Random Thoughts
If you're reading this, I would like to point you to the comments that have been submited to some of my posts. In particular, I hope you take the time to read those from Jon in the UK. I don't know Jon personally, but I am quickly learning to appreciate his level of knowledge and I sincerely appreciate the time he takes to respond. If you haven't done so yet, take a moment to review his comments. You'll be glad you did!
Now for some random thoughts for this week. First, I've been considering how video surveillance will fare in the 'green environments'. In Sun's case, our video surveillance infrastructure, based on our x64 server line and storage products addresses the 'need for green' through the reduced power requirements and footprint, our lifecycle management methodology of using less costly storage meda for long term archival and using tools to conserve energy by shutting down disks not in use. I've included an interesting statement from a colleague regarding this topic. He is a senior engineer in our video surveillance lab.
"If energy conservation became part of the design requirements, we could cite the use of DTPower for spinning down disks that aren't being used, and cite the use of tape because tape in storage uses no power. We could even cite the use of solid state storage that uses 1/7th the power of SATA disks ... The latter idea invites the use of the [Sun Fire] X4540 where a portion of the 48 SATA disks could be used for short-term storage (say 7 days), the balance of the disks for, say 30 day or more storage, external common storage (using a J4400 or J4500) to add the number of days on disk, and tape archive for long-term storage that is also scalable to the number of years required to store content. Sun offers a unique solution that includes an ability to incorporate storage solutions that are transparent to the end-user. Adding energy conservation to that capability makes it that much more compelling in my opinion. "
My colleague's comments may be a bit more technical for some audiences, but hopefully you get the gist of his thoughts related to 'green'.
Another random thought is focused on the idea of 'smart cameras'. Just what is it that makes an inanament object smart? We have smart phones, smart cards, now smart cameras. Off to my trusty wikipedia as a reference to find the scoop on smart cameras. I'll admit to you that I did learn a lot just reading through this one site. The component list was far more extensive than I had even begun to realize:
"A Smart Camera usually consists of several (but not necessarily all) of the following components:
- Image sensor (matrix or linear, CCD- or CMOS)
- Image digitization circuitry
- Image memory
- processor (often a DSP or suitably powerful processor)
- program- and data memory (RAM, nonvolatile FLASH)
- Communication interface (RS232, Ethernet)
- I/O lines (often optoisolated)
- Lens holder or built in lens (usually C, CS or M-mount)
- Built in illumination device (usually LED)
A video output (e.g. VGA or SVGA) may be an option for a Smart Camera."
I have always referred to the IP camera as another device on the network, but until now I hadn't really realized to what degree that is true. These are certainly devices that are mini computers with a virtual eye. Even more interesting is this list of applications for smart cameras (still from the wikipedia site):
"Typical fields of application are:
- automated inspection for quality assurance (detection of defects, flaws, missing parts...)
- non contact measurements.
- part sorting and identification.
- code reading and verification (barcode, Data Matrix, alphanumeric etc.)
- web inspection (inspection of continuously flowing materials such as coils, tubes, wires, extruded plastic) for defect detection and dimensional gauging.
- detection of position and rotation of parts for robot guidance and automated picking
- unattended surveillance (detection of intruders, fire or smoke detection)
- biometric recognition and access control (face, fingerprint, iris recognition)
- visual sensor networks "
Here are some interesting sources of real life smart camera uses such as a "vision-based traffic-monitoring and control system" found at the visionsystems site and the article the San Francisco Chronicle regarding 'smart' cameras in Richmond.
Enjoy the rest of your week!
