“Web Services on Devices” API (WSDAPI) is Microsoft’s interoperable implementation of Device Profile for Web Services. WSDAPI can be used for easy SOAP based communications between devices (including those that are embedded) and clients.  Because the DPWS is an open specification, compatibility with other implementations is ensured.  Microsoft’s WSDAPI not only offers a complete set of APIs, it also features a code generation utility that enables developers to focus on core functionality of the device and not on the communication.

Press release about MESDC:                     http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/feb08/02-26MSEDCPR.mspx

More about WSDAPI on MSDN:               http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa826001(VS.85).aspx

Dan Driscoll’s WDAPI Blog:                         http://blogs.msdn.com/dandris/

Created in conjunction with Intel, this sign run an Intel Core i7 processor and Windows Embedded Standard 2011, the next release of Windows Embedded which is based on Windows 7. The sign, like the one in the movie, senses when people come near the screen and it can recommend products for you to buy. However, unlike the sign in the movie, it doesn’t actually identify you by name (whew! That was a little freaky), but it does recognize your gender and height. You can also touch the screen itself or wave your hand in front of it to interact with the software and see the ads being offered, view a store map, access coupons and send them to your phone, and more.

To see the sign in action, check out this YouTube video here.  

For example, I didn’t know that Slingbox’s set top box ran Windows:

And I guess I never thought about remote controls:

Remotes: http://www.espnremote.com/html/

Or picture frames:

Wireless picture frames: http://www.momentolive.com/default.aspx

But these are only the tip of the iceberg. The Windows Devices Showcase lists embedded OS examples extending from mobile devices to netbooks to VOIP telephones and much more. The showcase includes not just Windows CE, but also Windows Mobile, and Windows XP Embedded devices.

It’s here I discovered things like the home automation touchscreen computer, mPanel:

Matrox Imaging’s Windows CE "smart camera,” the Iris GT:

Oh, and my own personal favorite, the Symbol Technologies PPT 8800:

(Why is that my favorite? Here’s a hint.)

00:00:37 EMIC Overview

00:01:30 Overview of sensor network projects (EMERGE and WASP)
00:01:55 Sensor network description
00:03:00 EMERGE project (elderly home care)

• 00:04:25 Description of the EMERGE sensor network
• 00:08:10 Application that displays collected data
• 00:08:30 Use of Decentralized Software Services Protocol (DSSP) and the .NET Micro Framework
• 00:09:35 Displaying raw signals from the pressure foil
• 00:10:25 Consolidated data showing sleep activity
• 00:13:14 Using live data

00:16:40 Sensor network development challenges

00:18:29 Sensor network architecture approach

00:22:15 WASP project (applying sensor networks to detect limping cows )

The .NET Micro Framework provides (among other things) a managed execution environment with automatic memory management, a substantial subset of the .NET Base Class Library and a managed driver model – all within an amazingly compact footprint of around a few hundred kilobytes. And its TCP/IP and Web Services for devices functionality make the .NET Micro Framework a great platform for building smart, connected, service-oriented devices!

In this video, Jonathan Kagle (Group Program Manager) and Lorenzo Tessiore (Development Manager) tell us about the work they've been doing on the .NET Micro Framework. Our conversation covers: origins of the .NET Micro Framework, available development kits (00:10:24), devices that are running it (00:13:07), what it looks like to write code for it (00:17:30), and about the upcoming 3.0 release (00:24:50).

Links:

• .NET Micro Framework product site
• .NET Micro Framework team blog
• .NET Micro Framework Platform SDK docs on MSDN
• .NET Micro Framework Connect site (where you can sign up for the version 3 beta)

Update: The .NET Micro Framework 3.0 Release Candidate 0 is now available.

A lot of times we forget that there’s really a lot more to computing than just the laptop you use to check your email and posts pictures to Facebook – there’s a whole world of computing that takes place on embedded devices, and that’s what this Microsoft Research group on embedded computing focuses on. Embedded computing through sensor networks has its challenges, though – there are energy and bandwidth resources to think of as well as uncertainty about the systems and the environment they operate in. Additionally, many of the tasks require collaboration among devices. The group is trying to discover new and better ways to do all of these things. 

As far as mPlatform goes, Zhao says, “it’s all about tinkering. Instead of trying to write software to live with existing hardware limitations, researchers ought to be able to aggregate hardware to suit their software needs and debug the application logic before fabricating and deploying these devices at scale…People can start using these platforms to build interesting applications quickly. We take some of the common things out of these different applications, embedded application prototypes in the main, and let users focus more on thinking about the sort of applications they want to build.”

So far, Zhao has built 6 different types of modules, with 2 more radio modules and 1 more processor module on the way.

(Bodhi Priyantha is pictured holding one of the mPlatform modules).