Summer 2009 was great time for the Sensorpedia program. I’m very thankful for the all the new ideas, innovation, and enthusiasm shown by our seven summer interns. We had a great team that was very productive. (And we had a lot of fun too!)

Sensorpedia 2009 Summer Interns

If you’ve not already done so, please take a few minutes to check out the student’s blog posts detailing their efforts on everything from an iPhone application to a Sensorpedia Python library. By the end of the summer we had over 3,000 sensors registered with Sensorpedia monitoring everything from weather to volcanic activity. The guys had a great impact on improving how we (collectively) share information. Thank you!

The students also gained experience and sharpened skills that will be valuable to them throughout their career. I have started encouraging interns to read several books as part of their learning experience at the lab. My recommended reading list contains books in categories that I think are important for Computer Science interns to read. In this list you won’t find the typical CS related titles, but rather a number of books designed to stretch your thinking a bit. If you are a student or are working in this area, I highly recommend you check out some of these titles. Contact me if you’re interested in learning more about internship opportunities at ORNL.

Looking forward…

Stay tuned for more updates on where we’re heading with Sensorpedia. We’re looking to build on the momentum of this summer as we move soon from private to open beta. Sign up to be notified when we make the switch. We’ll also be announcing here on the blog and on Twitter.

The sun has set on my first summer internship with Sensorpedia. What was I involved with during these ten fast weeks? It was a summer filled with learning unexpected topics, using the Sensorpedia API to register new sensors, filming a new Sensorpedia video (and in turn, showing my ability for gaffes), helping Sensorpedia advance through its beta stages, and creating a new application for registering sensor data.

This new application is called addSensor. As this blog title states, it is a new interface that allows users to register their sensor data to Sensorpedia without needing to learn anything about our Application Programming Interface. My addSensor application takes care of all the required programming tasks behind the scenes for the user. For more detailed information about addSensor (including screen shots and why it is important), check below this text to see the poster that I created for the 2009 ORNL summer student poster session on August 5, 2009. In the remainder of this blog, I will make two main points about this application.

First, it is dynamic. Focus was paid to creating an interface that didn’t overwhelm the user, yet had all the features necessary to create full fledged, data-rich sensor feeds. This was accomplished by making only the minimally required data fields immediately accessible, with the other fields dynamically accessible as the user’s needs dictated. It also has lots of tools (and tooltips) to help the user along the way. For example, a map can appear if requested, with a draggable marker that generates the associated latitude and longitude. Also, various preview options provide immediate confirmation of successful entry by the user. Smaller interfaces within the addSensor interface, such as calendar and time tools, help round out the overall functionality.

Second, it is a work in progress. There is an old saying in the video production field that says, “With enough time and money, you can create almost anything.” I’ve found that this saying holds true in computer science as well. Creating all of the dynamic options of addSensor certainly took some time and means that there are some parts of the application that still need attention. However, I believe that the application as a whole represents strides in the right direction toward a great tool for Sensorpedia.

Sensorpedia Poster - Jason Frank

I have many people to thank for my internship. First, thank you to those who wrote letters of recommendation for me regarding this internship. Second, thank you to the organizations that fund Sensorpedia. Thank you also to the organizations that funded my internship (ORNL, ORISE, DOE CCI). Finally, thank you to the people that I worked with at ORNL: the other summer interns, project leader Bryan Gorman, lead Sensorpedia developer David Resseguie, and everyone else around the Sensorpedia lab and the CSED. Your guidance and camaraderie made it a fantastic experience!