Guevara Noubir, associate professor of computer and information science, is leading an interdisciplinary team to develop a new generation of application-driven wireless sensor networks.

These energy efficient wireless sensor networks would offer significant advantages in applications as diverse as search and rescue, building inspection and health monitoring and motion tracking.

In order to undertake a project of such magnitude, Noubir assembled a team of researchers from various disciplines including professors Peter Desnoyers and Marty Vona from his own college, Stefano Basagni, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, Dennis Bernal, associate professor of civil engineering, and Maureen Holden, associate professor of physical therapy.

“The interdisciplinary effort is integral to the research,” said Noubir. “By bringing together researchers with expertise that spans such areas of engineering and health sciences in conjunction with computer science, we are better able to explore the many possibilities for wireless sensor networks.”

The team has just been awarded a National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation grant to develop a multi-purpose wireless sensor-networking instrument—a key first step to support continuing research and development.

The instrument will enable experimentation with protocols and algorithms for a future generation of wireless sensor networks and exploration of their numerous interdisciplinary uses.

Noubir’s work seeks to enhance the security, energy efficiency and reliability of wireless sensor networks by creating a more capable generation of systems that are lower in cost and significantly smaller than existing systems.