MicroStrain Launches SensorCloud™

MicroStrain announces the release of SensorCloud™, a unique sensor data storage, visualization, and remote management platform that leverages powerful cloud computing technologies to provide excellent data scalability, rapid graphing, and user programmable online analytics. Originally designed to support long-term deployments of MicroStrain wireless sensors, SensorCloud now supports any web-connected third party device, sensor, or sensor network through a simple OpenData API.

Core SensorCloud™ features include:

• Data in the Cloud: Virtually unlimited data storage with triple-redundant reliability, ideal for collecting and preserving long-term sensor data streams
• OpenData API: Allows users to securely upload sensor data from any web-connected source or platform, and download selected or entire sets of data
• FastGraph: Time series visualization & graphing tool with exceptionally fast response allows viewers to navigate through massive amounts of data, and quickly zero in on points of interest
• Custom Alerts: Flexible SMS and email alert scripting features helps users to create meaningful and actionable alerts
• LiveConnect: Allows remote configuration, viewing, and record high speed data streams from any wireless sensor cluster on your Ethernet network in real-time
• MathEngine: Enables users to quickly develop and deploy data processing and analysis apps that live alongside their data in the cloud

According to Steve Arms, CEO of MicroStrain, “We have now expanded our offerings from sensors and sensor networks to information management and analysis, and have implemented SensorCloud™ to provide sensor information when, where and how our customers require it. This is truly ground-breaking technology and I am proud to lead such an innovative team of engineers who have thought outside of the box to make this a reality.”

Unlike previous web-based sensor data aggregation platforms, MicroStrain’s SensorCloud™ is unique in that it leverages several new cloud computing technologies to make it easier to work with extremely large data sets using a new high-performance web data visualization tool that typically generates plots in under a second, and allows users to quickly navigate through gigabyte, terabyte, and even petabyte sized data sets. In addition, SensorCloud™ is, to our knowledge, the first web-based sensor data aggregation platform that provides a flexible online analytics tool supporting user-developed apps. Users can either upload their code or use an online editor to develop a wide range of data processing apps, from simple one-time scripts for filtering and statistical analysis, to advanced, continuously-running online algorithms for health monitoring and prognostics.

MicroStrain
www.microstrain.com

Get Into Energy Harvesting with a Design Kit

All it takes is a sensor to be in the energy harvesting development mode with MicroStrain’s Advanced Pioneer Kit. The kit is based on MicroStrain EH-Link a hybrid energy harvesting wireless sensor node. The node collects energy from multiple sources including strain, vibration, thermal gradients, ambient light and electromagnetic fields. 

The Pioneer Kit includes an EH-Link node, USB Base Station with Antenna, Thermal Electric Generator (TEG), Solar Demo Board, 9-V Alkaline Battery, Battery Clip, EH-Link 1000 ohm Tester Board, and 1000 µF Capacitor as well as Node Commander Software and Manuals CD (Windows® XP, Vista, 7).

For more information including how to order the kit (use the Buy tab), click here.

MicroStrain’s Wireless Sensor Products now Integrate with National Instruments’ LabVIEW

MicroStrain’s G-Link and SG-Link sensor products now easily integrate with National Instruments’ LabVIEW graphical system design software. The seamlessly connectivity to LabVIEW facilitates data acquisition, graphical display, analysis and data storage for MicroStrain’s wireless acceleration and strain systems.  

For a link to the LabVIEW driver for G-Link click here and for SG-Link click here

MicroStrain, Inc. Awarded US Army SBIR Phase I Contract

Williston, VT – The US Army recently awarded MicroStrain, Inc. a Phase I SBIR contract to develop an active radio frequency identification embedded usage tracking system for helicopter rotating components.

The objective of the SBIR is to develop a comprehensive and networked health management capability that can be embedded directly into rotorcraft components. The project will support the development and demonstration of tiny, wireless energy harvesting radio frequency identification (EH-RFID™) nodes that provide part identification, performance monitoring, on-board storage of component usage history, and remaining useful life.

Energy harvesting combined with advanced wireless sensors represents a breakthrough technology that enables truly autonomous monitoring, reporting, and alerting. The new EH-RFID™ nodes to be developed under this Army SBIR will be compatible with MicroStrain’s new wireless sensor data aggregators (WSDA™), which synch wireless sensor networks and provide a remote portal to a secure server. WSDA™ devices feature an open architecture interface for integration with existing health and usage monitoring systems (HUMS), and stand-alone operation modes for data collection on aircraft without HUMS. WSDAs™ can also be programmed to send e-mail and SMS text message alerts if a potentially damaging event is detected.

“One of the unique aspects of this Phase I SBIR is that the EH-RFID™ sensor nodes consume very little energy, facilitating continuous operation using highly miniaturized energy harvesters. Our wireless, battery free RFIDs will break down the barriers to deploying widely distributed wireless sensor networks. Once embedded, these tiny sensors will reduce maintenance costs, increase mission readiness, and enhance safety”, said Steve Arms, President of MicroStrain.

