Perytons LTD., a leading provider of analyzers for standard and proprietary communication protocols, announced today the availability of a new version of its ZigBee protocol analyzer with extended hardware support.

The new version uses a variety of USB transceivers, as ZigBee/802.15.4/6LowPAN capture front-end devices, made by leading companies. The newly supported hardware includes Freescale, OKI, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments, and Adaptive Network Solutions. Perytons is in the process of supporting additional hardware vendors. Users can now select any of these commercially available devices to capture and analyze networks and protocols such as ZigBee Smart Energy, Home Automation, Health Care, Telecom Application, ZigBee RF4CE, 6LoWPAN and proprietary protocols based on the IEEE 802.15.4. Most dongle types can be also used for Perytons advanced features, such as antenna diversity and simultaneous multi-channel capture.

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Demand for wireless sensor networks is showing significant growth following a period in which adoption was impacted by the economic downturn.

In 2009, 802.15.4 chipset shipments were down almost 30% compared with the previous year.  But according to the latest ABI research report on the WSN market, a strong uplift in shipments in 2010 will help drive growth from a little more than 10 million chipsets in 2009 to 645 million in 2015, a CAGR of 99.6%.

“Because they are based on emerging technology, wireless sensor network adoption suffered during 2009 as pilots and early projects were scaled back or put on hold. However, 2010 has seen a significant rebound and strong shipment growth,” says ABI research principal analyst Jonathan Collins.

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Using IP for smart objects is the next revolution in connectivity, enabling new functionality--and intelligence--to industries such as energy conservation, health care, industrial productivity and consumer electronics. In addition to learning the value of IP and how it is being implemented today and in the future, webinar attendees will learn about the significance of the IPSO Alliance, the primary advocate for IP networked devices with more than 50 members from leading technology, communications and energy companies.

"Intelligent, connected devices such as cars, appliances and even power grids and roadways are becoming a reality, thanks in large part to the innovative companies that are part of the IPSO Alliance," said IPSO president Patrick Wetterwald, product manager at Cisco Systems who will moderate the webinar's Q&A session. "This webinar is an ideal venue for other forward thinkers to learn about the status of this 'Internet of Things' and how they can help accelerate the adoption of smarter systems in every part of the world."

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[Akiba] Ah-ha...the CEO of Maxstream is getting back into WSN again after the Digi acquisition...[/Akiba]

Kaysville, Utah-based Monnit Corporation said today that it has launched a new firm focused on low cost, reliable wireless sensors. The new firm is headed by Brad Walters, who is the former CEO and Chairman of Maxtream, and also the former Vice Chairman of the Utah Technology Council. According to the firm, it is targeting the commercial, industrial, and consumer wireless sensor market. The firm said it will be developing a monitoring solution to connect sensors to the Internet, and expects to launch its first products in Q3. 

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Cisco and Itron, which makes smart meter systems, on Wednesday said they will partner to target smart grid systems.

The two companies weren’t shy about the lofty goal to build “a definitive 21st century Internet Protocol (IP)-based communications platform to the smart grid market.”

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Does the home need another screen for managing electricity? A number of smart-grid technology companies are developing dedicated energy dashboards that tell people how much electricity they are using, program heating and cooling, or that reflect changing electricity prices. But a home energy display is just one approach to making people’s homes greener with technology, a field that is attracting everybody from computer technology companies and manufacturers of appliances and electric vehicles.

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E+E Elektronik is introducing EE240 wireless sensors for the measurement of humidity, temperature or carbon dioxide (CO2). Up to three intelligent probes can be connected to each transmitter; each probe operates independently and can be hot-swapped. Remote probes allow the sensing head to be placed at a distance of up to 10m away from the transmitter. These features make the E+E wireless sensors especially suitable for industrial applications that require sensors to be routinely recalibrated without affecting network operation. The measured values can be read directly from the display on the transmitter or remotely using a web browser on any PC in the company's network.

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austriamicrosystems, a leading global designer and manufacturer of high performance analog ICs, has announced the AS3940, the first fully integrated 2.4 GHz multi-channel FSK (frequency shift keying) transceiver with integrated link manager for reliable control of star networks (up to 8 clients). It features low power, high sensitivity (-100 dBm @ 250kbps, -92 dBm @ 2 Mbps), data rates from 250 kbps up to 2 Mbps, and integrates a digital RSSI (received signal strength indictor), real-time-clock (RTC) and programmable clock output, a Gaussian filter, PLL (phase locked loop) and loop filter.

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Just like the flying cars promised by futurists in the 1950s, the potential dangers of RFID predicted by some today are more fantasy than reality

Back in the 1950s, every vision of the future included flying cars, underwater cities, and bases on the Moon. We're still waiting.

Today, some of the "futurist" scenarios for RFID take an entirely negative view, ignoring the potential benefits of the technology and, instead, postulate what could happen at some point in the future (probably around the time we have flying cars). Fears include individuals being identified and tracked down to the centimeter on a round-the-clock basis by RFID tags in their clothing, RFID implanted in all forms of currency including coins, forced implantation of RFID, and RFID systems being hacked by kindergarten children. But, like the flying cars offered by futurists in the 1950s, many dreadful scenarios about RFID are likely not to come true.

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