On the surface, sensornets are being deployed to watch over the complex process by which steam is injected into wells to force oil to the surface, to quickly detect blockages or leaks in a production web extending over miles and miles. This data may be passed on to the ultimate users of the data over a variety of networks – including, in many cases, wireless networks.
For deepwater application, a new non-electromagnetic sensornet is in development. Rather than using radio frequencies, the underwater sensornet units will communicate with each other using acoustic modems, extremely efficient and effective in a liquid environment. ISI is developing these modems and the network
protocols to make them effective.
Another active possibility, according to Ye, would replace the extremely expensive and time-consuming process of monitoring oilfields using hydrophones, arrays of instruments towed by ships on cables. Instead, Ye believes, the instruments could be permanently put on the sea floor, reporting continuously for years without cables. These ocean nets will run to a buoy, which will gather the information from the acoustic modems, and pass the information on to their destination over existing wireless systems.
Our scientists believe sensornets promise to efficiently provide eyes and ears in places that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to observe, and that this wireless technology is now on its way out of the laboratory and into the market. Indeed, the technology developed to allow these kinds of extreme networks to function might well be adaptable to existing wireless networks and applications – making them both more efficient and more sensitive. Some applications might be commercial – and some might apply to homeland security operations, such as border security.
ISI has long been a place where basic research moves from concept to working systems and prototypes. We are glad that corporations such as Chevron are now realizing that we can complement their in-house R&D capacity, and we expect to be even more active in the future in utilizing the existing networks and in developing new wireless technologies and applications that enhance the manner in which machines communicate and, ultimately, the way we all live.
By Herbert Schorr
Executive Director
USC Information Sciences Institute