MicroStrain
www.microstrain.com

MicroStrain® Wins Silver and Gold at Sensors Expo

Williston, VT – MicroStrain won two more “Best of Sensors Expo” awards at Sensors Expo in Rosemont, IL. These Gold and Silver awards bring MicroStrain’s total to ten Gold awards and two Silver awards, accumulated over the last eight years.

^{Steve Arms, President of MicroStrain (right) and Mike Robinson, VP Sales and Marketing accept awards}

This year’s gold award was for HS-Link™ three channel High Speed Wireless Node with sample rates up to 100 kHz on all three channels. During user definable sampling sessions, HS-LINK™ stores bursts of data in a buffer; once sampling is complete data are then transferred to non-volatile flash memory. Each sensor channel has a dedicated 16 bit analog to digital converter (A/D) enabling the three distinct sensor inputs to be sampled simultaneously. HS-LINK™ also features a precision timekeeper, which can receive a high priority timing beacon, which enables multiple HS-Links™ in a star network to achieve a node-to-node data sampling synchronization of ±4 microseconds.

The silver award was for 3DM-GX3™-25, Miniature Attitude Heading Reference System. 3DM-GX3™-25 is amongst the smallest and lightest AHRS on the market today, with versions weighing as little as 11.5 grams. Improved performance in the face of ambient vibrations and oscillations is achieved by oversampling at 30 KHz and then digitally filtering and performing coning and sculling integrals at 1 kHz. Oversampling also greatly improves the resolution of the sensor readings. User adjustable output rates of up to 1000 Hz make the 3DM-GX3™-25 AHRS one of the fastest attitude heading reference systems available today. Each 3DM-GX3™-25 is individually calibrated to compensate for gyro g-sensitivity and sensor misalignment and includes routines for hard and soft iron field calibrations. Full temperature compensation ensures performance over a wide operating temperature range.

MicroStrain
www.microstrain.com

US Navy Awards MicroStrain a Phase I SBIR Contract

Williston, VT – The US Navy (NAVAIR) recently awarded MicroStrain, Inc. a Phase I SBIR contract worth $80,000 to develop a wireless system to measure buffet loads on the control surfaces of in-service aircraft. The data obtained will be used for structural life tracking of individual aircraft.

Structural monitoring of Navy aircraft is of critical importance as the fleet ages. The highly transient nature of buffet loading on control surfaces makes it difficult to measure using conventional sensors.

“We will solve this problem by combining a network of time-synchronized wireless sensors with integrated microelectronics for static and dynamic loads sensing, data recording, communications, and energy harvesting. Our proposed sensors possess major advantages, including: sealed stainless steel packaging, full calibration prior to installation, rapid installation, and locations which enable a full computation of control surface forces and moments”, said Steve Arms, President of MicroStrain.

MicroStrain
www.microstrain.com

Sensors for Biomechanics

MicroStrain® is committed to innovation in the field of microminiature sensors.

Sensors are literally changing our world and the introduction of advanced sensing technology, combined with wireless networks and self-powering devices, opens the way for the next generation of smarter and safer machines, civil structures, and implanted devices.

The following image gives an example of the types of innovation we have brought to the biomechanics industry:

Our award winning product line continues to be adapted to meet new applications and to solve customer problems. The uses of sensors are limited only by the imagination and our team of experienced engineers work closely with clients to offer sensor solutions in many industry segments.

MicroStrain
www.MicroStrain.com

MicroStrain Receives Third Frost & Sullivan Award

Williston, VT – Frost & Sullivan has awarded MicroStrain® the 2009 North American Business Development Strategy Leadership of the Year Award in the sensors market in recognition of the company’s ability to grow at 40 percent per year over the last five years.

The Award recognizes the company’s ability to perceive consumer needs, develop products and services that meet consumer needs, successfully introduce products or services to the industry, and identify new market segments to expand the existing customer base. Through a combination of vision, technology, and successful marketing, the Award recipient has demonstrated superior market growth skills.

“MicroStrain attributes its success to its customers, its drive to understand customers’ needs and to innovative employees who translate these needs into products,” said Steve Arms, President of MicroStrain. The company has won nine “Best of Sensors Expo” Gold awards and two previous Frost & Sullivan awards for innovation.

MicroStrain has consistently secured government funding to develop state-of-the-art technology and has quickly transitioned these innovations into their standard products.

Frost & Sullivan’s independent report FY2009 concluded with the following:

“MicroStrain’s success in its business development strategy is illustrated by its new 19,000 square foot facility with state-of-the-art technology for its employees, to support its growing customer base, increasing demand, rapid growth and research and development. Research indicates that MicroStrain’s strategy has been and will always be to work with its customers to introduce the latest in advancd sensing technology. For its ability to execute an innovative business development strategy within the existing competitive landscape empowering the company to grow despite the current economic turmoil, to base product innovations and growth strategy exclusively on customer needs, Frost & Sullivan is once again proud to present the 2009 North American Business Development Strategy Leadership of the Year Award to MicroStrain in the sensors market,” stated Frost & Sullivan’s industry analyst, V. Sankaranarayanan.

