AOT Engagement

Please see the CTSC blog for the latest updates on our engagement with AOT.

Winter - Spring 2016

The Array of Things (AoT), as described on its website, is an urban sensing project, a network of interactive, modular sensor boxes that will be installed around Chicago to collect real-time data on the city’s environment, infrastructure, and activity for research and public use. AoT will essentially serve as a “fitness tracker” for the city, measuring factors that impact livability in Chicago such as climate, air quality and noise.

The AoT has recently been funded by NSF to enable a variety of scientific research. Quoting from NSF’s press release: “This rich new data source will benefit scientists across many disciplines. Public health researchers will be able to study the relationship between diseases--which occur at higher rates in urban areas--and environmental conditions. Climate researchers will have dramatically higher-resolution data than existing weather stations provide, allowing them to study urban micro-climates and creating benefits for hyper-local weather forecasting and energy efficiency. Social scientists can study the dynamics of urban activity in public spaces and the effects on economics and livability.”

The primary goals and related objectives for this engagement between Trusted CI and AoT are:

1. To successfully advise and assist AoT in its privacy practices and policies such that they are accepted by the City of Chicago as a key collaborator, and other stakeholders.

2. To successfully advise and assist in terms of the security of the design and implementation of the AoT sensor platform and infrastructure supporting the deployment in Chicago.