Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Yelena, Severn and Jintana
Research Proposal
In this age of effortless digital wireless networking, it is easy to forget that networks have a physical component as well – radio signals have a limited range and are affected by their wavelength and the surrounding terrain. Analogue signals do not have the same error-tolerance as digital packet-based communications, and begin to more accurately reflect the environment they are operating in.
We are seeking to use physically-based networking between two or more processing units to “compute” the physical layout and perhaps topology of the network. Because this data is automatically recomputed with every interaction, networks can be changed easily – the software for the nodes could remain relatively simple and identical. More complex interactions could be created with nodes that are moving in relation to each other.
Using these physical networks in an architectural space could allow the designer to magnify local interactions into larger phenomena, while using actual physical data to shape the magnification. The networking process could be transparent to the human actors, creating secondary effects in addition to the primary interaction.
Physical networking, as we have described it, requires three components: a transmitter, a medium and a receptor. Possible domains include sound (low-frequency vibration, audible sound, and ultrasonic) and light (visible and invisible).
Research Agenda
Our project will address the “processing” phase of the interaction cycle. We will build two units that will be able to perform very simple communication through a medium over a short distance.
Our first experiments will use sound/vibration, transmitted through either a solid surface or through the air. Piezo transducers are an ideal starting point, because of their low power consumption, small size, and ability to both send or receive vibrations. They are easily sourced locally.
We have located two possible additional BASIC Stamp boards, from students in previous classes.
