March - Incisor.TV

INCISOR
TM
Video enabled
Issue 179
for the
worldwide wireless
warrior
March 2013
FIRST WEIGHTLESS SILICON
FOR M2M MARKET
PLUS
BLUETOOTH PIONEERS SWITCH FOCUS
CAMBRIDGE CONSULTANTS: TWO PROBLEMS – BUT VERY DIFFERENT
WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY INNOVATORS RECOGNISED
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2
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evolution of the wireless market
Well, the previous issue was the ‘Welcome to 2013’ issue, and also launched our 2013 Wireless Roundtable event movie
– that is doing exceptionally well, by the way. With almost 3,000 viewings in less than a month, that is one of our mostwatched/most quickly movies to date.
But there is an undercurrent in the wireless world that is, without doubt, going to impact on the industry as we know it.
What am I talking about? Well, except for minor developments and announcements here and there, the short-range
wireless world is pretty static. Sure, things are going OK – Bluetooth has low energy whose impetus is carrying it along,
Wi-Fi is looking to migrate to higher bandwidths, NFC is working, swan-like, to gain traction, ZigBee is re-organising its
execs. With the exception of the ever-hard working Nordic Semiconductor, there are no real developments. Nothing
exciting. Hardly any PR. The short-range wireless market is mature and business relationships are in place.
Instead, the momentum is switching, and switching to bigger markets. I will tip the nod to ZigBee for having perhaps
first identified the change. ZigBee set out to succeed in the Smart Grid market several years ago, and has achieved
more penetration in this area than any other SRW technology to date. There are apparently 50 million ZigBee-enabled
smart meters out there.
But Smart Grid is only one part of the big market. We transit from Smart Grid, through Smart City, to machine to
machine communications (M2M) and to the Internet of Things. This is where it is all happening. The M2M market is said
to be 10x bigger than cellular, which in itself is 10x the size of the SRW markets. That is Big with a capital B.
Check out the Weightless silicon story in this for further evidence, Then, if you are interested, go across to the
Weightless web site and sign up to be a member - Observer membership is free – and you will receive an Incisor-style
magazine each month (yes, I’m involved!) updating you with developments.
And expect to see more content dealing with M2M in Incisor. It is big, it is real, and it is happening.
Vince Holton
Publisher & editor-in-chief, Incisor / IncisorTV
INCISOR.TV FOCUS THIS MONTH
CONTENTS
TWO PROBLEMS – BUT
VERY DIFFERENT
Fraser Edwards of Cambridge Consultants
looks at the attraction of magnetic
communications.
EDITORIAL CONTACTS
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FIRST WEIGHTLESS SILICON
ARRIVES
Our 2013 roundtable movie, filmed in Las
Vegas in January 2012 is one of our most
watched movies ever.
Neul rides the wave of M2M growth and
launches a single chip solution for
Weightless communications in the white
space spectrum.
WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY
INNOVATORS RECOGNISED
FOLLOW US
Click here
Click here
Click here
Click here
Heads-up displays, sport watches, bodysensing socks – wireless technology is
being attached to many and various parts
of our bodies!
Publisher/Editor-in-chief:
Vince Holton · [email protected]
Telephone: +44 (0)1730 895614
Sales & Business Development:
All enquiries – [email protected]
Telephone: +44 1730 895614
Contributing writers:
Rebecca Russell,
Manek Dubash,
Paul Rasmussen,
Mads Oelholm.
Views expressed within are those of the Incisor
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Nordic and Japanese
partners demonstrate
Bluetooth low energy
modules
Nordic Semiconductor displayed a selection of
demonstrations of 'blank' Bluetooth low energy
modules from Japanese suppliers at Mobile
World Congress 2013. The modules, based on
Nordic's nRF51822 multiprotocol System-onChip (SoC), used fully-compliant Bluetooth low
energy protocol software that was separated
from a blank application stack area ready for
development of the customer's own code.
The modules being demonstrated came from
Japanese ODMs Braveridge Co. Ltd, Fujitsu
Component Limited, and Hosiden Corporation.
Braveridge exhibited the "BVMCN5101_BK",
Fujitsu Component the "MBH7BLZ02-100057",
and Hosiden the "HRM1017". Nordic told
Incisor that other manufacturers are expected to
release similar modules during 2013.
These vendors selected the nRF51822 SoC for
the modules, said Nordic, not only because of
its ultra low power consumption and RF
performance, but also because the RF protocol
software is separated from the developer's own
application code. Nordic claims three
advantages for this design: first the modules are
supplied complete with Nordic's verified and
qualified Bluetooth low energy stack; second,
the clean boundary between application and
protocol stack simplifies development, and
third, the application code can be developed on
the nRF51822 chip's integrated 32-bit ARM
Cortex-M0 based processor.
Commenting at the show, Mitsuo Yamazaki,
Nordic's Regional Sales Manager for Japan
said, "The Bluetooth low energy protocol stack
in the nRF51822-based modules from our
Japanese partners will be shipped as tested
and qualified so the developer can focus solely
on the application code. This is impossible with
competing devices and makes it much easier
for designers to develop Bluetooth Smart-
powered applications for the lucrative market
for 'appcessories' - an accessory wirelessly
paired with an 'app' on a smartphone or tablet
computer. This market is in its infancy, but is
forecast to become huge."
DECT Forum
announces foundation
of the ULE Alliance
The DECT Forum has formally announced the
foundation of the ULE Alliance. The mission of
the Alliance is to establish ULE (Ultra Low
Energy) as the world’s leading control network
eco-system for home and building use. The
ULE network is based on the DECT radio
technology currently in use in hundreds of
millions of products worldwide.
The ULE Alliance is a non-profit organization,
based in Bern, Switzerland, and will promote
the worldwide allocation and market adoption
of ULE technology. The ULE Alliance was spun
out of the DECT Forum, and the founding
(promoter) members of the Alliance are: the
DECT Forum, Dialog Semiconductor, DSP
Group, Gigaset and Vtech.
While ULE can be used for many end
applications where reliable in-house
communication is required, the Alliance will
initially focus on three application segments for
ULE technology: home automation, security and
climate control.
Andreas Zipp, board member of the ULE
Alliance told Incisor, “ULE is the best-of-class
technology which represents the next evolution
in home networking. ULE will revolutionize the
connectivity between home appliances and will
put control in the hand of the end user to
significantly reduce the energy consumption.
We believe that ULE will bring new growth
opportunities in a sizeable market with many
exciting applications.”
As one of its key goals, Zipp said that the ULE
Alliance allows its members to quickly develop
new home automation, security and climate
control products by ensuring interoperability
between the products of different vendors.
The ULE Alliance had one of its first public
airings at the Incisor.TV 2013 Wireless
Roundtable event, which took place in Las Vegas
in January. See Dialog Semiconductor’s Arend
ven der Weijden representing the ULE Alliance in
the Incisor.TV movie by clicking this link.
Utility Smart Grid
spending almost
doubles worldwide
in 2012
According to ABI Research, spending by utilities
transitioning their networks to Smart Grid
capabilities reached $23.68 billion in 2012.
Highlighting the growing momentum behind the
spending, 2012’s total alone represents 48% of
Smart Grid spending to date. During the year,
spending on transmission and distribution
capabilities surpassed smart meter investments
as utilities increasingly looked to improve their
core networks and maximize the benefits of
their growing Advanced Metering Infrastructure
(AMI) deployments.
