2014年9月12日 星期五

物聯網（Internet of Things，縮寫IoT）

Taiwanese chip fab TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co) reckons its Next Big Thing is going to be, you guessed it, the Internet of Things.
The vendor, whose contract customers (such as Apple) make it a powerhouse of IC manufacturing, expects demand for microcontrollers, image sensors, WiFi and Bluetooth sensors will power its mid-term future.
Taipei Times reports that TSMC expects both its 8-inch and 12-inch wafer fabs will get work producing devices for IoT applications.
TSMC senior director John Wei is quoted as predicting that within three to five years, the IoT business model will mature enough to become a major “growth engine” for the company.
Late in August, TSMC was rumoured to be accelerating its 16nm foundry plans, with outlets like Tom's Hardware saying the company will start shipping FinFET wafers in the first quarter of 2015.
Taipei Times puts the next big step in the company's fab processes at either 10nm or 7nm technologies, which it will start using in 2017. TSMC had not yet decided whether or not those fabs would use the EUV (extreme ultraviolet) processes that got it attention earlier this year.
Unfortunately for the company, it was the wrong kind of attention: the kit the company had installed cooked because of a laser misalignment, according to reports out of Asia. ®

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/09/03/tsmc_touts_iot_as_semiconductor_growth_engine/


物聯網（Internet of Things，縮寫IOT）是一個基於網際網路、傳統電信網等信息承載體，讓所有能夠被獨立定址的普通物理對象實現互聯互通的網路。[1]物聯網一般為無線網，由於每個人周圍的設備可以達到一千至五千個，所以物聯網可能要包含500兆至一千兆個物體，在物聯網上，每個人都可以應用電子標籤將真實的物體上網聯結，在物聯網上都可以查找出它們的具體位置。通過物聯網可以用中心計算機對機器、設備、人員進行集中管理、控制，也可以對家庭設備、汽車進行遙控，以及搜尋位置、防止物品被盜等各種應用。
物聯網將現實世界Template:數位化,應用範圍十分廣泛。物聯網的應用領域主要包括以下幾個方面：運輸和物流領域、健康醫療領域、智能環境（家庭、辦公、工廠）領域、個人和社會領域等，[2]具有十分廣闊的市場和應用前景。

定義[編輯]

Ashton最初的定義是: 「就是當今的電腦以及網際網路幾乎完全依賴於人類來提供信息。網際網路上大約有50 petabytes (一個petabyte為1,024 terabytes) 的數據，其中大部分最初由人來獲取和創建的，通過打反字、錄音、照相或掃描條碼等方式。傳統的網際網路藍圖中忽略了為數最多並且最重要的節點——人。 而問題是，人的時間、精力和準確度都是有限的，他們並不適於從真實世界中截獲信息。這是一個大問題。我們生活於一個物質世界中，我們不能把虛擬的信息當做糧食吃，也不能當做柴火來燒。想法和信息很重要，但物質世界是更本質的。當今的信息技術如此依賴於人產生的信息，以至於我們的電腦更了解思想而不是物質。如果電腦能不藉助我們的幫助，就獲知物質世界中各種可以被獲取的信息，我們將能夠跟蹤和計量那些物質，極大地減少浪費、損失和消耗。我們將知曉物品何時需要更換、維修或召回，他們是新的還是過了有效期。物聯網有改變世界的潛能，就像網際網路一樣，甚至更多。」[2]

起源[編輯]

比爾·蓋茨1995年《未來之路》一書中提及物物互聯。1998年麻省理工學院提出了當時被稱作EPC系統的物聯網構想。1999年，在物品編碼，RFID技術的基礎上Auto-ID公司提出了物聯網的概念。2005年11月17日，信息世界峰會上，國際電信聯盟發布了《ITU網際網路報告2005：物聯網》，其中指出「物聯網」時代的來臨。[1]

相關技術[編輯]

地址資源[編輯]

