Octave Technology : FAQ - Wireless Sensor Networks and OCTAVEX

1. What is a wireless sensor network?
Wireless sensor networking is an exciting new technology that allows for true ad-hoc mesh networking of tiny little sensor devices. This technology is made possible by new advances in low-powered computing as well as the miniaturization of popular sensor components. The result is a technology that extends the internet beyond the PC to the physical world, allowing computers to sense and monitor physical assets and the world around them. This technology is likely to be a “disruptive technology” by changing the way people work and live. The CNET article “Building a Wireless Nervous System” provides and excellent insight into the future potential of this technology.
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2. What is a mote?
A mote is a common term given to a wireless sensor device that represents a single node in a wireless sensor network. Each node consists of a small cpu, radio, and sensor board. When a mote is powered on, it forms an ad-hoc mesh network with any neighboring nodes that are in range. The nodes communicate with each other so sensor data can be routed through the network to a gateway computer for processing. Because of their small size, nodes are also known as Smart Dust. The term “mote” originates from dust motes, i.e. - a single piece of dust. Currently, motes are about this size of a match book, but are expected to shrink to the size of an aspirin or a grain of rice over the next few years.

For more information on motes, see the article “How Motes Work” on HowStuffWorks.com.
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3. What types of applications can Wireless Sensor Networks be used for?
The number of different types of applications that can benefit from wireless sensor networks is incredible. Over the next decade, this technology is likely to become part of our everyday lives at work and at home. Some early industries and uses of the technology include:

Environmental Monitoring
Asset Tracking
Predictive Maintenance
Asset Status Monitoring

Structural Health Monitoring
Air Quality Monitoring
Industrial Automation & Control
Military Surveillance
Homeland Security: Perimeter Security & Pathogen Detection

For more information on current research, projects, and industry news related to wireless sensor networks, visit WSNUpdate.com.
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4. What is OCTAVEX and what does it have to do with motes?
Many of the significant players in the field of wireless sensor networking are focusing primarily on the hardware that makes the technology possible. Octave Technology is one of the first companies focusing primarily on the software that allows businesses and organizations to actually use the technology to their benefit. OCTAVEX is a secure, scalable web services based middleware layer that hides the complexities of low level sensor networks and delivers sensor data and alert notifications in a common XML based format. OCTAVEX allows organizations to reduce custom integration and development costs, while benefiting from new information about their assets or environment through mesh-networked sensor devices.

You can find more information on OCTAVEX here.
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5. What are some of the features of OCTAVEX?
OCTAVEX reduces custom development and integration efforts required for wireless sensor network solutions, allowing businesses and organizations to benefit from remote sensor data more quickly and less expensively. Some of the features of OCTAVEX include:

Enterprise grade middleware that is web services based to easily tie into corporate systems
Provides critical asset or environmental sensor data in a common XML based format allowing rapid M2M solution development
OCTAVEX Gateways to eliminate the complexity of working with particular types of wireless sensor hardware
Platform independent using standard protocols such as XML & SOAP
Easily scaleable for small pilots to large distributed deployments
Fault-tolerant redundant architecture
Core Services provides built-in business logic, such as

Rules Service for threshold and event triggering
Alert Service for notification and messaging
Archive Service for historic trending and analysis

Web Based Administration and Provisioning System
Easily Extendable with reusable software components and open APIs
Built using .NET Framework

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6. What types of motes does OCTAVEX work with?
Currently, OCTAVEX supports motes from Crossbow Technology or any other mote running the TinyOS embedded sensor operating system. In the near future, OCTAVEX will support motes from every major manufacturer including Ember, Millennial Net, Dust Networks, and Sensicast.
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7. What types of sensors can be used with a mote?
Theoretically, any sensor can be integrated with a mote. The issue comes down to cost and complexity – which can be categorized into one of three areas: Existing Sensor Boards (easy), External Data Acquisition Devices (medium), and Proprietary Black Boxes (difficult).

The existing sensor boards can be used out of the box and include the following sensors:

Temperature
Light
Humidity
Barometric Pressure
Accelerometer
Magnetometer
Noise (sound)
GPS

Particular sensor boards, such as the MDA300 from Crossbow, include up to 8 analog inputs and 8 digital I/O ports. With slightly more effort, these mote sensor boards can tie into external sensors or data acquisition devices. Example external sensors include: water level, soil moisture, PAR light, wind speed and direction.

Finally, it is possible to develop a custom sensor interface that can tie into a proprietary or non-standard “black-box”. The basic sensor board includes a breadboard area that allows custom electronics for interfacing with a particular device.
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8. What frequencies do the motes use for communication?
Motes are currently available at all standard open commercial frequencies, including:

315 MHz
433 MHz
868 / 900 MHz
2.4 GHz

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9. How long do the batteries last in a mote?
Mote battery life is a one of the most critical parameters for a wireless sensor network and is closely related to how often a mote performs an RF transmission. Currently, motes broadcasting their data every 3 minutes can run for up to 1 year on normal AA batteries. The battery life can be extended significantly with larger batteries or by modifying the transmission rate (i.e. – only send data above certain thresholds, etc.). An area of tremendous research, mote battery life is expected to be extended significantly over the next few years. Additionally, wireless sensor network software, such as OCTAVEX, can help extend battery life by allowing users to selectively adjust transmission rates.
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10. When will OCTAVEX be available?
A Beta version of the OCTAVEX framework is currently available to download for testing and evaluation purposes. Octave Technology will provide free evaluations licenses as well as limited online support with this version of the software so users can accelerate testing and prototyping of wireless sensor applications. The first full release of OCTAVEX is scheduled for release in early 2006 and will provide support for additional WSN hardware products.
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