6May/100
“Smart Dust” Will Revolutionize Security Monitoring
The first steps towards building a "Central Nervous System for the Earth" are about to be taken by Hewlett-Packard (HP) according to a recent article on CNN. See the article here: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/05/03/smart.dust.sensors/index.html The concept for an easily distributable system of rice sized sensors is attributed to the thinking of UC Berkley computer scientist, Kris Pister. Pister imagined these sensors, which he named "smart dust," would eventually be sprinkled across the globe to provide real-time monitoring of everything from traffic to ecosystem health. An HP researcher has announced plans to distribute 1 million sensors over six square miles to aid Royal Dutch Shell in oil exploration by monitoring rock vibrations and movement. The HP sensors are about the size of a matchbook and are encased in an enclosure the size of an old VHS tape. That is bigger than a grain of rice but we all remember what the first cell phones looked like, right? http://www.oaktreeent.com/web_photos/Telephones/SouthWestern_Bell_Motorola_Brick_Cell_phone_web.jpg The article does not devote much time to the potential security monitoring applications of this technology but the possibilities are endless. Rather than waiting for a motion detection system to detect someone who has already entered a building, a company could deploy sensors (with cameras) that would observe a person's movements from the moment they walked onto the campus. One can easily imagine what a boon this could be to the security monitoring industry. In the future, in addition to dispatching guards to investigate unusual vibrations along the fence line, the central station might also dispatch maintenance based on an alarm that tells them that the flowers need watering.
Reliant Security provides real-time security solutions to clients throughout the western United States.
Sincerely, Matthew Cooper, CPP VP Reliant Security
