In Part I of this two part post on Ubiquitous Computing (Ubicomp) I introduced the broad field of Ubicomp through the lens of Dr. Niklas Elmqvist’s work in the subfield of pervasive computing. I also introduced you to the concept of entity location tracking with RFID and GPS chips to gather data for analysis and improved predictive decision making. Ambient intelligence is the low level programming that allows multiple computing platforms to “sense” one another and to “understand” how to connect and exchange information through wireless communication packet exchange “automatically” (without conscious human intervention). Both Dr. Elmqvist’s multi-user computing devices and otherwise analog things like cows and cars with RFID and GPS use this technology to collect data for analysis and improved predictive decision making. These topics are the concerns of the physical computing subdivision of Ubicomp, also known as “the internet of things”.
Part II begins where Part I left off. This post is devoted entirely to discussion of the physical computing subfield of Ubicomp known as “the internet of things” (IoT).
First, check out this infographic. You know you want to. It’s got some really interesting information on it, like the fact that by 2008 there was already more of these smart (computational) and semi-smart (GPS, RFID) automaton devices logging into the interwebs and calling home to the mothership to send back their data than there were humans. Just imagine how much “Big Data” all those devices must be collecting. Go ahead, scroll on down and look at it. I’ll discuss it more on the other side.
Okay, I promised we’d talk about the infographic for a minute. I found it in a Cisco company promotional blog by author Dave Evans from 2011. I believe the point of his presentation was to make a case to companies purchasing their technology that Cisco would be on the frontlines of lifesaving ecological innovations using “Big Data” analytical solutions. I neither support nor defend this position, merely state it here so you can consider the source in your evaluation.
I love the examples of “Big Data produced by RFID or GPS type “ambient intelligence” the author offers us to drive home the case that these sensors are “everyware”. (Get it? It’s a play on words and another popular name for these Ubicomp devices.) Dutch cows and heart patients out in the field transmitting their vital signs back to caretakers who have the ability to make effective adjustments to their health care. Besides health monitoring, other projects they didn’t mention involve manhole covers monitoring sewer flood flow rate, mussel shells monitoring oil well leakage, thermostats monitoring energy consumption for efficient redistribution, and restocking merchant shelves by tracking RFID chips on cans of peas.
My personal favorite example of the internetOfThings (IoT) infographic includes the smart alarm clock and coffee pot connected to the work scheduler that is alerted to let the user sleep an extra 30 minutes even though there is an accident on the driving route to work, the car knows it needs gas and the train is off its schedule.
It’s easy to believe the claim that by the end of 2011 20 typical households will generate more internet traffic than the entire internet in 2008 and that all those cars, cows and cans of peas could easily amount to 50 Billion by 2020.
Cisco’s collaborative project with NASA, the Planetary Skin Institute (PSI), is supporting environmental Scientists and saving low income families by hosting “Big Data” environmental datasets returning from their human and machine sensor networks in the field. The vision of millions of tiny computational and video microdevices no bigger than a cubic millimeter in a “Space to Mud” grid to gather lifesaving environmental condition data seems a little idealistic, but again consider the source.
Cisco is not building the new internet protocol IPv6 which will accommodate a ridiculously large number of possible internet addresses (100x every atom on the face of the earth), but they know all about it. I want to know how the author knows how many atoms there are on the face of the earth and that the number of internet addresses accommodated by the new protocol would be 100 times that many. At any rate, it’s a really, really big number, which is good because all those devices are going to need addresses to call home.
#words 821
Post #9 of 10