News & Analysis
ESC: Panel to debate wireless sensor networks
Peter Clarke
3/4/2010 6:42 AM EST
Collections of autonomous smart wireless sensors that could connect together to form ad hoc networks were not practical until recently. But in the late 1990s it became clear that Moore's Law would eventually take performance up and power consumption and form factor down, to the point where they would be possible.
And the juxtaposition of sensors (and potentially actuators), conversion circuits, digital logic, power and power management and wireless transceivers is a potent combination because it is, in essence, the superset template for a vast swathe of electronic systems. So not only were wireless sensor networks becoming possible, they were set to be revolutionary.
And that is where the fun begins because myriad questions quickly follow. What are the right applications for wireless sensor networks? What is the right architecture for the right application? What about the trade-offs of performance against range against power consumption against cost? Is energy harvesting viable to avoid battery costs? What is the right radio protocol? What legacy hardware, software and protocol stacks can be reused? What are the right standards to ensure interoperability?
Like many coming technologies wireless sensor networks have been through surges of optimism followed by troughs of despondency brought on by the hard grind of knocking down practical problems application by application. And Moore's law and the creativity of chip designers mean that neither the technical context nor the questions stand still. So where do such networks stand today?
The panel is set to include four experts who will be able to shed light on this topic:
Kris Pister is a professor at University of California, Berkeley and one of the first and foremost thinkers about wireless sensor networks. He is also co-founder and chief technology officer of Dust Networks Inc. (Hayward, Calif.), a 2002 startup that has pioneered design and manufacture of wireless sensor networks for industrial applications.
Brett Black, wireless connectivity operations manager at Freescale Semiconductor Inc. (Tempe, Ariz.). Black has been the Freescale representative on the ZigBee Alliance board of directors since December, 2004.
Stuart McLaren is a STMicroelectronics' Americas region product marketing manager for memories, microcontrollers and smartcards.
Kirsten West is the principal analyst and co-founder of West Technology Research Solutions (WTRS), a market research firm focused on emerging wireless technologies such as IEEE 802.15.4, ZigBee, EnOcean, Bluetooth, WirelessHD, and WiMax.
So with audience participation in the form of questions and the panelists' expertise, we aim to look at how the technologies and markets are evolving. What is the state-of-the-art for ultra-small and low-power computing and communications nodes? What are the key technologies and markets and what's needed to take them to the next level?
The panel on wireless sensor networks is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, April 27, 2010 at 1:30pm in ESC Theater 1 in the McEnery Center, San Jose.
And if you already have burning questions that you want to put before the panel please send them to your moderator peter.clarke@ubm.com
Related links and articles:
http://esc-sv.techinsightsevents.com/ESC_Theater#Tuesday
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Peter Clarke
3/7/2010 9:23 AM EST
As indicated above, please send your questions for the panel to peter.clarke@ubm.com
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Peter Clarke
3/12/2010 7:38 AM EST
From Xiaoyuan Qi
With regard to ESC: Panel to debate wireless sensor networks
I'm fascinated by wireless sensor networks and I believe they are the next revolution after the internet.
Based on the fact that most current sensor networks are not mature, I just have a general question: what is the overall blueprint for sensor networks?
We can discuss all of the details of power consumption, RF interference, cost, performance, but I believe there should be a top-down effort rather than a bottom-up effort. Different applications have different requirements and if we don't have a big picture from the top it is not meaningful to discuss the details.
I also believe this should be a coordinated effort involving nanotechnology, biotechnology, new energy such as solar panel, DSP, networking, power management, etc. Applications can be divided by industries and then probably a roadmap should first be rolled out.
Xiaoyauan Qi
Engineer
San Antonio
Texas
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wurtis2
4/16/2010 1:51 PM EDT
Very much looking forward to this panel discussion! The question I'd like to hear discussed is:
"Wireless sensors have the potential to vastly outnumber other kinds of networked devices - but almost never have rudimentary security measures built into them. When do you think security is going to start to become something that sensor designers are going to have to start considering? What can be compromised if an "imposter node" is successfully implanted into a sensor network? What are some of the consequences if large clouds of sensors are disabled en-masse in a critical environment, like say a reactor or chemical process plant?"
Kurt Stammberger, CISSP
Mocana
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Wise Guy
4/28/2010 10:35 PM EDT
My name is Alvin Borthwick and I reside in Perth, Western Australia. I refer to the article appearing in EE Times dated 03/04/2010. The article makes reference to four experts who will be able to shed light on the topic of Wireless Sensor Networks.
It is important for me to put on record that I invented the Zigbee monitoring and control technology inclusive of remote two-way radio controlled handheld interrogator programmer unit with LCD user interface and a one-touch wireless panic button. A electronic proof of concept of my monitoring and control system with auto lighting control initially targeted to Home Security was commissioned in late 2000 and realized as a working prototype system in 2001.
During the project development period of my WiseGuy idea, my idea and all its enabling solutions for two-way wireless monitoring and control of sensors and devices, was licensed off to multinationals that established the Zigbee Alliance without my knowledge and / or consent.
After extensive online investigation I discovered that early trials of my WiseGuy idea were carried out on BP's loch Rannoch for predictive maintenance and vibration monitoring. Trials were also conducted in secret on Great Duck Island for monitoring the habits of Storm Leach Petrels, which included a handheld 'Gizmo' unit. Both experiments were associated with Intel Corp.
If you were to check Mr Pister's Bio, you will find he reports that he fails students who resort to cheating and / or standing in for another's work. Yet, this so called expert, has permitted himself to allow my Intellectual property to be phased into his original Smartdust Optical project which in his words was going nowhere and be substituted for a new scheme Smartdsust which uses my idea and its solutions.
Another individual by name of Robert Poor of Ember Corp, has claimed he is the Originator and Creator of Zigbee. Perhaps, you should seek him out and ask him to clarify as to how he arrived at a complete Zigbee monitoring and control system with two-way remote handheld unit and wireless panic button; from his 'Tiny Algorithm' .
Please be advised that the intellectual property associated with the Zigbee and Zwave technologies including the two way remote control with enhanced LCD interface was taken in fraud between late 2000 and 2001.
You may refer Western Australian Supreme Court Writ No CIV 2676 issued in Perth on 5 December 2008. The writ also named Intel portfolio company Zensys inc, which appears to have fled by quickly being acquired off to Sigma just 13 days after my Writ was issued.
You have received this information from the inventor of Zigbee, Zwave and the switched new Smartdust scheme purportedly created by Kris Pister of UC Berkeley.
Kind Regards,
Alvin Borthwick
Inventor Of Zigbee AND Zwave monitoring systems (early trials as Intel's 6 Smartdust experiments)
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