WSN Update

In my last post, I explained how the lack of adoption of Wireless Sensor Network technology was due to the limited amount of money being invested in actual applications of the technology.

It was refreshing to see this article today from the European Commission Research Information Centre. The EU is investing EUR 2.44 million in the WINSOC project which is developing innovative sensor networks that mimic biological systems. With these new sensors, the project partners hope to detect imminent catastrophes in time for action to be taken.

WINSOC, or Wireless Sensor Networks with Self-Organization Capabilities for Critical and Emergency Applications, is a technical science project that is inspired by living organisms around us. The sensors being developed by the project aim to address three areas in environmental monitoring:

1. detection or prediction of landslides


2. detection of gas leakage to prevent hazard situations or simply avoid unnecessary wastes of energetic resources


3. monitoring of temperature fields as a way to detect fires or, even better, to predict the risk of a potential fire in a given area.

I commend the EU for taking the lead in funding these types of projects. This type of technology can have a huge positive impact on our everyday lives, allowing us to be safer, use less energy, and understand more about our environment.

Full Article...

This blog has been touting the promises of Wireless Sensor Networks since February of 2005. It was predicted back then that WSN would be a disruptive technology that changed the way we viewed the world. Today, market research still predicts that the WSN revolution is "just around the corner". The reality is that the technology is no closer to commercial adoption that it was over three years ago when this blog began. EETimes.com had an interesting article today that sheds some light as to why - just like every other new technology, it needs a "killer app".

The article discusses a UK study that concluded that commercial adoption has been slow. It is the traditional sensing applications that are currently commercially exploiting the advantages of wirelessly networked sensors. There have been very few new uses of the technology. The report goes on to suggest that now that the major system integrators are getting involved, the new expertise in the field will drive further adoption. I am not sure I really agree with that.

Having been in the WSN field for nearly 4 years, I have learned that there is a much bigger problem - MONEY. No one wants to pay for the development of the "Killer App". Integrators will learn the technology, but will only integrate it when they are paid to do so. For the most part they don't develop commercial applications. The traditional sensing markets are very stuck in their ways. They have wired sensors and SCADA systems that work and are reliable. Often these systems monitor critical systems where saftey is a huge concern. So why would they add risk by adopting something new with unproven reliablily?

WSN is a great technology, but that's just it. Its another technology. The technology alone doesn't do anything, it needs to be applied. And for most of the things that it can be applied to, there is often a cheaper, lower-tech, more reliable method.

I still believe the technology has the potential to be disruptive, but its going to take a lot of money and a big leap of faith to develop that Killer App. Until then, everyone is stuck waiting on the sidelines for the game to begin. If Google or Apple are not pushing it, it might be a long time before the technology really takes off.

Embedded.com has a good article today that is Part III in their series of choosing the right low power wireless sensor network. This article shifts away to the general criteria discussion of parts 1 and 2, and dives into the technical details by comparing TI's proprietary SimpliciTI wireless network with Zigbee.

In a nut shell, the article shows how the need for standardized reliability and security implementation as well as an interoperability requirement would make Zigbee the protocol of choice. Relax or remove these requirements and the optimum network would be a general or proprietary 802.15.4 network.

Full Article...

Labels: low power wireless, pan, protocol, wireless, Zigbee