Akron, Ohio, Dec. 7, 2007: The University of Akron's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering has received three grants totaling more than $541,000 to fund research in secure data aggregation and next-generation automation systems.

In collaboration with Rockwell Automation, an award of $235,000 will be used to advance research of reusable software components to address data aggregation in a variety of application domains.

"This research drives innovations in typed data aggregation to support condition monitoring, health assessment, and prognostics, and decision-support," explains Dr. Shiva Sastry, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering.

Two additional grants of $280,000 from the National Science Foundation and $25,000 from the Ohio Board of Regents were awarded to Sastry for research in sensor-actuator systems for automation systems in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University.

"Significant pieces of our nation's critical infrastructures depend on automation systems that satisfy tight safety and timing requirements," says Sastry. "This research addresses issues that are critical for leveraging advances in networked embedded computing for next-generation automation systems."