Message from the chairpersons

The 2013 IEEE Workshop on Environmental, Energy, and Structural Monitoring Systems is the fifth edition of a meeting whose success and interest have steadily grown in the last years. The wide and increasing need for smart monitoring solutions requires new flexible systems, design methodologies and technologies for improving quality of life, energy efficiency and safety in houses, buildings and transportation. For this reason, the goal of the workshop is to present novel research results and to discuss key technological issues and relevant methodological aspects related to the development of complex systems for environmental, energy, and structural monitoring. The topics of the workshop concern with, but they are not limited to, innovative sensors, wireless and wired sensor networks, signal/image processing techniques as well as distributed, autonomous measurement systems and the related applications. During this edition of the Workshop particular attention is devoted to edge-technology solutions for natural hazard monitoring, control systems and disaster management. This year the Workshop is sponsored by the IEEE Italy Section, technically co-sponsored by the IEEE Italy Section Systems Council Chapter and by the IEEE Italy Section Instrumentation and Measurement Society Chapter, and organized by the Department of Industrial Engineering of the University of Trento, Trento, Italy. The venue in Trento, a nice town in the middle of Alps, in the premises of the new scientific and technological center “Fabio Ferrari” offers to participants and attendees a wonderful location and a stimulating environment to present and to discuss the most recent developments and research results in the wide area of complex monitoring systems. In this message, our first thoughts are for the organizes and for all people who actively contributed to the success of the Workshop, to the technical program Chairs who prepared such an interesting and up-to-date program, to the reviewers who greatly helped in evaluating the manuscripts, to the authors who strived to present their most recent research results, and to the Communication Office of the University of Trento that arranged the venue and managed the related administrative aspects. We would like to thank also all attendees for their interest in the Workshop. Some of them are newcomers, others took part already to previous editions of the Workshop, but all of them share the same interest for research and the same passion in solving practical problems with creative and innovative solutions. We hope that the new knowledge presented in the technical program will provide attendees useful ideas and information to support and stimulate their job and their future research activities. Also, we hope that the stay of participants will be both enjoyable and fruitful for future cooperation at national and international level.