Core concepts

At their core, all models of all-over accretion allotment a eyes of small, inexpensive, able-bodied networked processing devices, broadcast at all scales throughout accustomed action and about angry to audibly common-place ends. For example, a calm all-over accretion ambiance ability interconnect lighting and ecology controls with claimed biometric monitors alloyed into accouterment so that beam and heating altitude in a allowance ability be modulated, continuously and imperceptibly. Another accepted book posits refrigerators "aware" of their appropriately tagged contents, able to both plan a array of airheaded from the aliment in fact on hand, and acquaint users of dried or baby food.

Ubiquitous accretion presents challenges beyond computer science: in systems architecture and engineering, in systems modelling, and in user interface design. Contemporary human-computer alternation models, whether command-line, menu-driven, or GUI-based, are inappropriate and bare to the all-over case. This suggests that the "natural" alternation archetype adapted to a absolutely able-bodied all-over accretion has yet to appear - although there is aswell acceptance in the acreage that in abounding means we are already active in an ubicomp world. Contemporary accessories that accommodate some abutment to this closing abstraction cover adaptable phones, agenda audio players, radio-frequency identification tags, GPS, and alternate whiteboards.

Mark Weiser proposed three basal forms for all-over arrangement devices, see aswell Smart device: tabs, pads and boards.

Tabs: wearable centimetre sized devices

Pads: hand-held decimetre-sized devices

Boards: accent sized alternate affectation devices.

These three forms proposed by Weiser are characterized by getting macro-sized, accepting a collapsed anatomy and on accumulation beheld achievement displays. If we relax anniversary of these three characteristics we can aggrandize this ambit into a abundant added assorted and potentially added advantageous ambit of All-over Accretion devices. Hence, three added forms for all-over systems accept been proposed:5

Dust: miniaturized accessories can be after beheld achievement displays, e.g., Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS), alignment from nanometres through micrometers to millimetres. See aswell Smart dust.

Skin: fabrics based aloft ablaze abounding and conductive polymers, amoebic computer devices, can be formed into added adjustable non-planar affectation surfaces and articles such as clothes and curtains, see OLED display. MEMS accessory can aswell be corrective assimilate assorted surfaces so that a array of concrete apple structures can act as networked surfaces of MEMS.

Clay: apparel of MEMS can be formed into approximate three dimensional shapes as artefacts akin abounding altered kinds of concrete article (see aswell Tangible interface).

In his book The Rise of the Network Society, Manuel Castells suggests that there is an advancing about-face from already-decentralised, stand-alone microcomputers and mainframes appear absolutely common computing. In his archetypal of a common accretion system, Castells uses the archetype of the Internet as the alpha of a common accretion system. The analytic progression from that archetype is a arrangement area that networking argumentation becomes applicative in every branch of circadian activity, in every area and every context. Castells envisages a arrangement area billions of miniature, all-over inter-communication accessories will be advance worldwide, "like colorant in the bank paint".