SenZations summer school has become an annual event on the agenda of wireless sensor network researchers. Covering novel topics in wireless sensor networks and including reputable lecturers, senZations have attracted many students during the past three events successfully organized in Novi Sad, Warsaw and Ljubljana. The very positive feedback received from the students and lecturers provides a guidance and motivation for continuation of the school.

This year, the summer school senZations'09 will be held in Metropol Lake Resort, Ohrid, Macedonia (www.mymacedonia.net) from 1st to 5th September. This year school is co-organized by the EU FP7 projects ProSense and SENSEI.


 

Wireless Sensor networks are regarded as one of the top ten technologies that will impact the future life style and industrial products. The diversity of applications makes the WSN an exciting area of research, and at the same time promises a high potential for enrichment and enhancement of human lives and the society. The appealing applications range from automatic control systems, intelligent buildings and early warning systems up to variety of environmental monitoring solutions, emergency and disaster detection, military surveillance, habitat and structural monitoring, health monitoring and biomedical application, precision agriculture, traffic management and monitoring etc. 

Wireless sensor networks introduce many research and implementation challenges, which are mainly related to the hardware and software constraints of the sensor nodes. The topics of research include efficient design, optimized protocols and novel applications.

 

Scope and audience

The aim of the summer school is to:

  • Survey the most relevant and up to date research domains

  • Identify novel research opportunities, important challenges and research directions 

  • Present theory versus practice considerations
  • Demonstrate existing prototypes and demos
  • Interact whit prominent researchers and establish contacts

  • Promote the results achieved within the EU FP7 projects ProSense and SENSEI 

     

The intended audience consists of PhD and post-graduate students, as well as young researchers who are interested to learn and to share their knowledge with the other participants and lecturers. Senior undergraduate students who have a strong research interest in sensor networks will also be considered. The number of participants will be limited to approximately 40.

Program

The summer school will last for 5 days and will feature a number of different activities:

  • Lectures: Each day will feature lectures and discussions around a various research themes.

  • Participants Workshop: All participants will have an opportunity to present their own work and involvement in the field.   

  • Social activities: One day is scheduled for an excursion; a dinner party as well as other interesting social activities will be also organized. 

Detailed agenda will be announced later.


Topics/presenters

Reputable lecturers will have thematic presentations covering different topics, like WSN applications and designing challenges, programming of sensor networks, integration of WSN with mobile networks, security in WSN,  the role of WSN in Future Internet, etc. 

 

Lecturers will come from both academia and industry. A tentative list of lecturers is as follows: 

Mary Ann Ingram (Georgia Tech, Cooperative Transmissions in WSN)

Petri Mahonen (RWTH Aachen University, TBD)

Zach Shelby (Sensinode, 6lowpan)

Konrad Wrona (NATO C3 Agency, Security in WSN)

Srdjan Krco (FP7 SENSEI, M2M Traffic Impact on WCDMA/LTE RAN)

Antoine Fraboulet (INSA Lyon, WSN hardware and experience from large deployments)

Mario Gerla (UCLA, Vehicular Sensor Networks)

Thomas Watteyne (UC Berkeley, Tossing Reliability into the Wireless Sensor Network Equation)

Martin Bauer (NEC Laboratories Europe, Using sensor networks as a basis for a context framework)

The full list of the lecturers and the topics of the tutorials will be announced later.

Important dates

Application deadline: 01 July 2009

Notification of admittance: 10 July 2009

Registration

Participant’s registration form can be completed online (here). Participations fee is 350 €, which includes participation at all school activities, school material, accommodation in two bed rooms (half board - bed and breakfast + dinner), a gala diner and a social event. The price of the fee for late registration (after 01 July) will be 400 €.

ProSense WSN award

ProSense consortium announces the WSN award for the best student work.

Students are encouraged to submit their work (paper/application/demo) and to participate at the competition. One page abstract, describing the idea and the results should be submitted to wsnaward@feit.ukim.edu.mk and presented during the summer school. The winner will be chosen by the experienced researchers and will be awarded with a free participation. 

Venue

The summer school will be held in the hotels Metropol (lectures) and Turist  (accommodation) in the Metropol Lake Resort - Ohrid (www.metropol-ohrid.com).

