The Role of Sensors in Data Centers

Data centers are some of the several business facilities that would comprise of different kinds of platforms. This includes the critical site support platform (CSSP) and information and communication technology platform (ICTP). The different ICTP includes the equipment based on telecommunication such as network based equipment, storage devices and various servers. There are various kinds of regulatory institutions, experimental research and consultants that have introduced sensor technology and Sensor Based Information Systems (SBIS). The concept of SBIS have been introduced within the data centers in order to make them environment friendly and economically sound (Iansiti and Lakhani 2014). Different forms of experimental research have suggested that SBIS could be used for increasing the efficiency within the data center airflow management, load within the computer resources, demand management and power management.    

A sensor is defined as a small microchip that has the capability of converting any phenomenon that includes light, motion, sound or heat into any form of electronic signals. This could be performed with the help of detection and identification of the nature of surroundings. This also includes identifying the ways in which the devices would be able to communicate with the gathered information with respect to other systems that would hence be able to manipulate with that information (Farahani, Wagiran and Hamidon 2014). With the recent forms of technological advancements, there have been an introduction of new kinds of sensors such as magnetic sensors, mechanical sensors, thermal sensors, chemical sensors and acoustic sensors.

The inherent value of sensors primarily lies based on the amount of information that could be gathered by them in relation to the surrounding environment. The primary role of the different kinds of sensors include monitoring of the environment based on the detection, identification, quantification, measurement and location of any object within the range of detection that are described for each individual sensors (Muro-De-La-Herran et al. 2014). Drawing up on the roles of Information Systems (IS) and sensors, the present format of research would be able to define a new form of subfield of IS that is known as Sensor Based Information System (SBIS).

In the modern times, the use of sensor technology and SBIS are widely been used to serve major form of purposes in automotive industry, military and building of different forms of smart applications. Sensor technology are being widely used in military and defense applications based on performing a wide range of tasks such as surveillance, detection of intrusions and tracking of unwanted objects (Brynjolfsson and McAfee 2014). The sensors also play a major form of role within the automotive industry based on serving purposes such as convenience of the safety of drivers and increasing the performance of the vehicles. The rise of sensor based technology have led to the rise of different applications based on automotive sensing such as reverse detection system, air bag triggers, anti-theft detection systems, management of illumination level, vehicle stability, anti-rollover and GPS navigation systems. In the area of traffic management, the use of sensor systems would be integrated for the purpose of making different kinds of sophisticated applications that includes management of lane departure, lane changing systems and monitoring based on driver vigilance (Krikidis et al. 2014). Sensors that are used within building applications are primarily integrated with the aid of Building Management Systems (BMS) based on performing different kinds of tasks that includes monitoring and perform controlling of cooling, safety, lighting and security systems.

Sensor Based Information Systems

With the rise of different kinds of sensor usage based on the demand of institutions, information systems and businesses, it could be confirmed that the impact of sensors are majorly proving to be helpful for supporting the different kinds of operations (Kambatla et al. 2014). The increasing demand of sensors within the data centers have created a form of need based on larger kinds of fault tolerance systems, which would be able to meet with the growing demands of the market. The main purpose would be based on handling of large amount of data and processing of the data (Liu et al. 2016). This form of increasing demand of sensor based technology within institutions and businesses for supporting IT technology have thus resulted in the major form of growth of the volume and size of data centers.

The impact of sensors could be classified as embedded sensors, equipment based sensors and facility management sensors. The embedded sensors could be standardized by different computer manufacturers based on monitoring of temperature and measuring the amount of humidity of various kinds of internal components of any server. They could also help in monitoring the performance of the CPU (Gungor et al. 2016). Equipment based sensors are one form of advanced method based on the utilization of sensors. These sensors could be placed within many critical areas that would need extra amount of monitoring and thus be able to increase the efficiency. These kind of sensors would be able to support both of CSSP and ICTP operations. The facility management sensors could also be standardized based on building management based sensors. These would be useful for monitoring and thus controlling the humidity and temperature of a particular facility, control the lighting and thus also be able to support the safety and security based on the entire facility of the data center (Dastjerdi and Buyya 2016).

Different kinds of technical based studies based on SBIS mainly help in focusing on bringing innovative form of ideas, newer algorithmic design and bringing innovation within the architecture. In several cases, the new kinds of innovations that are being made within the use of sensors would include the proposing of a new form of design. This would be meant for exploring new kinds of opportunities within SBIS. The development of advanced form of sensor based systems would be helpful in overcoming the numerous kinds of challenges based on the deployment of SBIS (Li, Da Xu and Wang 2013). Different researchers in the development of such kinds of sensors have introduced innovative products that make use of sensor based technology. These researchers have also implemented the use of sensor technology for improving the performance of CSSP and also be able to facilitate the collaboration and integration of CSSP and ICTP.

