Computer and Internet

Technology Development and

its Impact on Other
Technologies

Dr. H. E. (Buster) Dunsmore

Purdue University
Department of Computer Sciences
• Nature of Computer technology and
Internet technology has changed a lot
in the past 10 years and will change a
lot in the next 10 years

• Most of you in 1991 had not even heard

of Internet, World-Wide Web, Networks,
Personal Digital Assistant (PDA),
Windows NT, Linux

• These are all now part of Computer

Technology and Internet technology
• What will we be talking about in 2011?
• What new Computer and Internet
Technology is being developed that will
be commonplace in a few years?

• Some things seem promising, but may

become equivalent of Betamax and 8-
track tapes

• Look at some areas of Computer and

Internet Technology development
 Networking Technology
Power-Line Networking

Way to connect
computers in home
or office using
electrical wiring
 Power-Line Networking
• More convenient than phone lines
• Connect computer to network through the
outlet that provides power
• Data travels through electrical wiring
• Requires no new wiring and adds no cost
to electric bill
• Power-line networking is inexpensive
method for connecting computers in
different places in home or office
 Wireless Networking
• Creates network by sending infrared or radio
signals between computers
• Better than Power-line networking; some
computers are not “plugged in” to electrical
outlet
• Laptop with wireless network card is
completely portable throughout home or
office
• IrDA (Infrared Direct Access) is standard for
devices to communicate using infrared light
pulses
 Wireless Networking
• Infrared devices must be in direct line of
sight with each other (like TV remote…
which uses same infrared technology)
• Infrared is almost always “one to one”
technology
• Radio signals better because no line of
sight requirement and ability to broadcast
to multiple recipients
 Bluetooth
• Bluetooth is new standard being developed
by a group of electronics manufacturers
• Will allow any sort of electronic equipment to
communicate with each other
• Can be used among computers, keyboard,
mouse, printer, headphone, cell phone
• Bluetooth-like radio communications should
take place of wires or infrared signals for
connecting devices
 Bluetooth

• Very small radio module to be built into

each device
• Wireless: No need for cables or cords to
any device
 Bluetooth
• Inexpensive: Should add only about $5-10
to price of product
• Simple: Devices find one another and
strike up conversation without any work
on your part
• Why is it called Bluetooth?
• Harald Bluetooth was king of Denmark
around the turn of the last millenium
• He united Denmark and part of Norway
into a single kingdom
 Airborne Internet
• Satellite Internet access already
commonplace
• Satellites orbit at several hundreds of miles
above Earth
• Imagine airplane-like device at
approximately 60,000 feet
• Aircraft will be undisturbed by inclement
weather and will be flying well above
commercial air traffic
Airborne Internet
 Airborne Internet
• All satellite benefits without some of the
problems
• Consumers would get connections
comparable to Digital Subscriber Line
(DSL)
• High-speed wireless Internet connection
by placing aircraft in fixed pattern over city
• Could be lightweight planes (possibly
unmanned) or blimps
 Airborne Internet

• Airborne Internet will function much like

satellite-based Internet access, but
without time delay
• Cost advantage over satellites – aircraft
can be deployed easily – do not have to be
launched into space
• Airborne Internet could even complement
satellite and ground-based networks, not
replace them
 Impact and Opportunity?
• Impact: Possibility of constant connection
to network anywhere, any time
• Benefit: Ease of connecting all computers
and related devices
• Challenges:
How to make most efficient use of the
computing power, software, and tools
always available
How to build the most useful software
and tools
 Internet Technology
Application Service Provider
(ASP)
• Access over the Internet to applications
and services that would otherwise have to
be located on one’s own personal
computer
• Email, text editor, financial modeling
software, Computer Aided Design (CAD)
software, simulation software,…..
 Storage Service Provider (SSP)

• Centralized data storage, which will

increase efficiency and ease of access to
information, as well as synchronization of
information among users and machines
• Wherever you are, that is your computer!
The Next Generation Internet
About 120 universities and 25 corporate
sponsors are working on better Internet
infrastructure “Internet 2”
The Next Generation Internet
• Larger bandwidth
• Faster speeds
• Better reliability
• Better security
• Better compression techniques (smaller files
to be transmitted)
• Caching – leaving copies around closer to the
point of need
• All developments will eventually become part
of standard internet
 Internet Protocol Version 6
(IPv6)
Today’s Internet uses
Internet Protocol
Version 4 (IPv4) –
approximately 20
years old
Internet Protocol
Version 6 (IPv6)
(also called IPng)
will eventually
replace IPv4
 Internet Protocol Version 6
(IPv6)
• IPv6 fixes a number of problems in IPv4, such as
limited number of available IPv4 addresses
• IPv6 goes from 32 to 128 bits per address
• If whole Earth was a beach, more than enough IP
addresses for every grain of sand ... hope that
will be enough
• IPv6 also routes messages better, auto-configures
for missing computers, and includes security
components for encryption and authentication
 Decision Support Systems,
Expert Systems

If Internet becomes repository of all

knowledge, how best to use it?

