Author: Ramkumar Sundarakalatharan

Organisers of Brazil Protest use Analytics to Measure Attendance

Organisers of Brazil Protest use Analytics to Measure Attendance

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Organizers of yesterday’s massive demonstration in São Paulo against the Brazilian government have employed an analytics tool to get accurate attendance data.
Opposition group Movimento Brasil Livre (MBL) was offered the technology by Israeli startup StoreSmarts for free through its Brazilian distributor SmartLok in exchange for the marketing exposure linked to the anti-government demo.
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The technology used in the protest is all readily available and is in use for atleast 3 years now. Its is a combination of portable router and an application that is usually employed by retailers to monitor, analyze and provide insights on shopper behavior by detecting WiFi signals from mobile devices in a designated area.
In order to estimate the amount of people in any given area, the system only takes smartphones into account while ignoring other WiFi signals from devices such as laptops or routers. The calculations are carried out in real-time, so the system can also provide insight on its web dashboard into the peak hours of the protests.
By calculating the device’s receiver signal strength indication (RSSI), the system can also tell how long the smartphone – and therefore its owner – spent in the area that is being mapped. However, the system does not track or store data on individual users.
Typically, protest organizers in Brazil or their comrades across the world have to rely on data provided by the local authorities and large media organisations to get accurate insights on attendance. These media organisations themselves rely on local bodies. Those numbers are often believed to be inaccurate for political reasons – the StoreSmarts system suggests that 1.4 million people attended yesterday’s demonstration, a number that matches what has been provided by the local police.
When asked why it is interesting to provide the technology free of charge, the startup founder says that his Brazilian partner has been piloting StoreSmarts’ analytics tool with some retailers in São Paulo – so getting the extra attention is helpful.
“We believe in taking data driven decisions, whether it’s politics or retail. The exposure we get by supporting such requests is very important for us and our partner, as we see Brazil as a very important market,” Eliyahu says.

Joint Europe-Russian Probe launched for Mars

Joint Europe-Russian Probe launched for Mars

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A joint European-Russian mission aiming to search for traces of life on Mars left Earth’s orbit Monday at the start of a seven-month unmanned journey to the Red Planet.
The Proton rocket carrying the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) to examine Mars’ atmosphere and a descent module that will conduct a test landing on its surface had been launched from the Russian-operated Baikonur cosmodrome in the Kazakh steppe at 0931 GMT on 14th March 2016.
The ExoMars 2016 mission, a collaboration between the ESA and its Russian equivalent Roscosmos, is the first part of a two-phase exploration aiming to answer questions about the existence of life on Earth’s neighbour.
The TGO will examine methane around Mars while the lander, Schiaparelli, will detach and descend to the surface of the fourth planet from the Sun.
The landing of the module on Mars is designed as a trial run ahead of the planned second stage of the mission in 2018 that will see the first European rover land on the surface to drill for signs of life, although problems with financing mean it could be delayed.
One key goal of the TGO is to analyse methane, a gas which on Earth is created in large part by living microbes, and traces of which were observed by previous Mars missions.
“TGO will be like a big nose in space,” said Jorge Vago, ExoMars project scientist.
Methane, ESA said, is normally destroyed by ultraviolet radiation within a few hundred years, which implied that in Mars’ case “it must still be produced today”.
TGO will analyse Mars’ methane in more detail than any previous mission, said ESA, in order to try to determine its likely origin.
One component of TGO, a neutron detector called FREND, can help provide improved mapping of potential water resources on Mars, amid growing evidence the planet once had as much if not more water than Earth.
A better insight into water on Mars could aid scientists’ understanding of how the Earth might cope in conditions of increased drought.
Schiaparelli, in turn, will spend several days measuring climatic conditions including seasonal dust storms on the Red Planet while serving as a test lander ahead of the rover’s anticipated arrival. The module takes its name from 19th century Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli whose discovery of “canals” on Mars caused people to believe, for a while, that there was intelligent life on our neighbouring planet.
The ExoMars spacecraft was built and designed by Franco-Italian contractor Thales Alenia Space.
For More Updates on ExoMars Updates head to: ESA ExoMars Update site
 

