BioGerminator
BIG BROTHER: Potential of 'Smart Dust'
Thu Apr 22, 2004 18:16
63.228.145.202

BIG BROTHER
The Wonderful -- and Frightening -- Potential of 'Smart Dust'

By Gailon Totheroh
Medical and Science Correspondent

"Smart Dust" researchers are planning to add mechanical components so the sensors can fly or crawl on demand, adding new meaning to the term "bugging device" for both surveillance and science.

CBN.com – NORTHERN CALIFORNIA -- Technology has a history of creating terminology. The latest is "Smart Dust." That's what they call tiny interactive sensors that may expand the horizons of the future. The name of the game is data gathering and more and better data could mean benefits like more food, protecting natural resources and tracking down terrorists. As well as whole new levels of surveillance of the public. In July graduate students at the University of California at Berkeley were busy scaling the arboreal heights to place smart dust units in majestic redwoods. Berkeley biologist Todd Dawson directs the project. Dawson said, "By being able to put these out in the environment and being able to get a much more high-resolution, three-dimensional picture of what's going on in the environment, (it) will really let us do ecology that we couldn't have done before this technology was out there." Being armed with mass quantities of this better data could mean healthier and more productive forests, improved climates in our cities, strategically placed trees and enhanced food crops. It could also mean enhanced surveillance. That's good if you're looking for terrorists -- not so good if you're peeping at innocent citizens -- but more about that in a minute. What is smart dust? It has many different facets: 1} It's a computer with the brains to store data, process it, and run the unit. 2} It has sensors that gauge factors like light, heat and humidity. 3} It operates on low power, so it's not dependent on bulky energy sources. 4} It's miniaturized, because small means more useful and more portable. 5} It's a radio that provides interactivity, so units can send or receive information and instructions. Dawson describes the importance of the radio in this wireless system: "....Networks of sensors that are actually talking to each other, and it's almost like a bucket brigade. One tosses it's information off to the next one, the next one tosses it off to the repeater and all of that gets gathered by a central computer that stores the information for us." And smart dust researchers are planning to add mechanical components so the smart dust can fly or crawl on demand, adding new meaning to the term "bugging device" for both surveillance and science. Unlike actual insects, smart bugs could crawl into earthquake devastation, find survivors and relay their exact locations to rescuers. And smart dust deployed across a battlefield could give all the details necessary to target and destroy an enemy. Smart units are growing smaller and smaller, though not small enough, yet, to qualify literally as smart dust: Dawson explains, "It's probably a hundred times smaller than the normal meteorological stations we would stick out either on the forest floor or up in the top of the redwood canopies that we're studying. That would cost generally anywhere from $2,500 to $3,000." The cost for these is only a tenth of that -- and with the smaller size, you might say these units are a thousand times better than the old bulky units with all their hard wiring. Berkeley electrical engineering Ph.D. student Brian Leibowitz showed us a prototype that's even smaller than the guts of the weather station; and a picture of a test unit that's only a fraction of the size of a penny. And he showed us blown-up pictures of tiny motors that are only the diameter of a human hair. Many of these applications, he said, will appear in the home: "There's no question, in one way or another, they will integrate deeper and deeper into products that you already have. And ultimately they'll be everywhere." Meanwhile, Dale Hitt, chief executive of Digital Sun, has just finished developing a smart dust-type technology that ties into existing sprinkler controls. Hitt explains his technology, "The beauty of it is you just stick the probe in the soil, it continuously monitors the soil and tells the controller exactly when and how much to water." Hitt figures the wireless probe will pay for itself in about a year through water savings. Hitt said, "What we've done is taken wireless sensor technology to add intelligence to what really is a dumb timer on the wall." Several California cities are testing units to seek ways to cut their costs as much of the West faces huge water shortages. And the results are about 40 percent less water used. Berkeley law and technology professor Deirdre Mulligan says we might all think of positive uses for smart dust, but, he warns, micro-technologies will gather more than just your name, address and credit card number. Mulligan said, "Potentially it's how much heat is your body radiating and how fast do you walk down the street and, you know, lots of different kinds of data." While some of that has potential for health status data, most of the time you won't even know the data's being collected. In the wider picture, Mulligan says the current legal framework doesn't much limit, say, government agencies, with privacy rules. He said, "...that would govern how they use this data, in what instances they disclose the data, under what standards law enforcement gets access to the data, under what standard private parties can subpoena this data." And that potential for surveillance could fulfill George Orwell's vision of Big Brother in his novel "1984." Mulligan said, "The tele-screen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it ... There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment." Leibowitz says it's not totally out of the realm of possibility. "The idea that you can try to run away from the government but they're going to be following you all over the place -- I think that's a little far fetched right now, but in the future it cold become more and more realistic." Author Tal Brooke says more and more technology is being used to bring about a 'Big Brother' state. "In England right now they've got cameras all over the place," Brooke said. "I'll tell you what the problem is, they've got cameras everywhere -- on corners, um, there's even a slogan that's so Orwellian." The London transportation campaign is called "Secure Beneath the Watchful Eyes." Brooke, author of "One World" and a veteran observer of the trends toward globalism, says as the state gets more and more options for surveillance, the temptation will simply be too great for bureaucrats and global managers to resist. He said, "We're at a time now where I cringe every time there's a new breakthrough because the State -- use a capital 'S' here -- Big Brother honestly -- if there are no Christian controls, watch out -- because there's no stopping where this thing can go." But there appears to be a lag-time for smart dust technology that will provide a window of opportunity to promote the good uses, and limit the invasive and Orwellian applications. Electrical engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, have been using the term 'smart dust' for years, and with consumer applications coming out, the term may enter common usage. But truly dust-sized sensor units of complex systems are 20 to 30 years in the future. In the future, smart dust in so-called smart environments will provide the tools so that a 9/11 could be detected and stopped. But it may also give terrorists new tools to gather information that could enable them to assemble a nuclear weapon.


Results 1 - 10 of about 15,100 for "Smart Dust".



CLICK: