Ronald A. Peterson
email: RonP (at) sover.net
Web Pages: http://www.interoscitor.com
http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~rapjr/
http://zoom.interoscitor.com/iPhone
Previously I was working on the Trustworthy Information Systems for Healthcare (TISH) project as part of the Institute for Security, Technology, and Society where we're interested in security and privacy of medical data sent wirelessly by body worn sensors (including cellphones.) We think tiny wireless sensors will be a key part of preventive medicine (and hence medical cost reduction). Managing the huge volumes of data they will produce, securing the wireless transmissions, and helping people decide who gets access to that data are difficult research questions. I'm also doing related work for the SHARPS project at ISTS.
Here's a link to the published papers of which I am coauthor. Here are some videos of experiments and experimental results collected over the years.
Previously I was working at the SensorLab. One of our SensorLab projects was CenceMe, a social sensing application for the iPhone and Facebook. I worked mainly on the design and implementation of the backend servers on Amazon's AWS cloud computing services and the creation of a MySpace interface. We have a version running on the Nokia N95 also for which I wrote a watchdog monitor to keep the multiple processes in the system alive and designed and built Bluetooth enabled remote sensors to use with the cellphones.
People Centric Urban Sensing. Many people carry cellphones which are starting to incorporate a variety of sensors to report location, acceleration, orientation, photos, video, and sound. In the MetroSense Project we are researching the possibilities of large scale mobile sensing. This has applications in health monitoring, urban planning, crime prevention, social interaction, and more.
We developed some of our original ideas on Moteiv Tmote Sky's and Tmote Invent's with which we built a mobile sensing system called BikeNet. I designed and built a Bluetooth wireless interface that allows Tmote Invent's to talk to Nokia cellphones.
I also do a lot of purchasing (everything from a $50,000 computing cluster down to everyday supplies). I've written research study plans for submission to Dartmouth's Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects.
Research in wireless sensor networks using Berkeley Motes (Rene and Mica) as the sensors. The Motes run TinyOS and are an experimental platform for studying SmartDust.
Developed a handheld personal guidance device called a Sensory Flashlight that allows
a user to interact with a wireless sensor network.
I've helped write several successful proposals for grant funding.
Working with a flying robot helicopter at CSIRO in Australia on guidance experiments and another flying robot at USC on interactions with, and automatic repair of, a wireless sensor network.
Research in advanced sensor techniques to aid first responders in
emergency situations. This work was in conjunction with the
Artemis remote triage and emergency management project.
Research in electronically herding cows using collars with a GPS
unit, Zaurus PDA, audio amplifier and speaker as a stimulus, and a WiFi card for adhoc, multihop, cow-to-cow routing of commands. Read the article in New Scientist about our work.
Research in semi-automated analysis of computer security logs. We built
a tool to do time correlated searchs on system logs, with a machine learning
component to aid the user in tracking down hackers. This work is being done
for the ISTS and is known as
Kerf.
Research in Mobile Agents, software
programs that traverse a network of computers as they execute. Wrote an agent
based YellowPages service. Interfaced a C++ library with Java via a native library.
Ran scalability experiments involving thousands of agents on a computing cluster.
Current experiment involves work with Java based agents.
System Manager for a computational cluster of
25 Pentium PC's running RedHat Linux. The cluster is interconnected via two high speed
subnets and is being used as a testbed for a variety of mobile agent experiments.
Responsible for evaluating and purchasing the PC's and network components for the
cluster and configuring the system.
Also manage a small lab of Linux based student workstations.
Geographic Data Technology (now known as TeleAtlas)
Lebanon, New Hampshire
Software QA Engineering Consultant
2 month contract
Responsible for writing C++ programs to test routability of ramps on A1 highways.
Wrote recursive ramp following program which traversed elaborate ramp systems and
added turn restrictions where a higher ramp crosses a lower ramp and determined
what street names to associate with exit numbers.
IDX Corporation (now a part of GE Healthcare)
Burlington, Vermont
Software QA Engineering Consultant
3.5 month contract
Responsible for interface testing for the Beta and final releases of the
IDXtendR Clinical Management System (CMS). CMS is an integrated patient care information manager, implemented
in Visual Basic and SQL on the Windows 95 & NT platforms. It handles
patient charts, patient
registration, financial management, insurance eligibility,
appointments, transcriptions,
laboratory results, medications, and referrals. Tasks included testing SQL stored procedures,
troubleshooting message flows (from MUMPS based IDX products, through their ConnectR message
mapper, into the CMS database, and then displayed in CMS), testing CMS and ConnectR user interfaces,
and mapping HL7 messages to stored procedure calls using ConnectR.