物聯網的實現需要給每個物體分配唯一的標識或地址。最早的可定址性想法是基於RFID標籤和電子產品唯一編碼來實現的。
另一個來自語義網[3]的想法是，用現有的命名協議，如統一資源標誌符來訪問所有物品（不僅限於電子產品，智能設備和帶有RFID標籤的物品）。這些物品本身不能交談，但通過這種方式它們可以被其他節點訪問，例如一個強大的中央伺服器。
下一代網際網路將使用IPv6協議，它擁有極大數量的地址資源，使用IPv6的程序能夠和幾乎所有接入設備進行通信。這個系統將能夠識別任何一種物品[4]
GS1/EPCglobal EPC Information Services[5] (EPCIS) 是這些想法的一個綜合實踐。 這個系統被用來標識從太空、交通到消費電子領域的物品[6]

人工智慧[編輯]

環境智能和自主控制並不是物聯網最初概念的一部分。環境智能和自主控制也並不依賴於網路架構。但目前的研究趨勢是將自主控制和物聯網結合在一起[7] 在未來物聯網可能是一個非決定性的、開放的網路，其中自組織的或智能的實體和虛擬物品能夠和環境交互並基於它們各自的目的自主運行。
嵌入式智能[8]是一種基於人工智慧視角對物聯網的解釋，可以被粗略定義為：藉助於廣泛部署的智能設備來取得關於人類、環境和社會的更多信息，來強化人工智慧收集和分析人類生活軌跡的能力。

架構[編輯]

物聯網系統很可能是一個事件驅動的架構[9]，由下而上進行構建，並囊括各種子系統。因此，模型驅動和功能驅動的方式將會共存，系統能夠較容易地加入新的節點，並能夠處理意外(Multi-agent systems, B-ADSc, etc.).
在物聯網中，一個事件信息很可能不是一個預先被決定的，有確定句法結構的消息，而是一種能夠自我表達的內容：例如語義網[10] 。相應地，信息也不必要有著確定的協議來規範所有可能的內容，因為不可能存在一個「終極的規範」能夠預測所有的信息內容。那種自上而下進行的標準化是靜態的，無法適應網路動態的演化，因而也是不切實際的。在物聯網上的信息應該是能夠自我解釋的，順應一些標準，同時也能夠演化那種標準。

子系統[編輯]

物聯網中並不是所有節點都必須運行在全球層面上，比如TCP/IP層。舉例來講，很多末端感測器和執行器沒有運行TCP/IP協議棧的能力，它們通過ZigBee、現場匯流排等方式接入。這些設備通常也只有有限的地址翻譯能力和信息解析能力，為了將這些設備接入物聯網，需要某種代理設備和程序實現以下功能：在子網中用「當地語言」與設備通信；將「當地語言」和上層網路語言互譯；補足設備欠缺的接入能力。因此該類代理設備也是物聯網硬體的重要組成之一。
此外出於安全考量，家庭、辦公室、工廠等環境可能採用一個自治的物聯網子網，有限制地與全球網互連。

定位技術[編輯]

M2M[編輯]

Machine To Machine, 以雙方或是所遵循的共通標準，以訊息文字進行互動的一種機制。

與網際網路關係[編輯]

物聯網的核心和基礎仍將是網際網路。但網際網路需要一系列技術升級才能滿足物聯網的需求，例如IPv6、Web_3.0。
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2014年9月10日 星期三

Stonehenge had 'huge stone religious sibling' just two miles away



Stonehenge had 'huge stone religious sibling' just two miles away



Scientists say they had no idea massive henge of 50 stones was just two miles away
DAVID KEYS


