WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORK

CONTENT

News
WSN - Environment
WSN - Internet of Things
WSN - Mobile Sensors
Companies & Institutions
References
See Also

NEWS

WSN - ENVIRONMENT

Univ. of Southampton: Scientists pioneer wireless sensors to explore little known glacier phenomenon

{School of Geographyof Univ. of Southampton / Prof. Jane Hart & School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) of Univ. of Southampton / Dr Kirk Martinez}
(Oct. 2010)
Until recently, it was assumed that glaciers flowed slowly and continuously, but there is a growing body of evidence that glacier movement can be episodic and can be modelled in a similar way to earthquakes as stick-slip motion. To measure the 'stick' phase, the researchers plan to use an innovative wireless multisensory probe.... [22]outdoor fire pit outdoor fire pitsoutdoor fire pit

NCCR-MICS: Swiss sensor technology for farmers in Africa

{NCCR-MICS}
(Oct. 2010)
MICS (Mobile Information and Communication Systems) develops measurement technology for monitoring the environment. Small farmers in Africa may now benefit from this technology. Long-term goal: information via SMS about the best time for planting.... [21]

Eawag and EPFL: Mesurer la pluie grâce aux antennes de téléphonie mobile

{EAWAG; Dr. Joerg Rieckermann / Environmental Remote Sensing Laboratory, EPFL, Alexi Berne}
(March 2010)
Les eaux des grosses pluies subites provoquent souvent des surcharges des réseaux d’assainissement et de leurs réservoirs de crues, particulièrement ceux des zones urbaines puisque le sol construit n’absorbe plus d’eau. Ces déversements ne sont pas très conséquents mais sont tout de même gênants. Ils pourront dans une certaine mesure être évités à l’avenir grâce à un projet qui utilise le réseau très dense des antennes de téléphonie mobile pour détecter des grosses averses localisées... [19, 20 ]

Libelium: New Wireless Sensor Board Enables Extreme Precision Agriculture in Vineyards and Greenhouses

{Libelium}
(June 2010)
Libelium, a technology leader in wireless sensor networks, announces a new Agriculture Sensor board for its Waspmote platform. The new board enables up to fourteen environmental parameters to be monitored in a wireless sensor network. This sophisticated monitoring brings extreme precision to crop growing in vineyards and greenhouses by enabling irrigation and climate control to be matched to local conditions. [18]

Stanford University: Laptops as Earthquake Sensors

{Standford University/ Prof J. Lawrence}
(April 2008)
Earthquake researchers in California hope to take advantage of the motion sensors in laptops to create an earthquake-sensing network. By putting computers in homes and businesses to work as seismic monitors, the researchers hope to pull together a wealth of information on major quakes, and perhaps even offer early warnings, giving a few seconds' notice of a potentially devastating quake. The Quake Catcher Network (QCN) is in the beta testing stage, with links to several hundred laptops. [1]

ETHZ Permasense: Wireless Sensing in High Alpine Environment

{ETHZ-Computer engineering / Prof. Dr. Lothar Thiele}
In a joint computer science and geoscience project we have built and deployed a wireless sensor network for measuring permafrost related parameters. The project PermaSense aims at developing and demonstrating a flexible, distributed wireless sensor network (WSN) adapted to geophysical sensors with reliable and high-quality measurement systems for extreme environmental conditions. [2]
Prof Thiele is also involved in Nano-Tera Project: X-Sense:Monitoring Alpine Mass Movements at Multiple Scales

Selex : Wireless Sensor Network with Self Organization Capabilities for critical and emergency application

{SELEX/ Paolo Capodieci - Winsoc Project Coordinator}
Wireless sensor networks are currently receiving huge attention as a basic tool to detect emergency events or monitor physical parameters of interest, such as radiation, pollution, temperatures, pressures, and so on.
The key idea of WINSOC is the development of a totally innovative design methodology, mimicking biological systems, where the high accuracy and reliability of the whole sensor network is achieved through a proper interaction among nearby, low cost, sensors. [3]

Hewlett Packard : plan to build a "central nervous system for the planet"

{Hewlett Packard Research/ Dr. Stan Williams - HP Director of Information and Quantum Systems Laboratory}
(July 2008)
Hewlett Packard is up to two years away from starting to build a "central nervous system for the Earth", known as CeNSE. "The motivation for this work is realising and understanding the planet is sick and the disease is us," Dr Williams told BBC News.
"As information technology people, we are not going to be the ones who prescribe and administer the cure but we should be the people who provide the information required to do proper diagnosis and treatment."
Dr Williams suggested that, instead of wielding a stethoscope, HP would use trillions of sensors to monitor the health of the Earth and use the information to head off natural calamities such as large scale flooding or wildfires. [4: BBC News], [5: CNN], [6: HP website]

DUST Networks : A City Infrastructure

{DUST Networks/Kris Pister - Founder and Chief Technologist}
Reliable, easy to deploy, and built with the priorities of cities and citizens in mind, Streetline Networks is leading the way in the development of intelligent infrastructure solutions for urban areas. The Streetline solution is a complete information system designed specifically for applications in urban resource management. The platform integrates ultra low power sensing with Web-based solutions that optimize the use of city assets, in this case parking spaces. [7]

Honeywell Sensing and Control : Wireless Sensor Networks Can Address Industrial, Economic, and Societal Issues

{Honeywell Sensing and Control / Beth Wozniak, president}
Wozniak said the growing use of wireless sensors-and the increasing trend toward connecting multiple sensors on Internet-based networks-is creating an environment in which sensing technology is pervasive, and that "world of interconnected sensors," will produce tremendous industrial, environmental, economic, and societal benefits.
"These emerging smart sensor technologies will be able to help meet many of the most important technical, economic and social challenges our society faces today-including energy conservation, health care, transportation safety, and natural disaster response," Wozniak declared. [8]
OneWireless Network:
(June 2009)
Honeywell�s OneWireless Network is a rugged, industrial-grade network composed of industrial wireless access, called multinodes, that self-discover to create a redundant, self-healing mesh network. This single multi-protocol, multi-standard wireless network communicates simultaneously with Wi-Fi devices and industrial I/O devices. [9]

IBM : Smarter Planet

{IBM / Samuel J. Palmisano, chief executive }
(Jan. 2010)
I.B.M. trotted out its "smarter planet" campaign more than a year ago, starting with a speech by Samuel J. Palmisano, I.B.M.'s chief executive, at the Council on Foreign Relations. At the time, the campaign seemed an ambitious, though potentially risky, move. The vision of transportation, health care, cities, retailing, finance and other fields made more intelligent with digital technology and yes, supplied largely by I.B.M. could have easily fizzled and been portrayed as big-think puffery, out of step with an economy in a tailspin. [10, NYT], [11, IBM Smarter Planet]

IBM : Complex Real-Time Environmental Monitoring of the Hudson River and Estuary System

{IBM}
Multiparameter and multiscale real-time environmental monitoring of a river and estuary system will be realized through the River and Estuary Observatory Network (REON) for the Hudson River in New York.
We describe a system under development that provides a holistic view of this complex and dynamic natural environment for scientific research, education, management, and environmental policy-related applications. The system incorporates
a complex array of sensor technologies encompassing the physical, chemical, and biological measurement domains. REON supports Lagrangian, Eulerian, and autonomous robot sensor deployments, as well as flexible telemetry options through an open and consistent middleware architecture with advanced device management capabilities. [12]

WSN - Internt of Things

In computing, the Internet of things, also known as the Internet of objects, refers to the networked interconnection of everyday objects. It is described as a self-configuring wireless network of sensors whose purpose would be to interconnect all things. In plain terms, it is a network linking objects: a network that uses radio frequency identification (RFID), infrared sensors, global positioning system, laser scanners and other sensing devices to connect any object to the Internet for information exchange and communication by pre-determined protocols so as to realize intelligent identification, positioning, tracking, monitoring and management

Wuxi City: China taps into Internet of Things world

(March 2010)
In Wuxi City of east China's Jiangsu Province, an intelligent transportation system is under construction, which by using the Internet of Things technologies, would enable traffic lights to change automatically according to traffic flows. [28]