Dataviews Corporation (now part of GE)
Northampton, Massachusetts
Software Engineer
From 9/89 till 7/97
Principle engineer responsible for quality assurance planning, design and
implementation for the companies primary products: Centro and DataViews (which have since been purchased by GE, most of the DVCorp links are now inactive).
Peterson Enterprises
Brattleboro, Vermont
Owner
From 6/86 till Now
* Developed a fun personal light show program for the iPhone and iPod Touch called DanceLight, available in the AppStore on iTunes.
* Developed and marketed The InterOscitorTM a video controlled, MIDI based, musical instrument.
* Developed and marketed The Video Theremin which converts hand
motions in front of a video camera into MIDI music on an Amiga.
* Invented and marketed Zebra Lights, a unique novelty light bulb.
* Developed GolfPerformalyzer software on an Amiga, under contract,
for analyzing golf swings by superimposing a stick figure, whose
motion is digitized from a pro's, over video freeze frames of a
live golfer.
* Developed and marketed a 3D ray tracing and
animation program called C-Light for the Amiga home computer.
* Wrote technical
magazine articles.
* Developed and marketed a
Microprocessor Training Course.
* Wrote a video game called Ion Blast for the Commodore 64 computer.
Sanders Associates which was then a Lockheed Martin company
Nashua, New Hampshire
Graphics Software Engineer
From 6/88 till 6/89
Wrote graphic visualization tools
for analyzing and demonstrating
ECM software which was being developed for the YF-22 and YF-23
stealth fighters as part of the INEWS program. This system is
deployed today on the Raptor Advanced Tactical
Fighter (ATF) as well as on other modern platforms.
Designed and coded a mapping tool in C on an IRIS 3030 that displayed a shaded terrain map from digitized data and provided a mouse and window based user interface for placing radars and aircraft on the map and building lists of time-varying radar characteristics. Used to create scenarios for input to an RF environment simulator.
Designed and implemented a new method for evaluating sensor coverage on an aircraft using a modified ray tracer (in C on IRIS 3030) to model sensors as light sources which cast shadows onto a translucent sphere. Wrote a plotting tool in FORTRAN for creating A-size plots, on a Calcomp electrostatic plotter, of aircraft flight paths and radar locations along with geopolitical borders. Designed and coded a set of utilities in C on IRIS 3030 for creating animated system diagrams for use in presentations.
Sanders Associates (now owned by BAE Systems)
Nashua, New Hampshire
Graphics Software Engineer
From 6/86 till 6/88
Designed and coded a multi-leveled, animated, window based program
that showed appropriately formated displays of data received via
Ethernet using TCP/IP protocol from other applications residing on
five MicroVAX's, seven Sun workstations and a VAX 8650. Used as a
debugging and analysis aid by fellow software engineers who were
developing sensor fusion algorithms. This tool also was used in
presentations to the government to provide a "window" into the
algorithms. Coded in C on an
SGI IRIS 3030 workstation, the displays
included a realtime 3D pilots perspective view, a 2D animated
overview, a system block diagram showing status of built-in-test
functions, a cartesean graph display with 15 selectable plots of
system parameters and a bar chart display showing time history of
parameters.
These displays were the key focus at a series of six technology
feasability demonstrations, presented via projection television
(from a broadcast quality video booth I equipped) resulting in
the award of a $120,000,000 contract for a program (INEWS) that
continues today.
Designed and coded animated logos to be shown during breaks in
presentations. Designed and coded 3D flight simulator application
for examining aircraft and missile flight paths. Experimented
with fractal techniques for synthesizing artificial terrain and
clouds for use as input to sensor models. Was system and
security manager for IRIS 3030.
Sanders Associates
Nashua, New Hampshire
Software Engineer
From 4/82 till 6/86
Worked in a three person team creating a
simulation and graphic
analysis facility for the Advanced Development Group's Simulation
Lab, located inside a specially built Tempest vault.
Responsibilities included modifying, designing and coding models
used in simulations of
missiles and airborne decoys in FORTRAN on
a VAX 11/785, researching data for input to models, enhancing
models with graphic displays on a Graphic 8 (Vistagraphic 4000),
analysing results, and giving presentations describing the results
of studies and about the facilities capabilities. Did computer
simulation and analysis work for the U2, SR-71 and many other
programs. Helped start the INEWS program during proposal phase.
Was instrumental in integrating the Graphic 8 with video
recording and projection equipment.
