Beep Beep - Mote Runner has arrived!

Mote Runner is a run-time environment for mote-class wireless sensor networks (WSN) designed by IBM’s Zürich Research Laboratory. It consists of an on-mote run-time platform based on a virtual machine introducing its own byte-code language, tools (e.g., converter, assembler) to develop mote applications in Java and C# including plug-in integration with Eclipse (for Java) and Visual Studio (for C#), a mote and network simulation environment to facilitate application development, and a Web-based deployment and monitoring framework.

The IBM Mote Runner run-time environment for WSNs, currently under development, tackles these challenges in a holistic manner. Thus, at its core, Mote Runner provides a high-level, language-friendly, resource-efficient and high-performance virtual machine that shields portable applications from hardware specifics.

Currently, IBM Mote Runner runs exclusively on Crossbow's IRIS Mote platform. The IRIS mote comprises of an Atmel ATmega1281 processor, an Atmel RF230 radio controller for 2.4 GHz communication in accordance with to IEEE 802.15.4, 128 KB of program flash memory, and 8 KB of RAM. Crossbow offers various sensor boards for the IRIS platform, of which Mote Runner currently supports the MTS420 partially, namely its dual-axis accelerometer and the relative humidity / temperature sensor.

The platform supports software development in C# and Java, albeit it only supports a subset with limited functionality. For instance, it supports no threads. Nevertheless, the software environment can be configured dynamically and be reconfigured in the field. And the virtual machine makes sure applications can be moved to motes with different hardware. The development team hitherto worked in stealth mode. But the platform will be available "in the near future", Kramp asserted.

The core requirements to reap the promised benefits of a fully business-process-integrated infrastructure for deploying large numbers of sensors and actuators are security and end-to-end optimizations for such systems. This requires a well-designed ecosystem comprising inexpensive devices, as well as simple and bullet-proof device programmability for easy integration and use by specialists of the application domain, not of the device technology.

The IBM Mote Runner system addresses these challenges with a high-performance, low-footprint, standards-based software middleware platform comprising a hardware-agnostic and language-independent virtual machine together with development and integration tooling to easily create and manage applications for open sensor and actuator networks.

For more details on MoteRunner, visit the project site here.

eKo System Wins Best New Product of the Year at 6th Annual International Business Awards

Crossbow's eKo™ product line was awarded the top honor of Best New Product of the Year -Manufacturing in the 2009 International Business Awards. The International Business Awards are the only global, all-encompassing business awards program honoring great performances in business.

Crossbow’s eKo system outshone others in the category as the concept, reality and benefits of the solution reflected the viability and need for high technology in the green industry. eKo™ brings the reality of the smart environment to farmers and environmentalists alike and is the tool that has initiated greater insight into environmental research, crop monitoring, smart water grids, conservation, water quality, pollution detection, etc. The small ruggedized system employs a mesh network of wireless sensors easily deployed to gather essential knowledge and vital live data via a standard internet browser.

Recipients of an International Stevie Award were selected from more than 1,700 entries received from organizations and individuals in more than 30 countries. Members of the Awards' Board of Distinguished Judges & Advisors and their staffs selected International Stevie winners from among the Finalists, which were determined by volunteer judges around the world during two months of preliminary judging. A complete list of honorees and other details are available here.

eKo System Enhanced with Weather Station Sensor Suite

Crossbow Technology Releases Vital Environmental Data Package for eKo node

San Jose, Calif.-- Crossbow Technology, Inc. (www.xbow.com), a leading supplier of wireless sensor technology and cutting-edge environmental monitoring solutions, announced today the release of the new ES2000 Weather Station Sensor Suite. Designed to interface with the revolutionary eKo system, the addition of this sensor suite provides growers with access to vital information regarding the conditions affecting their environment.

The ES2000 weather sensor suite allows users to not only monitor real-time conditions, but predict weather patterns that may affect their crops. This solar powered solution provides an integrated sensor suite including a rain collector, temperature/humidity sensors, anemometer providing wind speed and wind direction, solar radiation and barometric pressure.

