How Wireless Sensors Will Keep You Safe, Healthy, and Successful
You have superhuman senses, but you don’t know it yet.
You can detect the presence of a tiny speck of anthrax in a vast
public space, or count the fish in a 4,000 square mile
area. You can hear a gunshot hundreds of yards away and use your
super-powerful vision to zoom in on a criminal as he tries to
escape. You can look in the eyes of a person you’ve never met,
and tell me her identity.
Best of all, with every passing day, your superhuman
senses grow stronger. You acquire new ones, too.
No, you didn’t get bitten by a radioactive spider or exposed to
gamma radiation. You’re not a mutant X-Man.
You are just lucky enough to be alive during the birth of a new
class of computers, called sensors. They are multiplying faster
than chocolate stains at a nursery school birthday party.
In the time it took me to write this far, the human race
deployed thousands of new sensors into the world. Some are
old-hat sensors like burglar alarms and smoke detectors. But
others extend and supercharge our senses in ways that seem
ripped out of the pages of your favorite comic book.
If a tree grows in the forest and no one is there, does it make
a noise? Sensors are being added to forests - often to study the
behavior of wild animals - and the answer is a resounding yes.
Sensors called drifters have been floating on ocean currents for
several years now, sending back information not only to
researchers but also to elementary school classrooms. In the
process, we are learning immense amounts about our oceans and
climate.
Thanks to sensors, Air Force pilots in Colorado Springs now
control drone planes that run bombing missions in Afghanistan;
the pilots’ biggest problem is coming home to a normal family
life at 5 pm, after operating in a war zone.
Sensors extend your senses to the very little, and the very
distant. They can detect pathogens at the molecular level, and
monitor the Earth - or other planets - over vast distances.
Pictures from satellites show the impact of human development on
places such as Mexico City, Las Vegas and the Amazon.
Never before have you - or any other human - been able to see in
such detail how our world changes from one day to the other, or
one year to the next.
Four big changes are impacting the growth of your new superhuman
senses. The first is that sensors are increasingly becoming
wireless, which means they can operate almost anywhere. The
second is that we are figuring out how to get sensors to use
very small amounts of power, or even to generate all the power
they need from their environment (i.e. solar power, or power
from natural vibrations.) Third, sensors are shrinking rapidly.
Finally, sensors are being networked together. Altogether, these
changes mean that sensors will literally be woven into the
fabric of our world.
Think of a new Internet of sensors, which will extend your
senses in ways that are difficult to imagine. Do you know where
your children are right now? Soon, your answer will always be
yes.
In fact, it’s already a mistake to think that Google only
searches web pages. Through the web, you can already access
millions of sensor readings, from radar screens and satellite
imagery to sensor data from nature preserves such as Great Duck
Island
If you have ever read a comic book, you know that gaining
superhuman powers will change your life. Peter Parker didn’t
come home with new spider powers and go on with life as usual.
These powers turned his life upside down.
Likewise, these new powers will change the course of human
history. Quickly.
Sensors will reveal the truth about our history, environment,
interactions, and universe. Just look at NBC’s Olympic coverage,
and you’ll get an idea what I mean. They can now superimpose one
ski racer’s run over his competitor, so you can see precisely
when and how one racer got the edge. No more vague generalities;
we can now see 1/100ths of a second differences between two
performances.
Knowing the truth excites some people, and terrifies others.
Just ask Superman what it’s like to have x-ray vision. Sometimes
it’s pretty depressing to know the truth.
Take a moment and look around. In less time than it will take
the Yankees to win another World Series, sensors will be in your
clothing, walls, pets, vehicles and body. Of course, you may be
an early adopter, in which case all of these are already true.
