Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Contiki's Internet of Things: From Badgers to Light Bulbs

What does swans, badgers, data centers, city streets, and light bulbs have in common? Contiki!

One of the coolest things with Contiki is the wide range of systems it is used in. To show this off, we have created a page on the Contiki website to showcase Contiki-based products and systems!

The Internet of Things will be a revolution. It will be everywhere. These Contiki-based systems are some of the early signs of what to expect:
  • The Oxford badger tracking system – also used to track swans, hares, and eagles
  • The tado° smart thermostat
  • The Rad-DX radioactive radiation monitor
  • The Zolertia city street noise monitoring system
  • ... and many more on the Contiki website!

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Self-powered Contiki Power Sensor Wins IPSO 2013 Challenge

Need to know how much power that flows through a specific power cord, and see the information directly on your smartphone? That's exactly what the Contiki-based winner of the IPSO 2013 challenge does. Just clip on the sensor on cord and see the data from anywhere in the world – the sensor sends the measurements wirelessly and securely across the Internet. Best of all: no batteries need to be replaced, ever, as the sensor is completely self-powered.

The wireless power sensor, developed by Redwire Consulting, Boston, MA, won the IPSO 2013 Challenge last week. Aside the fame and recognition, winning the competition also included a $10000 USD check.


The sensor that is clipped-on to an power cord measures the current flowing through the wire and sends the data wirelessly to a cloud server, hosted at lowpan.com. By using Contiki and its IPv6 stack, the sensor can send its readings directly to the cloud, without having any protocol translator boxes involved.


IPSO 2013 Challenge chairman Nick Ashworth said "The innovation, simplicity and end-to-end utilization of IP technology made this entry stand out to the judges."

The Redwire system was not the only Contiki-based system to compete in the IPSO 2013 challenge. The full list of entries can be found here.

More coverage: