velox
Retired
Hey this is my popular article, designed for a magazine such as APC or another computer magazine. please let me know what u think of it.
Where : Computer Magazine such as APC, PC User etc
Aim: What telecommunications engineers can learn from the formation of ant swarms. Eg. Packets that intelligently redirect themselves on ADSL networks to find the least congested path
Abstract: These intelligent packets will speed up the internet, resulting in less congestion allowing for more users to be online simultaneously without slowing the network down considerably.
More people than ever before are jumping onto the Broadband bandwagon, which is a good thing for telcos however not such a pleasing fact for broadband enthusiasts. With many plans under the $30 mark, many consumers who thought broadband was out of their league, have now signed up, which is approximately XX XXX. The bad news is that, as prices drop and competition between companies’ increases, the strain on current broadband infrastructure increases heatedly. Current technologies show cable internet access ‘pooled’ to users. Essentially this means that the more people that are online simultaneously, the slower the internet will get. xDSL technologies address’s this problem by using telephone lines and exchanges as minor gateways to larger exchanges, which become the gateway to the internet. This eliminates the problem cable internet users experience as each exchange has fewer connections, resulting in faster throughput for xDSL users. However, xDSL speeds cannot compare with current cable technologies at 10mbit whereas xDSL tops out at a measly 1.5mbit.
However, all is not lost. Madeline Beekman from the School of Biological Science at the University of Sydney has done some remarkable research into the formation of insect swarms. She has researched into the field of social insects, their social hierarchy and the way they work co-operatively” The majority of her research focused on ants, and their social structure, which is a breakthrough for not only biologists but also the users of services in which her research can be applied.
Ants are a common site in nature, however what they are in size, they make up in their highly advanced social hierarchy. Apart from being the only creature to lift up to ??? times their body weight, they are unique in the colony structure. Ant colonies consist of a Queen, female ants and male ants, which are commonly referred to as workers. Ants are of an independant nature; however they work collaboratively for tasks such as moving food into a colony. Ants are like nothing people have seen before. Their co-operative abilities are amazing yet, there is no ringleader to designate tasks or to control them as a whole. This is contrary to most other creatures on earth, especially humans. It seems to be that ants are not quite individual but not quite part of a team. They are the best of both worlds. Workers that can think for themselves yet co-operate to form a highly efficient workforce.
Having Studied ants for “A couple of years now” Dr. Beekman tells us that ants communicate via Pheromones. According to The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, “Pheromones” are “A chemical secreted by an animal, especially an insect, that influences the behaviour or development of others of the same species, often functioning as an attractant of the opposite sex” In this case pheromones are used by ants to find the shortest route to food. Pheromones are an involuntary chemical that is secreted by ants when they leave the nest (in search of food). Pheromones work on the basis, that if two ants leave a nest to find food, the ant who took the shorter route will leave the strongest pheromone trail as it has double backed its route. This causes ants to follow the shorter route, thus further strengthening the pheromone trail.
This method of pheromone scents can be put into place in many systems, one being a telecommunications network. Through the research that Madeline Beekman has conducted, we can see that there is a solution to the broadband speed problem.
Data packets could be encoded in such a way that, when they leave a computer they leave a very small log file that other packets read when following the same path. This would lead to the internet having many log files floating around in “cyberspace” with the data packets following the quickest and most efficient path to the designated location.
However it is not all guns and roses. Recoding a data packet that carries data, would require extensive testing and could even, slow down the internet further and cause a global problem if the packets were found to have a bug in them. These packets would have to be immune to hackers, who could recode these packets to launch Denial of Service attacks on major companies which would have devastating consequences. There could be many devastating consequences for misuse of this new technology. Spammers could use this method to find the fastest method of sending their spam to unsuspecting email users. This would lead to an overall slowing down of the internet. The speed of the internet is limited by our connection speed, so having more data on the internet will not necessarily cause bottlenecks like the ones cable internet users are currently experiencing. However it will most definitely lead to a new wave of viruses that could also use this “Pheromone” method to find the fastest route into a computer system to destroy it.
The log files would also present a problem as these would give away the location of the internet gateway for a corporation, making it much quicker and easier to hack into a large corporation’s computer network. These log files would definitely cause concern over privacy issues also.
This could also be implemented into many other scenarios such as networking, phone calls, HD Television and even Traffic! This technology is only emerging, so users will have to put up with the internet bottlenecks. However the implementation of this system would take years and would create much controversy between computer intellects and corporations because of its shaky security issues. Nevertheless it is nice to know that there is a solution on the horizon albeit a little far-off.
