當(dāng)你置身于一個(gè)以眼鏡為顯示屏幕，而計(jì)算機(jī)就在口袋中的世界，你不禁也會(huì)希望加速度計(jì)就在你指尖可觸及之處。那么，無論何時(shí)何地，你都能隨心所欲地取得你的鍵盤、鼠標(biāo)以及空氣吉他。
這可不是隨意在一家硅谷咖啡廳中聽來什么含過量咖啡 因的評論，而是加州大學(xué)柏克萊分校教授Kris Pister的研究目標(biāo)之一──他曾經(jīng)協(xié)助開啟物聯(lián)網(wǎng)(IoT)應(yīng)用，而今則希望未來能將無線節(jié)點(diǎn)封裝于一顆芯片(或指尖)之中。
Pister 夢想中的技術(shù)節(jié)點(diǎn)是在一顆芯片上所打造的完整系統(tǒng)。它不僅包括微處理器與射頻組件，同時(shí)還整合了傳感器、天線、石英晶體，以及甚至是太陽能電源。 Pister在IDTech大會(huì)上對與會(huì)來賓表示，“你只需要把它放在陽光下，它就會(huì)開始與鄰近設(shè)備互連?！笔聦?shí)上，該裝置可能具備將熱、動(dòng)作與RF來源 轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)槟芰康母鞣N能量采集模塊，它還可能利用60GHz短距離無線寬帶新技術(shù)。
但他表示，要實(shí)現(xiàn)這項(xiàng)整合技術(shù)還需要三到五年的時(shí)間。這項(xiàng)技術(shù)還必須推動(dòng)更多的MEMS進(jìn)展──這可能會(huì)是新技術(shù)以參考頻率與頻率取代石英晶體，以及更進(jìn)一步的芯片微型化發(fā)展等。
柏克萊分校開發(fā)出跟大學(xué)尺寸一般大小的九軸IMU──Gina，持續(xù)朝芯片上節(jié)點(diǎn)的目標(biāo)邁進(jìn)。
XWcesmc
Pister 在柏克萊分校的傳感器與致動(dòng)器中心(Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center ；BSAC)積極進(jìn)行這項(xiàng)研究，目前該中心已經(jīng)能制造出“跟大學(xué)戒尺寸一樣大”的原型設(shè)備了，他說，“我確定我們將可打造出單芯片的無線節(jié)點(diǎn)，而我們也越 來越接近這一目標(biāo)了?！?
盡管未來前景看來一片光明，但Pister認(rèn)為現(xiàn)階段的發(fā)展道路上仍有烏云籠罩。
石 油和天然氣產(chǎn)業(yè)促進(jìn)了工業(yè)自動(dòng)化領(lǐng)域的物聯(lián)網(wǎng)(IoT)應(yīng)用。Pister成立的新創(chuàng)公司──Dust Networks(已由凌特科技收購)，還曾經(jīng)協(xié)助這些應(yīng)用的部署。然而，曾經(jīng)許多美好的前景預(yù)測如今看來都遠(yuǎn)落于后了。例如，一位市場觀察家曾經(jīng)預(yù)測在 2007年以前，IoT的節(jié)點(diǎn)數(shù)將超越手機(jī)裝置，從而帶來81美元的市場規(guī)模。然而，“這并沒有發(fā)生。我們甚至離先前所預(yù)測的數(shù)字還有一大段距離呢！”
本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載
本文下一頁：開放標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的解決方案已經(jīng)完成
相關(guān)閱讀：
• 瞄準(zhǔn)電池供電型應(yīng)用，Silicon Labs推全球最節(jié)能MCU
• 缺乏共同標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，物聯(lián)網(wǎng)還只是個(gè)傳說
• 一個(gè)高智能化的物聯(lián)網(wǎng)樞紐--物聯(lián)網(wǎng)網(wǎng)關(guān)XWcesmc
{pagination}
阻礙物聯(lián)網(wǎng)成長的問題之一包括缺乏多家供貨商共同提供一些可靠且低成本的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)產(chǎn)品。“遺憾的是，大部份的無線產(chǎn)品都起不了什么作用，最后只會(huì)讓業(yè)界像在開倒車，而讓大家采用的步調(diào)放緩。無線技術(shù)的確帶來了嚴(yán)峻的挑戰(zhàn)，目前在學(xué)界與商用領(lǐng)域的人們?nèi)灾铝τ诳朔N種困難?！?
