Center for Embedded Networked Sensing:

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Center for Embedded Networked Sensing Sense
Sustainability
William Kaiser, Ph.D. UCLA, James Reserve
Ecological Facility City of Los Angeles
The Center for Embedded Networked Sensings
Research Experience for Undergraduates, a part of
our Summer_at_CENS Program, is a 10 week summer
research experience hosted at the University of
California at Los Angeles. Our program will host
10 students per year beginning 2009 and ending in
2011. The main objective of this proposed REU
Site is to provide high quality research
experiences and professional development to
undergraduates, with a special focus on women and
underrepresented students, with the goal of
encouraging their long-term interest in science
and engineering.
Research Highlights
SensorKit is a powerful and configurable
end-to-end sensing system that represents a new
approach to acquiring, managing, and analyzing
sensor data. SensorKit-related research projects
will engage participating undergraduates in
research focused on monitoring factors important
to urban sustainability, such as electricity,
water, waste, traffic, building and parking
occupancy, and public transport usage patterns.
Sample project highlights are below
Program Highlights
Figure 1 SensorKit Figure 2 SensorKit
Network Flow Chart
Our Immersion Program is made up of a week long
exercise that includes lab immersion, team
building, technology exposure and training.
Real Time and Archived Traffic Data on the UCLA
Campus The objective of this project is to
monitor incoming and outgoing vehicular and
pedestrian traffic at two main entrances to UCLA.
We have developed a traffic monitoring system
designed around the Sensorkit architecture that
has been installed on the first of four sites on
campus.  The system is currently logging data to
Sensorbase and a basic UI has been developed to
access and visualize this data.  Undergraduate
researchers will analyze data currently being
logged on traffic counts. In addition, students
can develop algorithms for vehicular
classification to provide more detailed
characterization of traffic behavior.
Traffic Sensor
Participants are placed on interdisciplinary
teams of high school students, undergraduates,
graduate students and faculty. Tiered mentorship
allows participants to utilize each other as
resources in the learning process. Summer
research themes are created to improve
participants ability to understand and contribute
to the momentum of the work in our labs.
2 Traffic Sensors
Pedestrian Sensor
SensorKit
Pedestrian Sensor Traffic
Sensor
The summer program is enhanced by our
Developmental Series Workshops which includes,
Ramp-up workshop Q A, Post-graduation
Opportunities, Faculty Showcase and Intern Rap.
The Ethics Workshops, which involve the broader
CENS community introduce students to topics such
as professional conduct and the impact and
responsibilities associated with research.
Figure 3 Sensor Deployment Figure 4 Sensor
Installation Figure 5 Traffic Monitor User
Interface
Real Time and Archived Water Usage in Hollywood
Housing, Los Angeles Sensorkit for water
submetering has been tested and we are developing
plans for a pilot deployment at a multiunit
housing facility in LA county.  We will be
working with Los Angeles Department of Water and
Power to further develop and deploy this system
and to eventually adopt the technology and create
social programs to promote water conservation.
Undergraduate researchers will focus on analysis,
access and presentation of the data collected in
addition to investigating cost-effective system
component and architectures for various
environments.

• Scholars have multiple benchmark opportunities to
  help them develop independence and confidence.
• Weekly Progress Reports
• Weekly Writing Workshop
• Final Paper
• Final Poster and Demonstration
• Summer_at_CENS Journal

Real Time and Archived Energy Usage at Facilities
in China A prototype energy sub metering system
has been developed and installed in a corporate
office of our partners in China.  We are
investigating the development of a more scalable
and cost-effective solution for both our
collaboration with China as well as for local
applications.  Undergraduate researchers will
focus on hardware and systems development, data
analysis, access, and presentation of the system.
Figure 6 Water Usage User Interface