“Combining the data gained from our Weather Sensor Suite and the eKo system’s fundamental features provides growers with easy access to information related to irrigation control, frost protection, evapotranspiration, and plant disease conditions,” said Russ Heilig, Vice President of Business Development at Davis Instruments who collaborated with Crossbow on the development and integration of the Weather Station Sensor Suite. “The solar powered eKo node has enhanced the wireless telemetry potential of the standard weather station permitting growers to access data from remote locations within their field from anywhere in the world.”

Using only a single port on the eKo Node, users can maximize their sensor data collection by adding additional sensors such as soil moisture, leaf wetness, etc. to gain greater knowledge about their environment’s conditions. The eKo system provides users with the ability to collect data from multiple points through their entire site providing a micro level of detail regarding various critical parameters instead of relying on information from a single point.

“Water is today’s critical issue. Having the ability to measure ET (evapotranspiration) with the ES2000, collect soil moisture data and understand the soil’s water content through a single system like the eKo Pro Series allows users to make intelligent decisions about their water and how it should be distributed,” stated Lowell Zelinski, renowned vineyard consultant and owner of Precision Ag, Crossbow’s premier distributor in Paso Robles, CA. Zelinski continued, “Having access to this type of data removes some of the guesswork related to irrigation management and frost protection. Growers are able to combine data from their weather station and other sensors, track the historical data and make informed predictions about emerging conditions.”

Pricing and Availability

The eKo Pro Series System and related sensors including the new ES2000 is priced competitively. The system is immediately available for purchase from select distributors and online directly at www.xbow.com with the ES2000 pre-release available in late fall. Sales inquiries may be directed to eKo.sales@xbow.com.

Landslide Detection for Mountainous Regions

The Times of India reported today on a wireless sensor solution developed by students of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University for landslide detection. This development effort used Crossbow's MICAz Mote platform and was done in collaboration with the European commission and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). This pilot deployment of India's first landslide detection system with wireless sensor networks was put in place at Munnar, Idukki, Kerala, India. This implementation brought together scientists from diverse fields such as geology and geophysics, mechanical,computer, electrical, electronics, and communication engineering to save human lives, preserve the environment, and mitigate property damage.

The devastation and loss of life caused by landslides affects hundreds of people every year around the world. Amrita University's rainfall induced landslide detection system uses a heterogeneous network that included wireless sensor networks in combination with Wi-Fi and satellite technology. The pilot site chosen for this study is highly prone to landslides due to systemic monsoon induced rainfalls in the region.

"Landslides occur frequently in mountainous terrains, especially during monsoons but detecting them in advance is not an easy task,'' says Dr P Venkat Rangan, vice chancellor, Amrita university. An expert in wireless communication, Rangan led a team of students in developing the model that has become operational in Munnar town in the Idukki district of Kerala.

This breakthrough technological system was developed as part of the research project WINSOC (Wireless Sensor Network with Self-Organisation Capabilities for Critical and Emergency Applications). Wireless panels with sensor nodes to read different soil parameters such as moisture, vibration and movement were embedded 15 metres beneath the earth at different points, says Maneesha Ramesh, a faculty member, who was part of the project.

The actual deployment site in the Idukki district built on the existing setup at Munnar as it provided the infrastructure needed for retrieving geological and hydrological data from the field as it was necessary for the data to be transmitted a long distance for further analysis. The data received from the geophysical sensors were transmitted through the wireless sensor network which used a two layer hierarchical topology.

The sensors were attached to a wireless transmission device, in this case Crossbow's MICAz Mote platform, which would then convert the analog value into a digital value and send the inputs to the base stations, which were connected to Amrita mutt's Kollam campus. "Experts will be monitoring the inputs from the base stations in real time and any unusual behaviour or extreme value will trigger an alarm,'' says Dr Rangan.

Multiple sets of geophysical sensors are located in a distributed manner inside a column, referred to as the 'sensor column'. The sensor columns are approximately 5 -6 meters long and are buried deep inside the earth and the data from them are retrieved using lower layer wireless sensor nodes attached to the sensor columns.