Pister和其他技術(shù)專家持續(xù)推動(dòng)基于因特網(wǎng)協(xié)議(IP)的一系列標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。新的 IoT 版本標(biāo)準(zhǔn)底層采用IEEE 802.14.4e射頻技術(shù)，同時(shí)并以時(shí)間同步的網(wǎng)格網(wǎng)絡(luò)形式，讓射頻技術(shù)在大多時(shí)間中能處于關(guān)閉狀態(tài)，以節(jié)省功率。
因特網(wǎng)工程任務(wù)小組(IETF)幾乎已經(jīng)完成該標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的最后一部份了。這項(xiàng)稱為 6TSCH 或 IPv6 時(shí)間同步通道跳頻的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，將可用于提供指定路徑，讓網(wǎng)狀網(wǎng)絡(luò)中的無線節(jié)點(diǎn)可彼此搜尋與配對。
在IETF與IEEE等組織中透過開放標(biāo)準(zhǔn)程序完成這些技術(shù)與標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的整合，需要花費(fèi)好幾年的時(shí)間。“標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的建立是一段緩慢且繁瑣的過程，如果你沒有真正強(qiáng)大的求生意志，就不應(yīng)該貿(mào)然投入。”
新興的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)協(xié)議鏈接IoT與因特網(wǎng)協(xié)議(IP) 。
XWcesmc
好消息是工程師們已經(jīng)打造出 OpenWSN 了，這是采用該標(biāo)準(zhǔn)途徑的可用開放源代碼建置。“我感覺開放標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的解決方案已經(jīng)完成了?！?
下一步，就等著打造指甲般大小的無線節(jié)點(diǎn)了。
本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載
編譯：Susan Hong
參考英文原文：IoT on a Fingertip Is Researcher's Goal，by Rick Merritt
相關(guān)閱讀：
• 瞄準(zhǔn)電池供電型應(yīng)用，Silicon Labs推全球最節(jié)能MCU
• 缺乏共同標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，物聯(lián)網(wǎng)還只是個(gè)傳說
• 一個(gè)高智能化的物聯(lián)網(wǎng)樞紐--物聯(lián)網(wǎng)網(wǎng)關(guān)XWcesmc
{pagination}
IoT on a Fingertip Is Researcher's Goal
In search of the virtual keyboard
Rick Merritt
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — "In a world where the display is on your glasses and the computer is in your pocket, you want your accelerometers on your fingertips. That way, you've got your keyboard, mouse, and air guitar whenever you want them."
This is no overcaffeinated comment heard in a Silicon Valley café. It's the goal of Kris Pister, a Berkeley professor who helped pioneer the Internet of Things and is now trying to pack a node on a chip -- and a fingertip.
The node Pister dreams of is a true system on a chip. It includes not just the microcontroller and radio, but also the sensors, the antenna, the crystals, and even a solar power source. "You just put it in the light, and it starts connecting with its neighbors," Pister told an audience at the IDTech event here. In fact, the device could have a variety of energy-scavaging blocks that tap into thermal, motion, and RF sources. It might even use a relatively high-bandwidth 60 GHz radio over very short ranges.
The technology for the integrated mote is still three to five years off, he said. It requires a laundry list of MEMS advances -- perhaps emerging techniques to replace crystals with reference time and frequency from the Net and more silicon miniaturization.
Berkeley's Gina is a step toward a node on a chip.
The Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center, where Pister works, currently makes prototype devices "the size of big, ugly college rings," he said. "I am certain we will have single-chip nodes. We are very close."
The future looks bright, but in Pister's view, the present might be characterized as partly cloudy.
The oil and gas industries have led the industrial automation sector in real-world IoT adoption. The startup he founded -- Dust Networks, now part of Linear Technology -- helped enable several such deployments. But many glorious predictions have fallen far short. One market watcher predicted there would be more IoT nodes than cellphones by 2007, creating an $8.1 billion market. "That did not happen. We're not even remotely close to the numbers they predicted."
Several problems have stalled growth, such as a lack of reliable, low-cost, standard-based products from multiple vendors. "Sadly, most wireless products out there are crap, and they end up setting the industry back, slowing down adoption for everyone. Wireless is a really hard challenge that people in the academic and commercial worlds are still very much working on."
Help is on the way. Pister and other technologists have been driving a set of standards based on the widely used Internet Protocol. The IoT version is based on the IEEE 802.14.4e radio that uses a form of mesh networking with time synchronization, letting radios stay off most of the time to save power.
The last piece of the suite of standards is almost done in the Internet Engineering Task Force. That standard, 6TSCH for IPv6 time-synchronized channel hopping, will provide the routing glue to let nodes find one another in a mesh.
It has taken several years for the pieces to come together using the design-by-committee open standard processes at groups like the IETF and IEEE. "Standards are incredibly slow and painful. You should not go into standards if you don’t have a really strong will to live."
The emerging stack of standards marries IoT and IP.
The good news is engineers have already built OpenWSN, a working open-source implementation using the approach. "I feel the open standards solution is done."
Next stop: the fingernail-sized node.
