Articles : Project loon , Facebook, Space telescopes, Robotic vacuum cleaner, Car to car communication

1. New
Dimensions of
Technology -
Magazine
IMGT 3232 - Assignment
Articles : Project loon , Facebook, Space telescopes, Robotic vacuum cleaner, Car to car
communication
Members: 122119, 122139, 122159

2. New Dimensions of Technology - Magazine
pg. 1
Table of Contents
Google provide internet to Sri Lanka by using Wi-Fi balloon.............................2
(Project loon).........................................................................................................2
Facebook ...............................................................................................................3
Space Telescopes ..................................................................................................4
A smarter robotic vacuum cleaner........................................................................5
Car-to-Car communication ...................................................................................6

3. New Dimensions of Technology - Magazine
pg. 2
Google provide internet to Sri Lanka by using Wi-Fi
balloon.
(Project loon)
Many of us think of the Internet as a global community. But in Sri Lanka does not yet have
Internet access. Project Loon is a network of balloons traveling on the edge of space,
designed to connect people in rural and remote areas, help fill coverage gaps, and bring
people back online after disasters.
Project Loon balloons travel approximately 20 km above the Earth‟s surface in the
stratosphere. Winds in the stratosphere are stratified, and each layer of wind varies in speed
and direction. Project Loon uses software algorithms to determine where its balloons need to
go then moves each one into a layer of wind blowing in the right direction. By moving with
the wind, the balloons can be arranged to form one large communications network.
The inflatable part of the balloon is called a balloon envelope. A well-made balloon envelope
is critical for allowing a balloon to last around 100 days in the stratosphere. Loon‟s balloon
envelopes are made from sheets of polyethylene plastic, and they measure fifteen meters wide
by twelve meters tall when fully inflated. When a balloon is ready to be taken out of service,
gas is released from the envelope to bring the balloon down to Earth in a controlled descent.
In the unlikely event that a balloon drops too quickly, a parachute attached to the top of the
envelope is deployed.
Each balloon can provide connectivity to a ground area about 40 km in diameter using a
wireless communications technology called LTE. To use LTE, Project Loon partners with
telecommunications companies to share cellular spectrum so that people will be able to
access the Internet everywhere directly from their phones and other LTE-enabled devices.

4. New Dimensions of Technology - Magazine
pg. 3
Balloons relay wireless traffic from cell phones and other devices back to the global Internet
using high-speed links.
Project Loon took off with an initial test in New Zealand in 2013, with the ultimate goal of
providing internet access to a range of southern hemisphere nations. Then they launch their
project in Australia and now they turn to the Sri Lanka and they will provide their service
before 2020 and sir Lankan can enjoy with this service.
Facebook
Facebook, like much of the Internet, is a great innovation! It offers you an opportunity to
interact with an extraordinarily expansive universe of new people. We can sculpt your on-line
identity and learn more about how the Internet and its various programs work to create new
relationships and communities. For the entrepreneurially minded, it might be an introduction
into business as you think of how to "market" yourself
People make the technology, not only in the fundamental sense of discovery and invention,
but also in the sense that they make it happen and that they contour it in ways that reflect our
basic humanity. Our basic humanity is for better or for worse, however. It is vulnerable to
context, circumstance and interpretation. And so it is important to remember that Facebook is
malleable and creates as many obligations as it does opportunities for expression.

5. New Dimensions of Technology - Magazine
pg. 4
Space Telescopes
Bigger is better, at least when it comes to peering into the infinity of space. Now three teams
of astronomers are in a race to build the three largest telescopes in the world.
The Atacama Desert in northern Chile is one of the most alien and hostile places on Earth.
Some of its regions are so lifeless that when researchers did the same tests there as the Viking
missions conducted on Mars, they failed to detect any DNA in its soil. But one life form that
is greatly nourished by such barren conditions is the astronomer. The aridity and altitude
make this otherworldly place perfect for looking at actual other worlds in space.
This is why in October 2003, telescoping research scientist Warren Skidmore and his
colleagues dared to enter the Atacama with few resources and a grand mission: Find the best
site to build the Thirty Meter Telescope, or TMT.
Designed by an international consortium and expected to „see first light‟ in the early 2020s,
the TMT will dwarf any telescope currently in operation on Earth. With a diameter of 30m,
its primary mirror will be three times as large as current cutting-edge telescope mirrors and
200 times as sensitive.
As if this wasn‟t enough, giant telescopes, like London buses, seem to come in threes. The
completion of two more telescopes of similar size, the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) and
the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), should more or less coincide with the

