Ohio State smart dust event draws “a line in the sand”

Ohio State University researchers are about to demonstrate new technology that could help the U.S. military on future battlefields.

Next Monday (9/8), tiny wireless sensors scattered on the lawn of the Chemical Abstracts Service will detect the movement of vehicles and people on foot -- and determine if a person may be carrying a weapon.

The sensors are integrated with “smart dust” devices designed at the University of California, Berkeley, and Ohio State leads a consortium of universities that is working to develop large scale applications for the technology. The project, dubbed “A Line in the Sand,” is funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Anish Arora, professor of computer and information science and head of the consortium, will discuss how the pager-sized sensors collaborate with each other and relay their decision to a central computer.

While these sensors are being tested in labs across the country, Ohio State has made special contributions to the project by designing network services that let a large number of sensors collaborate efficiently and reliably, and by incorporating a tiny radar device. Ultimately, Arora wants the research to carry over to other aspects of his specialty: computer networking.

“These sensors have changed the way we look at networking,” he said.

WHAT: Smart dust demonstration

WHERE: Chemical Abstracts Service lawn (near the site of Picnic at the Pops). Take State Route 315 to the Ackerman Rd. exit, head east on Ackerman to the Olentangy River Rd. intersection. Chemical Abstracts Service is located at the southeast corner of Ackerman and Olentangy (Please note that Ackerman Rd. changes to Dodridge Rd. on the east side of Olentangy River Rd.). The demonstration will take place near a tent on the northeast portion of the lawn, close to Dodridge Rd. and the Olentangy River.

WHEN: 11:30 a.m. Monday (event should run approximately half an hour). In the event of rain, the event will be postponed to 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, September 9, 2003.

WHY: See tomorrow’s battlefield technology in action.

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Contact: Anish Arora, (614) 292-1836; Arora.9@osu.edu
Written by Pam Frost Gorder, (614) 292-9475; Gorder.1@osu.edu