Crossbow Announces IMB400 Imote2 Multimedia Board

Building on its popular Imote2 advanced wireless sensor platform, Crossbow Technology announced the new Imote2 Multimedia Board (IMB400), an integrated camera sensor board that simplifies the capture of rich media content for wireless sensor network applications. The IMB400 board adds rich media capabilities to wireless sensor platforms. 

Ralph Kling, Chief Architect for Crossbow Technology said “For the first time visual and audio data can be easily added to wireless sensor applications. This opens up new possibilities for wireless sensor applications, including for example, surveillance, machine vision, object tracking, animal behavior surveys, and elder care monitoring in locations and environments that would otherwise be too costly to observe with traditional monitoring systems.”

The Imote2 Multimedia Board offers a compact, power efficient solution due to its integration of camera, audio and motion detection functionality into one platform. The built-in camera can handle high-quality images with resolutions up to 640x480 pixels and 30 fps, along with audio at sampling rates of up to 48kHz.
Instead of using compute intensive image analysis to detect motion, the IMB400 uses a Passive InfraRed (PIR) sensor to pick up movement, which then activates the camera allowing for its operation as a low power device. These images can subsequently be stored, locally processed and transmitted with accompanying sound.

In addition to the PIR sensor, key subsystems include a color image and video camera chip along with an audio capture and playback CODEC. The board is supported under TinyOS, with future support planned for Linux, SOS and the Microsoft .NET Micro Framework. For more information and to order this exciting new platform, visit Crossbow's site here.

Call for Papers: the 5th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Distributed Computing in Sensor Systems (DCOSS '09)

DCOSS is one of the premier conferences for sensor network research. It is intended to cover several aspects of distributed computing in sensor systems such as high level abstractions and models, systematic design methodologies, signal and information processing, algorithms, analysis and applications. Many of those who will be demonstrating are featured Crossbow customers.

Distributed sensor systems have become a highly active research area due to their potential for providing diverse new capabilities. Such systems allow intelligent dense monitoring of physical environments. The focus of this conference is on distributed computing issues in large-scale networked sensor systems (including algorithms, applications, systematic design techniques and tools, and in-network signal and information processing).

June 7 - 10, 2009, Marina Del Rey, USA                

IMPORTANT DATES
Submission Deadline: 11:59PM EST Jan 25, 2009
Notification: March 24, 2009
Camera Ready: March 31, 2009

Detailed submission guidelines coming soon on http://www.dcoss.org

Authors are invited to submit original unpublished manuscripts that demonstrate current research on computational aspects of distributed sensor systems. Topics of interest include but are not limited to:

• Computation and programming models
• Energy models, minimization, awareness
• Distributed collaborative information processing
• Detection and tracking
• Theoretical performance analysis: complexity, correctness, scalability
• Abstractions for modular design
• Fault tolerance and security
• Languages, operating systems
• Task allocation, reprogramming and reconfiguration
• Dynamic resource management
• Scalable, heterogeneous architectures (node and system-level)
• Middleware interfaces, communication and processing primitives
• Design, simulation and optimization tools for deployment and operation
• Design automation and application synthesis techniques
• Closed-loop control for sensing and actuation
•  Case studies: lessons from real world deployments
• Network coding and compression

The conference will be co-located with several closely related workshops,and will provide a forum for researchers and practitioners to present their contributions related to the above high-level aspects of distributed sensor systems. In addition to contributed papers, the meeting will also include keynote addresses by leading researchers, a panel discussion, and a poster session.

For more information click here.

Interface your OWN sensors to eKo!

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 are looking to use eKo for environmental monitoring and research, urban monitoring, pollution detection, etc., this system is on its way to being the wireless sensor networking solution for any outdoor sensing requirement regardless of sensor type. eKo is fully packaged for the elements, solar-powered and ready to use out-of-the-box. This platform now provides users with a solution that requires little effort for complete customization with the new ESB developer's kit. The first phase of this kit has now been released to all eKo users.

eKo nodes (EN2100) can interface to many different types of sensors. Each of the node’s four sensor ports has a 6-pin connector that programmably interfaces to either analog or digital sensors, and each port has the ability to support two different sensors. Crossbow has created a standard interface (ESB: Environmental Sensor Bus) to communicate with a wide variety of sensors through these ports. 

