WHAT IS ARRAY OF THINGS?
Urban areas are densely populated and have a lot of problems and challenges every day. From heavy traffics to air pollution, floods, crowds all are just so annoying and uncontrollable. You don’t know when you will be prey to heavy traffic or when your body will absorb the dangerous gases from the area. You don’t which are is more polluted and is not suitable for your health. Buy by the latest technology called Array of Things (AoT) can make you relief from these uncertain threats. This technology can provide the residents, scientists, and the policymakers about the information of road conditions, flood conditions, air quality, temperature, humidity, pressure, and solution to some other very challenging problems of an urban area. It can also track the amount of carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide present in the air. The possibility of having diseases like Asthma can also be predicted through this technology. In simple words, you can call it a ‘fitness tracker' for the public.
According to the official website of Array of Things, AoT is defined as “an urban sensing project, a network of interactive, modular sensor boxes that will be installed around Chicago to collect real-time data on the city’s environment, infrastructure, and activity for research and public use. It will essentially serve as a ‘fitness tracker’ for the city, measuring factors that impact livability in Chicago such as climate, air quality, and noise.”
Visit here for more updates: https://arrayofthings.github.io/
HISTORY OF ARRAY OF THINGS?
Array of Things is a new technology currently used in the city of Chicago for research and public purposes. It was launched in 2016 but first introduced to the public in 2014. The first sensor box in 2016 was established on the southwest side of Chicago. In the first phase, 50 sensor boxes or nodes were installed in the southwest of Chicago in the Logan, Pilsen, Logan Square, and Lake Michigan. It is a result of the collaborative works of different scientists, universities, communities, government, etc. The main initiatives were taken by computer scientist Charlie Catlett, Engineering Co-director Pete Beckman, and their co-workers. It was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation. In October 2019, it became a partner of SAGE: A Software-Defined Sensor Network directed by North Western University with the collaboration of Chicago University, The University of Colorado, Argonne National Laboratory, the University of California San Diego, Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo, the University of Utah, Northern Illinois University and George Mason University.
HOW ARRAY OF THINGS WORKS?
Array of Things uses a network of sensors to provide the information. It uses an open intelligent sensing and edge computing platform called Waggle, developed by Argonne National Laboratory. The sensor boxes consist of a maximum of 15 sensors with a protective shield, a computer, microphones, cameras, and cooling fans. Different sensor boxes will work in different aspects like collecting sounds, traffic images, air quality etc.
The sensor boxes are mounted on light posts by the City of Chicago via its Department of Transportation. Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT) of Chicago will build AoT data for the public. The commissioner of the Department of Innovation and Technology Danielle Dumerer is playing an important role in this project. An organization called Smart Chicago Collaborative is making efforts to engage the public and educate them and collect feedback from the public regarding this project.
The project 'Array of Things' is led by the researchers of 'Urban Centre of Computation and Data' and is directed by Charlie Catlett, a computer scientist of Argonne National Laboratory. Urban CCD of Chicago with the help of 'Lane Tech High school' is providing an eight-week course for the public and students called 'Lane of Things' regarding some concepts of computer science like programming, digital fabrication, data science etc. This thing is also taught in the practical field. The course is driven by Urban CCD and School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC).
 |
| Image : carto.com |
HOW ARRAY OF THINGS WILL HELP YOU?
Array of Things can have life-changing impacts on your daily life. It will help you to live a healthy and happy life. It will minimize your costs in infrastructure or in some other aspects by giving you data on floods, temperature, or pressure. It will minimize your waste of time by providing you information about traffics, incidents, or crowds. By determining the level of pollution, it can forbid you from going to those places which are not suitable for you, especially for the heart patients and Asthma patients. During this time of unfortunate natural disasters and diseases due to pollution, this technology will help you to improve your lifestyle.
TERMS RELATED TO ARRAY OF THINGS:
WHAT IS A SENSOR?
A sensor is a device which detects the changes in its environment and send the data to other electronic devices like computers. It is used in many automated systems. It is in simple language 'an input device'. The simplest example of a sensor is a Light Dependent Resistor (LDR), which resistance varies according to the intensity of light falling on it. There are many kinds of sensors that are dependent on light, temperature, touch, color, humidity, proximity, etc.
WHAT IS WAGGLE?
The Waggle is a research project driven by Argonne National Laboratory with the aim of developing and designing a novel wireless sensor system to modify a new outbreak of smart city research and environmental science driven by sensors. This project is used in the Array of Things project and also in WxSeNet and in a material science project. WxSeNet is exploring the use of live weather data to improve the models of Urban Climate and Weather Models. The main men behind this project are – Pete Beckman, Rajesh Sankaran, and Charlie Catlett and other contributors in architecture, design, and applications are Nicola Ferrier, deals with robotics and computer vision, Yuki Hamada, deals with environmental science and remote sensing, Rob Jacob deals with climate and weather modeling, Kate Keahey, deals with could computing, Kazutomo Yoshii, deals with Linux Carnel and hardware design.
WHAT TO EXPECT NEXT FROM AOT?
Array of Things is now available and researched only in Chicago. When it will be fully modified, then it can be expanded to other areas and in a few decades all over the world. It will decrease the sudden threat to your life while you are walking in the streets of urban areas. It can also decrease the pollution rate by tracking which area is the most polluted and can take measurements to improve the environment of that area in no time. This technology will be available for everyone who is interested to be a part of it soon.
To know more visit:
0 Comments