Mid-scale RI-1 (M1:IP):SAGE: A Software-Defined Sensor Network

We propose SAGE, an extensible mid-scale research infrastructure most relevant to the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC), but with a strong emphasis on activities that are also relevant to NSF OIA, ENG, CISE, BIO, GEO, and SBE. SAGE provides intelligent, re-targetable, autonomous sensors and novel capabilities to measure the natural and built environments and human behavior, supporting research into the complex interdependencies among these facets of our communities, regions, and ultimately our planet. Understanding the coupling among natural ecosystems, urban infrastructure, human organizations, and individuals is an increasingly central concern for scientists and policy makers confronting global challenges. For example, significant weather changes link to climate change, yet loss of permafrost and polar ice are a more immediate threat to arctic and coastal regions. Global urbanization, with concomitant strain on natural resources and regional ecology, affects societal processes ranging from food and water supply to the daily movement of people and goods. Similarly, environmental impacts of agricultural, industrial, and urban land use, from homogenization of regional ecology to increased air pollution to challenges accessing employment, education, and resources, individually and collectively, affect psychological and physical health of citizens. Together, these coupled systems represent both major scientific challenges and global opportunity for sustainability. To address these and other environmental and social challenges, SAGE will use Waggle, the mature, open platform used for NSF's Array of Things (AoT), to federate and extend existing instrumentation, creating a scalable, flexible national science infrastructure. Waggle's edge computation architecture transforms traditional sensors into remotely programmable "software-defined sensors" with embedded machine learning, allowing researchers to modify measurement strategies and algorithms and to respond to triggering conditions or events. Waggle nodes will be deployed across the country in new locations and/or embedded alongside existing instruments in urban and rural settings. As an integrative infrastructure, SAGE will multiply the impact of NSF’s broad investment in other research instruments, harnessing the data revolution to support science beyond specific communities who initially deployed those instruments.