Today in our everyday life we are surrounded by devices that are capable of some form of digital processing, computing or communication. The PDA in the pocket, the notebook in the briefcase or on the desk, the cell phone within the reach, the pager on the belt, the remote control, and the headphone exemplify this reality. Each one of such devices is capable of data communication (locally within the device, or remotely through a network) and some form of processing. Such devices have "digital intelligence" or are simply put "smart". But since intelligence multiplies when communicated - as proven by the world wide web and the Internet, connectivity between pervasive devices will multiply the usefulness of such devices. As an example, if our PDAs and cell phones could communicate seamlessly, then we could have e-mail, Web access, short messaging, etc. at our fingertips at any time and location. To begin with, PDAs and cellular phones were not designed for this function, but a simple "smart link" between these devices multiplies their practical utility. Consider another example where the microprocessor in charge of an automobile's control could communicate to a two-way pager. As the micro measures the responsiveness of the driver to road conditions simply by observing the rotational movements of the steering wheel, it could send a message to the two way pager to initiate a rescue operation in the case the driver is starting to get tired or falling asleep. With a GPS chip on the car the police can step in at driver's prior request or at least a service could initiate a call to the driver and provide warning, help or advice. Again neither the pager or the car controller were designed for this function, just a smart link between them enables the application.
The pervasiveness of smart devices in future will be considerably higher than today. MIT Media Lab's "things that think" project, DARPA's (and other research establishments') "smart spaces" project are just a few initiatives that point to a paradigm where we will be within the Web of smart devices. The GPS chip in our shoes can trigger the Internet to send visual information to our wearable digital display or microphone, the bio-sensor on our wrist (which by-the-way is worn as a fashionable watch or bracelet) can interact with the checkup software on the Internet or the at home computer give us a complete checkup during every night's sleep and to provide medical advice every morning, the active badge in our electronic wallet can interact with sensors in doors, computers, appliances, etc. to provide appropriate access and so on. Again all such "smart" devices define the smart spaces and by communicating to appropriate peer devices enable new application paradigms many of which we cannot imagine today.
Not only we will witness new devices with new applications in future, but also we will see the evolution of today's devices into computing devices such as network appliances, data acquisition equipment, and access control systems that will begin to surface on the edges of the network. Unlike general purpose PCs of today, computing devices of the future will perform special purpose tasks. CrossPad, Xlibris, itsy are only the beginning of things to come. Today these classes of devices are used as PC peripherals, but tomorrow it will be necessary to elevate their status to the first class network citizens.
A necessary prerequisite for web of pervasive smart devices is a low cost, low power, integrated, wireless, smart connectivity solution. This connectivity solution must be smart so that it identifies the device connected to, defines its capabilities and enables the device to interact with others with minimal power. It has to be in an integrated form so that it can be embedded in all kinds of devices with different form factors. It must consume minimal power and it must be low cost so that it can be integrated onto everything from our shirts and shoes to light switches (and eventually to tomatoes). Most of all this connectivity solution must be wireless to free us from limitations of physical connectivity.
The project we propose here is the first step into understanding and realizing this smart connectivity solution. We build on our expertise of our team in wireless and pervasive networking, embedded system design, and Bluetooth architecture and stack knowledge to develop a smart link prototype for pervasive devices. The proposed platform will help us understand design, usability, form-factor, cost and power consumption, light-weight stacks and application issues and will be a very fertile vehicle to develop intellectual property. Building a low-cost, network-ready communication interface for pervasive devices is also an open business opportunity. It is a completely new territory outside of the wintel space where the new players have yet to be decided.
We call our pervasive connectivity solution, EB (embedded
bluesky). EB is our answer for empowering pervasive devices with communication
and networking capability.
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