Program Overview

The Institute

The Institute for Sensing and Embedded Network Systems Engineering was established as part of the Sensing and Smart Systems institute of FAU’s Strategic Plan for the Race to Excellence.

The institute's title reflects two interconnected areas of emphasis, which serve as powerful catalysts for exploration and discovery across disciplines.

The first is in the area of sensing, broadly defined as the acquisition of measurable stimuli, ranging from the capture of chemical parameters in ocean ecosystems, to the capture of physiological parameters in athletes and patients. In recent years, sensing has become synonymous with wireless sensing, which allows for the transparent installation of networked sensors that stream real-time stimuli from the world around, above, and below us.

Smart systems, the second area of emphasis within the institute, systems rely on networked sensors to provide real-time awareness of conditions, trends, and patterns to support improved decision-making, and often, to automate the control of the sensed environment, vehicle, or object. This includes systems that support improved awareness of physical, social, and digital processes, among other complex information environments. Smart systems offer tremendous application potential, both academically and commercially. This is evidenced by the emerging Internet of Things and the rapid adoption of smart systems across disparate domains, from ecology, to transportation, to geriatrics, to sports performance training, to ocean science, to education – among numerous others.

Through an open and inclusive process that spanned academic units and campuses, three program areas were established within I-SENSE, representing areas of faculty strength, interest, and opportunity: Infrastructure Systems, Marine and Environment and Health and Behavior.