Intelligent Infrastructure
People want to know that the water is clean, that firefighters and emergency crews will respond, that highway and air traffic will flow smoothly, and that neighborhoods are safe. As telecom companies are installing ubiquitous mesh networks, CITRIS is building applications that address these concerns.
Intelligent infrastructure research is driven by CITRIS’s core technology: wireless sensor networks (WSN). Pioneered at CITRIS, this California-based industry involves the manufacture and use of miniature wireless sensors and networks. From monitoring wind and seismic safety on the Golden Gate Bridge to helping first-response teams work faster and safer, intelligent infrastructure helps things work better and smarter.
Within this theme, researchers are working to maintain a low-impact energy supply and working with the city of San Francisco to study the impact of public security cameras. CITRIS researchers are also working to ensure the safety of electric power delivery. By developing technology to monitor the maintenance and degradation of AC power distribution cables, they are helping utility systems understand how their cables fail and where to allocate resources for replacement.