Visionaries say the next wave of computing will deliver automated devices on the factory floor, in the office and around the home that will monitor their environments and talk to each other without human intervention, reporting their status and making preprogrammed decisions via machine-to-machine communication. Kang Lee, a senior researcher with the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, is quietly paving the road to that future. As chairman of TC9, an IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Society Technical Committee, he has helped spearhead the 1451 suite of standards for the sensor networks that will someday monitor and manipulate so much of our world.

"The Navy wants to use this technology to monitor maintenance on its ships," said Lee. "Airplanes could replace tons of cables with fiber or wireless networks," enabling planes that would carry more passengers or use less fuel.

These days, Lee spends a fair amount of time at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which aims to build a national sensor network to monitor public places for threats.

The foundation of technology standards still needs some work before such massive infrastructures can be erected. Kang's committee is overseeing draft work on 1451.5, which will define a standard interface for wireless sensor networks based on protocols ranging from Bluetooth to Zigbee. That work may be complete in 2006. The group has already defined interfaces for two-wire, single-wire and analog sensor nets, as well as an applications programming interface that will span any wired or wireless sensor net.

Lee volunteers as a mentor in NIST's Adventures in Science program to encourage more students to "get into science and engineering." And he squeezes in time for tennis.