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October 06, 2009

NPE, GainSpan Unveil WiFi-IT! Module, a Low-Power Wi-Fi Sensor

By Shamila Janakiraman, TMCnet Contributor

North Pole Engineering, Inc. (NPE) and GainSpan Corporation have announced the release of the first module in NPE’s low-power Wi-Fi sensor networks product line. The 802.11 b/g compatible WiFi (News - Alert)-IT! module is based on GainSpan’s GS1010 system-on-chip integrated solution.




GainSpan ensures a long battery life and high levels of system integration. These along with the advanced software of NPE help manufacturers develop new applications on the embedded processor of the GS1010 for integrating Wi-Fi connectivity into their sensor network solutions.

“The low-power consumption, multiple interfaces, and high degree of system integration of GainSpan’s system-on-chip enabled us to deliver an advanced hardware and software platform that allows engineers to easily integrate Wi-Fi capability into their embedded products,” said Joe Meyer, president of North Pole Engineering, in a release.

Product development is facilitated by NPE’s WiFi-IT! Module, which offers a suitable hardware and software platform and also allows easy retrofitting of existing equipment with Wi-Fi capability. Product engineers can use different interfaces like UART, SPI, I2C, digital and analog for connecting to existing hardware.
Company sources said that the WiFi-IT!’s reporting engine and the manufacturer’s equipment are configurable on-the-air and are accessible via a virtual COMM or UDP (News - Alert) port.

Also the WiFi-IT! Module is user-programmable which employs WiFi-IT! Basic, which is a simple high-level programming environment which allows developers to write their own applications that can run on the GS1010’s application processor. It does not require real-time operating system or API knowledge, confirmed company sources.

In the release, Vijay Parmar, CEO of GainSpan said, “The platform NPE developed using the GS1010 significantly reduces the development time of embedded products. Designers can write code in Basic language with no knowledge of the underlying processor.”

This enables developers to eliminate need for a separate user microprocessor as the GS1010 provides embedded control as well as wireless communication capabilities in one package saving on time and costs.

GainSpan’s advanced power management technology lets the WiFi-IT! to operate for many years on a single AA battery or by using energy harvesting techniques. This gives rise to many applications like smart energy home, asset tracking, building automation, and industrial applications, noted GainSpan officials.

The WiFi-IT! module measures 1.3 x 1.8 inch and it operates in the 2.4 GHz band. It is available in two antenna configurations, the WL10-GC with an integrated ceramic PIFA antenna and the WL10-GS with an SMA (News - Alert) terminal mount hinged antenna.
 

Shamila Janakiraman is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Shamila’s articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Patrick Barnard


 







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