After many months of waiting, Sun Labs has released their research platform for Java on wireless sensor devices. Called the "Sun SPOT", the hardware is extremely similar in capabilities to a cellular/mobile phone, without the display (180 MHz 32 bit ARM920T processor with 512KB RAM and 4MB of Flash). The SPOT includes a CC2420 radio, and researchers at Sun are working on cross-communication between the much lower power TinyOS nodes including Tmote Sky and the larger SPOT node.

The system is still experimental (dubbed "experimental technology from sun laboratories") and was designed to foster creative ideas for wireless sensor networks. Details about the kit, from the folks at Sun, include:

The first limited-production run of Sun SPOT Java Development Kits is now available for U.S. customers.*

The Sun SPOT development kit includes everything needed to start developing applications for your Sun SPOT:

• two complete Sun SPOT devices with demo sensor boards
  
• a base station Sun SPOT to connect to your development machine
  
• software development tools
  
• USB cable

The development tools are compatible with Windows XP with Java runtime, PPC Mac OS X 10.4 or better and most common Linux distributions. In addition, the API specification for the initial release of the Sun SPOT libraries is available for preview.

Details about the system can be found at sunspotworld.com.

<< Contiki 2.0 Released with Tmote Sky Support | Main | Contiki 2.0 + Tmote Sky + Apple >>