The Internet Engineering Task Force has kicked off a new effort that could deliver a key building block for wireless sensor networks, says EE Times. The Routing Over Low-power and Lossy Networks (ROLL) group aims to define a standard for Internet Protocol as early as next summer.

Sensor networks may be the next big thing. Companies like Arch Rock and Dust Networks already are fielding small battery-backed sensor nodes. The IETF 6lowpan Working Group aims to define the transport of IPv6 over IEEE 802.15.4 low-power wireless personal area networks.

The ROLL effort aims to create a standard way to link such nodes and their networks with the broader Internet. It will support any link including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and 802.15.4.

The ZigBee Alliance is an association of companies working together to enable low-power, wireless monitoring and control networks based on an open global standard. ZigBee is working towards further standardization for wireless sensor and control markets, based on IEEE 802.15.4, a standard that defines the wireless medium access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY). It was approved during the sponsored ballot in May 2003.

Smart Dust and TinyOS projects, were developed at UC Berkeley’s Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS).

“There has been an explosion of proprietary protocols for sensor networks in the last five years,” said Jean-Philippe Vasseur, an engineer at Cisco who will co-chair ROLL.

“When each one aims to become an ad hoc standard you wind up with a model of many translation gateways that leads to a complex and expensive architecture that doesn’t scale,” he said.

The market for sensor networks is still relatively small, but analysts expect it will grow dramatically over time.

In related news, ORBCOMM today announced that it has signed a next generation satellite constellation contract with Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) to build 18 new ORBCOMM Generation 2 satellites providing two-way Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communicationan. ORBCOMM may purchase up to 30 additional OG2 satellites to augment and upgrade ORBCOMM’s existing satellite constellation.

SNC, Boeing and ITT will provide oversight, systems engineering, technical management, and integration of the OG2 program. MicroSat Systems (MSI), a wholly owned subsidiary of SNC, will leverage its experience on the TacSat-2 mission to design the spacecraft and perform integration and test activities for the OG2 satellites.

ORBCOMM customers will be able to transmit data over the OG2 satellites at greater speeds and send larger data packets using future modems. In addition, all OG2 satellites will be designed with Automatic Identification System that tracks maritime vessels by integrating GPS and Loran location data into a VHF radio signal.

ORBCOMM will market AIS data to U.S. and international coast guards and government agencies, as well as companies engaged in security or logistics businesses for tracking shipping activities. They anticipate selecting the launch vehicle within 12 months and plan to launch 18 OG2 satellites in three separate missions of six satellites each between 2010 and 2011.

Related Bluetooth, RFID and Zigbee stories on Dailywireless include; Low Power WiFi Sensor, Grape Networks, Spy Squirrels, Sensors Expo 2007, Open Source Zigbee Net, MaxStream ZigBee module, RF-ID Giants Merge, Realtime Tracking: WiFi is the Ticket, RFID Tracking via Dutch Umbrella, Active ID & Temperature: On the Road, Small Satellite Conference and DOD Double Header at Canaveral.

Original Source: dailywireless.org