. We have also requests

rom the natural hazard preventionarea and we intend to work withthe Federal Roads Oce or roadsaety.

- Mounir, you are about to leave

the project to move on a dierentproessional path

Yes and ortunately, anew person is ready

to pursue the work, sothe transition shouldbe smooth.

- This person is Sud-

harshini AriarajahCan you introduce

yoursel?

I studied at the Gradu-ate Institute o Interna-tional Studies in Gene-

va and then worked inthe banking domain.I perormed dier-ent activities amongwhich communicationand management. InJanuary, I was hired ona short-term basis tohelp Mounir build uphis business case.

- And now you are about to replaceMounir?

The project has evolved and theneeds are going to be dierent. In


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March, the start-up SensorScopeSrl was created, involving ourassociates: Guillermo Barrenetxea(Communication systems), FranoisIngelrest (Computer science), Da-vis Daidi (Microengineering) andmysel (Business/Marketing). Thecompanys oces are in Bassenges(close to the EPFL campus).

- What are the next moves or youSudharshini?

I have to take on Mounirs work, inparticular to deepen the market re-search. I will be setting up processesto manage the company ecientlyand extend our customers basis bypromoting the products and servic-es. Many opportunities exist to re-ceive some support, including romthe EPFL Scientic Park. I intend toapply or a CTI Start-up to obtain a

proessional coaching on specicissues related to the business. I willalso work closely with the LCAV andEFLUM Laboratories.

intErviEwby florEncE luy

NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS

Parlamentary stMembers o the Committee orScience, Education and Culture othe Swiss Parliament will visit theNCCRs attached to EPFL on 5 Nov2009. Demos and presentations byMICS participants are currently in

the planning phase or this event.

ASUT SemnarThe Swiss Telecommunications As-sociation (ASUT) organizes its year-ly Seminar in Bern on 10 June. Thisevent is the main industry-orientedone in Switzerland in the ICT area.Karl Aberer has been invited tomake a presentation (Swiss Exper-iment - Inrastructures or a Smart

Earth).More details on www.asut.ch.

Telem 2009The three NCCRs MICS, MaNEP andQuantum Photonics will co-orga-nize a special VIP event at Tele-com 2009 in Geneva, in order topromote the excellence o Swissresearch in this eld. It will take

place on the Lake Geneva Regionstand, on Wednesday October 7th,rom 5 to 7 p.m. and will gatherrepresentatives rom the 3 NCCRs,top managers o the major telecom

companies and representative othe ederal government.

Stalzatn prgram teSwss GermentAs part o the so-called stabiliza-

tion program, the Swiss govern-ment has decided to invest addi-tional unding or NCCR technologytranser projects. In this ramework,MICS participants have been invit-ed to make proposals or new proj-ects aimed at ostering technologytranser in collaboration with in-dustry.

Qualmm aqures dgtal

FuntanQualcomm, a member o the NCCRMICS Industrial Liaison Program,has recently acquired Digital Foun-tain, an expert company in broad-cast and real-time data transportco-ounded by Pro. Amin Shokrol-lahi now at EPFL.

jacquEs bovay


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page | May 2009 MICS NEWSLETTER

The Ofce o Equal Opportunities

at EPF Lausanne has developeda bus geared toward promoting

sciences among young people inSwitzerland.

A MiNi-TRAvELiNG SchooLTo PRoMoTE SciENcES

Alain Herzog

targeted actions or inormationand promotion must be integratedin the program, says Farnaz Moser,Equal Opportunities Delegate.

The project was made possiblethanks to the participation o allEPFL sections and schools. Lote-rie Romande, the NCCR-MICS, theNCCR-QP and the Zonta Club oLausanne and Yverdon-les-Bains

have supported the project nan-cially. Partnership with schools isessential to the success o this proj-ect.

The bus began its tour in Delmont,Switzerland and will travel throughthe dierent cantons or approxi-mately ten weeks each year.

florEncE luy

AGREEMENT bETWEENEPF LAUSANNE ANd JURA

This is unique in Switzerland: EPFLausanne and the Canton o Jurahave signed an agreement withinthe educational and scientic elds.In order to encourage girls to laterstudy science, the EPF Lausanneoers courses such as Internet orgirls. And i enrollment is any indica-

tion, success is already guaranteed.MICS supports this approach aimedat breaking down the stereotype oscientic careers early enough.

The science bus has an interactiveexhibition to which the 13 sectionso the EPF Lausanne have contrib-uted. Each eld - physics, micro-technology, environment, etc. isexplained through an experiment.