“Utilities are investing in the rollout of a broad
assortment of new applications and spending is
driving new services from a wide range of
vendors and consultants,” commented
Jonathan Collins, principal analyst at ABI
Research. “The complexity of the new
hardware, applications, and the expansive array
of suppliers vying to deliver services continues
to ensure that systems integrators benefit with a
significant share of the spending.”
Smart grid spending in 2012 was up 47.1%
from $16.10 billion in 2011 as remaining
government stimulus funds were spent in the
United States and utilities around the world
increased their own investments. Even so,
these remain the early years of Smart Grid
investments and spending will continue to grow
over the next five years to reach $80.8 billion
during 2018.
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Wearable computing
devices, like Apple’s
iWatch, will exceed 485
million annual
shipments by 2018
commonly purchase. It may become
universally expected for watches to include
this functionality as feature in the future.
Flood suggested that the capabilities of
smart watches could lead to the device being
used as a wearable remote for home
automation systems. A quick shake of your
wrist to turn off/on room lights would be a
very convenient tool.
Wearable computing devices are projected to
explode in popularity over the next year and
with a wave of new gadgets set to hit the
consumer market, could soon become the
norm for most people within five years. ABI
Research forecasts that the wearable
computing device market will grow to 485
million annual device shipments by 2018.
Freescale shows
microcontroller for
edible products
Currently, sports and activity trackers account
for the largest chunk of wearable
technologies shipped today. Smart activity
trackers are widely available, and the device’s
trendy and stylish appearance makes them
very popular with a broad range of
customers. It is estimated 61% of the 2013
wearable technologies market is attributed to
sport/activity trackers. Smartphone
compatible watches are beginning to emerge,
and rumours have materialized regarding
Apple releasing a smart watch some time this
year. ABI also predicts that we will see the
arrival of the much anticipated, smart glasses
later this year.
Josh Flood, senior analyst at ABI Research
told Incisor, “The furore about wearable
technologies, particularly smart watches and
smart glasses is unsurprising. Both
technologies are very stimulating and some of
the applications for the device are rather
inspiring. Apple’s curved glass-based watch
could prove to be a revelation in the wearable
technologies market. The major question is
whether the digital time piece will act as a
complimentary device to the company’s
iPhone smartphones or as a standalone
product with other functionalities like health
or activity tracking capabilities.”
Additionally, smart watches offer extra usages
for an item most people already own and
As the Internet of Things (IoT) expands to
include greater numbers of small, intelligent,
battery-operated devices, the MCUs that
enable these devices have to become smaller
and smaller. Freescale Semiconductor is
addressing the miniaturization trend with its
new Kinetis KL02 MCU, which the company
claims is the world’s smallest ARM powered
MCU. Freescale is pitching the device at
applications in ultra-small-form-factor
products such as portable consumer devices,
remote sensing nodes, wearable devices and
ingestible healthcare sensing. Yes, that’s right.
Ingestible. Meaning you eat them.
Measuring just 1.9 x 2.0 mm, the Kinetis KL02
MCU is said to be 25 percent smaller than the
industry’s next-smallest ARM MCU. Within
this miniscule device, Freescale has included
the latest 32-bit ARM Cortex-M0+ processor,
low-power functionality and a range of
analogue and communication peripherals.
Richard York, director, Embedded Processor
Products, ARM told Incisor, “The Internet of
Things will soon be a vast and diverse
ecosystem of smart connected devices and
screens that embed intelligence into many
new areas of our lives. This could range from
tiny sensors helping to monitor crops and
deliver irrigation, to microcontrollers that
enable entire buildings to be more energy
efficient. Our mobile devices could be soon
controlling and managing this data and
making our lives easier to manage. The
Kinetis KL02 CSP MCU brings the best ARM
and Freescale technologies to applications at
the very edge of the IoT and opens up
exciting possibilities for a new tier of ultrasmall, smart, power-efficient devices.”
The Kinetis KL02 CSP MCU is expected to
begin sampling to lead customers in March
2013. Broad market availability of productionqualified samples is planned for July 2013.
Will it be all you can eat, at that stage?
Nordic cost-reduces
multiprotocol RF chip
Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF51822 Bluetooth
low energy and proprietary 2.4GHz SoC will
now be available as a lower cost variant that
will offer an identical feature, peripherals, and
performance set but half the Flash memory at
128kB (instead of 256kB) and be based on
the same nRF51 Series technology platform.
Nordic explained that this means it will offer
the same multiprotocol radio and a 32-bit
ARM Cortex-M0 based processor optimized
for ultra low power wireless applications and
deliver -92.5dB RX sensitivity in Bluetooth low
energy mode; up to +4dBm output power in
all modes; up to 9.5dBm improvement in link
budget compared to previous generations of
Nordic chips, and sub-10mA peak currents
running off a 3V coin cell battery for months
or years of battery life (depending on the
application). As with the existing nRF51822,
this new nRF51822 128kB variant will also be
100 percent on air compatible with Nordic's
existing nRF24L series ICs ('integrated
circuits' or 'chips').
This new part will complement Nordic's
existing nRF51822 (256kB) Flash SoC by
targeting the most price sensitive ULP
wireless applications that are typically high
volume consumer products such as entrylevel PC mice and keyboards, smartphone
accessories, and toys.
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The Bluetooth® word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by Nordic Semiconductor is under license.
6
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Parrot expands Asteroid
vehicle infotainment
range
Parrot seems to be going places with in-car
connectivity that nobody else has ventured, and
at a rather faster pace. The French company has
launched three new in-car connected solutions for
consumers, has upped the ante with its app store
and has provided a module to allow car
companies to embed its connected systems. The
three in-car systems, which are part of the Parrot
Asteroid development platform of connected
products running on Android, are:
Parrot Asteroid Mini : apps, music and
hands-free telephony
With a 3.2” color screen, the Parrot Asteroid Mini
installs on the vehicle’s dashboard and comes
with a GPS antenna and a wireless remote control
to be attached to the steering wheel.
Connected to the Internet via 3G, 4G key or a
tethering mobile phone connected by Bluetooth
or USB, Parrot Asteroid Mini accesses the
Asteroid Market in order to download apps and
other services like a simplified GPS system or a
music library. The Asteroid Mini’s MSRP is
UK£249.99
Parrot Asteroid Tablet : apps, GPS, music
and hands-free telephony
The Parrot Asteroid Tablet has a 5” colour
capacitive multi-touch screen with an integrated
GPS antenna. It installs to the vehicle’s dashboard
or windshield using a repositionable foot.
Mimicking a multimedia tablet, Parrot describes
the navigation in the menu as ‘tactile’, and a
wireless remote control also enables functionality
like hands-free telephony, selection of music
source and music search by the voice. In addition
to accessing apps and services via 3G, 4G key or
by tethering a mobile phone or tablet connected
by Bluetooth or USB, the Parrot Asteroid Tablet
can connect to a proximity Wi-Fi network. It is
then possible to download a GPS solution and
other applications from the Asteroid Market. The
tablet’s MSRP is UK£299.99
Parrot Asteroid Smart : apps, navigation,
video, music and hands-free telephony
With its 6.2” colour multi-touch screen, the Parrot
Asteroid Smart is a complete connected
multimedia car head unit. Its 2DIN format fits into
the central column of the dashboard in many
vehicles.
