Ubiquitous Computing

Writing was perhaps the first information technology invented by man.

Books, magazines and newspapers convey written information, and so do street

signs, notice boards and shop signs. They are constantly present in the

background of our daily lives.

What we call information technology today, in contrast, has not yet become

part of our daily lives. More than 50 million PCs have been sold worldwide, but

the computer still remains a desktop device. We need to switch it on after we

come to our workplace and start the desired program that we want to use. The

current state of the computer technology is perhaps comparable to the period

when people had to know how to make their own ink or bake their own clay

tablets, if they wanted to write something!

DISAPPEARANCE OF TECHNOLOGY



In the long-term, the PC and workstation will disappear because computing

access will be everywhere.

When people learn something thoroughly, they are hardly aware of it. When you

look at your wristwatch you absorb the information without consciously reading

the time. In fact some wristwatches may even have just 12 dots in place of the

numbers, but you can still read the time accurately.

Only when things disappear in this way are we free to use them without

thinking. "Ubiquitous computing" aims at this kind of disappearance of

computing technology without even getting noticed.

In the early days of the Industrial Revolution, a typical factory contained a

single engine that drove dozens or hundreds of different machines through a

system of shafts, pulleys and belts. Then came the cheap, small, efficient

electric motors, which made it possible first to give each machine its own

motor, then the technology further developed to put many smaller motors into a

larger machine.

OF DIFFERENT SHAPES AND SIZES



Ubiquitous computers (Ubicomps) will also come in different sizes, each

suited to a particular task. They will first be built in the form of tablets,

pads and boards. The display sizes could vary from that of Post-It notes, a

sheet of paper or a blackboard.

Tablets incorporating a small display that can serve simultaneously as an

active badge, calendar and diary are currently being developed. They will also

act as an extension to computers, a user will be able to shrink an open window

on a computer onto a tablet display and carry it to a different office for

discussion.

The next in size is the pad, something of a cross between a sheet of paper

and current laptop and palmtop computers. These are in prototype stage and these

prototype pads use two microprocessors, a workstation-sized display, a

multi-button stylus and a wireless network that can potentially handle hundreds

of devices.

Pads differ from conventional notebooks. While portable computers have to be

carried everywhere by their owners, the pads will be like rough pads of paper

that can be used anywhere by anyone. Someday pads may even be as thin and light

as actual paper, depending on how the display technologies develop in future.

What appears on them when they are being used will depend on who is using

them. An active badge that a user carries will do the task of identifying him or

her. These Ubicomps and the active badge systems will gradually become invisible

to common awareness. People will use them unconsciously like we use the

wristwatches and wall clocks today.

Boards being tried out currently measure about 60x40 inches and display

1024x768 black-and-white pixels. To "write" on the display, you can

use a piece of wireless electronic "chalk". By 2010, a 1000x800-pixel

display board will be a fraction of a centimeter thick and weigh perhaps around

100 grams. A small battery will run this display for several days, before having

to be recharged.

Memory devices for such computers will be memory chips with about 60 MB

storage capacity each. Today´s hard disks may grow to terabytes of capacity

instead of gigabytes.

WHAT CAN UBICOMPS DO?



Applications are, of course, the whole point of ubiquitous computing. Two

examples of applications are locating people and sharing of drawing and text

capabilities. Ubicomps will allow the location of people to be mapped and

updated every few seconds using an active badge system. An important application

of this will be to forward a telephone call automatically in a large premise to

a location wherever you are.

This brings up the issue of privacy. Cellular systems inherently need to know

the location of devices and their use in order to properly route information. So

a key problem with ubiquitous computing is preserving privacy of location.

Another risk factor is that one hacker breaking into the system can reveal all

location information in the area.

Hackers or no hackers, the development will not be affected by such threats.

Because by the time the Ubicomps become common, there will be more effective

security systems in place.

The day is certainly not unimaginable, when your alarm clock, which may just

be a paper thin display stuck to the wall will ask you "Coffee?" and

if you say "Yes", a coffee pot will be ready with hot coffee by the

time you get up and brush your teeth. Your wall clock may have just enough

speech recognition capability to identify the words "Yes" and

"No". So don’t balk at the thought of talking to your gadgets. For

all you know, they might become more intelligent that you can imagine some day!

ASHOK DONGRE