The texts have been specicallyadapted or young people who

can also participate in workshops.For example, they can learn how topour a tin medal or discover how animpurity can change a liquid into asolid state.

This mini-traveling school ocuseson students aged between 10 and13 years. The activities are ree andteachers receive an educationalkit in advance, enabling them toprepare their students or the visit.Four trained scientists acilitate the

activities.

The objective o this approach is toengage young people, particularlygirls, and to increase their aware-ness o and interest in the scienticbranches.

Such initiatives are necessary to

arouse the curiosity o young peo-ple, and their interest in scienceand technology. Moreover, to en-courage girls venturing urther inthe ascinating world o science,


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This year, the NCCR MICS is orga-nizing its annual event in the ormo a Workshop on 9 and 10 Juneat EPFL. The goal o this workshopis to present some o the main re-search results o MICS Phase 2 andto provide an outlook to Phase 3(Nov 2009 - Oct 2013).

ThE PRoGRAM hiGhLiGhTS

Tuesay 9 June

Mrnng:

- Outlook on MICS Phase 3, Karl Ab-erer, EPFL- Keynote, Anja Feldmann, TU Ber-lin

Aternn:

- Sotware techniques DejaVu: Declarative Pattern Match-ing over Live and Archived Streamso Events, Roozbeh Derakhstan,ETHZ Query Driven Operator Placementor Complex Event Detection overData Streams, Oana Jurca, EPFL Programming Personal Clouds,Qin Yin, ETHZ

- Wireless networks Channel-Aware Congestion Con-trol or Wireless Mesh Networks,Yang Su, ETHZ Secure Ranging in Wireless Net-

ibM Faulty Awarr Nesme Tatul

The data streams processing be-comes more and more demandingand important. For her work in thisarea, Nesime Tatbul, proessor orAdvanced Data Management Sys-tems in the Computer Departmentat ETH Zurich, received the IBM Fac-

ulty Award (40000 US dollars). Through a common project withIBM, she will examine how hard-ware components can contributeto process aster data streams.

MicS WoRKShoP AT EPFL

works: A Top-Down Approach, Mar-cin Poturalski, EPFL Computing Best Swap Edges inOptimal Tree Spanners, Beat Geller,ETHZ

Wenesay 10 June

Mrnng:- Keynote, Peter Landrock, Crypto-

mathic Inc. and Aarhus University

- WSN - System and data manage-ment

Clique: Role-Free Clustering withQ-Learning or Wireless Sensor Net-works, Anna Foerster, UNISI Perormance Optimization in En-ergy Harvesting Embedded Sys-tems, Clemens Moser, ETHZ Gradient Clock Synchronization inWireless Sensor Networks, Philipp

Sommer, ETHZ

Aternn:- WSN - Environmental monitor-

ing

Environmental Noise MonitoringUsing Wireless Sensor Networksand Mobile Phones, Silvia Santini,ETHZ A Concept or the Joint Interpreta-tion o Distributed Measurements

and Numerical, Steanie Gubler,ETHZ The Hitchhikers Guide to Success-ul Wireless Sensor Network De-ployments, Gunnar Schaeer, EPFL

- WSN - Mobility and Control Understanding Mobility at ScaleMichal Piorkowski, EPFL Decentralized Controller Designor Sensor and Actuator Networks,Patrick Denantes, EPFL A Probabilistic Approach to Dis-tributed (Odor) Source Localization,

Thomas Lochmatter, EPFL

Fr urter nrmatn:ttp://www.ms.rg/Wrk

sp09/p3.pp


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NEW PUbLicATioNS

Jurnal papers:

Zhou, Yongluan; Ooi, Beng Chin; Tan, Kian-Lee, DisseminatingStreaming Data in a Dynamic En-

vironment: an Adaptive and Cost-Based Approach, The VLDB Journal.

Cudre-Mauroux, Philippe; Budura,Adriana; Hauswirth, Manred; Ab-erer, Karl, PicShark: Mitigating Meta-data Scarcity Through Large-Scale

P2P Collaboration, VLDB Journal,2008, vol. 17, no 6, p. 1371-1384.

Beat Geller, Elias Vicari, A FasterDistributed Approximation Scheme

or the Connected DominatingSet Problem or Growth-Bounded

Graphs, Ad Hoc & Sensor WirelessNetworks, Volume 6, Number 3-4,2008.

