Sensing Inside a Greenhouse Through Wireless Sensor Networks

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What is a Wireless Sensor Network?

A Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) consists of several distributed wireless sensor nodes that sense vibration, noise, and temperature. Each node has its own memory, battery, a processor and a sensor and is autonomous. These nodes are reliable, heterogeneous, scalable, fault tolerant and they require less power consumption.

In today's world WSN are used everywhere say in traffic controlling systems, in forests to detect fire, in green houses to monitor plants, in military to monitor spy activities, in houses to monitor water and waste water, in smart houses and in many more places. WSN has become an essential technology to live with.

WSN in Greenhouse monitoring:

A greenhouse is a place where plants are grown. To set up WSN in a greenhouse the nodes are placed on leaves and crops. The base node is responsible for collecting data from all nodes and communicating with the main server or computer.

For whom?

WSN for greenhouse monitoring is required for the greenhouse owner who wants maximum cultivation of crops in any environmental conditions.

The WSN nodes sense following: 

• Temperature
• Level of Carbon Dioxide
• Light
• Humidity
• Radiation

Monitoring these environmental factors continuously helps to gather information about the crops and plants in the greenhouse. Information collected is further manipulated to manage productivity of crops. Whenever there is a change rather than expected, i.e. temperature increase or decreases suddenly, the manager is notified about the condition of affected area using text message, or call or e-mail or any other thing like buzzer by the data communication system. Manager then takes action accordingly.

WSN nodes communicate with each other and share important data that will be useful for network. Network topology used for such networks depends on total area of the greenhouse, cost and other factors.

Data stored using sensor nodes on the computer is then manipulated and meaningful interpretation is obtained using data mining, knowledge management methods.

It provides faster deployment, installment flexibility for sensors, and better sturdiness than wired networks.

Conclusion:

A Wireless Sensor Network is a measurement tool. WSN applied in greenhouse evaluates and maintains growth of crops. It saves cost and energy of wiring and connecting all nodes. It only costs to set up and maintain the network. It is very convenient to handle greenhouse in real-time more efficiently. It is better to use such technology rather than wasting money in poor estimations and labor that is typical faced during crop cultivation.

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How Smart Business Owners Can Get 20000 GBP

By Michael K John

I've run or owned various different businesses over the past 10 years and one thing I know from my own painful experience is that IT Support can be the bane of every business owner's life. With hindsight the amount of time and money I have wasted on the latest "must have" business computer technology is extraordinary. On second thoughts, not extraordinary, but depressing!

However, I'm glad to say it wasn't completely wasted. I've learnt a lot of important lessons and it inspired me to start my own IT Support Company to deliver the IT Support Services that I wanted to buy, but couldn't find. Of course there were plenty of IT Support Companies around; it's just that they never seemed to deliver the kind of service I wanted to buy!

IT Support Does Not Need To Be Painful

My experience has taught me that IT Support does not need to be painful. And while you will always need to invest in your computer systems the cost can be contained to more reasonable levels.

Can You Really Get 20,000 of IT Support For 1,000 Per Month?

Yes, unbelievable as it seems, you can. The secrets I've learnt over the years are actually quite simple. Any business owner can use them and I'm happy to share them with you today. If you follow these simple rules you have a good chance of saving tens of thousands of pounds every year. Money that can go straight back into your pocket or into the development of your business. You choose what you do with the savings.

Here's How To Reduce Your IT Support Costs:

Let's assume for the purposes of our calculations that you have 20 PC's, 2 servers and Microsoft Exchange email. You can scale the savings up or down accordingly. Here are the top 6 most expensive mistakes that you can easily avoid:

Mistake # 1 - Doing IT Support yourself - cost 4,500. IT Outsourcing is a well established principle, but I'm still surprised at how many small companies insist on diverting some staff from their main role trying to fix IT problems. Part-time-IT'ers just won't have the experience. As a result it will take them a lot longer to fix the problems than a professional and the problems are much more likely to recur.

In my experience those who do a bit of IT Support "on the side" actually spend about one third of their time on IT Support issues. Assuming that the total cost of employing them (salary, NI, unavoidable overhead, etc.) is 30,000 and that they spend a conservative 15`% of their time on IT then the cost of this is 4,500 per annum.

Mistake # 2 - Paying for your IT Support by the hour - cost 1,200. Don't fall into the trap of paying for IT Support by the hour. The IT Support costs will soon mount up and if you have a significant problem the IT Support bill costs could be huge. An hourly paid IT Support company will have no incentive to get to the root problem and stop it recurring again.

Many IT Support Companies offer a fixed price unlimited IT Support service now. In my experience on a computer network of this size this will save you 20% on top of your fixed price contract, but let's say 10% - a saving of 1,200.

Mistake # 3 - Paying extra for network security licences - cost 1,400. Make sure that the vital network security software is included in your IT Support Contract. Nowadays you can get your IT Support Company to pay for all your anti-virus, anti-spyware and anti-spam as part of the all-you-can-eat fixed price IT Support package.

If you don't negotiate their inclusion you will need to purchase the network security licences every year. For a computer network of this size they would be 1,400 per annum. Therefore this will save you 1,400 per annum.

Mistake # 4 - Don't take the risk on a single internet line - cost 1,000. Most businesses are so dependent on their broadband service that they cannot allow it to be the single point of failure. I would advise you to get a second internet connection. This sounds counter intuitive - it sounds like a cost increase for businesses that only have 1 line.

These days no internet often means no business. An extra business grade internet broadband connection with IT Support bundled in will cost you about 60 per month. We support about 200 broadband connections for our clients and our experience says that you will have at least 2 days of outage every second year - an average of 1 day a year. How much will this outage cost you? Ultimately only you will know the lost sales, additional overtime costs, or any other waste. If it costs you a very conservative 1,500 in lost business and/or additional overtime costs then taking the additional broadband costs into account it will save you about 1,000 per annum.

Mistake # 5 - Not including data backup monitoring in your IT Support Contract - cost 400. Don't fool yourself into thinking you can monitor the backup yourself or that your data backup doesn't matter. Make sure you get your IT Support Company to throw this in as part of your Fixed Price IT Support Service.

Why is this a saving? Well about 10% to 15% of backups fail every night. Think about that - it means that there is a high likelihood that your backup is not working correctly unless it is proactively monitored.

It's difficult to say how much money this will save you, but say you have a disk failure and the backup doesn't work. To get the data forensically extracted from the broken disk, as the police do when a crime has been committed, is at least 2,000. If you needed to do this once every 5 years you would save 400 of direct costs to say nothing of the disruption to your business.

Mistake # 6 - Continuing to use old technology when new Cloud Computing can save you money - cost 1,000. Cloud Computing can save some businesses money. You could use it for backup, hosted email, hosted applications or even rent server space at a hosting centre rather than purchasing a server.

Some claim massive savings of 20% to 40% of your entire IT budget for Cloud Computing, but I've yet to see those massive savings myself. I'm sure they will come in time. In the meantime you should be able to save 1,000 on hosting some part of your IT service - backup or email being the most likely in the short term.

How the IT Support Savings Add Up

Let's also assume that you have negotiated a fixed price IT Support contract. If you shop around you should be able to get a fixed price IT Support service for about 750 per month. Throw in a few inevitable site visits for and calls over an d above the fixed price IT Support Contract and we'll call that an average of 1,000 per month.

Getting 20,000 of IT Support Services for 1,000 per month implies an annual saving of 8,000. Remember all of these savings fall straight to the bottom line. It can go to you as the business owner or back into the business to drive growth.

If you didn't make the top 6 mistakes listed above the savings add up to more than 8,000 per annum - 9,500 in fact. But let's be conservative again and reduce it by 15% to 8,000. So as you can see - these very simple secrets will allow you to drive down your IT support costs significantly - it's worth asking!

You can get more information about IT Support Services and get qaulity IT Support Contracts from Ziptech Services Ltd.

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Hidden Camera in Your Car - It's More Than Surveillance

By Dan Crane

Hidden cameras can be found anywhere. They provide us with protection, peace of mind, and a feeling of enhanced security. When talking about spy cameras, we usually tend to think of businesses catching shoplifters or home security to prevent burglary. However, these cameras for cars are also a great investment into your security.

Suppose you are pulled over by a crooked cop, he arrests you, and you land in jail. If you had a hidden camera in your car, you would have evidence for the judge that you have been framed and wrongly accused. With the introduction of hidden cams in cars, people now have the ability to feel safe if a police officer wrongfully arrests them.

Another useful reason for car hidden spy cameras is to keep an eye on that teenager who just received his or her license. When your teenager borrows the car, you can go back through the recordings of such cameras to see if they were getting into trouble. You should trust your teenager, but knowing that teens sometimes get into trouble, you now have a watchful eye on them.

Spy cameras for cars also have the purpose of recording a car wreck. With a camera in place, you can watch the accident as it unfolds. If you were in a collision, and insurance companies want to battle it out, then it could be evidence that proves you are not at fault. If the hidden camera for your car is on the dash, then a driver view can be seen. Let's just hope the camera is okay.

Few people have hidden cameras in their vehicles, but the idea has just recently caught on over the last few years. Years ago, those who wanted hidden camera specifically for cars were left with the choice of a large-sized, foot-long camera that could be seen. There was no way to install cameras in autos until the latter part of the 2000's. Now that technology has advanced so profoundly, cameras come in small packages, and some are as tiny as 1/8 inch pen cameras. With the smallest of cameras, it is now easy to install hidden cameras inside any car. It only takes a matter of shopping online for the right spy gadgets.

Several websites offer surveillance technology that can be used to place hidden cameras in cars. SpyGearCo.com offers some of the latest devices that you can find. The site has everything needed to install hidden cameras for your cars. The C720P Portable Car Camera sells for about $250, has a high resolution 1280x720 HD recorder and screen. It can simply be plugged into the cigarette lighter and then mounted anywhere you would like inside your car.

Other hidden cameras include the First Scene Car Camera with a built in microphone and GPS, with audio and video, and a 1280x960 LCD screen. It has the unique ability to sensor rapid acceleration or breaking to record a car accident. Once again, hidden cameras for cars are a great way to prove you are not at fault in a car accident in a court battle. The hidden mp3 player is an excellent choice at only $100. It is about the size of your thumb. It records video and audio and of course it also plays mp3s. This tiny device can be placed anywhere in your vehicles and no one would ever notice that you have secret camera inside your car.

Spy Chest is a deluxe website for the spy buff. Spy Chest has everything you could possibly want including hidden cams for cars. They sell GPS trackers that record every stop and start your car ever makes for $199. A log is kept and you can review it at any time. The latest in a line of specialized car cameras is the Vehicle Black Box Camera, which is made to withstand damage. It has dual cameras and stores a massive 16GB of video for later playback for $300.

Many people do not understand the importance of spy cameras in cars. There are multiple advantages from crooked cops, proof you are not at fault in a car wreck, monitoring those pesky teenagers, and of course you can even record your own travels. Take a road trip, and set the camera up for a view of the drive. Hidden cameras for cars are innovative, unique, and have many possible uses.

Dan Crane provides expert advice, reviews and buying tips about spy cameras and surveillance. Spy blog - Click Here

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A Personal Locating Device Saves Lives

By Aunindita Bhatia

You may not be the first but join the hundreds of people who have saved their life or the life of a loved one by owning a personal locating device. In 2003, a man living in Ohio was rescued due to the assistance of a personal locator beacon or PLB. Imagine being stranded in the mountains, alone and in need of emergency services. Simply by activating your PLB, you can notify rescue personnel and be rescued within hours. If you are looking to purchase a PLB then you may already realize the value of having such a system but if you are not convinced, this is an excellent option for security businesses.

How does it work?

In 2003, this device was tested in Alaska to evaluate its usefulness in search and rescue. Since then, this system has been expanded for personal use and enhanced its technology. Today, PLB's typically send out a signal using a 406 MHz frequency which are detected by satellites using the global positioning system. The satellites are part of a worldwide search and rescue system called the COSPAS-SARSAT system. This is a cluster of Russian and United States satellites that work together to detect distress signals anywhere in the world, even from beacons on ships and airplanes.

Features

When looking to own a personal locating device, look for a system that has a quad-mode. This feature will ensure that your device works from any location in the world. There are some that may also possess a one-way emergency listening option. This feature allows emergency personnel to listen to your transmissions to help identify your location. You may need to provide some additional information such as specifically where to search. For example, if the PLB provides coordinates to a mountain crest, but you are actually trapped in a cave, you can provide additional information about your location for a faster rescue. Many PLB's also have a two-way voice option, allowing search and rescue teams to ask clarifying questions.

Special Features

If you are considering joining the hundreds of thousands of people who now own a Personal Locating device, you have a wide selection of models to make your selection., Some models may have special features such as motion sensors and a vibrating alert. Possibly the best feature of a PLB is that they are designed to operate from -20 degrees Celsius to approximately 60 degrees Celsius, which is usually the harsh conditions it can be most needed. It is also designed to be waterproof and withstand humidity, with up to 95% of non-condensation.

A personal locating device is an excellent option for not only individuals but also a business. The device offers a viable business solution for those interested in providing vehicle tracking, security and recovery services to their clients.

If you are looking to purchase a personal locating device, there are many options that that may fit your specific needs. Save hours of searching and view more options at Strongman Security.

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Few Insights Into Data Storage

By Crist Ronaldo

For storing important data or information, we use different storage devices. Very simply spoken, you have this habit of jotting down everyday expenses in your pocket diary. This can also be considered as a storage device.

Nowadays, with innovation of technology, the concept of data storage has changed a lot. Thus the term mainly refers to information stored in your computer of other storage devices like CDs, external hard disks and so on. This article will try to highlight on the electronic storage concept.

We store and retrieve almost any information from the computer be it your digital files, text files, databases, emails and so on. The computer's storage system can be divided into two main categories i.e. primary and secondary. Have you ever wondered how the computer knows everything? It is because, the central processing unit (CPU) can access relevant information when you have given a command. This information remains stored in the computer memory, which is considered the primary data storage. Thus the RAM plays a vital role in storing, writing or rewriting information.

Secondary storages are considered as those devices which don't belong to the primary category. This can be anything like computer's hard disk drive, CD ROMs disks, etc. The hard disk belongs to the onsite storage category since it is designed to remain with the computer or at a single location. Every computer comes with a hard disk drive. Removable storage devices are those which can be separated from the computer. Thus, CDs, DVDs, USB flash drives, portable hard disks belong to this category. One disadvantage of these types of devices is that data access time is comparatively higher than onsite devices. However, people resort to these storage devices to store huge volume of data and free up computer spaces. These devices can be utilized to maintain computer backup too. Another advantage is that these portable devices can be easily carried to any distant location.

Off-site category includes devices which store data far away from the main computer, i.e. at a distant location. This data can be accessed via internet or direct calls. Advantage of having such data storage is that if anything happens to the computer system, you can easily access the off site device. Few such examples are electronic vaulting, on-line file hosting services, on-line photo sharing sites, etc. However, you can never be very sure about the security factor of off-site storage devices.

Storage process and devices should be decided as per your setup and requirement. If your need is simple then removable storage devices should serve the purpose. However, be careful about keeping these detachable devices at secured place since these often contain confidential and important information.

User name is a published author and has written various articles concerning the Data storage, network storage and more.

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HP LTO-5 Ultrium Tape The Ideal Backup Media Solution For Storage-Intensive Businesses

By Rob Millar

Nowadays, the organizations have to ensure compliance with the increasing legislation, and long-term protection of critical organizational and customer data. The storage-intensive organizations can cost-effectively meet their challenging tasks of creating high-volume backups and managing exploding business data with LTO ultrium tape format. It is a leading "open" tape standard that continues to deliver scalable LTO tape generations. So the LTO customers can seamlessly handle the increasing data amounts and enhance their productivity.

HP Hewlett-Packard's superior technical expertise and vast experience make it the most reliable tape media brand. HP LTO tape portfolio features a comprehensive range of drives, tape media and libraries that deliver unmatched backup performance. HP's new LTO5 tape devices offer significant media capacity and throughput speed gain over previous LTO4 tape generation. With ultra-fast HP LTO5 tape solution, the I.T staff will have to spend less time in doing their routines job tasks. The IT professionals prefer HP LTO ultrium5 technology for large enterprises, complex storage environments, mid-sized organizations, video archiving, high end workstations, media industry and demanding servers.

HP C7975A, ultrium5 tape can pack voluminous 1500GB native data. The latest HP LTO ultrium5 drives are being offered in both full-height and half-height models. Data transfer rate of HP LTO5 drives has been significantly enhanced to 1 TB/hour (compressed). HP's exclusive "data rate matching" technology further enhances the read/write performance and accuracy. The HP ultrium5 tape drives can adjust their speed and match it with the variable host speed. This allows the drive to keep the data streaming, thus ensuring uninterrupted backup operations.

The introduction of LTFS (linear tape file system) in HP LTO5 tape technology has helped to support data-rich environments such as media industry and surveillance video. Now the HP LTO5 customers are provided the luxury to perform the data storage and archival operations just like they do with a hard disk or USB drive. You can drag & drop the data, and restore the critical documents within few seconds. When you insert the HP ultrium5 cartridge into the drive, it appears to the host system as a drive letter.

Furthermore, the reliable write-once read-many (WORM) and AES hardware encryption technologies also have been added to ultrium5 technology. Exceptional robustness provides you the confidence to transport the HP LTO5 media tapes to remote locations. Media life of HP ultrium5 cartridge is 30 years. The HP ultrium5 tape drives have the capability to retrieve data from LTO4 and LTO ultrium3 tapes. Additionally, these drives offer write compatibility as well with LTO4 ultrium tapes.

HP LTO ultrium tapes are precision-engineered and are built tough for supreme reliability and longer life expectancy. HP ultrium5 solution provides ease of management, greater reliability, faster throughput speed and exceptional compatibility demanded by today's businesses. Product and software names mentioned throughout this article are trademarks and are sole property of their owners.

Rob Millar is the Marketing Manager of Tape4backup and markets lto-5 tape media and hp lto-5 tape. He has vast experience in the marketing and trading industries and has been helping buyers who have the backup needs and guide clients about the technology.

Rob Millar
34972 Newark Blvd,# 501,Newark CA 94560
Tel: 888-491-4949
Fax: 888-449-5050
Email: rob@tape4backup.com

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Multi-Function All-In-One Printers: Understand and Find The Right Solution For Your Document Needs

By John Anthony Wood

In the market today there are many different brands, designs, and functions of printers. Buyers may find themselves over whelmed by the numerous options available. Among the newest of options in the personal printing realm is the once only business feasible all-in-one printer/scanner/fax. Over the years the prices and features on these particular units has made them extremely attractive to the everyday consumer. With the vast range of options and features you may be asking yourself exactly how much printer do I need to accomplish the tasks I need done. In this article I will attempt to help you figure what you need in a all-in-one printer as well as places to find that perfect home or business unit.

My first bit of advice is to never purchase a printer without seeing it in action. Most of your retailers are usually more than helpful in providing a demonstration of the models you are interested in. This is the 1st step in the buying process and will give you an idea of speeds, quality of print, and some of the features available. You will find that same brand printers tend to have many of the same components and like print quality. The differences between models under the same brand will be features, print speeds and duty cycle. Ask for the demonstration pages and write notes on the sheets as to how long it processed before starting to print and then how long it took to shoot out the first page. These numbers become more important the more you use this device. It will be to your advantage to look at the printers in the stores and then compare the pricing to online retailers as many on-line stores can offer drastic savings to you.

Now that you have an idea about the quality and speeds of the printers, it is time to decide what type of printer to buy. Are you looking for a printer that will last a long time, be more economical to use, and provide years of trouble-free operation? Then you should consider staying with the laser printer options. The laser printer will offer better image resolution while using regular paper, a higher page count per consumables refill, a lower cost per page due to the lower cost of toner and higher yields as well as faster output. The drawback to the laser options are their price.

Ink-jets are the alternative to the laser printer. Over the years, inkjet technology has made huge improvements in quality, speed and usability. The units themselves run less in cost than their laser counterpart but the operation cost over time eliminates the gap. The biggest advantage to having the inkjet is its ability to handle a vast array of paper types. Due to the high heat produced by laser drums, medium such as transparencies, glossy papers, heat transfer paper, etc. can only be used in the inkjet. This makes the inkjet attractive if you plan to do much printing of photographs or craft related projects such as printing on fabrics, iron on transfers or any thing that would require low heat.

There are many options on printers today including, touch screens which drastically improve setup time and document management at the printer. Many models also have features such as scan to e-mail, scan to drive, scan to desktop, fax, etc. The models usually either will have the fax capability installed or it will just have print and scan. This can save you a few bucks if you don't need the ability to fax directly from your printer. The ability to scan direct to e-mail is an essential part of any document solution as e-mail has become the single most utilized way to communicate between individuals over distance. Some of the devices have photo ports which will allow you to plug into a USB device and provide access to the files on it through the touch screen so that you can view, print, edit, delete or transfer directly from your printer without the need to use your workstation.

1. In the previous paragraph, I discussed a few of the broad array of available features on todays all-in-one printers. Now, I would like to mention a few of the more obscure that may be of interest to you as a user.

2. Auto duplex allows you to utilize both sides of the paper for print without the need to re-feed the paper through the unit.

3. Wireless Network connectivity

4. Automatic Document Feeder which will automatically feed multiple pages through the scanner so you don't have to

Scan and print resolutions ranging from 300 dpi to 2400 dpi

Utilizing the information in this article should help you to find that perfect document solution for your needs. Check out the Ngema On-line Electronics Store for great deals on Multi-Function / All-in-one Printers.

John Wood is a staff writer and web administrator for Ngema Promotions. His specialty is technical writing for reviews and how-to articles. Check out more of his work at http://ngemapromotions.com

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