Next Generation RS485 Wireless Mesh Network System Released

Crossbow Japan Ltd., a subsidiary of MEMSIC Inc., announced today the availability of the RS485 Wireless Mesh Network System. The System enables users to convert existing wired RS485 systems into wireless networks just by replacing the wired connections to the wireless WS-Z5000A node.

Using leading-edge wireless sensor networking technology the RS485 wireless connection offers versatility for industrial use of 1:1 or 1:N. The WS-Z5000A can be easily configured within the software enabling the user to easily adopt the WS-Z5000A into a wide range of different RS485 wired protocols.

Crossbow Japan, who has been supplying customized wireless energy solutions to the Japanese market for several years, has now expanded the flexibility of its solutions with the introduction of the WS-A5000A for equipment requiring RS485. This system is a cost-effective solution for users in industries faced with wiring costs and line noise problems. The need for a solution that quickly and easily facilitates the multi-point digital system is here. MEMSIC/Crossbow-Japan's expertise in sensing and wireless network solutions have shaped WS-Z5000A and launched an advanced system for smart and effortless industrial links.

System Features

Small Node - Versatile Functionality:
A cigarette box size wireless node offers the functions of a master and slave device interface, which can be configured by the software. Up to 100 nodes can be used in each system, and bind configuration is possible so that the plurality of the RS485 equipment can be connected to each node. The distance between each node can extend to over several hundred meters with each node automatically relaying data from other nodes (multi-hop) while determining the optimal path for data transfer.

No change on existing equipment software:
Using the configuration software, the WS-Z5000A can be adjusted to a wide range of wired protocols, therefore it is not necessary for existing RS485 equipment to change software, making the conversion to a wireless system transparent.

Combining wireless and wired solutions is possible:
One issue with any wireless system is the possibility of a radio propagation obstacle. The WS-Z5000A has solved this problem by enabling a partly wired network. Now one system can consist of several sub-wireless-systems, which are inter-connected by wires in case there are radio obstacles within the installed facility.

Robust Mesh Network:
Traditional wireless RS485 often uses fixed routing, therefore any radio path is a critical path. The proprietary Xmesh radio protocol is a self-forming / self-healing wireless mesh network with ad-hoc multi-hopping capabilities. Therefore if any path becomes unreliable, the network will automatically find a new, better path to stay in reliable multi-point communications. MEMSIC/Crossbow-Japan, being a pioneer in wireless mesh networks, has proven the robustness of Xmesh through deployments of wireless energy systems in energy, storage, factory maintenance, and other various applications, of which over 30,000 nodes are steadily working today. The WS-Z5000A uses IEEE802.15.4 standard, 2.4GHz radio.

The WS-Z5000A has numerous intuitive features that facilitates the ease in installation.

- RS485 line connection is easy to install by simply inserting lines into the push-in terminals.
- Radio link quality is always shown by visible LEDs.
- Packet communications to/from the equipment and to/from another node are indicated by LEDs.
- Node ID, Group ID, and radio channel are selectable by switch, enabling these parameters to always be accessible.
- Mounting can be done by screws, hooks, or magnets.

The system is priced competitively and will be immediately available for purchase in April 2010. Sales inquiries may be directed to sales@xbow.jp.

An Accelerated Opening Olympic Cermony

The Olympics are over and we can all return to our regular lives without waiting to see which country has the most gold medals, who is up in the overall medal count, whether the favorite will make it across the finish line or whether some newcomer will cause a worldwide upset... If you watch the Games, which have been around since , you know that the Opening ceremonies are a grand spectacle with every host nation trying to outdo the one before.

This year, Vancouver had a grand task ahead of them, but no one can forget the splendor, precision and grandeur of the Beijing Summer Olympics. To say that no detail was left uncovered would be an understatement. Everything down the to the items people would wave in the stands was preconceived. The Olympics brought to mind one of the marquee application using MEMS accelerometers that left every viewer at the game with a piece of this technology.  Forget handwritten signs saying John 3:16 or foam fingers in your team colors, viewers at the Beijing games were given a Waving Torch, a replica of the Olympic Torch. Inside each torch, a MEMSIC accelerometer used to detect the beginning and end points of a movement as the torch was waved. On the front edge of the torch, the linear array of LEDs spells out the pre-loaded message in midair by synchronizing the LEDs' illumination with its position in space.


The MEMS-featured torch was definitely not your ordinary flash light, although it could be mistaken for one from a distance. Electronic torches at the Beijing games actually spelled out messages and images, such as the five official Olympic mascots (known as Fuwa), images of many different sports, the Olympic logo and Beijing's Olympic logo, Welcome to Beijing, and many Chinese characters. With the 92,000 viewers in the stadium waving the torches in coordination with the professional performers, the effect created was astounding.

