February 25, 2002

Persuasive, Pervasive Computing

Nearly two years after its inception, MIT's ubiquitous computing project begins to bear fruit.
By Eric Brown
In 2000, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology launched an ambitious project to transform the way the
world uses computers. The old model: a box, a monitor and keyboard. The new: computers as pervasive
and invisible as the air we breathe. They called it Project Oxygen.

For an overview of the Project's goals, and a Q&A with its founders, see "Project Oxygen's New
Wind".

Now, nearly two years out, the first technologies are rolling out of the labs. Project leaders-Laboratory for
Computer Science chief Victor Zue, associate director Anant Agarwal and Artificial Intelligence
Laboratory director Rodney Brooks-insist that Project Oxygen is about an idea, not products. But corporate
sponsors-among them Hewlett Packard, Nokia and Philips-eagerly await their results. Technology Review
went into the labs to get a sneak peak at three facets of Oxygen that show particular promise: Cricket, a
location-aware computing system; the Intelligent Room, an high-tech office that doubles as a vision-
interface research lab; and the Raw microprocessor, a low-power, ultra-programmable chip designed to
power the handheld devices of the 21st century. Together these technologies, their creators say, will put
computers everywhere-and nowhere.

A Raw Deal
Handheld computers have come a long way since Apple unveiled its Newton in 1993. Once little more than
a glorified Rolodex, handhelds today rival the performance and range of applications of desktop PCs. But
higher speeds and multiple, specialized processors have made them power-hungry, and battery life
continues to be a limiting factor. To address the power problem, Oxygen researchers, led by Agarwal, are
building a more flexible, less power-intensive chip they call the Raw Architecture Workstation, or Raw.
"Today, people build custom [chips] for video, graphics, networking and so on," says Agarwal. "We have a
single processor that can do all these things."

Not only does this optimize performance-especially for tasks like video processing, which bog down in
memory-but it saves power, an essential feature for any small, battery-powered device. And the
programmability extends not only to integrating discrete functions. It could open up exciting breakthroughs
in areas such as software radios, which can easily switch between multiple cellular protocols.
By making the data paths highly programmable, Raw avoids centralized memory and register systems. "In
a typical processor you may have to bounce a piece of data around. But with Raw, it goes straight to where
I want it to go," says Agarwal.

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The Raw architecture resembles a network of tiles, each containing features for instruction, switch
instruction, data memory, logic units, registers and a programmable switch. "We pay a lot of attention to
the interconnect, to the wires," says Agarwal. "If you expose the interconnect to the software you can
customize how data flows through the chip. You can orchestrate the flow of data. Now my software can
match up the hardware with the application."

The first device the chip will power will be Oxygen's model handheld, what they call the Handy 21.
Prototype Handys integrate voice recognition, wireless communications and video-power-hungry
applications that would benefit from Raw's all-in-one design. A prototype of the Raw processor, being
developed with IBM Microelectronics, is expected to arrive sometime this year.

Cricket Chirps Up
At Project Oxygen, researchers believe a mobile computer can be more helpful if it knows where it is, and
what's around it. Enter the Cricket Indoor Location System, a network of wireless transmitters that provides
mobile devices such as Handy 21s with information about their physical location, which they can use to
find static devices such as printers or exits as well as other people.

Location-tracking is a hot topic now in light of the Federal Communications Commission's "Enhanced 911"
requirements that call for 95 percent of all cell phones to include automatic location identification
technology such as the Global Positioning System by the end of 2005.

The goal, says LCS associate professor Hari Balakrishnan, is to develop an indoor alternative to satellite-
based GPS tracking, which rarely works inside buildings and often fails outside near tall buildings.
Inside buildings, multipath and magnetic interference disrupt traditional locational devices. "Getting
something to work indoors is particularly challenging," says Balakrishnan. "The goal for us is to get linear
distances of within a few centimeters so you can tell where you are within a foot or so."

Cricket's trick is to have each beacon continually transmit two signals: one radio and one ultrasound
signals. Because radio zips along at the speed of light and ultrasound pulses travel at the speed of sound,
the Cricket software that governs the listening device built into a piece of hardware can calculate the timing
difference between the two to determine location. "So if there's a gap of ten millisecondsthen you're about
ten feet away," says Balakrishnan.

The low-cost, battery-powered Cricket beacons can be "slapped" on ceilings quickly without calibration,
thus making for easy scalability. They're placed so any listening device can receive signals from three or
four devices at once to further localize position. Cricket beacons can also send other information beyond
location coordinates, for example, transmitting the identity of key resources in its purview.

