RAD-UM, the University of Miami branch of RAD is a research unit housed at U-SoA. RAD-UM provides resources and expertise for project-based research on the spatial ramifications of embedded technology and ubiquitous computing. The research is premised on the notion that every building or landscape component can be equipped with computational power. Projects at RAD-UM develop models for such digitally enhanced environments to better handle persistent and emerging challenges in the areas of healthcare, building technology and sustainability. The projects are set up for multi-disciplinary collaboration and for potential development in partnership with industry.
Computing is migrating from dedicated static appliances to mobile devices, objects of everyday life, and physical environments thanks to increasingly proliferating microchips and ever-expanding information networks. The spatial nature of ubiquitous computing directly implicates and empowers architecture, landscape and urban design.
RAD-UM capitalizes on this potential, bringing research to bear on the built environment from a variety of fields that exploit the spatial consequences of distributed computing: responsive and interactive systems, augmented reality, embedded/situated technology, ambient intelligence, mobile computing and locative media.