Thomas Henzinger, Two challengesin embedded systems design: Predict-ability and robustness, Philosophical

Transactions o the Royal Society.

cnerene papers:

Gilbert, Seth; Guerraoui, Rachid;

Kowalski, Dariusz; Newport, Calvin,Intererence-Resilient InormationExchange, IEEE InoCom 2009; Riode Janeiro, Brazil, April 19-25, 2009.

Michel, Sebastian; Salehi, Ali; Luo,Liqian; Dawes, Nicholas; Aberer,Karl; Barrenetxea, Guillermo; Ba-vay, Mathias; Kansal, Aman; Kumar,K.Ashwin; Nath, Suman; Parlange,

Marc; Tansley, Stewart; van Ingen,Catharine; Zhao, Feng; Zhou, Yon-gluan, Environmental Monitoring2.0, 25th International Conerenceon Data Engineering (ICDE 2009);Shanghai, China, March 29-April 2.

Haghani, Parisa; Michel, Sebastian;Aberer, Karl, Distributed Similar-ity Search in High Dimensions UsingLocality Sensitive Hashing, 12th In-

ternational Conerence on Extend-ing Database Technology (EDBT);Saint-Petersburg, Russia, March 23-26 2009.

Shokri, Reza; Poturalski, Marcin;Ravot, Gael; Papadimitratos, Panos;Hubaux, Jean-Pierre, A Practical Se-cure Neighbor Verifcation Protocol

or Wireless Sensor Networks, Sec-

ond ACM Conerence on WirelessNetwork Security (WiSec09); Zur-ich, March 16-18.

Jrme Rousselot, Jean-Domi-

nique Decotignie, A High-PrecisionUltra Wideband Impulse Radio Physi-cal Layer Model or Network Simula-

tion, Second Omnet++ Workshop,Rome, 6 Mar 09.

Matthias Woehrle, Christian Plessl,Lothar Thiele, Poster Abstract: Ru- peas - An Event Analysis Languageor Wireless Sensor Network Traces,

The 6th European Conerence onWireless Sensor Networks (EWSN2009); Cork, Ireland, February 11-13, 2009.

Roman Lim, Matthias Woehrle,Andreas Meier, Jan Beutel, PosterAbstract: Harvester - Low-power En-vironment Monitoring out o the box,

The 6th European Conerence onWireless Sensor Networks (EWSN

2009); Cork, Ireland, February 11-13.

Schaeer, Gunnar; Ingelrest, Fran-ois; Vetterli, Martin, Potentials oOpportunistic Routing in Energy-Constrained Wireless Sensor Net-

works, The 6th European Coner-ence on Wireless Sensor Networks(EWSN 2009); Cork, Ireland, Febru-

ary 11-13.

Piorkowski, Michal; Sarajanovoc-Djukic, Natasa; Grossglauser, Matth-


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Editor : Florence LuyMail : frene.luy@epf.

The National Centres o Competence

in Research are a research instrument

o the Swiss National Science Foundation

EPFL IC NCCR MICS

Station 14CH-1015 Lausanne

Tel +41 (0)21 693 8106

Fax +41 (0)21 693 8140

www.mics.org | [email protected]

ias, A Parsimonious Model o MobilePartitioned Networks with Clustering,

The First International Conerenceon Communication Systems andNetworkS (COMSNETS); Bangalore,India, January 5-10.

coNFERENcES

10th International Conerenceon Mobile Data Management: Sys-tems, Services and Middleware, Tai-pei (Taiwan), 18-21 May.

MicS Wrksp, EPF Lausanne,910 June.

6th International Conerence onNetworked Sensing Systems, Pitts-burgh (USA), 17-19 June.

IEEE International Symposium onInormation Theory, Seoul (Korea),28 June-3 July.

International Conerence on High

Perormance Computing, Network-ing and Communication Systems,Orlando (USA), 13-16 July.

International Conerence on Wire-less Algorithms Systems and Appli-cations, Boston (USA), 16-18 August2009.

S-CUBE, 1st Conerence on Wire-less Sensor Network Systems andSotware, Pisa (Italy), 7-9 Septem-ber.

9th International Conerence onPeer-to-Peer Computing, Seattle,Washington, USA, 8-11 September.

7th ACM Conerence on Embed-

ded Networked Sensor Systems,Berkeley, Caliornia, 4-6 November.

t AcM cnerene n Emee Netwrke Sensr Systems,

ETh Zur, 35 Nemer 2010.

Documents

MICS Newsletter May09