WSNPlanet.com

Dust Networks made a major announcement at Electronica by unveling the world's first System-on-chip for wireless sensor networks.  Called Mote-on-Chip, the SoC integrates all the hardware and software functions for creating distributed sensor networks onto a single chip. Dust claims five-fold lower power consumption than Zigbee, the elimination of the need for wired routers, and a 10-fold reduction in the overall price of adding new sensors to an existing network.  Mote-on-Chip products are IEEE 802.15.4 compliant and available in 2.4 GHz and narrow-band 900 MHz versions.

Last year, I read an article by Aaron Ricadela in InformationWeek that provided a comprehensive review of different commercial applications of  WSN technology.  Eventhough most of the applications stated here are pilot implementations, it provides good use cases for WSN technology. It starts with how SAIC is testing WSN for border security then goes into more commercial applications like HP's pilot that uses WSN for inventory management and BP's and Intel's industrial automation examples.  The author makes an interesting point that the established tech companies including HP, Intel, and IBM are ceding the core mote technology development to startups like Dust, Crossbow and others since they see a bigger opportunity in providing installation services, mass producing chips, and developing software applications for wireless sensor nets. 

I recommend this article for anyone who is looking for WSN deployment ideas. Read the article here 

A recent market report by Frost & Sullivan says eventhough wireless sensors are rapidly gaining ground in industrial sectors such as building automation and industrial automation, the adoption of this technology has been relatively slow. Educating and convincing end users about the various advantages of wireless sensors will be critical in increasing adoption levels. Further, the study mentions that the total wireless sensor revenues were $160 million in 2005 and it can reach $1850 million in 2012. Notice here F&S market size numbers are not as optimistics as the recent study by Irish firm Research and Markets suggests .  As always let me know what you think. Read the F&S press release here