 
The Olympic stage provided a showcase for MEMSIC's unique thermal sense operating principle that offers a superior motion sensing performance compared with traditional MEMS devices. This MEMS sensor operation is based on the thermal laws of convection and operated like other accels having a static component which is hot air (gas) in MEMSIC's accels.

 
A single heat source, centered in the silicon chip, creates a thermal gradient and thus a density gradient of the gas in the sealed package. When external forces are applied to the device (such as acceleration, deceleration, gravity, vibration, etc.), the gas moves accordingly within the package due to its minuscule inertial mass. The applied force is detected by sensing and measuring changes in temperature around the heat source. The design has no moving parts, making its MEMS highly reliable - a feature no other MEMS supplier can claim!

ASSERT Yourself!

Someone once said, "To know oneself, one should assert onself." Researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas Distributed Systems Lab, took this notion and created an Advanced wireleSS Environment Research Testbed. ASSERT provides users with the true ability to know oneself. In many instances, simulation allows for rapid development and testing, but it does not provide a realistic RF environment. To compensate for this field experiments are performed yet when problems are encountered, it can be difficult to located and correct them. ASSERT provides users with the advantage of simulations and field experiments without the suffering and disadvantages of both! The goal of this testbed is to provide experimenter with the ability to run controlled, repeatable experiments that would have a similar performance to that of field experiments without the associated deployment and travel costs.

ASSERT has been a work in progress for the past two years and currently offers a forty site testbed. As wireless networking is becoming more pervasive there has been a greater desire to develop communication hardware and protocol stacks that have a number of desirable properties like increased throughput, reduced latency, reduced energy consumption, quality of service security, etc. ASSERT is a true emulation testbed. Field testing requires extensive time and energy. Changes to the location of devices require physical movement of the equipment and measurement devices from place to place making repeatability a difficult task. 

The hardware for each site consists of two mated boards, the Site board and the RF board. Each Site board consists of an ARM 200MHz processor, 256MB of on board RAM, a Xilinx FPGA, support for an external clock and various peripheries such as Ethernet and RS-232. The RF board consists of 17 SMA coaxial connectors, 16 of which are used to connect to other Site-RF board pairs and 1 dedicated to the Unit Under Test (UUT). The current system integrates the Crossbow/MEMSIC MICA2 (900MHz) Mote platform with gateways as UUTs, however any device operating in the 700MHz to 1100MHz range is natively supported. 

ASSERT emulates the distance between multiple devices by using variable attenuation - this means that identical tests can be performed in the lab compared to the field. ASSERT also allows users to conduct experiments in licensed frequencies like the cellular service bands without interfering with the services offered by the owners of these licensed bands. By changing signal attenuation levels, using programmable attenuators and amplifiers on the path between nodes, UT researchers emulated the formation/disruption of wireless links and node mobility. Using power dividers/ combiners they are able to emulate complex, multi-hop wireless sensor networks. As all communication is over coaxial cables, the network is immune to interference from other wireless networks, or allows the flexibility for users to inject the desired amount of noise into the links.

The ASSERT software performs a variety of tasks including monitoring for faults, efficiently allocating resources and providing an easy to use interface. ASSERT currently consists of forty nodes and is designed to scale to at least one thousand nodes without any design changes. Researchers at UT Dallas are converting the UI from the current small Java program to a web based application so that the experiment set up and data gathering is done by the experimenter from their browser. Through the sophisticated custom hardware and easy-to-use control software ASSERT has many valuable features that allow it to reduce the cost of testing wireless networking protocols at scale. This device independent platform for developing and testing wireless network protocols has taken experimentation to a new level!

For more information on the MICA2, click here.
For more information on ASSERT, click here.

The Contiki Operating System - Contiki 2.4 Released

In September we announced that the Contiki team had developed a port for Crossbow's MICAz platform. We are excited to inform our users that the team is proud to announce the release of version 2.4 of the Contiki operating system! Contiki 2.4 brings a number of new improvements over previous versions, several bugfixes, and an overall improved stability of the system. The low-power wireless MAC protocols have gotten an overhaul, improving power-efficiency and improved collision and interference handling. The COOJA/MSPsim simulation environment has received a significant speedup. Many improvements and bugfixes has been made to the uIP code as well as the SICSlowpan implementaion of 6lowpan IPv6-over-802.15.4.

See the changelog for full details and go to the download section to download the 2.4 release!

