Catalogo Experimenta 06

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A GLANCE AT THE FUTURE edited by Roberto Saracco The continuous evolution of technologies also influences the telecommunications, sector in which new possibilities are created and already existing scenarios are modified. STORAGE TECHNOLOGIES One of the sectors in major evolution is that of storage. The flash storage, like the Compact Flash (CF) and the Secure Digital (SD), at this point very widespread in digital cameras, should arrive at around the 30 GBs at the end of the decade and exceed hundreds of GB in the next decade. Even magnetic memories (hard disk) continue to progress in a significant way even if they are, with reduced capacity, less competitive in respect to the compact flash because of the costs of the read head. However, it seems that towards the end of this decade the market of hybrid disks with rotating magnetic support and Compact Flash integrated will be developed. Another technological area of importance is that of the read only memory based on very low cost technologies, or the optic memories and those of polymers (even if it has not been possible yet to resolve the problems of electric inter-connection which makes them, at the moment, unusable). This type of memory could change, for example, the system of distributing film, automatically cancelling the distribution of these by network. PROCESSING TECHNOLOGIES Only a small part of the market of micro-processors is attributable to PCs: in 2004 this slice represented 0.2% of the whole market while 99.8% concerned the micro processors used in the most disparate objects and at moderate costs. The attention of the producers, Intel in the lead, is no only longer turned towards the increase in computing performance, but also to the improvement of chips in terms of energy consumption., duration of the batteries and major flexibility of the chips themselves.. Important for telecommunications will be the integration, on a single chip, of silicon and gallium arsenide. The first is to make processing function, the second the radio function, transmission and reception. While before these two functions had to be undertaken by different chips, with relative costs, today it is possible to do everything with a single chip, diminishing the costs of assembly. In the next few years each chip, and each object, can interact by radio with the environment, becoming, in substance, a terminal and a client for the operator of telecommunications. The increase in processing capacity will continue on two lines: the multi processor architecture and the DSP (Digital Signal Processor). The multi processor architecture, typical of super computers, allows the increase of computing capacity through the parallel use of more chips (today we have arrived at using more than 130 thousand micro chips) and the realisation of suitable software to fully profit from the potential of the multi processors. In systems with massive parallelism, the drop in costs is obtained utilising base chips as components of the mass market type. . “The cell”, the microchip which will be used in the Play station 3, was thought up precisely to operate as a “cell” which can be aggregated giving life to gradually more complex organisms. In the field of (Digital Signal Processor) the evolution is orien- INDEX SCIENTIFIC STUDIES 135
INDEX SCIENTIFIC STUDIES 136 ted towards levels of increasing quality in the detection of images, obvious applications are those of the very high definition television with resolution of different Mpixels: there already exist screens of 6 Mpixels, even if the prices are prohibitive. The research laboratories of IBM have created two screens of 9.2 Mpixels, a quality equivalent to approximately the capacity of resolution of our eye. In the field of sensors for cameras, we have reached 39 Mpixels. The level of definition around 10-16 Mpixels (therefore larger in respect to the 6-8 Mpixels foreseen two years ago) could represent an arrival point for the market, nevertheless the type of processing that will be called for inside the camera will again push the elaborative capacity. VISUALISATION TECHNOLOGIES From point of view of the market of systems for the visualisation, in these years interest in those thin screens of larger dimensions has increased. A real about turn, which requires a technological jump, it will be that of producing screens of resolutions of more than the 6-8 Mpixels. Technologies of the NED type (Nano Emission Display) are very promising in this sense with the potential density of pixels of the order of a larger size than that obtainable with the LED technologies and plasma. The increase in the resolution makes these screens utilisable also at close distance, typical of our houses. The nearer distance increases the field of vision: when this exceeds 128 degrees, our brain has the impression of finding itself in the image. It is the sensation that we have when we assist in the projection in an IMAX theatre, in which the image seems to wrap around us. In addition, the presence of a screen with definitions above the capacity of resolution of our eye (around 8 Mpixels), perceptively transforms, that screen into a window which opens the vision on another environment. We can then go on a safari in Africa and, instead of the post card memory, buy the access to an Internet address which, once at home, we can associate it with a certain window, opening it on that pool of water where the animals go to drink. It will be like having a seat in the first row of the savannah. The applications are obviously a lot, but the most important element to emerge is an always-on communication. This, at the audio level, is already happening: Skype is a revolution because it transforms the way of communicating. When one is connected to Skype the names of those who have given accessibility to be visible are visualised: when they are connected I immediately see persons, friends, colleagues, even they in that moment are connected. They are persons to whom I would never have “telephoned” in that instant but who seeing that they are present, activate in me a desire to communicate, even for a brief moment. We do not go out of the house to go to a friend, but if we meet him on the road it is obvious that we stop, with pleasure, to have a chat. There is another aspect, as important, implied by the “paradigm” Skye. Not only by a quick glance do I see who is present on the “square”, but I manage also to understand that this presence could translate into a willingness to communicate: the symbol associated with the icon of the person, I inform myself whether the person is involved in another conversation such as, in the real square, I can see two people who are talking to each other and therefore probably I will not interrupt. A person can be instantaneously present on hundreds of virtual squares bringing with them an enormous number of questions and also of an opportunity to reply that are converted into business. This is the world of the always-on, of the network which really becomes thousands of squares, a world of singles that make up a community. New technologies of the proto-prototypal, promise to paint the screens on the walls. The wall will become similar to a giant computer screen on which we can move the images from one point to another. Smaller, already today, some
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Page 146: cess succeeds very well with diatom
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Page 165: ISBN 88-901128-7-5 Edizione fuori c
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Catalogo Experimenta 06

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