Karnataka - Bangalore

`Remote sensors can help in detecting tsunami'

Special Correspondent

"Systems on a buoy in the ocean can transmit data to satellites"

Bangalore : Remote sensors can help in early detection and warning of tsunami of the kind that struck India last year.

"There can be systems on a buoy in the ocean, connected to sensors on the seabed and transmitting data to satellites,'' said S.S. Iyengar of the Louisiana State University at the third `International Conference on Intelligent Sensing and Information Processing,' which began here on Thursday.

Dr. Iyengar, who is also a Satish Dhawan Professor at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, said the many practical applications of networked sensors have evoked interest in funding-related research by some organisations in the U.S.

"Remote intelligent sensors that can be networked are tiny devices, the largest the size of a PDA. Commercial uses can include smart ID cards, radiation sensors, advanced system-on a-chip for cell phones and other devices, which can be miniaturised. The Armed Forces can possibly use it for border monitoring, tracking targets and during actual combat.

With terrorist threat affecting critical installations, they can also be used for surveillance of harbours and airfields,'' Dr. Iyengar said. Civilian applications can include instances of urban rioting or fires in crowded neighbourhoods.

Networked sensors have to meet two needs — gathering and delivery of data — and will eventually move from being networked to being interoperable, he said. All sensor nodes will have a centralised control where data can be processed. The use of sensors was demonstrated in the U.S. by tracking land erosion in the wake of the hurricane in Louisiana, Dr. Iyengar said.

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