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| Keeping Cool
| If you've ever worked while resting a laptop computer on your lap, you know that computers emit heat, and the more powerful the computer, the greater the heat produced. This is a problem because electronics really don't enjoy elevated temperatures. A hot computer is a slow computer or, worse, a computer that will cease functioning. | | | The Big Picture: Sensor Webs in Disaster Response Demo
| | In an increasingly wired world, knitting together data from disparate sources into an interoperable whole can present disaster managers and first responders with critical information during a major emergency or crisis. Building on a vendor-neutral interoperability framework for Web-based discovery, access, control, integration, and visualization of online sensors, the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) tested this idea in a December 2006 disaster response demo. | | | Wireless's Domestic Turf War
| | Three major wireless communications protocol rivals have made new moves in home automation , while energy-harvesting pioneer pursues its own path to the building market. | |  MORE ARTICLES
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| Steep-Slope Monitoring
| | Although GPS is an efficient tool for deformation monitoring, it also is an expensive one for large projects. The authors developed a remote-controlled monitoring system using an electronic switching device for multiple antennas to monitor steep slopes at the Xiaowan hydropower station in China. | | | Getting into Pockets and Purses
| | Add one more to the list of challenges faced by consumer GPS-enabled devices: the human hand that holds them. Body loading significantly degrades receiver sensitivity. A dielectrically loaded quadrifilar helix antenna can ameliorate this condition. | | | MORE ARTICLES
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| Future Networks
| | The next generation of networks will move beyond disconnected device-specific networks and systems and toward a distributed infrastructure, with intelligent functions residing across the entire network, from its edge to its core. | | | Where RFID, Sensing, and RTLS Meet
| | New developments bring together RFID and sensors — and add location-identification capabilities. | | | Sensors and Privacy
| | A survey of more than 700 IEEE Fellows, done by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in conjunction with the Institute for the Future, sought to learn what science and technology developments are most likely to take hold within the next 10 to 50 years. | | | Sensors Tag Assets
| | In the article, "IBM Software Tracks Computers, Trucks," c|netnews.com describes how IBM is planning to offer "unified management tools" capable of tracking IT gear and physical assets—such as trucks and shipping containers—with electronic sensors. | |
| | Safe Boating, Everyone!
| | The cry of "man overboard!" is second only to "fire on shipboard!" as a general alarm for all hands. But what if no one sees that fellow boater or shipmate (or pet) fall into the drink? The Raymarine (www.raymarine.com) LifeTag system, using Ember's ZigBee (www.zigbee.org) networking technology, does away with that unhappy scenario. | | | Sensors and Satellites
| | Sensors are being paired with satellites to enable new
capabilities. Here's an example: MachineTalker Inc. says its
MachineTalker units are now transmitting sensor data and security
alerts that can be monitored on the QTRACS Web site of
communications technology giant Qualcomm Inc. Qualcomm reportedly
has the largest deployed base of GPS tracking systems on trucks. | | | Mesh Radio Network Performance in Cargo Containers
| | 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. | | | Freight Fright Reduction
| | GE's security business (www.ge.com ) has completed the first commercial field test of the Tamper Evident Secure Container (TESC), a freight container developed jointly with the world's leading manufacturer of maritime shipping containers, China International Marine Containers Group Ltd. (CIMC). | | | MORE ARTICLES
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| Keeping Cool
| | If you've ever worked while resting a laptop computer on your lap, you know that computers emit heat, and the more powerful the computer, the greater the heat produced. This is a problem because electronics really don't enjoy elevated temperatures. A hot computer is a slow computer or, worse, a computer that will cease functioning. | | | Pampering Penguins in the Pittsburgh Zoo
| | The world's 17 species of penguin are indigenous only to the Southern Hemisphere, including the Antarctic. Gentoo, Macaroni, and King penguins are anything but native to Pittsburgh, PA, but nonetheless are very much in their element at the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium, thanks to a sophisticated system of sensors and a wireless network that keeps everything in balance. | | | Wireless's Domestic Turf War
| | Three major wireless communications protocol rivals have made new moves in home automation , while energy-harvesting pioneer pursues its own path to the building market. | | | Developers Partner on ZigBee Products and Services
| | While the ZigBee specification has been ratified, the product certification process is yet being developed. Still, vendors continue to fill the pipeline with products that are "ZigBee ready"—i.e., conform to the IEEE's 802.15.4 standard—and to make other announcements that will position them as leaders in this space.
