Operation Panopticon

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UCD News
Nuacht UCD

UCD installs largest ever real-time locator system in Ireland to support research into pervasive computing

Ubisense, the leading provider of precise, real-time location
technology, and University College Dublin have deployed the largest ever real-time location system (RTLS) in Ireland.

The Ubisense system has been installed in the UCD Computer Science and Informatics building to support the university’s research into pervasive computing and the efficiencies of wireless applications. By leveraging the Ubisense RTLS platform that is capable of locating people and assets within 30 cm in 3D, developers will be able to build context aware applications and manage sensor-based systems in pervasive computing environments.

“Ubisense is the only wireless platform that provides in real-time the precise location accuracy needed to meet our requirements,” said Paddy Nixon, professor of distributed systems and head of the Systems Research Group, UCD. “We are relying on the Ubisense system to track staff and students so we can build a log of all the data, and identify patterns of movement and associations with their context. This data will help us realize existing issues and limitations associated with current and future wireless applications. For example, the data can be used to locate staff, patients and equipment in hospitals, or create physically interactive multiplayer games to help tackle childhood obesity.”

Using the Ubisense platform, UCD is able to precisely monitor and record interactions between people, and between people and devices, such as cell phones or handheld devices. This level of detail will allow UCD to develop pervasive computing systems that can be customized to respond to the smallest changes in a user’s movement or location.

“The blending of real and virtual worlds is becoming possible through technologies such as Ubisense, and as early adopters we have the opportunity to push the boundaries of what has been achieved to date,” said Dr. Steve Neely, Research Fellow in the Systems Research Group, UCD. “Having the Ubisense platform at our disposal opens up lines of research about pervasive computing that would otherwise be difficult, perhaps impossible, to pursue. Ubiquitous computing is a vision of the future in which we are surrounded by computationally aware devices that have disappeared into the fabric of our lives.”

“The cutting-edge research UCD is conducting will help evolve new applications in pervasive computing that will improve usability and efficiency of work and social environments,” said Richard Green, CEO, Ubisense. “We are extremely proud of our involvement with this research and believe the results of UCD’s findings will have a significant and positive impact on how wireless and pervasive computing applications are deployed around the world.”


About UCD Systems Research Group
The Systems Research Group is based in the UCD School of Computer Science and Informatics. The SRG was founded by Professor Paddy Nixon after he was awarded significant funding from Science Foundation Ireland, funding which has made this work possible. For more information, visit http://srg.cs.ucd.ie

About Ubisense
Ubisense delivers a precise, real-time location system (RTLS) utilizing ultra-wideband (UWB) technology that locates people and assets within 30 cm in 3D. Customers spanning logistics and manufacturing, workplace, military, healthcare and hazardous environments rely on the innovative Ubisense system to analyze and dramatically improve complex processes resulting in significant operational savings. The company is headquartered in Cambridge, England with offices in Denver, Colorado; Dortmund, Germany; and Singapore. For more information, visit http://www.ubisense.net.


[Original Text:Grimes] Somthing in the news about UCD spying on students.

The_Minister

That is so cool! I would love to be able to track people like that.

boneless

My Ma could do all that.

Blowfish

they've been up for a while actually. Its a bit mad being tracked everywhere, but at least they don't have cameras in them, so they can't actually tell who is doing what.

rainbow kirby

Of course, they don't realise that Chuck Norris could do all of that already, but with roundhouse kicks.

cruiserweight

AFAIK it can only track a person or object if they are wearing a tag! So you can't be tracked without knowing about it!

singingstranger

That sounds scary, though, to be totally honest. Normally I'm not all that bothered about a Big Brother type concept but who knows what Brady & Co might want it all for... Anyway, if you use the needs-a-tag logic, technically you don't have to volunteer your mobile phone for tagging without it being traceable anyway. All they have to do is trace your untagged mobile and they know where you are 90% of the time...

Blowfish

rainbow kirby wrote:

Of course, they don't realise that Chuck Norris could do all of that already, but with roundhouse kicks.

is it sad that i actually had to google Chuck Norris to see who he was?

arbeitsscheuer

Big Brother UCD!

22,000 Contestants

2 semesters

No Winners

The_Minister

Blowfish wrote:

is it sad that i actually had to google Chuck Norris to see who he was?

You may qualify for a sadness exemption if you are (a) a hermit or (b) a recluse.

cruiserweight

singingstranger wrote:

That sounds scary, though, to be totally honest. Normally I'm not all that bothered about a Big Brother type concept but who knows what Brady & Co might want it all for... Anyway, if you use the needs-a-tag logic, technically you don't have to volunteer your mobile phone for tagging without it being traceable anyway. All they have to do is trace your untagged mobile and they know where you are 90% of the time...

:rolleyes: Okay this is just the School of Computer Science and Informatics and for research purposes, nothing else! AFAIK the only people who will have the tags are the people in the SRG group who are using the equiptment! I know a few guys in this group and there is nothing sinister about it!

No point in looking for some sinister theory here, Hugh Brady, The Illuminati or crab people are not involved!

