About the Institute for Sensing Systems

ISS is a multidisciplinary institute focused on research and technology development, education, and service, related to sensors and sensor systems. The primary goal of the Institute is to foster interdisciplinary collaborations to provide integrated sensing solutions to the most challenging and compelling problems faced by society, with an initial focus on national security.

Sensor Systems and their Significance

Sensor systems are integrated, controlled networks of people and technologies, designed to sense and characterize their surrounding conditions and to communicate important information to decision makers responsible for those domains.  A sensor system consists of a distributed, heterogeneous mix of sensor technologies (e.g., imaging, chemical/biological, acoustic, etc.), electronics for signal processing and communication of information (often wirelessly) to a user or fusion center,  networking protocols and distributed computing software, algorithms for fusion of information and for inference and understanding, and a means for control and adaptation of the sensing system to address changing conditions or needs.

It is estimated that 60 trillion wireless sensor devices will be deployed by 2010, 10,000 devices for each person in the world! The disruptive technologies yielded by networks of distributed sensors will reshape information gathering and exploitation in the next generation. Already, sensor networks are rapidly being developed to meet critical national security needs, and all current evidence indicates that this trend will continue into the foreseeable future. Similarly, sensor networks increasingly support scientific and commercial needs in the business enterprise, agriculture, industry, medicine, and transportation arenas. 

OSU has established excellence in this field. OSU’s 2004 development and demonstration of the world’s largest wireless sensor network, addressing a perimeter defense application, has placed OSU in the international spotlight as an early leader in developing large networks of sensors for national security.  In addition, the sensor network hardware and software facilities developed for this experiment, and the 6500 sq. ft. Kansei networked sensor testbed facility (http://www.cse.ohio-state.edu/kansei/) at Ohio State, are unique facilities in the world and can be leveraged for impact and significant external funding for sensor-systems research and development.  Other recent sensor-system demonstrations, including Mars Rover tracking, OSU’s Desert ION autonomous vehicle entry in the DARPA Grand Challenge, and through-wall radar imaging for the DARPA Visibuilding program, further strengthen OSU’s national visibility in sensing systems.

Investment in a sensor-systems institute is thus most timely. A window of opportunity exists for a high return on investment, given Ohio State’s excellence and external visibility in this area.

Even as the use of sensor systems is increasing, the principled design of sensor systems is in its infancy.  Key unanswered questions include:

• What new sensing modalities are needed to meet application needs, and how can they be effectively integrated with existing sensor modalities?
• How many and what mix of sensors are needed to meet emerging application needs?
• What network architectures support robust and scalable sensing systems?
• How do we coordinate mobile sensors to detect and monitor evolving threats or events?
• How do we design effective human interfaces to understand and manage sensor systems?

ISS seeks to conduct research and development to answer these questions.

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