Salil Pradhan

Semantic Location

Mobile web-services often use location information for service customisation. Most such services operate on the user’s physical/geographical location. Unfortunately, such common forms of location carry little context information. In the CoolTown project at HP Labs, we have addressed this deficiency by defined an orthogonal form of location – Semantic location. Use of this form of location can also help lower the risk of invasion of privacy.

Perturbative time and frequency allocations for RFID reader networks

RFID reader networks often have to operate in frequency and time constrained regimes. One approach to the allocation of frequency and time to various readers in such regimes is to perturb the network slightly so as to ease the constraints. We investigate how to perform these perturbations in a manner that is profitable from time and frequency allocation point of view.

Optimal scheduling for networks of RFID readers

Devising switching schemes for networks of colliding and correlated RFID readers is a core challenge in the deployment of RFID networks. We derive optimal scheduling schemes for readers in RFID networks in four cases of practical importance. Most other cases can be reduced to a combination of these basic cases.

A Self-Configuring Sensing System for Data Centers

Wiring sensors in a data center is extremely expensive in comparison to the wiring of computing equipment. This is due to the central architecture of traditional sensing systems, which requires long wires to be connected between racks and a central box. In addition, a re-layout of the racks after the sensor wires are deployed is practically impossible. We propose using a wireless self-configuring network of smart sensing nodes to alleviate these problems. We explore how to design the sensor control software to be self-reconfiguring when nodes relocate. The software is divided in three layers: network organization, data aggregation and visualization. In this paper, we identify several insights into the thermal monitoring requirements, design issues and initial design solutions for these layers.

WEBSIGN: A looking glass for e-services

Desktop browsers are excellent for browsing web sites but they keep users tethered. Wireless browsing technologies such as WAP and i-mode untether nomadic users by making these services available on the move. However, it is not clear if users will be satisfied with free form browsing offered by these wireless technologies. We believe that in addition to free form web browsing, nomadic users will choose to interact with e-services in their environment, if the interaction is transparently setup. Based on this belief, we have created a PDA based system that essentially provides nomadic users with a digital looking glass for viewing and interacting with e-services associated with physical objects and places . In this paper, we present an overview of this system-Websign.

Automating server tracking for data centers

Asset management in state of the art data centers is still a manual process. An automated system to track the location of servers and create a real-time inventory would not only improve operations management but also reduce operational costs. This demo shows a novel application of location aware wireless networks, RFID technology and visualization software integrated in end-to-end system to track servers in a data center.