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IBM aims to make wireless sensors easy to code
Memsic Inc. is teaming up with software and services giant IBM Corp. to make setting up applications for wireless networked sensors as easy as creating an application for the iPhone.
Andover-based Memsic provided the wireless sensor hardware to IBM to help it develop a new operating system for such devices, which it calls Mote Runner. An IBM research team in Zurich, led by Thorsten Kramp, worked on making the OS as small as possible to allow it to draw as little power as possible and also fit on the small amount of memory usually found on wireless sensors, known as motes.
But the key innovation is that the OS recognizes applications developed in the standard programming languages of Java and C#. That means that almost any programmer with some skill in either of those languages could start developing applications for a bunch of sensors connected together wirelessly. Those applications will likely start in the established markets for wireless sensors but should expand beyond that soon, said Kramp.
“Building automation is certainly one of the classic topics for wireless internetworking, so we expect some traction in that space,” he said. “Also on hand is environmental monitoring. The other thing that we are actively looking into is the assisted living space, where we are able to allow people in assisted living situations to stay longer in their home.”
IBM is making a software developer kit for Mote Runner available immediately free of charge for non-commercial applications and is licensing it to businesses. By early July, Memsic will be selling sensor packages with the Mote Runner OS pre-installed and with the pieces needed to develop applications and get them onto the sensors, according to Steven Tsui, worldwide vice president, sales for Memsic.
The hardware that Memsic is selling is its IRIS, a 2.4 GHz wireless sensor mote. IRIS came to Memsic when it acquired Crossbow Technology Inc. for $18 million in cash in January. IBM had already been using the IRIS sensor motes in developing Mote Runner.
Publicly traded Memsic (Nasdaq: MEMS) has about 430 employees, according to Tsui. The company had been making mild profits until the last quarter of 2009, when it lost $770,000 on declining revenue of $5.6 million. Its revenue shot back up, to $7.3 million, in the first quarter of 2010, but it posted a loss of $2.3 million, mostly related to the cost of acquiring Crossbow.
Tsui said that Memsic already has a solid customer base for its wireless sensors in agriculture, where farms and vineyards use them to track heat and moisture levels among the crops. In addition, its sensors are used widely in structure monitoring, where sensors can detect stress and vibrations on the structural members of things like bridges, to give early warnings of possible failures. Memsic is hoping to vastly increase its penetration in those markets and grow in new ones such as electric utility grid monitoring, now that creating custom applications for its sensors are easier than ever, Tsui said.
For IBM, in addition to getting revenue from licensing the Mote Runner to other sensor makers, it will also be offering all of the support for the software, whether it is bought standalone, or as part of a package from Memsic or some other sensor company, according to Christopher Sciacca, manager of communications for IBM Zurich. That ties in well with IBM’s strategy of growing its service business and puts it on the ground floor of what it hopes will be an exploding market. Memsic’s Tsui thinks that IBM’s involvement will spark that explosion.
“It should send a good message in the marketplace,” Tsui said. “When IBM endorses something you can probably say that the industry has now been validated.”
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