Yanchao Zhang receives DURIP award to build drone-powered Internet of Things system

Yanchao Zhang and his research group, ASU’s Cyber and Network Security Group, received a Defense University Research Instrumentation Program award of $200,000 through the Army Research Office to build a drone-powered internet of things system for information assurance research and education.

The internet of things is an emerging paradigm of technical, social and economic significance. In addition to numerous civilian applications, IoT has great potential in the defense sector, such as the Internet of Battlefield Things. IoBT applications include connected ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance), connected operations, smart and connected bases and connected logistics.

DURIP awards augment research capabilities at universities conducting cutting-edge research for the Department of Defense, like ASU, through the procurement of state-of-the-art equipment. This DURIP award enhances the capabilities of the CNSG, which is performing research and research-oriented education in broad areas of interest to the Department of Defense.

“DURIP is a true enabler of discovery for DoD-supported science and technology research and supports the training of the next generation science, technology, engineering and mathematics workforce,” said Dale Ormond, principal director for research.

The annual DURIP awards process is highly competitive. Collectively, the Service research offices received proposals requesting a total of $254 million in funding. Out of 671 proposals received, only 175 proposals were selected.

Yanchao Zhang is the director of ASU Cyber & Network Security Group, whose mission is to conduct fundamental and experimental research on security and privacy issues in computer and networking systems. Current CNSG focus areas include emerging wireless networks, internet of things, social networking and computing, cloud computing, big data analytics and artificial intelligence. Zhang is a professor of electrical, computer and energy engineering at Arizona State University, effective with the 2018-2019 academic year. Zhang received a Bachelor of Engineering in computer science and technology from Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications in 1999; a Master of Engineering in computer science and technology from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications in 2002; and a doctorate in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Florida in 2006.