| | | | ZigBee Ratification: Here We Grow
| | In compliance with the time schedule established many months ago, the ZigBee Alliance (www.zigbee .org) has ratified the first ZigBee specification for wireless data communications. ZigBee is the only standards-based data communications protocol specifically designed to enable low-cost, low-power, wireless sensor networks. The spec finalization is the culmination of two years of worldwide development and interoperability testing by the more than 100 member companies within the ZigBee Alliance, and it promises to make wireless sensing and control networks a widespread reality. In fact, that ratification was the basis for rosy projections of wireless sensor growth that futurists and market researchers have made. For instance, ON World Inc.'s (www.onworld.com) projection of 465.58 million RF modules implemented for sensor networking by the year 2010 was based on the assumption of Q4 2004 ratification of the ZigBee spec. And by the way, ON World estimates that ZigBee-based modules will account for nearly 78% of.. | | | Now-Ratified ZigBee Spec Embraced Worldwide
| | It's happened. The event upon which rosy projections of wireless sensor growth is based—completion of the ZigBee spec—has taken place. If the futurists and market researchers are right, we're about to rocket up the hockey-stick slope to wireless utopia. | | | Now-Ratified ZigBee Spec Embraced Worldwide
| | It's happened. The event upon which rosy projections of wireless sensor growth is based—completion of the ZigBee spec—has taken place. If the futurists and market researchers are right, we're about to rocket up the hockey-stick slope to wireless utopia. | | | MORE ARTICLES
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| The Five-Minute Filter University—August Session
| | Last month we discussed a number of simple passive filters in both low-pass and high-pass configurations. Although these filters could reject out-of-band signals, this capability was relatively limited because they all had an attenuation roll-off rate of –20 dB/decade. You will find that many applications require a much greater ability to reject out-of-band signals than that provided by the passive low-pass filters we looked at. | | | The Five-Minute Filter University, July Session
| | Back in the late 1970s comedian Don Novello (a.k.a. Father Guido Sarducci) had a routine called the "Five-Minute University," which was supposed to impart to you, in the span of only five minutes, all the knowledge you would retain five years after graduating from a regular university. So, in the same spirit, I offer "Dr. Ed's Five-Minute Analog Filter Design University." | | | MORE ARTICLES
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| New Implementations of OGC Sensor Web Enablement Standards
| | Wildfires, river basins, tsunami alerts, and environmental risk management are just some of the projects using OGC's interoperability framework for Web-based access and control of sensors and sensor data. | | | The Big Picture: Sensor Webs in Disaster Response Demo
| | In an increasingly wired world, knitting together data from disparate sources into an interoperable whole can present disaster managers and first responders with critical information during a major emergency or crisis. Building on a vendor-neutral interoperability framework for Web-based discovery, access, control, integration, and visualization of online sensors, the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) tested this idea in a December 2006 disaster response demo. | | | Technologies Help Prepare and Respond
| | Advance warning, leading to community preparedness and potential evacuation, is the best way to mitigate the effects of natural disasters," says Frank Koester, vice president and director of ITT Space Systems Div., Commercial and Space Science Programs. | | | The Sensor Web: Distributed Sensing for Collective Action
| | Wireless sensor networks seem to be everywhere. Technology magazines talk about them. Universities offer courses on the topic. Companies, both large and small, are working aggressively to push the development of these systems. Despite this interest and activity, such systems have not yet achieved the broad adoption envisioned by pundits and anticipated by engineers. Before this technology can attain its expected ubiquity, more effort is required to identify and satisfy real-world needs. | | | Increase Operational Visibility by Integrating Sensor Data with Enterprise Appplications
| | New software tools now make it possible to integrate sensor technology with an overall information framework. This eliminates worries about integration headaches or cumbersome architecture revisions. | | | MORE ARTICLES
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MES—A Work In Progress
| | Traditionally, a manufacturing execution system (MES) is defined as a production scheduling and tracking system, which schedules and updates orders, analyzes and reports resource availability, collects execution data—such as material and labor usage, process parameters, and order and equipment status—and maintains statistical quality control. But such a static definition doesn't do this genre of software justice because MESs are a work in progress. | | | OPC—A Question of Relevance
| | For ten years, OPC's suite of standards has provided the industrial automation world with open connectivity, but the technology on which its standards are based is no longer on the cutting edge of data sharing. The foundation that rescued manufacturers, systems integrators, and software providers from the chaos of proprietary communications interfaces now has to compete with fast movers such as service-oriented architectures and Web services. The question is: Can the standards evolve, embrace new communications mechanisms, and remain relevant? | | | MORE ARTICLES
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| At ISA Expo . . .