Fitting BigData into Enterprise IT with SAP's HANA VORA

Fitting BigData into Enterprise IT with SAP's HANA VORA

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SAP has introduced a new technology, dubbed HANA Vora, that almost epitomizes the idea that Big Data and BI are complementary. Vora melds Big Data technologies like Hadoop and Spark with the original SAP HANA, and downstream sources like SAP BW, Business Objects andERP. In the process, it brings BI-style dimensional (drill-down) analysis into the Big Data world.
But, with our experience in building these so-called “Big-Data enabled BI” applications for many of the manufacturing industry’s leaders, we have not come across a single enterprise who can readily implement HANA. despite the fact that many of them had one or more SAP component somewhere in their enterprise IT.
HANA Vora is based on the combination of Apache Spark and Hadoop 2.0/YARN. It then provides connectivity to the original SAP HANA, premised on push-down query delegation. It also layers in Spark SQL enhancements to handle hierarchical queries and a pre-compiled query facility comparable to what relational databases and data warehouses have had for years.
Essentially, Vora federates “data lakes” with Enterprise systems of record and does so without incurring the costs of data movement (since “classic” HANA executes its own queries). Further, it provides for the definition of dimensional hierarchies and the ability to use them in analytical queries against all the data that Vora can address.
Vora requires no dedicated hardware infrastructure, as it co-locates on the cluster nodes on which Hadoop and Spark are themselves deployed. Clearly, if you’re going to integrate Vora with classic HANA, the latter will need its own infrastructure. But Vora can also be used on a standalone basis with no additional hardware requirements. This important element will be a key-consideration for organisations to take a dip into the Data Lakes.
Vora could end up being a very sensible way for SAP customers to move forward with Hadoop, Spark and Big Data in general. And since Vora is a commercial software offering from SAP, and not an open source offering, it fits with SAP’s existing business model, rather than requiring the company to change gears in some contrived manner.
HANA Vora hybridizes on many levels: Big Data with BI; startup technology with established Enterprise software; data lakes with vetted systems of record; and, finally, in-memory and disk-based storage and processing.

The New Quantum Computer from MIT Could render Encryption Obsolete

The New Quantum Computer from MIT Could render Encryption Obsolete

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MIT has developed a new Quantum Computer with 5 atoms. Yes you read it right, “5 Atoms”. Before venturing to the prophecy of the impending doom due to the obsolesce  of encryption, here is a link that might help you understand what a quantum computer is.
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/quantum-computer.htm

An experimental computer made by a Canadian company has proved its ability to solve increasingly complex mathematical problems. But is it quantum mechanics?
An experimental computer made by a Canadian company has proved its ability to solve increasingly complex mathematical problems. But is it quantum mechanics?

With the concept of “Qubits” which can  simultaneously be both “HIGH” and “LOW”, which greatly reduces the number of  “Clock cycles” or “Time” required for performing an operation like calculating the Prime-Factor which is the basis of all encryption. It typically takes about 12 qubits to factor the number 15, but researchers at MIT and the University of Innsbruck in Austria have found a way to pare that down to five qubits, each represented by a single atom, they said this week.
Construction:
Using laser pulses to keep the quantum system stable by holding the atoms in an ion trap, the new system promises scalability as well, as more atoms and lasers can be added to build a bigger and faster quantum computer able to factor much larger numbers. That, in turn, presents new risks for factorization-based methods such as RSA, used for protecting credit cards, state secrets and other confidential data.
The development is in many ways touted to be an answer to a challenge posed way back in 1994, when MIT professor Peter Shor came up with a quantum algorithm that calculates the prime factors of a large number with much better efficiency than a classical computer. Fifteen is the smallest number that can meaningfully demonstrate Shor’s algorithm. Without any prior knowledge of the answers, the new system returned the correct factors with a confidence better than 99 percent.
From the Researchers:
“We show that Shor’s algorithm, the most complex quantum algorithm known to date, is realizable in a way where, yes, all you have to do is go in the lab, apply more technology, and you should be able to make a bigger quantum computer,” said Isaac Chuang, professor of physics and professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT. “It might still cost an enormous amount of money to build — you won’t be building a quantum computer and putting it on your desktop anytime soon — but now it’s much more an engineering effort, and not a basic physics question,” Chuang added.
The results of the new work were published Friday in the journal Science.
This is a really interesting development. Let us await how this progresses.
 

