CPS: Medium: Collaborative Research: Remote Imaging of Community Ecology via Animal-borne Wireless Networks

该项目将构建一个由动物携带的嵌入式设备组成的无线网络，这些设备将在生物相关应用中进行部署和测试。这种联网设备不仅可以提供地理位置数据，还可以通过选择性地记录带宽密集的音频和高清视频片段来节省电池寿命，比如动物群体的捕食行为。本项目包括三个并行且相互依存的研究主题。首先是研究设计和分析分布式算法性能的方法，这些算法在受通信和计算约束的情况下，在移动代理上实现自主决策。第二部分将进行数据驱动的动物群体运动建模基础研究，并将促进对社会互动机制的正式理解。第三部分集中在硬件集成方法的研究上，以建立嵌入式设备的分布式网络，这些网络能够执行新开发的算法，受到功率和重量的限制。在这个项目中取得的成果和经验将指导开发监测和保护濒危物种的有效自主系统。该项目将为所有参与机构创造本科生和研究生的研究机会，扩大马里兰大学、普林斯顿大学和国家地理学会之间的现有合作。有可能利用影响广泛的媒体资源向广大受众传播这个项目的成果。这可能有助于吸引更多的学生学习工程和科学。

This project will construct a wireless network of animal-borne embedded devices that will be deployed and tested in a biologically-relevant application. The networked devices will provide not only geo-location data, but also execute cooperative strategies that save battery-life by selectively recording bandwidth-intensive audio and high-definition video footage of occurrences of animal group behavior of interest, such as predation. This project comprises three concurrent and interdependent research themes. The first is the investigation of methods to design and analyze the performance of distributed algorithms that implement autonomous decisions at the mobile agents, subject to communication and computational constraints. The second will pursue data-driven fundamental research on the modeling of animal group motion and will promote a formal understanding of the mechanisms of social interaction. The third is centered on the investigation of methods for hardware integration to build distributed networks of embedded devices that are capable of executing the newly developed algorithms, subject to power and weight constraints. The results and experience gained in this project will guide the development of effective autonomous systems for the monitoring and protection of endangered species. This project will create undergraduate and graduate research opportunities at all participating institutions, expanding on an existing collaboration between the University of Maryland, Princeton University, and the National Geographic Society. There is the potential for using wide-reaching media resources to disseminate the results of this project to a broad audience. This may contribute to attracting more students to engineering and science.