| | At this year's ISA Expo—as at Sensors Expo in June—much of the buzz centered on wireless networking. | | | Sensors and Privacy
| | A survey of more than 700 IEEE Fellows, done by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in conjunction with the Institute for the Future, sought to learn what science and technology developments are most likely to take hold within the next 10 to 50 years. | | | Special Report
| | It's hard to overestimate the impact of MEMS—or LabVIEW—on sensor applications. | | | So Much More
| | The Today at Sensors weblog (www.sensorsmag.com) not only gave us Sensors editors an outlet to report daily from Sensors Expo (June 5–7, www.sensorsexpo.com), but also it lets us tell you more about Expo happenings—among other things—than we've been able to before. Thank goodness, because there's much to tell! | | | MORE ARTICLES
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| Compassion in Action: Safeguarding Backyard Swimming Pools
| | Your backyard swimming pool can be a source of relaxation and delight—as long as you keep a lifeguard on duty 24/7. For the higher your fence and the more secure your gate latch, the greater the challenge to all the children who know that oasis is back there. And far too frequently, when everyone has come indoors for refreshment, a toddler wanders through the open gate and falls into the water. Everyone thought someone else was watching the child. | | | Safe Boating, Everyone!
| | The cry of "man overboard!" is second only to "fire on shipboard!" as a general alarm for all hands. But what if no one sees that fellow boater or shipmate (or pet) fall into the drink? The Raymarine (www.raymarine.com) LifeTag system, using Ember's ZigBee (www.zigbee.org) networking technology, does away with that unhappy scenario. | | | MORE ARTICLES
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| Future Networks
| | The next generation of networks will move beyond disconnected device-specific networks and systems and toward a distributed infrastructure, with intelligent functions residing across the entire network, from its edge to its core. | | | Mixing Multiple Wireless Technologies
| | With the variety of wireless technologies available, outfitting an industrial or commercial environment for wireless communications may involve mixing and matching technologies to find the optimal solution. Here are the issues to consider to make your mix a successful one. | | | No Chips!
| | Who wants to buy a beverage in a chipped bottle or cereal in a box with crushed corners? Sensor Wireless Inc. (www.sensorwireless.com) set about developing a specialized technology to prevent such uglies. Their wireless sensors transmit data on handling and environmental parameters and show the results in real time. | | | Is Your Engine Weary?
| | Scientists at the University of Manchester, U.K., are developing a
new type of wireless sensor to remotely monitor mechanical parts
and systems and allow predictions of breakdowns in advance of
failure. | | | MORE ARTICLES
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| Get More from a Scan
| | The D-SPECT camera, introduced at the June meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine, features shorter image capture times, better image quality, and the capability of simultanrous multi-isotope imaging. | | | Magic Spectacles
| | One problem with every type of eyeglasses, contact lenses, and even the plastic lenses implanted after cataract removal is that they all have a fixed focal lengt |
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