The Location-Aware Information Systems Laboratory (LAISL) is the only laboratory established between the Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) and the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) within the College of Engineering at the University of South Florida (USF).
The laboratory’s primary mission is to improve quality of life by supporting the collection of data through GPS-enabled (global positioning systems) cellular phones and wireless sensor networks, and transforming these data into meaningful information and actions. As such, location-based services (LBS), mobile apps, data mining, expert systems, wireless cellular networks, wireless ad hoc and sensor networks, information systems, and other related areas, are the main areas of research and development. Global commercial demand for these types of location-aware services is forecasted to dramatically increase over the next several years.
The laboratory is based on current expertise and infrastructure available in CUTR and CSE. However, it spans to other centers, colleges and departments within USF; local, state and national government agencies; and local and national industries. The nature of the potential applications makes this laboratory interdisciplinary by definition. Traffic and transportation, safety and security, home automation, emergency response, tourism, health, water and infrastructure monitoring, and many others are examples of application domains of interest to many people that definitively require the participation of specialists from different areas.
LAISL encompasses research and development, commercialization, and education in the areas of location-aware services and architectures, mobile apps, sensors, wireless ad hoc and sensor networks, cellular networks, and software development to provide efficient and timely solutions to current problems.
- Research and Development is based on mobile apps, sensors, wireless ad hoc and sensor networks, wireless communications, localization technology, and intelligent software to create real-time, interactive, multimedia location-aware information systems to improve peoples’ quality of life.
- One of the main objectives of the LAISL is to create real products that can be easily taken to market. The LAISL team works with local industry along the I-4 corridor to transfer this location-aware information system technology into the commercial sector. USF’s Division of Patents and Licensing is used as the primary instrument to generate funds to USF and transfer the technology. To date, the research team has 16 issued U.S. patents on a variety of location-aware technology.
- Finally, the LAISL has an educational plan to prepare the professional workforce for the location-aware information systems’ high-tech industry that the LAISL will help to create. The laboratory prepares its students through formal education and research. It involves undergraduate and graduate students in the research and publication activities of the lab.
For more information on the research performed at the USF Location-Aware Information Systems Lab, please contact:
Sean J. Barbeau, Ph.D.
Center for Urban Transportation Research
University of South Florida
4202 E. Fowler Avenue, CUT100
Tampa, FL 33620-5375
813.974.7208 | 813.974.5168 (fax)
barbeau@cutr.usf.edu