09-04-2011, 11:55 AM
presented by:
Sheetalrani R. Kawale and Aziz Makandar
[attachment=11913]
Abstract:
Embedded systems are now ubiquitous and ubiquitous computing is now getting embedded in our day-to-day lives. Such systems are cost and power sensitive. Various nanotechnologies will provide an excellent vehicle to reduce cost and power consumption. If computers are to be everywhere, unobtrusive, and truly helpful, they must be as small as possible and capable of communicating between themselves. Technological movements supporting these goals are already well underway under the rubrics nanotechnology and ubiquitous computing. In this paper, we will try to bring together the three existing disciplines of embedded system, nanotechnology and ubiquitous technology. We will show how various nanotechnologies may be of service to embedded with ubiquitous computing. We then focus on the needs and benefits of computer science for nanotechnology, as well as existing and future computer science research for nanotechnology by considering the example of Smart Classrooms.
Keyword: Nanotechnology, embedded systems, ubiquitous computing, and smart classrooms.
Introduction
Nanotechnology:
The trend toward miniaturization of computer components down to an atomic scale is known as nanotechnology. Nanotechnology involves building highly miniaturized computers from individual atoms or molecules acting as transistors, which are the heart of the computer chip. The number of transistors in a chip is indicative of its power. Therefore, nanotechnology’s extreme miniaturization of transistors allows for impressive levels of computing power to be put into tiny packages, which can then be unobtrusively tucked away. Nano mini atoms are as shown in Figure 1 which gives the idea of miniaturization [1], [4], [5].
Ubiquitous Computing:
Ubiquitous computing (ubicomp) refers to a new genre of computing in which the computer completely permeates the life of the user. In ubiquitous computing, computers become a helpful but invisible force, assisting the user in meeting fulfilling needs without getting in the way [1],[7],[8].
Smart Dust:
Smart dust is a tiny dust size device with extra-ordinary capabilities. Smart dust combines sensing, computing, wireless communication capabilities and autonomous power supply within volume of only few millimeters and that too at low cost. Following Figure 2 gives the view of some of the smart dust products [11],[12],[14].
Embedded Services with Ubiquitous:
Embedded systems are now ubiquitous and ubiquitous computing is now getting embedded in our day-to-day lives. Such systems are cost and power sensitive. If computers are to be everywhere, unobtrusive, and truly helpful, they must be as small as possible and capable of communicating between themselves. Technological movements supporting these goals are already well underway under the rubrics nanotechnology and wireless computing. Various nanotechnologies will provide an excellent vehicle to reduce cost and power consumption, while still meeting performance constraints. Nanoscale device technologies, such as carbon nanotube transistors, nanowires, resonant-tunneling devices, quantum cellular automata, single electron transistors, tunneling phase logic, and a host of others, have made significant advances in the last few years. However, circuit and system design methodologies for these technologies are still in their infancy. Industrial roadmaps project that these emergent technologies will make inroads in the commercial market within a decade. Therefore, such design methodologies are necessary for precise design and fabrication of nanocircuits and nanoarchitectures. Thus the combination of recent technological advances in electronics, nanotechnology, wireless communications, computing, and networking has hastened the development of Ubicomp technology [2],[3].
The silent features of ubiquitous computing include the following:
1) Extending Computing Boundaries.
While traditional computing encompassed hardware and software entities, ubiquitous computing extends the boundaries of computing to include physical spaces, building infrastructures, and the devices contained within. This aims to transform dull, passive spaces into interactive, dynamic, and programmable spaces that are coordinated through a software infrastructure and populated with a large number of mobile users and devices.
2) Invisibility and non-intrusiveness.
In current computing models, computers are still the main focus of attention. In effect, people have to change some of their behavior and the way they perform tasks so that these tasks can be computerized. To boost productivity, it is important that computing machinery disappears from the spotlight. Computers should blend in the background allowing people to perform their duties without having machines at the center of their focus.
