NSF funding to help erase upstate NY’s digital divide
The National Science Foundation has awarded $1.5 million to Cornell engineers and researchers to help them bridge New York’s digital divide by designing the nation’s first statewide Internet of Things public infrastructure.
Cornell faculty will collaborate with community partners around New York – through Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) in each county – to set up networks based on low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) technology, a form of low-frequency radio.
“We aim to create a public Internet of Things model that works here and then becomes replicable for other states,” said Max Zhang, professor in the Sibley School of Mechanical Engineering, the project’s principal investigator (PI). “We want to provide universal network coverage, ensure data privacy, promote responsible data-sharing, scale up successful Internet of Things implementations and spur technology innovation in underserved areas.”
The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to everyday items being connected digitally. For instance, Zhang said, an IoT-enabled home thermostat can be controlled from a smartphone via Wi-Fi connections.
A public LPWAN network targets long-range, low-power and low-bandwidth applications. Examples include utility companies reading meters from a distance, government agencies observing traffic remotely, and farmers using crop or livestock sensors in fields or barns. Towns can develop road and flood monitoring to protect civic infrastructure, providing vital real-time information via networked connections.
