Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Techonology at its best!! (or is it really!!!)
Read this article on technological development at ESA website. Even before that, on my trip to South Korea I happened to visit this "Ubiquitous World". What they offer is this. Sooner we will be able to switch on the lights, play the CDs or even filling your bath tub without moving an inch from where you are sitting. Enter your home, you will have all the lights & TV switched on, blinds go up, curtains folded! Your telephone messages will be read automatically, your wife in US(who is there to study) pops up on your wall to say hello. Move to your kitchen to get food, your TV screen is on the refrigerator. You don't have to 'check out' at the shopping mall. Everthing, billing and payment, is done automatically. Awesome! Isn't it. But, how far such a technological development is good to the people on this earth. As through years, we have seen technological developments having their advantages and disadvantages. And this is one more development where there might be many advantages but one disadvantage apart from many others is that "you are making people lazy". When you grow lazy, your mind stops working, your body is too heavy to lift yourself, and then there you get more technological developements with more effective gym equipment and what not. Life becomes tougher as balancing between your consciousness which says "Hard work" and then these gadgets which give you all the "pleasures" of life.
Anyway below is the article from ESA for your pleasure of reading. It's a must read one though.
Ariane 5 technology turns the lights on
21 February 2005
Soon we may be able to fill the bath, turn the lights on and play our favourite CD without moving from our chair or pressing a button. Technology, developed by ESA for European spacecraft, is now being used to create small sensors that can make any flat surface – walls, windows or tables – interactive.
"The idea is to use an accelerometer to determine the exact position of touch on an object,” says Nicolas Delorme from Nodal Consultants, part of ESA's Technology Transfer Programme's (TTP) network of technology brokers. “For example, an accelerometer can determine exactly which part of the interactive surface on a window or a door has been touched, making the surface as sensitive as keys on a keyboard."
Accelerometers are used in combination with gyroscopes onboard Ariane launchers for the inertial positioning system and to kick-off the pyro-technic switches that control the fuelling of the boosters. They are also used on satellites to determine the exact position of the spacecraft. As they are used in space, these systems have to be extremely accurate.
"This technology is at the heart of ReverSys, an innovation which could revolutionise how we consider the objects around us and how we use them,” Nicolas Delorme adds.
ReverSys
Ros-Kiri Ing, President and Founder of Sensitive Object, the company that developed and patented ReverSys, received assistance from ESA's TTP technology broker Nodal Consultants who carried out market research for them and identified technology and partners.
"Our patented technology is based on recognising the sound waves propagated in an object when it is tapped at a precise location," says Ros-Kiri Ing.
Just as fingerprints are unique, a tap on a flat surface gives an acoustic signature that is unique for the specific point of impact, as the waves emitted are diffused differently from a tap even a few centimetres away. This property was discovered thanks to a physical process called 'temporal reversal' which precisely identifies the point of source of emitted waves.
"I had the idea of associating this signature with an action and creating a sort of virtual command table. The association is managed by a computer programme that links touch at a specific location to a specific action. A small sensor, the accelerometer, placed nearby, then detects the sound waves and analyses their acoustic signature. If the signature is recognised, the intended action is executed, if not, nothing happens," Ros-Kiri Ing explains.
ReverSys technology can be used with most solid materials: glass, wood, steel, even a brick wall. Sensitive control panels can be placed at any location on a surface to create an interactive human-machine interface. It also has a number of important advantages:
* it is wireless and cable-free and can be integrated onto any surface
* it does not require any modification to the surface
* it is aesthetic and fits with any decor
* it can easily be re-programmed to reposition the sensitive zones
* it is simple to operate
* it can be easily moved
Ros-Kiri Ing explains: "In a bathroom, for example, ReverSys could be used to put a control panel on the edge of the bath or even in the shower, with the sensor placed nearby, away from the water. If the control panel needs to be moved to a new position or a new command needs to be added then it’s no problem. There is no need to touch the sensor, with the help of computer it is a simple matter to modify the system and define new sensitive zones.”
This certainly has many advantages for home owners; for instance, the controls for the lights in a room could be moved without having to change the wiring. A big advantage when fixing up an old house or changing the way a room is used.
