Marking Period 2
11/12/08 Dan Trujillo comments/responses due 11/19/08
11/19/08 Nick DeGiacomo comments/responses due 11/26/08
12/10/08 Jon Filipe comments/responses due 12/17/08
12/17/08 David Aquino comments/responses due 12/22/08* before Christmas Break
1/7/09 Dan Trujillo comments/responses due 11/14/09
1/14/09 Nick DeGiacomo comments/responses due 1/21/09
Marking Period 3
2/4/09 Jon Filipe comments/responses due 2/11/09
2/11/09 David Aquino comments/responses due 2/25/09 *extra week due to Feb Break
2/25/09 Dan Trujillo comments/responses due 3/4/09
3/4/09 Nick DeGiacomo comments/responses due 3/11/09
3/11/09 Jon Filipe comments/responses due 3/18/09
3/18/09 David Aquino comments/responses due 3/25/09
3/25/09 Dan Trujillo comments/responses due 4/1/09
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Linxter
This week I decided to switch it up a little and blog about a rapidly growing Middleware software named Linxter. If you don't know what Middleware is, it's software that consists of numerous enabling services that allow applications and software components to be connected. It works as a middle-man, working between the operating system and applications.
Linxter is a new solution to many developers. Once launched it will allow programs to send messages across no matter where, or what platform it is on. Linxter's focus in addition to being reliable and secure is ease of use. According to their website "Linxter has been designed so that developers with only one to two years of experience can master the technology in less than a day."
Linxter will help companies of all sizes. Seperate from saving precious man-hours that could go into other activites, the cost of implementing Linxter is minor when compared to creating and maintaining their own basic infrastructure. Linxter is the future of data distribution, anything connected to the internet will be able to connect to any other device running linxter.
Linxter is a new solution to many developers. Once launched it will allow programs to send messages across no matter where, or what platform it is on. Linxter's focus in addition to being reliable and secure is ease of use. According to their website "Linxter has been designed so that developers with only one to two years of experience can master the technology in less than a day."
Linxter will help companies of all sizes. Seperate from saving precious man-hours that could go into other activites, the cost of implementing Linxter is minor when compared to creating and maintaining their own basic infrastructure. Linxter is the future of data distribution, anything connected to the internet will be able to connect to any other device running linxter.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Now You See It and Now You Don't
Ever since the days of Houdini, the master magician, people have been trying to emulate ways of becoming invisible and disappearing out of thin air. This quest for finding a way to appear invisible to the human eye has been going on for years, in which scientists have tried to develop invisibility cloaks that project the images around them. However, it seems most, if not all, of these developments have failed in some way until now.
Since last November there has been announcements of an "invisibility shield", created by David R. Smith of Duke University and colleagues. The researches have managed to divert microwaves around what they are calling a "hole in space". What is unique about these structures is that it can manipulate electromagnetic radiation, which includes light, in certain ways so that it will not be visible in nature. How is this possible? Through the usage of metamaterials. Metamaterials can have the unique ability to affect electromagnetic waves which it interacts with, as long as the structural features are smaller than the wavelenght of the electromagnetic radiation it interacts with. For visible light, the structures are generally half or less than half the size of visible light (less than 280 nanometers). So in effect light waves are transmitted around the area, creating a hole, in which an object can be placed and become invisible.
The research groups has been able to successfully experiment at microwave frequencies, due to the already established techniques. Now the only question becomes whether it will be able to eliminate the reflection of visible light. Only time will tell as David R. Smith and his colleagues continue their research in this innovative method to "shield" objects from visible light.
Since last November there has been announcements of an "invisibility shield", created by David R. Smith of Duke University and colleagues. The researches have managed to divert microwaves around what they are calling a "hole in space". What is unique about these structures is that it can manipulate electromagnetic radiation, which includes light, in certain ways so that it will not be visible in nature. How is this possible? Through the usage of metamaterials. Metamaterials can have the unique ability to affect electromagnetic waves which it interacts with, as long as the structural features are smaller than the wavelenght of the electromagnetic radiation it interacts with. For visible light, the structures are generally half or less than half the size of visible light (less than 280 nanometers). So in effect light waves are transmitted around the area, creating a hole, in which an object can be placed and become invisible.
