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Estimates say that web hypertext (and assorted MIME files) accounts for only 0.2% of the data available on the internet. The rest sits "behind forms" in databases and other non-http servers. As part of telegraph, we're studying how to leverage that data.
Telegraph is an adaptive dataflow system, which allows individuals and institutions to access, combine, analyze, and otherwise benefit from this data wherever it resides. As a dataflow system, Telegraph can tap into pooled data stored on the network, and harness streams of live data coming out of networked sensors, software, and smart devices. In order to operate robustly in this volatile, internetworked world, Telegraph is adaptive -- it uses new technologies such as rivers and eddies to route unpredictable and bursty dataflows through computing resources on a network, resulting in a steady, manageable stream of useful information.
Context, particularly location, is an important source of information for human-computer interaction. In our project, we examine hardware, networking, and systems issues for a location sensing infrastructure. We present a thorough empirical analysis of the TinyOS RF motes."In 2010 MEMS sensors will be everywhere, and sensing virtually everything. Scavenging power from sunlight, vibration, thermal gradients, and background RF, sensors motes will be immortal, completely self contained, single chip computers with sensing, communication, and power supply built in. Entirely solid state, and with no natural decay processes, they may well survive the human race. Descendants of dolphins may mine them from arctic ice and marvel at the extinct technology."
• E.g., The communications scheme is based on ultra- wideband (UWB)
technology.
– UWB emits rapid sequencing of extremely short (< 1ns) wideband
(> 1 GHz) low power bursts of radio frequency energy.
• UWB system will reduce power, mass and volume over conventional communications
systems.
– Analysis has predicted that data can be transferred over a 10 mile
range at a T1 rate on 56 mW of average power.
• UWB system is software controlled and reconfigurable in real time
to perform different functions as needed.
"Moore’s law" is catching up to telecom, and the result isn’t going
to be pretty for the telcos.
Consider instant gigabit communications with NO ONE in control of it.
If these things create distributed networks on the fly then every highway
with enough traffic density and enough of these things in cars becomes
an intercity multi-gigabit communication channel. Even at 900 MHz you can
get a citywide data network.
That's fascinating -- a "cellular" phone network without towers or other infrastructure. If there were enough of these things scattered around an area, they could (theoretically) all be in communication with each other, providing mobile phone and data service, at least among themselves, with NO company getting any per-minute dollars!
Of course that's improbable -- right? There are lots of technical reasons why this couldn't feasibly work.
Just like, a few years ago, nobody could imagine a pervasive, flexible data network that would turn many established ways of doing business topsy-turvy, change the landscape of the most successful companies on the planet, and rewrite the rules for commerce -- all within a few years.
Now, add the potential of fledgling nanotechnologies into this mix,
spawning a swarm of tiny dirt-cheap devices (literally) scattered across
the landscape, each providing communications relay services. Suddenly,
their collectively providing a pervasive wireless network
might not seem so impossible after all!
But don't worry -- such industry-shaking changes could never occur. Again. Could they?
PRINCIPLES FOR SPECTRUM POLICY REFORM
Today the American people collectively own the most valuable resource
in the emerging information economy: the airwaves, also known as the electromagnetic
spectrum. Auctions conducted last year in Europe and early this year in
the U.S. suggest that spectrum occupied by commercial licensees has a market
value well in excess of $300 billion. Unfortunately, while high bids by
wireless phone companies should be a boon to the ordinary citizens who
own the airwaves, high prices also evidence a policy-induced spectrum shortage
that threatens to delay the widespread availability and affordability of
wireless broadband services.
In short, Americans are prisoners of an outdated industrial policy. We are trapped somewhere between the outmoded central-planning approach that characterized Federal Communications Commission (FCC) policy until the mid-1990s, and a new more flexible and market-based approach which, unfortunately, applies only to mobile wireless services. Most of the spectrum is still rigidly “zoned” for exclusive use by industries (viz., broadcasters, private two-way radio services, satellite and fixed wireless services) that pay nothing to use this increasingly scarce and valuable public asset. This outdated zoning and giveaway policy both fails to use a more flexible market mechanism to allocate spectrum and neglects to charge rent to all commercial licensees. This has produced the worst possible outcome: a spectrum shortage, no incentives for efficient use, government picking “winners” and “losers” among industries, and the forfeiture of tens of billions in public revenue.
This paper answers the question Senator John McCain asked FCC Chairman
Michael Powell at the latter’s confirmation hearing in May: “What principles
do you think should guide the FCC in its decision-making” with respect
to competing demands for spectrum? In considering principles to guide spectrum
reform, it is important to recognize that policymakers face both an immediate
and a long-term challenge concerning management of this increasingly valuable
public asset.
< http://www.newamerica.net/Download_Docs/pdfs/Pub_File_610_1.pdf>
SPECTRUM DROUGHT
One of the last actions of the (second) Clinton era was a proposal
to the FCC to create a "secondary market" for spectrum. Basically, a spectrum-holder
would be able to sublease spectrum to other users without a lengthy and
expensive negotiation with the FCC. If a
company has rights to use spectrum in the U.S., those rights would
include the ability to offer it to other companies to use. Such secondary
markets would be a boon to smaller service providers that could not afford
to compete in spectrum auctions, but could afford to pay some reasonable
fee for use of licensed spectrum.
