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Interview
Sun SPOTs Go Open Source
An interview with Arshan Poursohi
2/13/2008
And in the past year and through the remaining part of this fiscal year, we want to build that community up, in the university, K12, and in the professional levels. But we're concentrating on the universities, because that's where a lot of research is done, and where a lot of existing wireless sensor network work is done, along with robotics and things like that. So, we want to build momentum in the community and make it such that it sustains itself even if we're not there. That's the goal.How many higher education institutions within the US are already working with Sun SPOTs?
Approximately 30 inside the United States.
Could you give me a couple examples of the work they're doing?
One great example is Warren Wilson College, that's working on a typical wireless sensor network deployment measuring values of water quality, soil, and other features of the Panamanian jungle. They started by deploying this at their local college -- they have a river there-so they're doing a local version as well as working with the Cocobolo Nature Reserve in Panama, to deploy Sun SPOTs there. They're recording values back at their campus, so while the sensors are deployed in Panama, they are monitoring them and deploying code to them from the college in North Carolina. Another interesting school is right next door to Warren Wilson: UNC is doing a lot of autonomous robotics research and work with sensor networks as well.
How can other universities get involved?
There's a proposal program now, and you can find out more about that on sunspotworld.com. We're taking proposals from anyone associated with an accredited university, worldwide. We do have a list of places where we are authorized to ship the SPOTs. You submit your proposal by the 15th of the month, and we'll respond with a decision by the 1st of the next month. We are only granting the developer kits, so there are no cash or ancillary equipment grants -- you have to be able to provide the rest of your system yourself.
If you don't want to go through the grant system, we have a great discount for the education market. You can find out about that from your local education sales rep. A single development kit is $300, and you can purchase a classroom pack of 15 kits for $3,500.
Do you have any predictions about what kinds of things could be done in the future with Sun SPOTs?
Yes, we have lots of those! People talk about cell phones, and there are billions of them, with many people getting more than one. There's a limit to the market, but when you talk about embedded computers, it's trillions. And there are embedded computers everywhere -- parking meters, door knobs, light switches, and you've got hundreds of them in your car, if not thousands. So, if you can imagine all of these, plus the recent occurrence in the last decade or so that a lot of these devices are networked. They are not completely isolated any more. So, as you get this huge network of devices talking to each other, you can come up with some really interesting applications.
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