CAREER: WenZhan Song

WenZhan Song received an NSF CAREER Award to build networks of sensors that work reliably in harsh environments.

"In traditional communication designs, we assume the network connection is there," said Song. "In a harsh environment, this doesn't hold. If you have a computer [at home] and your network goes out, you can re-start the computer. But in harsh environments, that's not possible."

Song and his SensorWeb Research Laboratory aim to develop computing capabilities that make individual nodes of a sensor network smarter, so that the nodes can cooperate on data delivery and on storage when conditions are not optimal. That is, when one node stops working, the others will know to pick up the slack. The goal is to develop sensor designs and computer networks that require no maintenance and are extremely robust.

Song received the NSF CAREER Award while serving on the faculty at Washington State University, Vancouver.