Wireless sensor networks

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

A wireless sensor network (WSN) is a wireless network consisting of spatially distributed autonomous devices using sensors to cooperatively monitor physical or environmental conditions, such as temperature, sound, vibration, pressure, motion or pollutants, at different locations. The development of wireless sensor networks was originally motivated by military applications such as battlefield surveillance. However, wireless sensor networks are now used in many civilian application areas, including environment and habitat monitoring, healthcare applications, home automation, and traffic control.

Sensor node (mote)

A sensor node, also known as a mote (chiefly in North America), is a node in a wireless sensor network that is capable of performing some processing, gathering sensory information and communicating with other connected nodes in the network.
The most widely used and one of the cheapest mote/sensor nodes are MICAZ motes. The MICAZ motes are used in low-power, wireless, sensor networks which are based on AVR “ATmega128” Microcontroller (Microcontroller is a tiny processor).


Contiki Operating System

Contiki is a tiny, open source, highly portable, multi-tasking operating system for memory-constrained networked embedded systems written by Dr. Adam Dunkels, an experimental computer scientist of the Networked Embedded Systems Group at Computer Systems Laboratory of the Swedish Institute of Computer Science, Kista, Sweden.
Its features Include full TCP/IP networking through uIP (micro-IP), a graphical (GUI) subsystem, VNC server, world's smallest web browser, etc. Contiki also consists of an event-driven kernel on top of which application programs are dynamically loaded and unloaded at runtime. Contiki is an appropriate operating system for using in the sensor network arena.

Posted by K.C. Hewage at 10:07 PM 0 comments  

Compiz Fusion

Sunday, December 9, 2007

What is Compiz Fusion ?

(taken from AboutCompizFusion Wiki page)

Compiz Fusion is the result of a merge between the well-known Beryl composite window manager and Compiz Extras, a community set of improvements to the Compiz composite window manager. Compiz Fusion aims to provide an easy and fun-to-use windowed environment, allowing use of the graphics hardware to render each individual window and the entire screen, to provide some impressive effects, speed and usefulness. The first Compiz Fusion developer release was Compiz Fusion 0.5.2 on August 13th 2007, shortly after Compiz 0.5.2 was released. First stable release of Compiz Fusion is 0.6.0 released on October 20 2007.

Compiz Fusion is an open-source software project, meaning anyone can use it freely and contribute.

It is important to note that Compiz and Compiz Fusion are not the same thing (see: Compiz Fusion Vs Compiz). There is close co-operation between the developers of Compiz and the developers of Compiz Fusion, though ; in fact, many Compiz Fusion developers are also Compiz developers.

Ubuntu Gusty Gibbon(7.10) comes with Compiz Fusion by default. You can enjoy it's beauty on ubuntu Gusty Gibbon. This video shows you about two New Compiz Fusion Plugins: Screensaver and Aquarium



Posted by K.C. Hewage at 2:04 PM 0 comments  

Keep Holding ON (The theme song of the film Eragon - 2006)

Friday, December 7, 2007

You're not alone
Together we stand
I'll be by your side, you know I'll take your hand
When it gets cold
And it feels like the end
There's no place to go
You know I won't give in
No I won't give in

Keep holding on
'Cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through
Just stay strong
'Cause you know I'm here for you, I'm here for you
There's nothing you could say
Nothing you could do
There's no other way when it comes to the truth
So keep holding on
'Cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through

So far away
I wish you were here
Before it's too late, this could all disappear
Before the doors close
And it comes to an end
With you by my side I will fight and defend
I'll fight and defend
Yeah, yeah

Keep holding on
'Cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through
Just stay strong
'Cause you know I'm here for you, I'm here for you
There's nothing you could say

Nothing you could do
There's no other way when it comes to the truth
So keep holding on
'Cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through

Hear me when I say, when I say I believe
Nothing's gonna change, nothing's gonna change destiny
Whatever's meant to be will work out perfectly
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

La da da da
La da da da
La da da da da da da da da

Keep holding on
'Cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through
Just stay strong
'Cause you know I'm here for you, I'm here for you
There's nothing you could say
Nothing you could do
There's no other way when it comes to the truth
So keep holding on
'Cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through

Keep holding on
Keep holding on

There's nothing you could say
Nothing you could do
There's no other way when it comes to the truth
So keep holding on
'Cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through


Posted by K.C. Hewage at 7:50 AM 0 comments  

Look @ your box as a 3d world

Monday, November 26, 2007

I got amazing thing which was created using java. It's very cool. What if your desktop were actually a 3D environment? What if your CD or movie database becomes a 3D jukebox? Project Looking Glass is based on Java technology and explores bringing a richer user experience to the desktop and applications via 3D windowing and visualization capabilities.
!!watch this!!

Don't forget to visit their opensource web site!




Looking glass


Posted by K.C. Hewage at 7:39 PM 1 comments