Equipped with a GPS antenna, the Parrot
Asteroid Smart includes a complete onboard
navigation system. Applications adapted to the
size of the screen of the Parrot Asteroid Smart
and to its specific functionalities are
downloadable on the Asteroid Market via 3G, 4G
key, by tethering mobile phone or tablet
connected by Bluetooth or USB or by connection
to a proximity Wi-Fi network. Equipped with
various connectors (6 RCA, 1 video input & 1
video output), the Parrot Asteroid Smart can be
connected to a rear camera. The Asteroid Smart’s
MSRP is UK£499.99
All three products were available from February
2012
To support these products and to provide drivers
and passengers with applications and services
adapted to in-car usage, Parrot has opened an
online store: Asteroid Market.
Accessible from a Parrot Asteroid Mini, Parrot
Asteroid Tablet, Parrot Asteroid Smart and the
Parrot Asteroid Classic (available since May 2011)
connected to the Internet, the Asteroid Market
offers applications developed by Parrot partners.
These are classified by categories (Driving
assistance, Music, Points of interest…), by price
or by number of downloads.
And for car makers and equipment
manufacturers, the Parrot FC6100 module
enables auto manufacturers and equipment
manufacturers to integrate all or part of Parrot
Asteroid functionalities to the new generation of
vehicles as original equipment.
Parrot told Incisor that the fully customizable
Parrot FC6100 module meets the technological
and economic constraints auto manufacturers
and equipment manufacturers face. OEMs can
also develop specific applications to be made
available via their own online apps store using
the Android environment for the car created by
Parrot.
Parrot is providing a ‘Development Guide’
available for free at https://devzone.parrot.com.
Developers can access tutorials, examples and
tools to create their own applications or services
for professionals or individuals, adapted for invehicle use (e.g. driving assistance, navigation,
communication, music, etc.).
Bluetooth SIG
refocuses AHM, now
Bluetooth World
Wireless Conference
The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) is
inviting industry experts, wireless entrepreneurs,
app developers and gadget makers, media and
analysts along with current and prospective
Bluetooth SIG members to Bluetooth World
2013 in Shanghai, China from April 10 to 11.
This event replaces what was known as the All
Hands Meeting, an event that Incisor.TV
attended and filmed on many occasions . The
SIG hopes to bring industry minds to this
wireless conference where participants will see
the latest Bluetooth technology innovations,
market trends, and have the opportunity to
attend detailed technical and implementation
training.
This year’s Bluetooth World Conference will kick
off with a keynote address by technology expert
and author, Robert Scoble. “The new world of
technology is coming as we enter The Age of
Context with cloud-based databases, contextual
SDKs, social data maturation, open APIs and of
course the proliferation of wearable devices and
the always–connected sensor,” said Scoble.
“Wireless technologies, like Bluetooth, will play
an influential role in impacting the connections
and context of the trends were seeing and that
will continue to progress.”
Registration for Bluetooth World 2013 is now
open.
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Rohde & Schwarz
offers 802.11ac signal
generator
Rohde & Schwarz has tailored its midrange measuring instruments to handle
WLAN signals in line with IEEE 802.11ac.
New options extend the baseband of the
R&S SMBV100A vector signal generator
to 160 MHz, with Rohde & Schwarz
claiming that this makes it the only signal
generator to directly support high-speed
modes for WLAN IEEE 802.11ac, and no
external PC is not needed. In the 5 GHz
ISM band, the R&S SMBV100A offers
0.44 % EVM signal performance for 160
MHz signals.
The latest generation of the field-tested
R&S FSV signal and spectrum analyzer
can also be equipped with a
demodulation bandwidth of 160 MHz.
The analyzer can now be used to record
and demodulate a WLAN IEEE 802.11ac
signal in its full bandwidth of up to 160
MHz.
R&S suggests that this makes the
analyzer suitable for cost-conscious R&D
departments as it provides an all-in-one
solution consisting of these two
measuring instruments. The R&S
SMBV100A allows developers to run
receiver tests on individual chipsets,
receivers and terminals. Using the R&S
FSV, developers of components and
modules for IEEE 802.11ac can perform
spectral measurements and modulation
analyses. In addition, manufacturers of
smartphone components benefit from the
flexible Rohde & Schwarz solutions. Both
the R&S SMBV100A and the R&S FSV
cover not only WLAN but also all other
standards such as GSM/EDGE, 3GPP
WCDMA, HSPA, LTE, NFC and Bluetooth.
R&S told Incisor that the new options for
the SMBV100A and the FSV will be
available ‘soon’.
CSR Licenses aptX
Low Latency codec
for Bluetooth wireless
gaming headsets
CSR has announced that Mad Catz
Interactive has signed a multi-year
licensing agreement to use the CSR
aptX Low Latency audio codec,
expected to feature in a new family of
‘GameSmart’ headsets that Mad Catz
plans to introduce in the coming
months. The new headsets are expected
to bridge the gap between the wireless
audio and gaming worlds, enabling
consumers to use one headset to play
action games, listen to their favourite
music or watch movies and videos.
Although standard Bluetooth technology
can be used to stream stereo audio
wirelessly from audio entertainment
devices to headphones, headsets and
speakers, its inherent delay is not
suitable for video or gaming
applications. CSR claims that aptX Low
Latency technology solves this problem
as well as delivering CD-quality audio.
CSR also announced that its µEnergy
platform for Bluetooth v4.0 low energy
connectivity is powering several nextgeneration wireless game controller and
mouse products in the new Mad Catz
GameSmart mobile gaming accessory
product family. Mad Catz is using this
CSR Bluetooth Smart solution to provide
the GameSmart technology powering its
new gaming controllers and mice, which
are designed to meet the high
expectations of gamers wanting
controller and console-like accessory
functionality for their tablets and
mobile/smart devices.
Tethercell wins
Bluetooth
Breakthrough Awards
The Bluetooth Special Interest Group
(SIG) has announced three category
winners and the overall winner for its
inaugural Bluetooth Breakthrough
Awards competition. Category winners
are: Asthmapolis in the Product
Category; Swissmed Mobile in the
Application Category; Tethercell, in the
Prototype Category. From these
category winners, and a total of over
300 award submissions from around the
world, the Bluetooth Smart-enabled
Tethercell battery adaptor was selected
as the Overall Winner. The Bluetooth
Breakthrough Award is an annual
program created by the SIG that
recognizes the best Bluetooth enabled
products and applications on the market
today, as well as innovative prototypes
of products coming soon.
The Bluetooth SIG also selected
Novalia’s Viva La Revolucion printed
electronics musical poster and the
zSmart Mood LED 6-watt colored LED
bulb as honorable mention winners, with
both of these prototypes exemplifying
the connectivity and automation made
possible with Bluetooth Smart
technology.
Nordic Semiconductor, this year’s
Bluetooth Breakthrough Awards title
sponsor, awarded all finalists with
evaluation kits. Each category winner
will receive a free trip to its
headquarters in Norway. The overall
winner will also receive a Bluetooth
protocol analyzer, valued at USD 40,000,
from Ellisys, the preferred technology
partner sponsor.
8
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INCISOR TV
Video presentations
When it comes to assessing what is really
going on in the market, there is no substitute
for seeing products in action and hearing
100% accurate information from the people at
the sharp end. Incisor TV provides that insight.
Click on the links below to watch recent
Incisor TV presentations
2013 Wireless Roundtable
What is Weightless?
