'Open Source' Hardware Lets Users Build Devices
A company has developed a hardware platform that lets users build multiple devices and design applications for them with relative ease, an approach that has attracted considerable attention in technology circles.
Bug Labs' BUG platform is a collection of electronic modules that snap together to form numerous custom-built, single-purpose or multifunction gadgets such as cameras and PDAs.
Thus far, the items constructed by Bug Labs (www.buglabs.net) or "built" by the public via a software developer's kit and hardware emulators include FlickrUppr, a camera that plots the location of a photographed scene on a map and uploads the shot to the Flickr photo-sharing website; GPStodo, a location-based reminder service; and AIMMotionNotifier, which notifies users via an AOL instant message if a motion detector in their home or office has activated.
Bug Labs has developed a platform consisting of several modules that users can connect to a minicomputer base (bottom) to easily build many different types of single-purpose or multifunction devices, such as cameras and PDAs. The platform also lets users download or design applications for the devices with relative ease. The product has garnered considerable attention in technology circles. At the heart of the new platform is the BUGbase, a Linux-based minicomputer that users can open and modify. Both the hardware and software are provided under the Free Software Foundation's GNU public license (www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html).
The BUGbase is the size of a PDA and has four ports to which users can add BUGmodules. The ports are hot-pluggable, so the computer automatically discovers modules when connected, explained Ken Gilmer, Bug Labs' head of software development.
The battery-powered computer has a 532-MHz processor, 128 Mbytes of RAM, and 64 Mbytes of hard-drive storage. It has mini-USB and serial Ethernet connections and a multimedia-memory-card slot.
There is also a panel with a display and hot keys for controlling the BUGbase and devices built via the platform.
"An upcoming version of the BUGbase will have Wi-Fi built in," said Bug Labs founder and CEO Peter Semmelhack.
The company is taking advance orders for BUGbases and four modules, slated to ship by 17 March. The modules include a touch-screen LCD, a motion sensor/accelerometer, a 2-megapixel digital camera, and a GPS device.
Later this year, Bug Labs plans to release audio input/output and mini-QWERTY-keyboard modules.
The team has begun work on about 80 modules for eventual development, including a wireless modem, an RFID reader, a weather station, and a game controller. "We plan on launching four to 10 modules per quarter," said Semmelhack.
Users can download existing applications for their new devices via the BUGnet online community, or they can build applications by working with Bug Labs' Dragonfly integrated development environment, said Gilmer. They can develop applications on the BUGbase itself or on a PC for subsequent downloading via a cable to the BUGbase.
Carl D. Howe, director of enterprise software research for the Yankee Group, a market research firm, said Bug Labs' approach is "gadget development by social network. Rather than trying to develop the next cool gadget for consumers, they are taking the Web 2.0 approach: have consumers build the gadget they want for themselves."
The BUGbase will cost $299 for early adopters and subsequently will be $349. BUGmodules' prices range from $59 to $119.
Howe said it remains to be seen whether the BUG platform takes off beyond typical high-tech do-it-yourselfers.
"The problem is that not many consumers actually write software," he explained. "So, like many other technologies, this one will have to wait for the community to develop its own BUG killer app. And as we all know, killer apps are few and far between."
Researcher Develops Fast Wireless Data-Transfer Approach
A Georgia Tech University scientist has developed a wireless technology that uses very high radio frequencies to move large files over short distances.
SM radio technology, developed by professor Joy Laskar and colleagues at the Georgia Electronic Design Center, could send files such as high-definition video, iPod audio libraries, or big data sets between wireless devices or between mobile and fixed machines.
The SM technique (SM stands for single-in single-out[SISO], multiple-in multiple-out [MIMO]) could work with devices that send or receive multimedia, such as flat-panel displays, camcorders, high-resolution digital cameras, and media players.
People frequently use Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to send relatively small amounts of data between devices, but neither can quickly transfer large files because of their low bandwidth.
"We provide up to 15 Gbits per second of throughput," Laskar noted. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi offer 3 and 540 Mbps, respectively, although they have maximum transmission ranges of 100 and 70 meters, compared to SM radio's 10 meters.