Internet of Things Center: Shanghai launches the First Internet of Things Center

(Nov 2010)
China's first "Internet of Things" center opened in Shanghai, as part of the country's effort to enhance competitiveness in what is regarded as a promising industry. With a total investment of 800 million yuan ($117.2 million), the center is designed to study technologies and industrial standards. The Internet of Things is a network of real-world objects linked by the Internet and interacting through web services. [23]

Sensors empower the "Internet of Things"

(May 2010)
The goals for the Internet of Things are, first, to instrument and interconnect all things and, second, to ensure that all those things are intelligent... [24]

IBM: launches software to spur sensor management, 'Internet of things'

(June 2010)
IBM on Monday will roll out a software development kit for an application dubbed Mote Runner with the aim of spurring the adoption of sensors in various devices, products and systems...[26]

ARM Holdings: You Too Can Join the Internet Of Things

(Sept. 2010)
The research effort puts a kit for a microcontroller, called mbed, this is a sort of a basic, low-power computer on a chip. Then, ARM holdings provides a set of software tools for bringing that microcontroller to life and linking it with other interesting items like accelerometers, gyroscopes, cameras, displays and thermometers.... [25]

WSN - MOBILE SENSORS

MIT: A new algorithm optimizes the dissemination of information about traffic and road conditions through networks of wirelessly connected cars.

{CarTel Project, MIT / Calvin Newport}
(Sept. 2010)
MIT’s CarTel project is investigating how cars themselves could be used as ubiquitous, highly reliable mobile sensors. The CarTel team presented a new algorithm that would optimize the dissemination of data through a network of cars with wireless connections... [27]

Google : The Future of Mobile

{Google Blog}
(Sept 2008)
Project out these trends another ten years. You will be carrying with you, 24x7 (a recent study of Chinese mobile customers showed that the majority of them sleep within a meter of their phones), a very powerful, always connected, sensor-rich device. And the cool thing is, so will everyone else. So what are you going to do with it that you aren't doing now? [13]

Apple : The iPhone's Untapped Potential

(June 2007)
Apple is known for its innovative gadget design, and with the release of the iPhone, it continues to live up to its hype. But while people are fawning over features like the smart, multitouch screen and the advanced Web browser, there is important technology under the hood that will likely go underappreciated. The iPhone has tiny, powerful sensors--an accelerometer, an ambient light sensor, and an infrared sensor--that are able to pick up cues from the environment and adjust the phone's functions accordingly.
A sensor-enabled phone could feasibly help monitor your exercise habits, keep track of an elderly relative's activities, and let your friends and family know if you're available for a call or instant-messaging conversation. It could even provide insight into social networks.[14]

MIT : Reality Mining, Using Data Gathered by Cell Phones to Learn About Human Behavior.

{MIT, Media Labs / Sandy �Pentland}
(April 2008)
Every time you use your cell phone, you leave behind a few bits of information. The phone pings the nearest cell-phone towers, revealing its location. Your service provider records the duration of your call and the number dialed.
Some people are nervous about trailing digital bread crumbs behind them. Sandy �Pentland, however, revels in it. In fact, the MIT professor of media arts and sciences would like to see phones collect even more information about their users, recording everything from their physical activity to their conversational cadences. With the aid of some algorithms, he posits, that information could help us identify things to do or new people to meet. It could also make devices easier to use--for instance, by automatically determining security settings. Pentland, who has been sifting data gleaned from mobile devices for a decade, calls the practice "reality mining." [15]

U. california : Mobile Millennium; Tracking Traffic with Cell Phones, A New Project Collects Traffic Data from GPS-enabled Cell Phones.

{U. California, Berkley / Alex Bayen}
(Nov. 2008)
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, hope that drivers with GPS-enabled smart phones will help them gather more-accurate and up-to-date traffic data. Starting Monday, volunteers in the San Francisco Bay Area and around Sacramento will be invited to participate in a pilot program by downloading software that tracks their movements and transmits this information, via the phone network, back to a server at the university. In return, the volunteers will receive personalized traffic information on their cell phones. [16, Tech Review], [17, Berkley]

COMPANIES & INSTITUTIONS

Nano Tera Wiki : SensorNetwork