Frontline ComProbe NFC Protocol Analyser
Weightless SIG – first plenary meeting
Farewell to Mike Foley
The UK’s first white space city
Strapless continuous
heart rate monitor
uses BLE
The world's first strapless continuous heart
rate monitor for athletes, the MIO ALPHA
sports watch, employs a Nordic
Semiconductor µBlue nRF8001 Bluetooth
low energy connectivity IC ('Integrated
circuit' or 'chip') to communicate live or
stored training data directly from the wrist to
any Bluetooth v4.0 enabled smartphone or
device.
The MIO ALPHA is designed for both serious
amateur and professional athletes and
employs an electro-optical cell with a pair of
optical sensors on the underside of the
watch to track blood flow volume in the wrist
as it pulsates with the rhythm of the heart to
extrapolate heart rate.
In operation, the MIO ALPHA can be used as
a standalone device and includes features
such as workout timers, continuous heart
rate display and audible heart-rate zone
alerts, or in conjunction with smartphone
apps such as MapMyRun, RunKeeper and
Wahoo Fitness.
Ofcom speaks out for white space
Incisor.TV Ultra Low Power Roundtable
CES 2012 – Best Bluetooth of CES
4iiii Innovations shows ANT-based sports and
fitness solution
New industry SIG – Weightless for white space
"Anything that gives consumers more choice
within an established market can only be
good news," added Geir Langeland, Nordic
Semiconductor's Director of Sales &
Marketing. "Strapless heart rate monitoring
is a welcome addition to the sports and
fitness sector and joins a growing list of
monitoring options that can be used
standalone or with a smartphone thanks to
Bluetooth low-energy wireless technology."
Neul whitespace launch event
The MIO ALPHA is on sale in the U.S. now
for $199. International availability will follow
shortly.
Rococo discusses LocalSocial
Bluetooth SIG All Hands, Mike Foley keynote
Bluetooth SIG AHM,
Bluetooth Ecosystem teams
Bluetooth SIG AHM, Board of Directors panel
IncisorTV at CES 2011 – Bluetooth Best of CES
IncisorTV at CES 2011 – Day 2
IncisorTV at CES 2011 – Day 1
Bluetooth High Speed Technology
Frontline – Interoperability testing
Bluetooth SIG BETS programme
Emily Rothwell, VP of Sales and Marketing at
Physical Enterprises Inc., the company
behind the MIO ALPHA told Incisor, "This
technology enables the MIO ALPHA sport
watch to measure a user's heart rate without
an uncomfortable strap at performance
speeds up to 12mph [19km/h], with the same
accuracy as traditional EKG/ECG
[electrocardiogram] based heart-rate straps.
Achieving this level of end-user simplicity
without compromising accuracy compared to
a traditional heart-rate strap wasn't easy. An
onboard motion detector and built-in noise
filtration software developed by consumer
electronics giant Philips compensate for arm
movements and perspiration typical of fast
running and cycling, which can all interfere
with blood flow measurements."
The ultra-low power and RF performance
characteristics of the Nordic Semiconductor
µBlue nRF8001 Bluetooth low energy
connectivity chip enable the MIO ALPHA's
built-in rechargeable lithium ion battery to
offer up to 10 hours of 'live' heart-rate
smartphone-linked monitoring (its most
energy intensive operating mode).
Stollmann announces
new Bluetooth 4.0 Dual
Mode module.
BlueMod+SR is an extremely small
embedded dual mode Bluetooth module
from Stollmann. It supports classic Bluetooth
basic rate (BR) and enhanced data rate
(EDR) operations as well as the new low
energy (LE) standard. For basic rate
operations it offers simple Serial Port Profile
(SPP) connections with full Secure Simple
Pairing. For low energy operations the
module offers a generic GATT interface. In
addition to that it comes with the Terminal IO
profile. Terminal IO allows transparent UART
data and GPIO state transfer in low energy
mode similar to SPP in basic rate mode.
The module is very small (17x10x2.5 mm),
has a wireless range of 100m (in line of sight)
and allows low energy consumption and/or
high data throughput.
Frontline – BPA500 protocol analyser
Aftermarket Bluetooth versus Factory fit
Who needs stress? Says Jabra
EnOcean Alliance –
energy harvesting technology
Aftermarket Bluetooth versus factory fit
Bluetooth 2010 All Hands Meeting
Anoto - 10 years of digital pen and paper
BiteBack Sweden
CES 2010 Daily Show report – Day 1
CES 2010 Daily Show report – Day 1
CES 2010 Daily Show report – Day 1
BiteBack Asia
BiteBack USA
BitBack UK
IncisorTV commercial for CSR/SiRF merger
DECT Forum and CAT-iq in 2009
Bluetooth SIG – Best of CES 2009
WiMedia Alliance – UWB in 2009
Incisor showreel
9
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Two problems – alike
but very different
By Fraser Edwards, Senior Consultant, Wireless Systems
Cambridge Consultants
Fraser Edwards,
Cambridge
Consultants.
With one of the largest independent wireless development teams in the world, Cambridge Consultants
has a pedigree of creating ‘world firsts’ in wireless communications. In this edition of Incisor, we look at
the attraction of magnetic communications.
Short-range wireless comes in many
shapes, sizes, varieties and flavours, and
yet there is always room for more. When a
new application or market need opens up,
building on existing designs and previous
investment is a tempting prospect. If a
development team has a background in a
given area then the fastest, lowest cost,
lowest risk path to get to a new product is
to build on existing knowledge. This
knowledge is nearly always gained through
some considerable investment in people,
time and money. It often represents both a
corporate and a personal investment.
The hardware platforms may be 90% of
what is needed and, in the same vein, the
software can be modified to work without
having to start a development from scratch.
This quickly leads to a temptation to
stretch and modify existing designs into a
shape that almost fits. The results are
sometimes good, sometimes acceptable –
but sometimes just don’t work. Spotting
the potential pitfalls comes, not only
through experience, but also from the
ability to understand and analyse systems
at a fundamental level. Even if we predict
that an evolutionary approach will not work,
we still need to have the imagination and
ability to create a cost-effective solution.
‘Two problems, both alike in difficulty, in
fair Cambridge where we lay our scene’ –
okay, it’s a bit of a stretch from Romeo and
Juliet to short-range wireless but, as with
the two families in this classic tale,
sometimes two problems can be both alike
and very different at the same time.
Consider then the problems of
communication to and from devices
implanted deeply in the human body, and
communication in oil wells and coal mines.
Both of these mediums involve layers of
material with different dielectric properties.
When an electromagnetic (EM) or acoustic
wave moves across a dielectric boundary,
some of the signal is reflected and some of
the signal is transmitted. Even more of the
signal is lost as heat as it moves through
the medium. If there are multiple
boundaries through which the signal
moves, the reflections themselves cause
problems when trying to make sense of the
wanted signal.
Trying to achieve good communications
through the human body or through
strata of rocks is not a new problem.
The EM wave is well understood as
consisting of two parts – an electric part
and a magnetic part – and most
communications systems consider the
electric field as the more important. This
works well for propagation through air
and where there are no dielectric
boundaries. However, propagation
through water or damp earth, for
example, is very poor.
