Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA)

我们监控、预测和应对不断变化的环境和事件的能力变得越来越重要，特别是对我们的物理环境而言。在大气环境中，这种能力对社会或与其实际实施相关的挑战最为重要，在大气环境中，当地的危险天气，如雷暴、龙卷风、微爆发、雪暴和洪水，以及高空的放射性、化学和生物制剂，可以在几分钟或几小时内摧毁或污染大片地区的生命和财产。然而，大气中包含大部分自然和人为危害的部分，在对流层下部，特别是大气边界层，被今天的传感技术严重采样不足。我们的ERC提出了一个革命性的新范式，其中部署了分布式、协作和自适应传感(DCAS)网络的转换系统，以克服当前方法的基本模仿。在这里，分布式是指在整个对流层使用大量能够在整个对流层具有高空间和时间分辨率的适当间隔的传感器。这些系统将在动态的信息技术基础设施内协同工作，以满足终端用户相互竞争的需求的方式适应不断变化的条件。这些系统将在灵敏度和分辨率方面取得突破性的改进，从而显著减少龙卷风警报，极大地改善洪水预报的降雨量估计，精细风场成像和用于航空危险扩散预测和其他应用的热力学状态估计。DCAS系统的成功实施将需要符合NSF技术优点审查标准的根本性突破。这些突破将包括跨学科知识的集成和共享；低成本、多波束、固态雷达的设计和制造；创建基于系统的体系结构来组织传感、计算和通信资源；开发动态瞄准系统资源的双向最终用户界面；部署综合试验台以验证假设并了解紧急系统行为；实施交叉链接的分层数据存储和处理；以及提高对小尺度大气过程的理解。为了实现这些突破，我们汇集了来自马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校的领先工程和计算机科学专家。他们将与俄克拉荷马大学、科罗拉多州立大学和波多黎各大学的科学家和工程师，以及雷神公司、IBM公司、Vaisala公司以及联邦和州政府机构等企业合作伙伴合作，创建协作自适应大气传感中心(CASA)。我们将创建可升级的原型试验台，以展示DCAS在终端用户参与的情况下彻底改变我们对危险大气现象的理解、检测和预测的潜力。CASA通过以下方式满足NSF更广泛的影响审查标准：全面教育和外展计划，通过马萨诸塞州强制要求的工程/技术课程向K-12学生介绍基于系统的工程，并作为在代表下的群体扩大参与各级工程和科学努力的机制。此外，它将通过提供技术和培训吸引急救人员和其他最终用户。CASA将解决天气的观测、预测和响应问题，这一问题影响到美国10%至30%的国民生产总值。我们的管理结构具有灵活性，可以利用我们广泛的合作伙伴关系。例如，CASA将与行业合作伙伴合作，后者将基于我们在感测、分析、预测和应对对流层大气灾害方面的新范式，创建新的产品线和服务。

Our ability to monitor, anticipate, and respond to changing circumstances and events is increasinglyimportant, particularly with regard to our physical surroundings. Nowhere is this capability more vital tosociety, or the challenges associated with its practical implementation greater, than in the context of theatmosphere, where hazardous local weather, such as thunderstorms, tornadoes, microbursts, snow storms,and floods as well as lofted radiological, chemical and biological agents can, in a matter of minutes orhours, destroy or contaminate life and property over vast areas. Yet, the portion of the atmosphere thatcontains the bulk of both natural and man-made hazards the lower troposphere and particularly theatmospheric boundary layer is grossly undersampled by today's sensing technologies.Our ERC proposes a revolutionary new paradigm in which transforming systems of distributed,collaborative, and adaptive sensing (DCAS) networks are deployed to overcome fundamentallimitations of current approaches. Here, distributed refers to the use of large numbers ofappropriately spaced sensors capable of high spatial and temporal resolution throughout the entire troposphere.These systems will operate collaboratively within a dynamic information technology infrastructure,adapting to changing conditions in a manner that meets competing end user needs. These systems willachieve breakthrough improvements in sensitivity and resolution leading to significant reductions in tornadofalse alarms, vastly improved precipitation estimates for flood prediction, fine scale wind field imagingand thermodynamic state estimation for use in airborne hazard dispersion prediction and other applications.Successful implementation of DCAS systems will require fundamental breakthroughs consistent with theNSF Technical Merit Review Criteria. Among these breakthroughs will be integration and sharing of knowledgeacross disciplines; design and fabrication of low cost, multi beam, solid state radars; creation of a systemsbased architecture to organize sensing, computing, and communications resources; development oftwoway end user interfaces that dynamically target system resources; deployment of integrative test beds tovalidate assumptions and understand emergent system behavior; implementation of cross linked hierarchicaldata storage and processing; and improved understanding of small scale atmospheric processes.To achieve these breakthroughs, we have assembled leading engineering and computer scienceexperts from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. They will work in partnership with scientists andengineers from the University of Oklahoma, Colorado State University and the University of Puerto Rico,Mayaguez, and corporate partners including Raytheon, IBM, Vaisala, and federal and state governmentagencies to create the Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA). We will createscalable prototype test beds to demonstrate the potential for DCAS to revolutionize our understanding,detection, and prediction of hazardous atmospheric phenomena with end users involved from the outset.CASA meets the NSF Broader Impacts Review Criteria through: comprehensive education and outreachprograms that introduce systems based engineering to K-12 students via the mandated engineering/technology curriculum in Massachusetts, and serves as the mechanism for expanding participation by under represented groups in engineering and scientific endeavors at all levels. Further, it will engage first responders and other end users through the provision of both technology and training. CASA will address the observation, prediction and response of weather, an issue that affects between 10 percent and 30 percent of the U.S. gross national product.Our management structure has the flexibility to take advantage of our broad partnership. For example,CASA will collaborate with industry partners, who, in turn, will create new product lines and servicesbased on our new paradigm for sensing, analyzing, predicting and responding to atmospheric hazards inthe troposphere.