WSN Buzz
Fresh updates on wireless networks standards and new technologies
Archive for December, 2008
December 23, 2008 at 11:19 am · Filed under HomePlug
The HomePlug® Powerline Alliance today announced that the IEEE P1901 Working Group approved proposals including key HomePlug technology as the baseline for an IEEE powerline communications standard.
“Confirming the baseline technology for the P1901 draft standard is a significant achievement for the HomePlug Alliance and the entire powerline communications industry,” said Rob Ranck, president of the HomePlug Powerline Alliance. “The formation of a ubiquitous IEEE standard will help to unite the industry, create even faster market growth and provide strong benefits to the consumer.”
Multiple semiconductor vendors have already announced plans to deliver integrated circuits (ICs) based on the P1901 standard. Additionally, products using HomePlug AV powerline communications ICs are expected to be fully interoperable with products using ICs based on the P1901 standard, assuring a seamless roadmap for existing HomePlug customers. As a result, the HomePlug Alliance expects that products based on the draft of the IEEE P1901 specification will be introduced by multiple HomePlug member companies well in advance of final ratification of the P1901 standard.
Press release here.
December 22, 2008 at 1:52 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
There are plenty of stand-alone solutions for different smart home functions on the market, but the problem is their lack of compatibility. Nokia is presenting the Home Control Center, a solution based on an open Linux platform enabling the home owner to build a technology-neutral smart home that can be controlled with a mobile phone, using a unified user interface.
The Home Control Center platform has support for the most common home automation technologies, including Z-Wave, ZigBee, 1wire and ECOP, as well as enabling the integration of support for proprietary technologies. Thus, it allows third parties to develop their own solutions and services on top of the platform, expanding the system to support new services and home automation technologies.
Download the white paper here.
December 22, 2008 at 1:41 pm · Filed under 802.15.4
Ultra low power chip specialist GreenPeak is rolling out an IEEE802.15.4-based RF technology reference design that it says can be used to build home remote controls that can run almost forever on a single battery.The RF remote control modules, which use the 2.4 GHz spectrum, are designed to be integrated into host gear such as TVs, DVDs and set-top boxes. They are based on GreenPeak’s Emerald GP500C communication controller, with dedicated features for the consumer electronics and remote control market.
The designs also include IR as secondary use for legacy systems, so a single controller can be used for both IR and RF devices. They incorporate a protocol stack of less than 4KB. The embedded IEEE 802.15.4 MAC layer allows a short time to market and a simple, stable and reliable software application.
Source.
December 19, 2008 at 6:15 pm · Filed under 6LowPAN, ZigBee
Daintree’s SNA provides the industry’s most comprehensive solution for both the development and deployment of systems based on IEEE® 802.15.4™ and ZigBee®. This latest release adds to that with decodes available for the 6LoWPAN, SimpliciTI™ (from Texas Instruments) and Synkro (from Freescale Semiconductor) network protocols, and also provides the ability to add support for decoding new protocols.
The SNA’s protocol decoder provides detailed packet-by-packet decodes for every layer in the protocol stack. Users can drill-down to view details of every field in every packet, and can also use filters to narrow a search and quickly locate packets of interest. The decoder can also be customized, with users able to choose which fields they want to view, and also the color in which to display different protocol layers and packet types for ease of identification.
Other popular SNA features are also supported by the flexible decode engine including multi-node capture (for dispersed networks), multi-channel capture (for multiple networks or networks that use dynamic channel assignment), security, and unique visualization to show a graphical representation of IEEE 802.15.4 network operation. All of these features are available through the SNA’s intuitive user interface, which helps even those who are new to wireless embedded networking to achieve results quickly.
More details here.
December 19, 2008 at 6:09 pm · Filed under ZigBee
Ember, a leading provider of low-power wireless mesh networking systems, will end 2008 with a flourish, setting company records for product shipments and revenue.
Building on the foundation from the previous year, Ember has shipped a record quantity of its ZigBee/802.15.4 semiconductors in 2008, more than all the previous years combined. This achievement reflects its position as a dominant vendor of ZigBee technology. It also validates the market acceptance of ZigBee as the wireless standard of choice for sensor and control networks, particularly for applications impacting energy management such as smart metering, as well as in home control and hospitality.
