Level: Introductory Candace York (cyork@us.ibm.com), Senior software engineer, IBM
01 Jun 2001 We invite you to tour IBM's state-of-the-art facility of working pervasive computing technologies. Get an inside view of the working lab, its technology of the future that's only around the corner, and learn how IBM's WebSphere Everyplace Suite Embedded Edition can help you develop pervasive computing applications that run on multiple devices. Also included are demonstration applications you can access via the Web, and links to IBM's Quick Start programs.
Imagine a place where dreamers speculate about the future, where technology's
promise bursts from its chrysalis, where concept meets reality, and the
boundaries of commercial possibility become visible. IBM's Pervasive Computing Lab
At IBM's Pervasive Advanced Technology Laboratory in Austin, Texas,
many pervasive computing technologies can be seen in working prototypes
today. "For every customer, there is something in this lab," said Bill
Bodin, IBM Senior Technical Staff Member and lab creator. His enthusiasm
is palpable. The lab is an exciting place where IBM customers and business
partners dive into possibility. Virtually every visitor departs with new
ideas for commercial products. Built in a matter of weeks, the lab came to life when compelling evidence
hinted that pervasive computing's promise could best be communicated by
real, working applications. Thus, the Advanced Technology Lab was born,
becoming a key asset to the IBM Briefing Center. While developers were
coding Java servlets across the room, the demonstration areas were constructed
behind heavy sheets of plastic. Workers on the Austin development campus
were buzzing over the project, and the result has fulfilled every speculation
about its viability. Let's begin the tour by first stepping into the "proof of concept" area -- a home-networked living room, kitchen, and garage. Sink back into the
plush designer sofa in the living area. Relax. The living area we're in
demonstrates the totally connected paradigm: One wall is a dedicated entertainment
center consisting of a Web-enabled television and other media devices.
On the television screen, the Service Gateway Web page highlights the room
devices you can control.
The Service Gateway Web page is viewed on the media center screen
Now you're ready to give orders. Pick up the wireless touch-controlled
Web pad from the table beside the sofa. The Web pad is a sleek piece of
equipment that enables you to easily switch between any of the devices
in the room, controlling every aspect of how the room functions. Even the
light bulbs have assigned URLs. Interface code ties the power lines together
into a cohesive room control system that maintains an inventory of the
devices attached to the gateway. "The point is not that you can control
everything," said Bill Bodin, "but that everything is connected together
into a whole." Essentially, the room operates as a physical Web site. With the Web pad,
you can turn the lights on from across the room, switch on the ceiling
fan, and control the media center. If you are so inclined, the system can
be enabled to interpret the state of temperature-sensitive equipment. It
can be programmed to talk to weather repositories to determine whether
or not to raise or lower the window blinds, whether to turn on the air-conditioning,
or whether to adjust the water heater in relation to a temperature reading.
You can increase the level of security in the home by enabling remote monitoring,
and power management of lighting in the front of the house. You can also
communicate to the car out in the garage, or pipe The Eagles' Greatest
Hits from your home system to the car stereo through an automotive
port. Another interesting demonstration in the living area is a device that
displays digital art. If you tire of tinkering with the media center, you
can e-mail art or photographs to the address on the picture frame. These
devices may soon provide an engaging alternative to television, and commercial
opportunities for these devices look promising. Speech and music capability
are under development, and soon, devices that support embedded speech will
begin to enter the marketplace. All of these devices can be managed via the Service Gateway, an intelligent
way to manage and host all of the appliances in the home, adding flexibility
and value to your environment. IBM is working with many different customers
to implement these technologies in pilot form, and applications that demonstrate
the technology will enter beta within the next three months. "The technology resonates with customers of every walk. The lab acts
as a paradigm enhancer, a way to think outside of the box," said Bodin. IBM's Pervasive Computing team gets the opportunity to invent the
synergies between IBM and customers every time a customer tours the lab.
Bodin coaxes the Web pad from your hands and leads you to the next demonstration.
Ideas are cooking in the networked kitchen
Next door, the kitchen functions in ways most of us have never imagined.
