In an earlier blog post I spoke about what I believe the future of civil engineering to be, responsive structures, and Android@Home has the potential to tie a responsive building integrally into one's lifestyle. In essence, Android@Home is a bridge between enabled devices of any kind to a control device. Hearkening back to my previous post, there is a new breed of structure sensor arrays that can monitor a structure's health in real-time. I can envision, in the near future, an integration of those sensors with a technology such as the Android@Home. Allowing homeowners to integrate their physical home into their daily lives. For example, a security system integrated with structural sensors can determine if there is anyone in the home when there shouldn't be, even more, it should be able to determine how many and where they are in the home directly to the police in real-time. This same issue, taken from a residential perspective to a commercial one.
Imagine if you would, this same technology deployed in a multi-storied structure like an office or apartment building and a fire breaks out. The local fire department can have intelligent information on the structural integrity of the building before, and while, firefighters arrive on scene and enter the building. Additionally, thermal sensors integrated within the structure can pin-point the presence of fire concentrations allowing fire fighters to focus their efforts. Changing an profession based primarily on gut-feeling to one with managed risk.
With respect to civil engineering, this scenario of monitoring a building under failure conditions alone could prove invaluable. Engineers imagine how structures react under such cases but the truth is, there is currently no real way to model such events. The data gathered by real-time monitoring of real world structure failing could yield new insights into mitigating or preventing failure completely. For example, though it may be in poor taste, take the example of the World Trade Center towers, it wasn't until months of engineering review later that we knew exactly how and why the building yielded. If this technology were deployed then, authorities on scene could potentially have seen the structure approaching failure and evacuated, mitigating the disaster.
Android@Home envisions this world, where anyone with authorization can access all of this information with a tablet, computer or smart phone. This review of Google's news does not broach on the subject of security or personal information intentionally, though it is a given that in a world where more information is becoming recorded and monitored management of that information will be come a serious priority.
With respect to civil engineering, this scenario of monitoring a building under failure conditions alone could prove invaluable. Engineers imagine how structures react under such cases but the truth is, there is currently no real way to model such events. The data gathered by real-time monitoring of real world structure failing could yield new insights into mitigating or preventing failure completely. For example, though it may be in poor taste, take the example of the World Trade Center towers, it wasn't until months of engineering review later that we knew exactly how and why the building yielded. If this technology were deployed then, authorities on scene could potentially have seen the structure approaching failure and evacuated, mitigating the disaster.
Android@Home envisions this world, where anyone with authorization can access all of this information with a tablet, computer or smart phone. This review of Google's news does not broach on the subject of security or personal information intentionally, though it is a given that in a world where more information is becoming recorded and monitored management of that information will be come a serious priority.
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