Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA)

我们监测、预测和应对不断变化的环境和事件的能力越来越重要，特别是在我们的物理环境方面。在大气层中，危险的局部天气，如雷暴、龙卷风、微暴流、暴风雪和洪水以及漂浮的放射性、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，包含大部分自然和人为危害的大气层低对流层，特别是大气边界层的一部分是严重采样不足的今天的传感技术。我们的ERC提出了一个革命性的新范式，其中转换系统的分布式，协作和自适应传感（DCAS）网络的部署，以克服fundamentallimitations当前的方法。在这里，分布式指的是在整个对流层使用大量适当间隔的传感器，这些传感器具有高的空间和时间分辨率。这些系统将在动态信息技术基础设施内协同运作，以满足竞争性最终用户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实现突破性的改进，从而显著减少龙卷风警报，大大改善洪水预报的降水估计，精细尺度风场成像和用于空中灾害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与NSF技术优点审查标准一致的根本性突破。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;组织传感、计算和通信资源的基于系统的体系结构的创建;动态瞄准系统资源的双向终端用户界面的开发;验证假设和理解紧急系统行为的综合测试台的部署;为了实现这些突破，我们聚集了来自阿默斯特市马萨诸塞州大学的顶尖工程和计算机科学专家。他们将与来自俄克拉荷马州、科罗拉多、州立大学和波多黎各、马亚圭斯大学的科学家和工程师以及包括雷神公司、IBM公司、维萨拉公司在内的企业合作伙伴以及联邦和州政府机构合作，共同创建大气协同自适应传感中心（CASA）。我们将提供可扩展的原型测试台，以展示DCAS从一开始就与最终用户一起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符合NSF更广泛影响审查标准：通过马萨诸塞州的强制性工程/技术课程向K-12学生介绍基于系统的工程的综合教育和外展计划，并作为扩大各级工程和科学努力中代表性不足群体参与的机制。此外，它还将通过提供技术和培训，让第一反应者和其他最终用户参与进来。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国民生产总值的10%至30%。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，反过来，他们将根据我们感测、分析、预测和应对对流层大气灾害的新模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.