Phase 1 of Crossbow's ESB developer’s kit allows users to interface their own simple analog sensors that do not require any additional signal or power conditioning to the eKo node. Users will only need to program the self-identification EEPROM and wire the sensors to the connector. The EEPROM embedded in the sensor’s connector is read by the port during power-up, and this information tells the node how to communicate with the sensor and contains parameters such as the required operating voltage and power-up time. After the information is read, the node programmably changes the pins according to the ESB requirements.  To request details on using Phase 1 of the ESB Developer's kit with your eKo system, visit Crossbow's site here.

Phase 2 of this kit release will support simple analog sensors requiring additional signal conditioning and/or power conditioning. These sensors use the external interface circuit between the eKo node and the sensor. The self-identification EEPROM is embedded in the Switchcraft connector.

Phase 3 will provide support for complex digital sensors that require signal conditioning, power boost or intelligent communication. These sensors use an external interface circuit between the eKo node and the sensor. They do not require that the EEPROM is embedded in the cable as the self-identification information is contained in the microprocessor. 

As an example of interfacing a simple sensor to eKo, Crossbow has recently integrated the MaxBotix MaxSonar range finder along with an air temperature sensor on the same connector.  The MaxSonar is an accurate, very low cost, ultra-sonic range finder that can run directly from the eKo battery supply at very low current. Also, of interest is to measure the ambient air temperature at the same time. Both of these sensors can be wired to a single eKo port connector.

The entire assembly can easily be mounted in PVC pipe fixtures for outdoor deployment. Once the two sensors are wired a Dallas DS2431 1Wire EEPROM is mounted into the sensor Switchcraft connector. Finally the EEPROM is programmed with the self-identification information. This is done using a programming board and PC program from Dallas Semiconductor. A mating Switchcraft connector is wired to the board to allow the sensor cable to be attached directly and the EEPROM then programmed.

The simplicity of integrating unique sensors with eKo, a fully packaged ready-to-use outdoor wireless monitoring device, enables users to deploy wireless sensor networks quickly, easily and effectively in a way they never have before. To request details on Phase 1 of the ESB Developer's kit, visit Crossbow's site here.

The State of Wireless Sensor Networks

The continuous size and cost reduction of electronic devices is gradually making the vision of ubiquitous wireless sensors networks a reality. After almost a decade of extensive research, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are in the midst of the transition towards industrial deployment in various application domains such as automotive, environmental monitoring, health care, energy management, and building and industrial automation. BAIA presents a panel of outstanding experts from the academia and the industry who have played an essential role in the history and development of WSNs, including Crossbow's President/CEO, Mike Horton.

BAIA has organized an outstanding panel that will explore the state of wireless sensor networks on the evening of October 8th at UC Berkeley. Panelists include:

• Prof. David Culler, UC Berkeley, CTO and Co-Founder Arch Rock
• Mike Horton, CEO and Co-Founder Crossbow
• Prof. Raju Pandey, UC Davis, CTO and Co-Founder Synapsense
• Prof. Kris Pister, UC Berkeley, CTO and Co-Founder Dust Networks
• Dr. Joe Polastre, CTO and Co-Founder Sentilla
• Prof. Alberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli, UC Berkeley, CTA and Co-Founder Cadence Design Systems

Questions addressed will include:

- What applications will drive the mass deployment of WSNs both in the short and in the long term?
- What players will be most successful in the WSN domain and what business model will they adopt?
- What are the main barriers before wide adoption of WSNs?
- When will the deployment of WSNs happen in large volumes?

The event is free, but limited to 100 attendees. Learn more and register here.