➔
10
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The magnetic part of the wave has
generally been considered as very much
the poor relative in the EM combination –
but in some situations it is actually the
performing star. We are already familiar
with nuclear magnetic imaging and how
the magnetic field easily passes through
the body. For short-range communications
to and from a body implant, this would
appear to be a logical solution. The
existing standards for human implant
communication restrict the power that can
be transmitted – resulting in the range that
can be achieved from an implant inside the
body being limited to a few centimetres. If
the implant is embedded more deeply than
this, then the signal may never exit the
body in any useful measure at all. A
magnetic communication system, on the
other hand, would not suffer the same
problem. Although for a simple loop or coil
antenna the natural decay of magnetic
signal is faster than for the electric field,
the different layers that make up the
human body all have a relative permeability
of approximately unity. Providing a
frequency is chosen that is not affected by
skin depth loss, then the magnetic wave
can pass in and out of the human body
with impunity.
There is a striking similarity in difficulty in
trying to communicate through strata of
rocks – the same issues of reflection and
signal loss apply. We know that planet
Earth is largely non-magnetic other than at
its core, and that the magnetic field
generated in the core happily passes
through most of the Earth’s upper layers.
Traditionally, very low frequency EM waves
have been used for underground
communication. But there remains the
problem of launching a low frequency
wave from a very small form factor
antenna. Better to accept that the antenna
will not launch much of an electric field
and use the magnetic part as the
communication method.
Of course this is not a new idea but what
has changed is the availability of lowpower low-cost technology which can be
used to enhance the performance of the
magnetic method. In oil well
communications, relatively low data rates
are required. Using modern technology we
can trade signal bandwidth for bit rate and
the magnetic method then becomes a
viable proposition for short to mediumrange underground communications.
www.cambridgeconsultants.com/markets/
wireless-communication/
Cambridge
Consultants Blogs
Why are we blogging? We believe that
the technology market is much better
when it is highly connected, and social
media is a fantastic tool that instantly
connects people who face similar
challenges, irrespective of whether they
are budding entrepreneurs running their
first high growth start up company or a
captain of industry in charge of a global
bluechip company. So, if you’d like to
add to the debates, please feel free to
comment on any of our blogs. It would
be great to hear from you.
Patrick Pordage
Marketing
Communications
Director
Cambridge Consultants.
Corporate Blog
Our corporate blog covers new product
development, open innovation,
accelerating start up companies and
other topics that involve using
innovation to achieve market
leadership, along with technology
stories that we hope you will find
interesting/
Consumer Products Blog
Topics include connected devices,
beverage dispensing, eco innovation,
new product introduction (NPI), open
innovation, novel control interfaces and
other topics related to our development
of innovative consumer electronics,
domestic appliances and fast moving
consumer goods.
Wireless Medical Blog
Examining mobilehealth and telehealth
technology ad market challenges, this
blog provides insight from implantable
and hospital communications to
consumer health applications.
Follow us on Twitter:
@CambConsultants
11
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The world’s first Weightless
silicon has arrived
Single-chip silicon enables low-cost, low-power Internet
of Things over white space spectrum
ncisor has been tracking
Weightless technology for TV
white space spectrum for some
time now. Our most recent review was in
our April 2012 issue. Inevitably, there
have been those that doubted the claims
of the Weightless community, after all,
its cost, range and power consumption
stats leave cellular-based M2M solutions
in the dust. And until Weightless could
be seen to be real, the naysayers would
say ‘but it will never happen’. Well,
doubters, you’d better park those
thoughts. Because what is always the
biggest hurdle – or milestone, if you like,
has now been passed.
I
Yes, it’s true – Weightless can no longer be
considered a concept technology! On the
12th of February 2013, the Weightless
Special Interest Group (SIG) announced
that the world’s first transceiver chip using
the Weightless Specification and operating
over TV white space spectrum had been
released by Weightless SIG Promoter
Group member, Neul Ltd. This enables real
development work to commence on the
design of Weightless terminal products and
applications.
The Weightless silicon communicates using
white space radio to access the high
quality UHF spectrum that has become
available through the transition of television
from analogue to more efficient digital
broadcasting. Utilising this license exempt
Click on the movie screen to see a
visualisation of the simple make-up of
a Weightless module.
spectrum, the Weightless wireless network
technology dramatically reduces the costs
associated with running a communications
network.
Neul’s single chip solution, which was
developed by the same engineering team
that brought the world’s first single-chip
Bluetooth device to market, is capable of
tuning across the entire UHF TV white
space spectrum (470 – 790MHz). It draws
very little power while delivering reliable,
secure, long range wireless connectivity to
previously unreachable applications and
Click on the movie screen
to see Neul CEO James
Collier’s assessment.
locations - such as smart metres installed
in basements. In volume, silicon is
realisable for less than USD$2, to enable
a 10+ year battery life from a single
primary cell and to achieve a range of
over 10km.
Professor William Webb, CEO of the
Weightless Special Interest Group told
Incisor, “This is a seminal moment in the
evolution of Weightless technology. For
the first time designers around the world
can begin developing next generation
M2M solutions using Weightless
technology with silicon designed explicitly
to be compatible with the Standard”.
Seeding the Weightless silicon
opportunity
The Weightless SIG includes silicon
vendors amongst its membership and
Incisor understands that discussions are
ongoing with many about the
development of devices expected to
reach the market in due course. Neul will
not be the only supplier of chipsets but
importantly it is now enabling designers
to kick start their Weightless development
programme.
James Collier, CEO of Neul told Incisor,
“Weightless is a major opportunity for
silicon vendors. With a forecasted 5-10
billion devices to be shipped per year,
this is a market that is bigger than
➔
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cellular, and one that will support as many
as a dozen major silicon vendors. The
Weightless SIG already has silicon
companies as members, and we expect a
number of them to develop their own
silicon.”
The movie on page 11 sees Neul’s James
Collier assessing the Weightless
opportunity for semiconductor
companies.
Analysts, too, are paying attention to
Weightless and the emerging Internet of
Things market. Bob Lockhart, Senior
Research Analyst at Pike Research - a
part of Navigant, commented, “The
anticipated exponential growth in
machine-to-machine communications, as
ever more ‘smart’ devices find their way
into homes and industry such as
electricity grids, argues for innovative,
low-cost approaches to M2M
communication. Without low-cost
communications between devices, the socalled Internet of Things is likely to remain
only wishful thinking.”
This, then, is a tremendously important
milestone for the Weightless community.
The M2M world had already been paying
attention to Weightless’ game-changing
cost, range and battery life characteristics,
and now the ‘its only a concept’ comments
from the inevitable sceptics – normally the
competition! – have been silenced by the
arrival of a genuine, working silicon
solution.
Doubtless Iceni and other Weightless
silicon solutions will soon become widely
available. For now, samples of the Iceni
chip are available to select partners from
Neul, to begin testing and development of
new white space-enabled products.
See the Iceni announcement at the
Weightless.org web site, and register to
become a Weightless SIG member
ICENI:
FUNCTIONAL
SPECIFICATION
RADIO
The Radio operates over the entire TV
white space frequency range, from
470MHz to 790MHz, and supports
both 6 MHz and 8 MHz channel
bandwidths. The radio transmitter
converts the baseband digital signal
from the PHY into an RF signal, while
the radio receiver converts the
received RF signal into a baseband
digital signal that is passed to the PHY.
The radio conforms to the strict white
space regulatory requirements relating
to the transmitter spectral mask.