3) Creating smart and sentient spaces.
A dust of invisible embedded devices and sensors are incorporated to turn physical spaces into active, smart surroundings that can sense, “see,” and “hear,” effectively, making the space sentient and personalized. Ultimately, the space should become intelligent enough to understand users’ intentions and become an integral part of users’ everyday life.
4) Context awareness.
A ubiquitous computing model should be able to capture the different contexts and situational information and integrate them with users and devices. This allows the Active Space to take on the responsibility of locating and serving users and automatically tailoring itself to meet their expectations and preferences.
5) Mobility and adaptability.
To be truly omnipresent, the ubiquitous computing environment should be as mobile as its users. It should be able to adapt itself to environments with scarce resources, while being able to evolve and extend once more resources become available [4], [5], [6].
Ubiquitous Computing Vision:
In the above Figure 3 ubiquitous computing vision is shown along with its placeholders. For Smart Products this vision of ubiquitous computing is used. Nanoscale device technologies, such as carbon nanotube transistors, nanowires, resonant-tunneling devices, quantum cellular automata, single electron transistors, tunneling phase logic, and a host of others, have made significant role for development of Smart products such as smart dust [13],[14],[15].
Smart dust is a tiny dust size device with extra-ordinary capabilities. Smart dust combines sensing, computing, wireless communication capabilities and autonomous power supply within volume of only few millimeters and that too at low cost. These devices are proposed to be so small and light in weight that they can remain suspended in the environment like an ordinary dust particle [8]. These properties of Smart Dust will render it useful in monitoring real world phenomenon without disturbing the original process to an observable extends. Presently the achievable size of Smart Dust is about 5mm cube, but we hope that it will eventually be as small as a speck of dust. Individual sensors of smart dust are often referred to as motes because of their small size. These devices are also known as MEMS, which stands for micro electro-mechanical sensors.
Components of Smart dust:
Smart Dust technology consists of a single package with the following components Integrated into it as follows:
1) MEMS sensor
2) MEMS beam steering mirror for active optical transmission
3) MEMS corner cube retro reflector for passive optical transmission
4) An optical Receiver
5) Signal processing and control circuitry
6) A power source based on thick film batteries and solar cells.
This remarkable package has the ability to sense and communicate and is self powered. A major challenge is to incorporate all these functions while maintaining very low power consumption. For example consider the Smart dust mote which is shown in following Figure 4.
The smart dust mote is run by a microcontroller that not only determines the task performed by the mote, but consists of the power to the vaious components of the system to conserve energy. Periodically the micro controller gets a reading from one of the sensors, which measure one of a number of physical or chemical stimuli such as temperature, ambient light, vibration, acceleration, or air pressure, process the data, and store it in memory. It also turns on optical receiver to see if anyone is trying to communicate with it. This communication may include new programs or messages from other motes. In response to a message or upon its own initiative, the microcontroller will use the corner cube retro reflector or laser to transmit sensor data or a message to a base station or another mote. This mote can be implemented in Smart class room such as in whiteboards.
About this, the comments given are as:
i) "It's not just academic research. It will provide real data about what's happening at any moment." Source: Kris Pister, Smart Dust Predictions based on "Autonomous sensing and communication in a cubic millimeter.", December 2000 [9].
ii) It relies on the convergence of three technologies: digital circuitry, laser-driven wireless communications, and something called MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) to pack enough equipment into a space no more than one or two cubic millimeters in size. Source: James Flint “Smart Dust: The particles of dust that could be watching you.”[10].
iii) The motes can be powered by vibrations in the wall a bit like a self-winding wristwatch or by solar light or even changes in barometric pressure. This makes smart dust very flexible, which is why Pister envisions it everywhere, doing practically anything monitoring how traffic is flowing, say, to determine how to time traffic-lights, or monitoring the vital signs of elderly or sick people. Source: Farhad Manjoo, Dust Keeping the Lights Off, was discussed in [11].
iv) In future, there will be hundreds of billions of embedded chips and sensing devices integrated into everything from key chains and swimming pools to your apartment's walls and even your skin. All of these devices will be able to compute sense and communicate with each other. "Computer chips will get smaller, more powerful, connected and 'pervasive.' They'll bring digital intelligence into all kinds of objects and spaces." Source: Tim McDonald,’The Shape of Computer Chips to Come’, May 2002[12].
