Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing

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DESCRIPTION:

Mobile and ubiquitous computing represents the third generation of computing—characterized by interconnected systems seamlessly embedded within the environment and integrated with human activities. These computing systems operate in the background, while enhancing everyday experiences. This course introduces students to the principles and technologies that underpin mobile and ubiquitous computing and wearables, including sensing, computation, and communication, which together enable seamless and continuous interaction. This is a fun class with lectures, labs and a group project. Students will gain hands-on experience by working on practical projects that address real-world challenges, leveraging mobile and ubiquitous computing to develop innovative solutions. In addition to building a strong technical foundation, the course will emphasize designing, deploying, and evaluating mobile and ubiquitous computing systems in real-world contexts.  

COURSE OBJECTIVE:

• This course will help you creatively apply CS/CE knowledge learned in HCI, systems, networking, algorithms, and AI courses to real-world IoT or Wearable Computing applications, or vice versa, provide a reason to study your other CS/CE courses more deeply.
• Develop a strong foundation in mobile and ubiquitous computing and their practical applications.
• Evaluate the capabilities of various mobile and wearable computing components to make informed decisions about their suitability and technical constraints.
• Leverage mobile and ubiquitous computing techniques to address real-world challenges.
• Analyze and critically engage with the principles of the third generation of computing—Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing.
• Apply mobile and ubiquitous computing methods in innovative, real-world scenarios.

COURSE TOPICS:

• History of Ubiquitous Computing: Famous personalities and example technologies
• Sensors and sensor data analysis including applied machine learning
• Location and networking technologies: GPS, BLE, LoRa
• Wearable computing: Challenges and design processes
• Context aware computing
• IoT Low-power and energy harvesting technologies
• Evaluation of mobile and ubiquitous computing systems
• Privacy in mobile and ubiquitous computing
• Real world applications: health, biodiversity monitoring, urban infrastructure etc.

Computing and Sustainability

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DESCRIPTION:

Sustainability is a critical global imperative. There is a looming danger that economic growth will bring the world’s average temperature dangerously close to the critical 1.5 degrees above the pre-industrial levels. Computing has a huge role to play in preventing such outcome. First, Computing is a fundamental tool in understanding climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in high energy sectors (e.g. supply chain, transportation, manufacturing, power generation) by introducing innovative material and optimization solutions. Second, With growing demand of cloud computing, infrastructure for ML/AI and IoT, the global energy consumption of Information and communication technology (ICT) sector is expected to rise to 20% by 2030. E-waste is the fastest rising global waste stream. There is urgent need to rethink computing systems from a sustainability first lens. In this course we will look at both closely :

• This course fulfills the Technical Elective area.
• This course cross-list with CE 395-3/CE 495-3.
• Computing applied for sustainability oriented applications. Including IoT/sensing, quantum computing, computational economics, materials discovery, and optimization.
• Rethinking computing systems for lower energy and carbon footprint. New ways to minimize energy. Novel materials and manufacturing. Creating User experience for responsible disposal. 

This is heavily project based course which includes reading research papers and expert-informed co-design of technology targeted towards sustainability.

COURSE OBJECTIVE:

• Empower the ECE/CS engineering students to be able to take environmental action through technological innovations
• Learn toolkit of skills to design computing systems from a sustainability-first approach for their entire lifecycle: manufacturing, operation, disposal
• Understand the environmental footprint of computing across from data centers to the Internet of Things
• Understanding of sustainability and the UN Sustainability Development Goals (SDG), and how computing and the SDGs mix

COURSE TOPICS:

• Fundamentals of energy, power,  carbon, and climate
• Low-power devices, systems, computing architecture
• Energy and carbon footprint of a data center, cloud computing, and AI
• Energy harvesters and renewable energy
• E-waste, product lifetime extension, and the Circular Economy
• NextGeneration wireless networking for energy-saving
• Unconventional computing may save the planet: neuromorphic, quantum, physics-based
• Ubiquitous computing for environmental monitoring:
  urban city, volcano, wildfires, agriculture, biodiversity
• Climate advocacy,  and UN Sustainable Development Goals