無論你稱之為物聯(lián)網(wǎng)(Internet of Things)或是機器對機器通訊(machine-to-machine communications)，還是它們的英文簡寫 IoT 與 M2M ，這種利用目前相對為主流的IP位置與無線通訊技術(shù)之應(yīng)用，將會永遠改變這個世界。 讓許多──甚至是大多數(shù)──物體嵌入“云端” 功能，將改變這些物體的本質(zhì)以及其衍生物；而且這些機器與機器之間的對話會是在暗中進行的，摻雜如手機竊聽事件一般的、令人不安的回音。有些人可能認為 “人類好、機器不好”；或者是比較實際一點，認為“有些人類不好，但機器是中立的”；但無論如何這些都是簡化過的想法，在做出結(jié)論之前我們要記得，M2M 這樣的技術(shù)擁有為世界帶來無限好處的潛力，只要能夠適當(dāng)?shù)乜刂评盟?飛思卡爾半 導(dǎo)體(Freescale Semiconductor)最近在英國蘇格蘭舉行了一場研討會，邀集甲骨文(Oracle)、IBM、Google等產(chǎn)業(yè)界跨領(lǐng)域高層，試圖探討如何創(chuàng) 造出有益的、可靠的且具安全性的 M2M / IoT 應(yīng)用。飛思卡爾舉例指出，每年全球因交通事故意外身亡的人數(shù)高達120萬，但如果能利用車輛與車輛之間的通訊技術(shù)，就可以在駕駛?cè)朔磻?yīng)過來之前，更快地啟 動車輛的煞車系統(tǒng)、或是更好地利用ABS，及時阻止碰撞事件的發(fā)生。 如此的考量以及其它潛在應(yīng)用，導(dǎo)引出一個必然的結(jié)論：那就是 M2M 革命若真的發(fā)生，將會明確地以無線網(wǎng)絡(luò)與安全性為發(fā)展基礎(chǔ)。 除了說汽車內(nèi) 的M2M技術(shù)將會實現(xiàn)，飛思卡爾的人還告訴我，目前市面上部分高階車款內(nèi)的線路總長達6公里(kilometers)，也就是說未來汽車內(nèi)的子系統(tǒng)將朝向 “無線化”發(fā)展，才能減輕重量、節(jié)省能源。但車輛與車輛之間、車輛內(nèi)部的無線通訊，再加上各種合法/不合法的干預(yù)、以及惡意軟件等等問題，仍會帶來有關(guān)安 全與可靠性的挑戰(zhàn)。 此外，還得考慮IoT應(yīng)用將如何登場；其中有很多恐怕只能利用現(xiàn)存的無線通訊基礎(chǔ)建設(shè)，例如 Wi-Fi 、 3G 與 LTE，但IP位置本來就有限，越來越多對專用IoT頻道的需求，有可能會嚴重排擠一般人與人之間的通訊。所以屆時我們可能得問，到底有哪些應(yīng)用是如此具 備經(jīng)濟上的吸引力，可以證明其需要專用無線基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施的正當(dāng)性？ 現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)有一個利用M2M的計畫，叫做“電子羊 (Electric Sheep)”；這是一種集體創(chuàng)作的抽象藝術(shù)，是安裝在數(shù)以千計一般PC中的軟件。當(dāng)那些安裝了軟件的計算機進入休眠狀態(tài)，“電子羊”程序就會相互進行通 訊，進行抽象動畫的創(chuàng)作(編按：請參考http://electricsheep.org/)。 而除了安全性議題，我認為 IoT / M2M 技術(shù)的另一個問題，在于人類的信任與感覺。當(dāng)車輛可以因為它知道“這么做比不做更好”，而自發(fā)性激活煞車系統(tǒng)，人類會有什么感覺？如果人們正想著改變一下 口味，但家里的冰箱已經(jīng)按照一個重復(fù)性規(guī)則自動訂購食材，心里又會是什么感覺？或者是當(dāng)智能電網(wǎng)自動自發(fā)地關(guān)閉/開啟家里的電器、只因為它認為現(xiàn)在該是睡 覺時間，我們又會有什么感覺？ 你可能喜歡或是不喜歡，但機器不會在乎這些。 編譯：Judith Cheng 本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載 參考英文原文： Do machines dream of IoT?，by Peter Clarke

相關(guān)閱讀：
• 十二五物聯(lián)網(wǎng)最受寵，智能電網(wǎng)與醫(yī)療商機大
• 超低功耗ZigBee技術(shù)推動家庭和辦公室物聯(lián)網(wǎng)應(yīng)用
• 物聯(lián)網(wǎng)應(yīng)用新商機：電視節(jié)目制作革命P9mesmc

{pagination} Do machines dream of IoT? Peter Clarke Whether you want to call it the Internet of Things or machine-to-machine communications or shorten those buzz phrases to IoT or M2M, the application in this way of what are now the relatively mainstream technologies of IP addresses and wireless communication will change the world forever. The ability of many – or even most – objects to be embedded in the 'cloud' is going to change the nature of those objects and their derivatives. And the M2M dialogs will be done in a stealthy way, which many have disquieting echoes of the cell phone key tracking incident that is playing out as I write. It would be easy to oversimplify the situation to: humans good, machines bad. Or more realistically to: some humans bad, machines neutral. But it would still be a simplification and before we do it must be remembered that machine-to-machine communications have the potential to do almost unlimitless good in the world, if harnessed up appropriately. Freescale Semiconductor, recently held a one-day conference on the topic in East Kilbride, Scotland, attended by executives from Oracle, IBM, Google and others. It is trying to get close to the multidisciplinary teams that will be needed to create beneficial, reliable and secure M2M/IoT applications. For example, Freescale estimates there are 1.2 million road deaths a year around the world. Imagine the benefit of car-to-car communications that could apply brakes faster than drivers behind the steering wheel and apply them closer to the ABS optimum to shorten stopping distances and avoid collisions. Considerations of this and many other potential applications lead to the inescapable conclusion that an M2M revolution, if it is to come, will be based squarely on developments in wireless networks and security. Machine knows best Even within the car M2M will impact. The guys at Freescale inform me that the modern high-end automobile has 6 kilometers of wiring. The logic is that automotive subsystems must migrate to a wireless "wiring harness" to save weight and energy. But the co-existence of inter- and intra-car wireless communications, plus the potential for legal and illegal interventions and malware etc., will produce a security and reliability challenge. And it must also be considered how IoT applications will roll out. Many may be viable only if they can piggy back of pre-existing wireless communications infrastructure such as WiFi and 3G or LTE. But by their very nature the sheer volume of IP addresses could end up severely degrading human communications prompting the need for dedicated IoT channels. So then we must ask which are the applications that are so economically compelling that they can justify the construction of dedicated wireless infrastructure? One project that uses M2M already is called Electric Sheep. This is a collaborative abstract artwork in the form of software installed by thousands of people on ordinary PCs and Macs. When these computers "sleep", the Electric Sheep program allows the computers to communicate with each other to create and transphorm abstract animations. I described IoT/M2M security as a challenge, but beyond security there is another issue – human trust and feelings. How will humans feel about a vehicle that applies the brakes autonomously because it knows better than they do the consequences of not doing so? How will humans feel about a refrigerator that orders up food delivered on a repeat order just as they were thinking about a change? How will we feel about a smart grid that will selectively turn off - or turn on - appliances in our houses because it thinks we are sleeping? The humans won't like it and the machines won't care.