Intelligent Mobile Sensing and Analysis Research Network in South Africa – Building a base at the CSIR

Abstract

Intelligent capturing and secure communication of physiological and environmental data to central point of presence in large magnitude is crucial in the design of accurate models of natural and man-made systems or processes. The research network aims to utilise ubiquitous mobile phone devices, integrated with built-in or externally connected sensor units to achieve this. Furthermore, as sensor signals are more noisy and mobile device capabilities are improving, the initial sensor signal enhancement can be done at the mobile device itself, reducing the need for large-bandwidth communication channels and increasing the security of signal transmission to a central applications server database. At the central server data base sensor data enhancement, artificial intelligence methods such as data mining and expert systems modelling can be applied to extract intelligence and statistical inference. Currently sensor data acquisition is often limited in magnitude, poorly organised and is dedicated to equipment with specific locations, which can reduce the usefulness of the data for model building and decision making based on model-based signal processing. Mobile devices are suitable platforms for geographically and time unlimited acquisition, enhancement and secure communication of sensory data in large magnitude to a central database