WSN Buzz
Fresh updates on wireless networks standards and new technologies
Archive for February, 2009
February 27, 2009 at 7:22 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
No matter which process control magazines, journals or on-line portals you access you will not have been able to avoid reading about wireless technologies. All the articles agree that wireless is a good thing and that it will open up many new measurement points that were just not possible or economically feasible before. Where some articles differ from others is in the way that they are advocating the technology that should be applied. There is not a dispute in the fact that applying it across the whole plant brings enormous benefits, but the normally conservative process companies do not want to have to make that investment up front before they have tried and tested wireless and achieved some benefits.
Emerson Process Management’s Smart Wireless products enable either a top-down or bottom up model. Users can begin at the plant level and work down to the field, or at the field and work up. At the field level, wireless field networks are extremely low-powered to enable the use of battery operated devices that function for many years. These solutions are also extremely secure and reliable. Emerson uses open standards such as 802.15.4 and WirelessHART to achieve this.
At the plant level, wireless plant networks provide the high bandwidth, flexibility and expansion capabilities required in business and operational applications. Of course, security and reliability are just as important for these applications as well. Emerson uses open standards such as 802.11 (Wi-Fi) to provide these solutions.
Smart Wireless allows users to start anywhere based on highest priority needs; there is no requirement to invest in an expensive wireless infrastructure throughout the facility to try out a simple monitoring application.
Emerson’s gateways, devices, access points and software use wireless communication standards and have gone through rigorous coexistence testing. This ensures seamless integration and easy expansion later as confidence in the technology evolves.
For example, if additional process measurements would help improve product quality or reduce energy usage we would recommend a sensor network at the field level starting with just a single gateway. If mobile access to plant information is needed then set up plant-level wireless access points so workers can get the information they need wherever they are. If both types of applications are important then implement them both at once using the plant-through-field strength of the unified Smart Wireless architecture.
In short, flexibility and scalability mean users can start wherever it makes sense, without investing in more infrastructure than needed. This is certainly the experience of Emerson, which has applied wireless technology in numerous process industry applications across all world areas: applications such as well head monitoring at the BP Wytch Farm onshore oilfield.
More on Emerson installations here.
February 27, 2009 at 6:11 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Energy harvesting (EH) or scavenging is the use of ambient energy to provide electrical power for small electronic and electrical devices. The technologies employed variously convert human power, body fluids, heat differences, vibration or other movement, dirt, vegetation, ultraviolet, visible light or infrared to electricity. Most are in the laboratory and many are solutions looking for problems, yet practical applications of some harvesting technologies have been around for some time. They vary from the bicycle dynamo to the solar powered calculator or road sign.
Proven solutions often store the energy usually either with a capacitor, as with some bicycles, or with a rechargeable battery as with some wind-up lanterns. However, certain wind-up radios manage this with clever clockwork that releases the energy at a required steady rate. We therefore have a considerable repertoire of energy harvesting technologies and uses today but there is a tsunami wave of new technologies and applications that they will be both affordable and usable in the next few years.
More here.
February 27, 2009 at 6:09 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
With venture capital flooding in and stimulus money on the way, the smart grid is taking shape — and the business world stands to benefit
Energy is the life-blood of commerce. The smart grid — an intelligent electricity-delivery system drawing significant interest from the U.S. government, venture capital investors, startup companies, and established tech giants, including IBM, Cisco, GE, and Google — promises to make that energy flow more freely, more reliably, more efficiently, and at lower costs to both consumers and businesses.
Just one of the benefits of the smart grid — reducing power outages — arguably helps justify the federal government’s desired investment of $17 billion in federal funds into transmission and smart-grid investments. According to Electric Power Research Institute estimates, power outages cost U.S. business at least $50 billion a year.
But reducing power outages is but one of the potential benefits of connecting utilities and consumers through an intelligent network. With smart meters installed at homes and businesses to monitor energy consumption and transmit information between energy providers and consumers, the smart grid promises to be substantially more efficient than today’s system. I’ll dig more deeply into the capabilities and features of the smart grid as I share what I view as some of the top benefits it holds for business.
More here.
