An RSS feed of news pertaining to Wireless Sensor Networks. This feed may contain a lot of press releases or biased information so please keep that in mind when reading the material. http://www.freaklabs.org Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:26:08 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.freaklabs.org/images/M_images/joomla_rss.png http://www.freaklabs.org An RSS feed of news pertaining to Wireless Sensor Networks. This feed may contain a lot of press releases or biased information so please keep that in mind when reading the material. http://www.freaklabs.org/index.php/Blog/News/Chips-Simplify-Low-Power-Bluetooth-Development.html Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF51 ultra-low-power (ULP) RF ICs feature a new multi-protocol 2.4-GHz radio and a 32-bit ARM Cortex-M0 based processor. Add to that Nordic’s novel software architecture for Bluetooth low energy (BLE) and ANT system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions, and you get a system that frees designers from the integration effort, complexities, and restrictions of chip vendor-supplied software frameworks. Customers, then, can develop their designs quickly and easily using the highly popular and familiar ARM Cortex programming environment.Link (http://electronicdesign.com/article/communications/chips-simplify-lowpower-bluetooth-development-74240?utm_source=feedburner utm_medium=feed utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EDMag+%28Electronic+Design+Magazine%29 utm_content=My+Yahoo)... Mon, 30 Jul 2012 17:18:47 +0100 http://www.freaklabs.org/index.php/Blog/News/Japan-turning-to-smart-grid-technology-after-tsunami.html After the March 11, 2011 tsunami caused massive blackouts and a meltdown at a key nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan has now started to focus on smart grid technology, according to a report from Zpryme Research Consulting. The report, titled Japan: Tsunami Wakens the Smart Grid, projects that the smart grid (http://www.elp.com/index/smart-grid.html) market will grow at an annual rate of 63.8 percent from 2011 to 2016 from this year's $1... Thu, 15 Mar 2012 18:13:58 +0100 http://www.freaklabs.org/index.php/Blog/News/Whats-the-Right-Standard-if-Any-for-Smart-Lighting.html Lights consume about 22 percent of the electricity in commercial buildings and are a huge target for waste reduction. Just think of all the lights you see left on in downtown office buildings at night. But only about 7 percent of U.S. buildings have any kind of lighting controls (http://gigaom.com/cleantech/will-zigbee-rule-networked-lighting/), creating a wide-open market for wireless technology to come in with a solution. Daintree Networks and Adura, two startups in the wireless lighting controls... Thu, 15 Mar 2012 18:13:09 +0100 http://www.freaklabs.org/index.php/Blog/News/Wireless-Sensor-Network-Outreach-ICTP-Trieste-Italy.html About a week ago we had the marvelous opportunity to teach a three-day outreach workshop in wireless sensor networking and environmental monitoring (http://wireless.ictp.it/?page_id=378) at the International Center for Theoretical Physics (http://www.ictp.it/about-ictp.aspx) in Trieste, Italy. Our 24 students were educators, scientists and engineers from Malawi, Nicaragua, India, Ecuador, Venezuela, West Gambia, Philippines, USA, South Africa, Tanzania, Jamaica, Columbia, Ukraine, Argentina and Albania. Marco Zennaro coordinated the workshops and was tremendously helpful and generous to us. Jordan... Thu, 08 Mar 2012 18:31:12 +0100 http://www.freaklabs.org/index.php/Blog/News/Introducing-GainSpan-s-SDK-Builder.html GainSpan (http://www.gainspan.com/)® Corporation, a leader in low power Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi connectivity for the Internet of Things, today introduced SDK-Builder, a web-based tool that enables developers to select Wi-Fi features and build custom binary for their embedded devices, with no IDE tool chain. SDK-Builder, the first such tool for the embedded Wi-Fi market, reduces development cost for companies designing connected devices based on GainSpan's Wi-Fi modules.SDK-Builder eliminates the need to use pre-built... Thu, 08 Mar 2012 18:30:08 +0100 http://www.freaklabs.org/index.php/Blog/News/IPSO-Members-Promote-Leaping-Forward-With-IP-at-Conferences-Around-the-Globe.html Members of the IPSO (Internet Protocol for Smart Objects) Alliance are actively encouraging vendors and customers worldwide to shun proprietary systems by leaping forward