Sensor Savvy

Posted: 

Randy Moses

Sensors improve the usability and effectiveness of nearly every engineered product on the market today. We use sensors to monitor blood oxygen levels in patients, exhaust gas emissions in cars, carbon monoxide in homes, temperature, pressure, velocity, RPMs — the list goes on.

At Ohio State, we have a long tradition and vibrant, comprehensive activity in all aspects of sensor and sensor system engineering. Here in the College of Engineering we conduct sensor research in nearly every department, and in many cases, in conjunction with researchers in other colleges, for developments such as:

  • advanced materials for new sensing modalities and devices
  • MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical systems) devices for biosensing
  • Low-power electronics and radios to condition measured signals and transmit them wirelessly
  • smart materials that change properties in response to changes in the environment
  • communication networks to transmit and assimilate sensed information
  • techniques for fusing information from distributed sensors
  • cognitive engineering to enable people to effectively interact with sensor systems to understand the scene of interest without being overloaded with information

Let me describe just a few examples. On the advanced materials front, Patricia Morris is designing a new class of nanoparticle-based sensors that can rapidly detect toxic industrial chemicals. Arrays of these sensors can be used to test for a range of substances in a very small and low-cost package. In addition, Sheikh Akbar and his colleagues are developing rugged gas sensors aimed at automobile exhaust monitoring; these sensors have been awarded 3 R&D 100 awards in recent years from R&D Magazine.

For sensor network communication, Anish Arora is developing energy-efficient networking strategies — critical for optimizing and extending the life of these sensor nodes — to enable small wireless sensors to communicate with one another to share information. Secure communications between wireless devices is essential, and Hesham El-Gamal has developed a novel method, based on new theoretical developments in network information theory, to prevent eavesdropping in wireless communication links, without using public key techniques. The ideas are being implemented on Ohio State’s extensive system of sensor network radios.

In the electronics arena, Joel Johnson and Emre Ertin are developing small, lightweight, software-defined radar systems that can adapt their waveforms on the fly to respond to changing surveillance needs or changes in the scene.

And in cognitive engineering, David Woods is developing ways to emulate human focus of attention in sensor systems to automatically cue data analysts and first responders to disasters.

Our ElectroScience Laboratory, known internationally for its leadership in radio frequency sensing systems, boasts a rich history of major accomplishments in RF sensing and communications — far too many to list here. Construction is nearing completion for a 40,580-square-foot addition to ESL, more than doubling its space.

In 2007, the College formed an interdisciplinary research center, the Institute for Sensing Systems, to comprehensively address sensor systems research. In addition to several engineering disciplines, center researchers collaborate with those in other colleges — professors in chemistry, earth sciences and statistics, for example — as well as many from other universities. The center includes experts in sensor devices, signal processing and fusion, networked communications and human factors.

A significant initial focus of the center revolves around research related to surveillance systems with application to defense and homeland security challenges through the recently launched Center for Surveillance Research, an NSF Industry/University Collaborative Research Center. Financial support from government and corporate sponsors is supporting eight graduate students to advance surveillance theory.

The Ohio State University is one of a handful of universities with the breadth of activities to impact sensors research in such a comprehensive way.

Categories: FacultyResearch