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News Release from: Frost and Sullivan
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 26 April 2005
Wireless sensors set to shine
End-user demand for a favourable cost benefit ratio is spurring efforts to increase the reliability and affordability of wireless sensors for building automation.
End-user demand for a favourable cost benefit ratio is spurring efforts to increase the reliability and affordability of wireless sensors for building automation Researchers in Europe are responding to this trend with greater technical sophistication in terms of better quality signals and reduced attenuation
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 28 Jul 2006 at 8.00am (UK)
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"Although wireless sensors eliminate a significant portion of the labour and wiring costs associated with wired networks, there is still room for improving power efficiency and the range of the wireless digital signal transmission", says Technical Insights Research Analyst Amit Jain.
Ease of deployment, retrofitting applications, and scalability of the network are going to be key driving factors for wireless sensors in building automation.
"Whether used in new construction or retrofit, flexibility is the ultimate benefit in deploying a wireless system as opposed to a wired network", says Jain.
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"These sensors can be located - or relocated - to optimise system performance, increase customer comfort and adapt to changing floor plans".
With recent advances in wireless communications, the availability of low-power micro-sensors, embedded processors and radios is supporting the use of distributed wireless sensing over a wider range.
Considering that wireless sensors may operate in hostile environments, researchers in Europe are also focussing on incorporating remote sensing capabilities.
In Italy, researchers are using a wireless local area network (WLAN) for a distributed sensor application.
The proposed system uses a low-power radio frequency (RF) WLAN that offers quick installation, modularity and expandability in situations where standard communication links are hard or impossible to install.
"The transmission protocol used is a simple reply-to-request (RTR) protocol, which reduces the amount of data processing", says Jain.
"It also makes implementation easy and cost-effective, without compromising on the reliability of the system".
Remote sensing systems that help study displacement and stress in civil structures are also gaining in popularity.
In such systems, the sensing area is not limited to the point of contact, and this enables recording measurements from a suitably safe range.
Researchers in Switzerland are striving towards greater sophistication in fire detection and prevention systems and are developing photoacoustic sensors that also function as smoke detectors.
These sensors can discriminate between false alarms and real fire situations.
"Since even vapours, oil droplets, dust and dew droplets could trigger a false alarm, researchers are programming the photoacoustic sensor to be highly sensitive to black carbon produced during an actual fire", explains Jain.
Apart from fire detection, there have been rapid advances in wireless sensor technologies for monitoring structural health.
Nanotechnology is enabling production of tiny sensors, which can be placed at various joints, reinforcements and other places during construction of a structure.
With most of the emerging wireless devices conforming to industry standards such as the IEEE802.15.4 for radio communication hardware and the emerging ZigBee standard for networking among devices, adoption rates are expected to increase across a wider range of building automation applications.
"Wireless sensors in building automation" is part of the Automation and Electronics vertical subscription service, and evaluates the latest advances and upcoming wireless sensor networking technologies in building automation.
In addition to discussing the various technology drivers and restraints, the study covers research and development efforts at various universities, leading companies, and other research institutions across the globe.
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