Integrated networked control system development for smart workspace

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Inventu Research Inc. is a technology startup headquartered in Victoria, British Columbia. It is a private**corporation specialized in the licensing and development of workspace furniture enabled with fitness**capability. Inventu Research Inc. has created an ecosystem specifically designed to encourage a healthier**lifestyle within the workplace. The company's flagship products - the Smart Desk Controller and Workspace**Fitness Devices - are first of their kind, which aim to increase the performance, health, comfort, positive**thinking, and self-motivation of persons who spend eight hours working at an office. However, the company**currently does demand the expertise in developing the networked control system for the product. In the**collaborative project we plan to develop advanced networked control systems for Inventu's smart workspace**applications. According to the identified problems from the company, this project will target at the following**tasks during the six-month time-frame: (1) To develop the capacitive touch interface embedded on the desk**counter-top; (2) to develop the embedded controller to work simultaneously with different communication**protocols; (3) to develop the wireless connection to avoid the disturbance from different users. By integrating**advanced control strategy with sensors and communication technologies, the workspace system can achieve**satisfactory control performance with expected fitness.**New and strong collaborative relationship will be established through this project. The proposed project would**fill in the gap between theory and practice; it would provide new, effective and cross-disciplinary technical**tools for control engineers in developing the smart workspace systems; finally, it would benefit the**corresponding industry in Canada. Under the supervision of the applicant and the Inventu Research Inc.**(Design Engineer), two graduate students will receive research training and gain hands-on control system**design experience from this project.