to IP-based solutions, enhancing interoperability and choice while leading to lower cost thanks to the economies of scale generated by multi-vendor ecosystems. Machine-to-machine (M2M) and Internet of Things (IoT) applications benefit from the tried and true use of the Internet Protocol; the evolution of connectivity from IPv4 to IPv6 ensures... Wed, 29 Feb 2012 17:36:31 +0100 http://www.freaklabs.org/index.php/Blog/News/TEPCO-to-install-smart-meters-in-13-/-Open-bids-eyed-to-lower-costs-for-consumers.html As part of steps to help cut electricity consumption, Tokyo Electric Power Co. will start installing next-generation electricity meters called smart meters at homes around autumn next year, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. To lower production costs of smart meters, which will be passed on to consumers, TEPCO will select meter manufacturers through general competitive bidding, with tenders open to any bidders. This marks the first time for open... Wed, 29 Feb 2012 17:34:37 +0100 http://www.freaklabs.org/index.php/Blog/News/TazTag-Introduces-First-Android-Phone-That-Combines-NFC-ZigBee-and-Secure-Element.html Today at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, French tech outfit TazTag, a company that specializes in NFC and similar contactless tech, unveiled a smartphone that integrates NFC, ZigBee, and Secure Element to create a very different kind of Android phone, called the TPH-ONE (http://www.taztag.com/index.php?option=com_content view=article id=104:tazpad catid=38:slideshow Itemid=101)Link (http://www.chipchick.com/2012/02/taztag-tph-one.html) Wed, 29 Feb 2012 17:32:09 +0100 http://www.freaklabs.org/index.php/Blog/News/Antenova-lines-up-smart-energy-boom.html Antenova, the Cambridge-based integrated antenna and RF solutions specialist, has won an important deal in the smart energy arena which has already brought a follow-through deal. The company’s 2.4GHz ZigBee antennas have been chosen by UK contemporary Telegesis for its latest range of ZigBee Smart Energy Modules. Link (http://www.businessweekly.co.uk/hi-tech/13640-antenova-lines-up-smart-energy-boom) Wed, 29 Feb 2012 17:31:37 +0100 http://www.freaklabs.org/index.php/Blog/News/Embedded-Thermoharvesting-Wireless-Sensor-Offers-Self-Sustaining-Status-Monitoring.html TE-CORE/RF (http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.micropelt.com%2Fapplications%2Fte_core_rf.php esheet=50181073 lan=en-US anchor=TE-CORE%2FRF index=1 md5=65bbc53b6cdbddc14a166bf22f5f81a5) – a new, modular, self-sustaining wireless sensor kit is announced by Micropelt (http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.micropelt.com esheet=50181073 lan=en-US anchor=Micropelt index=2 md5=3108b98a96d195de8db302354cbeeaa3), German vendor of chip thermogenerators and thermal energy harvesting micro power sources, and IMST (http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.imst.com esheet=50181073 lan=en-US anchor=IMST index=3 md5=b2e6a266d6e9ecfd0a395605e995b789), German specialist in low... Wed, 29 Feb 2012 17:31:07 +0100 http://www.freaklabs.org/index.php/Blog/News/Would-you-please-tell-your-Internet-of-things-to-shut-up.html The promised connected pajamas failed to make an appearance at Mobile World Congress, while many of the touted devices in GSMA’s Connected House exhibit — such as the vending machine you can interact with on Facebook — failed to impress. But beyond the gimmicks was an undercurrent of serious innovation around the Internet of thingsLink (http://gigaom.com/broadband/would-you-please-tell-your-internet-of-things-to-shut-up/?utm_source=social utm_medium=twitter utm_campaign=gigaom) Wed, 29 Feb 2012 17:26:43 +0100 http://www.freaklabs.org/index.php/Blog/News/-Power-Felt-uses-body-heat-to-generate-electricity.html Among the many applications of flexible thermoelectric materials is a wristwatch powered by the temperature difference between the human body and the surrounding environment. But if you wanted this watch made of low-cost carbon nanotube (CNT)/polymer materials, you would currently need a piece of fabric with an area of about 500 cm2, which is about 50 times greater than the area of a typical wristwatch.Link (http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-02-power-felt-body-electricity.html) Tue, 28 Feb 2012 19:09:54 +0100 http://www.freaklabs.org/index.php/Blog/News/Inventing-the-Energy-Future-Bill-Gates-and-Steven-Chu-Have-a-Plan.html It was a fair question for the moderator to ask Bill Gates what he was doing on stage at