Wireless Sensor Network Solutions Launched for Research Labs & Universities in India

Bangalore, 22 September’09: Dreamajax Technologies, a Bangalore based technology firm with expertise in the areas of Web Application Development, Ad Server implementation & Customization and Design & Development of Wireless Sensor Networks has launched innovative solutions in the field of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) for the Indian Market.

Specifically targeted at Research Organizations & Educational Institutions, WSN India, the Research & Development wing of Dreamajax Technologies will help setup labs and provide solutions to get started with research in the field of Wireless Sensor Networks. Such facilities were only available to large organizations who could afford higher investments, but today even a small organization or educational institute can afford this setup.

“In the comfort and safety of a lab, a researcher or student can monitor the activity of an active volcano or a cyclone which is miles away. Wireless Sensor Networks are making these and other applications a reality. From surveillance systems to building automation and control to habitat monitoring, Wireless Sensor Networks have the potential to change the world as we know it” says Ashwin K Whitchurch, CTO of Dreamajax Technologies.

WSNs can be used in Agriculture & Environmental Studies, Medical & Health Care Studies, Aeronautical Labs, Industrial Labs, Civil Engineering, Electronics and Communication, Mechanical Engineering, Marine & Wildlife Conservation to name a few.

WSN India will provide complete assistance in the setup and implementation of these labs with WSN Nodes to collect data, User Interface Software for real-time monitoring along with complete training modules and materials.

Ram Kumar, Founder & CEO of Dreamajax Technologies says, “Our main aim is to simplify access to technology & tools and reduce setup costs using ready made platforms developed by us thereby making it affordable to the educational and research fraternity."

About WSN
Wireless Sensor Networks (wsnindia.com) are basically tools for efficiently acquiring data from several sensors placed at strategic locations. They are networks of geographically distributed sets of sensors on an autonomous platform (called WSN nodes) which co-operatively enable monitoring of a physical parameter or environmental condition such as temperature, humidity, pressure, light, sound, motion, acceleration or anything that can be sensed.

About Dreamajax Technologies
With over 400 clients across the globe including several big names in the field of online advertising, Dreamajax strives to be the market leader in the field of Digital Media (Ad Delivery Engines) by providing effective and innovative formats to satisfy industry demands.
Dreamajax is the proud Winner of the Karnataka State IT Export Award 2008 during BangaloreIT.biz held in November 2008.

GE Developing Body Sensor Networks

Waukesha, Wis.-based GE Healthcare is unveiling an initiative aimed at developing wireless medical monitoring systems, or body sensor networks (BSN.)

GE Healthcare, in conjunction with GE’s technology development arm, Global Research, is now developing BSNs, which consists of sensor devices that collect critical patient-specific information, including temperature, pulse-oximetry, blood glucose levels, electrocardiogram readings, blood pressure levels and respiratory function. This real-time patient information can be collected and transmitted to doctors and nurses to enable efficient patient monitoring from any location, says the company.

Additionally, BSNs would eliminate the need to disconnect and reconnect wires as patients change care areas. This is critical, says GE, as patients often require varying levels of care throughout their hospital stay, progressing from low-acuity to high-acuity and back to low-acuity before discharge. With BSNs, caregivers will be able to quickly add or remove parameter sensors as medical conditions warrant, integrating and evaluating parameters to make informed treatment decisions, it touts. Additionally, BSNs will allow caregivers to wirelessly monitor parameters outside of specialized care areas.

Team Building Wireless 'Electronic Noses' Using Nanoscale Sensors

ECE researchers are developing multifunctional gas nanosensors integrated with wireless communications, signal processing and readout capabilities. (Diagram) Conceptual diagram of a wireless gas sensor node with nanosensor devices that are assembled on an IC chip. (Photo) A scanning electron micrograph of a proof-of-concept prototype. In this case, a Rhodium nanowire — about 3 micrometers long x 300 nanometers in diameter (see inset) — was assembled on a prototype Silicon CMOS IC.

ECE researchers in the Wireless Microsystems Laboratory are working to integrate functional nano-scale gas sensors with wireless communications microsystems — using a new assembly process that would allow low-cost batch fabrication and the ability to incorporate distinct sensor devices to monitor different chemicals and gases.