Ember continued to see significant momentum in 2008 in the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) market. 2009 looks to be even more promising as the U.S. focuses on a more energy-efficient economy and utilities roll out ZigBee enabled smart meters.
More details here.
December 18, 2008 at 1:21 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
A fast new home networking standard was ratified on Friday by the ITU. It comes with the unsexy name G.hn and some quibbles about what the consumer friendly marketing name will be (HomeGrid backed by Intel and Texas Instruments seems likely). Below are the five things you need to know about G.hn.:
- The new standard allows chip makers to build just one chip for the world. It will allow consumers to move digital content around the home using power lines, which is big in Europe; coax, which is big in North America; and phone lines, which are big in Latin America. With a worldwide market, chip makers will likely see the costs of their silicon drop and thus lead the way to lower-cost consumer devices with G.hn compatibility.
- The new standard is fast — able to deliver 20 times the throughput of current wireless technologies and three times the performance of wired-home networks. Some sources have thrown out delivery speeds of 700 Mbps although they admit in the real world that would decrease considerably.
- The standard isn’t backwards compatible with those already in existence today such as MoCA for coax, HomePlug for power lines and HomePNA for phone lines. That means the carriers and cable providers will either have to delay their home networking set-top box upgrades or buy backwards compatible chips — eliminating some of the cost savings for a time. Networks already deployed will have to be upgraded later. And consumers will need to check for backwards compatibility with their existing products.
- True G.hn-enabled products won’t appear in devices until 2010 at the earliest and likely 2011.
- If the G.hn standard takes off, it will make life difficult for specialty chip makers such as Intellon (itln), which makes HomePlug chips, or Entropic, which makes MoCA chips.
December 9, 2008 at 2:20 pm · Filed under EnOcean, ZigBee
ILLUMRA, the largest North American supplier of self-powered, battery-free, wireless lighting control systems, has announced its newest product innovation. The EnOcean + ZigBee long-range remote control system provides users with reliable light control at distances up to a mile away. The new long range hybrid system enables ILLUMRA self-powered wireless light controls to be used in a greater number of applications than was previously possible. The ILLUMRA hybrid control system combines benefits of ZigBee 802.15.4 Industrial Wireless Relays (IWR) from Ad Hoc Electronics with the benefits of EnOcean compatible ILLUMRA Self-powered Wireless Controls.
More information here.
December 2, 2008 at 10:02 am · Filed under Powerline
Powerline networking is a technology that’s capable of transforming an in-house mains power circuit into a home networking infrastructure. Neater than a wired network, faster than a wireless one, it’s literally a ‘plug-and-play’ solution that’s ideal for the average home.
Most Powerline products are based on a HomePlug specification developed by the HomePlug Alliance and certified according to CE standards. Each device in a Powerline network requires its own plug adapter. Each plug adapter features a familiar Ethernet socket and has its own MAC address to identify it on a network.
More information on how Powerline works here.
December 2, 2008 at 9:59 am · Filed under ISA, WirelessHART
With manufacturers showing more interest in deploying wireless field devices, the need for a more robust, standards-based backbone transport link between remote gateways and central control systems and other platforms rises in importance. A new collaborative partnership between ISA and the Fieldbus Foundation will address the issue.
The group will focus on defining common network interfaces to enable interoperability between different wireless field networks, including, among others, ISA 100.11a, WirelessHART, ZigBee, RFID, UWB, and 802.11a/b/g/n-based wireless networks on the edge of the enterprise. It also will define prioritization of multiple applications to ensure quality of service—and to address security. The first of these backhauls will employ Fieldbus Foundation’s High Speed Ethernet (HSE) technology. The standard will be embodied within the ISA 100 family of standards; and be jointly owned and co-marketed by both groups.
More details here.
December 2, 2008 at 9:57 am · Filed under Internet of Things
Individuals, businesses, and governments are unprepared for a possible future when Internet nodes reside in such everyday things as food packages, furniture, paper documents, and more. Today’s developments point to future opportunities and risks that will arise when people can remotely control, locate, and monitor everyday things. Popular demand combined with technology advances could drive widespread diffusion of an Internet of Things (IoT) that could, like the present Internet, contribute invaluably to our economy. But to the extent that everyday objects become information-security risks, the IoT could distribute those risks far more widely than the Internet has to date.
More here.
