Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
flexibility, robustness and scalability. It is to be expected that the Internet of Things
will exhibit a high level of heterogeneity, as totally different objects in terms of
functionality, technology and application fields will belong to the same communication
environment. Real-time communications will be possible not only by humans but also
by things at anytime and from anywhere. The advent of the Internet of Things will
create a plethora of innovative applications and services, which will enhance quality of
life.
The big vision for the “
virtual presence era
” can be described as a geographically
distributed home. A geographically distributed family (including, e.g. grandmother) is
joined by communications that are transparently together with an impression of
presence (tele-presence).
The home of this big family is geographically in several places (father's
location, mother's location, adult children's location, grandmother's location
or even certain working locations. The members of the family feel that they
are somehow in a common space.
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In proper virtual tele-presence, e.g. older people have a familiar scene that is
presented transparently and remotely in every life.
•
Virtual presence can be implemented, e.g. a wall as a window to other parts of
the home. A wall acts as a big screen so that those inside the home feel as if
there were only a big glass between them and other locations.
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Virtual presence can be implemented, e.g. using some kind of human-like
robots.
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Virtual presence requires either huge transmission capacity or advanced
human like robotic development.
•
5.5.2.
Generic Networking Aspects
Connectivity and protocols
For personal area networks, local area networks and wide area networks
multiple alternatives exist. For an approach where multiple products,
application and services have to collaborate, choices have to be made.
•
Products in the personal-area network or local-area network might still have
an alternative or even proprietary technology as a connection to sensors as
long as a control unit supports the connection to the PAN or LAN network. A
home-control unit can, for instance, have X10 interfaces to sensors or switches
and a WiFi interface to other devices.
•
For the wide-area connectivity, we have to rely on technology which is
available from telecom or cable domain. The choice might be different for
each region, according to the offers by telecom companies, but it is certainly
based on Internet protocols; however we should remember that a transition
from IPv4 to IPv6 is coming.
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Network properties
Speed might be a selection criterion, especially when high-volume streaming
data or real-time data is involved. Within the current technology offers, high-
bandwidth solutions are available: wireless in personal area networks 100
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