February 25, 2009 at 9:46 pm · Filed under 6LowPAN, IPSO
IP for Smart Objects seeks to extend the use of IP networking into resource-constrained devices over a wide range of low-power link technologies – IEEE 802.15.4 represents one such link. Extending IP to low-power, wireless personal area networks (LoWPANs) was once considered impractical because these networks are highly constrained and must operate unattended for multiyear lifetimes on modest batteries. Many vendors embraced proprietary protocols, assuming that IP was too resource-intensive to be scaled down to operate on the microcontrollers and low-power wireless links used in LoWPAN settings.
However, 6LoWPAN radically alters the calculation by introducing an adaptation layer that enables efficient IPv6 communication over IEEE 802.15.4 LoWPAN links.
Download the white paper here.
February 25, 2009 at 9:42 pm · Filed under 802.15.4
Atmel’s RF transceiver and microcontrollers enable Wireless Personal Area Networks including 6LoWPAN in China, compliant to IEEE 802.15.4 and the respective P802.15.4c Draft Amendment
San Jose, CA, February 25, 2009 …Atmel® Corporation, – announced today the release of the first IEEE P802.15.4c compliant RF transceiver, the AT86RF212, for the Chinese wireless market. The fully integrated transceiver offers a very flexible combination of frequency bands and data rates. Customers can choose operation for Chinese WPAN band from 779 to 787 MHz, European SRD band from 863 to 870 MHz, and North American ISM band from 902 to 928 MHz. Direct sequence spread spectrum techniques support different modulation and data rates: BPSK with 20 and 40 kbit/s, compliant to IEEE 802.15.4-2006, O-QPSK with 100 and 250 kbit/s, compliant to IEEE 802.15.4-2006, and O-QPSK with 250 kbit/s, compliant to IEEE P802.15.4c (Chinese band). There is also an option to select a set of proprietary high speed modes: O-QPSK with 200, 400, 500, and 1000 kbit/s PSDU data rate. All of the above bands and data rates are available in one chip.
AT86RF212 is an ideal device for designing long range and robust wireless applications. With receiver sensitivity up to -110 dBm and a programmable transmit output power up to +10 dBm, AT86RF212 offers industry’s best link budget of 120 dB.
AT86RF212 offers industry’s lowest power consumption. Sleep currents are down to 0.2 uA, while active power consumptions are 9 mA in receive and 18 mA in transmit mode (@ 5 dBm output power). Security is supported by on-chip AES hardware acceleration.
Press release here.
February 24, 2009 at 9:34 am · Filed under Powerline
Those of you who’ve already read my powerline networking rant published earlier today hopefully came away with my intentionally two-sided conclusion; I remain intrigued with the technology’s promise, but the various implementations I’ve tested over the past five years have consistently underwhelmed me. Since this morning’s analysis exclusively focused on functional and performance issues, I didn’t mention another key powerline networking issue, that being the continued unwillingness of the three key technology suppliers to bury the hatchet and standardize on a common approach. In summary:
- Today’s three primary “200 Mbps” (PHY rate, definitely not effective data transfer rate) competitors are HomePlugAV, championed by Intellon, UPA (the Universal Powerline Association), led by DS2, and HD-PLC (High Definition Power Line Communications), chaired by Panasonic.
- Not only will an added UPA adapter (for example) not communicate with existing HomePlug AV adapters, its presence on the power grid will adversely degrade if not completely squelch the HomePlug AV network. The same undesireable end result will occur in all possible existing-plus-added powerline technology scenarios (i.e. a HomePlug AV adapter added to a UPA network, etc).
- HomePlug AV is a follow-on to the first-generation “14 Mbps” HomePlug 1.0 and subsequent Intellon-only “85 Mbps” HomePlug 1.0 Turbo approaches. HomePlug 1.0 Turbo devices were backwards-compatible with HomePlug 1.0, albeit running at the slower 14 Mbps PHY rate. HomePlug AV is backwards-compatible with neither HomePlug 1.0 nor HomePlug 1.0 Turbo, although HomePlug AV and HomePlug 1.0/1.0 Turbo networks can coexist without degrading each other.
