Punch Through’s new Arduino board can stay wireless forever

You’ll have to plug in a typical Arduino-compatible board at some point in its life, whether it’s to add code or just to supply power. Not Punch Through Design’s upcoming Cortado, however. The tiny device centers on a custom Bluetooth 4.0 LE module that both enables wireless programming (including through mobile apps) and helps the board last for more than a year on a replaceable watch battery.

In fact, the Cortado will already be powered up when you get it — you can start coding before you’ve opened the shipping box. It should also be relatively flexible for its size with a built-in accelerometer and the ability to serve as an Apple iBeacon transmitter. Punch Through is crowdfunding the board with hopes of shipping its first units in May. If you’re interested, you can pledge $18 to pre-order a Cortado.

More info here.

The Multi-Sensory Internet Brings Smell, Taste, and Touch to the Web

Adrian Cheok, professor of pervasive computing at City University London and director of the Mixed Reality Lab at the National University of Singapore, is on a mission to transform cyberspace into a multi-sensory world. He wants to tear through the audiovisual paradigm of the internet by developing devices able to transmit smells, tastes, and tactile sensations over the web.

Lying on the desk in Cheok’s lab is one of his inventions: a device that connects to a smartphone and shoots out a given person’s scent when they send you a message or post on your Facebook wall. Then there’s a plexiglass cubic box you can stick your tongue in to taste internet-delivered flavours. Finally, a small plastic and silicone gadget with a pressure sensor and a moveable peg in the middle. It’s a long-distance-kissing machine: You make out with it, and your tongue and lip movements travel over the internet to your partner’s identical device—and vice versa.

“It’s still a prototype but we’ll be able to tweak it and make it transmit a person’s odour, and create the feeling of human body temperature coming from it,” Cheok says, grinning as he points at the twin make-out machines. Just about the only thing Cheok’s device can’t do is ooze digital saliva.

More info here.

6LoWPAN Troubleshooting with Foren6

Foren6 is an effort to provide a non-intrusive 6LoWPAN network analysis tool. It leverages passive sniffer devices to reconstruct a visual and textual representation of network information to support real-world Internet of Things applications where other means of debug (cabled or network-based monitoring) are too costly or impractical.

• Visualize your 6LoWPAN network. Foren6 uses sniffers to capture 6LoWPAN traffic and renders the network state it in a graphical user interface.
• Detect routing problems. The Routing Protocol for 6LoWPAN Networks, RPL, is an emerging IETF standard. Foren6 captures all RPL-related information and identifies abnormal behaviors.
• On-site diagnosis. Foren6 captures live packets from deployed networks in a non-intrusive manner. Multiple sniffers can be combined for extended coverage.
• Debug-oriented. Rewind the packet capture history, replay a previous packet trace and navigate through different overlays to pinpoint problems.
• Customize to your infrastructure. The network viewer uses floating positions, or user-defined layouts to visualize sensors in their real setting.
• Android support. An Android port is under development, allowing to visualize 6LoWPAN networks on a tablet. It is ideal for walking around in a WSN.

More info here.

Google’s Vint Cerf defines Internet of Things challenges

We are going to have to live through a period of mistakes and challenges before we can make any strong regulations about the privacy issues and other challenges the Internet of Things present.  That was Vint Cerf, vice president and chief internet evangelist for Google’s response to a regulation question at his keynote before today’s Federal Trade Commission’s workshop on the Internet of Things trend. The FTC workshop was examining the issues and challenges of everyday devices to communicate with each other and with people or “The Internet of Things” and ultimately how the agency might regulate that activity.

“Connected devices can communicate with consumers, transmit data back to companies, and compile data for third parties such as researchers, health care providers, or even other consumers, who can measure how their product usage compares with that of their neighbors,” the FTC stated.

Reuters noted that in announcing the workshop in April and soliciting comments, the FTC asked how such gadgets can be updated when security holes are discovered and how to weigh privacy concerns against societal benefits from aggregating data provided by health-tracking gadgets. Cerf was the keynoter of the workshop which also included FTC execs and representatives from GE Appliances, SmartThings, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and others.The issue of privacy was a hot one.  For his part, Cerf said he would not “simply assert privacy is dead” but rather that it will be increasingly difficult to achieve.

