The theme for this year's Sensors Expo is sensor technology driving solutions. Our theme reflects the power sensors have to change our work, our play, and our world and our two keynotes illustrate just what happens when technology and inspiration meet to achieve solutions, whether interacting with our environment (and having it interact with us) or visiting another planet entirely.
On Wednesday, June 5, 2013, Joseph Paradiso, Ph.D., Director of the Responsive Environments Group at MIT's Media Laboratory, is providing our day one keynote, "Connecting with the Emerging Nervous System of Ubiquitous Sensing." As embedded sensors enter our living and working spaces in ever-greater numbers, and as more and more of them are networked, the sensor data they produce can be used for applications beyond their original device-linked use. The resulting network acts as a ubiquitous electronic nervous system for our environment, enabling sensor networks to extend across devices, places, and people. How will people interact with what Paradiso describes as a kind of digital omniscience in the coming years, with browsers for different types of network data or buildings and tools as prosthetic extensions of the humans who use them? How will the resulting phase change in the interaction of objects, buildings, and people play out? Come hear the keynote and get a glimpse of the ways in which our worlds may change.
Putting sensors into space—in satellites or on roving robots—allows us to learn about our own and other planets, both current conditions and changes over time. On Thursday, June 6, 2013, Raymond Arvidson, a Participating Scientist for NASA's Mars Curiosity Rover Mission will be providing our day two keynote, "Sensors in Space: The Robotic Exploration of Mars and its Environment." During his presentation Dr. Arvidson will discuss how key sensor technologies have been key enablers for the robotic exploration of Mars and our ability to analyze its present and its history. Participating in virtually every Mars landing since Viking 1 in 1976 and including the 2012 Mars Curiosity Rover Mission, Dr. Arvidson presents his first-hand, expert perspective on today's innovations and the promise of tomorrow's technologies in remote sensor-based systems from space.
In addition to the keynote presentations, the Sensors Expo conference program provides essential, in-depth education and technical sessions across three full-days with pre-conference symposia on June 4 and nine tracks of sessions on June 5–6. The conference program is dedicated to exploring the most up-to-date innovations in sensor technology. Sensors Expo & Conference identifies cutting-edge trends, explores them in an information-packed conference program and reflects those trends throughout the exhibit floor with new product announcements, technology-focused Pavilions, and a showcase of hundreds of products and services.
Advances in sensor technology, electronics, and software expand the number and types of sensors available to us as well as altering and expanding the ways in which we use them. Our keynotes showcase some of the ground-breaking advances that are possible when we couple technology and imagination to find solutions.