Ubiquitous computing

Ubiquitous computing

1. Ubiquitous means "everywhere". Computer technology is being embedded into every day objects to make our lives easier. Ubiquitous computing really benefits us when things happen automatically. A real life example of ubiquitous computing is a cat's collar that interacts with the cat flap! The collar has an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) chip in it. The cat flap is constantly scanning for RFID chips and as soon as one that it recognises comes in to range, it unlocks itself and allows the right cat through. It remains locked to all other cats. Why is this useful? Well it means that other cats can't come in to your house and steal your cat's food. An example rfid chip on a cat's collar.

2. Ubiquitous computing is extremely useful for companies with large stock warehouses or lots of perishable goods that need to be out of the warehouse, into the shops and off the shelves. The impact of using ubiquitous computing for companies like Tesco is that they can automate their stock control process. They can keep track of the number of items they have in their warehouses and shops and they can automatically count when items are bought and leave their shops. This helps them to automatically re-order items. Their use of ubiquitous computing helps accuracy of stock control as well. The impact of this is that they can see when items are popular at certain times of the year. For example, they can see that they sell lots of chocolate in the lead up to easter. They can accurately see how much chocolate they sold in past years and make sure they order a similar ammount. The impact of this is that they won't lose money by over-buying chocolate and having to throw a lot away.

3. Ubiquitous Computing and the Future

   • So far we've seen how ubiquitous computing helps businesses to track their stock and therefore save money. But what about the future? Well the future of ubiquitous computing is only really limited by our imaginations. Try to imagine this scenario: You arrive home from work and your garage senses that your car is approaching so it opens the garage door and turns on the light. Your house has learned that you normally arrive home at this time so two hours ago it put the heating on ready for your return. Not too hot though because it can sense the outside temperature. As you pull into your garage, your cooker turns on to warm the oven, ready for you to cook your evening meal. You walk in through the front door and your robot dog approaches and lets you pass because it knows it's you. (You laugh but this is available right now). Your house scans your clothing as well. As you have RFID chips in your shirt, your house can tell that you are in good physical health so it doesn't need to