Ubiquitous Flashcards
What is ubiquitous computing?
Computing that is performed in accordance with context:
- Environment (temperature, humidity, sound)
- User (Human/remote device, gestures)
- Computing Resources (battery power, memory, bandwidth)
What are some examples of sensing in ubiquitous computing?
- Location
- Motion
- Emotion
- Gesture
- User ID
Mobile & Ubiquitous Computing is Volatile. What does that mean?
- Volatility refers to the incremental and continuous change in the ubiquitous environment over time
- It refers to the failure of devices and their communication links as well as the changes in the characteristics of communication
What are some forms of volatility in connectivity?
- Variation between different technologies (Bluetooth, WiFi, 3G, 4G, etc.) causing changes to:
o Bandwidth
o Latency
o Energy costs
o Financial costs to communicate - Disconnection:
o In wireless networks
o Multi-hop routing - Variable bandwidth and latency:
o Packet loss due to weak signal
o Variation in Signal strength
What are some challenges in Mobile & Ubiquitous Computing?
- Sensor design (miniaturization, low cost)
- Invisibility (room with million sensors, minimal user distraction)
- Localized scalability (more distant, less communication)
- Uneven conditioning
- Context awareness
- Cyber-foraging (offloading in edge computing)
- Self-configuring networks & systems
- Smart spaces
What is Throughput?
Throughput is a measure of how many units of information a system can process in a given amount of time. A rather general definition can be the amount of work done per unit time
What is Network Bandwidth?
Network bandwidth is a measure of the data transfer rate or capacity of a given network. Network bandwidth is commonly measured in bits per second (bps).
What is Network Latency?
Network latency is the delay in network communication. It shows the time that data takes to transfer across the network. Networks with a longer delay or lag have high latency, while those with fast response times have low latency
What is RFID?
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a form of wireless communication that incorporates the use of electromagnetic or electrostatic coupling in the radio frequency portion of the electromagnetic spectrum to uniquely identify an object (carrying an RFID tag)
What is the difference between passive and active RFIDS?
Passive RFID tags do not have their own power source, unlike active RFID tags
What are some applications of RFIDs?
- Asset tracking: Tracking shipping containers, trucks and railroad, cars, Personnel, livestock
- Payment systems
- Credit-card shaped for access application
- Access control to restricted areas
- Document Identification, authentication, ID badging
- Supply chain management
- Counterfeit prevention (e.g., in the pharmaceutical industry)
What is a WPAN?
A Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) interconnects technology devices, wirelessly, typically within the range of a single user (human/machine), Small Office or Home Office (SOHO) environment, or workgroup. (Bluetooth)
What are some applications of a WPAN?
- Wireless Body Area Network/Body Sensor Network
- Wearable technology: smart clothing, smart watches with sensors
- Offline network: Multiple devices integrated together through WPAN forming a small, single-space network without internet.
- SOHO: For work purposes, Separate from other home networks
What is a WLAN?
A Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) interconnects technology devices, wirelessly, typically within the range of a multiple users. It is still a small network of devices, but offers more range and connectivity! (Wi-Fi)
What is a WNAN/WMAN?
A Wireless Neighborhood/Metropolitan Area Network (WNAN/WMAN) interconnects technology devices, wirelessly, typically within a larger range of a multiple users. (WiMAX)
What is a WWAN?
- Wireless Wide Area Networks (WWAN) extend beyond 50 km
- Typically use licensed frequency bands
- WWANs can be maintained over large areas, such as cities or countries, via multiple satellite systems or antenna sites looked after by an internet services provider.
What is the IoT?
The Internet of Things, also called the Internet of Objects, refers to a wireless network between objects, usually the network will be wireless and self-configuring, such as household appliances.
What is a ‘Thing’ in IoT?
A “Thing” in Internet of Things (IoT) can be any object, physical or virtual, that has a unique identifier and which can send/receive data (including user data) over a network
What are some characteristics of IoT?
- Intelligence: Ability to extract knowledge from the generated/available data, dynamic & self-adapting
- Architecture: A hybrid architecture that can support many systems
- Complex System: A diverse set of dynamically changing objects
- Interoperability: Support for Interoperable Communication Protocols
- System Dimensions/Size: Scalability is key to IoT systems
- Timing Constraints: Millions of simultaneous and parallel events may occur
- Space Constraints: Localization: Positioning system to locate objects/ people using radio waves, magnetic fields, acoustic signals, or other sensory information collected by mobile devices
- Everything-as-a-Service: Consuming resources as a service
What are the building blocks for IoT?
