Christopher Gaudreau, one of my graduate students for the past 2 years, has defended his MS thesis. Chris worked on developing software for a handheld computer version of the Project54 system. Chris’ software enables officers to interact with the in-car Project54 system from outside the cruiser. Chris conducted a pilot deployment of the software in which 3 officers used his software. Chris collected log data from the officers’ interactions with handheld computers. The pilot deployment resulted in valuable feedback. For example, we realized that the handheld computer’s built-in speaker is not powerful enough for outdoor applications. We also learned about an interesting usage scenario. One of the officers used the handheld as a remote control for the radar: he parked the cruiser, observed radar readings on the handheld from a distance and, when he wanted to stop someone, he remotely turned on the lights to get the driver’s attention.

Here is a picture of Chris at the defense.

At the end of the defense Chris received several good suggestions. One of them was by Ben McMahon, who suggested retrieving log data from the handheld wirelessly. We discussed this idea and decided to try using the 802.11 connection between the handheld and the car to move log data from the handheld to the car. It can then be uploaded at wireless update stations which we are currently working on. Of course, Ben is familiar with the idea of remotely accessing log data, since this is what is done in the Project54 datacasting effort, which he is a part of (for more on this, see Ben’s Project54 page for the list of papers he is a co-author on).

As for Chris, he has already been working in industry for several weeks. He is an engineer with 54ward in Manchester, NH. 54ward specializes in deploying the Project54 system and hopes to extend its reach throughout the US (and probably other places!). Congratulations Chris on a great thesis and best of luck in your future endeavours.

Andrew Kun

Subscribe to the comments through RSS Feed