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New Chips Enable 2.4 GHz Sensor Networks
mindless4210 writes "Oki announced today that the world's first fully compliant IEEE 802.15.4 and ZigBee chip has been developed. The technology promises to start a new generation of wireless sensor networks, utilizing the unlicensed 2.4 GHz spectrum. The new IC integrates the digital circuit-based MAC and PHY with the analog circuit-based RF onto a single chip. The company also developed a kit which enables fast production of sensor networks which could control air conditioning, lighting, fire alarm systems, and many other applications. The low power consumption of the chip enables multi-year operation with only dry-cell batteries."
The company also developed a kit which enables fast production of sensor networks which could control air conditioning, lighting, fire alarm systems, and many other applications. The low power consumption of the chip enables multi-year operation with only dry-cell batteries."
We have a motion sensor based security system here at home, and it goes off once a month when a spider finds its way into the body of the sensor. I'll stick with light switches thank you.
You'll have that sometimes...
In one way I'm scared for how this could be used to trample privacy rights, or abused in myriad ways. On the other hand, the implications for my home media, climate control, and the like is certainly enticing....
I guess it's just a matter of who makes it, and what it's made/marketed for....
Only the purest of souls seek enlightenment. Everyone else just wants power.
Whats really running thorugh people's minds is "does this mean that i'll have to upgrade my card if they upgrade their routers to continue stealing my internet from my neighbors?"
What a nightmare that was. That crap only worked about 50% of the time... until my neighbor used their cordless phone, or my microwave ran, etc. etc. The ISP was continually tracking down sources of interferance, and installing new filters, amplifiers, etc.
I've now moved to a provider that uses (motorolla) equipment that runs in the 5GHz range. This stuff seems to work flawlessly.
Lots of companies have single-chip-2.4Ghz radio ICs. Like nvlsi.no or ChipCon. And NVLSI is better by a mile - quite literally a single chip 2.4GHz radio - make a sensor network in a few weeks .... if you find someone to help you solder the QFN pkg (goddamn SMD pkgs).Perhaps they bundle the ZigBee protocol within the IC ??
I'm glad my WiFi network is 802.11a. If this goes into wide use there's going to be so much noise in 2.4Ghz that 2.4Ghz wireless is going to be really hard to continue using. (Heck, it already is)
As to the techno-babble, most 802.11a/b/g cards require a separate chip for the MAC (which handles the 802.11 level 2 protocol -- some chipsets do most of this on the host), the PHY (which handles the digital signal processing) and the RF section (which is black magic). Putting them all on one chip allows for smaller and hopefully less power-hungry devices.
Why can't we just have story moderation? Editors would simply approve/disprove stories for voting, obvious crap would get dumped, anything mildly interesting would get posted to the moderation page. logged in users would then have the opportunity to look through all the stories submitted (minus the total crap) if they wanted. People who only want to see the best would simply choose to only view the top X% of stories of the last X# of hours. It's not really that different than moderation and it'd be easy to implement.
I'd imagine some editors might not like it because it would reduce their ego, but it would make for a much better slashdot.
I can count to 1023 on my hands. Ask me about #132.
I've been waiting for ZigBee hardware from Motorola for quite a while now. Several months ago, their web site proudly proclaimed that their HCS08 series chips would support ZigBee. I'm now using HCS08 chips, but all mention of ZigBee has since vanished from the product page.
Makes me wonder if there's some not-quite-working ZigBee RF hardware on the chip...
2.4ghz my nuts!
I've consulted the company and they have assured me that you will indeed be able to have 2.4ghz on your nuts with this chip.
-Jamon
I can count to 1023 on my hands. Ask me about #132.
That's called Kuro5hin.
LOAD "SIG",8,1
The new chip has several key bennefits, which include the use of synchronous serial interface when connecting to a host CPU, low-power consumption enabling long time operation with dry-cell batteries, and a 0.22 micron low-leakage process. The package is quite small at only 7x7(mm).
Just me or does this seem like the perfect chip for a subdermal implant. Seriosly, stick one of these babys next to a pacemaker and you can control your heartrate via the TCP/IP or encrypt the signal and have law enforcments firearms disable themselves in the hands of criminals (ala Judge Dredd ) Coupled with a proper set of sensors soldiers vital stats could be relayed to a central command unit without bulk transmiters, or just one transmitter ( Aliens (1986)
Maybe I shouldn't watch so many movies.
"It's all just meme meme around here"
Just what we need, more usage of the 2.4GHz spectrum, as if its not used enough. We need more unlicenced spectrum set aside for the ever increasing amount of wireless devices. 2.4 is pretty much saturated in most populated areas.
Now I can have fun remotely controlling my neighbor's air conditioner...
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I suggest you check out CocoonTech.com, it's a site dedicated to Home Autmation, Theaters and Security, This article got posted there this morning before it appeared on slashdot ;) Z-wave, which is 'similar' to ZigBee is one of the newer but fast growing protocols in the HA world. There have been many times where manufactures have said they have developped an x-10 killer protocol, but so far ZigBee & Z-wave seem to be ones of the few which might actually become widely accepted (or in some cases is being deployed already). Home Automation for the masses!
Most people in the HA community use 1-wire sensors (you can get a few free samples from the Dallas Maxim site) as they are very cheap. You can interface them with a system using the serial port for a relatively low price too. Check out this thread on CocoonTech.com, it's discussing this technology, and all the interface available: 1-wire thread. As for your lights/appliances, I recommend good quality x10 switches (such as SmartLinc or Lightolier), or you can go with Z-Wave, which is similar to ZigBee, it's wireless, and each switch can act as an RF router to get the signal as far as possible. Pretty cool stuff. My entire house is automated this way, I can even start my car using voice, phone, web, email, you name it (right now it does it when I wake up in the morning). Doesn't have to be expensive either. If you do insist on still going with Ethernet, You would probably want to use a Global Cache device, which can process inputs, control outputs, IR and more all over IP.