International courier giant Fedex has just released a new tracking device and web service for packages. Called SenseAware , it keeps tabs on the temperature, location and other vital signs of a package - including when it's opened and whether it was tampered with along the way. Fedex is running a trial period of about a year with 50 health care and life science companies, for tracking delivery of surgery kits, medical equipment - and even live organs. We spoke with FedEx head of innovation, Mark Hamm, about SenseAware and how Fedex is tapping into the emerging trend called Internet of Things . Sponsor We've covered Internet of Things extensively on ReadWriteWeb over the past year. It's when everyday objects become connected to the Internet, usually via RFID tags and/or sensors. In the case of Fedex's SenseAware, it is powered by multiple sensors including light, motion, temperature. Fedex's Mark Hamm described the SenseAware device as a "quad-band world phone." As well as the device, there is a browser-based collaboration platform allowing businesses to actively track the progress of a package. Users can set up triggers, alerts and notices - for example using geo sensors to alert others when a package arrives at a destination. Users can set these triggers and decide who they go to. Essentially, the SenseAware events trigger business processes for the users. For the web service, businesses pay a single monthly fee of $120 - for that they get the devices and the browser-based web service. Hamm noted that Fedex worked with the FAA to get permission to use the product on their freight planes; the only such device to have permission from the FAA, he told us. Fedex assembled components for SenseAware from a collection of partners, using Fedex's design specifications. Real-Time Decisions Based on Sensor Data Hamm said that SenseAware will enable companies to make real-time decisions much more easily. For example is a perishable goods package sets off on a 2 day journey, but the sensor data shows that the shelf life suddenly decreases - then the package can be instantly diverted to another location, where the product can still be used rather than becoming useless if it sticks to original delivery schedule. The initial trial period targets life science and medical companies (for example biotech firms), where things like security and knowing the vital signs of a package are very important. Also Hamm highlighted that these companies can collaborate on the sensor data, with precise data and records of delivery. The trial with the life sciences companies is designed to help Fedex make the "last 20%" of the product more efficient. After about a year of this trial, Fedex will then launch the product globally, as a generally available platform. Hamm expects it will be used by any company or organization dealing with perishable goods, high value goods - such as jewelery, dangerous goods, expensive equipment, and goods that are high value because they're unique (art work, music tapes, etc.). Hamm told us that he expects this type of sensor product to be "mainstreaming over time as people become used to interacting with shipments." Discuss

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FedEx Joins the Internet of Things With SenseAware

HP Labs has joined the race to build an infrastructure for the emerging Internet of Things . The giant computing and IT services company has announced a project that aims to be a "Central Nervous System for the Earth" ( CeNSE ). It's a research and development program to build a planetwide sensing network , using billions of "tiny, cheap, tough and exquisitely sensitive detectors." The technology behind this is based on nano-sensing research done by HP Labs. The sensors are similar to RFID chips, but in this case they are tiny accelerometers which detect motion and vibrations. Sponsor The first CeNSE sensor to be put into the field by HP Labs is, according to the company, "about 1,000 times more sensitive than accelerometers used in a Wii, an iPhone or an automobile's airbag system." Other sensors planned in future include ones for light, temperature, barometric pressure, airflow and humidity. Use Cases Peter Hartwell, senior researcher and project team lead, listed some example use cases for these sensing nodes. The nodes could be "stuck to bridges and buildings to warn of structural strains or weather conditions [and] they might be scattered along roadsides to monitor traffic, weather and road conditions." A bridge like the San Francisco Golden Gate might take 10,000 nodes, said Hartwell. Other uses include embedding the CeNSE nodes in everyday electronics, tracking hospital equipment, sniffing out pesticides and pathogens in food. Ultimately they may even "recognize" the person using them and adapt. According to HP Labs , CeNSE sensors will enable real-time data collection, analysis and better decision making. Potential Issues This is an ambitious project by HP Labs and there are other large IT companies, such as IBM , building out similar platforms for sensor data and services. HP senior fellow Stan Williams noted that for CeNSE to work, "we have to make sensors that are vastly more sensitive than anything else that have ever existed before, while being absolutely dirt cheap so that we can deploy them in very large numbers." RFID technology has had numerous cost and technology issues over the past decade, so HP Labs will surely run into similar real-world obstacles in this project. HP Labs admits that existing sensitive detectors are expensive; but it hopes to make them much cheaper. The Race to Build a Worldwide Sensor Network HP Labs' ultimate aim is to have a worldwide network of these CeNSE sensors. A trillion of them "should do the trick," says HP. The company is hoping that at that scale, sensor nodes will cost "next to nothing, yet measure everything." HP is also positioning this, boldly, as a technology that could "save the planet" by enabling it to be monitored. These are big claims and the proof will be in the pudding. One thing is for certain: sensor technology will become as pervasive as HP Labs says it will, in due course. The questions that remain unanswered though are: how long will it take, and which company (or companies) will gain the biggest footholds in this network? Discuss

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A Central Nervous System for Earth: HP's Ambitious Sensor Network