CPS: Medium: Collaborative Research: Constantly on the Lookout: Low-Cost Sensor Enabled Explosive Detection to Protect High Density Environments

该项目旨在使普通公民能够负责收集可用于共同利益的实时环境数据。该项目的目标应用是检测空气中少量爆炸性蒸汽的网络物理系统，以保护大面积公共集会。在这个系统中，极低成本的爆炸传感器，免费分发，将连接到自愿参与者的智能手机上，有效地将每个人变成一个监视传感器节点。虽然拟议的网络物理系统的主要应用是爆炸物探测，但类似技术挑战的问题包括空气污染监测系统、流行病预防、火灾和/或气体泄漏监测。这个项目的成功完成将产生大量新的应用程序，这些应用程序通过利用自愿参与者捐赠的计算、能力和通信能力来解决问题，目的是达到一个共同的目标。了解到对STEM（科学、技术、工程、数学）相关职业的兴趣始于小学，该项目将使用基于传感器的系统，旨在定位热源，作为探索众包数据收集、处理和调度的K-12推广活动的一部分。研究人员通过富尔顿本科生研究计划（FURI）、巴雷特暑期学者（BSS）、国家科学基金会资助的本科生国家纳米技术基础设施网络研究经验（NNIN REU）和亚利桑那州立大学高中生暑期研究经验项目定期与本科生和高中生合作。设计一个基于极低成本传感器的众包监测系统有几个独特的技术和科学挑战，该项目需要解决。首先，成本/功率要求和检测微量爆炸性蒸汽的需求是相互矛盾的。其次，该系统将被设计成能够以稳定的方式容忍不可避免的传感器不准确性和假阳性/阴性。第三，由于整个系统取决于公众的自愿参与，传感器的操作将对用户透明，不会产生负面的用户体验。最后，通过匿名来解决用户的隐私问题，并解决这种匿名所产生的安全威胁。

This project aims to empower ordinary citizens to take charge in collecting real time environmental data that can be used to serve a common interest. The target application of the project is a cyber-physical system for detecting small amounts of explosive vapor in the air so as to protect large-area public gatherings. In this system, extremely low-cost explosive sensors, handed out free of charge, will be connected to the smart phones of the willing participants, effectively turning each one of them into a look-out sensor node. Although the primary application of the proposed cyber-physical system is explosive detection, problems with similar technical challenges include air pollution monitoring systems, pandemic prevention, fire and/or gas leak monitoring. Successful completion of this project will generate a plethora of new applications that target problems with the aim of reaching a common goal by leveraging computation, power, and communications capacities donated by willing participants. Understanding that interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, math)-related careers begins in elementary school, the project will use a sensor-based system that aims at locating a heat source, as part of K-12 outreach activities that explore crowd-sourced data collection, processing, and scheduling. The researchers work regularly with undergraduate and high school students through Fulton Undergraduate Research Initiative (FURI), Barrett Summer Scholars (BSS), National Science Foundation-sponsored National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network Research Experience for Undergraduates (NNIN REU), and Arizona State University's Summer Research Experience for High School Students program.Designing a system based on extremely low-cost sensors for crowd-sourced monitoring has several unique technical and scientific challenges that the project tackles. First, cost/power requirements and the need to detect tiny amounts of explosive vapor are at odds with each other. Second, the system will be designed to tolerate inevitable sensor inaccuracies and false positives/negatives in a stable manner. Third, since the entire system hinges on willing participation from the public, sensor operation will be made transparent to the user, and not create a negative user experience. Finally, privacy concerns of the users will be addressed by keeping them anonymous, and the security threats generated by this anonymity will be addressed.