PHY
The digital transmit section of the
Physical Layer (PHY) takes the data
packets formed in the MAC and
applies a range of different digital
modulation schemes and error
correction methods according to the
trade-off between data rate and range
that is required for a given application.
At good SNR, QAM modulation is used
to provide higher data rates, while, at
low SNR, direct sequence spread
spectrum is employed which gives a
considerable increase in range albeit at
lower data rates. The receive section
of the PHY receiver converts the
received baseband digital signal from
the Radio into an error corrected,
decoded data packet that is then sent
to the MAC.
MAC
The Medium Access Controller
performs the framing and scheduling
of the data to be sent over the air. It
also performs error detection and
retransmission of corrupted data
packets. Furthermore, it implements
the encryption mechanisms to ensure
secure data transfers over the air.
CONTROLLER
An onboard Microcontroller controls all
of the chips subsystems and
implements the higher level operations
of the MAC that are not covered by the
dedicated MAC hardware.
INTERFACES
A nemory-mapped parallel bus
interface is provided for connecting to
an external application processor.
Discrete interrupt lines can be used for
waking the application processor upon
reception of a relevant frame. PIOs are
available for controlling the external RF
front-end, such as a high power Power
Amplifier, and for any other signalling
required to external devices. An SPI
port is provided as a debug interface.
13
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WEIGHTLESS VIDEO ARCHIVE
The same team that creates Incisor.TV’s video material has been building a
rich archive of informative and instructive video content for the Weightless SIG,
and we thought Incisor readers might like to see a selection of recent videos.
All videos can be found at the Weightless SIG web site – access the video
area using this link.
Click on the screens to watch your chosen movie.
1
2
3
4
5
6
VIDEO SYNOPSIS
1. What is Weightless? An overview of Weightless technology.
2. Weightless silicon – the functional blocks.
3. James Collier, CEO, Neul, assesses the Weightless
opportunity for silicon vendors.
4. The Weightless Game Changer series: Part 1, Cost.
5. The Weightless Game Changer series: Part 2, Propagation
Range and in-building penetration.
6. The Weightless Game Changer series: Part 3, Battery life
and power consumption.
7. Weightless Core Member video profile: Argon Design.
7
Announcing the first
Weightless M2M Summit
In December 2012 General Electric released a
study that puts the potential productivity
gains to global GDP resulting from the
machine to machine (M2M) or Internet of
Things market at between $10 and $15 trillion
over the next 20 years, and tens of billions of
connected devices are widely forecasted to
be deployed by 2020.
With this opportunity in mind, the Weightless
Special Interest Group is working at full speed
to develop and evangelise the Weightless
standard, a paradigm shift in M2M
technology. The SIG is building a large global
ecosystem, having already attracted over 500
Members in its first year
Weightless has reached a critical moment - the launch of
the first Weightless silicon in February 2013 and imminent
release of Version 1.0 of the Weightless standard means
low-cost, high-volume M2M is about to become an
established reality. This will impact global business and
consumers in a genuinely revolutionary way.
customers from throughout the M2M eco-system, and see
the breadth and depth of innovative solutions that are
already being implemented and developed.
•
Catch up with all the very latest developments
We are delighted, therefore, to announce the first official
Weightless SIG event for existing and future members. The
Weightless M2M Summit will take place in London in the
last week of September 2013 (exact dates to be confirmed
very soon).
•
Network with representatives of all parts of the
eco-system
•
Participate in accelerating the agenda
•
Strengthen and grow the Weightless SIG membership
•
Showcase your offering to the wider Weightless
community and beyond
Major end-users – from international retailers to local
government - are now actively assessing their strategies
and making decisions. Opportunities abound for software
application and module developers, hardware
manufacturers, operators and network providers,
consultancies, chip-makers, investors...
The Weightless M2M Summit is the industry meeting place
for all these stakeholders. Attendees will not only hear the
very latest about the future of M2M, White Space and the
Weightless standard; they will understand the potential
business opportunities, meet prospective partners and
It will be a unique opportunity to:
The two days will be packed with valuable insights and
discussions designed to engage, inform and reinforce the
Weightless proposition.
While the event will be open to all comers, Weightless SIG
members will benefit from generous discounts for delegate
place and sponsorship and exhibition opportunities. Details
will be released shortly.
We will soon provide more details on our exciting speaker
line-up, agenda & event structure, and ways to get involved.
IF YOU’D LIKE TO REGISTER YOUR INTEREST IMMEDIATELY
PLEASE CONTACT TOM HARRISON ON +44 (0)1494 445074 OR EMAIL: [email protected]
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Finalists and overall winner
of the WT Innovation World
Cup chosen
fter the evaluation phase of the
Wearable Technologies Innovation
World Cup, the judging panel has
chosen the best submitted solutions.
Three runners up have been selected,
one for each of the categories - Sports
& Fitness, Healthcare & Wellness,
Security & Prevention and Gaming &
Lifestyle.
A
And there was one overall winner: Recon
Instruments from Canada, who won-over
the jury with their Heads-Up Display for
sports use from the category Sports &
Fitness. Through this display the user can
see real-time performance information
(including speed, jump airtime and altitude)
navigation, buddy tracking, and
smartphone connectivity, transmitting SMS,
caller ID and music playlists, instantly
direct-to-eye via a micro LCD screen
mounted inside the goggles frame.
The runners up of Sports & Fitness were
MIO Alpha and Sensoria. MIO Alpha is a
strapless, sports watch-style continuous
heart rate monitor you can wear on your
wrist, and was submitted by Physical
Enterprises Inc. from the USA. Heapsylon
LLC entered Sensoria, body-sensing socks
equipped with an electronic tracking
device, which help to monitor in-footwear
pressure points to ensure wearing properly
fitting shoes, insoles and orthotics.
In the Healthcare & Wellness category,
Opto-Phone from Israel was chosen as the
category winner with Opto-Care, a
continuous and non-contact technique
based upon laser illumination, which allows
the extraction of biomedical parameters
such as heart rate and shape, breathing,
blood pulse pressure or estimation for
glucose concentration in the blood stream.
Thimble Bioelectronics and Sensodrive
were selected as the runners up. Thimble
Bioelectronics from the USA presented its
digital pain management system, which
transcends TENS (Transcutaneous
Electrical Nerve Stimulation) treatment in a
product that is as simple to use as a band
aid. VibroTac, a vibrotactile feedback
system created by Sensodrive, can assist
and guide blind and visually impaired
people by making use of the fact that
vibrations can be very well perceived on
the skin despite an acoustic and visual
overstimulus.
In Security & Prevention, Behnam Molavi
and Babak Shadgan from the University of
British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada,
were chosen as the category winners. They
submitted a smart fire rescue helmet - a
non-invasive wireless system capable of
monitoring several vital statistics in real
time. Mounted in firefighters' helmets, it
can help a central monitoring center to
become aware of any carbon monoxide
poisoning or critical health conditions. Paul
Pignon and Leon Borthwick from BPS
Technologies from Estonia stood out with
the BPS Ninja, a mobile, body-worn
surveillance computing system with
wireless streaming capability. Horatio from
Potsdam, Germany was chosen as a runner
up for the Kinder-Radar, a Bluetooth low
energy sensor that children can be
equipped with. If a child wearing the sensor
gets lost, a care person, such as teacher,
gets notified by a dedicated app, which
runs on the teacher's smartphone.
