November 2, 2006; 06:49 AM Arch Rock Corporation has introduced the first
wireless sensor network that can be accessed and operated as a
full-fledged member of the IT infrastructure, allowing enterprises to
use standard Internet management tools to gain visibility and control
down to the level of individual sensor nodes.
Arch Rock Primer
Pack is a complete wireless sensor network (WSN) that is simple enough
to be deployed in an hour as a pilot network in a factory, office
building or data center, yet sophisticated enough to be seamlessly
integrated into enterprise applications as a set of standards-compliant
web services.
Using Arch Rock's powerful APIs (application
programming interfaces) and working in their development environment of
choice, users can rapidly create custom applications to monitor
physical conditions without doing the cumbersome embedded programming
typically required to build sensor network applications. Sensor data
becomes immediately available to the plant manager or field worker on
his mobile device of choice, or to the office worker in his web browser
or enterprise planning application (e.g., ERP or DSS).
Through
an unprecedented level of IP and web services integration, Primer Pack
gives users full access to embedded WSN services through common IT
methodologies. Individual sensor nodes can be assigned IP addresses,
DNS names and web pages, and can be directly managed using pervasive IP
tools such as SNMP, ping and traceroute. Standard Internet provisioning
and troubleshooting techniques, as well as authentication and other
security measures, can be applied to single nodes, groups of nodes or
the entire WSN.
Wireless Sensor Network: No Longer an Internet Outsider
Dr.
David Culler, Arch Rock founder and chief technology officer, said,
"Sensor networks in the past have been approached as technology
'islands,' divorced from the broad set of widely-used Internet
standards. Primer Pack uses those standards as the basis for bringing
the sensor network into the web services environment and integrating it
with enterprise applications. For the first time users can access and
remotely manage the sensor network just as they would any other
networked device.
"In addition, there's been far too much
'assembly required': users have been left on their own to pull together
the elements of WSNs - microcontrollers, radios, wireless protocols,
interfaces, commissioning and management tools - and then tediously
hand-code their applications. As a turnkey, customizable WSN system,
Primer Pack eliminates these obstacles and fully incorporates the
physical world of sensors into the digital world of IT."
"Users
have been waiting for a sensor network solution that requires no
training to set up or write custom applications, yet doesn't compromise
functionality," said Arch Rock CEO Roland Acra. "Pilot networks created
with Primer Pack can help enterprises in fields as diverse as
manufacturing, retail, energy management and freight logistics to build
and test applications or model an environment's RF characteristics,
paving the way for a smooth large-scale production rollout. For
wireless device developers and IT system integrators, Primer Pack
provides a service-oriented architecture (SOA) platform to assess the
functionality and performance of their solutions in advance of customer
deployments."
Components of Arch Rock Primer Pack
Primer
Pack is a complete out-of-the-box WSN application platform that
monitors physical conditions in a wide variety of environments.
Primer Pack components are:
*Arch
Rock Gateway Server. The Gateway Server connects via Ethernet to the
enterprise LAN, translating embedded applications into web services and
providing a web-based console for setup, diagnostics and management of
the WSN. Playing multiple roles - as an IP router, DNS server, HTTP
server, SNMP agent - the Gateway lets users generate a deployment map;
discover, register, move and configure nodes; enable or disable
sensors; graphically display statistics on node reliability and
performance; show node battery status; request data from individual
nodes or groups; set reporting intervals, thresholds and alerts; and
numerous other functions. Each page of the console offers a brief "How
to build this page" tutorial showing the REST API or SOAP calls that perform particular tasks. *Arch
Rock Bridge Node. This node provides industry-standard IEEE 802.15.4
wireless radio communication between the gateway and the sensor nodes.
*Arch Rock Sensor Nodes. Six battery-powered sensor nodes - miniature computers that incorporate TelosB- compatible
industry-standard motes - monitor temperature, light and humidity,
communicating with one another and the Gateway Server over a
self-organizing IEEE 802.15.4-based wireless network. Arch Rock's
robust TinyOS operating system, low-power mesh networking protocols and
embedded web services software maximize performance and reliability.
