DASH7 Alliance University Working Group Magazine - May 2012

UWG

28th
MAY
M A G A Z I N E 2012
First issue of University Working Group (UWG) technical magazine

Unifying the world of 433MHz

DASH7 Localization
RFID tags for ubiquitous applications
OpenNode-433
How to get started with OpenTag

Inside this issue...

Message from the President, DASH7 Alliance 1
by Pat Burns

Message from UWG Co‐chairs 4
by Chanaka Lloyd, Pere Tuset

How to get started with OpenTag 5
by Hwa‐kyung Lee

Small form‐factor DASH7 RFID tags for ubiquitous applications 9
by Chanaka Lloyd

OpenNode‐433, a 433 MHz development platform 12
by Pere Tuset

DASH7 applications 20
by Javier Palafox

Opportunistic Infrastructure‐Based DASH7 Mode 2 Localization 24
by Maarten Weyn

DASH7 UWG families 29

Get in touch with UWG 31

DASH7 Alliance University Working Group

Message from the president

Pat Burns
President, DASH7 Alliance

I was invited to contribute something erudite for the first UWG magazine, and I
wanted to be part of another historic DASH7 moment. First, I have to comment
on how awesome our University Working Group is turning out for the DASH7
Alliance. While we have engaged with various universities around the world since
the founding of the alliance in 2009, it has only been in the last year that we've
seen such terrific contributions and energy from this group, perhaps due to the
"launch" of the UWG program last May, which has resulted in a large number of
student members. Obviously, some of the most important technology
innovations in history have achieved real momentum from contributions at the
University level and DASH7 appears to be no different. At least one of our
members is studying the correlation between beer consumption and DASH7
developer productivity and I'm told that UWG members are showing the
strongest correlations … this is shocking to me and I am awaiting a deeper
analysis of this news.

The availability of the Mode 2 spec, OpenTag, and the maturity of the alliance
made the formation of the UWG last spring more viable than, say, what might
have been possible in 2010. And really, the beta release of OpenTag in
September 2011 marks an important milestone where many students have
found it easy to get involved with DASH7. Finally, last month we "open sourced"

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the Mode 2 draft 12 spec, effectively opening the spec up to everyone in the
world – no alliance membership required. So we have done just about
everything imaginable to make DASH7 accessible to college kids short of shipping
dev kits with a complimentary bong. Now the world is watching to see if this
next generation is going to put up big innovations or if they are, as many suspect,
just expert video gamers.

At least a few of our UWG members are going to graduate at some point from
school—professional students may be lurking among them—but most will be
forced to actually, you know, get a job.  For those that have not already found
job opportunities as a result of participating in the alliance, here are some
thoughts on post‐university DASH7 business opportunities.

One word:  phones.  All the 90's‐era network theory you may have been taught
in school should be unlearned in the case of DASH7, where mobile handsets are
what will drive massive adoption of wireless sensor networks.  Today, WSN is a
ridiculous hodgepodge of proprietary technologies or semi‐complete stacks
masquerading as "standards".  Sooner than later, developers will grow weary of
trying to force‐fit WiFi or Bluetooth into WSN apps where they frankly just don't
belong. DASH7 has an enormous opportunity to fill the white space between
those technologies and others like NFC or GPS since a) the number of sensors in
the world is growing exponentially, b) those sensors will be overwhelmingly
connected wirelessly, and c) the means for collecting sensor data will take place
at a frequency below 1 GHz and most likely below 600 MHz.  In terms of global
standards, DASH7 is one of the few (or perhaps the only?) standards that can
meet the optimal mix of frequency, protocol required to support massively
scalable public WSN infrastructure.

Another word:  interoperability.   Customers can't get too excited about WSN's if
it means spending $$$ on systems integration to interconnect dozens of
proprietary networks. Interoperability is an essential element to widespread
adoption of WSNs around the world and the myopia of the existing WSN industry
to this is a poorly‐kept secret and something that a young graduate can
exploit.  A related point on interoperability is the growing importance of public

2


networks: while most WSN systems today are "closed loop" networks, the
skyrocketing use of "Bring Your Own Device" (BYOD) in enterprise environments,
the access by many employees of public networks like Twitter, and the blurring
of lines between employees, contractors, vendors, and customers means "closed
loops" will increasingly need to find ways to be more "open".

A related word: ease of use. Yes, this sounds like another gassy cliché but like
interoperability, the industry has not found the collective ability to make it easy
to deploy and maintain WSN solutions. Mostly, deploying is a massive labor
challenge (device costs pale in comparison) and maintenance is a "special"
skill. Better to think in terms of how the smallest of companies might view
adopting WSN technology—not unlike the way they bring devices they already
understand like an iPad to the office—like consumers. Basically, the
consumerization of WSN. Sounds far‐ fetched to some of you, but BYOD—and
increasingly, Bring Your Own Application—is the default operating mode at the
world's finest companies. And the winning BYOD platforms are those that are
easiest to deploy, use, and maintain. The most rapidly growing WSN
technologies will be the ones that are most consumer friendly, not unlike
Bluetooth or WiFi for their respective use cases.

So, phones, interoperability, and ease of use. Those are my words of DASH7
advice for the career‐minded college readers of this soon‐to‐be‐famous
magazine. BTW ‐ If you are reading this and are not a member of the DASH7
Alliance UWG, I strongly suggest getting involved. The price is right, the
networking is excellent, and the learning opportunities (and job opportunities, it
seems, abound, but no promises).  I recently stepped down as Chairman of the
Alliance after 3+ years and this is a terrific group with some amazing stuff in the
works.  My own venture, Blackbird Technology, aims to be an important part of
the DASH7 ecosystem in the months and years ahead, but I know that some of
the most exciting work we are going to see is cooking in a dorm or lab right now
or in the near future.

