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Monitoring
Wearable wireless health sensor for remote bio-monitoring
By Rick Martin
17:07 February 2, 2010 PST
With it's rapidly aging population, few countries stand to gain as much from developments in the remote monitoring of bio-signals as Japan. As a culture that reveres the elderly it's likely that the Japanese will be one of the countries leading the charge in the growing field of bio-signal telemetry. Just one example is the HRS-I, or the human recorder system, that gathers health-related information and transmits it wirelessly to a mobile phone or PC. Read More
WiNRADiO PFSL-G3 field strength logger now with TETRA protocol
By Ben Coxworth
01:03 January 22, 2010 PST
Whether you’re tracking a moose, trying to locate a sinking ship, or conducting a little spying, you’re going to be using a field strength logger. One of the slickest units currently available is the WiNRADiO PFSL-G3 Portable Field Strength Logging and Surveillance System. Whereas such systems used to consist of several pieces of equipment, the PFSL-G3 is all contained in one portable, compact, rugged unit. It also now comes with an optional TETRA control protocol decoder, allowing users to prioritize signal traffic by importance. Read More
Insite Programmable Global Alert and Monitoring System (PGAMS) - monitoring for the masses
By Ben Coxworth
17:39 January 19, 2010 PST
What do a fish farmer, a transport company owner and an oil-well foreman all have in common? Two things. For one, they all constantly need to know about certain data, be it water quality, truck locations or pump pressure. For two, they all will love the new Insite Programmable Global Alert and Monitoring System. The system can be set up to monitor pretty much anything, then send text updates and alerts to the users’ cell phone. Read More
Intel takes Home Energy Management to a whole new level
By Mick Webb
21:36 January 9, 2010 PST
With home energy consumption and ways to reduce and manage it becoming an increasingly important issue, Intel has at this weeks CES shown its Intelligent Home Energy Management concept. Taking the form of a Wi-Fi enabled 11.5” touchscreen dashboard, the wall mounted system enables users to not only track their household’s monthly energy usage, but offers a host of other features like leaving video memos for other family members and a “goodbye” switch that instantly configures all appliances to their least consumptive setting – as well as reminding the user if they have left the stove on. Read More
Researchers show off tiny piezoelectric energy capture sensor
By Paul Ridden
19:21 January 7, 2010 PST
Working within the Holst Centre program on Micropower Generation and Storage, researchers have developed a small piezoelectric device capable of harvesting 85 microwatts of electricity from vibrations. Fabricated using MEMS technology, the fully autonomous temperature sensor generates enough power to wirelessly measure and transmit environmental data to a base station every 15 seconds. Read More
Long awaited satellite to monitor water cycle reaches orbit
By Darren Quick
22:43 November 5, 2009 PST
The 658kg (1,450 lb) Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) this week is the first ever satellite designed both to map sea surface salinity and to monitor soil moisture on a global scale. The unique radiometer it carries will enable passive surveying of the water cycle between oceans, the atmosphere and land thereby playing a key role in the monitoring of global climate change. Read More
More robotic fish spawned to monitor water quality
By Darren Quick
23:32 November 4, 2009 PST
Although fish numbers are in decline in oceans all around the globe, the same can’t be said for their robotic brethren. Like the “Robotuna” from MIT and the robots developed by a team at the University of Essex, the latest robotic fish from Michigan State University also take inspiration from nature. The aim is to give researchers more precise data on aquatic conditions and provide a deeper understanding of critical water supplies and habitats... and hopefully help improve the outlook for fish of the biological variety. Read More
'Hyperspectral Remote Sensor' senses disasters from space
By Darren Quick
23:59 October 25, 2009 PDT
Combining sophisticated sensors in orbit with sensors on the ground and in the air has led researchers at Tel Aviv University (TAU) to create a “Hyperspectral Remote Sensor” (HRS) that can give advance warnings about water contamination after a forest fire, alert authorities of a pollution spill long before a red flag is raised on Earth, or inform the population where a monsoon will strike. Read More
Tag it: real-time location monitoring with the T301W Wi-Fi tag from Ekahau
By Paul Ridden
18:15 October 19, 2009 PDT
If you need to keep track of customers, workers or even your kids, but don't fancy the idea of implanting a chip, then the familiar form offered by Ekahau's T301W may be of interest. The unobtrusive watch-like wristband tag enables real-time location monitoring over a Wi-Fi network. It's accurate to within a few feet, allows for simple two-way communication and, being waterproof, can be safely disinfected for re-use. Read More
Breathing easier could be as simple as crossing the street
By Darren Quick
20:01 October 7, 2009 PDT
Low emission vehicles, such as the Toyota Prius, promise to dramatically cut levels of noxious fumes on city streets. But, until such vehicles start to dominate the roads, people still have to cope with what spews forth from the tailpipes of their fossil fuel-powered cousins. However, researchers have recently found that pedestrians may be able to reduce the amount of traffic pollution they breathe in simply by crossing the street. Read More
La Montre Verte: people-based environment monitoring
By Paul Ridden
14:43 October 6, 2009 PDT
A wrist-bound sensor that gathers information about pollution as the wearer walks about town was a surprise hit with visitors at a conservation festival in Amsterdam last month. La Montre Verte (The Green Watch) follows the example of similar projects in London, New York and San Francisco and puts ozone and noise pollution detection in, or rather on, the hands of citizens. Read More
Smart Grid City now online
By Paul Ridden
16:18 September 16, 2009 PDT
Boulder, Colorado has just become the world's first city to benefit from an intelligent power supply monitoring system. The Smart Grid City system aims to make outages easier to predict and/or prevent, manage power flow throughout the infrastructure and give customers greater access to energy information and more control over how much they use. Xcel Energy constantly monitors the grid network for any irregularities, allowing the company to fix problems before they happen. Read More
Wireless pacemaker talks to cardiac specialist via Internet
23:53 August 19, 2009 PDT
The world’s very first fully implanted pacemaker, in 1958, lasted three hours before the batteries failed. It was replaced by one that lasted two days. Ultimately, Arne Larsson – surgical guinea pig – went on to receive 26 different pacemakers over the next 43 years. Now, a New York woman has become the first person in the world to receive a pacemaker that allows completely wireless monitoring, transmitting clinical data to her doctor each day via the Internet. And, if anything ever goes wrong, the doctor is alerted instantly. Read More
Mr Stiffy
- February 9, 2010 @ 06:26 UTC
