The National Science Foundation has awarded $1.5 million to Cornell engineers and researchers to help them bridge New York’s digital divide by designing the nation’s first statewide Internet of Things public infrastructure.
Cornell faculty will collaborate with community partners around New York – through Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) in each county – to set up networks based on low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) technology, a form of low-frequency radio.
“We aim to create a public Internet of Things model that works here and then becomes replicable for other states,” said Max Zhang, professor in the Sibley School of Mechanical Engineering, the project’s principal investigator (PI). “We want to provide universal network coverage, ensure data privacy, promote responsible data-sharing, scale up successful Internet of Things implementations and spur technology innovation in underserved areas.”