SPACE - TIME PROGRAMMING 2012 Research Statement

The computational landscape is drastically changing. Processing is becoming virtually free, and sensors and actuators are becoming embeddable and affordable, allowing us to manufacture myriads of computational devices and embed them in the world. Unfortunately, as computing becomes smaller and more plentiful, it becomes harder to make parts error free and calibrated. Furthermore, communication delays are becoming sizable, forcing devices to directly communicate with and directly affect only local neighbors. In short, the assumptions that data is both perfect and available are no longer true. Traditional engineering approaches do not apply to this computing class of cheap, distributed, possibly faulty, locally communicating devices, that we call “spatial computing”. We are forced to radically rethink our computing models, languages, and practices.