Decision Support
Systems (DSS) access
data, sophisticated
analytical models,
user-friendly interfaces
 Decision Support Systems,
Expert Systems
• Can make repetitive, routine decisions with
known algorithms
• Can provide alternatives and possible
outcomes for more elaborate decisions
• Expert Systems (ES) capture decision-making
rules used by experts
• Interaction with human user and available
data evolved toward decision
• Neural networks can imitate DSS and ES and
learn to make decisions
 Impact and Opportunity?
• Impact: Internet will provide fast access to
enormous amount of information and tools for
using that information
• Benefit: Immediate access for all kinds of
information in a variety of formats (text, sound,
image, video)
• Ability to make decisions based on “all” available
information… not just subset
• Decision tools that represent best wisdom of all experts
• Challenge: How to sift through enormous quantity
of information and tools available to decide what to
use in any given situation
Consumer Computer Technology
Plastic Displays
• Researchers have recently made breakthroughs in
developing displays out of polyethylene
terephthalate (PET)
• Thin, flexible, rugged plastic that you can bend, roll
up, fold, or form into practically any shape
 Plastic Displays

• Mass production of plastic displays is

approximately five years away

• Applications could include notebook and

desktop displays, hand-held appliances

• Also, wearable displays sewn into clothing,

and paper thin electronic books and
newspapers
Electronic Digital Paper

• Developed at
Xerox Palo Alto
Research Center
(PARC), electronic
paper is new kind
of display

• Somewhere
between paper
and conventional
computer screen
 Electronic Digital Paper
• Like paper, it is thin, lightweight, and flexible
• Like computer display, it is dynamic and
rewritable
• Wide range of potential applications,
including:
• Electronic paper newspapers offering breaking
news, incoming sports scores, and up to the
minute stock quotes, even as paper is being read
• Electronic paper magazines that continually
update with breaking information and make use of
animated images or movie pictures
• Electronic paper textbooks, which could be
updated as technology changes
 Electronic Digital Paper
• Electronic paper utilizes new display
technology called gyricon
• A gyricon sheet is thin layer of transparent plastic
in which millions of small beads, like toner
particles, are randomly dispersed
• Beads are bichromal, with hemispheres of
contrasting color
• Under influence of voltage applied to surface of
sheet, beads rotate to present one colored side or
the other to the viewer
• Image will persist until new voltage patterns are
applied to create new images
 Power Paper
• Computers and other electronic devices becoming
thinner and thinner
• Soon laptop computer could be as thin as a sheet
of paper
• Power supplies must slim down as well
• Power Paper, an Israel-based company, has
developed paper-thin battery technology
 Power Paper
• Power electronic devices, games, greeting
cards, smart cards, luggage tags, medical
devices
• Imagine smart tickets to sporting events to
avoid counterfeiting and give directions to
seat
• Could be very useful in computerized clothing
and wearable computers
• Power Paper cell will be one-half millimeter
thick, and will generate 1.5 volts
 Printable Computers

Researchers
developing ink-
based, plastic
processor
 Printable Computers
• Printable computer components not designed
to replace silicon (about 100 times slower)
• Plastic offers some benefits over silicon
• Silicon is rigid, while plastic chips are
flexible
• Will lead to simple computers to give
intelligence to everyday objects
• Could be integrated into clothes, food labels,
simple appliances, toys
 Wearable Computers
• Obvious applications like
hearing aids with sound
enhancement software
• “Glasses” with multi-
informational display
about what is being
seen, where you are
• Wrist computers, PDAs,
cell phones
• Next step is computerized clothing
• Including computers in standard clothing items
like shoes, pants, shirts, jackets, belts…even
underwear
 Wearable Computers
Uses include….
• Health related – monitor blood pressure,
pulse rate, blood sugar, useful for life
threatening conditions that need continual
monitoring
• Navigation – directions, maps, airline
information, restaurant and hotel information
• Safety and security – connections to
police, fire, medical, auto towing and repair
• Entertainment – music, news, video,
sporting events
 Wearable Computers
• Some of these devices already making their
way into consumer market
• Working to integrate computers and related
devices directly into clothing, so that they are
virtually invisible
• Interaction via sensors, all fabric keypads,
speakers, voice recognition receivers, thin
light-emitting diode (LED) monitors, flat
screen (plastic) displays, holographic
projectors
• Another step in making computers and
devices portable without having to carry and
manipulate plethora of gadgets
 Computers in Every
Imaginable Item