Their ultra-miniature "electronic nose" would be sensitive to a variety of gas and chemical compositions and incorporate readout, signal processing, and communications circuitry.

Ultra-Sensitive, Low-Power Sensors
"Sensory devices with nanometer-scale dimensions can give us ultra-high sensitivity," said Sanjay Raman, director of the laboratory. Sensitive nano-sensors can detect their target at the molecular level, he explained. "For example, in gas detection, this can give a very early warning, allowing people to react before any damage is done," he said.

Networks of Nano-Sensors
"We are working to integrate nanosensors with smart silicon circuitry, so the sensor microsystem can sense, think, and communicate," he said. Independent sensing nodes can then be deployed in networks for situations ranging from exterior or interior environments and structures, to miniature, remotely piloted vehicles. The sensing networks can be used for real-time monitoring of vehicles and structures, such as roads or bridges, environmental monitoring for health and safety, and security and battlefield surveillance.

Assembled Devices
Raman's team is collaborating with Stephane Evoy of the University of Pennsylvania to develop the gas nanosensor systems. Instead of using the conventional method of direct machining the nano-devices from the substrate, they are using a "bottom-up" assembly process.

Their goal is to design and fabricate silicon IC chips with integrated wireless communications, readout, and sensor assembly functions, and subsequently assemble the nanosensor devices onto the prefabricated chip. The nanosensors are assembled by placing a drop of fluid containing suspended nanowires and nanorods on the chip. Using probes, electrical stimuli are applied that polarize the suspended nanowires and coax them to assemble on and between selected electrodes.

Batch Fabrication
The batch fabrication assembly technique is expected to reduce manufacturing costs compared to other nanomachining processes. "This technique is compatible with standard foundry technologies," Raman said, which is important for low-cost manufacturing of the devices.

The gas sensor project is funded by a contract from the National Science Foundation (NSF). For more information, please visit the Wireless Microsystems Laboratory website at www.ece.vt.edu/wml/.

Research Team Maximizing Wireless Video Sensor Network Life

Base station placement and network topology may be key factors affecting the lifetime of wireless video sensor networks, according to Thomas Hou and Scott Midkiff, who recently received a $225,000 NSF Information Technology Research (ITR) grant to study and improve video sensor network lifetime. The ITR program funds about 10 percent of all submitted proposals.

"A major challenge with a wireless video sensor network is maximizing the lifetime of the network given that there is limited battery power at each node and that replacing or recharging the batteries is usually not feasible," Hou said. "An analysis of power dissipation at the nodes suggests that wireless communication consumes significantly more energy than any other node activity," he added. "Thus, if we can optimize the communication power consumption behavior of the sensor node, we can extend the network lifetime."

The team is exploring several definitions for network lifetime, taking into account the percentage of nodes required to remain alive and the different priorities of nodes based on their locations. The researchers are studying base-station placement and multihop routing, base-station placement constraints, and dynamic varying network topology.

"We have found that the techniques and algorithms from the field of computational geometry can help us understand the problem, study the impact of topology control, and develop performance bounds needed for this research," Hou said.

After determining topology control techniques, the team will develop a software toolkit that can be used by sensor network designers to optimally perform network topology control.

For more information on research regarding wireless video sensor networks, please visit the website at www.ece.vt.edu/~thou/.

Image Sensors Everywhere

Earlier this week, the Royal Swedish Academy of Science awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2009 to the creators of, respectively, fiber-optic communications and digital imaging. Although fiber-optics has proven immensely valuable for both global communications networks and for fiber-optic sensing, today I'm going to concentrate on the digital imaging portion and reflect, briefly, on what a game changer this technology has been.

I think it's safe to say that, without digital imaging, we wouldn't have achieved the strides in astronomy, medical imaging, manufacturing automation, and (more recently) automotive safety that we have. And that doesn't even touch on how digital photography has affected so many people.

Being able to place image sensors on spacecraft and in land-based observatories means rapid retrieval and analysis of those images and the data they contain. It also means that image sensors sensitive to other regions of the electromagnetic spectrum can be used and that, as the image sensors become faster or more sensitive or larger, that the data gathered are both more plentiful and more accurate.