The research groups has been able to successfully experiment at microwave frequencies, due to the already established techniques. Now the only question becomes whether it will be able to eliminate the reflection of visible light. Only time will tell as David R. Smith and his colleagues continue their research in this innovative method to "shield" objects from visible light.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Privacy??
Ever wonder if someone is watching you and you have no idea who it is? Ever think that your safe in your own home? Thanks to Darpa the Defense Department's way-out research arm, is looking to develop a suite of tools for "external sensing deep inside buildings." The ultimate goal of this Harnessing Infrastructure for Building Reconnaissance (HIBR) project: "reverse the adversaries' advantage of urban familiarity and sanctuary and provide U.S. Forces with complete above- and below-ground awareness. They would be able to see a full blueprint of the building and also track people inside these buildings. These bluepritnts are not limited to electrical, plumbing, and ventilation systems.
Darpa's research uses a kind of radar to scan structures. The problem is not sending the radio frequency (RF) energy in. It's making sense of the data produced from all the reflected signals that come back. The system also must filter a large amount of RF propagation in the form of randomly reflected signals. Although radar technologies exist that can track people in adjacent rooms, it is much more difficult to map an entire building.
Darpa's research uses a kind of radar to scan structures. The problem is not sending the radio frequency (RF) energy in. It's making sense of the data produced from all the reflected signals that come back. The system also must filter a large amount of RF propagation in the form of randomly reflected signals. Although radar technologies exist that can track people in adjacent rooms, it is much more difficult to map an entire building.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Wireless Power
Has your cell phone battery ever died on you because you forgot to plug it into the charger the night before? How does a wireless power source sound that can charge your phone as soon as you walk into your house. A few years ago, Marin Soljačić, an assistant physics professor at MIT, was woken up by the insistent beeping of his cell phone. Since he was so exhausted, he wished that the phone would charge by itself as soon as it was brought into his house. After that day Soljačić tried to find ways to transmit power wirelessly that could charge--or even power--portable devices such as cell phones, PDAs, and laptops.
So far, the most effective setup consists of 60-centimeter copper coils and a 10-megahertz magnetic field; this transfers power over a distance of two meters with about 50 percent efficiency. The team is looking at silver and other materials to decrease coil size and boost efficiency. "While ideally it would be nice to have efficiencies at 100 percent, realistically, 70 to 80 percent could be possible for a typical application," says Soljačić.
So far, the most effective setup consists of 60-centimeter copper coils and a 10-megahertz magnetic field; this transfers power over a distance of two meters with about 50 percent efficiency. The team is looking at silver and other materials to decrease coil size and boost efficiency. "While ideally it would be nice to have efficiencies at 100 percent, realistically, 70 to 80 percent could be possible for a typical application," says Soljačić.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Wave Power
Going green is an increasingly hot trend nowadays with not only the growing risk of global warming, but also the cost of oil. When I think of renewable "green" energy, like the most of us, its likely limited to the more well known sources such as solar, wind and hydro power (geothermal if you want to delve deeper). One source that has seemingly escaped the main stream however, is wave power. That is what the Pelamis Wave Power Limited, the worlds first commercial wave power project, seeks to harness.
Three miles off the coast of Agucadoura in Portugal, three Pelamis Wave Energy Converters (PWEC) have recently been inaugurated. Each machine is a semi-submerged structure composed of cylindrical sections linked by hinged joints. Current converters are 140m long and 3.5m in diameter, each is rated at 750kW.
Phase two of the $13 million project seeks to install twenty five machines, this would bring the capacity up to 21 MW. Once the project is completed, it is expected to displace more than 60,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year, all the while powering more than 15,000 Portuguese homes. Due to Portugal's geographical location, Portugal's State Secretariat for Industry and Innovation have predicted wave power to account up to thirty percent of the country's gross domestic product by 2050.
Large wave farms could yield as much as three times the energy production of wind turbines of the same cost. This has led to interest from other countries. Scottish Executive Enterprise Minister Nicol Stephen announced that money has already been set aside for the installation of PWECs at the European Marine Energy Center in Orkney. According to Friends of the Earth chief executive Duncan McLaren, wave and tidal power could supply a fifth of the U.K.'s energy needs.
http://www.pelamiswave.com/
Three miles off the coast of Agucadoura in Portugal, three Pelamis Wave Energy Converters (PWEC) have recently been inaugurated. Each machine is a semi-submerged structure composed of cylindrical sections linked by hinged joints. Current converters are 140m long and 3.5m in diameter, each is rated at 750kW.