• Appliances – Home security, heating/air

conditioning, refrigerator, oven, dishwasher,
lighting system, entertainment systems,
washer, dryer, garage door opener, “watering”
systems

• Vehicles – cars, bicycles, lawn mowers,

snow blowers, chain saws
 Voice Recognition

• Many of above will operate via voice

commands
• Next 3-5 years will bring major advances
in speech recognition
• Voice is converted into phonemes (basic
elements of speech)
• English language has approximately 50
phonemes
 Voice Recognition

• Phonemes compared to dictionary of words

stored via phonemes
• Words then translated into computer commands
like “Display nearest gas station?”
• Limited vocabulary systems and systems trained
to particular person’s speech will be very fast and
precise

• Voice recognition requires tremendous

storage and processing power – no problem
 Impact and Opportunity?
• Impact: Every conceivable device can have
computer embedded in it
• Benefit: Any mundane activity (like
monitoring supply of food in refrigerator) or
complex activity (like amplifying only specific
sound frequencies in hearing aid) can be
done by computer
• Challenge: How to design most useful cadre
of consumer computers to aid without
overwhelming us humans
 Computer Processors and
Storage Technology
Magnetic Ram
• Magnetic Random Access Memory (MRAM)
has potential to store more data, access data
faster, use less power than current memory
technologies
• Could eliminate computer “boot up” sequence
• Today’s memory Dynamic RAM (DRAM) needs
to be supplied with constant current to store
bits of data
 Magnetic Ram

• If current turned off, everything has to

be stored again

• In MRAM, small amount of electricity

needed only to switch polarity (1 or 0)
of each memory cell on the chip…not to
maintain that value
Holographic Storage Technologies
CDs, DVDs, and magnetic storage all store bits
of information on the surface of a recording
medium
To increase storage capabilities, new optical
storage method, called holographic memory,
will go beneath the surface and use volume
of recording medium for storage

Could offer more storage in same space

 Extreme-Ultraviolet
Lithography (EUVL) Chips
• Current silicon technology used to make
microprocessors will begin to reach its limit
around 2005
• Other technologies necessary to cram more
transistors onto silicon to create more
powerful chips
• Extreme-ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) – way
to extend life of silicon at least until the end
of the decade
 Extreme-Ultraviolet
Lithography (EUVL) Chips

• Using extreme-ultraviolet light to carve

transistors in silicon wafers will lead to
microprocessors as much as 100 times faster
than today’s most powerful chips

• Memory chips with similar increases in

storage capacity
 DNA Computers

• Microprocessors made of
silicon will eventually reach
their limits of speed and
miniaturization
• Chip makers need new material to produce faster
computing speeds
• Millions of natural supercomputers exist in living
organisms
• DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) molecules have potential to
perform calculations many times faster than the world’s
most powerful human-built supercomputers
 DNA Computers
• DNA might one day be integrated on a
computer chip to create a so-called biochip
that will push computers even faster
• DNA molecules have already been harnessed
to perform complex mathematical problems
• Large supply of DNA makes it a cheap
resource
• DNA’s key advantage is that it will make
computers smaller, while holding more data,
than any computer that has come before
 DNA Computers

• One pound of DNA has the capacity to store

more information than all electronic
computers ever built

• Teardrop-sized DNA computer will be more

powerful than world’s current most powerful
supercomputer

• Unlike conventional “linear” computers, DNA

computers perform calculations in parallel
 Impact and Opportunity?
• Impact: Computers will be smaller, faster,
quicker with enormous amounts of storage
capacity
• Benefit: Any imaginable task can be
programmed to be executed in “real time”
(like monitoring aspects of nuclear reactor)
• Challenge: What is the most cost-effective
use of these technologies?
How can we keep the “smaller, faster,
quicker” development going?
 Some “Far Out” Potential
Future Developments
The Forgotten Senses
(Touch, Smell, Taste)

• Research on computer
use for vision-impaired
leading to touch screens
with digitally-controlled
raised surfaces
• Digital Scent Synthesizer
 The Forgotten Senses
(Touch, Smell, Taste)
• Indexed thousands of smells based on chemical
structure and place on scent spectrum
• Each scent is coded and digitized into small file
• Digital file is embedded in Web content or email
(much like image file)
• User may request scent or may be unleashed
automatically
• Create thousands of everyday scents with small
cartridge containing 128 primary odors
• Similar research going on in digital taste
synthesis
 Robotics

• Because of advances in processors, memory,

decision support systems, expert systems,
sensors….

• Today’s crude robots will become “thinking”

machines, capable of behavior that mimics
reason, emotion, common sense, speech,
vision, locomotion