*Expansion
Ports for external sensors. Users can choose from among thousands of
types of common sensors/switches/actuators beyond those provided on the
Sensor Nodes to augment the basic functions of Primer Pack. New sensors
are easily added using pre-installed sensor drivers, with no system
programming necessary.
*Web Services. A comprehensive set of web
services lets users create applications to retrieve data from the WSN
and control its functions. Rather than having to write embedded code at
the sensor node, users work at the web services layer using REST and
SOAP interfaces, and choosing from an extensive list of popular
application-development and management environments (e.g., WebSphere,
Visual Studio, J2EE, OpenView, .NET) and standard languages (e.g.,
Java, C, C#, Perl, Visual Basic).
Key Arch Rock Enabling Technologies
As
the first product Arch Rock has brought to market, Primer Pack
showcases major advances in several areas of wireless sensor networking
technology, including IP integration, sensor node software, wireless
mesh networking, power efficiency and embedded web services.
Primer
Pack sensor node software is the first commercial implementation of
TinyOS 2.0, the latest version of the de facto standard embedded
operating system created specifically for sensor networks. Arch Rock
has enhanced TinyOS 2.0 for increased robustness and energy-efficiency,
allowing it to conserve maximum power even while remote
wirelessly-connected nodes maintain a high level of responsiveness. The
hardware independence designed into TinyOS 2.0 means the sensor node
hardware can be unbundled and coupled with multi-vendor sensor node
hardware offerings (e.g., microcontroller and radio chips from Intel,
Texas Instruments, Atmel, Ember) to let Arch Rock, OEM or system
integrator partners create wide-ranging future solutions geared to
specific applications.
To meet low power-consumption
requirements yet achieve highly reliable, efficient and scalable meshed
wireless communication, Arch Rock has created breakthrough network
protocols on top of the IEEE 802.15.4 radio standard. The company's
innovative link-layer protocol implements the concept of "passive
vigilance," which allows sensor nodes to "sleep," using minimum energy,
while remaining responsive to "wakeup calls" from the network when data
need to be collected or alerts generated. At the network-layer,
distinct protocols enable triple redundancy in the data-collection
path, directed routing to task a specific node with an action,
"density-aware" dissemination for reliable propagation of small objects
throughout the network, and over-the-air (OTA) programming and
provisioning for disseminating large objects such as major system
software updates.
In the embedded services area, Arch Rock's
Gateway Server seamlessly plugs embedded applications into web
services, effectively turning the sensor network - or the individual
sensor node - into an IP appliance. While other vendors' browser-based
WSN interfaces simply present the look of web services without a way to
influence and manipulate the data, Arch Rock provides a richly
configurable web services interface that lets users reach directly into
the sensor nodes to process and manipulate data-collection and
reporting parameters.
Pricing and Availability
Available
immediately, Arch Rock Primer Pack is priced at $4,995 and comes with a
Gateway Server, Bridge Node, six Sensor Nodes, expansion ports, and all
necessary software, including preinstalled drivers for external sensors
and a complete set of web services and Gateway Server APIs. Users can
purchase additional Sensor Nodes for $275 each. Each node can support
up to six external sensors.
About Arch Rock Corporation
Arch
Rock was founded in May 2005 to bridge the physical and digital worlds
by bringing data gathered by wireless sensor networks (WSNs) into the
enterprise IT infrastructure, where it can be easily viewed, analyzed
and managed. The company's founders came from the University of
California, Berkeley, and Intel Research, where they did seminal work
on three generations of wireless sensor nodes ("Berkeley motes") and
created the leading operating system for sensor networks, TinyOS. Arch
Rock WSN products are used in environmental monitoring, industrial
automation, tracking and logistics, and many other applications. The
privately-held company, based in San Francisco, has raised an initial
round of venture funding from New Enterprise Associates, Shasta
Ventures and Intel Capital. For more information, visit
http://www.archrock.com.
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