Motivation
In ubiquitous computing, IT (Information Technology) is not only a technology but also a core thing to integrate and converge with several other industry technologies, causing new industries, products, and services. For instance, SMART GRID is a convergent form of IT and electricity network for efficient use of electricity by providing two-way communication between consumers and producers. And lots of academic and industrial leaders are investigating new challenges in this emerging digital convergence era. For example, CPS (Cyber-Physical Systems) is integrations of computation and physical processes and they need to introduce new abstractions different from general computings mainly because of new qualititive level of safety and reliability. Further, convergent digital devices require interfaces different from conventional interfaces in each industry. Examples include touch screen based UI and sensor based UI in smart phones and pads. Next interface can be voice based UI, GIS based UI or context based UI. There are lots of interesting emerging issues in digital convergence era that we need to look into.
Challenges in Digital Convergence Era
By converging human-around technologies together, new interesting challenges are emerging. One of main interesting challenges includes safety and reliability issues since digital convergence with physical systems such as aerospace, automotive, chemical processes, civil energy, healthcare and medical services, transportation, and consumer appliances can significant impacts on human lives and environments. Another interesting area is emerging in interfaces. It is convergence rather than simple integration so it should work for both consumers and users if two areas introduce a new service, application, or system. Thus, new interfaces considering several requirements should be investigated.
Relevant Publications
- Seungcheon Kim, Jungae Park, Kyoungwoo Lee, Sangwook Lim, “Home networking digital TV based on LnCP”, IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, Nov, 2002.