Keytree from Great Britain was chosen as
the winner of "Gaming & Lifestyle." Their
solution, CEO Vision, combines wearable
technology displays, cameras and displays
with other hardware and devices around
you. The wearable glasses technologies
perform augmented reality but connect
wirelessly with kinects, which assist when
tracking input.
The runners up of "Gaming & Lifestyle"
were IN10DID Inc. and Now Computing.
The Mobile Keyboard from IN10DID, Inc. is
a new human-computer interaction tool
that can interface anywhere you touch. It is
a new way to touch-type without looking at
a touch screen for mobile devices.
Now Computing was recognized for
StormFly, a super-fast storage device with
an open source operating system (bootable
in most modern PCs and Macs) embedded
in a wristband using a combination of SSD
and USB 3.0 technology.
The winners and the finalists were
announced at the WTConference which
took place in Munich during February.
Selected out of 300 participants from all
over the world, the finalists will be able to
benefit from marketing support through the
sponsors and partners and the overall
winner, the WT Innovator of the Year was
awarded with prize money of USD 5,000.
16
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low energy wireless news
Dual interface and pure
contactless smart card
market share rises
INSIDE Secure speeds
NFC deployment in CE
products
ABI Research forecasts 8.6 billion smart
cards will ship in 2013; a combined
number spanning all smart card markets.
Of total shipments, 16% are forecasted to
use a contactless interface, rising to 30%
in 2018. Government ID, transportation
and ticketing, and payment cards continue
strong double-digit growth in contactless
adoption. SWP SIM card volumes continue
to strengthen, and are expected to breech
the 500 million mark in 2018.
INSIDE Secure has released ComboPulse,
a secure near field communication (NFC)
system-in-package (SiP). This is a drop-in
solution to add NFC functionality into
mainstream consumer electronic
products, including tablets, entry-level
mobile phones, personal media players
and other smart mobile devices.
Over the next three years ABI expects to
see a shift in the penetration ratio of pure
contactless and dual interface shipments.
In 2013, ABI forecasts 59% of all
contactless deployments will utilize a pure
contactless interface, reducing to 38% in
2018. The increase in dual interface
adoption is apparent across multiple
markets. IC vendors NXP, Infineon, and
STMicroelectronics are positioned to offer
the best combination of convenience and
high-end security over multiple
applications. Additionally, the increase in
dual interface adoption will deliver greater
margins benefiting IC and smart card
vendors alike.
Research analyst Phil Sealy told Incisor,
“The increase in contactless adoption is
not limited to a selection of markets,
although it’s the banking and government
verticals which are adopting contactless
technology at a quicker rate, with the SIM
market close behind. ABI Research tracks
new services and credentials regionally,
including governments issuing new
national ID and social welfare cards, MNOs
with SIM-based NFC payment services
and wallets, and banks jumping to nextgeneration dual interface EMV cards. As a
result ABI Research forecasts that dual
interface shipments will exceed the 1
billion mark in 2015.”
The SiP combines an INSIDE PicoPulse
NFC RF front end “booster” chip, an
INSIDE VaultSEcure secure element with
Java Card OS, an antenna and all passive
components in a DFN8 package, and
requires no additional hardware, no
external antenna and no tuning to add
NFC card emulation and peer-to-peer
functions to mobile products.
The NFC card emulation capability
provided by the ComboPulse SiP allows
the mobile device to be used like a
contactless smart card to communicate
with standard contactless POS and other
terminals to make purchases, validate
tickets and coupons, accumulate loyalty
points and perform banking and other
secure transactions.
And although this is a function that the
consumer world doesn’t seem to be
aware of, peer-to-peer (P2P) mode
operation provided by the ComboPulse
device can simplify Bluetooth and Wi-Fi
pairing between two consumer electronic
devices. P2P can also be used to
exchange content or information with any
NFC Forum compliant device and may be
used to interact with a variety of TVs,
cameras, security systems and other
home devices.
Evaluation samples of the INSIDE Secure
ComboPulse system-in-package NFC
solution will be available in March.
Visa forms alliance
with Samsung
Visa has formed a global alliance with
Samsung in which all next-generation
Samsung NFC smartphones will have the
Visa payWave application embedded on
the device. The agreement is also
designed to bring more financial
institutions on board as they can use
Visa’s Mobile Provisioning Service to
securely upload customers’ payment
account information onto NFC-enabled
Samsung phones.
Eden Zoller, consumer analyst, Ovum,
commented, “It’s a significant agreement
that could give NFC a much-needed
boost, given that Visa is a trusted
payment brand, while Samsung is the top
smartphone manufacturer in terms of
shipments and a driving force behind the
increasingly popular Android device
platform. Both Samsung and Visa are
committed to NFC and we would expect
them to put effort and marketing muscle
behind making consumers aware of the
potential benefits that NFC payments can
bring. This is desperately needed as for
most consumers, mobile payments – let
alone NFC – is simply not on their radar.
This is backed up by Ovum’s latest
Consumer Insights survey; when
consumers were asked to rank their most
frequently applications, mobile
commerce related applications were very
low down on their list compared to
mobile games, email, and social
networking. Visa says contactless
payments have quadrupled over last year
and now generate around 13m
transactions per month.”
It seems it is not just Incisor that feels
that NFC needs a PR boost then.
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low energy wireless news Snippets
New vice-chair for CABA's
Connected Home Council
The Continental Automated Buildings
Association (CABA) has announced that
Melissa Simpler, CEO of Affinegy, has
been appointed Vice-Chair of CABA's
Connected Home Council. Established in
2004, the CABA Connected Home
Council initiates and reviews projects
that relate to connected home and
multiple dwelling unit technologies and
applications. The Council also examines
industry opportunities that can
accelerate the adoption of new
technologies, consumer electronics and
broadband services within the
burgeoning connected home market.
Internet energy
monitoring – for real
Bidgely, an energy analytics company, and
Rainforest Automation, a developer of residential
energy management products, have announced
that the first internet energy monitoring solution
to be validated by a California utility is now
available to retail consumers in the state. The
combination of Bidgely’s cloud-based energy
management platform and Rainforest`s internetconnected home energy gateway has been
validated by PG&E to connect to its Smart
Meters, and offers consumer engagement
features to residential customers.
Following a directive from the California Public
Utility Commission, PG&E launched its Home
and Business Networking program during
February, listing the Bidgely/Rainforest
combination as one of its validated solutions.
Chris Tumpach, president of Rainforest
Automation told Incisor, “The promise of internet
energy monitoring is finally a reality for average
households. It’s no longer just hobbyists and
luxury homes using parasitic clamp-on devices
to get approximate readings. Now everyone can
get their real smart meter data to analyze their
energy usage.”
The Eagle Energy Access Gateway Link to
Ethernet product from Rainforest Automation
communicates directly with smart meters that
have been equipped with ZigBee Smart Energy
standard wireless capability. It is able to read the
smart meter data, and stream the real-time
energy information to the home Ethernet
network and on to the internet.
Bidgely’s energy management platform
incorporates a real-time Appliance Tracing
capability that itemizes smart meter data down
to appliance level. This information enables
consumers to make informed decisions with
actionable insights and recommendations
leading to savings on their energy bills. Bidgely’s
platform relies solely on already installed utility
smart meters and standards-based home area
network gateways. Web and mobile apps allow
consumers to access their energy data
anytime anywhere on any smartphone,
computer or tablet.
