Wednesday, April 8, 2009

The Actual/ Potential disadvantages of SmartDust in Organizations

Organizations can face couple of disadvantages from the use of SmartDust.

Here are two disadvantages that affect almost all industries and functional areas:

Privacy Issue

The biggest concern with the SmartDust is that it invades peoples privacy. No one wants to be monitored every minute of their lives! Especially, when they need to go to the bathrooms or changing areas. There should be a limit to how far this human monitoring can go.

High Cost Issue

SmartDust is fairly a new innovation, therefore researchers are constantly finding out more about this technology. They are finding out new ways for SmartDust to replace technology. As a result this is a very costly process. It is a very expensive process to research, manufacture and produce. At the same time, their will be costs that will be related to running tests and so on.

References:
http://wisegeek.com/what-is-smart-dust.htm
http://www.computerworld.com/mobiletopics/mobile/story/0,10801,79572,00.htm
http://robotics.eecs.berkeley.edu/~pister/SmartDust/
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The Actual/ Potential Advantages of SmartDust in Organizations

Organizations can benefit from all kinds advantages from the use of SmartDust.

Here are the Advantages for different types of industries:

The Military Industry

The SmartDust can play a huge role in war scenes, where soldiers can have a mote injected into their veins so that they can be tracked wherever they go. At the same time, the mote can monitor the soldier’s current health condition so that it can inform whether or not he/she will need any medical attention.

Manufacturing Industry

In the Manufacturing Industry the SmartDust plays the role of monitoring the inventory. Another advantage is that these SmartDust can insure quality control. Make sure that the assembly line is performing efficiently. According to ARC Advisory analysts Harry Forbes, “ Smart dust systems are catching on with large process manufacturers such as refineries, chemical plants, breweries and packaged food makers”.

The Weather Industry

In the Weather industry it can help forecast weather. Weather reporters can use the SmartDust as a sensor that is blown into the air by winds and having the ability to forecast weather. It can give us precise meteorological predictions.

Healthcare Industry

The Healthcare industry has taken initiative to use SmartDust as a tool to monitor psychological problems in humans. This mote will be sent through the human body to track any signs of medical problems in the brain. Once again the SmarDust becomes an advantageous tool because it is so small in size.

Farming Industry

Motes can put into farm animals such as chickens, cows and pigs so that they can be tracked. It can assure that they are staying healthy and at the same time safe from predators (if they begin to panic).Moreover, It is can effectively make sure that the animals are in their respected areas.

References:
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Sweeping+Changes+Coming+With+Smart+Dust-a01611736174
http://wisegeek.com/what-is-smart-dust.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartdust
http://computerworld.com/mobiletopics/mobile/story/0,10801,79572,00.html
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Tuesday, April 7, 2009

What Can SmartDust Replace?


SmartDust as mentioned in the earlier post is revolutionizing the way we do everything; it has an endless potential to enhance and replace many technologies out their today. The great thing about SmartDust is that it is small and convenient; it does not take up room. Researchers are constantly coming up with fascinating IT innovations that are very efficient.

Here are some useful functionalities of SmartDust:

  • This mote has the ability to replace our ordinary video cameras one day. Technologists have clearly identified its capabilities and one which they found is that it can have a built in video capturing compatibility. This is absolutely a mind blowing innovation, having a dust sized IT filming video? What is next?

  • One of the inventor’s of the SmartDust is Kris Pister, and he has touched upon one of its many significant applications. One in particular which he talked about was the Virtual Keyboard. "A smart-dust mote stuck to each fingernail," he says, "that could allow finger movements in air to be transmitted to a computer”. This IT has just extended peoples visions; now computers could get even smaller! All the computer needs to know is where your fingers are and then it can “sculpt 3D shapes in virtual clay, play the piano and gesture in sign language. It is also mentioned “Combined with a MEMS augmented-reality heads-up display, your entire computer I/O would be invisible to the people around you. Couple that with wireless access and you need never be bored in a meeting again! Surf the web while the boss rambles on and on."

  • The following application of SmartDust is brilliant; researchers are putting something together in order to have SmartDust explore planets. They say that combination of many motes will be attached to space probes and sent out to space for exploration purposes. The whole idea of these SmartDust is to have them “packed into the nose cones of planetary probes and then released into the atmospheres of planets, where they would be carried on the wind. For a planet like Mars, smart dust particles would each have to be the size of a grain of sand”.

    References:
    http://www.innovationwatch.com/choiceisyours/choiceisyours.2006.12.15.htm
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6566317.stm
    http://siliconrobot.com/fingeracc/fingerglove.jpg
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SmartDust Defined

SmartDust is a term used to describe a group of tiny robots or
devices which may be used for detection and monitoring. For
detection purposes, they can be used to detect light, temperature,
or vibration. For monitoring purposes, it can be used to monitor
traffic, people's activites or can even enter human bodies to monitor
psychological problems. The individual sensors of smardust are usually
reffered to as motes since they are so small in size. Researcher's also
call these as microelectronical systems (MEMS) sensors.The SmartDust
itself is the size of a quarter, grain of sand a or even a dust particle.

Here is a picture to put things into perspective:



The above picture is a representation of a SmartDust. As we can
see, Information Technology is constantly revolutionizing the world.
Innovations went from big Desktop Computers to Computers fitting
into the dimensions of a Quarter!

Here are some additional information on the purpose of this IT:

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