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The Oxygen team is also working on a "Cricket Compass" prototype that can determine which direction the
listening device is facing. By equipping each listening device with several ultrasound receivers placed very
closely together, they can compare the minute differences between the reception times, thus determining
orientation. This capability could help direct a computer to send information to the nearest facing display,
or it could enhance informational and point-of-sale applications. For example, shoppers could point their
handheld toward a store display to find out about nearby sales, or museum visitors could download
information on a nearby exhibit. Cricket is not wed to a particular radio frequency, and Balakrishnan says
they may switch to Bluetooth if the technology takes off. Sensitive to Cricket's big-brother undertones,
researchers are also designing intricate protections for user privacy.

Cricket's greatest impact may come in embedded systems that track not people in an office, but parts
through a warehouse. In fact, Balakrishnan's group is experimenting with a wired library, in which every
book features a radio tag tracked by a Cricket-like system. Better tracking of goods throughout their
manufacture and delivery could save billions in theft, loss and inefficiency, while avoiding the privacy
worries attendant to the tracking of people.

The Intelligent Room

If, as LCS director Victor Zue suggests, Project Oxygen is a "big playground," then the Intelligent Room is
the cool new jungle gym in the middle. The room hosts a variety of projects exploring new collaborative
tools and audio/visual interfaces. For Oxygen, the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory is focusing on voice
and vision recognition technologies that will help to shape Oxygen's Enviro 21, a room-controlling device
that lets users interact naturally with the computer.

At first glance, the Intelligent Room looks like a typical meeting room, albeit with a surfeit of computer
projected "live board" displays on the wall. You interact with the displays via voice, light pen, gesture, or,
if all else fails, a touch panel. The ceiling is studded with an array of 32 microphones, two standard video
cameras and two stereoscopic video cameras.

A basic goal is to improve communications between microphones and cameras so that the computer can
determine who to pay attention to. The task of identifying speakers is important both for controlling
videoconferences and for letting the computer respond to user commands without getting confused.
Eventually, such communications, which are orchestrated via Oxygen's innovative networking software,
Metaglue, will also help the computer customize responses for each individual.

"In traditional vision systems you have mono cameras trying to detect objects by extracting the prerecorded
background, but changing the lighting fools the camera," says Krzysztof Gajos, an A.I. Lab research

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scientist and technical director of the Intelligent Room. "With the stereo cameras, we can not only record
the background image, but the background shape. It's much more robust."

Oxygen is also interested in what people are looking at, for example to help the computer decide which
displays to use for optimal viewing. Software tracks the way a user is looking by combining face-
recognition software with the 3D information provided by a stereo camera. To identify orientation, the
head-post algorithm keys in on how facial features change during movement. Among other applications,
the researchers hope to mount the tracking system on robots to improve navigation.

Researcher Harold Fox demonstrated SAM, an animated computer display that shows different emotions to
reveal its state. Instead of prefacing commands by saying "computer," which can be confusing in meetings,
the user just looks at the graphic, and Fox's prototype knows to listen up. When the user looks away, SAM
disengages.

Whether SAM or Cricket or Raw ever find their way into the conference rooms, hallways and handhelds in
everyday business is a question that will not be answered for years. But one thing is for certain: the
concepts they inspire undoubtedly will.
Copyright Technology Review 2002.

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Questions:

1. Explain what is meant by the phrase “transform the way the world uses computers”.
Old method the computer just sits on the table and users have to go to the computer to use it. Then later,
with the laptops and notebooks users can carry the computer around and can use it anytime as the computer
is being carried. Later, with the smaller version of computers such as handheld, palm top, netbooks
computers are lighter and carrying them are much more easy and convenience. Now, with the wireless
technology, computers can be carried around and at the same time communicate with other computers
globally. The wireless technology is now advanced and better communications and transferring of data are
expected.
.
2. What is project oxygen?
Computers that are pervasive and invisible as the air we breathe.

3. What are handheld computers?

Handheld computers have come a long way since Apple unveiled its Newton in 1993. By definition, it is a
Very small, lightweight device (such as the Palm Pilot) which provides functionality approaching that of a
laptop computer. Features of modern handhelds include calendar and diary organizing, word processing,
data management, remote access to firm's network, internet access, wireless access, messaging, etc. Also
called personal digital assistant (PDA).

4. What are the limitations of handheld computers?

Once little more than a glorified Rolodex, handhelds today rival the performance and range of applications
of desktop PCs. But higher speeds and multiple, specialized processors have made them power-hungry, and
battery life continues to be a limiting factor.

