Sun Microsystems launches Java-based sensor development kit
Sun Microsystems launches Java-based sensor development kit
Keywords: Sensors, Java
Released to the public in 1995, Sun Microsystems' Java programming language presently powers more than 1.5 billion cell phones, 700 million PCs and millions of other devices. Now, Sun aims to make this available to the sensor community and in May 2006 the company launched “Sun SPOT” (Small Programmable Object Technology), a Java-based sensor development kit. This follows on from work conducted in 2003, when researchers at Sun Labs began working on wireless sensor networks.
Sun SPOT is a battery-operated platform aimed at the development of sensor networks, robotics and personal consumer electronics and is powered by a J2ME(Java 2 Platform, Micro edition) virtual machine, written almost entirely in Java. Targeted principally at the education and research comminities, the product aims to provide an easy, affordable and quick way to build Java-based sensor applications that run directly on the central processing unit (CPU). A key benefit of the J2ME software running on a virtual machine is that it effectively allows the software to function as the device's operating system and also lets developers construct new drivers in Java to add functions to a sensor. This means that a programmer with a basic knowledge of Java can readily write a programme, load it onto the device, run it and debug it.
The kit comprises a processor board and a sensor board (Plate 1), with the following features:
Plate 1The Sun SPOT sensor development kit (Sun Microsystems)
1 Sun SPOT processor board
180 MHz 32-bit ARM920T CPU, 512 kB of RAM and 4 MB of flash memory;
2.4 GHz radio with integrated antenna;
USB interface;
3.6 V rechargeable 750 mAh lithium-ion battery; and
48 μA deep sleep mode.
2 General purpose sensor board
three-axis accelerometer;
temperature sensor;
light sensor;
eight tri-colour LEDs;
six analogue inputs;
two momentary switches; and
five general purpose I/O pins and four high current output pins.
Using this kit, a Java programmer could, for example, relatively easily design a device which could be attached to someone's arm, sense the arm movements and transmit them to a robot arm that would move in the same way. They could also use a simple command from a Java library to instruct the robot arm's motor to move to a certain position, eliminating the complexity of programming a series of pulses to move the motor. In addition, a Java virtual machine that controlled the CPU directly could do a better job of managing battery use as power needs change, which can be critical for autonomous sensors that are left unattended for long periods of time.
Some applications have already been investigated: researchers at Volkswagen have created a prototype sensor network in which a vehicle performed a safety check on the owner's home before they drove off. The system used sensors to check whether any gas or electrical appliances had been left on and then offered to switch them off remotely. Other possible applications include the investigation of swarm intelligence, experimentation with and deployment of mesh networks, custom robotics and the development of new types of gestural interfaces. Developers can collaborate, learn and share ideas at www.SunSPOTWorld.com, a website designed specifically to support the Sun SPOT community.
For more information contact: Sun Microsystems, Inc., 4150 Network Circle,Santa Clara, CA, USA. Tel: USA: 1-800-555-9, international: 1-650-960- 1300, web site: www.sun.com
