Energy is everywhere. In the sun, wind, and now rain.

Researchers have developed a technique that harvests energy from rain showers and converts it into electricity. The technology could work in industrial air conditioning systems, where water condenses and drops like rain. It could also be used in combination with solar power to scavenge as much energy from the environment as possible, or to power tiny, wireless sensors designed to monitor environmental conditions.

“Our calculations show that even in the most unfavorable conditions, the mechanical energy of the raindrops…is high enough to power low-consumption devices,” said Romain Guigon, a research and development engineer at the research institute CEA Leti-Minatec in Grenoble, France.

More info here.

ZigBee Open House is coming to Tokyo, Thursday, February 28, 2008. Starting at 10:00AM at The Laforet Hotel. Anyone may attend free of charge and participate in a range of technical sessions covering the ZigBee overview, ZigBee public application profiles, product certifications and a ZigBee panel discussion. The event also features a member product and service exhibit and concludes with an evening reception, allowing attendees to network with ZigBee Alliance member companies.
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The firefly device is a behavioral sensing system with support software for gathering data and developing customer applications.

The device has sensors, a radio (802.15.4), and a rechargeable battery. The sensors include: 3-axis accelerometer, 3-axis magnetometer, and radio signal strength. The software supports wireless and wired upload of sensor data in real time. When out of range, the device collects sensor data in an internal memory then automatically uploads the data when back in range.
The accelerometer and magnetometer data can be used for various purposes such as calculating orientation, monitoring motion such as walking, etc. Radio signal strength can be used to estimate the distance to other firefly devices (firefly devices transmit their identities to each other).

More info here.

Crossbow announced the release of ēKo Pro Series, a turnkey live data, wireless crop monitoring system enabling precision agriculture. The ēKo Pro Series follows Crossbow’s already popular sensor and navigation solutions for heavy agricultural equipment. See the video below for additional details.

ēKo represents the next generation in crop monitoring and precision agriculture techniques, employing a mesh network of wireless sensors and providing vital live data about crop health, vigor and growth progress via a simple internet browser. Among others, the ēKo Pro Series monitoring solution features the following innovations:
• Solar-powered, field-deployed wireless sensor nodes, which require no electrical power so that sensors can be placed where needed.
• Simple-to-use, web-based data viewing that allows remote access to live sensor data, critical trend charts and alarm settings - all of which are highly customizable.
• Leading-edge, reliable wireless mesh network technology that is self-configuring and self-healing, thus providing effortless setup and easy scalability, where additional wireless nodes and sensors can be added easily by non-technical users.

More info is available on Crossbow’s blog.

If you are interested in systems research for developing regions, then you should gear up for NSDR 2008. The 2nd Workshop on Networked Systems for Developing Regions (NSDR’08) will be held with SIGCOMM 2008 on 18th August, 2008 in Seattle, Washington, USA.

Following on a successful workshop at SIGCOMM 2007, NSDR’08 will provide a venue for researchers to propose and discuss ideas concerning Internet and communication technologies for developing regions. Given the SIGCOMM name and the strong program committee, this event is on its way to become the top event in developing regions research. We look forward to your participation!

Submission Deadline: 02 March, 2008

For details visit the NSDR 2008 website

or

view the CFP as *.PDF or *.TXT.