This week’s list of top data news highlights covers July 2, 2022 to July 8, 2022 and includes articles on building a smart city and using an AI system to detect rip currents.
Meta has open-sourced an AI system that can translate over 202 languages, many of which are not adequately supported by existing translation systems due to a lack of training data. Researchers developed the system by interviewing native speakers to learn about their translation needs, developing a data mining technique to create training sentences, and then training the system with mined data and human-translated data.
FIFA has announced that referees will use a semi-automated system to detect offside offenses in the 2022 World Cup. The system collects data on players’ movements and potential offenses with a sensor inside of the ball that communicates its position on the field 500 times a second and 12 cameras that use an AI system to track players.
Officials in Kanagawa prefecture, Japan have installed cameras and an AI system to detect rip currents at local beaches. The AI system uses data from the cameras to identify rip currents and swimmers’ locations and alert lifeguards.
URB, a sustainable urban planning company based in the United Arab Emirates, has announced plans to build a smart city in Saudi Arabia. Buildings in the city will feature sensors to collect data on indoor and outdoor conditions and smart technologies like thermostats and water systems to help residents manage their energy consumption.
5. Detecting Railroad Trespassers
Researchers at Rutgers University have created an AI system that can detect people or vehicles trespassing on railroad rights-of-way. The system can detect trespassers, create video clips of the incident, and send alerts. Railway owners can use the information to improve safety.
The New York Department of Environmental Conservation has partnered with Aclima, a U.S.-based sensor technology company, to improve air quality data collection. The team will use cars outfitted with Aclima’s sensors to collect data on air quality in 10 communities around the state, including the Bronx, northern Manhattan, Albany, and Buffalo.
7. Creating Quantum-Resistant Algorithms
The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has selected four algorithms to standardize to ensure encrypted data can withstand future attacks using quantum computers. NIST chose one algorithm for general encryption and three algorithms for digital signatures.
Transit police in New York City have launched the Transit Enhanced Detection Dog program to better detect explosive devices in the city’s public transportation system. Patrol dogs will wear vests equipped with sensors that can detect radiation or chemicals and alert the dogs’ handlers.
Sarah Bana, a researcher at Stanford University, has trained an AI system to predict jobs’ salaries from their listings. Bana trained the system with more than 800,000 job listings and their associated salaries. In tests, the system predicted salaries with 87 percent accuracy.
The United Kingdom has launched the Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre to collect and analyze data on the supply of critical minerals. Its first major project will be a study on the demand and supply of minerals in electric vehicle batteries.
Image credit: Flickr user artt miss