More at the blog entry – link here.
February 23, 2009 at 5:39 pm · Filed under 802.15.4
ARM today announced the ARM® Cortex™-M0 processor, the smallest, lowest power and most energy-efficient ARM processor available. The exceptional low power, small gate count and code footprint of the processor enables MCU developers to achieve 32-bit performance at an 8-bit price point. The ultra low gate count also enables it to be deployed in analog and mixed signal devices as well as MCU applications, and promises substantial savings in system cost while retaining tool and binary compatibility with the feature-rich Cortex-M3 processor.
The Cortex-M0 processor, which consumes as little as 85 microwatts/MHz (0.085 milliwatts) in an area of under 12K gates when using the ARM 180ULL cell library, builds on the unrivaled expertise of ARM as a leader in low-power technology and a key enabler for the creation of ultra low-power devices. The new processor extends the company’s MCU roadmap into ultra low-power MCU and SoC applications such as medical devices, e-metering, lighting, smart control, gaming accessories, compact power supply, power and motor control, precision analog and IEEE 802.15.4 (ZigBee) and Z-Wave systems.
More here.
February 23, 2009 at 5:32 pm · Filed under ZigBee
Sunrise Technologies announce the Wi-OLC, a Designed for ZigBee Wireless Outdoor Lighting Control System for control of parking lot and area lighting. The system includes a Base Station radio controlled by a PC and dusk to dawn twistlock Lighting Control Communications Modules (LCCM) outfitted with 2-way radio communication. The Base Station sends user programmed radio signals to the LCCMs to override normal dusk to dawn photocontrol operation.
The multi-hopping self healing mesh communication network installs like regular NEMA twistlock controls. The system configures itself automatically at installation. ndividual or groups of fixtures can be programmed with 24 hour, 7 day, and 365 day operation settings. Holiday, special events and seasonal operations are easily programmed. An “All On” feature makes checking lamp/fixture operation easy during daytime hours.
This system provides immediate energy savings resulting in a short financial payback period while lowering CO2 emissions, extending lamp life and reducing ongoing lighting maintenance costs.
Link here.
February 21, 2009 at 5:56 pm · Filed under UWB
Much has been written over the past several months regarding the state of ultrawideband (UWB) technology. The flurry of news really started last October with the news of WiQuest shutting its doors, and leading up to the recent news of TZero, another UWB startup, running out of funding.
If you do a Google news search on “UWB,” the vast majority of the hits are articles declaring “UWB is dead,” or at least has one foot in the grave. My marketing folks would tell me that any press is good press, but although it’s true that UWB has had its share of negative publicity recently, to conclude that “UWB is dead” is a gross misinterpretation of recent events and ignores the lessons of relevant history.
I wanted to take a few moments to set the record straight on a few items pertaining to UWB that many have either been avoiding, ignoring or are just completely unaware. I have also sprinkled in a few predictions for 2009.
To this day, I remain bullish about UWB’s prospects. There simply is no better technology to transfer media content wirelessly, at high-speeds and low-power. Our team has worked diligently to provide solutions that are now ready to deliver on the promise of UWB. It’s been a long road and there have been missteps along the way, but what technology hasn’t had to go through similar growing pains?
Find out here the reasons why the author believes in the future of UWB.
February 21, 2009 at 5:50 pm · Filed under 6LowPAN
Arch Rock says it can run ZigBee over regular networks, and hopes to bring this to data centers and home area networks. Data center specialist Arch Rock says it will marry the best features of ZigBee and the best parts of Internet protocol in one neat package to make it easier to monitor power consumption.
While Arch Rock is targeting commercial and industrial clients in general, about half of its commercial deployments are in data centers, Thacker said. That’s a market being targeted by other startups, including Redwood City, Calif.-based Sentilla Corp., Santa Clara, Calif.-based Power Assure, San Jose, Calif.-based Cassatt and Folsom, Calif.-based SynapSense.
Given the large and growing power needs of data centers, it’s worth a shot. Unless they grow more efficient, data centers and servers could double their energy consumption to 100 billion kilowatt-hours by 2012, which could cost their operators $7.4 billion a year, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
More here.
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