3


Message from UWG Co‐chairs

Chanaka Lloyd
Co‐chair UWG

Pere Tuset
Co‐chair UWG

Congratulations! You are reading the first issue of the UWG Magazine, a
technical magazine to publish the research work of DASH7 UWG members.

After the DASH7 winter meeting (December 2011) in Mataró, Spain, we decided
to come up with our own technical magazine. We wanted to provide the
researchers and academics involved in the UWG a facility to publish their work,
and to let the other members and non‐members interested in DASH7 know of
the ongoing research work.

At the infancy of this magazine, it is only a biannual publication. So, we’ll come
back to you in December with more interesting DASH7 research outcome.

Enjoy…and please provide us with your feedback – we value it!

4


How to get started with OpenTag

Hwa‐kyung Lee
UWG Member
ENS Lab, Pusan National University, South Korea

What’s OpenTag?

OpenTag, an open source firmware
User Main
library with demo application for
implementing ISO 18000‐7 Mode2 Board specific code

on embedded hardware, is now System event manager

available in beta2. OpenTag is Fully abstracted

written entirely in C and can be HW‐specific code(MCU)
ported to 8, 16, or 32 bit platforms. HW‐specific code(Radio)

What are main modules & where
can you find them? I’ll introduce one simple example.
That is “The way to use LED”. Now
Before we start using OpenTag, it is I’m using EM430RF board of TI.
helpful that you the understand
components of the project structure. So at first, you must select the board
I’ll explain this based on CCSv5 specific code. In my case, I chose the
(Code Composer Studio). Below is a “board_EM430RF.h” file, because
picture of the project file. And I LED port number can be different
added some explanations to it. with each board.

Next, you need to initiate ports that
you will use. The function name is

5


“platform_init_gpio”. It’s in I changed “board_EM430RF.h”
“platform_CC430.c” file.   because it isn’t exactly fit in my
evaluation board.

void platform_init_gpio (){
// #define OT_TRIG1_PORTNUM    1
OT_TRIG1_PORT‐>DOUT &= ~(OT_TRIG1_PIN); #define OT_TRIG1_PIN GPIO_Pin_0
OT_TRIG1_PORT‐>REN &= ~(OT_TRIG1_PIN);
OT_TRIG1_PORT‐>DIR |= OT_TRIG1_PIN;
OT_TRIG1_PORT‐>DS |= OT_TRIG1_PIN;
} When you change this port and pin
description, you should look into the
specification or schematic of board.
Finally, when you call some
functions that can control DOUT, And, there is another example. That
your LED will be On/Off. The is “Beacon Transmission”.
functions isdescripted below.
Before we start it, we need to make
some packet frames and transmit
void platform_trig1_high ()
{OT_TRIG1_PORT‐>DOUT |= OT_TRIG1_PIN;} sessions. For this, we must know
void platform_trig1_low ()
{OT_TRIG1_PORT‐>DOUT&= ~OT_TRIG1_PIN;} “sys_event_manager” function in
void platform_trig1_toggle () “OTkernel/~Native/System.c” file.
{OT_TRIG1_PORT‐>DOUT ^= OT_TRIG1_PIN;}

“sys_event_manager” takes the role
of managing system events such as
OT_TRIG1_PORT and OT_TRIG1_PIN checking new session, initializing
definitions are changed by board transmission or reception events,
specific code that I already explained. etc.
Let’s turn on the LED. Just insert
ot_uint sys_event_manager(ot_uint elapsed){
“platform_trig1_high()” function at do{
the main function. After that, switch(sub_clock_tasks(elapsed)){
caseTASK_idle: …
complie the code and run it. The caseTASK_processing: …
caseTASK_radio: …
outcome is below. caseTASK_session: …
caseTASK_hold : …
caseTASK_sleep: …
caseTASK_beacon: …
default :…
}
}
}

This function divides events into
seven categories. And for

6


transmitting beacon, we need to
enter TASK_beacon.

ot_uintsub_clock_tasks (ot_uint elapsed)){
Task_Index output = TASK_idle;
#If (M2_FEATURE(BEACONS)==ENABLED)
…output= TASK_beacon;
#endif
#If (M2_FEATURE(ENDPOINT)==ENABLED)
…output= TASK_sleep;
#endif
#If (SYS_RECEIVE ==ENABLED)
…output= TASK_hold;
#endif
If (session_refresh(elapsed) )
…output= TASK_session;
If (sys.evt.RFA.event_no != 0 )
…output= TASK_radio;
If (sys.mutex ==
SYS_MUTEX_PROCESSING)
…output= TASK_processing; Like this way, you can do many
returnoutput;
} things in the OpenTag.
}
If you want to make an application

that work on OT, you develop it at
“sub_clock_tasks” function assign
the user main code in App_Code.
category. TASK_idle has the lowest
priority and TASK_processing has the The applications that you make are
highest priority. For achieving managed by system event manager
TASK_beacon, other higher in OTkernel/~Native/. It creates
conditions are disabled. That is the events, initiates them, and manages
first thing you have to do. the time of events.
Next, when the event enters to
TASK_beacon, “sysevt_beacon” is
executed. This function adds new TX
session and make frame packet for
beacon. It leads beacon event to
TASK_session. Finally, it will go to
TASK_radio, then radio state moves
to TX.
The event’s key work is receiving or
transmitting some information. You
need to control radio state, buffer
etc. And, you can find it in OTradio.

7


And you need to make packets for Where to get help?
communication. OTlib has many
modules for OT. It has many data
structures, frame making functions,  SourceForge.
mpipe, API and so on. http://sourceforge.com/projects/Op
What are tools required for entag
OpenTag development?

OpenTag Beta2 gives 3 kinds of  Dash7 Alliance – OpenTag
project files. CB(Code Blocks), CCS http://dash7.org/index.php?option=
(Code Composer Studio), RIDE7 com_content&view=article&id=130
(Raisonance Integrated &Itemid=193
Development Environment). If you
want to use cc430 platform then you
use CCS or CB. And, for other  Wiki of Indigresso
information about compiler, please
enter homepages below. http://www.indigresso.com/wiki/do
ku.php
CCS:http://www.ti.com/tool/ccstudi
o?247SEM
CB:http://www.codeblocks.org/
RIDE7:http://www.raisonance.com/

About the author:
Hwa‐kyung Lee is Master Degree Student in computer science and engineering at Pusan National
University, South Korea. Her research interests are Active RFID and Energy harvesting. Now she is
working on PCB design and implementing OpenTag applications.

8


Small form‐factor DASH7 RFID tags for
ubiquitous applications

Chanaka Lloyd
Co‐chair UWG
PhD student
IMSAS, University of Bremen, Germany

UWG participation hands in DASH research. In addition,
my institute, IMSAS (Institute for
September 2011: that’s the month Microsensors, ‐actuators and ‐
that I became one of the co‐chairs in systems) initiated a collaborative
the University Working Group (UWG) research program with ENS Lab, PNU
of DASH7. And that’s the month that (Pusan National University), South
I began pursuing DASH7 as one of Korea. We officially initiated the
my research interest. program with couple of internships
DASH7 being rather a new research for Javier Palafox and myself in PNU
from January to April 2012. That’s
avenue, and with my research
interests set on embedded systems, where the small form‐factor, self‐
it was immediately clear to me how I reliant, active RFID was designed.
could participate in UWG with Ubiquitous application
research in electronics.
At present day, the requirement for
After my participation in the DASH7
wireless sensor nodes is immense,
winter meeting (December 2011) in
but the application‐specific supply of
Mataró, Spain, I was able to
wireless sensors for such demand is
convince many other researchers in
low or too expensive to adopt. Most
the University of Bremen to join

9


of the applications have one thing in The design under discussion was
common: ubiquitous data collection. deliberately made to be small in size
Applications need to collect specific to satisfy that purpose. Standard
parametric data (say, temperature, 0603 components were used for the
humidity, acceleration, color, airflow, embedded design. In addition, it has
etc.) to make certain decisions, but a CC430F5137 16‐bit microcontroller
they also demand such data with 32 KB flash memory; onboard
collection at a low price and low temperature sensor with provision
maintenance. DASH7 is inherently to connect a variety of other sensors
capable of offering the solution to (e.g. thermal airflow sensors);
satisfy such requirements. Max17710 charger/protector for
energy harvesting module; solar
HVAC systems, Littoral applications,
panel, with provision for the
Infrastructure monitoring, People
attachment of thermal and vibration
flow, etc. are some of the
harvesters; 8 Mbit external flash
applications which demand
storage for data logging; LED
ubiquitous data collection.
indicators (can be disabled); and,
Self‐reliant DASH7 RFID tag dual power system of Thinergy™
MEC201 battery and coin cell
The completed 433 MHz DASH7 RFID battery for applications where
design is meant for ubiquitous energy harvesting is not feasible. In
applications. A feature that is high in addition, it has a JTAG port
demand for any RFID tag is low connectible via a FPC flat cable for
maintenance. For that, tags need to reading/writing and programming
be robust during operation and the tag
capable of operating unattended for
The design uses the concept of
long periods; therefore, they need to
be self‐reliant, meaning the ability to layered design. It has 4 layers: main
harvest energy and recharge its own electronics with the microcontroller
power unit. layer, antenna layer, solar panel and
battery (MEC201 or coin battery).
Also, in most cases, tags need to be The 4 layers stack up on each other
discreet, or small, in appearance. making it a little over 1 cm. length

10


and width of the design is approx. 3 to undergo a round of extensive
x 3.5 cm. testing in November‐December 2012.

Production and field trials Future demonstrations
The tag is currently being produced, Tag will be demonstrated in the
and system testing is planned in the coming DASH7 meetings in order to
coming months. exemplify the variety of applications
that is made possible by such a small
IMSAS is involved in the Intelligent
tag design with energy harvesting
Container project
capabilities. So, stay tuned with
(http://www.intelligentcontainer.co
DASH7 and UWG news if you are
m/). Its research involves the testing
interested in observing the work of a
of WSNs inside containers full of
state‐of‐the‐art tag in operation.
fresh bananas. The tag is expected

About the author:

Chanaka Lloyd is a PhD student in the Institute for Microsensors, ‐actuators and ‐systems (IMSAS),
University of Bremen, Germany. He has a MSc in information and automation engineering from
the University of Bremen, Germany and a BSc in electrical engineering from the University of
Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. His doctoral studies are in airflow pattern profiling inside refrigerated
containers transporting fresh produce. His research interests include miniature wireless
embedded systems, application specific DASH7 RFID tags and energy‐harvesting for self‐
sustainable active RFID tags.

11


OpenNode‐433: A development platform for
Wireless Sensor Networks at the 433 MHz band
using DASH7 Mode 2

Pere Tuset
and Xavier Vilajosana‐Guillén
Distributed, Parallel and Collaborative Systems (DPCS) Group
Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

Introduction stack, e.g. ZigBee, WirelessHART and
ISA100.11a.
For the last decade the development
of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) At the physical layer the first revision
has been tightly linked to the of the standard (IEEE 802.15.4‐2003
evolution of the IEEE 802.15.4 [1]) proposed the use of two
standard [1], which appeared back in different frequencies from the
2003. IEEE 802.15.4 defines the Industrial, Scientific and Medic (ISM)
physical and data‐link layers of the band, namely 915 MHz and 2.45 GHz,
OSI communications model and is and the European 868 MHz band.
targeted at Low‐Rate Wireless The 2.45 GHz band, which is
Personal Area Networks (LR‐WPAN), available worldwide, is divided into
e.g. low‐cost and low‐power sixteen 5 MHz channels (11‐26) and
embedded devices that require offers a data rate of 250 kbps using
ubiquitous low‐speed and short‐ an Offset Quadrature Phase Shift
range wireless communications. Keying (OQPSK) modulation scheme
Different wireless technologies with Direct Sequence Spread
already use the IEEE 802.15.4 Spectrum (DSSS). The 915 MHz band,
standard as the physical and data‐ only available in North America
link layers of their communications (Region 1), offers ten 2 MHz

12


channels (1‐10) with a data rate of On the other hand, FFD are
40 kbps using a Binary Phase Shift equipped with all the data‐link layer
Keying (BPSK) modulation scheme functions (as well as sensors and
with DSSS. Finally, the 868 MHz band, actuators) and, thus, can either act
which is only available in Europe, as simple network nodes or as
offers a single 2 MHz channel (0) network coordinators. Using these
with a data rate of 20 kbps using a devices two different network
BPSK modulation scheme with DSSS. topologies can be built, star and
Later on, the second revision of the mesh networks. On the one hand, in
standard (IEEE 802.15.4‐2006 [1]) a star network one FFD acts as the
improved the available channels and Personal Area Network (PAN)
data rates of the 868/915 MHz coordinator and both FFD and RFD
bands. The 915 MHz band now has can only talk to the PAN coordinator
thirty channels available and both in order to exchange data between
the 868 MHz and 915 MHz bands them. On the other hand, in a mesh
can operate at data rates of 100 kbps network all FFD nodes can exchange
and 250 kbps respectively thanks to data between them at any time,
the use of OQPSK modulation with which enables to extend the
DSSS. network coverage by means of using
multi‐hop communications (e.g. by
At the data‐link layer the IEEE
using a combination of packet
801.15.4‐2003 standard defines the
forwarding at the data‐link layer and
services required to enable nodes
join and leave the LR‐WPAN network, packet routing at the network layer).
as well as to transmit data frames DASH7 Mode 2: Wireless Sensor
between them while sharing the Networks at the 433 MHz band
wireless medium gracefully. The Experience has proven that for
standard also defines the types and certain WSN applications neither the
format of the data frames that are 2.45 GHz band nor the 868/915 MHz
exchanged during communication bands defined by the IEEE 802.15.4
between nodes (e.g. data, beacon, standard physical layer are sufficient
acknowledgment, command). Two to cover the different uses cases that
device types, Reduced Function exist. For example, the 2.45 GHz
Devices (RFD) and Full Function band suffers from bad signal
Devices (FFD), are also defined in the propagation characteristics,
standard. On the one hand RFD are especially in indoor environments
equipped with sensor and actuators where metal surfaces or liquids are
and can only communicate with FFD.
present. In addition, WSN devices at

13


the 2.45 GHz band have to cope with the process, making it difficult to
broadband interference from other maintain the low‐power profile
ubiquitous wireless technologies required by such types of network.
operating at the same band, e.g. Taking all of the above into account,
IEEE 802.11 (Wi‐Fi) and IEEE DASH7 Mode 2 [2] appears as a
802.15.1 (Bluetooth), which promising wireless technology to
degrades its overall performance. enable next generation WSN
While the 868/915 MHz bands have applications. Not only does it
better signal propagation operate at the 433 MHz band,
characteristics than 2.45 GHz, these yielding better signal propagation in
bands are only available in Europe harsh environments and being freely
and the United States respectively,
available worldwide, but it also
which certainly limits the potential
offers a complete communications
impact of developed products.
stack (from physical to application
Moreover, the European 868 MHz
layer) capable of handling bursty,
band must cope with interference
light‐data, asynchronous and
from television broadcasting and
transient usage models for both
mobile broadband systems, which
fixed and mobile nodes while being
can also degrade its performance.
simple, reliable and maintaining a
Equally important, the data‐link layer low‐power profile.
of the IEEE 802.15.4 standard is not
OpenNode‐433: A development
well suited for certain wireless board for WSN at the 433 MHz band
communication scenarios that are of
interest in the WSN domain. The Looking to the past it seems clear
star topology is limited to single‐hop that, apart from simulations, the
communications, e.g. two nodes huge advances seen in the WSN field
communicating through the PAN during the last decade have been in
coordinator, and limits the overall part thanks to having a unified
range of the network, rendering it development platform. T hat is, both
not viable for scenarios where large the hardware and the software that
areas need to be covered. Yet are needed to build and evaluate
despite the potential benefits of real‐world deployments. For
mesh topology, the range of the instance, thanks to these real‐world
network can only be extended by deployments researchers have been
means of forwarding packets, able to develop adaptive data‐link
thereby forcing neighbor nodes to layer protocols that are more robust
waste valuable (battery) energy in to time‐varying frequency selective

14


interference at the physical layer, e.g. embedded operating system for
by using Frequency Hopping Spread WSN has been TinyOS [5], also
Spectrum (FHSS) like in IEEE developed at University of California
802.15.4e [3]. at Berkeley (UCB). Another player to
take into account in the embedded
On the hardware side one of the
operating system for WSNs domain
most prominent development
is ContikiOS [6], which was
platforms has been the TelosB [4],
developed by Adam Dunkels at the
designed at University of California
Swedish Institute of Computer
at Berkeley (UCB) in 2004 and later
Science. Both TinyOS and Contiki are
commercialized by Crossbow
developed in C, distributed under an
Technologies. The TelosB mote
features a Texas Instruments open source license (BSD License)
MSP430 16‐bit microcontroller with and are targeted at microcontrollers
10 Kbytes of RAM and 48 Kbytes of with low processing power, small
Flash respectively. The wireless available memory and limited energy
communications part of TelosB is availability. In addition to the
addressed with a Texas Instruments embedded operating system they
CC2420 transceiver fully compatible include support for different upper‐
with IEEE 802.15.4 standard layer protocols, e.g. Low‐Power
operating at the 2.45 GHz band and Internet Protocol version 6
with a maximum transmit power of 0 (6LoWPAN) and the COnstrained
Application Protocol (COAP).
dBm. Additionally, TelosB comes
with temperature, humidity and light Unfortunately, at the moment of
sensors, as well as a 2xAA battery writing this article the situation is
holder that enables the nodes to not fully satisfactory for WSN at the
operate autonomously. 433 MHz band using DASH7 Mode 2.
Part of the puzzle is already solved,
e.g. OpenTag [7], an open source
implementation of the DASH7 Mode
2 protocol, is already available and is
currently being extensively tested.
Nevertheless, the other part of the
puzzle, e.g. the development board,
has not been yet properly addressed.
It is true that some development
Figure 1 ‐ A TelosB board
boards already exist, e.g. the DASH7
Mode 2 development kit provided by
On the software side the de facto

15


Agaidi [8], but none include all the 315 MHz, 433 MHz, 868 MHz and
components required to develop a 915 MHz) with a transmit power up
complete WSN prototype, e.g. to 10 dBm. Future versions of the
sensors, battery holder and OpenNode‐433 board will be
programming interface, among many designed with other wireless
others. Thus, in order to ease transceivers, such as the Semtech
research and development of WSN SX123x or the Melexis MLX72013, to
at the 433 MHz band based on enable for DASH7 Mode 2
DASH7 Mode 2 and OpenTag, the compatibility testing among different
Distributed, Parallel and transceivers. One interesting aspect
Collaborative Systems (DPCS) group of the board is that the antenna is
of Universitat Oberta de Catalunya not soldered; instead, a 50 Ohm
(UOC) [9], member of the DASH7 SMA female connector is available to
Alliance University Working Group enable connecting different types of
(UWG), together with Wayra antennas for testing purposes. In
Networks [10], member of the addition to that, OpenNode‐433
DASH7 Alliance, have designed comes with temperature, humidity
OpenNode‐433, a fully‐featured and acceleration sensors, as well as
development board that is intended four external pins to interface other
to become to DASH7 Mode 2 and types of sensors with the internal
OpenTag what the TelosB mote and 12‐bit Analog‐to‐Digital Converter
TinyOS operating system have been (ADC). Last but not least, the board
to the development of WSN using comes with a 2xAAA battery holder,
the IEEE 802.15.4 standard at the a mini‐USB connection and a power
2.45 GHz band. supply connection, which enables it
to operate autonomously, connected
From a technical point of view, the
to a computer or connected to a
OpenNode‐433 board is based on a
power supply. Overall the
32‐bit Cortex‐M3 microcontroller,
OpenNode‐433 board measures
which can operate up to 72 MHz and
around 6,5x3x3 centimeters and
comes with 20 Kbytes of RAM and
weights less than 75 grams (with
128 Kbytes of Flash memory
2xAAA batteries included and
respectively. On the
antenna excluded).
communications side the first
version of OpenNode‐433 will be
based on the Texas Instruments
CC1101 transceiver, which can
operate at the Sub‐1GHz band (e.g.

16


IEEE 802.15.4 standard mainly
because of the availability of
development boards, e.g. TelosB.
Nevertheless, neither the 868/915
MHz bands nor the 2.45 GHz band
are well suited for all the use cases
in the WSN domain. An alternative
to IEEE 802.15.4 for WSN
Figure 2 ‐ An OpenNode‐433 board applications is DASH7 Mode 2. Not
only does it use the 433 MHz band,
Taking into account the technical with better propagation
specifications of OpenNode‐433 it characteristics and worldwide
seems unnecessary to remark that availability, but it also provides a
the board is fully compatible with data‐link layer that is well‐suited to
the DASH7 Mode 2 specification, handle bursty, light‐data,
meaning that all the devices (Blinker, asynchronous and transient usage
Endpoint, Subcontroller and models for both fixed and mobile
Gateway) can be implemented. For nodes while being simple, reliable
instance, one node can be and maintaining a low‐power profile.
programmed as a Blinker and
operate autonomously from Unfortunately, research and
batteries, whereas another node can development based on the DASH7
be programmed as a Gateway and Mode 2 standard has been impaired
be powered from the computer due to the lack of a fully‐featured
through the USB port and serve as development board available to
an interface to other networks, i.e. developers. To improve this situation
the Internet. Nevertheless, at the we are introducing OpenNode‐433, a
moment of writing OpenTag, the development board that is fully
main implementation of the DASH7 compatible with the DASH7 Mode 2
Mode 2 protocol, has not yet been standard and OpenTag. Thus, we
ported to OpenNode‐433, but that is expect the board to become a
expected to change over the course reference board for DASH7 Mode 2
of this summer. and OpenTag research, development
and compatibility testing in the near
Conclusions and future work future. The OpenNode‐433 board
Until today most research and will be available from Wayra
development in WSN has taken Networks beginning the third
place at the 2.45 GHz band using the quarter of 2012 with a price will that

17


is similar to development boards for G4.html].
the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. [2] DASH7 Mode 2 Draft 12
Nevertheless, despite the leap Specification. Available online at
forward that having both a full‐ [http://www.dash7.org/].
featured development board [3] IEEE 802.15.4e Standard.
(OpenNode‐433) and an open source Available on‐line at
stack implementation (OpenTag) for [http://www.ieee802.org/15/pub/T
DASH7 Mode 2 represents, there are G4e.html].
still many aspects that need to be
further investigated in order to have [4] J.Polastre, R. Szewczyk, D. Culler.
a proper knowledge of the uses Telos, enabling ultra‐low power
cases in which it can be successfully wireless research. Proceedings of the
used. For instance, propagation 4th international symposium on
characteristics of the 433 MHz band information processing in sensor
in different environments, both networks.
indoor and outdoor, for the different [5] TinyOS, an operating system for
channel types defined by DASH7 tiny embedded networked sensors.
Mode 2 need to be investigated to Available online at
have empirical models that can be [http://www.tinyos.net/].
used in real‐world deployments.
Hopefully all these matters will start [6] ContikiOS, the operating system
to be properly addressed now that a for the Internet of Things. Available
reference development board and online at [http://www.contiki‐
software stack is available to the os.org/].
DASH7 community. One important [7] OpenTag, full‐featured
player for that to happen can be the communications stack for DASH7
University Working Group (UWG), Mode 2. Available online at
which is currently starting to address [http://sourceforge.net/projects/ope
all these matters in order to provide ntag/].
better understanding of the
[8] Agaidi DASH7 Mode 2
technology, as well as designing new
development kit. Available online at
services that are based on it.
[http://www.agaidi.com/].
References
[9] Distributed, Parallel and
[1] IEEE 802.15.4‐2003 Standard. Collaborative Systems (DPCS) Group,
Available on‐line at Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
[http://www.ieee802.org/15/pub/T (UOC). Available online at

18


[http://dpcs.uoc.edu]. Acknowledgments
[10] Wayra Networks. Available The authors of the paper want to
online at acknowledge Fernando Luis and Joan
[http://www.wayranetworks.com/]. Tobeña, from Wayra Networks for
their invaluable collaboration in the

development and production of
OpenNode‐433.

About the authors:
Pere Tuset‐Peiró is a PhD candidate at the Distributed, Parallel and Collaborative Systems (DPCS)
group of Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), part‐time lecturer at Escola Universitària
Politècnica de Mataró (EUPMt) and co‐chair of the DASH7 Alliance University Working Group
(UWG). For his PhD thesis, he is working on low‐power wireless communication technologies at
433 MHz band, including DASH7 Mode 2.
Dr. Xavier Vilajosana‐Guillén is an associated professor at the Computer Science, Multimedia and
Telecommunication Department of Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC). Currently, he is a
Fullbright visitor at University of California at Berkeley (UCB) where he does research in the
Berkeley OpenWSN project, which intends to build an open implementation of hardware and
software for the Internet of Things.

19


DASH7 applications

Javier Palafox
PhD student
UWG member
IMSAS, University of Bremen, Germany

“Let the future tell the truth, and wave propagation on unlicensed
evaluate each one according to his 433MHz, their low energy
work and accomplishments. The consumption and their low
present is theirs; the future, for dependency from a fixed
which I have really worked, is mine.” infrastructure. The only
disadvantage of Dash 7 is that it
Nikola Tesla, Serbian Inventor and
cannot handle high‐bandwidth data
Engineer
transfers.
With the already existing wireless
technologies in the market, it might
come as a surprise that yet another
wireless‐networking scheme, called
Dash7, is joining the fray.

The main figures of merit of DASH7
devices that make them ideal for
wireless sensor networking
applications resides on the excellent

20


So, what applications are best suited example Agaidi is developing Dash7‐
to adopt DASH7 technology? And based and easy‐to‐use devices that
more importantly, what is the do not need wired charging at
reason for its adoption by the Helsinki airport.
developers and consumers?
Location‐based services like
DASH7 is designed to provide multi‐ Foursquare, Novitaz, or Facebook
year battery life, low device costs, can exploit DASH7 and award loyalty
transmit/receive over very long points.
ranges, and for applications that
Mobile advertising
does not require high data rate or
complex routing algorithms. Six Retailers are in the forefront of RFID
segments — Building Automation, adoption. They have been realizing
Smart Energy, Location‐Based the benefits from the long distance
Services, Mobile advertising, mobile advertising and mobile
Automotive and Logistics — are coupons.
accounted promising.
They can attract prospective
Location‐Based Services   customers by sending information
about their products with the help
Commercial products can take
of RFID tags. Just like in blockbuster
advantage of the small footprint,
movie Minority Report’s futuristic
low power, long range, and low cost
view; a billboard could display an ad
of DASH7. It is being used today for
that is customized particularly for
developing new location‐based
that person.
services using a range of DASH7‐
enabled devices including The RFID chips are being built into
smartcards, tickets, and other credit cards and cell phones as a
conventional products. means of storing data that is
accessible by contact‐free sensors.
The practicality of “check‐in” of
other technologies is limited in Advertising groups view it as a way
urban environments and the to make advertising more relevant
coverage usually fails indoors. As an to the user.

