Distinguished Engineer
Lab Director, IBM Research and Development - Ireland
Smarter Cities Technology Centre

Title: TBA

Date: Friday 26 October 2012, 10:30-11:00am

Abstract:
TBA

Delft University of Technology
Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management
Systems Engineering Section
Delft, The Netherlands
Email: a.verbraeck@tudelft.nl

Title: Highly Realistic Simulation Models of Complex Systems Towards Star Trek's Holodeck

Date:  Thursday, 25 October 2012, 09:00-10:00am

Abstract:
The systems we model for policy making and decision making studies are getting more complex, both in terms of the number of active objects and the number of aspects or relations we want to take into account in the model. Examples are models of energy systems, societal change, large- scale transportation systems, and world-wide supply chains. When these systems are used in a real- time setting, for instance for human-in-the-loop decision making or for training, users need a highly realistic view of the system state over time. For this purpose, the already complex models have to be extended with virtual reality visualizations.
This presentation shows some recent advances in real-time simulation of complex systems, including the capturing, modeling, and presentation of virtual environments for simulation model use. The application of 3D digital reconstruction, virtual reality and augmented reality will be shown, and several applications using 'serious gaming' will be demonstrated. From the early experiences, a number of challenges for the Distributed and Real-Time Simulation field will be derived.

Chair in Distributed Wireless Computation
Director, Centre for Speckled Computing
School of Informatics
University of Edinburgh

Title: Speckled Computing

Date: Friday 26 October 2012, 8:00-9:00am

Abstract:

A specknet is a wireless network of autonomous specks which provides one or more services: each speck is capable of sensing and is programmed to process this data, and a collection of specks collaborate to extract information from the sensed data in a distributed manner.

Specknets link the physical world of sensory data with the virtual world of network of computers. Specknet on the person with appropriate sensors can, for example, monitor movement and physiological conditions, and in turn infer the state of his/her well-being and act on this information either locally or via the internet. Computation with specknets, or Speckled Computing, affords new modes of interaction with the digital world, in which the physical world is the primary site of interaction.

The talk will give an overview of Speckled Computing, and will be illustrated with examples of applications in healthcare, digital media and environmental monitoring developed over the last decade. The research challenges in modelling and simulation of specknets and their applications will be highlighted.