CENS Technical Seminar Series

Cooperation, Sampling, and Models in Sensors Network Research

Seminar Slides

Invited Speaker: Prof. Gregory J Pottie
Date: October 24, 2008
Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Venue: Boelter Hall 4760

Abstract

The primary goal in a scientific experiment is computation of some inference from the observations and available models. From this basic problem flows a broad set of practical and theoretical issues, among them assurance of data integrity, sufficiency of data to support the inferences made concerning models/hypotheses, and what tools and hardware are required not just to take observations but enable a community of non-engineers to participate in and adapt a sequence of experiments as new observations are obtained. The resulting constraints for designing systems for such purposes are quite different from those often assumed in sensor network research. In this talk, we contrast the conventional design paradigm and its associated information theoretic problems to the one that has emerged from multiple generations of deployments at CENS. Particular focus will be given to recent results in the scale of cooperation required for sensor decisions, and the relation between sampling and model selection.

Biography

Gregory J. Pottie was born in Wilmington DE and raised in Ottawa, Canada. He received his B.Sc. in Engineering Physics from Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario in 1984, and his M.Eng. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, in 1985 and 1988 respectively. From 1989 to 1991 he worked in the transmission research department of Motorola/Codex in Canton MA, with projects related to voice band modems and digital subscriber lines. Since 1991 he has been a faculty member of the UCLA Electrical Engineering Department, serving in vice-chair roles from 1999-2003. Since 2003 he has also served as Associate Dean for Research and Physical Resources of the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. His research interests include wireless communication systems and sensor networks. In 2005 he became a Fellow of the IEEE for contributions to the modeling and applications of sensor networks. Prof. Pottie is the deputy director of the NSF-sponsored science and technology Center for Embedded Networked Sensing, a member of the Bruin Master's Swim Club (butterfly) and the St. Alban's Choir (2nd bass).