Actual and/or Potential Disadvantages for organizations

Like all technologies, the SmartDust has more benefits than drawbacks. By considering the disadvantages of this product, some organizations hesitate to use it. The actual disadvantage of this IT is that in some cases the transceiver unit may use a lot of power. The amount of power it uses depends on the system asymmetry. Nowadays, this IT is being used mainly in big organizations.The bigger the organization, the more sensors are required. Thus a bigger system is required to do a good job. Therefore, the large power consumption in some cases can be the main disadvantage of this emerging technology.

Another drawback of this IT is that if one mote fails, the whole system will stop working. For big organizations like hospitals, it can create a big problem.For example, if this system is used to track patient movements, it will be difficult to know which room is free if the IT fails. As a result, the hospitals may be crowded and patients will have difficult time finding a room.

All the disadvantages of this device have not been discovered yet. The potential disadvantage of this IT is that it may cause privacy implications as its uses increase. As days pass by, researchers are discovering other ways this IT can be used. Researchers fear that this IT can be misused in some cases because peolple will start using it in nearly all manufacturing products.

Therefore, like any other technology, people should use this IT effectively so that the Smartdust will become the source of problems.


References:

1. http://robotics.eecs.berkeley.edu/~pister/publications/1998/smartdust_comm_memo.pdf

2. http://best.me.berkeley.edu/research/smartLighting/support/presentation11_03_03.pdf

3. 'SMART DUST'
   BERKELEY START-UP COMPETING IN EFFORT TO DEVELOP TINY WIRELESS TRACKING DEVICES

   Published: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 Edition: Morning Final Section

Actual and/or Potential Advantages for organizations

As mention previously, the use of the SmartDust is becoming greater in n the important organizations such hospitals and military and its Applications can potentially be extended in other areas too.

What can be done to reduce expenses and at the same time increase efficiency in hospitals? In hospitals, the use of this IT seems to be the answer of the above questions. With the introduction of this technology in hospitals, less nurses is needed. This device will help to track patient movements in a hospital room. As a result less time is wasted and the nurses can attend more patients in less time. Therefore, expenses will be reduced as the new IT would cost cheaper than employing more nurses and at the same time the price of the motes is decreasing. The efficiency of nurses will increase as less time will be wasted in looking for rooms of patients.

In the military, the use of the SmartDust can be very important. If ever a troop of the army is in difficulty, they can easily be tracked. Also this device will help the troop to detect poisonous gas or radioactivity in their surrounding. Thus the army will feel safer and they will also be able to do a better job without risking their lives.

This IT can also be very useful to weather forecasters. In this case also, the sensors in the SmartDust will help to do their job more effectively. Let say,if ever there is an earthquake, the weather forecasters will be able to know well in advance and thus they can in turn inform the population in advance. This can help in reducing worse disasters.


References:

1. http://www.computerworld.com/mobiletopics/mobile/story/0,10801,79572,00.html
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartdust#Applications

3. 'SMART DUST'
   BERKELEY START-UP COMPETING IN EFFORT TO DEVELOP TINY WIRELESS TRACKING DEVICES

   Published: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 Edition: Morning Final Section

Evolution of Technology

Technology is evolving at a very fast rate and it is bringing a lot of important changes. With the creation of the SmartDust device, a lot of tools or technology is being outdated and replaced. This emerging technology is being used in a lot of organizations as it is a very advantageous product.

In Newcastle, the 'Smart dust' could replace car tax disc . This device will be tracking vehicles and it will help the government to manage its current tax system effectively. For example, it will help the government to know how many vehicles is being used and how many of them are on the road during peak time hours.

"Nanotechnology developed at Newcastle University could be built into cars and implanted in every lamppost or in white lines on the roads to keep constant tabs on vehicles." (Northern Echo, first published Wednesday 19th Jan 2005.)

Also, this device can replace other technology to better operate an aircraft by bringing small changes to the wing surfaces.

The Smart Dust has the potential of replacing more tools or technologies and it can be used in the military and hospitals.


References:

1. http://archive.thisisthenortheast.co.uk/2005/1/19/25795.html
2. http://ee.washington.edu/research/mems/publications/1997/press/sciencenews-97.pdf
3. tubaishat.wordpress.com
   

What is SmartDust?

The Smart dust device is a series of minuscule wireless microelectromechanical sensors (MEMS) that can detect everything from light to vibrations. The sensors are so tiny that they are known as motes.

Presently, the smartdust device consists only of one sensor which is big enough. However, the motes - individual sensors - of the device can be as small as a grain of sand and they are usually made of silicon. The small mote may contain sensing, communication and computation application.
This informational device is being commercialized and now it is being used in different types of organizations.

The Smartdust device was developed by Kristofer S. J. Pister (University of California) in 2001.


References:

1. http://www.computerworld.com/mobiletopics/mobile/story/0,10801,79572,00.html
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartdust
3. http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=/iel5/2/19363/00895117.pdf?temp=x