21


RFID tags used today for such things
are passive devices. Dash7 tags are
active, meaning that they make use
of small batteries instead. Projects
such as “The Intelligent Container”
developed in the University of
Bremen
(http://www.intelligentcontainer.co
m) are using wireless sensor
Automotive   networks in the interior of
containers to monitor temperature
Using 2.4 GHz in work environments
and other environmental factors
with large amounts of metallic
that can impact the integrity of
clutter is not a good idea. DASH7
sensitive products. Wave
capabilities of transmission over
propagation through paths with high
metallic obstacles, together with
humidity and water‐rich goods has
multi‐year battery‐life seem
been shown to be an important
promising as the next‐generation
factor. Dash 7 excellent propagation
automotive wireless systems. An
through water is being adopted as a
example of it is the tire pressure
solution to this problem.
monitoring system. DASH7‐based
TPMS will provide more accurate tire Dash 7 will assist logistics providing
pressure readings, resulting in businesses with unprecedented
greater fuel economy, reduced tire visibility into their everyday
wear and tear, and greater safety. operations.
Logistics   Building Automation and Smart
energy
Food retailers are focusing on
improving the cold‐chain by making DASH7's signal propagation
sure the product quality is good at characteristics, that allow it to
the end‐point with the help of penetrate walls, windows and doors,
sensors. make it the best wireless‐based
technology for this purpose.

22


Additionally, the low current draw of control devices, alarm systems,
Dash7‐enabled devices makes them curtain controls, etc.. Smart power
suitable to harvest energy from the consumption and water meters can
environment easily. A sensor may communicate with gateways and
take the required energy from the react to improve facility
sun or from the power wire; shades management resulting in reduced
of Nikola Tesla! maintenance and human resource
costs.
Dash7‐enabled in‐home devices can
be integrated with lighting, HVAC

About the author:

Javier Palafox has a Master of Science degree in information and automation engineering from
the University of Bremen. Previously, he has earned several years of industry experience working
in industrial automation. Currently, he is pursuing a PhD in the Institute for Microsensors, ‐
actuators and ‐systems (IMSAS).His research interests include intelligent and energy‐efficient data
processing algorithms on sensor nodes. In addition, he is very interested in DASH7 energy‐
harvesting and high transmission range capabilities.

23


Opportunistic Infrastructure‐Based
DASH7 Mode 2 Localization

Weyn Maarten
and Dennis Laurijssen, Christoph Plas, Dragan Subotic
e‐Lab, Artesis University College of Antwerp, Belgium

The e‐Lab research group Artesis systems that can adapt and cope
University College, working on with any available information
Ambient Intelligence, has been provided by mobile clients without
focusing on localization technologies
the need to install any additional
and algorithms during the last six
years. dedicated infrastructure. This type
of localization is called opportunistic
Every technique and technology
localization. It is defined as: "An
used for localization has its own
specific properties and advantages, opportunistic localization system is a
but also its specific disadvantages. system, which seizes the opportunity
One of the common disadvantages and takes advantage of any readily
of many existing localization systems available location related
is the need for dedicated devices information in an environment,
and proprietary infrastructure. network and mobile device for the
Multi‐modal systems which use the
estimation of the mobile device
data coming from different systems
and sensors will be the only absolute or relative position without
possibility to allow affordable relying on the installation of any
localization in different situations. dedicated localization hardware
The future of localization systems infrastructure."
will most likely evolve towards
In the past, the seamless

24


combination of Wi‐Fi, GPS, After this request, the quest for a
Bluetooth and cellular data with matching technology started. Wi‐Fi
i
inertial sensor and afterwards was not ideal, since you need the
ii
Zigbee has been examined. infrastructure, and if it is already
Although the opportunistic there you need to interact with it.
integration of these technologies Moreover Wi‐Fi tags still cost more
does enable a lot of applications and than €40. RFID based solutions
services, some other applications are mostly need wired readers, which
still not feasible. These limitations are also costly if you need a lot of
can be caused by the technical them (in order to be able to
capabilities of the technology or the differentiate every desk). A logical
related cost. direction was to look for a Wireless
Sensor Network solution. But most
The quest for … Dash7 Zigbee modules still range around
Three applications, coming from €10 and you have to cope with
partnering companies, led to the closed stacks. These closed stacks do
search for another technology. The not always allow signal strength
first one was flow monitoring of measurement between devices.
people in an office building (who is These measurements are a necessity
sitting on which desk). They required in order to enable signal strength
a system which could be set up in based localization.
one day, monitor for another day And then, there was Dash7! More
and be broken down in a few hours. specifically Dash7 Mode 2. The use
On top of this the cost should be of e.g. TI’s CC430 enabled the
minimal. creation of < €15 modules. D7M2 is
made for ultra‐low power RF
communication, for localization we
are only interested in regular signal
strength measurements. The
different device classes (blinker,
endnode, subcontroler, gateway),
perfectly match the different types
of devices which are needed for
localization.
The low cost, very small footprint,
low power consumption and a
communication range with a

25


theoretical maximum of 10km are There, average weight is only 20
features which could bring us a step gram and the weight of a tracking
closer to realizing the concept of the device can only be 5% of their
“Internet of Things”. weight.
People motion monitoring
A second application was the
tracking of people and shopping
carts in malls.

Currently, expensive VHF
transmitters are used, which enables
manual tracking for about a month.
Ideally the researchers want to track
the birds during their whole
existence. The ultimate goal of the
research of Dash7 at Artesis is to
Currently the motion tracking of enable this localization using D7M2.
people is already being monitored The same hardware can afterwards
by for example Bluetooth; this gives be used to make small, easy
a sample size of about 15% of the integratable localization tags for
people, since only a limited amount other applications.
of people are wearing a devices with
From questions to answers
active Bluetooth. A probably easier
method is to track the shopping To enable three of the above
carts or shopping baskets. But this mentioned applications, 3 signal
can only be done by using ultra‐low strength based localization methods
power tags with a very low cost. The are being investigated.
use of passive RFID asks for The mobile node is a blinker node,
expensive readers. Again here, with a time interval set depending
Dash7 could be the solution. on the application, ranging from
Small animals, small tags every second, to a few times a day.
The third application was the Fixed nodes (subcontrollers) are
tracking of very small birds (tomtits). installed in the environment and at

