Hacking in industrial research and development

Two case studies, one on tracking shopping carts and another on airport self-check-in and boarding has demonstrated hacking contribution to industrial research and development settings. The IBM Retail Store Solutions division commissioned a research group to develop a new tracking technology with higher spatial resolution, better aesthetics, and reduced system cost. Many tracking technologies have been developed for vision-based systems and ubiquitous computing. Researchers created a spreadsheet listing 14 tracking ideas and estimated parameters values using specification hacking. They also tested the technologies in a supermarket to determine tracking performance under operating conditions. The airport check-in and boarding project was more difficult, so they created the concept of the Travel Card, a business-size loyalty card to wirelessly identified and located the passenger in the airport. Hacking in-flight wireless services offers airlines new opportunities for revenue.