Blowfish

@Firespinner: well i pass those two tests, so i'm ok......i think

The_Minister

Blowfish wrote:

well i pass those two tests, so i'm ok......i think

Once again, congradulations on your avatar

Blowfish

:d

anonymous_joe

cruiserweight wrote:

:rolleyes: Okay this is just the School of Computer Science and Informatics and for research purposes, nothing else! AFAIK the only people who will have the tags are the people in the SRG group who are using the equiptment! I know a few guys in this group and there is nothing sinister about it!

No point in looking for some sinister theory here, Hugh Brady, The Illuminati or crab people are not involved!

I much prefer the evil conspiracy theories.

Blowfish

should post this in the conspiracies forum, should get some funny replies

IHatePoorPeople

cruiserweight wrote:

:rolleyes: Okay this is just the School of Computer Science and Informatics and for research purposes, nothing else! AFAIK the only people who will have the tags are the people in the SRG group who are using the equiptment! I know a few guys in this group and there is nothing sinister about it!

No point in looking for some sinister theory here, Hugh Brady, The Illuminati or crab people are not involved!

Listen buddy, if you'd done any research before posting you'd know that every student card has an RFID chip in it which these surveillance devices can track. That chip has your student number, so the college can track exactly where you are all day. They can even tell what cubicle you're taking a dump in.

Wake up, this is just one more step towards a police state.

pretty*monster

This is so creepy.

Blowfish

pretty*monster wrote:

This is so creepy.

hahaha, why?
personally i agree with cruiserweight, its all just research. And besides what exactly would you be doing in college that you would be worried about 'them' finding out about?

Syth

IHatePoorPeople wrote:

Listen buddy, if you'd done any research before posting you'd know that every student card has an RFID chip in it which these surveillance devices can track. That chip has your student number, so the college can track exactly where you are all day. They can even tell what cubicle you're taking a dump in.

Wake up, this is just one more step towards a police state.

*sigh* No. Evidence?

humbert

IHatePoorPeople wrote:

Listen buddy, if you'd done any research before posting you'd know that every student card has an RFID chip in it which these surveillance devices can track. That chip has your student number, so the college can track exactly where you are all day. They can even tell what cubicle you're taking a dump in.

Wake up, this is just one more step towards a police state.

Well lets just say that isn't the brightest thing I've ever heard!!!
http://www.ubisense.net/Hardware/Ubisense%20tag.htm

Samos

Coincidently, I was just reading an article in The (real) Observer about the extent of CCTV in Britain, where it is estimated that there are four million of them and one is likely to make an appearance on approximately 300 in the course of a day. This barage of surveillance has cost the taxpayer alone several hundred million, and for what? Crime rates have not plummeted. Nobody feels safer. Fear and paranoia rule. The insidious infection of intrusion is destroying our freedom and privacy under the claim that it makes lives better.

I do not understand the people who say, "If you've got nothing to hide then what's the problem?". I ask these kinds of people who have nothing to hide whether they would like a camera in every room of their house observing their every movement, each aspect of their private lives a public matter... I do not have anything to hide, but I would cwertainly like to have a choice on what to relinquish about my life and activities, instead of them being taken by latent, cowardly voyeurs.

It baffles me that so many nations and corporations in this world erode our liberites under the pretence of helping us and providing a better 'quality of life'. Resources are wasted spying on innocuous activities and observing crime after it has already happened. There wouldn't be so much to worry about if all this money and effort were invested in providing for those in society who are neglected and ostracized, forced to suffer in squalor and boredom, while the more fortunate do all in their power to lock them out.

The_Minister

Samos wrote:

. Resources are wasted spying on innocuous activities and observing crime after it has already happened.

We like to "solve" crimes. Knowing what the criminal looks like helps.


National Geographic also did an article using those figures, ages ago.
You must understand you are one of many, you are nothing special. Unless you were a criminal you would not stand out of the crowd

Samos

Firespinner wrote:

We like to "solve" crimes. Knowing what the criminal looks like helps.

You must understand you are one of many, you are nothing special. Unless you were a criminal you would not stand out of the crowd

Rates of "solving" crimes have not improved significantly with this method; determined and desperate criminals are not deterred. They will simply ignore them, or else commit the crime where no surveillance exists. And even if they have had a positive effect, the cost in terms of liberty is much too high.

Cameras may help in identifying people who are deemed to have commited certain publicly visible crimes, however it does not convey the motivation for the act. As ever prevention is always better than cure, and effort should always begin with improving social factors that cause people to resort to antisocial behaviour.

Blush_01

They also help people to find loved ones who've gone missing, remember? What's with all the cynicism? Ok, things probably aren't as nice as we'd like to believe, but all these conspiracy theories are mad. Samos - I'd much prefer to be seen on 300 cameras daily than to go missing and need someone to search for me, but have no idea of the direction I went in, nevermind what building/town/county/country I was in.

Everything consists of elements that can be used for both good and evil - it's perspective, use etc. that makes something what it is. If you look at something as malignant, then that's what it'll be.

What does paranoia achieve?