Applications of Sensor Technology

The different kinds of studies that are made by the authors and different researchers have mainly focused on understanding the necessary areas, which could be covered. The use of valuable studies and a wide form of research on the utilization of SBIS would be helpful in understanding the advantages that would be provided by sensor technologies. Vast form of research would be extremely helpful for solving problems or mitigating the amount of gap within the research studies. The advantages supported by SBIS would be extremely helpful for solving different kinds of problems and also be able to support the various processes within these data centers. Deep exploration within the study of SBIS technology would also be helpful for the identification of the necessary areas in which SBIS technology could prove to be useful. The primary goal of the applications based on SBIS are to develop a reliable, useful and efficient system that could help in serving the major intended purposes. Hence, different researchers within this field have properly investigated the impact of SBIS based on the automation of the operations and business based functions. Research within this field of sensors would also be helpful for enhancing the performance of different sensor based devices, support the making of vital decisions, augmentation of human effort and thus also offer an efficient form of real-monitoring of systems.

Based on the recent forms of considerations on the impact of sensors within data centers, it could be discussed that there is a general form of lack within the areas of academic research in data centers. There is also a lacking area within the applications of SBIS designed for data centers. Most of the existing trends of research are based on testing of designs based on SBIS within a simulated environment (Li et al. 2016). The integration of ICTP and CSSP systems could be defined as the major factors for determining the primary value of the utilization of SBIS within data centers.

Conclusion

Based on the conclusion drawn from the impacts of sensors and Information Systems, the present form of study would be highlighting the impact of SBIS within data centers. The study discusses about the ways in which the SBIS would be able to leverage capabilities for the improvement of economic, operational and environmental performance. This literature has depicted the several advantages of SBIS within data centers and has also discussed the impact of SBIS on the future research directions in the field of sensor technology.

The Impact of Sensors in Data Centers

Based on the learning from the impact of sensors on the data centers, I have come to understand about the ways in which data center would be able to make use of SBIS technology. I would put major focus on the current considerations that are being made within data centers with the advent of sensor based technology.

I would also make use of the Gibbs Reflective Cycle in order to frame the topic of discussion in relation with the impact of sensors within data centers. From the first part of the cycle, I would be able to describe the major parts that have been learnt by me during conducting of the research. I would gather facts in relation to the use of sensors within data centers and the purposes that would be able to get served. During the second stage, I would be able to describe the situation that could be generated within the data centers and the ways in which sensor based technology would be able to serve the intended purposes. Based on the description and feelings, I will be able to evaluate the current situations within the research done on the usage of sensors within data centers. This would also be helpful for understanding about the positive and negative form of outcomes from the research. After the conduction of the literature review, I have also come to understand about the ways in which the different kinds of sensors could affect the working processes of different kinds of systems within the data centers. There has been an increasing demand of various institutions and businesses based on support from IT. This has thus resulted the growth of the business of data centers in relation to their volume and size. Based on the conclusions drawn, I would be able to take necessary actions based on defining new strategies on researching within the issues based on sensor technologies.

References

Brynjolfsson, E. and McAfee, A., 2014. The second machine age: Work, progress, and prosperity in a time of brilliant technologies. WW Norton & Company.

Dastjerdi, A.V. and Buyya, R., 2016. Fog computing: Helping the Internet of Things realize its potential. Computer, 49(8), pp.112-116.

Farahani, H., Wagiran, R. and Hamidon, M., 2014. Humidity sensors principle, mechanism, and fabrication technologies: a comprehensive review. Sensors, 14(5), pp.7881-7939.

Gungor, V.C., Sahin, D., Kocak, T., Ergut, S., Buccella, C., Cecati, C. and Hancke, G.P., 2013. A survey on smart grid potential applications and communication requirements. IEEE Transactions on industrial informatics, 9(1), pp.28-42.

Iansiti, M. and Lakhani, K.R., 2014. Digital ubiquity: How connections, sensors, and data are revolutionizing business.

Kambatla, K., Kollias, G., Kumar, V. and Grama, A., 2014. Trends in big data analytics. Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing, 74(7), pp.2561-2573.

Krikidis, I., Timotheou, S., Nikolaou, S., Zheng, G., Ng, D.W.K. and Schober, R., 2014. Simultaneous wireless information and power transfer in modern communication systems. IEEE Communications Magazine, 52(11), pp.104-110.

Li, S., Da Xu, L. and Wang, X., 2013. Compressed sensing signal and data acquisition in wireless sensor networks and internet of things. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, 9(4), pp.2177-2186.

Li, S., Da Xu, L. and Wang, X., 2013. Compressed sensing signal and data acquisition in wireless sensor networks and internet of things. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, 9(4), pp.2177-2186.

Li, S., Dragicevic, S., Castro, F.A., Sester, M., Winter, S., Coltekin, A., Pettit, C., Jiang, B., Haworth, J., Stein, A. and Cheng, T., 2016. Geospatial big data handling theory and methods: A review and research challenges. ISPRS journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 115, pp.119-133.

Liu, Q., Ma, Y., Alhussein, M., Zhang, Y. and Peng, L., 2016. Green data center with IoT sensing and cloud-assisted smart temperature control system. Computer Networks, 101, pp.104-112.

Muro-De-La-Herran, A., Garcia-Zapirain, B. and Mendez-Zorrilla, A., 2014. Gait analysis methods: An overview of wearable and non-wearable systems, highlighting clinical applications. Sensors, 14(2), pp.3362-3394.