WSN Buzz
Fresh updates on wireless networks standards and new technologies
Archive for July, 2010
July 30, 2010 at 12:02 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
The Demand Response and Smart Grid Coalition (DRSG) today announced that five new members have joined its effort to educate and provide information to policymakers, utilities, consumers, and other stakeholders. The new members are Cisco, Cooper Power Systems, Tropos Networks, Grid Net, and U-SNAP Alliance.
DRSG is the trade association for companies that provide products and services in the areas of demand response and smart grid technologies and practices.
More here.
July 27, 2010 at 9:45 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
While demand response was already a hot topic in smart grid circles (not to mention load shedding, which has been around longer than the phrase ’smart grid’), it has become absolutely necessary during these periods of critical peak demand. And this might be just the beginning. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission estimated there was a reduction of 37 gigawatts in peak demand from demand response in 2009, and FERC projected that the figure could jump to 188 gigawatts in 2019.
Demand response is also shifting these days from just shedding that critical peak load to offering more constant management, a trend that is altering the field, creating opportunities for the current players, and carving openings for other companies looking to get in on the action.
More here.
July 26, 2010 at 4:07 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
NXP Semiconductors today announced its acquisition of Jennic, a leading developer of low power RF solutions for wireless applications in smart energy, environment, logistics and consumer markets. The acquisition will see Jennic’s state-of-the-art portfolio of 802.15.4 and Zigbee low power RF solutions integrated across a wide range of NXP’s High Performance Mixed Signal products. Together, this provides NXP with a comprehensive wireless semiconductor platform for emerging technologies including eMetering, smart lighting, building automation, asset tracking and device remote controls.
Integrating complementary short-range wireless technology from Jennic will immediately expand NXP’s RF product portfolio, meeting increasing market demand for low power RF solutions. NXP paid approximately $12.2 million to acquire 100% ownership of Jennic shares, plus up to $7.8 million in additional consideration over the next two years if Jennic meets certain performance targets. Approximately 50 UK-based employees will transfer to NXP. NXP’s worldwide distribution channels and leading customer base will allow Jennic’s short-range wireless products to become available to a broader range of global customer, increasing scale and opportunities for its low power RF range.
More here.
July 19, 2010 at 1:00 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
GE and four venture capital firms announced an unusual, $200 million partnership Tuesday to find breakthrough smartgrid ideas – from small, startup companies or solo inventors – and speed those concepts to market.
General Electric and its partners will solicit ideas for improving the electricity grid, evaluate each proposal’s potential and decide which ones to finance. Ideas with the most promise could eventually become GE products or products sold in collaboration with GE.
[..]
Ideas can be submitted to the project’s website,
challenge.ecomagination.com/ideas. The proposals deemed to have the most potential will be evaluated by GE’s technical experts, as well as experts from the venture capital firms. But website visitors will also be able to see and comment on the proposals.
More here.
July 8, 2010 at 8:16 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Walt Boyes, editor in chief of Control magazine and one of the signatories to the appeal against the ISA100.11a standard which led to its failure to clear the ANSI hurdle back in November 2009, has broken his self-imposed silence on the subject in a recent posting on Control’s “Sound Off!” blog.
In what he calls a ‘capsule update on the wireless standards war,’ he reiterates how presentation of the Shell-sponsored “Nice” use case at the ISA 100.11a meeting in Orlando in February revealed shortcomings in the original standard. As a result, according to Boyes, the ISA 100 committee has indeed now decided to abandon its attempt to achieve ANSI acceptance of the current version of the standard and is instead balloting on a so called “maintenance activity” that will deal with the technical issues raised by the Nice use case and, at the same time, effectively bypass the procedural issues raised by his and his colleagues’ appeal.
All But One
The problem, as was pointed out last month, is that this whole laborious ISA 100.11a process is being overtaken by events. What prompted Boyes’ posting was the announcement by Siemens (see below) that it is to become the latest vendor to introduce a family of WirelessHART devices. As Boyes points out, that means that all but one of the world’s major automation vendors, the exception being of course Honeywell, and every one of the major device vendors is supporting WirelessHART. With end users calling increasingly vociferously for a single standard, most recently at that same meeting in Orlando, WirelessHART looks increasingly like the de facto answer to their
More here.
July 8, 2010 at 8:13 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Duke Energy announced it has signed an agreement with Cisco, a company specializing in networking technology, to pilot and further develop a smart grid-enabled home energy management solution that will provide Duke Energy customers with secure energy information and a simple-to-use tool to help them lower the amount of energy wasted in their homes.
Duke Energy is testing the first-generation Cisco Home Energy Management Solution this summer with customers in Charlotte, N.C., and in Cincinnati, Ohio, where the company has installed digital smart grid technologies. Through these year-long tests, Duke Energy and Cisco will listen to customers and gather feedback about their interactions. This information will be used to build in additional customer-desired functionality.
More here.
July 6, 2010 at 12:03 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
BuildSys is a selective forum for the presentation of research results on systems’ issues in the area of building controls, energy management, embedded, and networked sensors. The workshop provides an ideal convergence venue for the Sensor, Building and Energy research communities to address the research challenges facing the design, deployment, use, and fundamental limits of these systems.
BuildSys is held in conjunction with ACM SenSys 2010, in Zurich, Switzerland on November 2, 2010.
IMPORTANT DATES
Submission of research papers due: July 30, 2010, 11:59 pm GMT
Notification of paper acceptance: September 7, 2010
Camera-ready papers due: September 20, 2010
Paper presentation date: November 2, 2010
http://buildsys.org/2010/
July 6, 2010 at 8:24 am · Filed under Uncategorized
If you’re familiar with ZigBee, you’ve no doubt seen a picture of the stack with IEEE 802.15.4 at the bottom, ZigBee in the middle, and applications and profiles sitting on top. This article looks at the top bit of the stack, and at how ZigBee profiles make it easier for you to create your own interoperable applications.
One of the ways interoperability is achieved is through application profiles. These profiles are defined by the ZigBee Alliance, and provide a description of the devices supported for a specific application together with the messaging scheme used by those devices for communication–in effect, defining the type, shape and features of the network.
More here.
July 6, 2010 at 8:23 am · Filed under Uncategorized
According to government sources, the United States plans to announce the formation of the International Smart Grid Action Network, or ISGAN, to expand the U.S. energy market through smart grid standardization and take the lead in the new energy business. The Obama administration is expected to make the announcement at the first ministerial meeting on clean energy to take place in Washington, D.C. on July 19-20.
More here.
July 2, 2010 at 1:12 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Last week, the Maryland Public Services Commission rejected the Baltimore Gas and Electric company’s proposal to implement smart meters in its service territory[1],[2]. BGE’s proposal would have passed on the cost of the new meters to the rate-payers. This, along with the potential for early obsolescence of the technology, were among the reasons cited by the MPSC for the rejection, which came as shock to the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) industry.
The MPSC is very rightly concerned about the evolving nature of the technology and its implications for the consumer. In its role as state utility watchdog, the MPSC is simply rejecting the possibility of the rate-payer’s being charged twice as smart meter technology goes from proprietary to standards-based in the next few years, as the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) is requiring.
More here.