The kitchen uses the same interfaces as for screen phones and video phones,
and incorporates quite a few other related technologies. Using a screen phone,
you can access the user interface of the network, and do such things as
collaborative Web browsing with relatives. A two-way pager permits you
to broadcast a health checkup, for instance. You can turn off the ceiling
fan via a touch pad on the refrigerator. And all these devices are navigable
from everywhere else, meaning they can be controlled from anywhere in the
country via a cellular phone.
PvC Advanced Technology kitchen demonstration area
The kitchen countertops are smart and operate with wireless technology.
For a small expense, merchandisers can put simple metallic tags on their
products that the countertop will sense. Any tagged item becomes "visible"
to the system interface, in that the system senses the encoded tag data,
plus information that describes the item's state. Pick up that bottle from where it sits on the countertop. When you lift
it, the kitchen audio system emits an audible notification that the bottle's
position or state has changed. The smart countertop works with radio frequency
technology, which interrogates the tagged item via a radio field. In the
future, the countertop will be able to tell you the nutritional content
description that a manufacturer has encoded on a can or package, as well
as other real value-added information, such as what's fresh and what's
not. Conceivably, if Bruno, the cat, were to tamper with a substance on the
countertop, you could be notified at work by a warning conveyed to your
cell phone. You could transmit the encoded data from the package that has
been tampered with to your veterinarian for analysis. In this instance,
technology might circumvent curiosity killing the cat! Imagine, too, how
that technology could be used in commercial or medical environments.
The kitchen counters are lined with an array of pervasive computing devices
Turning away from the countertop, the cool, blue light of the refrigerator's
display panel attracts your attention. The finger-friendly display lets
you use your finger to write on the message board to leave word with another
member of the network; or you can use the panel to control other connected
devices by touch. The system uses server-side pen recognition to sense
and interpret the written message. It can interpret the identity of the
message writer as a member of the network, and match the recorded message
with data about reality. For example, if you write a message to your roommate,
then the roomie can check the device remotely to see what you've said,
as well as get information about whether you are connected to the network. The refrigerator can display an image of its interior, too. Projected
by a camera inside, the image permits you to browse the contents without
opening the doors. This feature is intended for energy conservation, both
yours and the device's.
The ScreenFridge display panel is touch controlled
Commercial applications for the technology shown in the demonstration
kitchen are practical and extensive. Potential medical applications include
biometrics monitoring, telemedics, the remote control of health monitoring
apparatuses, child monitoring, pacemaker monitoring, stay-at-home monitoring,
or real-time monitoring when a patient is discharged from a hospital. Retail
applications include remote purchasing transactions between the home and the grocery or other retailers. All of the potential applications interact
with the server side of the system.
Interior view of the IBM Internet Access Device (IAD) used to interface with the devices in the demonstration kitchen
One of the lab's more amusing prototypes is a soda machine at which
you can receive e-mail. It could have a printer attached to it to print
movie or sports tickets that have been purchased remotely. Or, perhaps
you'd like to merge calendars with other members of the network. An application
could be written to provide micro-payment capabilities between the soda
machine and your bank. The possibilities are endless, as you can see.
Graduating from simple race car status
The third demonstration area focuses on networked automotive technology.
It includes an automotive prototype with a state-of-the-art display built
into the console of the car. Elsewhere on the IBM campus, there is a Chrysler
Concorde that demonstrates the same technology.
Bill Bodin demonstrates the automotive prototype
Inside the automotive prototype
The car is wireless-enabled, and can be docked in the garage. Remember
the music we piped from the CD collection in the living room via the Service
Gateway, which we then downloaded wirelessly to the car? Say "Rock" into
the car's microphone, and the car stereo plays the downloaded songs. You
could check the fluid levels of the car remotely with a pager, or transmit
data from the car to car dealers for service checks. Also, the car is
enabled with a global navigation system for turn-by-turn navigation and
route planning.
