« Another example of texting’s life-saving potential | Home | Those quakes aren’t just shakin’ earth, but also communications »
Remote, self-powered sensor networks a win-win solution
By WDavidStephenson | May 9, 2008
Long-time readers may remember that I spotted the advent of self-powered, stand-alone remote monitoring devices five years ago and thought they could be great both for homeland security (remember that 85% of the nation’s critical infrastructure, especially energy, chemical, and rail facilities, is in private hands) and to help companies enjoy the often-overlooked economic benefits of preventive maintenance, lighting management, etc.
I predicted that it would be a win-win solution: during normal times, helping companies and government agencies monitor systems ranging from pipelines to rail lines to water mains (therefore facilitating preventive maintenance, as well as more exotic uses such as real-time pricing of natural gas or taking advantage of load shifting discounts from electric utilities) , and, during disasters, providing instantaneous notification of interruptions because of leaks, accidents, natural disasters or terrorist attacks. This would both speed response time (especially when the interruption is in a remote area) and minimize environmental impacts and other damage.
Because each sensor is independent and doesn’t require maintenance, wires or batteries (they’re powered by “energy harvesting” from sources such as vibrations), they make “ubiquitous monitoring” possible, especially in remote areas. This cuts the need for visual monitoring, and eliminates the environmental hazards of battery use and disposal.
Because they include another of my favorites — mesh networking — each sensor is a repeater, allowing large self-organizing, self-healing wireless networks (we’re finally catching up to bee colonies in that respect…).
Network World recently covered progress in the field, which is now driven largely by environmental concerns (BTW: can’t find anyone who’s actually marketing the self-powered nodes right now [several firms have battery-operated ones] — Millennial Net had an experimental one 5 years ago that was powered by vibrations. Let me know if any are on the market!).
Corporations understandably grumble when they feel that costly homeland security requirements are being imposed on them with little or no economic benefits. Remote wireless, self-powered sensor networks are one innovation that will allow companies to realize everyday economic benefits while also increasing disaster and terrorism preparedness.
Technorati tags: homeland security technology networked homeland security Zigbee energy efficiency mesh network location-based services geo-spatial web web 2.0 homeland security 2.0 disaster management 2.0 disaster management Dust Networks Millennial Net business continuity disaster planning disaster planning 2.0 mesh
Sphere: Related ContentTopics: technology, profitable corporate preparedness, collaboration, networked security | |