Digital X-rays means that the radiology tech taking the pictures can see immediately whether the images they've taken are any good; because the imagers themselves are so sensitive to X-rays, the patients are exposed to less radiation; and, last but by no means least, the images are easily transferred and digitally enhanced. We've got cameras we swallow and cameras that enable laporascopic surgery and other explorations of the human body.

Within the industrial automation field, machine vision has revolutionized some forms of manufacturing automation, moving QC throughout the production process and enabling earlier identification and correction of problems. The increasingly sophisticated image analysis software coupled with better and faster image sensors means ever greater production speeds and further process automation.

In the military applications we've got image sensors in UAVs such as the Predator, better surveillance cameras, cameras on bomb-disposal robots, night vision goggles, and thermal imaging (with its helpful civilian uses) to name just a few.

Image sensors in cars are a more recent development, but they're being used to help people to park, to keep a watchful eye on blind spots, to warn of lane departures, and to dim headlights automatically. I am very sure that additional applications are under development as we speak.

And, finally, digital photography allows us, professional or amateur, to take more pictures, possibly better ones, and to share them easily. Tell me which applications I've missed!

So, a very hearty thank you and congratulations to Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith.

Micro force sensor

Smaller than a no. 2 pencil tip, this submergible micro-force transducer is ideal for medical research applications. The AIFP® is constructed from micro-machined stainless steel and heat treated to form an elliptical spring microstructure, which deforms elastically when loaded. This construction allows the device to accurately and reproduceably measure applied forces.

A quarter bridge strain gauge bonded to the structure provides a sensititve output, linearly proportional to force. The strain gauge's self temperature coefficient is matched to the stainless steel substrate to minimize the effect of temperature on probe output. The elliptical cross section and 3-conductor flat tape cable keep the device anchored and oriented within fibrous materials. In addition, bridge completion resistors are included in the AIFP's® integral connector.

For implantation, a trocar and slotted cannula are used to bury the transducer within the tissue substance. A suture may be placed in an aperture located in the wall of the probe to facilitate probe removal. The AIFP® is coated with high temperature polyimide and parylene coatings for protection against moisture and saline solutions.

Sensor Networks and Sustainability: “Connecting Real, Virtual, Mobile and Augmented Spaces”

Today, I did a presentation, on connecting real, virtual, mobile, and augmented spaces to support sustainability, for Earth Week SL, with Dave Pentecost and Jim Purbrick, who presented on Carbon Goggles.

Dave and I focused on sensor networks, open data, Pachube, OpenSim, and sustainability from perspective of, “hack local, think global.” Dave and I will be picking up on some of these themes of sensor networks and sustainability next week in our presentation with Dimitri Darras at ITP, NYU, Aprl 24th, 6.30 pm to 8 pm – details here. If you are in New York City, I hope to see you there.

We got some interesting insights into augmented reality from Jim Purbrick whose Carbon Goggles project prototypes how we can use augmented reality to read carbon identity and to combine well organized, verified data from AMEE – a neutral aggregation platform to measure the “carbon footprint” of everything on earth, with crowd sourced tagging and linking.

Shaspa – “the sensor network system that has it all”

We also discussed, recently launched, Shaspa. Shaspa’s energy management packages connect spaces – real, virtual, mobile and augmented. Shaspa has been blogged by Maxping and Virtual World News, so you can read all about it, but the Shaspa device kit won’t be available until next week. Some key features of the Home Energy package are listed on the slide above. However, this evening, Dave Pentecost and I got a sneak preview of both the Shaspa commmunity and enterprise hardware and software packages from Shaspa founder Oliver Goh. We were pretty impressed.

Dave: “It’s the ultimate hackable device for energy management!”

Oliver: “Bring us any sensor device – with documentation, and within three days we will put a driver into Shaspa.”

Oliver is on the right and Dave on the left in the picture above. The picture below shows Shaspa in OpenSim. Oliver and I will be attending the 3D Training, Learning and Collaboration Conference in Washington, DC, next week.