One of the main bottlenecks in research is how to deal with data. Often, in order to make accurate inferences from data, large amounts need to be collected, sometimes from diverse sources collected at different times and occasionally even for different purposes.

Once collected, data must be stored, rationally structured (categorized, cleanedï, sorted, etc.), and retrieved effectively, so that interpretations based on a specific set of data can be made. When done manually, these processes of collecting, storing, structuring, and retrieving data can be very time consuming, prone to error, and tedious.

The research laboratory for Scientific Data Acquisition, Transmission, and Storage (SDATS) was formed at Simon Fraser University by researchers in the School of Computing Science to address just these sorts of problems. As described on the project website, "The SDATS research group aims to develop innovative, real-world automated data gathering systems for scientists who require data collection in remote, hazardous or challenging environments."

The purpose of the initiative is threefold--elegant gathering, moving and retrieval of data for scientists. The laboratory is composed of SFU and non-SFU Computing Scientists of varied specialties:

• Andrei Bulatov  Constraint Networks
• Funda Ergun - Sublinear Algorithms, Network Quality of Service
• Jiangchuan Lui - Data Streaming, Sensor Networks
• Greg Mori  Computer Vision Group
• Jian Pei - Data Warehousing, Mining and Online Processing
• Richard Vaughan - Robotics, Intelligent Sensor Networks

Major supporters of the project include Larry Dill, SFU Biology, Kristina Rothley, SFU Resource and Environmental Management, and the SFU Scientific Computing and Imaging Research Facility.

In April of 2005, a team from the Research and Environmental Management (REM) group at SFU began work with a set of SDATS visualization tools to track bear populations at a river site in the Yukon. The affectionately named bear cam was built by Jens Wawerla, a PhD student with The School of Computing Science.

Shelley Marshall, a faculty member with REM, recorded the activities of the bears as they came to the river. As one can imagine, the remote location, low temperatures and level of intrusion to bear territory made SDATS an ideal project tool for automated rather than human observation. Hours of footage were recovered with large gaps where no bears would arrive at the site. With the intervention of SDATS, the footage can be intelligently navigated through to specific points of bear activity.

Marshall uses the activities of the bears and the times of these activities for her research in how tourism in the area could affect bear populations. During the last quarter of 2005, SDATS received a grant from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) which will cover half of their operational expenses. SDATS hopes to obtain the other half through a grant from the British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund (BCKDF).

Challenges to the bear cam project include powering the cameras efficiently to enable them to run for days, weeks and perhaps even months. Re-using the camera for other purposes is another consideration. For example, rather than building an entirely new camera for use underwater, the bear cam can be adapted.

Dr. Greg Mori sees SDATS as a service to scientists and is excited about the potential SDATS applications. Scientists have so far approached him with very interesting projects. SDATS is very much a solution in search of a problem or problems for that matter. This is a group that relishes a good challenge and is passionate about solving problems and providing elegant solutions for scientists.

Contact Dr. Greg Mori or Dr. Richard Vaughan for more information: Dr. G. Mori School of Computing Science Simon Fraser University 604.268.7111 mori at cs.sfu.ca http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mori/ Dr. R. Vaughan School of Computing Science Simon Fraser University 604.291.5811 vaughan at cs.sfu.ca http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~vaughan/ Alternatively, visit the SDATS website at http://sdats.cs.sfu.ca/ References: http://sdats.cs.sfu.ca/ http://www.sfu.ca/~jwawerla/projects/bearcam/