“Our social behavior is quite damaging…technology has outraced our social intuition,” he said. Cerf went on to say he wanted to “build a congressional comic book to help them understand the way in which the Internet works…a lightweight cartoon model to help people to understand what laws make sense.”

More info here.

Libelium Sensors Connect with Cloud Platforms for the Internet of Things

Libelium today added new integration options from leading Cloud technology providers in the latest stage of the build-out of its Waspmote wireless sensor platform ecosystem, to reduce time to market for Internet of Things solutions.

Demos showcasing Waspmote and Plug & Sense! nodes integrated with software platforms from Axeda, Esri, ThingWorx as well as the MQTT protocol will be rolled out at Dreamforce 2013 in San Francisco at Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona, Spain and at the Internet of Things & WSN Conference in Santa Clara, California. The new Cloud connector framework is based on a new managing system for Libelium’sMeshlium wireless sensor gateway, allowing easy configuration of any of these platforms. Existing Meshlium users are eligible for the upgrade.

Libelium has simplified the integration of leading Cloud software platforms to its Waspmote wireless sensor network platform, decreasing time to market for new IoT solutions. “Waspmote is a universal hardware platform for the Internet of Things because it is open and modular, and can integrate any sensor, using any communication protocol, and send retrieved data to any Cloud system for analysis or storage,” said David Gascón, CTO at Libelium. “Now we’re offering access to the best Cloud software platforms by streamlining the integration process, to connect the physical world to the virtual world and transform sensor data into information resources.” Waspmote Cloud Connector Software Ecosystem Additions – available separately.

More info here.

Post‐doc Position at University of Trento, Italy

The D3S group at the University of Trento,  Italy,  invites  applications for a post‐doctoral research position in wireless sensor networks (WSNs).

We are seeking a candidate to conduct research in the context  of a  funded  3‐year project, starting in 2014, aimed at large‐scale monitoring of the environment, and of the  wildlife  dwelling  in it.  To this end, the project employs a mixture of static and mobile (animal‐borne) WSN nodes, which are  used  in  synergy  with other  monitoring  technologies,  such as on‐board low‐resolution cameras and remote sensing.  As such, the project tackles several open research problems, for instance: protocols supporting opportunistic delivery of data (including camera snapshots)  from  the mobile WSN nodes; programming approaches enabling users to easily tailor the WSN to their application needs; models and  methodologies  guiding  the  integrated acquisition and use of the multi‐scale data provided by remote sensing and on‐ground WSNs.

The successful candidate is expected to propose  ideas  and  lead scientific efforts on the project research topics, and to coordinate the related activities of junior members of the team. The language of the research group is English.

D3S has a successful track of bringing research results into  real‐world,  long‐term,  operational  WSN deployments. Examples are the structural health monitoring of a  medieval  tower,  and  the closed‐loop  control of lighting in a road tunnel, which received Best Paper Awards at IPSN (2009 and 2011) and PerCom (2012).

The Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science is a leading and fast‐growing research institution, characterized by a young and international faculty and by a  large,  international student  population.   Indicators for scientific production place the department among the top in Europe. Trento is a vibrant  city with a beautifully preserved historic center, consistently ranked at the top for quality of life in Italy.  It offers a variety  of cultural and sports opportunities all year around, as well as excellent food and wine.

Requirements:
* Ph.D.  in  computer  science,  telecommunications,  or  related fields;
*  strong  programming  and systems skills: hands‐on knowledge of TinyOS and/or Contiki is very welcome, and so is experience  with building WSN in‐field deployments;
*  knowledge of WSN research: communication issues, MAC and routing protocols, programming platforms;
* good analytical, technical, and problem solving skills;
* good teamwork and organizational skills.

The position is intended to last 2 years  (with  an  intermediate evaluation  at  12  months)  and  can be extended. The indicative start date is February 2014, however other  start  times  can  be considered.

The deadline for applications is November 25, 2013.

Applications should contain, in a single PDF document:
* a cover letter stating the applicant’s research goals;
* a detailed CV including publication list;
* names and contact information for three references.

Applications should be sent via e‐mail (subject: “D3S postdoc application”) to gianpietro.picco(AT_symbol)unitn.it. For more information, please contact Prof. Gian Pietro Picco (gianpietro.picco(AT_symbol)unitn.it).

As a side note: Prof. Gian Pietro Picco is attending ACM SenSys in Rome next week, in case any candidate around wants to chat personally about the position and the project.