In the interest of improved safety (and better gas mileage), tire pressure monitoring systems will soon be mandatory on cars. The challenge is how to power them.

Optimal power management in a wireless sensor network is a balancing act of components and processes. Your challenge: Achieve the minimum energy use while meeting application requirements.

Nanoscale devices present a megascale bear of a problem when it comes to energy sources, especially when these devices are intended for implantation in the body.

A story called "Smart Sensors, No Batteries" in the December 12, 2005 issue of Time recounts the story of Markus Brehler, founder and CEO of EnOcean.

Some people say WiFi and ZigBee can work side by side; others say they cannot.

Few things are as inspiring to the practice of engineering as new technologies that break down barriers and enable new possibilities. Take, for instance, the new Nexense platform Rarely does sensing and measurement allow the flexibility to accomplish multiple sensing jobs with a single technology. Yet Nexense does, and thus has inspired great excitement here at Sensors. (The real excitement is yet to come when the technology gets into the hands of engineers in all disciplines.)

By themselves, sensors are nothing but little bundles of potential. That's why implementation demos are so inspiring and idea-provoking. For me, the most exciting demonstration at NI Week 2005, National Instruments' (www.ni.com) 11th international conference, was SawStop (www.sawstop.com), a table saw equipped to shut off within 35 ms (1/200th of a second) of a capacitive object's coming into contact with its blade.

Wireless sensors installed inside a cargo container? Aren't they metal? Then the radio signal can't get out . . .or can it? Here's how mesh-networked 2.4 GHz, 802.15.4-compliant RF transceivers performed when placed within cargo containers.

Medical implants (and ingestibles) have escaped the Star Trek TNG set and entered the real world to the tune of a projected annual increase of nearly 11% in the U.S. A 2003 report from the Freedonia Group (www.freedoniagroup.com) puts the 2007 total at $24.4 billion.