Crossbow’s new eKo system has not only brought wireless sensor networks into the heart of precision agriculture, the system now also offers a quick and easy solution for anyone wanting to incorporate wireless sensor networks into their own outdoor monitoring solution. Whether they
Monthly Archives: October 2008
Cor Baayen Award 2008
Adam Dunkels from SICS, Sweden, is the winner of the 2008 Cor Baayen Award for a promising young researcher in computer science and applied mathematics. Adam’s research on sensornets has also been recognized by the 2007 Xerox Chester Carlson Science
Researchers create wirelessly-powered robot swarm
In a paper from ICRA 2008 there are details on the construction of a 60cm x 60 cm surface that provides wireless (battery-free) power and bidirectional communication to an initial swarm consisting of five line-following robots, each consuming 200 mW.
Robots and sensors to help elderly stay independent
Someday soon, older adults may not need to move into nursing homes because they’ll have a household of technological wonders to keep an eye on them when they become frail. Sensors embedded throughout the seniors’ homes will detect when the
Body area network
In the framework of Holst Centre, IMEC has developed an ambulatory arousal monitor. The new research concept uses a combination of body parameters to monitor a person’s arousal level. The compact form factor and the long battery lifetime allow the
Sensors Survey
Libelium has launched a survey to ask developers and companies which sensors they would find useful a mote to bring. They are currently working on the development of the sensor integration board for Waspmote and they want to take into
Wireless soil sensors to help farming, improve understanding of carbon, nitrogen cycles
Researchers from Iowa State University are developing wireless soil sensors that will improve farming and may help grow our understanding of the increasingly important carbon and nitrogen cycles. The sensors could also help determine the effects of biochar added to
Smallest IPv6 Stack
CISCO, ATMEL and SICS have announced the availability of uIPv6. It is one of the world’s smallest open-source, IPv6-ready protocol stack, which could enable every device, no matter how limited by power or memory to have an IP address. For
Data logging up to GB in a single mote for years
Two new modules for the SquidBee mote have been developed by the Wireless Sensor Network Research Group (http://www.sensor-networks.org). The first one let the motes to be able to store up to GB of data in a SD card located inside
Is it a bird, is it a plane? No it’s supercopter
Unmanned helicopters could soon be a key part of emergency relief operations, as well as bringing a new dimension to filmmaking, thanks to some innovative work done by European researchers. When natural disasters happen one of the first casualties is often

