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SuPerWorld

The “Pervasive Real-World Computing for Sustainability” (SuPerWorld) Multidisciplinary Research Group (MRG) involves technology in pervasive computing, which touches upon research that focuses on the real world towards (contributing in) making it more sustainable.

As “real world”, we refer to humans, animals and plants, as well as to the physical and urban environment. As “pervasive computing”, we refer to sensing infrastructures and equipment that measure the real world, including the sensing capabilities of modern mobile phones. An important goal would be to enable pervasive eco-systems by means of “Internet of Things” (IoT) and “Web of Things” (WoT) protocols and principles, towards common understanding and semantics of real-world services and data, and high interoperability among systems and infrastructures. 


The main research question of the SuPerWorld MRG can be summarized as: “how can pervasive computing affect the real world, in order to promote sustainability, enhance quality of living for humans and animals, ensure food safety and security, as well as provide convenience to humans in their everyday life"? The general domains of the SuPerWorld MRG are “smart cities” and “sustainable environments”. More specific application areas involve food safety, smart agriculture, disaster monitoring, environmental and wildlife monitoring, legal migration, tourism and promotion of digital heritage, urban landscapes and infrastructures, robotics, as well as the future smart grid and energy communities. 
 
Some emphasis is given to the environment of Cyprus, and the particular challenges it faces (e.g. endangered animal and plant species, deforestation, water quality of the coastal areas). Due to the particular sociopolitical situation of Cyprus, some priority is given also to vulnerable target groups (e.g. immigrants and refugees). The SuPerWorld MRG performs basic and (mostly) applied research in the scientific areas of machine learning and deep learning, geospatial analysis and Geographical Information Systems (GIS), IoT and WoT, data visualization, semantic web technologies, remote sensing (aerial photography based on drones and satellite-based imagery), mobile phone computing, robotics, as well as persuasive technology, ICT for sustainability and eco-feedback techniques for human behavioural engineering. Finally, the SuPerWorld MRG supports, encourages and promotes a lively ecosystem of interdisciplinary collaboration, which constitutes one of the strong aspects of RISE.   
  
MRG leader: 
Dr. Andreas Kamilaris