MachineTalker, a developer of smart wireless security networks, and Theseus Logic, a developer of low power mixed signal ASICs, have successfully demonstrated the first phase of a NASA-sponsored sensor system that will merge their technologies for remote sensor nets.
Phase I of this NASA SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) funded contract, consisted of a MachineTalker wireless sensor network with remote fingerprint authentication, intrusion detection, light, temperature, and vibration sensors all actively delivering information over satellite communication links.
In Phase II of the contract Theseus Logic will incorporate its low powered processor, a new IEEE 802.15.4 radio chip, and the MachineTalker networking technology to significantly reduce power consumption. The project will develop very cost effective and highly efficient remote monitoring and broadcast mesh networks for use by governments and other organizations needing to maintain status checks on equipment and personnel in harsh and difficult to reach environments.
For example, these networks can extend the tactical utility of ground sensors to generate information dominance over the battlefield. “Last year the company installed Talkers on board an unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV,” says CEO Roland F. Bryan (pdf). Other sensors are being added for CO2 (human) and radioactive particles.
The IEEE 802.15.4 standard provides data rates of 250 kbps, 40 kbps, and 20 kbps using 16 channels in the 2.4GHz ISM band, 10 channels in the 915MHz band and one channel in the 868MHz band.
Rapidly deployable, intelligent, ad hoc wireless sensor systems with long battery life are expected to enhance shipping container security, system health monitoring and perimeter surveillance.
RFIDnet (pdf) utilizes information gathered from inexpensive RFIDs and incorporates that information into the MachineTalker ad hoc wireless network. The MachineTalker wireless network is said to dramatically enhance the functionality of the basic RFID technology.
MachineTalker network nodes contain microprocessors so each node can service its own sensors, detectors, readers or actuators. A small community of these nodes can operate independently to carry out functions on a collective and local basis.
Meanwhile, ZigBee, the low-power mesh networking standard is on fire, says Wireless Week.
ZigBee is a specification for small, low-power digital radios based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard for wireless personal area networks (WPANs). The relationship between IEEE 802.15.4-2003 and ZigBee is similar to that between IEEE 802.11 and the Wi-Fi Alliance.
Meanwhile Alereon, the high-speed, ultrawideband (UWB) chipmaker, today announced its participation in the most recent, formal WiMedia Interoperability Event. The testing was run on Alereon’s AL4000 PHY chipset, which is based on the WiMedia common radio platform standard, also called Wireless USB. Certified Wireless USB performance is targeted at 480Mbps at 3 meters and 110Mbps at 10 meters. UltraWideBand, uses a broad swath of spectrum between 1 GHz to 5 GHz or higher.
Alereon says it has shipped more than 200 PHY boards to more than 25 customers, including a Cardbus card. Alereon has also developed a Wireless USB Host dongle reference design that will be available in September.
Related DailyWireless articles include; RF-ID Gets Smart, Cable-Free Vrs Wireless USB, Zigbee Opens Up, Zigbee Spec Finalized, Bluetooth Roadmap, Monitoring Mount St Helens, Zigbee Gets Real, Showdown at .15, Hot Shoe, Slow Mesh Heats Up,Sensor Nets, Meshing at Intel, Oceanographic Wireless, Earthquake Monitoring, a Seattle to Portland Wireless Network Proposal, Berkeley Wireless Research Center and The Age of Steam.
