Sensor Area Networks (SANs)

[davidbrady]

This is exactly what I'd like WaGu to do John. We can set it up right now. You need a gateway to the internet and a wireless temperature sensor to place anywhere in the coach that you'd like. I think once you see the temperature you may eventually want to monitor other things like shore power voltage, whether the genny is running, or which AC's are turned on. This naturally leads to the desire to control these things regardless of yours or the buses location. This is why I latched onto the ZigBee digital radio concept coupled with cellular internet access. There are many ways to skin this cat, but my opinion is that if we want WaGu to function as the client then relying a Device Cloud server is the way to go. (I'm trying to keep the geek-speak at a minimum and failing terribly)! :-)

So you'd need an:

1) XBee Pro Series 2 (digital radio): $40,
2) DiGi ConnectPort X2 (ZigBee Gateway): $100,
3) CDMA/GSM Cellular Router: $250 to $300, and a
4) Cellular Data Plan ((buy as you go): $4 to $8 per month

It sounds like a very expensive thermometer and that's because it's not just a thermometer - it's an expandable general purpose platform that can control and monitor your bus regardless of either's location (as long as there's wireless connectivity).

Oh, and we need some poor unpaid volunteer to cobble up some PHP code on WaGu!