The Bidgely/Rainforest solution incorporates
layers of security for data in transit and data at
rest. Device authentication and data encryption
techniques ensure that consumer data remains
ZigBee Alliance
re-shuffles execs
The ZigBee Alliance has announced that Bob
Heile has assumed the new role of Chairman
Emeritus and Chief Technologist, with Tobin
Richardson being selected by the ZigBee Alliance
Board of Directors to assume the role of
Chairman and CEO, previously held by Heile.
Femtocell as a Service
wholesale model
Femtocell as a Service or FaaS is a new
and upcoming wholesale model for
deploying femtocells, targeted at midlower tier operators by providing a hosted
femtocell core network. The market’s in
its initial stages with trials ongoing in
North America and Europe, targeting both
enterprise and residential femtocells. ABI
Research expects the first commercial
rollouts using FaaS to happen in 2013,
possibly in the first half and that 3 million
femtocells will be cumulatively deployed
by 2018 using FaaS.
Heile will represent ZigBee Alliance technical
interests among other standards organizations
and will continue to evangelize its merits on the
global stage. Heile apparently felt it was time to
change roles after managing the day-to-day
operations of the Alliance for the past 10 years.
Heile was a driving force behind the creation of
the Alliance and served as the CEO since it was
formed with just 15 members in 2002. During his
tenure, he guided its growth to over 400
members who have produced more than a dozen
ZigBee standards and specifications that have
spawned nearly 700 ZigBee Certified products.
Lime signs distribution deal
with Richardson RFPD
Ed Eckert, chairman of the board, ZigBee Alliance
told Incisor, “On behalf of the ZigBee Alliance
Board of Directors, I want to personally thank
Bob Heile for his outstanding contributions that
have propelled ZigBee to its leadership position
today. We’re very grateful that he will continue
using his considerable talents towards furthering
the Alliance’s mission of using ZigBee wireless
technology to give everyone more control of their
world.”
Portable gaming Bluetooth
speaker features “Vibration Bass”
Since 2008, Richardson served the Alliance as
the Director of Smart Energy. He has assisted
utilities, regulators, standards groups and
companies considering how best to implement
Smart Grid programs using ZigBee Smart Energy,
which to date has been implemented ed in over
50 million meters globally.
Richardson RFPD and Lime
Microsystems have announced an
agreement to distribute Lime’s field
programmable RF transceivers (FPRFs)
for the next generation of wireless
broadband systems. Under the
agreement, Richardson RFPD will
distribute Lime's LMS6002D multi-band,
multi-standard transceiver worldwide,
with the exceptions of Korea and Taiwan.
Divoom, a Chinese audio products
company has announced the ONBEATX1, and claims this is the ultimate
Bluetooth gaming speaker. It is a
compact Bluetooth speaker made
especially for gaming, with suction cups
that let you stick the speaker on the
back of your smartphone, iPad, or any
other smooth surface to create a
portable gaming sound system.
ONBEAT-X1 features “Vibration Bass,”
which reacts to gaming action with
shakes and vibrations for a more realistic
live gaming experience.
18
www.incisor.tv
Cambridge Consultants
unveils a new way of keeping
tabs on damaged parcels
eeping track of dropped and
damaged parcels has just got
easier – with a new sensor system
and app developed by product
development firm Cambridge
Consultants. Called DropTag, the
concept shows at a glance what’s
happened to a package in transit. And it
could end the gamble of signing for a
delivery without unpacking and checking
the goods first – as well as giving
delivery companies and manufacturers
reliable real-time information about the
status of packages being transported.
K
Tom Lawrie-Fussey, business
development manager at Cambridge
Consultants explained, "The explosion in
internet shopping has led to a huge
increase in the number of parcel
deliveries. But we're probably all guilty of
signing for a delivery on our doorstep
without taking the time to unpack the
items to check that the contents are in
good condition. We're then faced with
the hassle of having to arrange the return
of any damaged goods."
"Existing parcel condition monitoring
systems tend to be quite basic,
mechanical sensors – or very expensive
data loggers. DropTag is different – it's a
simple, low-cost sensor platform with
connectivity via Bluetooth Low Energy to
a smartphone. We've developed a simple
app which shows what's happened to a
parcel in transit – for example, if the box
has been mistreated, the app
immediately indicates this. We’ve also
created a plot mode within the app for
more detailed analysis."
Cambridge Consultants is now
developing the sensor platform further to
log critical event data so that, when
DropTag is interrogated, it can provide
Need to check whether your parcel has been dropped and damaged?
Click on the movie screen above to see how DropTag could be the solution.
information on exactly what happened to
the package and when. And it's exploring
how the addition of other sensors could
boost its potential applications – for
example, adding temperature sensing for
'cold-chain' storage and distribution in the
pharmaceutical and food industries.
DropTag can be remotely interrogated at
any stage of the delivery process – with a
maximum range of about 50m indoors. So
as a parcel is moved around a warehouse
or carried in the back of a van, smart
handsets could remotely and automatically
check the package at each stage of its
journey – reporting the status back to
headquarters and so allowing an early
proactive response to any incident.
This local connectivity capability provides
a range of tracking possibilities – for
example, the location of the parcel can be
verified in real time if it is transmitting to a
GPS-enabled smart handset. And boxes
need no longer be individually scanned
at logistics checkpoints. Smart
connected ‘gateway’ zones within
warehouses could perform this role
automatically, establishing the condition
and location of each parcel remotely as
it passes through from one area of the
warehouse to another.
"By minimising the complexity of the
electronics in DropTag – and, instead,
making better use of smart devices –
we've calculated that DropTag could
analyse and log crucial events for many
weeks using just a single coin-cell
battery, and could even perhaps be
reused," Lawrie-Fussey told Inciosr. "And,
by keeping it simple, we're confident that
the bill of material (BoM) cost would be
less than $2 – making it a very affordable
addition that would add significant value
to the consumer and distributor alike.
Snippets
Nordic adds catalog distributor Distrelec ELFA Group
Nordic Semiconductor has added specialist
low volume, rapid delivery Swiss catalog
distributor Distrelec to its European
distribution network. Distrelec ELFA Group
specializes in stocking a wide range of parts
across three main European warehouse
hubs in Switzerland, Sweden, and Germany,
that are typically shipped overnight to preproduction design and prototyping
customers in 29 countries, as well as
students, academic researchers, and
hobbyists. The distributor also has 40 fulltime technical support engineers in Europe
with two specializing exclusively in wireless
technology.
19
www.incisor.tv
events
DATE
EVENT
LOCATION
NOTES
LINK
March 3 - 6
2013
Wearable
Technologies Show
Munich, Germany
-
http://www.wearable-technologies.com/
March 5 - 9
2013
CeBIT
Messegelande,
Hanover, Germany
-
http://www.tradefairs.com
April 10 - 11
2013
Bluetooth World
Shanghai, China
The Bluetooth SIG’s
replacement for its All
Hands member meeting
http://bit.ly/12bDHde
April 9 - 11
2013
Bluetooth SIG All
Hands Meeting
Shanghai, China
-
http://www.bluetooth.org/Events/
May 14
2013
European M2M
Forum
Milanofiori Congress Center in Milan, Italy
www.m2mforum.com
September
2013 - TBA
Weightless M2M
Summit
London, UK
Click here to email Tom Harrison
Contact TOM HARRISON
ON +44 (0)1494 445074
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