WPAN as innovation?

Allin Kahrl qbject at gmail.com
Fri Apr 15 11:29:24 EDT 2011


Jon-
Thanks much for adding all that. I hadn't really tuned in to Ben-WPAN
until recently, and now I feel like I understand why it's so exciting
(especially knowing how asymmetric Werner's workshop is against
conventional commercial R&D environments).

I have one request: Is there a citation we can add to the "dark ages"
statement at http://en.qi-hardware.com/wiki/Ben_WPAN#Is_freedom_really_innovation?_As_in_we_have_the_freedom_to_make_our_own_WPAN?
This sounds like an essential bit of history to inform our collective
enthusiasm for open development, but I know nothing about it.

Thanks again.
[allin]

On Thu, Apr 14, 2011 at 11:51 PM, jon at rejon.org <jon at rejon.org> wrote:
> Ok, this is all super cool. I consolidated your guys answers here:
>
> http://en.qi-hardware.com/wiki/Ben_WPAN
>
> If you guys have more to add, there are some sections that would be good to
> get more notes like progress and outcomes. Even just those links to the
> mailing list are useful. I needed somewhere to point people.
>
> I've been talking to a bunch of people about WPAN and the innovative parts
> of copyleft hardware. So, I might have some questions which I hope provide
> another dimension to what we are working on, and will do my best to
> integrate onto the wiki.
>
> I'm trying to think more about why someone in the real world (consumers,
> investors, technologists, etc) would be interested in our tech.
>
> My life post-meeting-Wolfgang, I now refrain from noting speculative
> conversations I have but just not that my silence is not indicative of
> inactivity, but mostly refrain from getting people's hopes up ;) and making
> myself sound more vaporous than I am ;)
>
> On Thu, Apr 14, 2011 at 12:25 PM, Werner Almesberger
> <werner at almesberger.net> wrote:
>>
>> I wrote:
>> > With my ATBEN/ATUSB prototypes, I've obtained good to acceptable BER
>> > for a distance between stations of 4-7 m indoors in a residential
>> > area with relatively few interferences.
>>
>> A clarification on the error rate (BER = Bit Error Rate, PER = Packet
>> Error Rate):
>>
>> IEEE 802.15.4 defines a maximum PER of 1% for a PSDU of 20 bytes.
>> This means that all bits of the PSDU, the length (1 byte) and the SFD
>> (1 byte) be received without errors, and that enough bits of the
>> preamble (4 bytes) must be received for the receiver to synchronize.
>> To keep the numbers simple, let's assume that's 200 bytes in total.
>> Thus
>>
>> 1-PER = 1-(1-BER)^200
>>
>> With PER = 1%, we get a BER of about 50 ppm.
>>
>> Since our primary usage scenario, Internet access, would often use
>> maximum-sized packets, I used max-sized packets for my measurements as
>> well. The maximum PSDU size is 127 bytes. So we get 200+8*(127-20) =
>> 1056 bits.
>>
>> Aiming for a PER of 1% with full-sized packets, the BER has to be
>> lower, about 9.5 ppm.
>>
>> - Werner
>
> I learn a lot from you guys! So great! I'm excited by this project...super
> excited!
>
> My friends Sean Bonner, Joi Ito and Bunnie Huang are working on this pop-up
> project http://rdtn.org to make radiation sensors. I'm actually supposed to
> be in Tokyo right now working with them on some other projects, but the
> tsunami/earthquake happened, and they got into this website and making
> radiation sensors.
>
> http://blog.seanbonner.com/2011/04/11/what-im-working-on-rdtn/
>
> Well, you can imagine that I pitched them hard on copyleft hardware, but I
> was too late and now Bunnie and some other tech companies are working on
> this *product.*
>
> However, that is not the point, but rather, I think the sensor networks are
> super important for the future of our civilization.
>
> Part of what makes the Internet successful is that it allows for humans to
> stay spread out more, so we don't annihilate each other. And, the success
> rate for our species increases with increase of disasters, wars, disease,
> etc, as the population increases in size.
>
> Well, sensors are part of this mix IMO. So, I look forward to seeing how we
> can work on both sensors (getting info), sending that info
> (internet/network/WPAN), and using that info (people/us!).
>
> The Internet are the wires, but we need to extend our bodies/information
> gathering apparatuses and our senses, hence sensors are important for
> survival of our species. And, a great place for us to occupy as copyleft
> hardware.
>
> Bravo Werner!
>
> A sidenote, where should the Ben WPAN enhanced page go on the wiki? I think
> we should have a stack of our core technologies on the main page.
>
> What else are we doing that is innovative and in that technology stack (and
> not talking products!)?
>
> Jon
>
> --
> Jon Phillips
> http://rejon.org/ | http://fabricatorz.com/
> chat/skype: kidproto | irc: rejon
> +1.415.830.3884 (global) | +1-510-499-0894 (sf)
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>
>
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