An ad-hoc, mobile, wireless network consisting of nodes of very small size either embedded in objects or freestanding. Some nodes have sensing capabilities, which frequently include environmental conditions, existence of specific chemicals, motion characteristics and location. Other nodes have actuation capabilities, for example they may provide local control of mechanical, electric or biological actuators and optical long-range communications.
Published in Chapter:
Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing Databases: Critical Issues and Challenges
Michael Zoumboulakis (University of London, UK) and George Roussos (University of London, UK)
Copyright: © 2009
|Pages: 10
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60566-242-8.ch086
Abstract
The concept of the so-called Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing was introduced in the early nineties as the third wave of computing to follow the eras of the mainframe and the personal computer. Unlike previous technology generations, Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing recedes into the background of everyday life: “it activates the world, makes computers so imbedded, so fitting, so natural, that we use it without even thinking about it, and is invisible, everywhere computing that does not live on a personal device of any sort, but is in the woodwork everywhere” (Weiser 1991). Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing is often referred to using different terms in different contexts. Pervasive, 4G mobile and sentient computing or ambient intelligence also refer to the same computing paradigm. Several technical developments come together to create this novel type of computing, the main ones are summarized in Table 1 (Davies and Gellersen 2002; Satyanarayanan 2001).