Ohrid (www.ohrid.com) is one of the oldest cities in the Balkan Peninsula and one of the oldest human settlements in Europe, a city with tremendous natural and cultural treasure left by the numerous civilizations that have set their foot in the region. 

Spread by the shores of the wonderful Lake Ohrid, at the footfills of the national park Galicica, Ohrid is a city where every step leads you to evidence of the rich Macedonian history. Ohrid is a vivid city existing over 2000 years, referred to as ‘Jerusalem’ of the Balkans and representing Macedonia’s entire church history.

Built mainly between the 7th and 19th centuries, it has the oldest Slav monastery (St Pantelejmon) and more than 800 Byzantine-style icons dating from the 11th to the end of the 14th century. After those of the Tretiakov Gallery in Moscow, this is considered to be the most important collection of icons in the world. One of Ohrid's most famous buildings is the Dome of Saint Bogorodica Perivlepta which was built back in 1298. Visiting this remarkable monument is truly an experience not to be missed. Other outstanding churches, out of 356 each for one day in a year, are Saint Sophia Church, Saint Pantelejmon Plaoshnik and Saint Jovan Kaneo Church.

Ohrid is one of the cities recognized by the UNESCO as  treasure for humanity for which the cultural and natural heritage of Ohrid and Lake Ohrid were in 1989 placed under the UNESCO’s protection.

Ohrid’s major attractions are all located within a remarkably concentrated and eminently walkable area, among and above the narrow streets of the Old Town, itself lined with restaurants and cafes perfectly suited for relaxing on cool summer evenings. Ohrid’s many café bars and nightclubs also make for vibrant nightlife.

Ohrid Lake is one of Europe’s deepest and according to most experts the oldest lake in Europe, preserving a unique aquatic ecosystem with more than 200 endemic species that is of worldwide importance. Maximum depth of the lake is 288 m and it covers an area of 358 km². The Ohrid Lake belongs to a group of Dessaret basins that originated from a geotectonic depression during the Pliocene epoch up to five million years ago on the western side of the Dinaric Alps. Worldwide, there are only a few lakes with similarly remote origins with Lake Baikal and Lake Tanganyika being the most famous.

The full range of water sports, fishing and boating is available, and numerous churches alongside Ohrid’s lake shores make for fascinating side trips. One must experience Ohrid, to see its colors, to feel its scent and taste, to dive not only into the lake, but also into the depths of the spirit of Macedonians that have for centuries created culture and preserved their identity despite all historical turbulences. No words can express the beauty and riches of Ohrid.

How to get to Ohrid?

Flying to Skopje

The main airport in Macedonia is in Skopje (www.airports.com.mk/) which has regular connection with the airports in Budapest, Ljubljana, Prague, Vienna, Zurich, etc. The transport from the airport to Ohrid will be organized for those who will come in Skopje on August 31st, and those who will leave on September 6th. The alternative is use of  regular bus lines from Skopje to Ohrid (www.sas.com.mk). The buses run regularly from 5 AM to midnight, with irregular service during the late night hours

Flying to Ohrid

Ohrid has an international airport about 7 km from city center which connects Ohrid with Belgrade, Ljubljana, Zurich, Dusseldorf, Tel Aviv, Vienna, and Amsterdam (www.ohrid.com/flights.html), but with reduced number of flights.

Getting to the hotel

Ohrid Bus Summer Timetable
Ohrid (main bus station) - St.Naum 
Period: 1 June – 31 August
6:00; 8:00; 9:30; 11:00; 12:15; 15:30; 17:00; 18:30; 20:30

Further instructions about the traveling will be published later.

Organization

Program co-chairs:

Liljana Gavrilovska, FEEIT

Srdjan Krco, LM Ericsson Ireland

Konrad Wrona, NATO C3 Agency

Local organization committee (Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technologies, Skopje):

Liljana Gavrilovska

Aleksandra Mateska

Vladimir Atanasovski

Contact address

For any additional questions, please contact directly the organizers:

Liljana Gavrilovska

Faculty for Electrical Engineering and Information Technologies

Karpos 2, b.b

1000 Skopje

R. Macedonia 

tel: + 38923099114

fax: + 38923064262

e-mail: liljana@feit.ukim.edu.mk