CACR Research: Pervasive Computing for Disaster Response

Project Title: PC3: Collaborative Research: Pervasive Computing for Disaster Response
CACR Contact: Julian Bunn

The objective of this research is to develop key components of community-based pervasive systems which will allow citizens to respond to disasters. The systems will make use of inexpensive networked sensors and communication devices distributed among families and communities. The sensors/devices will enable the collection of situational information and the dissemination of alerts, by use of fault and delay-tolerant networks, and through the use of Cloud computing and crowd sourcing techniques. The Indo-US partnership in this effort will study these issues in the context of the Indian subcontinent where urban and rural landscapes are unique.

Sensor-based detection technologies will be studied to help identify events, e.g. abnormal ground motion, and fault-tolerant networks will be designed to connect the sensor systems together and to a resource-rich cloud infrastructure. Methods for performing sensing analysis and data fusion in the cloud will be incorporated so as to address tradeoffs among rates of false positive alarms, false negative alarms, and time to detection.  The existing infrastructure will also be used to design systems for delivering actionable alerts/information to responders and communities using multiple networks. The community-based sensing and alerting techniques developed will be evaluated in campus testbeds at UCI/Caltech, culminating in a pilot study/drill at one of the Indian institutions with regional experience in disaster management.

Dealing with disasters effectively is a global concern and techniques to leverage communities for data collection and alerting is an effective strategy, especially in nations with diverse populations with varying degrees of technological sophistication. The research will enable a new generation of community-based cyber-physical systems in emerging markets, in which the community helps to detect, communicate and respond to rapidly evolving events such as earthquakes, tsunamis, fires, floods and epidemics. Students at different levels (graduate, undergraduate, K-12) will gain experience with developing real-world applications in a global context via courses and independent study projects.Students will benefit tremendously from exposure to the next generation of community-based cyber-physical systems technologies that will help design safer living environments for the future.