Intel Researchers Plot a Smarter, Personalized Cloud

From PC World: Intel researchers hope the cloud will provide a new model to deliver accurate information about the quality of air and weather within meters of where a user is standing, which could ultimately help improve the quality of life.

Intel has a project under way to populate neighborhoods with sensors that give a more accurate picture of elements like pollution and weather, said Terrance O'Shea, a senior principal engineer at Intel Research. The plan entails gathering weather and air quality information from the sensors, triangulating a user's exact position, and then delivering accurate information for that location using a personalized cloud service.

The weather information provided today is pretty generic, based on sensors in specific locations such as an airport. Intel has made a weather and pollution sensor chip designed to be easily installed in stores across neighborhoods, and information from a group of sensors could be analyzed to measure the temperature and air quality of a specific location, O'Shea said.

The point of these sensors is to provide a better quality of life, O'Shea said. For example, the pollution mobile toolkit includes carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and ozone sensors that measure air quality to see if an area is safe. Such information is typically helpful for people like asthma patients.

While it may seem tedious to put sensors across stores, bars and pizza parlors in neighborhoods, it's practical and could happen soon, O'Shea said. The cloud provides a powerful delivery model for information, O'Shea said

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