5. What is invented to replace the handheld computers?

Handy 21

6. What is Handy 21?

Oxygen's model handheld.

7. What makes Handy 21 special?

Prototype Handys integrate voice recognition, wireless communications and video-power-hungry
applications that would benefit from Raw's all-in-one design.

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8. What is mobile computer?
Portable-computing devices that can connect by cable, telephone wire, wireless transmission, or via any
Internet connection to an agency's IT infrastructure and/or data systems.

9. Explain the concept of wireless network.

WPAN technologies enable users to establish ad hoc, wireless communications for devices (such as PDAs,
cellular phones, or laptops) that are used within a personal operating space (POS). A POS is the space
surrounding a person, up to a distance of 10 meters. Currently, the two key WPAN technologies are
Bluetooth and infrared light. Bluetooth is a cable replacement technology that uses radio waves to transmit
data to a distance of up to 30 feet. Bluetooth data can be transferred through walls, pockets, and briefcases.
Technology development for Bluetooth is driven by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), which
published the Bluetooth version 1.0 specification in 1999. Alternatively, to connect devices at a very close
range (1 meter or less), users can create infrared links.

10.What is a Bluetooth?
Bluetooth is a cable replacement technology that uses radio waves to transmit data to a distance of up to 30
feet. Bluetooth data can be transferred through walls, pockets, and briefcases. Technology development for
Bluetooth is driven by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), which published the Bluetooth version
1.0 specification in 1999. Alternatively, to connect devices at a very close range (1 meter or less), users can
create infrared links.

How the name “Bluetooth” derived?

For those who know little about the technology, and even for those who are more than a
little acquainted with it, the name Bluetooth may seem odd. You may wonder, in fact,
how it relates to wireless technology, or speculate that perhaps it’s derived somehow
from the founding members of the SIG. Neither of these ideas is correct. The name is a
romantic gesture that in some sense indicates the excitement the technology generates
as well as the belief in its value as a revolutionary concept. To combine these qualities in
a name required ingenuity and delving into the past.

The name Bluetooth comes from Danish history. Harald Blatand, who was called
Bluetooth, was the son of King Gorm the Old, who ruled Jutland, the main peninsula of
Denmark. By the time Harald became king, he was a skilled Viking warrior. So, when his
sister asked for help to secure control in Norway after her husband died, Harald quickly
seized the opportunity to unite the countries and expand his kingdom. By 960 A.D.,
according to the story, Harald was at the height of his powers, and ruled both Denmark
and Norway. He was later credited with bringing Christianity to his Viking realm.

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Although it’s popularly believed that King Harald had a blue tooth, and various stories
explain how this came about, it’s more likely that the Bluetooth name is the English
derivative of the original Viking word, Blātand. The Bluetooth name was chosen for the
wireless technology because its developers and promoters hope it will unite the mobile
world, just as King Harald united his world.

11. Explain the concept of Bluetooth.

Bluetooth is an always-on, short-range radio hookup that resides on a microchip. It was initially developed
by Swedish mobile phone maker Ericsson in 1994 as a way to let laptop computers make calls over a
mobile phone. Since then, several thousand companies have signed on to make Bluetooth the low-power
short-range wireless standard for a wide range of devices. Industry observers expect Bluetooth to be
installed in billions of devices by 2005 (Business Week, 18 September 2000). The Bluetooth standards are
published by an industry consortium known as the Bluetooth SIG (special interest group).

The concept behind Bluetooth is to provide a universal short-range wireless capability. Using the 2.4 GHz
band, available globally for unlicensed low-power uses, two Bluetooth devices within 10 m of each other
can share up to 720 Kbps of capacity. Bluetooth is intended to support an open-ended list of applications,
including data (such as schedules and telephone numbers), audio, graphics, and even video. For example,
audio devices can include headsets, cordless and standard phones, home stereos, and digital MP3 players.
Following are some examples of the capabilities that Bluetooth can provide consumers:
• Make calls from a wireless headset connected remotely to a cell phone.
• Eliminate cables linking computers to printers, keyboards, and the mouse.
• Hook up MP3 players wirelessly to other machines to download music.
• Set up home networks so that a couch potato can remotely monitor air conditioning, the oven, and
children's Internet surfing.
• Call home from a remote location to turn appliances on and off, set the alarm, and monitor
activity.
Bluetooth Applications
Bluetooth is designed to operate in an environment of many users. Up to eight devices can communicate in
a small network called a piconet. Ten of these piconets can coexist in the same coverage range of the
Bluetooth radio. To provide security, each link is encoded and protected against eavesdropping and
interference.
Bluetooth provides support for three general application areas using short-range wireless connectivity:
• Data and voice access points. Bluetooth facilitates real-time voice and data transmissions by
providing effortless wireless connection of portable and stationary communications devices.
• Cable replacement. Bluetooth eliminates the need for numerous, often proprietary cable
attachments for connection of practically any kind of communications device. Connections are

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 instant and are maintained even when devices are not within line of sight. The range of each radio
is approximately 10 m, but can be extended to 100 m with an optional amplifier.
• Ad hoc networking. A device equipped with a Bluetooth radio can establish instant connection to
another Bluetooth radio as soon as it comes into range.

