FedEx Announces SenseAware

FedEx has announced SenseAware (SM) powered by FedEx, a next generation, first-of-its-kind information service that combines a GPS sensor device and a web-based collaboration platform.

A SenseAware device riding with a FedEx shipment can provide the following information:

•Precise temperature readings
•A shipment’s exact location
•When a shipment is opened or if the contents have been exposed to light
•Real-time alerts and analytics between trusted parties regarding the above vital signs of a shipment

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Source: Yahoo Finance News

Libelium Low Power WASP MOTEs

Libelium has released low power WASP motes for environment monitoring and sensing in diverse conditions. WASP has free APIs and has pretty good documentations available here.

Link

TI's CC430 in a sports watch (eZ430-Chronos)

The eZ430-Chronos is a highly integrated, wearable wireless development system based for the CC430 in a sports watch. It may be used as a reference platform for watch systems, a personal display for personal area networks, or as a wireless sensor node for remote data collection.

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Based on the CC430F6137 < 1 GHz RF SoC, the eZ430-Chronos is a complete CC430-based development system contained in a watch.
This tool features a 96 segment LCD display and provides an integrated pressure sensor and 3-axis accelerometer for motion sensitive control. The integrated wireless feature allows the Chronos to act as a central hub for nearby wireless sensors such as pedometers and heart rate monitors. The eZ430-Chronos offers temperature and battery voltage measurement and is complete with a USB-based CC1111 wireless interface to a PC. The eZ430-Chronos watch may be disassembled to be reprogrammed with a custom application and includes an eZ430 USB programming interface.

Image Courtesy: TI

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Two Contiki Summer 2009 Tutorials - SICS

Written by Adam Dunkels, on Contiki's site Thursday, 20 August 2009

Cooja author Fredrik Österlind held a Contiki tutorial at the 3rd WIDE Summer School on Networked Control Systems in Siena, Italy, June 7-9, 2009. The tutorial slides are here, handouts here, and the complementary exercise code is here. SICS researcher Thiemo Voigt, who has been using Contiki in his research for a number of years, held a Contiki tutorial at the CONET SENIOT Summer School in Bertinoro, Italy, June 27 - August 1, 2009. His slides are here and handouts are here.

Contiki OS development 2003 - 2009

The development of the Contiki operating system from 2003 to 2009.



For Contiki Tutorials check the following Link:
Contiki Tutorials

For More information on Contiki visit the following Link
www.sics.se/contiki/

KoreaTimes: Ubiquitous Sensor Network Sought

South Korea is planning to combine its weather and climate monitoring stations and other individual sensors under a network based on Internet protocol (IP).


The next-generation network will enable a wider range of energy-saving solutions and efficient management systems in future urban development projects, and will be applied to the government plans for the ``renewal'' of the country's four major rivers, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) said.

Trial projects are planned in Seoul, Jeju Island and Chuncheon in Gangwon Province.

More: Link

ZDNET: 7 things you should know about Body Area Networks (BANs)

The budding field of Body Area Networks gives new meaning to the term “personal” in PCs. In a nutshell, the technology leverages wireless communications protocols that allow for low-powered sensors to communicate with one another and transmit data to a local base station and to remote places like hospitals.

For instance, small flat sensors placed on the skin, or even under it, could be used to create a “medical” body area network that provides doctors with real-time data about their patients’ bio-signs. Another key application is short-range person-to-person communications that could help protect front line soldiers in combat.

A Central Nervous System for Earth: HP's Ambitious Sensor Network

HP Labs has joined the race to build an infrastructure for the emerging Internet of Things. The giant computing and IT services company has announced a project that aims to be a "Central Nervous System for the Earth" (CeNSE). It's a research and development program to build a planetwide sensing network, using billions of "tiny, cheap, tough and exquisitely sensitive detectors."

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Earth2Tech: Commercial Buildings + Energy Management = $6.8B-a-Year Market

According to Pike Research, the market for energy management systems — stuff like wireless sensor networks, lighting controls, and heating and cooling management in buildings — will turn into a $6.8 billion-a-year market by 2020 and will generate investment of $67.6 billion between 2010 and 2020.

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