IceSpy: Reconfigurable Edge Accelerator for Scalable and Private Structural Health Monitoring

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) uses pervasive sensors to monitor the health and integrity of buildings and civil infrastructure, significantly reducing maintenance costs and improving safety. Despite its potential, widespread adoption of SHM is hindered by high deployment costs and privacy concerns from building tenants. This work introduces IceSpy as one solution to both problems: reducing the cost and improving the privacy of SHM applications. IceSpy uses a programmable multi-chip systolic array of small, low-power Commercial off-the Shelf (COTS) FPGAs to implement data filtering and differential privacy. Data filtering reduces cost by reducing power-hungry wireless data transmission, leading to smaller batteries and power harvesters. Meanwhile, local differential privacy removes privacy-sensitive information before transmitting it to an untrusted server. Even with additional differential privacy measures, IceSpy achieves a 3× reduction of power consumption and a consequent reduction in battery costs due to decreased wireless communication. This low-power privacy-preserving filtering technology reduces deployment costs and mitigates privacy concerns from potential deployment sites. With many obstacles removed, we are working on deploying IceSpy in dams and commercial buildings to obtain deeper insight into the structural health of buildings and infrastructure.