Bench Talk

When I was a kid, I used to watch a cartoon called “The Jetsons”, which was set in a future where flying cars fold up into suitcases, a dinner table automatically clears away the dishes (by smashing them and sweeping them up), and sassy robotic maids do all the housework. Although I’m still waiting for my flying car, some of today’s automation technologies are a lot closer to the future world of The Jetsons than you might think.

The big buzzphrase today is The Internet of Things (IoT). Things that connect to the internet. Connected stuff. Lots of stuff. And the products that connect to the internet are rolling out at ever increasing rates. Connected cars, connected homes, connected things in homes, connected houses, connected wearables, connected stores for shopping, connected restaurants for dining, connected roads and bridges, and on and on. Hotel robots. Smart stuff. What stuff will be connected? The better question is what will not be connected. Rocks, for example. Wait, someone will market a rock monitor, connected to the internet by forest wifi. When a rock rolls in a forest, does it make a sound?

Today, we are a long way from the initial offerings of contact lens technology. Research has taken the industry from small, hard plastic lenses that required a constant flow of lubricating drops (and could pop out when a person blinks), to soft lenses that make it easier for the eye to breathe while being worn.

A lot of talk in the tech world lately has centered on an idea called “The Internet of Things”. What is “IoT”, as it is commonly abbreviated? Is it just the latest in a laundry list of tech buzzwords? Or is it something that is really going to change our lives?

As members of the RF and microwave industry make their annual pilgrimage to IMS 2014 (this year in Tampa), I offer my opinion on the industry’s overall health at mid-year. Fortunately, it appears that it’s going to be hot in Tampa in more ways than one. Just how hot depends on many factors, many of them company-specific, so there’s no single answer to “How’s business?” Nevertheless, a realistic approach with this blog is to look at key markets in the wireless industry.

Consider a conference that is simultaneously transmitted to audiences in three cities. When a presenter asks the audience a survey question, they can respond by simply raising their hands. The total vote is tallied across all three cities and displayed to the presenter and the audience in real time.