ARCHAEOLOGY CORRESPONDENT
Wednesday 10 September 2014

Archaeologists have discovered that Stonehenge had a huge stone sibling just two miles to the north-east.
Using powerful ground-penetrating radar, which can ‘X-ray’ archaeological sites to a depth of up to four metres, investigators from Birmingham and Bradford universities and from the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute in Vienna have discovered a 330-metre long line of more than 50 massive stones, buried under part of the bank of Britain’s largest pre-historic henge.
“Up till now, we had absolutely no idea that the stones were there,” said the co-director of the investigation Professor Vince Gaffney of Birmingham University.
Investigators discovered evidence of dozens of new monuments close to StonehengeInvestigators discovered evidence of dozens of new monuments close to StonehengeThe geophysical evidence suggests that each buried stone is roughly three metres long and 1.5 metres wide and is positioned horizontally, not vertically, in its earthen matrix.
However, it’s conceivable that they originally stood vertically in the ground like other standing stones in Britain. It is thought that they were probably brought to the site shortly before 2500BC.
They seem to have formed the southern arm of a c-shaped ritual ‘enclosure’, the rest of which was made up of an artificially scarped natural elevation in the ground.
The c-shaped enclosure – more than 330 metres wide and over 400 metres long – faced directly towards the River Avon. The monument was later converted from a c-shaped to a roughly circular enclosure, now known as Durrington Walls – Britain’s largest pre-historic henge, roughly 12 times the size of Stonehenge itself.
The ground-penetrating radar can detect archaeological sites to a depth of four metresThe ground-penetrating radar can detect archaeological sites to a depth of four metresAs a religious complex, it would almost certainly have had a deeply spiritual and ritual connection with the river. But precisely why is a complete mystery, although it is possible that that particular stretch of water was regarded as a deity.
The discovery of the buried stones is part of a much wider archaeological investigation into Stonehenge’s sacred landscape.
A two-part special BBC Two documentary (Operation Stonehenge: What Lies Beneath), being shown this Thursday evening and next Thursday, is set to reveal the details of many of the investigation’s new discoveries.
As well as revealing the previously unknown stones of Durrington Walls, the Anglo-Austrian-led investigation has succeeded in locating more than 60 other previously unknown pre-historic monuments.
“It shows that, in terms of temples and shrines, Stonehenge was far from being alone,” said Professor Gaffney.
Using ground-penetrating radar, magnetometry and other geophysical techniques to peer beneath the landscape’s surface, archaeologists have found around 17 other henge-like Neolithic and Bronze Age religious monuments, each between 10 and 30 metres in diameter. Some may well have consisted of circles of large timber posts – wooden equivalents of conventional prehistoric stone circles.
But the archaeologists have also discovered around 20 large and enigmatic ritual pits – each up to five metres in diameter.

Click HERE to view full-size version of graphic
They have also discovered more than half a dozen previously unknown Bronze Age burial mounds – and four Iron Age shrines or tombs, as well as half a dozen Bronze Age and Iron Age domestic or livestock enclosures.
In total, some 4.5 square miles of buried landscape has been surveyed by the joint Birmingham/Vienna team in an exercise that has taken four years to complete.
Now the archaeologists plan to analyse the new data – in order to work out how all the newly discovered prehistoric monuments related to each other.
Using avatar-based computer models, they are hoping to tease out exactly how Neolithic and Bronze Age people used Stonehenge’s landscape.
Initial results suggest that some of the newly discovered shrines and other monuments grew up along processional ways or pilgrimage routes in Stonehenge’s sacred landscape.
The 4.5 square mile survey is the largest of its kind ever carried out anywhere in the world.
The large variety of ‘x-ray’ style techniques used have included more than half a dozen different systems.
Magnetometry and electro-magnetic induction have been used to map underground features by firing electro magnetic energy into the ground and then measuring the inter-action of that energy with subterranean features such as buried pits, ditches and stones.
Earth resistance and electrical resistivity imaging have gathered data on underground features by firing electrical energy into the ground and measuring differences in sub-surface resistance to it.
A fifth technique, magnetic susceptibility analysis, helps archaeologists detect buried layers of burnt material, which often indicate ancient human activity. The system works because naturally occurring iron oxides in the ground can become magnetized through the process of being burnt. A final technique, microgravimetry, can also help detect subterranean features, especially cavities – by measuring tiny differences in local gravitational fields.
The four year investigation into what lies beneath Stonehenge’s landscape has been carried out jointly by four UK universities (Birmingham, Bradford, St. Andrews and Nottingham) and two continental European institutions – the University of Ghent in Belgium and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute in Austria.
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