A Compass in Every Smartphone - Courtesy of MEMSIC

MEMSIC's capability to address new applications due to the performance vs. price points that their sensors can achieve was recently featured in IEEE Spectrum. Here is an excerpt from the article:

An old axiom says that in order to know where you're going, you first have to know where you are. To that, add that you should know which way you're facing. Makers of wireless handsets, having already installed GPS receivers, are poised to flood the market with phones containing tiny electronic compasses that allow the gadget to sense exactly what direction it's facing.

According to electronics industry analysis firm iSuppli Corp., in El Segundo, Calif., we can expect to see an increasing number of cellphones containing electronic compasses. Analysts predict the market for magnetic compass sensors will grow from the 8.7 million manufactured in 2008 to more than 540 million in 2013.

Underlying the jump is a combination of consumer demand for the whiz-bang feature of the moment and a steep drop in price fueled by manufacturing process improvements.

"Navigation is emerging as a must-have feature in smartphones," says Richard Dixon, a senior analyst at iSuppli. Consumers are already looking to their phones for turn-by-turn directions. With the addition of compasses, the beginnings of location-based augmented reality are also emerging, wherein a street map or even the phone's camera image could be overlaid with highly detailed information about what's in front of you.

The component that handset makers are exploiting to make these feats possible is the three-axis magnetometer. The sensor system's job is to home in on Earth's magnetic field and use that as a reference for determining the handset's orientation along the x-, y-, and z-axes. Three axes are important "because that third sensor allows the handheld device to correct for the orientation of Earth's magnetic field at a given location, as well as the relative position of the device," says Mark Laich, vice president of worldwide sales at Memsic, a maker of electronic compasses based in Andover, Mass. "Otherwise users would have to hold the phone precisely parallel to the ground or in some other position that may not correspond to how they normally use it."

Like the rest of the electronics industry, electronic compass makers have been making their products smaller, cheaper, and more energy efficient. And they reached a watershed moment in 2009, when the price of three-axis magnetometers dipped below US $1 per device. "Six months ago, magnetic sensors were selling at $1.50 each, but the price is coming down rapidly," says Laich. "They're now at the sub-$0.50 point and look to get even cheaper as production volumes increase."

Memsic and other new entrants into the magnetometer market for mobile devices mostly sell sensors that take advantage of amorphous magnetic alloys whose resistances change when acted upon by the planet's magnetic field. Memsic, for example, uses three chips, each containing a thin film of the alloy. The chips, which are set at right angles to each other, are incorporated into a Wheatstone bridge circuit so that when you move the phone, the change in resistance resulting from the perceived change in the strength or direction of the magnetic field is output as a change in voltage.

Aichi Steel, Honeywell, Memsic, and Sensitec have all developed magnetoresistive sensors in an effort to take a bite out of AKM Semiconductor's 95 percent share of the mobile phone compass market. AKM, in San Jose, Calif., uses a technology that relies on the Hall effect, in which electrons racing through a conductor in the presence of a magnetic field are forced to one edge of the conductor, creating a voltage difference whose orientation is perpendicular to the magnetic field. AKM's competitors claim their devices are power misers compared with Hall effect sensors, a really big deal in palm-size devices that barely have room for the batteries they stow. The companies also say that their sensors are more sensitive and have quicker response times.

The competition is making important inroads. Geneva-based STMicroelectronics, a leading accelerometer maker, chose Honeywell's magnetoresistive technology over Hall sensors to make the first single-package combination accelerometer-magnetometer on the market. One reason ST cited was that the device provides the same sensitivity in all three axes without the need for the magnetic flux concentrators that Hall effect sensors require. And as for the degaussing issue, ST found it required only a matter of microamperes.

The Buzz about BumbleBee

The Application Idea Contest

About a year and a half ago the Samraksh Company introduced a new mote-scale radar. The BumbleBee is a coherent, pulsed Doppler radar offering rich information at a strikingly low price (i.e., $100 each as compared to as much as $4,000 to $5,000 each for previous mote-scale radars). The BumbleBee measures radial velocity directly allowing users to determine the sign of the velocity and measure the time structure of relative motion very precisely, even for small motions!

