Where Sensors Make Sense
From: Technology Review - 12/15/2005
By: Kate Greene

Researchers developing networks of miniature, intelligent, and wireless
sensors envision a host of applications, from endowing pill bottles with the
ability to alert caretakers when patients do not take their medicine to
implanting a battlefield with the devices to warn of an advancing enemy.
Manufacturing equipment could monitor and repair itself in the event of
failure, though the technology has yet to emerge from the prototype stage.
That could soon change, as Siemens has developed a mass-producible sensor
capable of detecting a broad array of environmental alterations. Siemens'
technology stacks six sensors on top of each other on a single chip, unlike
conventional sensor networks that string together multiple nodes that each
detect a specific condition. Each layer in Siemens' sensor consists of a
different material customized to detect a specific condition such as an
elevated level of carbon monoxide, an arrangement that streamlines the
production of sensor networks and costs much less. The sensor also improves
power consumption by gleaning energy from its surroundings to supplement its
lithium-ion battery and powering down into sleep-mode when environmental
factors are unchanged. Siemens' Osman Ahmed foresees the emergence of a
"comfortstat" that will adjust the conditions of a home based on information
gathered from sensors placed in every room. Information about carbon dioxide
levels, airflow, humidity, and other factors would be relayed to the
comfortstat, alerting residents to potential hazards. University of Florida
researchers are using the technology to monitor the conditions in cages of
lab animals, testing for levels of ammonia, water, and temperature, though
commercial implementation is still around two years away. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.technologyreview.com/InfoTech-Networks/wtr_16016,258,p1.html

Links:
Technologies Of The Year - MEMS The Word
http://www.industryweek.com/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=11008

Siemens Building Technologies
http://www.sbt.siemens.com/
