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Date: Friday, February 26, 2016

Time: 12:20pm - 1:10pm EST

Location: Room 124, Min H. Kao Building, Knoxville, TN

Title: Shared Spectrum: Implications for Dense Deployment of IoT Devices and Systems in Utility Settings

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Click here to view/download a pdf of the slides

Presenter: Dr. Peter Fuhr, ORNL

Abstract: We have essentially run out of frequencies to be used for wireless devices.  Yet, the Internet of Things (IoT) is forecasting by the end of this decade having billions- if not trillions - of devices broadcasting over the airwaves.  The situation becomes even more severe in areas where dense deployments of IoT devices encounter substantial amounts of radio frequency interference (RFI).  The realm of "shared spectrum" will be discussed from a technological and logistical perspective culminating in "a suggestion" as to what applications may benefit from the realization of cognitive radio (CR) - software defined radio (SDR) modeling and implementation in municipal and utility settings.

Bio: Dr. Peter Fuhr has been a Distinguished Scientist in the Electrical and Electronic Systems Research Division at ORNL since 2010. Prior to that he was a professor of engineering at the University of Maryland. He has also been  a co-founder in several wireless companies. He got his B.S. in Physics and Mathematics from Beloit College, in Beloit, WI; and his M.S.E. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. He has published numerous papers and is a sought after consultant. 

Dr. Peter Fuhr has been involved in industrial wireless, sensors, and secure systems for 30+ years as a NASA space optical physicist, university professor, serial entrepreneur, and researcher at a U.S. National laboratory. Peter serves as the Co-chair of The Secure Infrastructure Controls Society, is the former Director of the International Society for Automation (ISA) Communication Division (2012-2014), is the co-founder and past Chairman of the Wireless Industrial Networking Alliance, and co-chairs the Association for Advanced Agricultural Technology. In his role as Subject Matter Expert (SME) for Smart Grid Secure Communications, Dr. Fuhr has written numerous briefs pertaining to the electric utilities' implementation of advanced technologies that have been delivered to the Dept of Energy, the FCC, and Congress. He has provided numerous Keynote addresses and served in a variety of capacities (from organizer to Director) for a wide range of technical meetings, symposiums, workshops, & conferences worldwide (typically with a SCADA, Secure Communications, Sensors, Wireless flavor). 

Dr. Fuhr’s R&D interests are broad ranging but principally involve secure communications, sensors, multi-disciplinary applications and control systems. In addition to the aforementioned items, he participates as a contributing member of a number of ISA, IEEE, SPE work groups and committees. He has been a consultant to over 70 companies (large and small), a Master of the Court for a variety of technology cases, delivered briefings to Congress on technological matters, served as an SME for JP Morgan's venture investment division, and as a
faculty member founded and directed the Institue for Sensors and Wireless Networking (33 faculty, 100+ graduate students). Peter has embedded sensors into various structures worldwide ranging from buildings, dams, airplanes, hot air balloons, spacecraft, nuclear power plant containment vessels, even humans. He has deployed wireless systems in too many industrial, agricultural, underwater, underground, and even outer space settings to list. His recent activities have included R&D pertaining to sensors and systems appropriate for environmental monitoring of fracking; water quality sensing for industrial enterprises; sensing and communication systems for operation in harsh environments (deepwater, within nuclear reactors, corrosive environments) and examining the intricacies of printed electronics in an additive manufacturing (3D printing) environment. Dr. Fuhr is a Distinguished Scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and also serves as the Technology Director for the Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Research Laboratory.

Dr. Fuhr has authored and presented over 800 technical journal and conference publications/presentations, has presented Keynote addresses at various conferences and has served as the Chair in numerous Symposia Technical Sessions. His research efforts have been featured in a variety of popular press venues as well as worldwide media. Peter has served as an expert witness in various communications and sensor court cases; patented technical innovations; serves as a technical Instructor for the Instrumentation Society of America (ISA) specializing in wireless systems; performed many technical assessments of companies soliciting VC funding;
has provided technical consulting services to companies large and small; and continues to serve as a technical reviewer for proposals submitted to various Governmental organizations. He routinely delivers technology overview as well as fundamental research presentations to crossdisciplinary audiences throughout the world.

Dr. Fuhr's pioneering work in networked sensor systems for structures earned him the Presidential Award for Excellence in Research. Segments of his research activities are featured in the SPIE Milestone Series on Fiber Optics.