Sensors make fewer headlines than computers or communications systems, but technological developments in this field are dynamic and multi-faceted. Sensors used to rely on electro-mechanical components to measure physical properties. Now sensors are going digital. Their electro-mechanical components are being implemented in silicon via a technology known as MEMS or silicon. MEMS technology is also evolving the science of mechanical actuators (the muscles and hands of the digital nervous system).

Perhaps the biggest change in sensor technology involves communications. Now sensors are beginning to incorporate a standard communications interface (called TEDS or IEEE1451) that enables them to automatically identify themselves and describe their functions as soon as they are plugged into a network. Some sensors also incorporate wireless data transmission capabilities. Wired or wireless, smart sensors are designed for Internet compatibility. Increasingly, the host system to which they provide real-time information about the physical world will not be a stand-alone computer in a lab, or even a network in a corporation, but the expanding digital nervous system linking interested users all over the planet.

The entertainment "Internet Appliance" (TV, DVD, CD, Web, etc) we could access from the mobile phone at home or on the move, and this would bring us new forms of media, multimedia, and services. We could expand these virtual worlds with increased interactivity and user participation enabled by new embedded sensors and mobile devices. In other words, users will soon be plugging themselves into some aspect of the digital nervous system in order to enjoy new forms of entertainment and business.

The convergence of computer, communications, MEMS and sensor technologies is speeding the development and deployment of a digital nervous system that will have a profound impact on the way we live, interact and conduct business activities. Companies who understand the power and potential of this evolving system have large opportunities to develop innovative products and services, and equally large responsibilities to ensure that the digital nervous system serves "humane" and "positive goals".

Mark Bower

Director, NextWave.IT Ltd

www.nextwaveit.biz