GainSpan, a Wi-Fi sensor company, today unveiled an ultra low power wireless sensor network that utilizes Wi-Fi. GainSpan’s semiconductor and software solutions are said to deliver the benefits of Wi-Fi with 5-10 years of battery life for applications like temperature and condition monitoring of industrial equipment.
The GainSpan GS1010 SoC is an ultra low-power System-on-a-Chip (SoC) solution that leverages the widely deployed Wi-Fi with existing management systems, including enterprise network management systems, as well as existing SCADA industrial and building automation systems.

GainSpan’s product line was designed for long battery life and flexibility using an embedded 802.11b/g radio, two 32-bit ARM7 microcontrollers, real-time clock and power management unit, FLASH and SRAM memories along with multiple I/Os, and support for location awareness.

Compared to most Bluetooth and Zigbee chips, WiFi sensors have longer range with lower cost. Power has been the sticking point. The GS1010 is sampling now, with production quantities available in December 2007, and is priced at $15.00 in 10,000 unit quantities.

More info here.

Melted ice cream or spoiled meat are often the first sign grocery store refrigeration systems are malfunctioning. El Rancho Market in Solvang, CA, turned to a wireless sensor network system to monitor temperature and send alerts. Motes that house temperature sensors, radios and tiny computers are placed inside the market’s refrigerators and freezers, monitoring them on a 5-min cycle. Status updates are sent wirelessly over the Internet. Text message alerts are sent to desktop or handheld computers when something’s wrong. System integrator Comware International created the motes, which employ sensors and networks from Arch Rock Corp.

More info here.