Embedded Network Systems
[We see trees, streams, countryside – and we hear the voice of (and later see) Deborah Estrin, director of the Center for Embedded Network Sensing.]
Estrin: It's really about the ability to observe phenomena that were previously unobservable. That’s temperature, that’s humidity, that’s the details of the light levels. Remember “Erin Brockovich,” the movie about taking measurements of pollutants in the water? If you wait until the levels are really high and you’re already starting to see disease in people, that’s way too late. So if we can begin to develop technology where we can routinely be observing these phenomena, we can catch them earlier. We can intervene earlier, before they become dangerous. We coined the term “Eco Geeks,” in that we’re taking these traditionally techie-like students and getting them out into the environment. Our soil sensors have a little brain at the top, and then very thin wires going down to lots of little sensors. It also makes use of robotic devices. These robotic devices have the ability of moving sensors around in the environment, and taking measurements in many more places than just the number of places where you could stick sensors permanently. We do other kinds of measurements as well. We use little cameras and look at images and look for changes in color patterns or changes in shape or size. We do acoustic monitoring in studying things like woodpeckers, or trying to estimate the number of different species of different birds that are being observed in the forest. We’ve never before had the ability to really see in detail how a building moves in response to an earthquake. Another way of thinking about this technology in general is, it’s like having the ability to do a CAT scan or an MRI instead of just taking a blood test. You actually get to have a detailed view of the living system, the living phenomenon, whether it’s the contaminated water or whether it's that endangered ecosystem or whether it's the structure in response to an earthquake. I always wanted to design things, and that creative process of inventing something new . . there’s nothing more interesting than invention and innovation. And in this case it has a tremendous opportunity to matter. It matters to the environment. It matters to scientists. It matters to medicine. And that draws me to the field.
[END VIDEO]
