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COMING
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- || Thursday December 11, 2003|| Lawrence E. Pfeffer, Ph.D. Lawrence E. Pfeffer, Ph.D. Embedded computing has been aptly described as “thinking inside the box” – the computing hidden inside non-computer devices, such as cars, microwave ovens, and cell phones. Embedded computing is a largely invisible part of many clinical and research tools, such as blood pressure monitors, PCR cyclers or laboratory robots. This tutorial provides a peek inside such boxes, providing insight into how embedded computing differs from conventional computing, what it can do now, some key details, and how it may evolve/effect biomedical tools and tasks in the future. Examples will be used to illustrate these topics, and representative hardware will be demonstrated in a series of tutorial examples – from a blinking LED, to an embedded web server. Most of embedded computing’s concepts are the same as in “conventional” computing, but they are applied in ways (and at scales) that are unfamiliar to many. Resources are more constrained, temporal issues are often complex, and reliability is much more vital. Embedded computing requires much greater interaction with the system’s hardware elements. Recently, there has been synergy among several key technical areas: * CPU/memory sufficient to use high-level languages, This synergy has lead to formidable growth in embedded computing’s power. With this growth, not only can we do last year’s embedded tasks faster and cheaper; we can do new tasks -- ones considered infeasible just a few years ago. In many domains (biomedicine among them), embedded computing is no longer the main limiting factor – our ability to imagine how to apply it is far more so. Thus, some open-ended brainstorming between people with different expertises could lead to novel ideas -- and perhaps -- lead to real advances. Please join us in this discussion. PURPOSE: To familiarize the audience with some key ideas of embedded computing (what all those non-desktop microprocessors are up to), to explain its differences from “conventional” computing, to describe characteristic uses, to explore its probable evolution, to examine the resultant opportunities for biomedical research and applications – and to take a peak at how useful (and fun!) embedded computing can be, via some simple demonstrations. WHO SHOULD ATTEND: Biomedical researchers, clinicians, Computer Scientists, Engineers, IT people, and anyone interested in learning about what embedded computing is – and how it can be applied to make biomedical instruments more capable, easier to use, and easier to integrate into systems. Familiarity with C will be helpful (for the demos), but is not essential. TUTORIAL TOPICS: *Definition and motivation (What is embedded computing?
What it can do?) Bio Lawrence E. Pfeffer, Ph.D. is an Engineer in the Research Services Branch of NIMH. He currently designs electronic, mechanical and embedded-computing systems to solve novel experimental needs of researchers in NIMH and NINDS. Prior to NIH, he has worked as a researcher at NIST, an engineer at a biotech company, a member of Stanford’s aerospace robotics laboratory, and in military electronics. His technical interests include: robotics and automation, embedded computing, sensors/actuators, and control theory. Refreshments will be served. More information: www.nih-bcig.org.
COMING SOON... "Mid Atlantic Microbial
Pathogenesis Meeting" Sponsored by: East Carolina
University, Center for the Study of Biological Complexity, United States
Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, "Mid Atlantic Microbial Pathogenesis Meeting" Dear Colleagues:
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