The new approach uses the unlicensed 60-GHz spectrum. Bluetooth uses the 2.4 GHz band, and Wi-Fi's different flavors use frequencies from 2.4 to 5.825 GHz. The 60-GHz spectrum has approximately 7 GHz of available bandwidth, compared to Wi-Fi's 3 MHz and Bluetooth's 20 MHz.
Specialized radios have long used high-frequency signals. However, they have been bulky and expensive, primarily because they use large, separate antennas that make the overall unit bigger.
The Georgia Tech researchers used complementary metal-oxide semiconductor technology to develop a low-cost, low-power radio module. In the process, they used advanced silicon integration to embed the antenna within the module, further reducing the unit's size and cost.
The SM radios use specially designed signal processing to reduce the power consumed by analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversions. This minimizes overall energy usage, according to Laskar.
The technology uses both SISO, which uses one antenna at both the transmitter and receiver, and MIMO, which uses multiple antennas at both the transmitter and receiver to improve communication performance, where appropriate.
More work remains to be done to achieve even higher data rates and longer transmission ranges, develop appropriate protocols, work on beam-forming and beam-steering approaches using antenna arrays, and improve component integration on a single piece of silicon, explained M. Kursat Kimyacioglu, Philips Research of North America's director of wireless business development.
He predicted that prototypes of products using SM radio will be available by the end of this year. Numerous companies, including Philips Electronics, have expressed interest in the technology, he added.
Haptic Vest Makes Games More Realistic
A company has developed a haptic vest that lets wearers feel the impact of punches, kicks, explosions, gravitational pulls, and other forces related to actions that occur while playing games.
TN Games' 3rd Space FPS vest is designed to improve game playing by adding a haptic component to the sight and sound effects already present, noted CEO Mark Ombrellaro.
He said most haptic gaming devices create vibrations or joystick resistance, which are not necessarily similar to the event they are supposed to be enhancing. For example, he explained, a vibration would feel nothing like a bullet impact and would not occur where the gunshot is supposed to hit the player.
This is not the case with the 3rd Space vest, which consists of multiple nylon layers, pneumatic actuators, control valves, and electronics.
The 2.5-pound vest links to a PC—and thus to compatible games that have the necessary drivers—via a USB cable, which also transmits power. The product also connects via an eight-foot hose to a compressor capable of delivering 30 pounds per square inch of air pressure via valves to the actuators.
The FPS vest, designed to work with shooting and combat games, has eight impact zones, four each on the front and back.
The various effects occur through the interaction of the pneumatic actuators and the software, which identifies the desired type and location of sensations based on the type of weapon being used and the players' status, Ombrellaro explained.
"The active zone scan deliver up to five pounds of force. Players say the bullets feel like pokes," he said. "It's hard enough to notice but not hard enough to cause a bruise."
The vest is bundled with TN Games' 3rd Space Incursion and Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 2. In addition, the company has developed software to let the vest function with Quake 4 and Doom 3 by id Software. The vest also offers drivers for several other games.
TN Games is developing a version of the vest that can work with game consoles, instead of just PCs.
Later this year, the company plans to release the GFR vest for automobile-racing and flight games. This product will operate like the FPS vest but will have a total of six impact zones on the front, back, and each side to give the sensations all around the body associated with acceleration, deceleration, and centrifugal forces.
TN Games also is working on haptic helmets and leg devices to create a full-body system, Ombrellaro said.
"I believe it could be successful in the marketplace, but the market would be small and grows lowly over time," said Ted Pollak, a senior analyst with Jon Peddie Research.
Wanda Meloni, senior technology analyst at DFC Intelligence, said that the vest technology has potential but that "the price is still relatively high. While the idea of additional sensory stimulation has been of interest for some time, these types of devices tend to distract from the gameplay. From a developer's standpoint, if there is any additional work required, it typically doesn't get a lot of support."
News Briefs written by Linda Dailey Paulson, a free lance technology writer based in Ventura, California. Contact her at ldpaulson@yahoo.com.
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