the third annual Energy Innovation Summit (http://www.energyinnovationsummit.com/) hosted by the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Project Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). “If you look at the improvement of the human condition, it’s related to intensity of energy use,” Gates answered. To help raise the standard of living for the world’s poorest billion people, he argued that we need to... Tue, 28 Feb 2012 18:15:10 +0100 http://www.freaklabs.org/index.php/Blog/News/EnerNOC-Misses-Q4-Estimates-Loses-Double-Counting-Dispute-With-PJM.html Demand response leader EnerNOC has reported lower-than-expected fourth-quarter revenues (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/enernoc-reports-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2011-financial-results-2012-02-27) and announced the upcoming departure of its chief financial officer, amidst news that its long-running dispute with its main customer has just been resolved -- but not to EnerNOC’s favor. The combination of bad news drove down shares of the Boston-based company by as much as 10 percent (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505245_162-57386524/enernoc-shares-tumble-10-pct/) in early Tuesday trading. EnerNOC reported a $28 million loss, or $1.08 per share,... Tue, 28 Feb 2012 18:14:47 +0100 http://www.freaklabs.org/index.php/Blog/News/Asoka-Makes-a-Play-for-Telecoms-With-PLC-Home-Energy-System.html It wasn’t a surprise when Verizon moved into home automation services (http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/verizon-launches-home-automation-via-z-wave/) last fall. In fact, the play to connect security and energy services for its FiOS customers was expected as large telecoms try to get piece of the home automation (http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/Smart-Grid-Roundup-Home-Networks-Smart-Meters-and-Telecoms-Join-the-Fray/) pie. The appeal of working with service providers, which have millions of customers and aren’t afraid to operate inside of the home, has various home energy vendors salivating at the opportunity. Asoka Corporation (http://asokatech.com/)... Tue, 28 Feb 2012 18:14:03 +0100 http://www.freaklabs.org/index.php/Blog/News/New-Waspmote-Wifi-Sensors-to-connect-directly-to-iPhone-/-Android-platforms.html Libelium, a technology leader in wireless sensor networks for Smart Cities solutions announces the launch of the new Wifi module for the Waspmote sensor platform. The new radio module adds an extra layer of intelligence to the nodes allowing them to send the collected data to any web server in the Cloud. The Wifi sensor nodes will also be capable of sending data to any iPhone or Android device nearby by creating direct... Tue, 28 Feb 2012 18:13:28 +0100 http://www.freaklabs.org/index.php/Blog/News/Energy-harvesting-wireless-sensor-networks-opportunities-for-industrial-applications.html What can we do with less than a 100µW-source?With the will to increase the number of sensors around us and to respect several economic and environmental constraints, researchers and R D engineers are looking for new green and unlimited energy sources that will allow to remove batteries or wires and to develop autonomous wireless sensor networks with theoretical unlimited lifetimes. These new sources are based on ambient energy.Unfortunately, ambient energy is not very... Tue, 28 Feb 2012 18:12:38 +0100 http://www.freaklabs.org/index.php/Blog/News/Future-Proof-Lighting-Controls.html A couple of weeks ago, we hosted a webinar called “Ensuring Your Lighting Controls Are Future-Proof”. Since then, we’ve had a lot of requests to make the recording available, and we aim to please, so it is now available on-demand (http://www.daintree.net/watch-the-future-proof-lighting-controls-webinar). We hope you find it useful, and we welcome your suggestions for future topics.Link (http://www.daintree.net/blog/future-proof-lighting-controls.php) Tue, 28 Feb 2012 18:12:00 +0100 http://www.freaklabs.org/index.php/Blog/News/Powercast-s-Chipset-and-RF-Energy-Harvesting-Reference-Design-Enable-Low-Cost-Wireless-Power-over-Di.html Powercast Corporation, a provider of innovative wireless power technology, today announced its RF-based wireless power chipset and reference design for embedded, low-power, wireless charging applications. The chipset and reference design, available for license, will make it easy and more affordable for OEMs to embed Powercast’s core RF energy-harvesting technology into their battery-less, or