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School of Information Technology and Engineering

Emil Petriu

Research Focus

The development of networked wireless sensor-based Intelligent Information Appliances (I²As) able to autonomously carry out their designed functions and interact with their environments, other I²As and diverse computer and/or human users.

Research Relevance

There are many e-society applications that could take advantage of ubiquitous computing such as e-commerce, personal shopping, personal monitors for e-health, the monitoring of remote or dangerous physical environments such as mine fields, and intelligent homes, cars, buildings, and the cities of the future.

Ubiquitous Computing Technologies for e-Society: Smart Houses and Other Intelligent Appliances

The e-society, defined as one that uses digital media in most relationships, is expected to produce dramatic changes in our social and economic realities. However, the well-established, readily usable infrastructure that the e-society requires has yet to be developed. Emil Petriu, a professor with the School of Information Technology and Engineering since 1994, is pursuing a unique vision of this e-society and the development of its infrastructure.

Recognized by his peers as a pioneer in the development of intelligent sensor-based information appliances for e-society applications such as intelligent homes and cars, Petriu envisions a world where intelligent appliances go about daily life interacting with human users as well as with other appliances such as software agents in an e-commerce environment or smart robots in an environment dangerous for humans. Called ubiquitous computing because of this ‘everywhere and all the time’ connection of things in the real world with those in the world of computers, this technology will preserve the original appearance, purpose and use of the appliance.

The proposed research brings together Emil Pertriu’s expertise in intelligent robotic sensing, software agents, human computer interfaces, virtual reality and animation for e-arts. While considered to be ambitious in its scope, his proposed research builds on a remarkable body of pioneering work that has become classic reference, frequently quoted in books and patents.

Awards and Accomplishments

• University of Ottawa Chair, 2004
• Fellow of IEEE, EIC, and CAE
• Recipient of IEEE Donald G. Fink Prize Award
• 2003 (1^st Canadian) IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society Award
• University of Ottawa, Glinski Excellence in Research Award, 2003