So yesterday I spent a little time on the design:related site updating my profile and adding some pictures. I’d not realized until a couple of days ago that I could make “projects” (limited to three pictures, unfortunately). So I decided to give it a try by adding additional images to the RadTag concept, and while looking at the images again it occurred to me that there might be some new technology sprouting up that would make the concept more feasible; that there may be a nice way to eliminate the need for the GPS satellites altogether. If not, then at the very least I could remove the control center bottleneck I’d inadvertently stuck into the feedback loop. After all, why centralize the information flow instead of distributing it across the whole Net? A kind of Mechanical Turk employing RadTags, or something along those lines.

Well, before I had time to look further into the idea, I received one of the those News Release emails I normally trash at first login. Only this one, from a familiar-sounding wireless company called Arch Rock, is announcing something that might be helpful in this regard. From their press release (Link):

Taking the last major step toward merging wireless sensor networks (WSNs) seamlessly into the world of Internet Protocol (IP) standards, Arch Rock Corporation has introduced the first commercial implementation of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) 6LoWPAN proposed standard for IPv6 communication over low-power IEEE 802.15.4 wireless radio.

Arch Rock Primer Pack/IP, an out-of-the-box solution that lets users create pilot WSNs in manufacturing, office and retail environments using a service-oriented architecture (SOA), is the first sensor network to run native IP end-to-end, taking the IP protocols beyond their current boundary at the WSN gateway and out to the individual sensor nodes.

Because of IP’s pervasiveness as a global communication standard across industries, Primer Pack/IP sensor nodes will be able to communicate directly with other IP devices, whether those devices are wired or wireless, local or across the Internet, on Ethernet, WiFi, 6LoWPAN or other types of network, and regardless of vendor.

It’s not space-based global coverage, but then some farmer working the field out in the middle of nowhere is hardly a compelling target for someone wanting to unleash a dirty bomb. Instead, imagine deploying a sensor network in a metropolitan environment where it could communicate with a whole range of other devices; especially in a shopping district. That could work.

A shame we’ve spent US$500B on Iraq when we could have put a little something into protecting our way a life in a more constructive fashion. Then again, I suppose giving away an idea – which, for all I know, may be an old idea languishing in some military research lab – instead of trying to capitalize on our “defense” spending frenzy, is an attitude those with the ability to make something like this happen simply can’t fathom.