Autonomous Sensing Systems

Co-sponsored by: Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Robotics and Automation Society and Communications Society

Speaker: Michael Murray, General Manager, Industrial Sensing Division, Analog Devices Inc.

Many of us already use autonomous vehicles at home for cleaning purposes. After a reported $100M investment into mapping methodologies by i-Robot, this “floor-cleaning” technology has become a mobile sensor network, scanning our homes for dirt. But how many people today would ride in an autonomous vehicle down I-93 or in a plane without a human pilot in the cockpit? Interestingly, much of the technology problems to solve are similar in nature and very complex. However, these problems all start with bridging the physical domain to the digital domain and then providing real time contextual feedback to people or other machines, in a safe and secure manner. Simply put, without secure and redundant or additive sensing systems, autonomous sensing systems cannot reach their potential.

The market is struggling to adopt more autonomous sensing systems due to the lack of functionally-safe products and the need to power these systems externally. In the meantime, we continue to guard against the potential of nation state and/or domestic hackers taking control of our autonomous sensing systems at the enterprise level.

Driving further autonomy, intelligence and security to the sensor in the node can change the threat surface as the control functions move closer to the environment they are sensing. This not only decreases the threat surface but it also provides for higher performance systems with lower latencies. However, this is not a perfect solution: as we focus more intelligence at the node or edge device, the power, software complexity and commissioning of these systems increases significantly.

At Analog Devices, we have been the start of the digital thread for over 50 years, focusing on industrial and military sensing systems well before the emergence of the Internet of Things. This talk will focus on where we are and where we are heading in our journey from Analog to Information for intelligent and autonomous sensing platforms.

Bio: Michael is the General Manager of the Industrial Sensing Group within Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI). He brings 20 years of successful start-up ventures and multinational experience in areas of marketing, product development and sales leadership. Michael leads two separate yet mutually dependent businesses. Firstly, the High Performance Inertial (HPI) design teams which are tasked with R&D and deployment of market leading inertial sensor devices, as well as intelligent and autonomous sensors.

Tightly coupled to the Inertial sensing strategy, is the Industrial Sensing business unit, which focuses on the Industrial Internet of Things markets that include Smart City, Buildings, Agriculture and Infrastructure. He is also working in the area of Cyber-Physical Cryptography.

Michael is a member of the Board of Directors of the WiSun Alliance and a member of the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) and the MEMS Industry Group (MIG).

Prior to joining ADI, Michael was co-founder of Artaflex, Inc. an electronic engineering, prototype and development firm, in Canada. Michael received his MBA from of the Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a Master’s Degree in Technology and a Bachelor’s Degree in Management from Northeastern University, in Boston, and an Electronic Engineering Degree from George Brown College, in Toronto.