Wireless Sensor Platform Has Rich Media Capabilities

SAN JOSE, CA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Building on its popular Imote2 advanced wireless sensor platform, Crossbow Technology announced the new Imote2 Multimedia Board (IMB400), an integrated camera sensor board that simplifies the capture of rich media content for wireless sensor network applications.

"For the first time visual and audio data can be easily added to wireless sensor applications," said Ralph Kling, Chief Architect for Crossbow Technology. "This opens up new possibilities for wireless sensor applications, including for example, surveillance, machine vision, object tracking, animal behavior surveys, and elder care monitoring in locations and environments that would otherwise be too costly to observe with traditional monitoring systems."

The Imote2 Multimedia Board offers a compact, power efficient solution due to its integration of camera, audio and motion detection functionality into one platform. The built-in camera can handle high-quality images with resolutions up to 640x480 pixels and 30 fps, along with audio at sampling rates of up to 48 kHz.

Instead of transmitting streaming video, the Imote2 Multimedia Board uses a Passive InfraRed (PIR) sensor to pick up any movement, which then activates the camera to take multiple still shots allowing for its operate as a low-power device. These images are then transmitted with accompanying sound, and all data is digitally captured for storage, transmission or further processing on the Imote2 main board.

In addition to the PIR sensor, key subsystems include a color image and video camera chip along with an audio capture and playback CODEC. The board is supported under TinyOS, with future support planned for Linux, SOS and the Microsoft .NET Micro Framework. It is planned for general availability in Q4, and advance sales inquiries may be directed to [email protected].

Crossbow's Imote2 is an advanced wireless platform designed for data-rich, compute-intensive wireless sensor network applications that operate in low-power, low duty cycle environments.

About Crossbow Technology
Founded in 1995, Crossbow Technology, Inc. is the leading end-to-end solutions supplier of wireless sensor networks and inertial sensor systems. Crossbow has shipped over 500,000 sensors to over 1000 customers worldwide, including select Fortune 100 companies, for applications as diverse as industrial automation, building monitoring, home automation, environmental control, defense, security and asset tracking.

Crossbow is leading the revolution in connecting the physical world with the digital world through wireless sensor networks and leading-edge inertial navigation systems. Headquartered in San Jose, CA, Crossbow has offices in China, Japan and Switzerland and distributors in 24 countries worldwide. The company is privately held. Its major investors include Cisco Systems, Intel Capital, Morgenthaler Ventures and Paladin Capital.