The new sensors will be able to detect vibration, chemicals, radiation, biological agents, explosives, footsteps, voices, still images, and even video images and transmit them to a network of fixed and mobile relay collection stations. The significant reduction in size will enable sensors to be deeply embedded in the physical world products or materials and spread throughout our environment like smart grains of sand. Currently, the sensor networks with communications capabilities have been produces that are as small as a penny. In the future NanoTechnology (the capability of building things one molecule at a time) will create miniature sensors so small they could be woven directly into the fabric of a chair or in the layers of plastic in a milk carton or maybe even within the ink on a piece of paper. Consider the example of Smart Classrooms that can be implemented by the services of Nanotechnology embedding with ubiquitous smart dust.
Smart Classroom:
There is an underlying assumption that there needs to be a head of the room. Everything else needs to align around the front. This is kind of the old school. A smart classroom is a classroom that that has an instructor station equipped with computer and audiovisual equipment, allowing the instructor to teach using a wide variety of media [7]. There is a relationship between space and communication. Features of spaces and elements of active classrooms are:
1) Omnidirectional: There is the same content on multiple screens. There is no front of the room.
2) Multimodal: Professor can modulate levels of control. Can be the sage on the stage or the guide on the side. In addition, students can control screens.
Results:
The result of smart classroom will be active classrooms that increase attendance, collaboration, and test scores.
Active classrooms promote new pedagogies such as :
1) Promotes active inquiry-based learning
2) Allows for restructuring of curriculum
3) A studio model for teaching and learning
Sheetalrani R. Kawale and Aziz Makandar
[attachment=11913]
Abstract:
Embedded systems are now ubiquitous and ubiquitous computing is now getting embedded in our day-to-day lives. Such systems are cost and power sensitive. Various nanotechnologies will provide an excellent vehicle to reduce cost and power consumption. If computers are to be everywhere, unobtrusive, and truly helpful, they must be as small as possible and capable of communicating between themselves. Technological movements supporting these goals are already well underway under the rubrics nanotechnology and ubiquitous computing. In this paper, we will try to bring together the three existing disciplines of embedded system, nanotechnology and ubiquitous technology. We will show how various nanotechnologies may be of service to embedded with ubiquitous computing. We then focus on the needs and benefits of computer science for nanotechnology, as well as existing and future computer science research for nanotechnology by considering the example of Smart Classrooms.
Keyword: Nanotechnology, embedded systems, ubiquitous computing, and smart classrooms.
Introduction
Nanotechnology:
The trend toward miniaturization of computer components down to an atomic scale is known as nanotechnology. Nanotechnology involves building highly miniaturized computers from individual atoms or molecules acting as transistors, which are the heart of the computer chip. The number of transistors in a chip is indicative of its power. Therefore, nanotechnology’s extreme miniaturization of transistors allows for impressive levels of computing power to be put into tiny packages, which can then be unobtrusively tucked away. Nano mini atoms are as shown in Figure 1 which gives the idea of miniaturization [1], [4], [5].
Ubiquitous Computing:
Ubiquitous computing (ubicomp) refers to a new genre of computing in which the computer completely permeates the life of the user. In ubiquitous computing, computers become a helpful but invisible force, assisting the user in meeting fulfilling needs without getting in the way [1],[7],[8].
Smart Dust:
Smart dust is a tiny dust size device with extra-ordinary capabilities. Smart dust combines sensing, computing, wireless communication capabilities and autonomous power supply within volume of only few millimeters and that too at low cost. Following Figure 2 gives the view of some of the smart dust products [11],[12],[14].
Embedded Services with Ubiquitous:
Embedded systems are now ubiquitous and ubiquitous computing is now getting embedded in our day-to-day lives. Such systems are cost and power sensitive. If computers are to be everywhere, unobtrusive, and truly helpful, they must be as small as possible and capable of communicating between themselves. Technological movements supporting these goals are already well underway under the rubrics nanotechnology and wireless computing. Various nanotechnologies will provide an excellent vehicle to reduce cost and power consumption, while still meeting performance constraints. Nanoscale device technologies, such as carbon nanotube transistors, nanowires, resonant-tunneling devices, quantum cellular automata, single electron transistors, tunneling phase logic, and a host of others, have made significant advances in the last few years. However, circuit and system design methodologies for these technologies are still in their infancy. Industrial roadmaps project that these emergent technologies will make inroads in the commercial market within a decade. Therefore, such design methodologies are necessary for precise design and fabrication of nanocircuits and nanoarchitectures. Thus the combination of recent technological advances in electronics, nanotechnology, wireless communications, computing, and networking has hastened the development of Ubicomp technology [2],[3].
The silent features of ubiquitous computing include the following:
1) Extending Computing Boundaries.
While traditional computing encompassed hardware and software entities, ubiquitous computing extends the boundaries of computing to include physical spaces, building infrastructures, and the devices contained within. This aims to transform dull, passive spaces into interactive, dynamic, and programmable spaces that are coordinated through a software infrastructure and populated with a large number of mobile users and devices.
2) Invisibility and non-intrusiveness.
In current computing models, computers are still the main focus of attention. In effect, people have to change some of their behavior and the way they perform tasks so that these tasks can be computerized. To boost productivity, it is important that computing machinery disappears from the spotlight. Computers should blend in the background allowing people to perform their duties without having machines at the center of their focus.
3) Creating smart and sentient spaces.
A dust of invisible embedded devices and sensors are incorporated to turn physical spaces into active, smart surroundings that can sense, “see,” and “hear,” effectively, making the space sentient and personalized. Ultimately, the space should become intelligent enough to understand users’ intentions and become an integral part of users’ everyday life.
4) Context awareness.
A ubiquitous computing model should be able to capture the different contexts and situational information and integrate them with users and devices. This allows the Active Space to take on the responsibility of locating and serving users and automatically tailoring itself to meet their expectations and preferences.
5) Mobility and adaptability.
To be truly omnipresent, the ubiquitous computing environment should be as mobile as its users. It should be able to adapt itself to environments with scarce resources, while being able to evolve and extend once more resources become available [4], [5], [6].
Ubiquitous Computing Vision:
In the above Figure 3 ubiquitous computing vision is shown along with its placeholders. For Smart Products this vision of ubiquitous computing is used. Nanoscale device technologies, such as carbon nanotube transistors, nanowires, resonant-tunneling devices, quantum cellular automata, single electron transistors, tunneling phase logic, and a host of others, have made significant role for development of Smart products such as smart dust [13],[14],[15].
Smart dust is a tiny dust size device with extra-ordinary capabilities. Smart dust combines sensing, computing, wireless communication capabilities and autonomous power supply within volume of only few millimeters and that too at low cost. These devices are proposed to be so small and light in weight that they can remain suspended in the environment like an ordinary dust particle [8]. These properties of Smart Dust will render it useful in monitoring real world phenomenon without disturbing the original process to an observable extends. Presently the achievable size of Smart Dust is about 5mm cube, but we hope that it will eventually be as small as a speck of dust. Individual sensors of smart dust are often referred to as motes because of their small size. These devices are also known as MEMS, which stands for micro electro-mechanical sensors.