Phase two of the $13 million project seeks to install twenty five machines, this would bring the capacity up to 21 MW. Once the project is completed, it is expected to displace more than 60,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year, all the while powering more than 15,000 Portuguese homes. Due to Portugal's geographical location, Portugal's State Secretariat for Industry and Innovation have predicted wave power to account up to thirty percent of the country's gross domestic product by 2050.
Large wave farms could yield as much as three times the energy production of wind turbines of the same cost. This has led to interest from other countries. Scottish Executive Enterprise Minister Nicol Stephen announced that money has already been set aside for the installation of PWECs at the European Marine Energy Center in Orkney. According to Friends of the Earth chief executive Duncan McLaren, wave and tidal power could supply a fifth of the U.K.'s energy needs.
http://www.pelamiswave.com/
Friday, September 19, 2008
LHC Computing Grid
The LHC Computing Grid is a distribution network that was built to store, analyse, and distribute massive amounts of data provided by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN (Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire [European Council for Nuclear Research])near Geneva. This data includes velocities, images of microscopic size in videos that capture each nanosecond, and other statistical data to study the molecule reactions in the LHC. The LHC itself will produce roughly 15 Petabytes of data annually, which thousands of scientists around the world will access. In order to distribute this information over the Internet, which has never been accomplished at this scale, the computing grid will utilize private fiver optic cable links and already existing high-speed portions of public Internet.
The data that is streamed into the Net at approximately 300 GB/s, which is then later filtered for "interesting events", which result into a "raw data" stream of about 300 MB/s. This data will be distributed around the world, according to a four-tiered model. The CERN computer center, considered "Tier 0" which has a 10GB/s connection to the counting room is used as a primary backup of the data. After the initial processing has been finished, the data will be distributed to a series of Tier-1 centers, which constitute of large computer centers with sufficient storage capacity and round-the-clock support for the Grid.
The data from Tier-1 centers will be able to Tier-2 centers, that consist of one or many collaborating computing facilities, which can store sufficient data and provide adequate computing power for suficient compute analysis tasks. Finally, individual scientists will access the data from these Tier-2 centers through Tier-3 computing resources. These consist of local clusters in a University Department or even individual PCs.
The LHC Computer Grid allows the internet to distribute data at new levels for users.This new system allows computer users to access Petabytes of data from the comfort of their own computer.
Diagram of LHC Computer Grid: http://www.sciam.com/media/inline/5B5F475B-ECAF-2FA0-ACACF46F8491EB2D_2.jpg
The data that is streamed into the Net at approximately 300 GB/s, which is then later filtered for "interesting events", which result into a "raw data" stream of about 300 MB/s. This data will be distributed around the world, according to a four-tiered model. The CERN computer center, considered "Tier 0" which has a 10GB/s connection to the counting room is used as a primary backup of the data. After the initial processing has been finished, the data will be distributed to a series of Tier-1 centers, which constitute of large computer centers with sufficient storage capacity and round-the-clock support for the Grid.
The data from Tier-1 centers will be able to Tier-2 centers, that consist of one or many collaborating computing facilities, which can store sufficient data and provide adequate computing power for suficient compute analysis tasks. Finally, individual scientists will access the data from these Tier-2 centers through Tier-3 computing resources. These consist of local clusters in a University Department or even individual PCs.
The LHC Computer Grid allows the internet to distribute data at new levels for users.This new system allows computer users to access Petabytes of data from the comfort of their own computer.
Diagram of LHC Computer Grid: http://www.sciam.com/media/inline/5B5F475B-ECAF-2FA0-ACACF46F8491EB2D_2.jpg
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Due Dates for Blog Posts
9/23/08 Dan Trujillo comments/responses due 10/1/08
10/1/08 Nick DeGiacomo comments/responses due 10/8/08
10/8/08 Jay Rosenberg comments/responses due 10/15/08
10/15/08 Jon Filipe comments/responses due 10/22/08
10/22/08 David Aquino comments/responses due 10/29/08
10/1/08 Nick DeGiacomo comments/responses due 10/8/08
10/8/08 Jay Rosenberg comments/responses due 10/15/08
10/15/08 Jon Filipe comments/responses due 10/22/08
10/22/08 David Aquino comments/responses due 10/29/08
Monday, September 15, 2008
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