26

DA
ASH7 Allianc
ce University W
Working Gro
oup

least one gateway ensures th he Depending o the application and
on
co
ommunicati ion to a cloud base
ed ennvironment a choic is made
t ce
lo
ocalization e
engine. beetween fingerprin
nt based
lo
ocalization, signal streng
gth
When the b
W beacon is send by thhe
at
ttenuation based pro oximity based
mobile blink using a predefine
m ker a ed
lo
ocalization.
ch
hannel, the beacons arre received by
he different subcontrollers in range.
th Th
hree types of hardwa are being
are
de
eveloped to ena able the ese
Th
hese subco ontrollers send, using
ap
pplications. The first one is a
an
nother preddefined chaannel, the id
multifunction node, w
m nal which can be
of the mobi node, to
f ile ogether wi ith
us
sed as blinker, subc controller or
th id of the subcontro
he e oller and th
he
ga
ateway usinng a helical a
antenna.
sig
gnal strengt
th of the or
riginal beacoon
to
o the gatewaay node.
Th
his gatewa node sends th
ay his
ga
athered inf
formation t the clou
to ud
ba
ased localization en
ngine wheere
th
hree types of algo
s orithms aare
cu
urrently being benchmarked.
An overview of this t
n w test setup is
sh
hown below
w:

Th second one is a b
he business ca ard
sized node (
(which will be a blink
ker
noode to track
k people).

And the thirdd one is a 1
1 cm x 1.5 ccm
no with a chip or w
ode a wire antennna,
which will b used du
w be uring the first

27

DA
ASH7 Allianc
ce University W
Working Gro
oup

ex
xperiments, related the thi
, ird ocalization algorithms are being
lo s
ap
pplication. ad
dapted for 4433 MHz localization.

More information:
M
maarten.wey
m yn@artesis.
.be

Cu
urrently th hardwa
he are is being
eveloped further and th
de he

i Weyn, M. Opportun nistic Seamless Localization PhD Thesis, University o Antwerp , B
n, of Belgium (2011)
ii Weyn, M., De Cock et. al. Oppor
, k, rtunistic Object Binding and Proximity D
Detection for M
Multi-modal
tion, Internatio Journal O Advances in Intelligent Systems, 2012 vol. 4 no. 3& pp 102-11
Localizat onal On 2 &4, 12

28


DASH7 UWG families…

e‐Lab, Artesis University College of Antwerp, Belgium
Focusing on Ambient Intelligent and context awareness the e‐Lab group of the Artesis
University College of Antwerp, Belgium, continually strives to extend its knowledge in
related technologies. Dr. Maarten Weyn has been working on localization algorithms and the
seamless combination of different technologies during the past years.

From left: Plas, Weyn, Laurijssen, Subotic

Dash 7 Mode 2 can enable some applications where other technologies had difficulties in
providing an affordable solution. Currently, the research in the e‐Lab on Dash 7 is being
executed by Maarten Weyn and two master students Dennis Laurijssen and Christophe Plas.
This group has recently been extended by Dragan Subotic who will be working on Dash 7 for
the next year.
To ensure some funding for this research a national IWT innovation project together with
our spin‐off AtSharp is currently being submitted for review, as well as a PhD project on the
miniaturization of self‐sustainable localization tags.
More information: maarten.weyn@artesis.be

29


DASH7 UWG families…

Embedded Network Systems Lab, PNU, South Korea
ENS Lab was founded in 1994 and is led by professor Sang‐Hwa Chung. ENS Lab is in
Computer Engineering Department at the Pusan National University in Busan, South Korea.
Presently, there are 5 PhD students and 9 Master students. And, to‐date 6 PhD and 40
masters degrees have been awarded.

This research laboratory studies a wide range of issues in the aspects of embedded systems
and networking. ENS Lab’s current research is as follows:

 Dash : Development of Dash7 tags and readers with OpenTag

 Active RFID: Development of global logistics information synchronization technology
and CSD(Container Security Device)

 WLAN Mesh Network: Development of Mesh network based on IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n

Prof. Sang‐Hwa Chung
Sang‐Hwa Chung received the BSc degree in electrical engineering from Seoul National
University in 1985, the MSc degree in computer engineering from Iowa State University in
1988, and the PhD degree in computer engineering from the University of Southern
California in 1993. He was an Assistant Professor in the Electrical and Computer
Engineering Department at the University of Central Florida from 1993 to 1994. He is
currently a professor in the Computer Engineering Department at Pusan National
University, South Korea. His research interests are in the areas of Dash7, Active RFID, and
embedded wireless networking.

30


Get in touch with UWG

UWG offers many advantages for you as an academic. Above all, it provides you
with the opportunity to collaborate with academics with vested interest in
DASH7, coming from different backgrounds of research and geographies. UWG
members are involved in collaborative DASH7 research projects…and young
researchers have the opportunity of finding internships among UWG universities,
too.

The best way to contact us is email. If you have questions, just drop an email to
one of the co‐chairs of UWG:

Chanaka Lloyd Pere Tuset
chanakalloyd@gmail.com peretuset@gmail.com

You can register yourself as UWG (also known as URP – University relations
Program) member in the DASH7 homepage. Follow the steps below:

http://www.dash7.org/ > About the Alliance > University Relations Program

31

Join DASH7
Join UWG
Join the research

Editors:
Chanaka Lloyd
Pere Tuset

DASH7 Alliance, Inc.
275 Tennant Avenue
Morgan Hill, CA 95037
Phone: +1 408 778 8372

Designer: Zuolin Xu

DASH7 Alliance University Working Group Magazine - May 2012

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DASH7 Alliance University Working Group Magazine - May 2012