Components of Smart dust:
Smart Dust technology consists of a single package with the following components Integrated into it as follows:
1) MEMS sensor
2) MEMS beam steering mirror for active optical transmission
3) MEMS corner cube retro reflector for passive optical transmission
4) An optical Receiver
5) Signal processing and control circuitry
6) A power source based on thick film batteries and solar cells.
This remarkable package has the ability to sense and communicate and is self powered. A major challenge is to incorporate all these functions while maintaining very low power consumption. For example consider the Smart dust mote which is shown in following Figure 4.
The smart dust mote is run by a microcontroller that not only determines the task performed by the mote, but consists of the power to the vaious components of the system to conserve energy. Periodically the micro controller gets a reading from one of the sensors, which measure one of a number of physical or chemical stimuli such as temperature, ambient light, vibration, acceleration, or air pressure, process the data, and store it in memory. It also turns on optical receiver to see if anyone is trying to communicate with it. This communication may include new programs or messages from other motes. In response to a message or upon its own initiative, the microcontroller will use the corner cube retro reflector or laser to transmit sensor data or a message to a base station or another mote. This mote can be implemented in Smart class room such as in whiteboards.
About this, the comments given are as:
i) "It's not just academic research. It will provide real data about what's happening at any moment." Source: Kris Pister, Smart Dust Predictions based on "Autonomous sensing and communication in a cubic millimeter.", December 2000 [9].
ii) It relies on the convergence of three technologies: digital circuitry, laser-driven wireless communications, and something called MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) to pack enough equipment into a space no more than one or two cubic millimeters in size. Source: James Flint “Smart Dust: The particles of dust that could be watching you.”[10].
iii) The motes can be powered by vibrations in the wall a bit like a self-winding wristwatch or by solar light or even changes in barometric pressure. This makes smart dust very flexible, which is why Pister envisions it everywhere, doing practically anything monitoring how traffic is flowing, say, to determine how to time traffic-lights, or monitoring the vital signs of elderly or sick people. Source: Farhad Manjoo, Dust Keeping the Lights Off, was discussed in [11].
iv) In future, there will be hundreds of billions of embedded chips and sensing devices integrated into everything from key chains and swimming pools to your apartment's walls and even your skin. All of these devices will be able to compute sense and communicate with each other. "Computer chips will get smaller, more powerful, connected and 'pervasive.' They'll bring digital intelligence into all kinds of objects and spaces." Source: Tim McDonald,’The Shape of Computer Chips to Come’, May 2002[12].
The new sensors will be able to detect vibration, chemicals, radiation, biological agents, explosives, footsteps, voices, still images, and even video images and transmit them to a network of fixed and mobile relay collection stations. The significant reduction in size will enable sensors to be deeply embedded in the physical world products or materials and spread throughout our environment like smart grains of sand. Currently, the sensor networks with communications capabilities have been produces that are as small as a penny. In the future NanoTechnology (the capability of building things one molecule at a time) will create miniature sensors so small they could be woven directly into the fabric of a chair or in the layers of plastic in a milk carton or maybe even within the ink on a piece of paper. Consider the example of Smart Classrooms that can be implemented by the services of Nanotechnology embedding with ubiquitous smart dust.
Smart Classroom:
There is an underlying assumption that there needs to be a head of the room. Everything else needs to align around the front. This is kind of the old school. A smart classroom is a classroom that that has an instructor station equipped with computer and audiovisual equipment, allowing the instructor to teach using a wide variety of media [7]. There is a relationship between space and communication. Features of spaces and elements of active classrooms are:
1) Omnidirectional: There is the same content on multiple screens. There is no front of the room.
2) Multimodal: Professor can modulate levels of control. Can be the sage on the stage or the guide on the side. In addition, students can control screens.
Results:
The result of smart classroom will be active classrooms that increase attendance, collaboration, and test scores.
Active classrooms promote new pedagogies such as :
1) Promotes active inquiry-based learning
2) Allows for restructuring of curriculum
3) A studio model for teaching and learning