Re: Controllerless distributed automation

["Paul Gordon" <paul_gordon@xxxxxxx>]

Hi David,


>
>Yep, it's one of the basic problems that I need to solve.  I can either
>predefine the "relevance relationships" of device types, but
that might
>lead to limitations in what the system can do, or I can design the
>system to figure it out for itself, which will probably be impossible
to
>do effectively.  These initial design choices are going to be the
>hardest and most important - and the hardest.

I'd have to agree!


>
>
>I agree that occupancy sensing is a key part of any effective system,
>and is one of those problems just waiting for a good, cheap solution.
>To me it seems fundamental for ensuring the system is delivering the
>right services in the right places at the right times.
>

Absolutely and totally agree 100% !! - which makes it so much more a shame
that no-ones effectively and economically done it yet!!


>I've been interested for a while in the Bik RF systems, but they're no
>longer being produced commercially (AFAIK) so that's maybe not a real
>option now.  I did hear he'd put the designs into the public domain for
>hobby or non- profit use, so I might have a look at them and se if
>there's any potential in them.
>

I'm not familiar with that, - is it some "badge" system that
tracks the
wearer?


>
>That's true, but the question I'm trying to resolve is how much
>knowledge does it need, and how can I represent it effectively.  I need
>to reduce all the different forms of information down to their lowest
or
>simplest forms, and then build a knowledge base from them.  All a bit
>vague at the moment, but discussing it makes me think things through a
>bit more carefully.
>

It's going to be tricky, I can see....


>
>Well, it wasn't entirely frivolous.  Having watched Moore's law in
>action for the past 25 or so years, I can confidently predict that
>within 5 years time I'll be able to buy a microcontroller running at
>about 200 MHz, with at least 256K of memory, and probably for around
£20
>or less.  The 1 gig chip won't take much longer after that.
>
>Of course you'll get the "why would you need all that power?"
perennial
>question, but there are always newer applications, smarter ideas and
>clever ways to do things which just soak up every drop of processing
>resource you have.  You can _never_ have too much power :-)

Again very true!

>
>
>Well, I'm not sure I'll succeed, but I'll give it a try.  I've got a
>fair bit of relevant (and irrelevant) experience from various jobs
doing
>things like embedded systems, production line automation, distributed
>interactive simulation, and video game development, and there are a lot
>of ideas and techniques I've picked up over the years which might be of
>some use.
>

Sounds like you're pretty well placed to tackle these problems then, so I
wish you well - keep us informed how you progress, as I'm pretty interested
in some of these ideas as well... - If you want to bounce any ideas
around....


>At least I should be able to design a really flashy user interface for
>it if nothing else :-)
>
Well, who can't do without one of those! :)

Paul G.

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