6. New Dimensions of Technology - Magazine
pg. 5
TMT‟s. For all three colossi, most of the money is secured and construction has recently
commenced.
However, the members of this trio of next-generation telescopes will considerably differ from
each other in design. While everybody agrees that each has its strengths and weaknesses, the
sweat and tears that the individual teams put into building these incredible machines, over a
period of 15 years or more, naturally make them very proud of „their‟ telescope.
Astronomers are on tenterhooks to get access to the biggest telescopes the world has ever
seen, and each team is working hard to point them towards the sky as soon as they can.
Bigger is usually better in astronomy, especially when it comes to primary mirrors. These
collect and bundle the incoming light, sending it off in an optical path that eventually ends up
in the observer‟s eye or the telescope‟s instruments. Primary mirrors act like light buckets.
Thanks to their size and adaptive optics, astronomers hope that the GMT, TMT and E-ELT
will help them get a grip on a whole bouquet of scientific questions, from the composition of
small objects in the Kuiper belt to supermassive black holes in distant galaxies.
Planets emit most of their light in the thermal infrared, so this regime is essential when it
comes to exoplanets – planets beyond our solar system – says Andrew Skemer, Hubble
fellow at the University of Arizona. The pie-in-the-sky goal is to find one with an atmosphere
that would allow for extra-terrestrial life.
Exoplanets are the astronomical needle in a galactic haystack: small, faint and close to other,
brighter objects. One way to spot an exoplanet and analyses its atmosphere is to observe its
transit in front of the parent star, but this is a notoriously difficult task.
A choice almost as crucial as the design is the site of the telescope. While the GMT and the
E-ELT are going to be built in the Atacama Desert, the TMT team – after months of checking
out various possible sites in Chile, Mexico and Hawaii – has opted instead for the top of
Hawaii Island‟s Mauna Kea Mountain.
A smarter robotic vacuum cleaner
Sir James Dyson is known for coming up with chic, bold creations such as a bladeless fan and
the sea truck. But his most signature invention was undoubtedly the bag less vacuum cleaner,
which remains to this day his most successful product.
Dyson would later follow that up in 2001 with the DC06, a prototype destined to be the
world‟s first commercial robotic vacuum cleaner. But being the perfectionist that he is, the
concept was eventually scraped because the machine was too bulky and slow, leaving an
opening in the market for iRobot‟s Roomba.

7. New Dimensions of Technology - Magazine
pg. 6
Now, Dyson is poised to deliver for consumers his first robotic vacuum, which looks to be
the most advanced yet. What makes the Dyson 360 Eye revolutionary is a built-in 360 degree
camera that compiles constantly-refreshed visual data to create a real time map of the room.
With this, the vacuum triangulates its position to avoid going over the same area twice or
missing a spot, saving both time and energy.
But will it take out the Roomba? We‟ll see how it plays out when it goes on sale early next
year.
Car-to-Car communication
Many people are uncomfortable with the idea of “driverless cars”. General Motors is working
with the University of Michigan and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to
develop new software for cars that enhance safety without relinquishing control. Car-to-car
communication systems transmit their position, speed, break engagement, and other data to
all vehicles that are nearby. Algorithms sift through data that is collected many times each
second and alert the driver in case of danger. These systems have the potential to make
driving much safer and greatly reduce the number of accidents.
Car-to-car communication (C2CC), often referred to as vehicular ad hoc networks
(VANETs), enables many new services for vehicles and creates numerous opportunities for
safety improvements. Communication between vehicles can e.g. be used to realize driver
support and active safety services like collision warning, up-to-date traffic and weather
information or active navigation systems. However, besides enabling new services VANETs
pose many challenges on technology, protocols, and security which increase the need for
research in this field. VANETs have similar characteristics as mobile ad hoc networks, often
in the form of multi-hop networks. Due to the high mobility of nodes network topology
changes occur frequently. All nodes share the same channel leading to congestion in very
dense networks. The decentralized nature of VANETs leads to the need for new system
concepts and information dissemination protocols. In addition, new approaches for data and
communication security have to be designed to fit the specific network needs and to
guarantee reliable and trustworthy services. Technologically