Another FCC initiative was to begin serious discussion about "software defined radios" (SDRs) — basically wireless systems that would be "smart" enough to change their behavior based on spectrum conditions. Such behavior might include analyzing what spectrum is in use in the SDR’s immediate area, and — if broadband spectrum — perhaps a television broadcast channel in a very rural area — is available for use, the unit could reconfigure itself to make use of that spectrum. If transmissions are heard, then the unit makes other choices — perhaps use of license-exempt spectrum.
NEAR FUTURE TECHNOLOGIES
ArrayComm is developing a very promising technology that, in effect,
steers high-speed wireless connections to individual users. ArrayComm hopes
to offer 1 Mbps connections to semi-stationary users — not suitable for
moving vehicles, but works well for pedestrians — and the signal acquisition
process is expected to take a few seconds at most.
Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology, of which the most prominent vendor
is Time Domain, exhibits incredible promise. Basically, UWB is "ultimate
spread spectrum" — spreading a wireless signal across a very wide slice
of spectrum, and doing so at very low power. UWB
technology can, theoretically, share spectrum with other services.
Many entrenched wireless communications suppliers, service providers and
even government agencies are fighting hard against allowing UWB to become
widely used in the U.S. It seems likely that UWB will be deployed widely
in other countries before broad deployment in North America.
Aperto Networks and Malibu Networks are only two of a number of "next
generation" broadband wireless systems manufacturers that will offer highly
integrated broadband wireless systems in 2001. Both companies have rethought
the problem of broadband wireless
Internet access and have tightly integrated a number of disparate wireless
technologies. As a result, their systems look very promising, not only
for conventional Internet access, but also sufficient quality of service
and service differentiation to provide usable television over IP, voice
over IP, videoconferencing and other services.
Finally, when considering these issues, keep in mind that spectrum is not a finite resource. Spectrum is entirely a creation of technology. Therefore, if the need were to arise — as it likely will if wireless technology continues to grow at an exponential rate — more spectrum can be created with the use of increasingly sophisticated wireless technology.
Though this is not currently a reality, it could play an important part
in the future of the wireless industry as the current wireless resources
are depleted.
< http://program.intel.com/solutions/shared/en/resource/insight/techtrends/ecosystems.htm
>
Conclusion: Spectrum Management
The need for setting ground rules for how people use the radio spectrum
will not disappear. We need to make sure adequate spectrum exists to accommodate
the rapid growth in existing services as well as new applications of this
national and international resource. Even with new technologies such as
software-defined radios and ultra-wideband microwave transmission, concerns
about interference will continue (and perhaps grow) and the need for defining
licensees and other users' rights will continue to be a critical function
of the government. We will thus continue to conduct auctions of available
spectrum to speed introduction of new services.
In order to protect the safety of life and property, we must also continue
to consider public safety needs as new spectrum-consuming technologies
and techniques are deployed. (See: "New Approaches for Public Protection
Against Chemical and Biological Agents"
< http://www-bsac.eecs.berkeley.edu/~warneke/pubs/cbnp_workshop-summary.html>)
References
1) CITRIS - to solve large-scale societal problems affecting
the quality of life, such as the energy shortage.
< http://citris.berkeley.edu >
2) TinyOS - a self-organizng managing concurrent two-way
active messaging and multi-hop ad-hoc sensing/actuator and routing networks
for flow-thru communications instead of wait-command-respond. Combining
sensing, communications, and computation into a single architecture. Ehe
application consists of a number of sensors distributed within a localized
area. They monitor the
temperature and light conditions and periodically transmit their measurements
to a central base station. Each sensor not only acts as a data source,
but it may also forward data for sensors that are out of range of the base
station. < http://sourceforge.net/projects/tinyos >
< http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~kubitron/courses/cs252-F00/projects/reports/project6_report.pdf>
3) 'Smart dust' to the energy rescue - aimed at putting
a complete sensing/communication platform inside a cubic
millimeter, including power supply, analog and digital electronics,
etc. Thousands or millions of these dust motes will all communicate simultaneously.
Applications are all over the map. Instrumented hospital rooms so that
your syringe knows if you're the right patient or not, instrumented bodies
so that we can all participate in 3D virtual ballet, instrumented atmosphere
so we can predict weather.
< http://www.medserv.no/article.php?sid=261 >
< http://www-bsac.eecs.berkeley.edu/~warneke/pubs/packaging2001.ppt
>
4) "New Approaches for Public Protection Against Chemical and Biological
Agents" - the Smart Dust project is designing devices that will cause
massively distributed sensor networks to not only be rapidly deployed,
but also nearly vanish into the environment. The
capabilities of such systems will dramatically change the way in which
chemical and biological agent detection is performed before, during, and
after and attack These networks will provide more detailed information,
more rapidly, and from more locations than previously possible.
< http://www-bsac.eecs.berkeley.edu/~warneke/pubs/cbnp_workshop-summary.html>
5) Cal-(IT)2 - a Wireless Sensor Network Testbed Proposed to
Monitor Pollution
< http://www.soe.ucsd.edu/news_events/news_2000/cal_it2proposal.pdf
>
6) Telegraph project - an adaptive dataflow system being developed
at UC Berkeley for Federated Facts and Figures
< http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~brewer/cs262/cs262proj.html >
7) Migrating Toward the Intelligent Device Bill of Rights
< http://www.jacksons.net/tac/FCC-%20TAC%20-%20SDR%20and%20SM%20reg-27Sep00-v1.ppt
>
8) Folkstone Designs: Simple Synergies < http://www.folkstone.ca/wireless.html
>