Applications of the BumbleBee

While the typical mote-scale sensors might be as simple as a temperature or humidity sensor, and is rarely more complex than a PIR motion detector, the BumbleBee radar provides rich information about the details of motion of targets in its environment (or the details of the motion of the environment itself).The BumbleBee is capable of measuring movements to a relative accuracy of about 3 mm in its core operational zone which is from 1.5 m to 9.5 m, with a radial velocity of 2.6 cm/s to 2.6 m/s, and with components of motion below 100 Hz which are movements that are representative of human movements. Thus the BumbleBee, although a good motion detector, is uniquely suited for a variety of motion analyses, including items like:

1. Estimating the relative range profile, as a function of time, for a dominant target within the scene.
2. Separating the returns from multiple targets with different motion patterns within the same scene.
3. Recognizing specific motions patterns associated with unique events.
4. Characterizing the motion of various background environments at various times.

For example, the Samraksh Company demonstrated the ability to differentiate humans from dogs based on differences in the leg motion. The gap between simple motion detection and attempting to infer whether the target is two-legged or four-legged based on the way it moves, is quite large, and the highest value WSN applications may well be within this gap. This platform provides a large benefit at a small cost to somewhat more simple motion analysis.

Idea Contest

The Samraksh Company suspects that there will be high return from effort focused on conceiving applications for the BumbleBee rada as the difference between applications for the BumbleBee and traditional WSN applications is vast. To stimulate the development of applications that benefit from an understanding of the motion the company announced today that it is sponsoring an Application Idea Contest. Researchers and hobbyists who are willing to share their ideas for utilizing rich motion information, especially within the context of WSNs, with the larger community are encouraged to submit short descriptions of their ideas. Two outside judges will select winning ideas, and each winner will receive a free BumbleBee radar! In addition community members will be asked to provide feedback on winning ideas. It is hoped that this feedback will further facilitate creativity.

Company co-founder Kenneth Parker said, “We hope to create a little community around the process of creating new application ideas.” The company hopes that every graduate student considering a thesis or dissertation in a closely related area will first submit a couple of ideas to the community along with hobbyists working on slightly unorthodox ideas who would be willing to share their quirky insights!

When pressed on the question of whether this is a “real” contest, Parker insisted that not every idea will be deemed a winner, but hopes there will be many.The Samraksch company has set aside 100 radars for potential contest winners in 2010.

The idea contest website is currently somewhat minimalistic, but the infrastructure is in place for creating more community services as the community develops. Users are encouraged to send their comments or request to WebMaster@samraksh.com as well as visit the 'Application Ideas' section of the Samraksh site.

Implementing Application Ideas

Originally the BumbleBee was packaged for use with the TelosB Mote platform, although users can wire the BumbleBee to almost any mote platform. User experience has shown that in order to exploit the rich information about motion more complex signal processing is sometimes required. Because the hardware support for integer multiplication on the TelosB is constrained, as it is not supported by default in TinyOS, many of these applications are better implemented on the IRIS or Imote2, both of which can support quite sophisticated integer Digital Signal Processing (DSP) algorithms. To assist researchers in quickly developing applications that more fully exploit the potential of the BumbleBee the Samraksh Company has created interface boards so that BumbleBee’s can be connected out of the box to either the IRIS or Imote2. Winners may request interface boards for the platform of their choice.

For information on Crossbow's TelosB, Imote2 or IRIS Mote platforms, click here.
For information on the BumbleBee radar from the Samraksh Company, click here.

Environmental Sensing - eKo Style

This past month, Crossbow displayed the award-winning eKo system at the AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco. The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a group of members consisting mainly of Earth and space scientists who study how rocks, water, air, space, and life interact with each other to understand how the global system works. What they learn increases our sense of wonder, encourages us to ask new questions, and allows us to make wise use of Earth's many resources. This particular event draws upwards of 16,000 geophysicists from all around the world who meet to review the latest issues affecting the Earth, the planets and their environments. The eKo system provides a key new alternative by which scientists and researchers can gather data from their environment with an ease and efficiency previously unavailable. The event provided a wonderful venue to meet customers, inspire new ideas and most importantly educate others in the use of wireless sensor networks.

The Mebius Sensor Project is aimed at sensing the natural environment of Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC). Researchers at SFC have deployed 15 wireless eKo sensor nodes with temperature, humidity and illuminance sensors on the circumference of the campus. Each sensor node has a solar battery panel, and is a part of a larger multi-hop network that covers a broad area. The Mebius Sensor system is designed to be a platform of various ubiquitous computing applications such as enhancing people’s awareness of their natural environment.

Fig.1: Mebius Sensor in SFC

Research Goal

Researchers were determined to create a campus sensing platform for ubiquitous services.

• Services that enhance our awareness of the natural environment
• Services that inspire a discussion on the environment

Challenges

• Easy deployment of the sensor
• Flexible spatiotemporal query of the past sensor data
• Real-time delivery of the sensor data to the services
• Inter-campus cooperation of the sensor networks

Plan and Schedule

The Mebius project plans to cover the whole SFC canpus with 15 sensor poles. Each node has the capability to transmit data up to 2 miles offering a large coverage area and a greater level of detail regarding the various micro environments.