"When I first saw Ros-Kiri Ing demonstrating his system I was really impressed. In just minutes, he managed to turn a simple white-board into an interactive device, controlling the playback of music on the computer," says Pierre Brisson, who as head of ESA's Technology Transfer and Promotion Office has seen hundreds of examples of how well space technology can be used to make life on Earth easier.
"Who would have thought that the technology we use in the Ariane launchers could simplify the way we turn on a light?” ¶ 2/15/2006 06:02:00 PM
Anyway below is the article from ESA for your pleasure of reading. It's a must read one though.
Ariane 5 technology turns the lights on
21 February 2005
Soon we may be able to fill the bath, turn the lights on and play our favourite CD without moving from our chair or pressing a button. Technology, developed by ESA for European spacecraft, is now being used to create small sensors that can make any flat surface – walls, windows or tables – interactive.
"The idea is to use an accelerometer to determine the exact position of touch on an object,” says Nicolas Delorme from Nodal Consultants, part of ESA's Technology Transfer Programme's (TTP) network of technology brokers. “For example, an accelerometer can determine exactly which part of the interactive surface on a window or a door has been touched, making the surface as sensitive as keys on a keyboard."
Accelerometers are used in combination with gyroscopes onboard Ariane launchers for the inertial positioning system and to kick-off the pyro-technic switches that control the fuelling of the boosters. They are also used on satellites to determine the exact position of the spacecraft. As they are used in space, these systems have to be extremely accurate.
"This technology is at the heart of ReverSys, an innovation which could revolutionise how we consider the objects around us and how we use them,” Nicolas Delorme adds.
ReverSys
Ros-Kiri Ing, President and Founder of Sensitive Object, the company that developed and patented ReverSys, received assistance from ESA's TTP technology broker Nodal Consultants who carried out market research for them and identified technology and partners.
"Our patented technology is based on recognising the sound waves propagated in an object when it is tapped at a precise location," says Ros-Kiri Ing.
Just as fingerprints are unique, a tap on a flat surface gives an acoustic signature that is unique for the specific point of impact, as the waves emitted are diffused differently from a tap even a few centimetres away. This property was discovered thanks to a physical process called 'temporal reversal' which precisely identifies the point of source of emitted waves.
"I had the idea of associating this signature with an action and creating a sort of virtual command table. The association is managed by a computer programme that links touch at a specific location to a specific action. A small sensor, the accelerometer, placed nearby, then detects the sound waves and analyses their acoustic signature. If the signature is recognised, the intended action is executed, if not, nothing happens," Ros-Kiri Ing explains.
ReverSys technology can be used with most solid materials: glass, wood, steel, even a brick wall. Sensitive control panels can be placed at any location on a surface to create an interactive human-machine interface. It also has a number of important advantages:
* it is wireless and cable-free and can be integrated onto any surface
* it does not require any modification to the surface
* it is aesthetic and fits with any decor
* it can easily be re-programmed to reposition the sensitive zones
* it is simple to operate
* it can be easily moved
Ros-Kiri Ing explains: "In a bathroom, for example, ReverSys could be used to put a control panel on the edge of the bath or even in the shower, with the sensor placed nearby, away from the water. If the control panel needs to be moved to a new position or a new command needs to be added then it’s no problem. There is no need to touch the sensor, with the help of computer it is a simple matter to modify the system and define new sensitive zones.”
This certainly has many advantages for home owners; for instance, the controls for the lights in a room could be moved without having to change the wiring. A big advantage when fixing up an old house or changing the way a room is used.
"When I first saw Ros-Kiri Ing demonstrating his system I was really impressed. In just minutes, he managed to turn a simple white-board into an interactive device, controlling the playback of music on the computer," says Pierre Brisson, who as head of ESA's Technology Transfer and Promotion Office has seen hundreds of examples of how well space technology can be used to make life on Earth easier.
"Who would have thought that the technology we use in the Ariane launchers could simplify the way we turn on a light?” ¶ 2/15/2006 06:02:00 PM
Pavan Ashwini
