nota

MASSive sensornets are the future Internet

One of the highlights from IEEE MASS was the panel discussion on the state of the future internet. Feng Zhao (Microsoft Research), Tarek Abdelzaher (UIUC), Rick Han (Univeristy of Colorado, Boulder), and John Heidemann (ISI/USC) traded thoughts on how the next Internet is shaping up — not suprisingly, there were many slides of the traditional Internet “cloud” touching the wireless sensor network “cloud”. One common theme was enabling sciences for the masses — the idea that anyone and everyone should and will have access to the coming onslaught of pervasive sensors. Feng showed the new MSR sensorweb that integrates real-world sensors with Microsoft’s earth-scale mapping service. “Data is King”, Feng wrote as he discussed how every-day users will write mash-ups of sensor feeds. Rick Han discussed “sensing for the masses” enabled by “cheap technology and open innovation.” John Heidemann brought a reality check and questioned the panel about the definition of a “user” of this future Internet. But, John followed up with a new term, “slogging”, that he uses to describe the coming age of things blogging (see previous post, doesn’t really roll off the tongue like “blogjects” or “spimes”). John added two twists to the future Internet — the idea of federated sensornets enabling the “citizen scientist” (John cites Mark Hansen as coining this term).

While I think these ideas were perfectly academic in scope, the reality of free access to a global treasure trove of sensors is far-fetched at best. Take GPS for example, free for all, but resolution limited by a few. Take Google Maps for example, “free” for all, but resolution-limited by a few. Feng Zhao put it best in his answer to an audience question about his opinion on business models for sensornets and the reality of every seeing a $1 wireless sensor node — Feng replied the answer lies in amortization of cost, not necessarily an inexpensive sensor. In other words, providing access to data for those willing to pay for it. So for those holding access to the data when “data is king”, it’ll be “good to be the king”.