Fig.2: Map of Mebius Sensor in SFC

Available on Twitter

Researchers at SFC have integrated the data collected with popular social media applications such as Twitter. Subscribers can see the temperature on Twitter every hour. Follow mebius_sensor on Twitter.

Fig.3: Mebius Sensor on Twitter

Detail of the Sensor Pole

The Mebius sensor utilized Crossbow's eKo node for its sensor platform. Each node included a solar radiation sensor and a temperature and humidity sensor.

Fig.4: Detail of the Sensor Pole

The Mebius Sensor Project provides a glimpse into basic applications for which eKo has been used. The system can be found frozen in ice, under dense canopies, on tree trunks, bobbing on buoys ... anywhere sensing is needed eKo can be found, silently taking Earth's pulse.

M2M Magazine Names Crossbow to the M2M100 for 2010

For the 6th consecutive year, Crossbow Technology has been chosen for the prestigious M2M 100. The M2M 100 is a list consisting of the most influential companies in the machine-to-machine space. Crossbow has been listed in M2M's Top 100 since the list's conception in 2005. In all 6 years, Crossbow has maintained its position as the market leader in the wireless sensor network space. With its innovative products and a proactive focus on providing customers with the latest in technology and capability, Crossbow offers users a full portfolio of hardware and software solutions with strong customer support.

The M2M 100 is a directory of the most important machine-to-machine technology providers as determined by the editors of M2M magazine and its editorial advisory board. It is designed to provide a snapshot of the market as it exists today and the companies with the greatest impact on its direction.

This past year, the M2M industry did see noteworthy market consolidation, but also found itself continuing the pattern of stability that has been prominent in recent years. Eight new companies were added to the M2M 100 list in 2010. Among the new additions for 2010 were big names like Google and Cisco Systems, among others—companies that, while large and well-established overall, are just beginning to make M2M a strategic initiative.

“The M2M 100 represents the leaders in a rapidly changing marketplace, especially as machine-to-machine extends its reach into B2B, and now B2C,” says Peggy Smedley, editorial director, M2M magazine. “Right now, we are witnessing the evolution of this industry, and the 100 companies named are the face of the market today as well as what we see in the future.”

Companies are chosen for the M2M 100 based on a number of criteria, including strength and number of customer references; establishment in the market; growth potential; and active involvement in and support for the M2M community.

“The machine-to-machine industry is providing solutions that streamline processes and generate additional opportunities for those who are deploying them. Because of this, M2M has continued to broaden its reach, even in these struggling economic times,” says Mike Carrozzo, chief editor, M2M magazine. Many companies were considered for this year's directory, but only the M2M 100 passed the rigorous selection process. The list is published annually.

Measuring the Forces Inside an Avalanche

Crossbow's innovative inertial systems were recently featured on the TV show “Disaster Lab: Buried Alive” presented by National Geographic.

In a recent scientific investigation conducted on the mountains of Utah, researchers used a Crossbow solid-state Inertial Measurement Unit to capture the rate and acceleration data required to characterize the dynamic forces inside an avalanche. They believe that this data will help in developing a model to better understand the injuries that might be sustained by a human victim, and to help ski patrols find a victim more quickly.

 

Crossbow’s Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) was installed inside “Ironman”; an anthropomorphic dummy used to represent a human caught up inside an avalanche. Iron Man was able to measure what happens to a human body trapped and buffeted about in an avalanche and provide rescue teams with data they believe will help save lives.

Avalanches are a very serious threat to off-terrain skiers, snowmobilers and climbers. Even small avalanches are a serious danger to life, between 55 and 65 percent of victims buried in the open are killed, and only 80 percent of the victims remaining on the surface survive. Although ski resort safety officers analyze the snow profile daily, and carry out controlled explosions to loosen the ice and snow when necessary, more than one hundred people die in avalanches each year. Snow flow velocities can often exceed 250 kph, creating forces that are sufficient to crush entire buildings.

To view highlights of this investigation watch the segment here.
For more information on MEMSIC's inertial systems visit the site here.

Trillions

 
This video was brought to our attention by our friends at the WSN Blog. It looks ahead to the future of computer sensing networks and was created by Maya, who worked closely with Crossbow on the eKo system.

As we continue to scale the mountain, we are constantly forging ahead looking for ways to connect the physical world with the digital world through wireless sensor networks.