CAREER: Toward Dependable Intelligent Computing on Batteryless Intermittent Devices

该项目旨在开发在无电池、间歇性传感器节点网络中分布智能计算所需的软件和硬件技术。该项目不依赖于传统的超低功耗芯片，这些芯片假定它们可以随时获得大量能源(例如有线电源或电池)，而是研究节点仅使用从其运行环境中收集的能量提供电力来运行的方法，因此，花费大量时间根本没有足够的电力来运行。具体地说，该项目重点研究了以下新方向：(1)自适应硬件设计技术，以支持响应、通信和能量采集驱动的范例；(2)特定于应用的计算调度方法，以有效地卸载由无电池、间歇性传感器节点组成的网络中的计算。将无电池、间歇性传感器节点从需要紧密连接到具有计算能力的设备(如边缘服务器或数据中心)的需要中解放出来，从根本上扩展了它们在工业自动化、基础设施监测、农业、环境科学、医疗保健、国防和空间探索等领域的影响潜力。事实上，该项目的结果可以使任何需要在边缘实现无处不在的长时间智能的领域受益，这些领域对与云基础设施的连接较差或有限仍保持强大的能力。该项目的一个固有方面是一种共同课程体验，它促进学生遵循芯片的整个设计过程，从而复制计算机芯片设计的真实世界的复杂性，并促进学生的领导力、所有权和人际交往技能，为实习和就业做准备。该项目产生的软件和硬件系统、实验数据和教育原型将公开提供给科学家、工程师、教育工作者和行业使用。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project aims to develop software and hardware techniques required to distribute intelligent computations across a network of batteryless, intermittent sensor nodes. Rather than relying on traditional ultra-low-power chips that assume they have ready access to bulk energy (e.g., wired power or a battery), the project investigates approaches where nodes operate using power supplied solely by energy harvested from their operating environment and, thus, spend a significant fraction of time without sufficient power to operate at all. Specifically, the project focuses on investigating the following novel directions: (1) adaptive hardware design techniques to support a responsive, communication- and energy-harvesting-driven paradigm; and (2) application-specific computation scheduling approaches to efficiently offload computation across a network of batteryless, intermittent sensor nodes.Liberating batteryless, intermittent sensor nodes from needing to be closely-connected to a computationally-capable device (e.g., edge server or data-center) fundamentally extends their potential for impact in fields such as industrial automation, infrastructure monitoring, agriculture, environmental sciences, healthcare, defense, and space exploration. Indeed, the results of the project can benefit any field that needs pervasive long-duration intelligence at the edge that remains robust to poor or limited connection to cloud infrastructure. An inherent aspect of this project is a co-curricular experience that promotes students to follow the entire design process of a chip, thus replicating the real-world complexity of computer chip design as well as facilitating student leadership, ownership, and interpersonal skills in preparation for internships and the workforce. The resulting software and hardware systems, experimental data, and educational prototypes from this project will be made publicly available for scientists, engineers, educators, and industry to use.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.