Adept Scientific has added Cores Electronic's Tag4M WiFi sensor tag to its data acquisition product range. The tag is claimed to leverage RFID technology and developments in Internet technology to introduce a new concept in performing measurement and analysis: the ‘instrumentation cloud'. The small, credit-card sized measurement board, also called a ‘WiFi tag', collects analogue data and performs digital I/O, and also communicates directly with any commercially available WiFi AP (access point) or wireless router. Low power consumption means that, depending on the frequency of wake-up periods, a tag can operate on one 3V CR-123A lithium battery for several years. In operation, when a tag initially boots-up or wakes-up after having been in sleep mode, it searches for and automatically associates with an off-the-shelf 802.11b/g AP. Each sensor tag has its own permanent MAC address and it shares a common SSID with the AP so that it can transfer data and accept commands from any predetermined web page. Users can also connect the AP to a LAN to operate a tag in local mode.
