Embedded system design issues in ambient intelligence

The vision of ambient intelligence opens a world of unprecedented experiences: the interaction of people with electronic devices is changed as context awareness, natural interfaces and ubiquitous availability of information are realized. We analyze the consequences of the ambient intelligence vision for embedded systems by mapping the involved technologies on a power-information graph. Based on differences in power consumption, three types of devices are introduced: the autonomous or microWatt-node, the personal or milliWatt-node and the static or Watt-node. Ambient intelligent functions are realized by a network of these devices with the computing, communication and interface electronics realized in Silicon IC technologies. The tri-partition of the ambient intelligence system hierarchy into microWatt nodes, milliWatt nodes, and Watt nodes introduces four major issues for embedded systems design.