-Ending needs to be stronger, need an synonym for “far-off”
-Not sure about how the article flows?
thanks!!!
Where : Computer Magazine such as APC, PC User etc
Aim: What telecommunications engineers can learn from the formation of ant swarms. Eg. Packets that intelligently redirect themselves on ADSL networks to find the least congested path
Abstract: These intelligent packets will speed up the internet, resulting in less congestion allowing for more users to be online simultaneously without slowing the network down considerably.
More people than ever before are jumping onto the Broadband bandwagon, which is a good thing for telcos however not such a pleasing fact for broadband enthusiasts. With many plans under the $30 mark, many consumers who thought broadband was out of their league, have now signed up, which is approximately XX XXX. The bad news is that, as prices drop and competition between companies’ increases, the strain on current broadband infrastructure increases heatedly. Current technologies show cable internet access ‘pooled’ to users. Essentially this means that the more people that are online simultaneously, the slower the internet will get. xDSL technologies address’s this problem by using telephone lines and exchanges as minor gateways to larger exchanges, which become the gateway to the internet. This eliminates the problem cable internet users experience as each exchange has fewer connections, resulting in faster throughput for xDSL users. However, xDSL speeds cannot compare with current cable technologies at 10mbit whereas xDSL tops out at a measly 1.5mbit.
However, all is not lost. Madeline Beekman from the School of Biological Science at the University of Sydney has done some remarkable research into the formation of insect swarms. She has researched into the field of social insects, their social hierarchy and the way they work co-operatively” The majority of her research focused on ants, and their social structure, which is a breakthrough for not only biologists but also the users of services in which her research can be applied.
Ants are a common site in nature, however what they are in size, they make up in their highly advanced social hierarchy. Apart from being the only creature to lift up to ??? times their body weight, they are unique in the colony structure. Ant colonies consist of a Queen, female ants and male ants, which are commonly referred to as workers. Ants are of an independant nature; however they work collaboratively for tasks such as moving food into a colony. Ants are like nothing people have seen before. Their co-operative abilities are amazing yet, there is no ringleader to designate tasks or to control them as a whole. This is contrary to most other creatures on earth, especially humans. It seems to be that ants are not quite individual but not quite part of a team. They are the best of both worlds. Workers that can think for themselves yet co-operate to form a highly efficient workforce.
Having Studied ants for “A couple of years now” Dr. Beekman tells us that ants communicate via Pheromones. According to The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, “Pheromones” are “A chemical secreted by an animal, especially an insect, that influences the behaviour or development of others of the same species, often functioning as an attractant of the opposite sex” In this case pheromones are used by ants to find the shortest route to food. Pheromones are an involuntary chemical that is secreted by ants when they leave the nest (in search of food). Pheromones work on the basis, that if two ants leave a nest to find food, the ant who took the shorter route will leave the strongest pheromone trail as it has double backed its route. This causes ants to follow the shorter route, thus further strengthening the pheromone trail.
This method of pheromone scents can be put into place in many systems, one being a telecommunications network. Through the research that Madeline Beekman has conducted, we can see that there is a solution to the broadband speed problem.
Data packets could be encoded in such a way that, when they leave a computer they leave a very small log file that other packets read when following the same path. This would lead to the internet having many log files floating around in “cyberspace” with the data packets following the quickest and most efficient path to the designated location.
However it is not all guns and roses. Recoding a data packet that carries data, would require extensive testing and could even, slow down the internet further and cause a global problem if the packets were found to have a bug in them. These packets would have to be immune to hackers, who could recode these packets to launch Denial of Service attacks on major companies which would have devastating consequences. There could be many devastating consequences for misuse of this new technology. Spammers could use this method to find the fastest method of sending their spam to unsuspecting email users. This would lead to an overall slowing down of the internet. The speed of the internet is limited by our connection speed, so having more data on the internet will not necessarily cause bottlenecks like the ones cable internet users are currently experiencing. However it will most definitely lead to a new wave of viruses that could also use this “Pheromone” method to find the fastest route into a computer system to destroy it.
The log files would also present a problem as these would give away the location of the internet gateway for a corporation, making it much quicker and easier to hack into a large corporation’s computer network. These log files would definitely cause concern over privacy issues also.
This could also be implemented into many other scenarios such as networking, phone calls, HD Television and even Traffic! This technology is only emerging, so users will have to put up with the internet bottlenecks. However the implementation of this system would take years and would create much controversy between computer intellects and corporations because of its shaky security issues. Nevertheless it is nice to know that there is a solution on the horizon albeit a little far-off.
-Ending needs to be stronger, need an synonym for “far-off”
-Not sure about how the article flows?
thanks!!!
