Abstract

Abstract: Analyzing observations of the physical world can be a messy process. But the rise of intelligent wearable and embedded systems to sense and understand urban situations and people is allowing us to study our physical environment and take actions like never before. In this talk, I will discuss several recent projects that use intelligent embedded systems and data analytics to better understand the physical world and improve our daily lives.

In one project, we create PAWS —an ultra-low-power wearable system that uses multi-channel audio sensors in a headset, combined with embedded machine learning, to help detect, classify, locate, and warn pedestrians of dangers from nearby vehicles. We further expand this system into a generalized selective audio filtering platform, and demonstrate its effectiveness via several urban applications. In another project, we create ePrints—a system that tracks each occupant’s energy use inside commercial building environments, and provides insights to occupants on the real-time energy impact of their actions. Combined with a digital twin system and a real-time simulator, we demonstrate its ability to jointly-optimize energy, air quality, and comfort using a hybrid recommender system. Finally I’ll share early results from our low-cost continuous multi-person fever screening system for a safer post COVID -19 world.

Bio: Dr. Xiaofan (Fred) Jiang is an Associate Professor in the Electrical Engineering Department at Columbia University and Chair of the Smart Cities Center at the Data Science Institute. Prof. Jiang received his B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley, in 2004, 2007, and 2010, respectively. He was Director of Analytics and IoT Research at Intel Labs China prior to joining Columbia University in 2015.

Prof. Jiang’s research lies at the intersection of systems and data, with a focus on intelligent embedded systems and their applications in mobile and wearable computing, intelligent built environments, Internet of Things, and connected health. His research has been published in top-tier venues, with over four thousand citations, and received numerous awards, including Best Paper Award at IPSN ’05, Best Demo Award at SenSys ’11, Best Poster Award at BuildSys ’16, Best Paper Runner-Up Award at BuildSys ’17 and ’19, Best Demo Award at IoTDI ’18, and Best Demo Award at IPSN ‘20. He has served on technical and organization committees of leading conferences in the field, including TPC Chair of BuildSys ’14, General Chair of SenSys ’19, and General Chair of BuildSys ‘21. Jiang was recently named Founding Treasurer of ACM SIG Energy. His research has been featured in many popular media outlets, including The Economist, New York Post, Mashable, Gizmodo, The Telegraph, and Fast Company. He is recipient of an NSF Graduate Fellowship, a Vodafone-US Foundation Fellowship, and an NSF CAREER Award.