Close-up of the automotive prototype display and control panel
Control box with a view
All the systems in the lab are controlled via a main control box, the
new Virtual Laboratory control. This system also offers hands-off control
and a means for visually monitoring the network. In the future, the Virtual
Laboratory control will be enhanced to start up in a browser system in
real-time.
Close-up of the Virtual Laboratory control
Bill Bodin interacts with the lab prototypes through the Virtual
Laboratory control
IBM WebSphere Everyplace Suite Embedded Edition
Sound intriguing? IBM has a number of recent pervasive computing products
and announcements, and this spring, positive press for pervasive computing
picked up speed. IBM has been working with many leading vendors to keep
IBM products supporting different platforms, including the company's own
PowerPC microprocessor. In March of this year, IBM became Intel's premier provider of embedded
software for the Intel Personal Internet Client Architecture (Intel PCA)
for wireless devices and other Internet appliances. The two companies will
deliver standards-based hardware and software solutions for next-generation,
Internet-ready devices. The market for these products will be device
manufacturers, application developers, and carriers. The announcement expands
on last fall's IBM and Intel delivery of an in-car client reference platform.
The reference platform features IBM Visual Age Micro Edition Toolkit support
for the Intel Xscale micro-architecture. It is designed for personal digital
assistants, Web tablets, cell phones, and other Internet-ready devices. IBM will port WebSphere Everyplace Suite Embedded Edition, a client
side toolkit for embedded middleware, to support Intel PCA. WebSphere Everyplace
Suite Embedded Edition includes cross-platform embedded middleware and
tools for device development. What does embedded middleware do? It enables
content and service creation, manages communications, and ensures secure,
reliable transactions between backend servers and devices. Application
development for multiple devices can be done with lower development cost
and fewer code errors. It fills the need for a common interface for applications
to run on diverse wireless devices and other Internet appliances. The porting
effort will support the Intel StrongARM processor and future processors
based on Intel Xscale microarchitecture. Intel says that later this year
they will include IBM's device middleware in its Intel PCA SDK and hardware
reference design guide. IBM WebSphere Everyplace Suite Embedded Edition is Java based. It includes
device/content management, connection management, communication, user interfaces,
encryption, authentication, and message queuing functions. It is integrated
with standards-compliant real-time operating systems, such as QNX Neutrino.
Customization services are available to help tailor the embedded platform
to the requirements of specific devices. WebSphere Everyplace Suite, IBM's server-side offering, provides an
end-to-end solution with transcoding so that you can author once for re-use
with different devices.
Writing to the open standard architecture
All of IBM's pervasive computing initiatives are written to the Open
Standard Gateway Initiative (OSGI), an open architecture that is implemented
as part of WebSphere Everyplace Suite Embedded Edition. All applications
written to the OSGI specifications will run with IBM's WebSphere Everyplace
Suite. The specifications ensure that common interfaces, applications,
and services run across diverse devices. Jim Colson, IBM Pervasive Computing Chief Device Software Architect and Senior Technical Staff Member, says that he's seen a lot of interest from other semi-conductor providers about these toolsets. "Developers now need a more complete development environment, and IBM is providing them tools, runtimes, and support. What's unique about this component-based architecture is that device manufacturers get a tremendous amount of re-use across different types of devices. Further, they view IBM as a first-class partner who will help them evolve into complete end-to-end solutions."
Where do we go now?
The Advanced Technology Lab creates enriched opportunities for developers
to explore the world of pervasive computing. "It seems that everyone who
takes a virtual tour has followed up with a physical visit," Bill Bodin
says. "PvC is starting to take off. We've had a good response with many
customer engagements, a heterogeneous mix of clients. There has also been
incredible cross traffic to IBM Server group from customer visits. From
the Server group's RS6000 server briefings, we receive many customer requests
to visit the lab." You can preview some of the technologies by viewing the demos available
on the IBM Pervasive Computing Web site (see first listing in Resources).
While you're there, check out IBM's Quick Start Engagements -- programs to
help companies quickly progress with pervasive computing development.
Resources
About the author  | | | Candace A. York is a Senior Software Engineer and Information Architect here at IBM developerWorks. She can be reached at cyork@us.ibm.com. |
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