Cogent Computing is currently recruiting for a number of positions. For details go to our Opportunities page.
Following on from the successful delivery of a number of courses in the areas of wireless instrumentation and E-Commerce, Cogent Computing is happy to announce that these courses are now available online. Courses are open to employees of businesses which are eligible under the ECIF work package guidelines. For more details on the courses and to assess your elibility go to the ECIF Courses website.
Coventry University PhD student, Ramona Rednic, has started an internship at the Harvard Sensor Networks Lab in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University. Ramona began the second year of her PhD at the Cogent Computing Applied Research Centre in September, having graduated with a First class Honours degree in Electronics and Telecommunication from the Technical University of Cluj Napoca, Romania in 2008.
The Harvard Sensor Networks Lab investigates software solutions for efficient, high-data-rate, adaptive wireless sensor networking systems. Collaborations exist with a number of domain scientists in medicine, geophysics, and public health in developing real-world applications of WSN technology. Ramona will be working on a number of projects including Mercury, a project whose aim is the development of a wearable sensor network platform for high-fidelity motion analysis. A prototype of the platform is being used for long-term motion analysis studies in a home setting.
Ramona's Director of Studies, Professor Elena Gaura, said "We are delighted that Ramona is able to take this opportunity so early on in her research career. Ramona has only been with Cogent Computing since September 2008 and she has already made fantastic progress in her studies. Harvard University is the top university worldwide and the Harvard Sensor Networks Lab is a prestigious centre for research in wireless sensor networks. We are very excited to be collaborating with them."
Ramona is thrilled about the trip. "I'm excited about spending the next few months working at such a prestigious research centre. My research at Cogent is in the area of body sensor networks, in particular, posture classification and monitoring in a variety of application settings. I will be working on a number of complementary projects which form part of the Harvard Sensor Lab's ongoing research agenda."
Cogent PhD student, Dan Goldsmith, has returned from a summer internship at the Centre for Environmental Sensing and Modelling (CENSAM) in Singapore. CENSAM is part of the Singapore MiT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), a research parnership established by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT) in conjunction with the National Research Foundation of Singapore (NRF). SMART takes an interdisciplinary approach to research and aims to develop innovative solutions to critical problems identified in society. CENSAM aims to develop a model of the natural and built environment of Singapore to assist in areas like environmental impact assessment and forecasting.
Dan worked on the Urban Hydrology and Water Resources project, using Gaussian Process Regression to predict and model pressure readings within a water distribution system. He participated in a number of real world deployments at several locations throughout the city. Dan said: "I am thrilled to have gotten such a fantastic opportunity to work with a highly regarded research centre like SMART. SMART is about solving real world problems today and the Urban Hydrology project at CENSAM is just one example. Using wireless sensor networks to monitor hydraulic and water quality parameters can enable remote detection of leaks and tracking of contamination in realtime. These are issues that directly impact people's lives."
James McCorrie was awarded the joint EPSRC - Vibro-Meter UK CASE project studentship in August of 2009 and joined Cogent as a PhD student in September 2009. His work is focused on the development of deployable wireless networked instrumentation for health monitoring of gas turbine jet engines. James graduated in Summer 2009 with a degree in Computer Science from Coventry University.
Ross Wilkins was awarded a PhD studentship in the summer of 2009 and started with Cogent in September. Ross graduated from Coventry University in 2009 with a first class honours degree in Software Engineering. His research work will focus on the development of systems for monitoring of building indoor environments.
Olukunle Ojetola joined Cogent as a PhD student in September after completing a Masters by Research degree in Electronics Engineering. His PhD research will focus on activity monitoring and contextualization for assisted living environments.
Naseer Salim also joined Cogent this year. His research will focus on body sensor networks for medical monitoring applications.
In light of new government initiatives to reduce CO2 emissions by 80% by the year 2050, there has been a number of proposed changes to building regulations. The Sustainability Seminar highlighted passive housing technology which uses energy efficient materials and construction methods to achieve a significantly reduced energy demand compared to conventional homes. Orbit Heart of England is planning to build more than 20 new homes on a brownfield site in Coventry using this technology. These homes will meet stringent European passive housing standards and could subsequently reduce residents’ energy bills by up to a third.
The event was organised by REDUCT, a partnership of leading Midland-based housing associations Orbit Heart of England, Midland Heart and Whitefriars. More than 70 delegates attended the seminar, which took place at the Techno Centre in Coventry. Cogent Computing at Coventry University are also a REDUCT partner and conducting extensive research in indoor environmental monitoring of the home using wireless sensor networks. The research aims to assess the impact of the indoor climate on the building structure, the occupants' attitudes, wellbeing and behaviour.
On hand at the event was a demonstrator of the wireless technology being deployed in the home and an indoor environmental monitoring application for high level information gathering and data analysis.
For more information on the passive housing initiative please contact:
Sarah Fox
Marketing & Communications Manager
Orbit Heart of England
Tel: 01789 404492
Email: sarah.fox@orbit.org.uk
The eighth biennial Wireless Sensing Interest Group (WiSIG) meeting brought together six of the most important European projects on wireless sensing technologies, namely SENSEI; Smart RRS; GINSENG; µSWN, SOCRADES and PECES. The most recent results of these projects as well as the state of knowledge were presented aiming to attract potential users and collaborators. The European Commission, the primary sponsor of the research, was also represented in the meeting and discussed their newest Research Programmes including those related to the 'Internet of Things'. The event highlighted the current state of the art, up-coming developments as well as research topics that are under-represented by current FP7 projects.
The event was held on 10th September 2009 in the Armstrong Siddeley Building at Coventry University.