News
EWSN 2009, 6th European Conference on Wireless Sensor Networks, February 11th-13th, Cork, Ireland
Over 140 delegates from Ireland, UK, Continental Europe, Asia, US and Australia gathered in Cork the week of 11th - 13th February for the 6th European Conference on Wireless Sensor Networks (EWSN). Organised by Professor Cormac J. Sreenan of UCC's Department of Computer Science, together with Dr Utz Roedig of Lancaster University, EWSN is one of the most competitive and prestigious peer-reviewed conferences on sensor networks.
The aim of the conference was to create a forum where researchers with different experiences and backgrounds, from hardware to applications, can discuss cross-layer integration, novel solutions for specific problems and envisage the future development of WSN functionalities.
Delegates heard of many groundbreaking results at the conference which focused on the general theme on how to control the performance of wireless sensor networks - also the subject of a recent European FP7 project coordinated by Professor Sreenan. The conference included a keynote talk by Professor John A. Stankovic of the University of Virginia on "Wireless Sensor Networks: Time for Real-Time?" and a panel discussion moderated by Dr Jorge Pereira of the European Commission on "What is holding WSNs back? Breakthroughs or Mindsets?" A special session of practical demonstrations of sensor networks was organised by Dr Dirk Pesch from Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) and Dr Sajal Das from University of Texas at Arlington.
"Computer scientists at UCC have a vision of the future that involves a fundamental shift in the way we use and perceive computers", said Professor Sreenan. "In this view, small embedded computers will be integrated into settings such as buildings, roads, rivers, factories and farms, and significantly enhance applications such as industrial automation, pollution monitoring, natural disaster management, building control, security, traffic management and agriculture. The core enabling technology is a miniature computer equipped with wireless communication and sensors. These computers will be deployed on scales of hundreds and thousands, forming a sensor network that conveys information back to the Internet for storage and analysis. The obvious potential is causing a major buzz in industry and academia, with researchers enthusiastic to address a host of inter-disciplinary research challenges, and companies eager to exploit the new markets and applications that are enabled. In Ireland, there has been significant investment in this emerging technology with many promising research projects currently underway in third-level institutions", explained Professor Sreenan.
EWSN 2009 was supported by Cork Institute of Technology, Tyndall National Institute, CONET and UCC. The formal proceedings were published by Springer-Verlag.
The Conference took place at the Clarion Hotel in Cork, Ireland in February 2009.