Hi Valdhor, Yes, we do plan on developing new sensor hardware that is ultra low power. We are looking at Bluetooth Low Energy BTLE, WiFi and Zigbee + Zigbee derivatives like SNAP. We will likely have one or more hardware sensors available with these technologies in the next 6 months. Not sure yet if we'll still have the same Flex + FOTA type capabilities for these out of the box -- it depends on the tech and the platform, but we definitely do want to get low-power sensors that can run on something like a watch battery for a year out there.
Best regards, Davis http://daisyworks.com On Fri, Aug 19, 2011 at 2:28 PM, valdhor <valdhorli...@embarqmail.com>wrote: > ** > > > Way cool. > > I am interested in using Zigbee sensors in ultra low power applications > (ie. battery operated for three months or more). Are there any plans for > this type of development? > > > --- In flexcoders@yahoogroups.com, Davis Ford <davisford@...> wrote: > > > > Hi flexcoders, > > > > I wanted to drop a note to tell you about an Air app I just built that > has a > > couple unique features. I built it to be a desktop app for Arduino ( > > http://arduino.cc) devices. If you're not familiar with Arduino it's an > > open source microelectronics hardware platform. It makes it easy to > program > > micros to do things like attach sensors, control motors, robotics, etc. > The > > possibilities are endless, and the Arduino subculture has really exploded > in > > the last few years. > > > > If you're already a Flex dev. that likes messing with Arduino, this may > be > > interesting to you. > > > > This app allows you to scan and connect to an Arduino-derivative, and > > connect to it via Bluetooth Serial Port Profile. It also provides a > visual > > App Store where you can browse and download an app specific to your > > hardware, and the types of sensors you may have plugged into it. > > > > So, for example, you could plug an infrared temperature sensor into the > > device, and then go grab an app that works with that device and temp. > sensor > > and download it. > > > > An app (may) consist of two parts: > > > > a) Firmware for the microcontroller > > b) A SWF module that can be dynamically loaded into the desktop container > > > > These two components are meant to work with each other. The firmware can > > control things on the device or read sensors and report values, and the > > module is a UI that allows you to interact with the firmware. So, you can > > program the device over the air using bluetooth, and load the module into > > the desktop application container, and now you have a re-configurable > > microcontroller that you can easily write, share, and deploy software to. > > > > Here's some screenshots of the app: http://daisyworks.com/downloads.html- > > and you can download it there; although it probably isn't all that useful > > unless you have the hardware. > > > > I wrote some tutorials here: http://daisyworks.com/docs.html on how to > write > > your own firmware and UI for it. The UI part should be very easy for the > > anyone on this mailing list. The firmware part is also trivially easy > even > > if you've never done it before. > > > > --- a few technical details about the app's design for anyone curious: > > > > * native installer for all 3 operating systems -- ant build script that > will > > create the installer executable with one command > > * uses http://swizframework.org heavily, b/c I love swiz :) > > > > You might be wondering how Air is interfacing with Bluetooth...that was > the > > kind of tricky part. I created an executable jar with an embedded Jetty > > server. The Jetty server exposes BlazeDS services using Spring-Flex. This > > is actually kind of cool b/c you can launch a full-fledged Java/BlazeDS > > server just by double-clicking a jar file. The installer packages the jar > > with it, and when that app bootstraps itself, it starts the jar file > itself > > and starts communicating with it. I use the bluecove java library to > > scan/find/connect Bluetooth devices. > > > > On the App Store, we just download the .hex firmware image and the .swf. > We > > can now program the Arduino-derivative with the .hex file, and load the > .swf > > module into a container. The application container provides the Tx/Rx > > communication between the SWF module and the firmware on the device. > > > > Note: today this only works with our own Arduino derivative hardware -- > we > > had to do a few tweaks to get the Firmware-Over-The-Air (FOTA) to work, > but > > it wouldn't be that hard to extend it to work with other Arduino boards. > > Our boards work with the Arduino SDK/libraries so there is no difference > > from that standpoint. > > > > I plan to make it FOSS > > > > If you want to hack on some microelectronics and put your Flex skills to > > work building UIs for the device, come and check it out. > > > > Cheers, > > davis > > > > -- > > http://daisyworks.com > > > > >
