The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is currently evaluating various aspects of Rambus’ Smart Data Acceleration (SDA) Research Program. Deployed at LANL, the SDA platform is designed to optimize the performance of in-memory databases, graph analytics and other Big Data applications.
Emerging Solutions
Understanding sensor data and context
Toby McClean recently noted on LinkedIn Pulse that the value of sensor data is lost when each and every device maker or IoT system defines a new model of observation or measurement.
“The value is decreased because third-parties are not able to build reusable algorithms, analytics and visualizations,” he opined. “It is difficult to have reusability when there is no common model for sensor data; for example if every thermometer manufacturer had a different model for temperature.”
Searching for life on Mars with spider silk sensors
Did you know that optical sensors made with spider silk could one day help scientists search for trace gases such as ammonia produced by biological processes on Mars?
“The scientists hunting for life on Mars would like to be able to test for small amounts of ammonia,” reports Neil Savage of IEE Spectrum. “[These] might be emitted by the metabolism of microbes, so they need a sensor that can detect that while remaining insensitive to the large amounts of carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere.”
Eyeing the IoT with the ARM-powered Raspberry Pi
Did you know that Rambus’ lensless smart sensor (LSS) shield runs atop the ARM-powered Raspberry Pi 2 Model B? For the uninitiated, the RPI2 Model B packs a 900MHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 CPU alongside 1GB of RAM. Additional key RPI2 Model B specs include four USB ports, 40 GPIO pins, a full HDMI port, Ethernet port, combined 3.5mm audio jack and composite video, camera interface (CSI) display interface (DSI), micro SD card slot and a VideoCore IV 3D graphics core. Because the RPI2 Model B is powered by an ARMv7 processor, the board is capable of running a full range of ARM GNU/Linux distributions, including Snappy Ubuntu Core, as well as Microsoft’s flagship Windows 10 OS.
Lensless computational sensor clinches “Best Paper Award”
The International Academy, Research, and Industry Association (IARIA) recently presented the “Best Paper Award” to a team of Rambus researchers for their work on ultra-miniature, computationally efficient diffractive visual-bar-position sensors.
Can smart sensors help optogenetic tech evolve?
Optogenetic technology combines genetic targeting of specific neurons or proteins with optical technology for imaging or control of the targets within intact, living neural circuits. As Professor Karl Deisseroth of Stanford University notes, emerging technologies from optics, genetics and bioengineering are currently being combined for studies of intact neural circuits. Indeed, the rapid progression of such interdisciplinary “optogenetic” approaches has expanded capabilities for optical imaging and genetic targeting of specific cell types.