- Sensing: Sensors can be either on-board the IoT device or attached to the device
- Actuation: IoT devices can have various types of actuators attached that allow taking actions upon the physical entities in the vicinity of the device
- Communication: Communication modules are responsible for sending collected data to other devices or cloudbased servers/storage and receiving data from other devices and commands from remote applications
- Processing: Analysis and processing modules are responsible for making sense of the collected data
What is the Perception Layer in IoT?
- Also known as the device layer, consists of multiple elements sensors, cameras, actuators, and similar devices that gather data and perform tasks
- Primarily, the measurements are done at the perception layer!
- Example: An IoT Sensor on assemblyline to conduct quality control checks
What is the Transport Layer in IoT?
- Transmits data from multiple devices (e.g., on-site sensors, cameras,
actuators) to an on-premise or cloud data centre - IoT gateways convert the incoming input from Analog to Digital format
- Example: Depending on the type of network (PAN/LAN/WAN), multiple technologies are available
What is the Processing Layer in IoT?
- Also called the Middleware layer, responsible for analysing input data to generate new insights, useful predictions, and timely warnings
- Must be stable & provides reusable solutions to frequently encountered problems like heterogeneity, interoperability, security, dependability
What is the three stage approach the Processing Layer uses on data in IoT?
- Accumulation: Assignment to the appropriate storage (structured/unstructured data)
- Abstraction: Aggregation from multiple sources & format conversion
- Analysis: Employment of advanced techniques (ML/DL) to detect patterns
What is the Application Layer in IoT?
- Involves decoding promising patterns in IoT data and compiling them into summaries that are easy for humans to understand, such as graphs and tables.
- Examples: Programs for device control and monitoring, as well as process control software
What is the Business Layer in IoT?
- Patterns decoded at the application level can be used to further distill business insights, project future trends, and drive operational decisions
- Improves the efficiency, safety, cost-effectiveness, customer experience, and other important aspects of business functionality
What is the Edge (Computing) Layer in IoT?
- Portion of a network that consists of edge devices
- Refers to devices at the periphery of an IoT network that process data close to the point of origin, rather than at a centralized location
- Also known as “IoT edge
computing”
What are some examples of IoT Applications?
- Smart Lighting
- Smart Appliances
- Intrusion Detection
- Smart Roads
- Emergency Response
- Weather Monitoring
- Noise Pollution Monitoring
- Smart Grids
- Smart Payments
- Shipment Monitoring
What is the hardware and software used in IoT development boards?
Hardware:
- Microcontrollers or Microprocessors
- Sensors and actuators
- Interfaces
- Internet Connectivity
Software:
- Open source IDE
- Common languages
- OSs
What are functional blocks in IoT development boards?
- Functional blocks provide the system the capabilities for identification, sensing, actuation, communication, and management
- An abstract representation of the entities and processes
What are the communication models in IoT devices?
- Request-Response Model
- Publish-Subscribe Model
- Push-Pull Model
- Exclusive-Pair Model
- WebSocket APIs Model
What are some examples of IoT Development Boards?
- Raspberry Pi
- Arduino
- pcDuino
- BeagleBone Black
- Cubieboard
What should be considered when choosing the OS for an IoT?
- Hardware Compatibility
- Resource Contraints
- Real-Time Requirements
- Security
- Power Efficiency
- Scalability
- Community and Support
- Networking and Connectivity
- Compliance and Regulations
- Ecosystem
What is the Instruction Set Architecture?
Instruction Set Architecture is the structure of a computer that a machine language programmer (or a compiler) must understand to write a correct (timing independent) program for that machine
What does the ISA define?
- Operations that the processor can execute
- Data Transfer + Access mechanisms for data
- Control Mechanisms (branch, jump, etc)
- Contract between programmer/compiler + HW
What is Moore’s Law?
- The number of transistors on a chip double every 2 years (or so)
- More Precisely:
o Feature sizes shrink by 0.7x
o Number of transistors per die increases by 2x
o Speed of transistors increases by 1.4x