WiSense accelerates adoption of wireless sensor network technologies

A key research project at the Univ of Ottawa is exploring new ways of expanding the use of wireless sensor networks as increased sophistication of the technology and lower manufacturing costs open up a whole new range of applications. WiSense — which stands for wireless heterogeneous sensor networks in the e-society — is half way through a $10-million, five-year funding agreement from the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation (formerly Ministry of Research and Innovation), augmented with cash and in-kind from a dozen companies.

Led by Dr Hussein Mouftah and managed by Dr Peter MacKinnon, WiSense is an engineering project focused on six core themes: architecture, system design, gateway access, network security, test bed development and services.

The latter encompasses applications for telemedicine, telehealth, home security, smart grids, emergency preparedness and response and intelligent vehicular systems (IVS). In addition to the U of O, the Univ of Waterloo and McMaster Univ are also engaged in the project with a total of 16 professors, as well as a sizeable complement of post-doctoral fellows and PhD and Masters students.

WiSense is well timed to exploit the rapid dissemination of sensor networks throughout several key sectors. Advances in miniaturization, low-power circuit design, low-power wireless communications equipment and improved small-scale energy supplies have combined to drive down costs and open up the range of markets for which wireless sensor networks can be developed.

In addition to applications, the development of new power-aware mechanisms and wireless sensor protocols are also part of the WiSense mandate. The sector applications that are most developed are for telehealth and smart grids.

"There are already a number of publications and a number of patents at this stage. As we go further along, we expect more because we are advancing to the point where there are results," says Mouftah, who holds a Tier I Canada Research Chair in wireless sensor networks.

nserc-funded spinoff

Advances in IVS have led to a major spin-off and $8 million in new funding. DIVA — Developing Next Generation Intelligent Vehicular Networks and Applications — has received $5 million from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and $3 million from other partners that include a host of industrial, institutional and government partners (www.nsercdiva.com).

"We've leveraged that small component of WiSense into a full-scale project that's almost the same scale as WiSense," says Mackinnon. "The first workshop for that program was held several weeks ago."

WiSense's strategy for seeking new partners has several elements. MacKinnon conducts outreach activities including seminars, conference calls, visits to educational institutions to inspire students to consider science and engineering and dialogue with groups such as first responders to explain the advances being made in wireless sensor networks.

Since WiSense involves three universities with different IP policies, IP negotiations with partner companies are conducted at the university level. To date, one spin-off is set to be announced with another in development in conjunction with the Communications Research Centre, Industry Canada's research arm for telecommunications and spectrum management.

"WiSense is a slightly intermediate step because the members have, in effect, first rights of refusal," says MacKinnon. "That's one of the incentives. Larger firms are looking at what's coming out of these kinds of research projects or they may be looking to hire people. In some cases it fits nicely with their business needs."

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