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ADDRESSING CHALLENGES OF SCALABILITY IN IOT SYSTEMS
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espite his relatively short tenure as an assistant professor, Dr. Xun Jiao in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department has already received a great deal of recognition for his work on the Internet of Things (IoT) and machine learning. Most recently, he earned a National Science Foundation Collaborative Research grant for PPoSS (Principles and Practice of Scalable Systems): Planning: S3-IoT: Design and Deployment of Scalable, Secure, and Smart Mission-Critical IoT Systems. The $250,000 Phase 1 award will be shared with researchers from the University of Notre Dame, University of Florida, University of Connecticut, Syracuse University and Kansas State University. For his part, Dr. Jiao was granted $50,000 to develop artificial-intelligence/machine-learning algorithms to design a better computing system for an IoT system in the smart transportation context. He will also contribute software testing methods to discover security vulnerabilities of software/firmware in these systems. “The rapid advancement of sensing, computing and communication devices is leading to an explosion of IoT infrastructures,” explains Dr. Jiao. He adds, “Scalability is a pressing issue.” The three main challenges being faced are: • • •
he enormous number of edge devices has made T centralized management infeasible There are multiple layers of heterogeneity creating inherent complexity Mission-critical applications of larger IoT systems struggle to meet their stringent correctness, resilience, timeliness, security and safety requirements
As head of the College of Engineering’s Dependable, Efficient, and Intelligent Computing Lab and associate editor of Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems—the top academic journal in his field—Dr. Jiao is uniquely qualified for this important new research project. He looks forward to completing Phase 1, which lasts a year, after which proposals will be written for Phase 2, which is worth $1 million a year for five years.
SIMULATOR DRIVES RESEARCH ON ROADWAY SAFETY AND OPERATION The College of Engineering is home to a new state-of-the-art driving simulator that will allow researchers to explore and understand how people drive under various roadway and environmental conditions. According to transportation engineer Dr. Seri Park, associate professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, “Simulator testing is a key step toward a systemic review and analysis of roadway safety and operation that enables stakeholders to reach an informed decision when designing infrastructure.” The driving simulator will also support a collaborative research effort among faculty from Electrical and Computer Engineering, Psychological and Brain Sciences, and Nursing to investigate the impacts of a driver’s age, underlying health conditions and cognitive level on roadway safety and operation.
