Precise navigation points to new worlds

Article Abstract:

A new satellite navigation network coupled with advancements in electronic maps, information storage and non-satellite location techniques, is revolutionizing personal navigation and giving rise to immense potential in the field. In addition, sales of geographic information systems (GIS) increased 29 percent to $1.41 billion in 1990. Analysts believe sales of GIS could double by 1994. The rise in popularity is spurred by new technology such as the network of satellites known as global positioning system (GPS). This system, which is controlled by the US military, consists of a network of 16 satellites that allows users with receivers to pinpoint their actual position within 85 feet. In addition, advances in the computer industry enable miniaturization of the devices that use navigational information, allowing users to utilize the technology on an individual level, in cars for example.

Electronic computers, Radio & TV communications equipment, Usage, Equipment and supplies, Technological forecasting, Navigation, Satellites, Satellites (Astronomical bodies), Applications, Computer Industry, Future of Computing

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Speed of light; is optical computing the next frontier, or just a nutty idea? Gizmo by Bell Labs shows it's possible to use photons rather than electrons; Japanese launch a program

Article Abstract:

Alan Huang, a researcher at AT and T's Bell Laboratories trying to develop the world's first optical computer, has made a significant step in that direction by unveiling a digital optical processor. Optical computing has many skeptics who feel that a complex working model will never be developed, but the Japanese are not among them. Thirteen Japanese electronics companies have joined in a 10-year research program to develop such a computer and Mitsubishi claims it will be able to etch a million optical switches on a one-centimeter chip by 2000. The potential of optical computing is great, because the speed of photons would make computers using the technology thousands of times faster than conventional computers. Photons can also carry much more information than electricity and they allow almost unlimited wireless connections between computing elements.

Commercial physical research, Innovations, Huang, Alan

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AT&T shrinks space for 'photonics,' bringing light-based technology closer

Article Abstract:

AT&T Bell Laboratories shrinks companies' 'photonic' technology, bringing light-based technology closer to applications in data processing. At an optical computing conference in Kobe, Japan, AT&T will unveil a device that combines the world's smallest lasers with a network of tiny lenses and mirrors, which can be used to connect computer chips. The device is said to be an inch in diameter and an eighth of an inch thick. In the past, AT&T encountered skepticism about the company's claims that light is a practical way to communicate between computer chips at very short distances, and there was downright disbelief that an all-optical computer might be possible. Tod Sizer, a Bell Labs scientist, says the new device 'should quiet such criticism.'

COMMUNICATION, Communications Equipment, Telecommunications services industry, Telecommunications industry, Telephone companies, Telecommunications equipment, Beliefs, opinions and attitudes, Telecommunications, Lasers, Photonics, Telecommunication, Laser, Telephone Company, Photoelectric Devices, Sizer, Tod

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