The lower layer wireless sensor nodes were wirelessly connected to a hierarchy of upper level wireless nodes that would forward the data on to a Gateway. The data was then sent via a directional Wi-Fi link to a Field Data Management Center (FMC). The data was then forwarded over a satellite link to the Data Management Center (DMC) which has sophisticated landslide data processing and modeling capability, located at Amrita University, Amritapuri campus which is situated approximately 252 kilometers away from the deployment field.

The fully tested model has become operational in Munnar. The system can be deployed in any part of the country prone to landslides and snow avalanches. The application could also be put to industrial use for the study of gas leakages or in conservation of forests by early identification of forest fires during summer.

As part of this project, representatives from various European partners like University of Rome, Selex Communications, Intracom Telecom, Czech Centre for Science and Technology arrived at the Amrita University to learn about the first-ever wireless sensor network system for landslide detection. The Amrita wireless sensor network system for landslide detection has been developed as part of WINSOC which is co-funded by INFSO DG of European Commission.

Crossbow AHRS featured on AeroTV

Advancements in AHRS technology were featured today on AeroTV. An interview with Mike Smith, Crossbow's OEM Account Manager of Inertial Systems, provided viewers with some insight and explanation regarding the solid-state technology of the popular AHRS (Attitude and Heading Reference Systems) that are dominating the General Aviation market.

Tue, 09 June 2009.

Such Innovative Technologies Have Become Commonplace In GA

You know that they're there -- but you rarely see them -- the tiny little boxes that provide the physical guidance for today's ingenious generation of glass panel cockpits. Solid-state by design and bereft of the hundreds of moving parts once associated with gyros and their support systems, the modern AHRS is a dependable, and superior replacement for the vacuum pumps and gyros of old.

Known by a variety of similar names, the modern AHRS is an all-electronic Attitude and Heading Reference System that combines the functions of a Vertical Gyro and a Directional Gyro to provide measurement of Roll, Pitch, and Heading (Azimuth) angles. Aero-TV took a little time at the recent 2009 AEA Convention to get an AHRS education from one of the leaders in the field... Crossbow Technologies.

Founded in 1995, Crossbow pioneered the use of Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) Inertial System technology in a wide variety of airborne, land and marine applications. Crossbow first introduced FAA-certified MEMS-based Attitude and Heading Reference Systems (AHRS) to General Aviation on the FAA Capstone program, and the company continues to be at the forefront of AHRS and Inertial Systems development.

With corporate headquarters in San Jose, CA, and Asian offices in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan, Crossbow has distributors in 24 countries worldwide. Crossbow is ISO 9001/2000 certified, holds several FAA TSO approvals, and operates an FAA MIDO approved facility.

Aero-TV: 21st Century Attitudes - AHRS Technology Explained

Special Presentation at Sensors Expo

On June 8th at 9AM, attendees at the Sensors Expo in Chicago, IL, will have the opportunity to hear from Crossbow's Dr. Ralph Kling. Dr. Kling will be be giving a talk entitled Rich Data Types for Sensor Networks. If you are in the Chicago area or will be attending the 2009 Sensors Expo, be sure to hear Dr. Kling's presentation on the current state of sensor networking technology and how advancements in local data processing, sensor data fusion and the conversion of data to meaningful information is expanding the horizon for how and where WSNs may be deployed.

Dr. Ralph Kling is currently the Chief Architect of the Wireless Business Unit at Crossbow Technology. Dr. Kling is leading the Wireless engineering team at Crossbow and is responsible for new product strategies, technical directions and Standards activities.

For more information on the Sensors Expo, click here.
For more information on Crossbow's wireless sensor network products, click here.

Details regarding Dr. Kling's presentation will be posted in the next week.

Ways to Save Water

Crossbow's eKo system was prominently featured in the Press Democrat this week. The article highlights the importance of irrigation management and water conservation as well as the use of stress irrigation to grow higher quality grapes. Several systems were installed in Napa's Alexander Valley to highlight the benefits of using water monitoring systems. Crossbow's eKo system was one of these solutions.

To view the entire article, click here.

Six different irrigation systems are being installed side by side in an Alexander Valley vineyard in a demonstration of water conservation.

