Wearables, Implants, and Internet of Things: The Technology Needs in the Evolving Landscape

The proliferation of wearable and implantable computing devices in the recent years, and the emergence of the Internet of Things, have ushered in an era of computing characterized by an explosion in growth and diversification of computing platforms. Unfortunately, the traditional research silos in computing science and engineering appear inadequate for enabling and sustaining the requirements of this new computing era. This paper examines some of these key requirements, explains why the current computing abstractions and research silos are insufficient, and identifies several research challenges. The challenges cross-cut several computing disciplines, including programming languages, computer architecture, physical designs, security, algorithms, and analytics.