Embedded systems are now ubiquitous. They can be found in a diverse range of appliances, from mobile phones to smoke alarms, from refrigerators to trucks. Enabling these systems to communicate opens up new areas of applications: smart buildings, industrial automation, healthcare, power distribution and host of others. Some of the applications will result in a more efficient, accurate or cost effective solution than previous ones. Others will be new, previously unimagined or impossible. We are in the middle of a major technological revolution that will affect many aspects of our lives, and Europe is well placed to be at the forefront of exploiting this technology.

Moving to this exciting new technique in system development necessitates a common language for all systems. Without this, we risk repeatedly ?re-inventing the wheel? at a high cost in money and effort, and we compromise the inter-operability of sensors between applications.

An overview of the RUNES technology which enables the creation of large scale, widely distributed, heterogeneous networked embedded systems that interoperate and adapt to their environments. .

The RUNES project has a vision to enable the creation of large-scale, widely distributed, heterogeneous networked embedded systems that interoperate and adapt to their environments. The inherent complexity of such systems must be simplified for programmers if the full potential for networked embedded systems is to be realised. The widespread use of network embedded systems requires a standardised architecture which allows self-organisation to suit a changeable environment.

RUNES aims to provide an adaptive middleware platform, a common language that will simplify the application creation process. This will allow for a dramatic cut in the cost of new application development and a much faster time to market, transforming applications which are already technically possible into forms that are easy and straightforward for designers to use; and enabling applications which were previously unattainable. The project will also examine the potential uses and implications of the technology, develop demonstrator systems and design training courses to aid in dissemination of RUNES technology.