“We are looking at deep irrigation versus shallow, night versus day, one emitter per vine versus two,” said Mark Greenspan of Advanced Viticulture of Santa Rosa, a grower’s consulting firm.

The concept is to reduce water use by 10 to 20 percent, a conservation goal that is increasingly important this year as the North Coast suffers through another drier-than-normal year.

“I think it’s very valuable, potentially,” said Nick Frey, president of the Sonoma County Wine Grape Commission. “People change farming practices when they are convinced they can do it and it is not risky. If you can show that they can reduce water and produce a good grape crop, it is very valuable.”

The project at Hoot Owl Creek Vineyard is being financed by the Sonoma County Water Agency. The agency this year is under a proposed state order to reduce summertime flows in the Russian River and cut the amount of water it takes from the river by 25 percent to conserve water in Lake Mendocino for the fall salmon run. The state Water Resources Control Board is also proposing that conservation goals of 50 percent be set for Mendocino County and 25 percent for Sonoma County, and irrigating commercial turf be banned.

Grape growers farm about 60,000 acres in Mendocino County and in Alexander and Russian River valleys in Sonoma County. They use a third of the water in the Russian River watershed, according to water agency officials.

Greenspan believes that growers routinely over-irrigate vineyards, irrigating once a week for eight hours, using about eight gallons per vine. But that water goes too deep, soaking the soil past the root system. Roots go down as much as three feet in the soils that are common in the Russian River watershed, Greenspan said.

“You will lose a lot of water below the root system,” Greenspan said. “We want to stress the vines to produce good grapes, but not over-stress. We want less water and more often.”

Greenspan said his irrigation method has been used in a Beaulieu Vineyard ranch in Napa County for the past year, and saves 10 to 20 percent in water use. At Hoot Owl Creek Vineyard, the different irrigating systems are being installed on a half-acre plot of eight-year-old cabernet sauvignon vines. Moisture and temperature sensors will be used to monitor the soil and grapes in real time. The measurements will be sent by solar-powered transmitters from the vineyard to an Internet site, where they will be available for anyone to see.

By BOB NORBERG

To truly understand the return on investment (ROI) growers can expect to receive from using a water system management tool like the eKo platform, growers can use the eKo ROI calculator to determine how much they would need to spend to outfit their vineyard with the eKo solution and the time period during which their payback would be realized. For more information on the eKo system, visit Crossbow's site. To input your data and determine your return on investment click on the calculator below:

 

Derby Days

This past Saturday, May 2nd, the 135th running of the Kentucky Derby took place at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. In an improbable ending, Jockey Calvin Borel rode Mine That Bird - a 50-1 longshot - to a huge victory, coming from dead last to win by 6 3/4 lengths. The Kentucky Derby is often billed as "the most exciting two minutes in sports", and Borel and Mine That Bird did their best to live up to that standard. 

The power and force exerted by these animals in those 2 minutes is amazing! A robotic hoof mechanism was shown at the derby. The image below shows the device clad with an aluminum shoe. The mechanism simulates the force, angle and impact of a racehorse hoof, and makes measurements to help detect trouble spots on tracks. Professor Mick Peterson demonstrated the machine while testing the racing surface at Churchill Downs on Saturday, April 25th, the week before the race.

The device used one of Crossbow's accelerometers to collect the data necessary to make these measurements. These accelerometers provide superior performance in small packages. With expertise in MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) and DSP (Digital Signal Processing) technology, Crossbow accelerometers deliver reliable, cost-effective solutions across a wide range of applications. Several different accelerometers are offered, each optimized to meet customer needs in targeted fields.

Prof. Mick Peterson's research at University of Maine on Animal Biomechanics takes engineering technology and applies it to real life situations. Creating the robotic hoof allows owners the comfort of knowing that the track is safe for the horses to race on, offers them a playing field to encourage optimal performance and provides a fair and consistent racing surface to all riders. The device allows owners to understand the exercise impact of various tracks on the bone density of the horses, and the modeling done by the machine suggests that the device measures soil properties more than 1 foot beneath the track's surface. For more information on this research visit Professor Peterson's site here and for details on Crossbow's accelerometers, click here.

