Instrumentation and computing have co-evolved for fifty years with improvements in circuit, storage, interconnection, and software technologies. However, computing has experienced explosive growth through the universal connectivity of the Internet and the vast body of information and data analysis that comprises the web, while instrumentation has largely been constrained to domain-specific settings. Recently, through the broad research efforts of many companies and universities developing technology and applications on open platforms, from motes running TinyOS to embedded Linux devices, and spanning many sensor modalities, from simple physical parameters to broadband imagers, these two worlds have been reunited, with sensing, computation and wireless communication integrated in sustainable systems, allowing networks of these devices to be embedded in the physical world. By placing sensing devices up close to the physical phenomena we are able to study details in space and time that were previously unobservable.

Across a wide array of applications in science and industry, the ability to observe physical processes with such high fidelity will allow domain experts to create models, make predictions, and better manage critical resources. This emerging class of devices represents a new frontier for the Internet. The web will no longer be limited to human keystrokes, clicks and swipes, as it becomes infused with rich physical information sources. Significant progress has been made toward programmable, multi-modal, multi-scale, and multi-use observatories for physical sciences. In-network processing, storage, and mobility all provide ways to enhance fidelity, lifetime, and reliability while making systems more robust, adaptive and interactive. Increasingly, these same techniques are being used to increase visibility into manufacturing processes, supply chains, health care, and emergency response to improve productivity and safety. Instruments and sensors can feed directly into powerful enterprise backend data analyses, creating actionable awareness of business processes. The opportunities of this Internet front-tier will draw upon and challenge many aspects of Computer Science and disciplines beyond. Dedicated to Dean Richard Newton (1951-2007).