Research Initiation Award: Implementing the Next-Generation IoT Ecosystem with AI Capabilities

通过研究启动奖的历史黑人学院和大学本科课程(HBCU-UP)为历史黑人学院和大学的初级和职业生涯中期教师提供支持，这些教师正在建立新的研究项目或重新定向和重建现有的研究项目。预计该奖项有助于进一步提高教师的研究能力和有效性，并改善所在机构的研究和教学。该奖项授予Prairie View A&amp；M大学，支持教职员工和学生通过整合人工智能(AI)来重新设计和推进创新型物联网(IoT)生态系统的架构，以增强他们处理复杂现实世界场景的能力和效率。该项目将进行基础研究，以实现智能传感生态系统架构的创造性设计和实施。具体地说，该项目将检查物联网生态系统的关键属性，并开发具有人工智能功能的运行时环境和传感平台，以更好地收集、传输、聚合和分析每天生成的海量传感器数据。该项目需要解决三个主要挑战：(1)了解和表现物联网生态系统的基本机制；(2)通过使用可针对一系列不同传感器快速扩展和定制的统一平台，增强此类系统的可编程性和部署；以及(3)从远程部署的不同传感器收集和分析传感器数据，以便基于分析/观测数据进行自动化人工智能决策。该项目将为草原景观农工大学的STEM学生创造新的从事研究的机会，为他们提供跨学科知识，从而提高他们在STEM工作队伍中的竞争力。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。

The Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) through Research Initiation Awards provide support for junior and mid-career faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities who are building new research programs or redirecting and rebuilding existing research programs. It is expected that the award helps to further the faculty member's research capability and effectiveness and improve research and teaching at the home institution. This award to Prairie View A & M University supports faculty and student research to re-design and advance the architectures of innovative Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystems by integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance their capabilities and effectiveness in dealing with complex real-world scenarios. This project will perform fundamental research to enable the creative design and implementation of intelligent sensing ecosystem architectures. Specifically, this project will examine key properties of IoT ecosystems, and develop a runtime environment and sensing platform with AI capabilities to better collect, transfer, aggregate and analyze the tremendous amount of sensor data generated daily. There are three main challenges to be addressed by this project: (1) Understanding and representing the fundamental mechanisms underlying IoT ecosystems; (2) Enhancing the programmability and deployment of such systems by using a unified platform that can be rapidly extended and customized for a range of different sensors; and (3) Collecting and analyzing sensor data from different sensors deployed remotely for automated AI-enabled decision-making based on analyzed/observed data. This project will create new opportunities for STEM students at Prairie View A & M University to engage in research, equipping them with interdisciplinary knowledge, thereby enhancing their competitiveness for the STEM workforce.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.