rechargeable battery-based devices, enabling RF energy (radio waves) to perpetually power them. Powercast’s embedded technology will convert RF energy... Wed, 22 Feb 2012 05:36:41 +0100 http://www.freaklabs.org/index.php/Blog/News/The-Crucial-Difference-Between-Wireless-And-Mobile.html Today, we are inundated with news about smartphones and tablets, the mobile Internet, and 4G Wireless. In this flood of information it’s notable that the words “wireless” and “mobile” are often used as if interchangeable. In casual use, swapping these two terms is harmless. But in the context of enterprise-wide strategic planning, focusing on mobile instead of wireless can lead to short-sighted results.Link (http://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/02/21/the-crucial-difference-between-wireless-and-mobile/) Wed, 22 Feb 2012 05:32:37 +0100 http://www.freaklabs.org/index.php/Blog/News/EMeter-Focuses-on-Water-for-the-Muni-International-Market.html When Burbank Water and Power (BWP) (http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/double-your-mesh-double-your-fun/) was shopping for a meter data management (http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/the-evolution-of-smart-grid-data-analytics-mdm-and-beyond/) platform about three years ago, it was crucial that the system could serve all of the utility, which meant both water and electricity. The water smart metering (http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/move-over-electricity-gas-and-water-meters-are-getting-smart/) project was also moving along faster than the electric side, so the utility couldn’t wait for companies to invent water offerings. The municipal utility chose eMeter, which was one of the... Wed, 22 Feb 2012 05:32:01 +0100 http://www.freaklabs.org/index.php/Blog/News/Ninja-Blocks-smashes-Kickstarter-target-in-one-weekend.html An Australian tech entrepreneur has sung the praises of US-based crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, after his start-up Ninja Blocks smashed its $24,000 target in just one weekend. Marcus Schappi heads up Ninja Blocks a “simple but powerful” device backed by a web service called Ninja Cloud. Ninja Cloud is integrated into users’ Ninja Blocks, allowing them to easily listen and talk to web services such as Twitter, Facebook and Dropbox. Each... Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:37:45 +0100 http://www.freaklabs.org/index.php/Blog/News/Ford-and-Bug-Labs-Develop-Open-Source-RD-Platform-for-Socially-Networked-In-Car-Connectivity-Innova.html With Ford SYNC successfully giving millions of customers the in-car connectivity they crave, Ford and Bug Labs are together exploring the next frontier in how to make connectivity more available, affordable and personalized for the hundreds of millions of consumers expected to buy a vehicle across the globe by 2020. Today, at the TechCrunch Disrupt (http://disrupt.techcrunch.com/SF2011/) conference in San Francisco, Ford and Bug Labs, an open-source hardware and software provider that offers... Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:34:28 +0100 http://www.freaklabs.org/index.php/Blog/News/Itron-Buys-SmartSynch-for-$100M.html Itron, North America’s biggest smart meter maker, is buying cellular smart meter leader SmartSynch for $100 million (https://www.itron.com/na/newsAndEvents/Pages/Itron-Advances-Growth-Strategy-with-SmartSynch-Acquisition.aspx). Chalk up a big win for the cellular smart grid. The companies announced the deal on Wednesday, and said it was expected to close in the second quarter of the year. The merger is expected to add about $50 million to Itron’s annual revenues (https://www.itron.com/na/newsAndEvents/Pages/Itron-Advances-Growth-Strategy-with-SmartSynch-Acquisition.aspx), the Liberty Lake, Wash.-based company announced. This may not be the most expensive... Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:44:26 +0100 http://www.freaklabs.org/index.php/Blog/News/Ciscos-All-IP-Smart-Meter-Domination-Plan.html We’ve been waiting for over a year to get some details on just how Cisco’s disruptive, end-to-end internet protocol-enabled smart meter architecture might roll out to real-world markets. Well, we’ve got those details, and they add up to a very competitive offering from Cisco and meter partner Itron -- if the smart meter market isn’t all sealed up, that is. Cisco’s new, potentially game-changing model is being deployed with the Canadian utility... Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:43:08 +0100