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Written by Akiba
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Friday, 12 March 2010 |
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Imagine wearing a shirt that can power an mp3 player, cell phone, and monitor your heart beat, brain waves and more. U.S. and Italian scientists have invented a fabric that can conduct electricity but that also can be made into light, comfortable clothing.
The new, high-tech fabric contains cotton threads coated with a thin layer of semiconductor polymers and nanoparticles which conduct electricity like metal wires. Link |
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Written by Akiba
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Friday, 12 March 2010 |
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It’s no secret consumers are always looking for ways to make their lives easier, be it at home, at the office, or on the go. Each week, The Peggy Smedley Show covers innovative M2M (machine-to-machine) technology that addresses this very topic, and on this week’s episode the focus was fitness devices, more specifically, how these devices can simplify the workout process. So how can a fitness device make anyone’s life easier? Unfortunately it can’t exercise for you or speed up the time it takes for you to see results, but what it can do is track your progress and even send data to your computer for you. Link (via WSN Observation ) |
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Written by Akiba
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Friday, 12 March 2010 |
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On-Ramp Wireless says it has solved a number of the problems with smart grid communications and better yet, they have done it in such a way that may allow them to avoid becoming road kill in an increasingly competitive marketplace. The San Diego-based company has devised a networking platform called Ultra-Link Processing (ULP) that reads like a utility's network manager's wish list -- in theory, anyway. ULP signals have a five-mile range, do not get obstructed by steel or concrete (the company put one under a manhole cover and could still maintain signal connections for two miles), and can carry enough data to provide remote monitoring or demand response services, according to CEO Joaquin Silva. ... So what are the problems? First, Qualcomm and TI, among other established chip vendors, will likely develop similar products. Last year, in fact, Qualcomm unfurled an initiative to develop products for the "Internet of things." How much attention the conglomerates pay to smart grid will depend on pricing and market conditions. Chips in the cellular market will likely command higher prices than those sold to smart grid vendors. If the cellular market grows while smart meter deployments get mired in trials, these large companies may not put much emphasis on smart grid. On the other hand, large chip companies need to maintain volumes so any potential opportunity can be attractive. Link |
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Written by Akiba
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Friday, 12 March 2010 |
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Utilities around the world are still struggling to understand and implement new technology needed to make electrical grids cleaner and more efficient. Only 8 percent of them worldwide have finished rolling out smart meters and other equipment under the banner of “Smart Grid,” according to new survey data collected by Microsoft. Completed Smart Grid deployments might not be the best metric, but data showing that only 37 percent of utilities are working on relevant projects, and that more than half have done nothing to transition their operations, indicates that we here in the U.S. think the Smart Grid is being adopted much faster than it actually is. Link |
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Written by Akiba
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Thursday, 11 March 2010 |
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[Akiba] Congratulations to the new CoRE WG which just got approved by the IETF. What was originally going to be a Bar BOF (Birds of a Feather) at IETF 77 in Anaheim will now become the first official CoRE working group meeting :) [/Akiba] The IETF approved a new working group today called Constrained RESTful Environments (CoRE). This new group aims at specifying a RESTful web service protocol for even the most constrained embedded devices and networks. CoRE will be a major enabler for all kinds of sensor network, M2M and other Internet of Things applications! CoRE WG Charter:
http://www.ietf.org/dyn/wg/charter/core-charter.html
A very early Internet-Draft on the Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) can be found here:
draft-shelby-core-coap-00 Link |
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Written by Akiba
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Thursday, 11 March 2010 |
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I've touched on this topic before outside of the blog, but a recent comment made me think that it could be appropriate to bring it up again. People enjoy some controversy, so what's better than putting different standards up against each other? I'll try to explain the differences and explain why BLE and ZigBee don't really step on each other's toes in my opinion... Link |
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Written by Akiba
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Thursday, 11 March 2010 |
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Link reliability is an important metric for WSN but the nature of RF propagation and the congestion of ISM bands makes link stability a hard guess. However, the flexibility and economy that low-power wireless networks promise are bringing increasing efforts in the community and the industry to better grasp the effects of path loss and the interference situation in the wireless link. WSN Blog Link |
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Written by Akiba
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Thursday, 11 March 2010 |
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EnOcean GmbH, developer of batteryless wireless technology, has announced the market availability of its new Dolphin platform. For the first time, the Dolphin system architecture enables the use of bi-directional, self-powered wireless sensors and actuators meaning EnOcean sensor modules can transmit information as well as receive it. This creates the basis for innovative wireless applications in building and industrial automation, medical engineering and countless other markets. The Dolphin platform enables sensors to communicate in two directions, resulting in a sensor network dialogue that facilitates entirely new possibilities in building automation and a variety of other processes. A room temperature regulator, for instance, is not only able to send the temperature set for a room to its central controller. In the reverse direction it can now also receive commands from this central point and indicate them. At the same time the radiator is controlled and the momentary room temperature adjusted to a new setting. In this way large hotels can control and reduce their energy consumption centrally, without having to set the temperature separately for each room. |
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Written by Akiba
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Thursday, 11 March 2010 |
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Uh-oh, another local backlash against the installation of smart meters — and this time it’s not in Bakersfield, Calif., the home of the original smart meter lawsuit that rattled utilities nationwide late last year. The Dallas Morning News (hat tip Green Inc) reports that “hundreds” of Texans who received smart meters in Oncor’s service territory are complaining about the accuracy of the meters after receiving unusually high energy bills after the meters were installed. Link |
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Written by Akiba
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Thursday, 11 March 2010 |
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In 2010, D-Link Networks will be targeting some new areas of the home, says Lou Reda, VP and General Manager of the Consumer Division at D-Link's Canadian subsidiary in Mississauga, Ont., and VP of Consumer Product Development for North America. ... D-Link also plans an extensive foray into home management and security. In July, the company plans to launch an IP security kit that includes a keypad, motion sensor and door sensor. It's expected to sell for $179. D-Link will also offer other devices, including security cameras and Z-Wave adapters for Weiser locks. The system is based on Z-Wave technology, and can accept other Z-Wave devices such as lighting controls, thermostats and water sensors. Link |
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