12. Why is Project Oxygen known as ”Pervasive computing”?

Pervasive computing describes an environment where a wide variety of devices carry out information
processing tasks on behalf of users by utilizing connectivity to wide variety of networks. In a 1996 speech,
Rick Belluzo, executive VP and general manager of Hewlett-Packard, 1 compared pervasive computing to
electricity, calling it "the stage when we take computing for granted. We only notice its absence, rather than
its presence." While this may be true for Bill Gates's $53 million home, that level of pervasive technology
hasn't trickled down to the mainstream—yet. Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., of IBM2 once said, "Picture a day when
a billion people will interact with a million e-businesses via a trillion interconnected, intelligent devices."
Pervasive computing does not just mean "computers everywhere"; it means "computers, networks,
applications, and services everywhere." Pervasive computing has roots in many aspects of computing. In its
current form, it was first articulated by Mark Weiser 3 in 1988 (even before the introduction of the World
Wide Web) at the Computer Science Lab at Xerox PARC. 4 In his opinion, pervasive computing is roughly
the opposite of virtual reality. Where virtual reality puts people inside a computer-generated world,
pervasive computing forces the computer to live out here in the world with people. Virtual reality is
primarily a horsepower problem; pervasive computing is a difficult integration of human factors, computer
science, engineering, and social sciences. Weiser also calls this invisible, everywhere computing that does
not live on a personal device of any sort but is in the woodwork everywhere. Its highest ideal is to make a
computer so embedded, so fitting, so natural, that we use it without even thinking about it. By invisible,
Weiser means that the tool does not intrude on your consciousness; you focus on the task, not the tool.
Eyeglasses are a good tool: you look at the world, not the eyeglasses. Pervasive computing creates an
augmented reality. It enriches objects in the real world and makes them "smart." This allows these devices
to better assist people. With additional information about the environment and the context, these devices
become better tools for the people using them.
The trick is to build devices to match people's activities that are related sets of tasks. Already you use 50 or
more computers in your home. You don't care how many there are, as long as they provide value and don't
get in your way. That's how it should be with the computers in our lives. Computers and motors are
infrastructure; they should be invisible.
When computers merge with physical things, they disappear. This is also known as invisible computing and
raises, of course, new issues with the user interface, since people do not know that they are using a
computer. New, intuitive user interfaces are therefore required.

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Realizing such a mass market revolution will involve new types of strategic planning that will connect
individual organizations from different industries into an intricate network of alliances and interest groups.
Additionally, this vision requires a simplified consumer-marketing strategy that focuses on customer
solutions instead of technology products. But this will not be easy; very little of our current system
infrastructure will survive.
Examples of Invisible Appliances
Here are some examples of information appliances. The list includes many things you wouldn't think of as
computers, which is just the point: successful invisible computers won't be thought of as computers. So,
you won't notice you are using lots of them.
• ATM Machines - Money delivery through a computer network
• Cash Registers - Calculators that are used in checkout counters
• Navigation Systems - Direction-giving devices and maps built into cars
• Digital Cameras - Images just like those from standard cameras
• Electric Instruments - Electronic simulation of guitars, keyboards, drums
• Calculators - A service to people who still use calculators even though they are sitting in front of
a computer.

13. Identify all the hardwares that are involved in Project Oxygen.
Eg: Computers, Video Camera, stereo camera, audio devices, microphones, speakers, (i.e Hardwares that
are involved in Cricket, a location-aware computing system; the Intelligent Room, an high-tech office that
doubles as a vision-interface research lab; and the Raw microprocessor, a low-power, ultra-programmable
chip designed to power the handheld devices of the 21st century).

14. Identify all the softwares that are involved in Project Oxygen.
Networking software, face recognition software, animation softwares, etc. , (i.e Softwares that are involved
in Cricket, a location-aware computing system; the Intelligent Room, an high-tech office that doubles as a
vision-interface research lab; and the Raw microprocessor, a low-power, ultra-programmable chip designed
to power the handheld devices of the 21st century).