Congratulations to Kentucky Derby Winner Mine Than Bird and Borel for an amazing win!

IMB400 Imote2 MultiMedia Board Wins EG3 Editor's Tech Choice Award

Crossbow's IMB400 Imote2 MultiMedia board has been chosen as the recipient of the EG3 Editor's Tech Choice Award for Winter 2009! The platform is now in the running for the Readers Choice Award! The eg3 Tech Choice awards are the newest and one of the largest "reader's choice" awards in the embedded and electronic design industries. The awards commend new products that take promising technologies and provide practical ways that design engineers and programmers can turn these technologies into real designs, today.

To participate and vote for the IMB400 in the Reader's Choice Awards, please visit the eg3 site here and take their survey to vote for your choice in the different product categories. Crossbow's Imote2 Multimedia Board (IMB400), an integrated camera sensor board, is up for the 'Best Wireless Product' Reader's Choice Award. The IMB400 is innovative in the way it simplifies the capture of rich media content for wireless sensor network applications. Building on the popular Imote2 advanced wireless sensor platform, the IMB400 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.. For more information on the IMB400 Imote2 Multimedia board and to purchase this platform, visit Crossbow's site here.

eg3.com is the oldest and largest web resource devoted to electronic design, with a focus on embedded systems, real-time computing (RTC), and digital signal processing (DSP). Founded in late 1994, eg3.com indexes free and non-commercial design information on the net, summarizes the over 800 vendor companies that make up this marketplace, and organizes the content of major chip companies and third party vendors into a searchable "design tool" for embedded engineers and designers.

eKo Environmental System Enables Plant Disease Prediction

San Jose, CA – January 28, 2009 – Crossbow Technology’s eKo Wireless Crop Monitoring System now enables users of the breakthrough solution to quickly and easily predict disease conditions surrounding their crops to prevent potential outbreaks. Crossbow Technology, Inc., a leading supplier of wireless sensor technology and inertial MEMS sensors for navigation and control, announced today it has integrated plant disease and agricultural models that will let users calculate Powdery Mildew and Downy Mildew at the touch of a button.

The live data from the eKo Nodes provides growers with better insight into their crop’s health so that informed decisions about when and where to spray pesticides can be made preventing unnecessary chemical usage. The ability to monitor multiple points within the field or vineyard provides a granular level of knowledge regarding the various microclimates and zones. This targeted data of the varying crop conditions in a single location will reduce chemical usage and maximize resources so that users maintain healthier, higher quality crops.

Using models developed by specialists at the University of California, Davis, such as the Powdery Mildew Index and industry leading models such as the Mills Table, growers can view the instant analysis of their live sensor data to determine how leaf wetness, soil moisture, solar radiation, etc. are affecting the health and vigor of their crop. As the susceptibility of the various plant parts change throughout the season, this knowledge is vital to prevent infection.

“Integrating Davis sensors such as solar radiation and temperature with Crossbow’s eKo system provides users with a simple solution to include weather monitoring data in their decisions,” adds Russ Helig, VP of Business Development at Davis Instruments. “By making our sensors part of the eKo network, users can automatically interpret the sensor data collected to monitor diseases such as Downy Mildew without having to create their own algorithms.”

This disease prediction capability is a new feature integrated into the eKo system and eKoView visualization tool. By using a simple internet browser users can access and view their data in real-time from anywhere in the world.  The seamless integration of 3rd party sensors allow the eKo system to provides growers with information on how to manage their water resources to enable conservation, collect information regarding temperature and humidity to monitor for frost and calculate Chill Hours or Heat Degree Days while having a micro level of detail about their crop’s health.    

The relatively low per node cost of the eKo Pro Series compared to other alternatives offers a quick, cost-effective way to deploy more sensors across varying terrain and microclimates within a vineyard to achieve broader monitoring coverage without incurring other monthly or incremental fees. Current eKo system users can easily download and upgrade their system to take advantage of these new disease prediction models at no additional charge.

The ēKo Pro Series Starter Kit is priced competitively and is immediately available for purchase from select distributors and online. Sales inquiries may be directed to eKo.sales@xbow.com.