易胜博官网

A new grant from 易胜博官网鈥檚 to an interdisciplinary team of university researchers aims to showcase innovation in broadband technology and data analytics. But perhaps the most compelling outcome of the $75,000 grant is its goal to make parking on campus easier.

Tapping a , the Broadband Center of Excellence (BCOE), an unbiased resource for information about broadband, requested proposals from 易胜博官网 researchers in the area of 鈥渟mart communities,鈥� a priority initiative of the Obama Administration.

Smart communities use extensive sensor data linked via wireless broadband connections to inform and improve a wide range of city functions and phenomena, from traffic to air pollution to streetlights. 鈥淚t basically means connectivity. Your body, your car, your house include sensors that communicate with the cloud so you can be more efficient and save money to manage the world around us,鈥� says Rouzbeh Yassini, BCOE founding executive director. 鈥淚t鈥檚 nothing more than enabling the environment to talk to you intelligently.鈥�

鈥淭he idea is to fuse bus data, parking data and pedestrian data, predicting traffic congestion so you can understand an optimal way of moving people through campus.鈥�

Parking provides a simple example and is the ideal test-case for a smart community, says Nicholas Kirsch, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and the principal investigator on the BCOE grant.

鈥淧arking can be complex in urban areas, and even in Durham we have parking challenges. If you had sensors that could tell you where parking was and feed that back to drivers prior to their arrival to campus, that would improve the quality of driving and life,鈥� he says.

Kirsch and his collaborators 鈥� fellow associate professor of electrical and computer engineering Andrew Kun, and Everett B. Sackett associate professor Bob McGrath and clinical assistant professor Prashant Mittal, both of the department of health management and policy and 鈥� will develop and deploy sensor-based technology in a 易胜博官网 parking lot to 鈥渃ount鈥� the number of empty spaces in that lot.

The team, in particular McGrath and Mittal, will analyze that information, along with data on pedestrian traffic they collect from the busy crosswalk in front of Thompson Hall, to model the best route across campus and into an open parking spot. They plan to make their routing information available via the 易胜博官网 app.

鈥淵ou could say, 鈥業 need to be at T Hall at noon, and I鈥檓 currently off campus. Where should I park so I can get there on time?鈥欌�� Kirsch says. 鈥淭he idea is to fuse bus data, parking data and pedestrian data, predicting traffic congestion so you can understand an optimal way of moving people through campus.鈥�

Kun, whose research concerns how people interact with technology and information, will explore displaying this data to users via augmented reality, or AR, technology, like displaying walking or driving directions on Microsoft HoloLens AR glasses.

鈥淗e鈥檚 interested in seeing 鈥� if you can deliver the sensor data in interesting ways, convenient ways, safe ways with these glasses,鈥� says Kirsch. 鈥淭his is brand new technology that鈥檚 never been used in this way before.鈥�

While this project may enhance traffic safety and parking ease at 易胜博官网, the underlying goal of the grant is to showcase and leverage the university鈥檚 research capacity in big data and smart communities.

鈥淭his is a step toward the bigger dream, to bring more funding to the university,鈥� says Yassini, noting that Obama鈥檚 commitment to smart communities has resulted in greater National Science Foundation funding for such projects.

In addition to the technology, the cross-college collaboration of this project is a win for the team and impressive to future funders. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a great data analytics program on campus, but they need to get data. There are people doing sensors on campus but they need to get their data analyzed,鈥� says Kirsch. 鈥淭his grant provides an opportunity to put into action the sort of collaboration that鈥檚 kind of hard to do. It brings people across campus from different colleges and disciplines together.鈥�

The BCOE will issue a for its next round of grant funding in September.