Information Technology Research (ITR): Networked Infomechanical Systems (NIMS)

传统上，环境监测受到传感器的限制，这些传感器的信息收集能力非常有限，而且只能在相对较少的几个不同的、相距很远的地点获取数据。这严重限制了描述环境特征、然后对其建模以及随后为与其管理相关的政策决策提供准确信息的能力。网络信息机械系统（NIMS）项目引入了一种革命性的新型移动分布式传感器，这些传感器通过基础设施和电子设备进行物理联网，以实现对生物和其他系统存在的全三维环境的监控和交互。NIMS传感器测量环境变化，自主移动到特别感兴趣的位置，合作利用各种传感模式（图像，声学，化学和气象等）来检测和表征事件，并从网络的集体经验中学习。NIMS团队成员来自加州大学洛杉矶分校、默塞德分校、河滨分校和南加州大学，汇集了计算机科学、信息论、机器人、信号处理和网络嵌入式计算方面的信息技术专家，以及生物学家和公共卫生专家。NIMS的初步示范应用将集中在1)监测山地河岸溪流峡谷的全球变化指标和2)检测沿海水域和城市河流中的生物病原体。然而，正在开发的技术适用于极其广泛的环境和应用，并具有广泛影响科学、政策和国家安全的潜力。NIMS计划还提供了一个引人入胜的，探索性的6-8年级科学教学计划，包括动手科学和远程网络访问NIMS。

Environmental monitoring has traditionally been limited by sensors that are very constrained in their information-gathering capacities and that acquire data only at a relatively small number of distinct, widely-separated locations. This severly limits the ability to characterize an environment, to then model it, and to subsequently provide accurate information for policy decisions relating to its management. The Networked Infomechanical Systems (NIMS) program introduces a revolutionary new class of mobile distributed sensors that are networked both physically by infrastructure and electronically to enable monitoring and interaction with the full three-dimensional environments in which biological and other systems exist. NIMS sensors measure changes in the environment, autonomously move to locations of particular interest, collaborate to exploit diverse sensing modalities (imagery, acoustic, chemical and meteorological, etc.) in the detection and characterization of events, and learn from the collective experience of the network.With members from the University of California, Los Angeles, Merced, and Riverside, and the University of Southern California, the NIMS team brings information technology experts in computer science, information theory, robotics, signal processing, and networked embedded computing together with biologists and public health specialists. The initial demonstration applications of NIMS will focus on 1) monitoring of global change indicators in a mountain riparian stream canyon and 2) detection of biological pathogens in coastal waters and urban rivers. However, the techniques being developed apply across an extremely wide range of environments and applications and have the potental to broadly impact science, policy, and national security. The NIMS program also enables an engaging, explorative Grade 6-8 science instruction program with both hands-on science and remote network access to NIMS.