Applications
Application sectors for Hyphos networks
- Wireless LAN
- Active Inventory: manufacturing, warehousing, shipping
- Industrial controls and sensors
- Home and "last meter" delivery
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Application sectors for Hyphos networks
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I'd like to describe four different scenarios in which these high-density, low-cost networks would be a win.
The first application, and perhaps the least astonishing, is simply another wireless LAN. In a corporate environment, you could connect your computer or printer to the network simply plugging a Hyphos node into it. This eliminates the junction boxes, internal wiring, wiring closets, and the cost associated with the person that maintains all the cross connections.
The second application sector is manufacturing, warehousing, and shipping, and something I've started to call "active inventory systems." One of the Media Lab sponsors is Steelcase. Aside from the ubiquotous filing cabinet, a large piece of their business is manufacturing custom office furniture. They'd like to use Hyphos networking in their manufacturing process.
For example, to make a chair, they'd embed the particulars of the custom order in a Hyphos node and send the node through the production line. The Hyphos node would specify the make, model, fabric color of the chair. As the Hyphos node moves through the production line, the chair would literally be built around the node.
At the end of the production line, the chair would be put in a warehouse for shipment. A truck entering the warehouse would communicate with the Hyphos nodes embedded in all the furniture, and could learn which goods are to be carried on that truck.
Hyphos networks can also be used to connect industrial controls and sensors.
Sometimes wire just isn't practical. An industrial sensor that costs only $50 may require $5000 in conduit, code compliance inspection, and union electricians to install. A low-cost, wireless connection would be popular in this setting.
Another Media Lab sponsor is United Technologies. Their subsidiary, Carrier Systems, builds the big air conditioning units that sit on top of office buildings. The bane of their world is wires on thermostats. It's already enough of a problem to locate thermostats at the optimal location for sensing room temperature. But every time there's a corporate reorganization, the walls inside office buildings move around, so Carrier spends lots of time relocating thermostats. They'd like a low-cost, wireless connection between their thermostats and the air conditioning units on the roof.
Of course, the right place to place thermostats is directly on the bodies of the people in a building, but the we'll save the topic of "Body Area Networks" for another talk.
Perhaps the most insteresting application area for Hyphos networks is in the home, where we can really start to connect everyday objects to networks.
Why should you ever have to set a clock? When a clock is on the network, it can contact the local Network Time Protocol server and always be within a few milliseconds of the cesium clocks at the National Bureau of Standards.
A smoke detector that beeps in the basement isn't effective if you're asleep on the third floor. When it's connected to a network, it will be able to alert you regardless of where you are, even if you're driving on your way to work.
Your washing machine, if it's feeling ill, can contact www.maytag.com and download some diagnostic software. And if it detects a problem, it can alert the local Maytag repairman that he finally has a job.
All the major appliances in your house could negotiate with the local power company to cut back on usage a few percent during peak hours. By reducing the peak loads, this could save the utility companies billions of dollars.
My local telephone company charges $75 to do any internal wiring inside a house. Using a Hyphos network, the phone line terminates ouside the house and the "last meter" connections are made wirelessly.
In fact, some enterprising service provider could subsidize the cost of a "hyphos gateway" for use in the home. For a monthly fee, all of the everyday objects on a Hyphos network now have access to the internet. Your VCR will have the entire TV guide available to it. A child's toy can be in contact with www.disney.com to download new learning activities every day.