Recently, integration of Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud paradigms has emerged as a way to provide Sensing and Actuation as a Service (SAaaS). But advances in privacy and security make it possible to go further and distribute SAaaS systems geographically and across multiple organizations. We call this evolution of SAaaS Ubiquitous Sensing and Actuation (UbSA).

An example UbSA system might comprise a set of actuators in a factory that are dynamically driven by sensors distributed throughout the world to produce highly desirable/fashionable goods. Another example might be a public transportation system where weather, road use, and driver information helped decide variable speed limits on roads throughout a municipal area. A third example is a retail system would gather anonymous information from customers’ locations and prior purchases to automatically price goods for sale, issue coupons, and arrange advertisement. UbSA could be applied to smart cities, cyber security, manufacturing, and many other areas.

To realize the benefits promised by dynamic UbSA systems, we need ways to orchestrate devices owned by multiple persons and organizations into unified sensing and actuation infrastructures that can equitably exchange data while preserving the security of devices and privacy of the subjects or owners of that data. Situational awareness and privacy must coexist. Higher-level services composed from SAaaS systems must provide coordination, information assurance, and privacy for large groups of micro-devices and their owners. This broad vision calls for new technologies, management techniques, and policies for dynamic collaboration and sharing. To this end we will be soliciting both papers on policy and technical papers.