The Frost & Sullivan Award for Business Development Strategy Leadership is presented each year to the company that has demonstrated excellence in business development within the industry. Analysts at Frost & Sullivan monitor major participants in industry and conduct interviews with the companies, customers and suppliers, and carry out extensive technology and secondary research to determine which company should receive the award.

MicroStrain
www.microstrain.com

MicroStrain Awarded Phase II SBIR Contract by US Navy

Williston, VT – The US Navy (NAVAIR) has recently awarded MicroStrain, Inc. a Phase II SBIR contract to further develop a suite of miniature vibro-mechanical energy harvesters for powering wireless sensors on Navy aircraft.

Recent developments in combining sensors, microprocessors, and radio frequency (RF) communications holds the potential to revolutionize the way we monitor and maintain critical systems [1]. In the future, literally billions of wireless sensors could be deeply embedded within machines, structures, and the environment. Sensed information would be automatically collected, compressed, and forwarded for condition based maintenance.

The U.S. Navy’s long term vision is to deploy distributed wireless sensor networks along with RFIDs to provide a wealth of usage information about an entire aircraft structure. As the fleet ages, there’s an increasing need for embedded wireless strain sensors capable of detecting and tracking accumulated strains “precursors” to crack initiation [2].

But wireless sensors need energy to operate, and battery maintenance, economic battery replacement, and safe battery disposal all remain major barriers. MicroStrain’s miniature energy harvesters break down these barriers by efficiently converting a machine’s vibrations into power. This will enable the next generation of wireless sensor networks to provide continuous health monitoring of our critical structures, such as aircraft and bridges, without requiring batteries.

During Phase I, MicroStrain’s engineers designed, built, and tested novel miniature energy harvesters that scavenged ambient vibrations from a helicopter gearbox. Continuous power output from a four cubic centimeter, 40 gram energy harvester was 40 milliwatts – enough to power MicroStrain’s high sample rate wireless sensor node, which records strain and vibration data continuously at rates of up to 50,000 samples per second. The Phase II effort will support further development of these systems in preparation for flight tests.

“We’re excited to be selected by the Navy to advance our vibration energy harvesting systems. This new round of SBIR funding complements our current developments in advanced, wireless structural health monitoring systems for rotary and fixed wing aircraft”, said Steven Arms, President of MicroStrain.

The Navy SBIR Phase II award will provide up to ~$917K over a two year period. The Federal SBIR program is highly competitive, and funds only those small businesses innovations with significant commercial potential. More information on the Navy’s SBIR program is available on-line at www.navysbir.com.

References:

[1] The Economist, “When Everything Connects”, Special Report on Telecoms, April 28th-May 4th 2007, pages 3-18

[2]  Maley, S., Plets, J., Phan, N.: “US Navy Roadmap to Structural Health and Usage Monitoring – The Present and Future”, Proc. American Helicopter Society 63rd Annual Forum, Virginia Beach, VA, May 1-3, 2007, CONF 63; VOL 2, pages 1456-1467, ISSN 0733-4249

www.microstrain.com

MicroStrain® Releases Miniature Attitude Heading Reference System

Williston, VT – MicroStrain Inc has released the latest in its line of attitude heading reference systems (AHRS). The 3DM-GX3-25™ AHRS is the first of the 3DM-GX3™ family of miniature inertial systems to be released into the market. With versions weighing only 11.5 grams, it is the smallest and lightest AHRS on the market today.

The 3DM-GX3-25 AHRS combines 12 sensors – triaxial accelerometers, gyroscopes and magnetometers with three embedded temperature sensors and an on-board microprocessor running a sophisticated sensor fusion algorithm to provide static and dynamic orientation and inertial measurements.

Improved performance under vibration is achieved by over sampling the sensors at 30KHz, digitally filtering and performing coning and sculling integrals at 1 KHz and outputting deltaAngle and deltaVelocity. User adjustable output rates up to 1 KHz makes the 3DM-GX3-25 AHRS one of the fastest attitude heading reference systems available today.

Each 3DM-GX3-25 AHRS is individually calibrated to compensate for gyro-G-sensitivity and sensor misalignment. Full temperature compensation for bias and sensitivity of all nine sensors ensures performance over the full operating range of the sensor. A new mounting system provides precision alignment of the sensor. The 3DM-GX3-25 AHRS is supplied with routines that enable the user to carry out hard and soft iron field calibrations, where appropriate. Units are available with USB 2.0, RS232 and TTL serial interfaces.

Low cost evaluation kits provide engineers with an economical solution to develop and test applications and very competitive OEM discounts make the 3DM-GX3-25 AHRS the solution of choice when low cost and high performance is required.

www.microstrain.com