Red Hat and Eurotech team up to deliver IoT solution framework.

Red Hat and Eurotech team up to deliver IoT solution framework.

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Italy-based Eurotech offers machine-to-machine platforms and other IoT products. Red Hat plans to combine its open-source Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat JBoss middleware with Eurotech’s Everyware Software Framework and Eurotech Everyware Cloud to create an end-to-end architecture for IoT. This will let enterprises integrate operational data from computing equipment at the edge of the network with cloud-based back-end services.
Enterprise IoT needs computing capability at the edges of networks so companies don’t have to ship masses of data to the cloud for real-time processing. Instead, data aggregation and transformation, plus data integration and routing, can take place close to the operational devices.
However, for the foreseeable future, most IoT projects will be heavily customized, so vertical industry expertise will remain more critical than horizontal solution.
 
 

Now . . . where were we?

Now . . . where were we?

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Well, my first blog or journal came into being at around 2001. And fast forward some 14 years, (which  in Common Law is a “Lifetime” ) and approximately 11 blogs after, I am back none the wiser but older.
Me On BridgeWill try and chronicle the,  events to come, happenings and stuff that interests me, or affect me or inspires me.
Signing Off Now.

NASA Announces "Roadmap" for Deep Space CEV

NASA Announces "Roadmap" for Deep Space CEV

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It Seems NASA has reached an important milestone for the next U.S. transportation system that will carry humans into Near-deep space. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden announced that the system will be based on designs originally planned for the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle. Those plans now will be used to develop a new spacecraft known as the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV).
“We are committed to human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit and look forward to developing the next generation of systems to take us there,” Bolden said.

“The NASA Authorization Act lays out a clear path forward for us by handing off transportation to the International Space Station to our private sector partners, so we can focus on deep space exploration. As we aggressively continue our work on a heavy lift launch vehicle, we are moving forward with an existing contract to keep development of our new crew vehicle on track.”

Lockheed Martin Corp. will continue working to develop the MPCV. The spacecraft will carry four astronauts for 21-day missions and be able to land in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast. The spacecraft will have a pressurized volume of 690 cubic feet, with 316 cubic feet of habitable space.

It is designed to be 10 times safer during ascent and entry than its predecessor, the space shuttle.

“This selection does not indicate a business as usual mentality for NASA programs,” said Douglas Cooke, associate administrator for the agency’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate in Washington.

“The Orion government and industry team has shown exceptional creativity in finding ways to keep costs down through management techniques, technical solutions and innovation.”

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NASA Announces "Roadmap" for Deep Space CEV

NASA Announces "Roadmap" for Deep Space CEV

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It Seems NASA has reached an important milestone for the next U.S. transportation system that will carry humans into Near-deep space. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden announced that the system will be based on designs originally planned for the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle. Those plans now will be used to develop a new spacecraft known as the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV).
“We are committed to human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit and look forward to developing the next generation of systems to take us there,” Bolden said.

“The NASA Authorization Act lays out a clear path forward for us by handing off transportation to the International Space Station to our private sector partners, so we can focus on deep space exploration. As we aggressively continue our work on a heavy lift launch vehicle, we are moving forward with an existing contract to keep development of our new crew vehicle on track.”

Lockheed Martin Corp. will continue working to develop the MPCV. The spacecraft will carry four astronauts for 21-day missions and be able to land in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast. The spacecraft will have a pressurized volume of 690 cubic feet, with 316 cubic feet of habitable space.

It is designed to be 10 times safer during ascent and entry than its predecessor, the space shuttle.

“This selection does not indicate a business as usual mentality for NASA programs,” said Douglas Cooke, associate administrator for the agency’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate in Washington.

“The Orion government and industry team has shown exceptional creativity in finding ways to keep costs down through management techniques, technical solutions and innovation.”

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PSLV launch successful, 5 satellites placed in orbit

PSLV launch successful, 5 satellites placed in orbit

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In a textbook launch, India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) on Monday successfully placed into orbit remote sensing satellite Cartosat-2B and four other satellites after a perfect lift off from the spaceport here.

At the end of an over 51-hour countdown, the 44.4 metre-tall four-stage PSLV-C-15, costing Rs260 crore, blasted off from a launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre with ignition of the core first stage and placed the satellites in orbit one after the other.

Visibly relieved scientists, headed by Isro chairman Dr K Radhakrishnan, cheered as Isro’s workhorse PSLV soared into clear skies at 9.22 AM from the spaceport in the East Coast in Andhra Pradesh, about 100 km north of Chennai.

The PSLV launch assumes significance as it comes about three months after Isro suffered a major setback on 15 April when the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-D3), which was launched using an Indian-designed and built cryogenic engine for the first time, failed and fell into the Bay of Bengal.

Cartosat-2B is an advanced remote sensing satellite built by Isro. This is the latest in the Indian remote sensing satellite series and the 17th in this series.

Cartosat-2B is mainly intended to augment remote sensing data services to the users of multiple spot scene imagery with 0.8 metre spatial resolution and 9.6 km swath in the panchromatic.

Cartosat-2 and 2A, two Indian remote sensing satellites in orbit, are currently providing such services.

A set of four satellites including Studsat built by students of seven engineering colleges in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, Alsat from Algeria, two nano satellites from Canada and Switzerland, and a pico (very small) satellite called Oceansat 2 accompanied Cartosat 2 on its trip to orbit.

Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahuluwalia, and former Isro chief Dr K Kasturirangan witnessed the launch.

“It has been a wonderful experience. The Isro has made the country proud,” Ahluwalia said, congratulating the scientists after the perfect take off.

Attributing the success of PSLV C-15 to the entire team behind the mission, Isro chairman K Radhakrishnan said, “We had an excellent flight. It injected precisely the five satellites. The entire Isro team is behind the success”.

In an apparent reference to the failure of GSLV D3 cryogenic stage, the space agency’s first mission after he took over as its chief, he said his team of scientists were inspired to work “especially after the last few weeks after a serious problem that we faced.”

“And I also want to say we have understood the problem with regard to the indigenous cryogenic engine and stage. We will confirm it in a few weeks with a few tests and then we will come back”, he said.

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Russian resupply ship docks at International Space Station

Russian resupply ship docks at International Space Station

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An unmanned Russian supply vessel docked Sunday without trouble at the International Space Station, two days after a technical glitch forced a similar maneuver to be aborted.

Space officials said they managed to avoid the radio signal problems that forced them to abandon last week’s docking of the Progress M-06M cargo ship, launched on June 30, is carrying 2.6 tonnes of fuel, food and water for the three Russia and three US astronauts on the station.

“At 20:17 pm Moscow time (16H17 GMT), the ‘Progress M-06M’ docked at the ‘Star’ module of the ISS,” the Russian Mission Control Centre said in an Internet statement.

An attempted docking on Friday was aborted when a radio link with the ISS was lost about 25 minutes before the planned rendezvous.

Sunday’s successful docking was done automatically under the supervision of experts in Moscow and the ISS team, it said, without using the radio link.

Progress launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on June 30.

It is the 40th Russian cargo vessel to dock at the station, the centre said.

In contrast to the troubles that plagued the first rendezvous attempt, Sunday’s second try “was executed flawlessly,” the US space agency NASA said on its website.

The space ship’s failure to dock last week after flying past the ISS was notable largely because it was rare mishap in a space programme which usually strives for and achieves pinpoint accuracy.

During the mishap “in the beginning everything was normal, then the automatic (docking) mode failed, and later the station’s crew could not dock the vessel in manual mode,” a Russian space centre spokesman told the Itar-Tass news agency.

The automatic docking system also failed during the last Progress supply ship docking in May although the process was successfully carried out manually.

The ISS, which orbits 350 kilometres (220 miles) above Earth, is a sophisticated platform for scientific experiments, helping test the effects of long-term space travel on humans, a must for any trip to distant Mars.

Progress is carrying 1,918 pounds (862 kilos) of propellant, 110 pounds (50 kilos) of oxygen, 220 pounds (100 kilos) of water and 2,667 pounds (1,210 kilos) of experiment equipment, spare parts and other supplies to the station.

The rendezvous occurred 220 miles (350 kilometers) above Earth as both the ISS and resupply ship flew over the point where the borders of China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia intersect.

Progress is similar in appearance and design elements to the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, which brings crew members to the station, serves as a lifeboat while they are there and returns them to Earth. And unlike Soyuz, Progress has a refuelling module and a cargo module.

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