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An automatic meter reading (AMR) system includes a fixed or mobile reader and an endpoint. The endpoint is interfaced to a utility meter and the fixed or mobile reader is capable of communicating with the endpoint via RF communication. In this system the fixed or mobile reader sends a message to the endpoint that includes a response mode direction; the response mode direction from the reader tells the endpoint to respond to the reader either in a mobile network mode or a fixed network mode.
1. An automatic meter reading (AMR) system, comprising:
a reader;
an endpoint interfaced to a utility meter,
wherein said reader is capable of communicating with said plurality of endpoint devices via RF communication; and
wherein said reader uses a single RF communication protocol in communicating with all of said plurality of endpoint devices and said single RF communication protocol supports both one-way communication and two-way communication, such that said reader uses said single RF communication protocol to permit communications with at least some of said plurality of endpoint devices via one-way communication and at least some of said endpoint devices via two-way communication; and
wherein said single RF communication protocol includes:
a physical layer that defines a common frequency band, channel bandwidth, modulation scheme, and preamble length for endpoint devices operating in one-way and two-way communication modes; and
a transport layer that defines timing and packetization for all data transferred between said reader and endpoint, wherein said packetization provides packets originating from endpoints operating in one-way and two-way communication modes to include at least a common endpoint ID field, a common endpoint type field, and a message field following the endpoint type field.
2. The AMR system of
3. The AMR system of
4. The AMR system of
5. An automatic meter reading (AMR) system, comprising
a reader;
an endpoint interfaced to a utility meter, wherein said reader is capable of communicating with said endpoint via RF communication;
wherein said RF communication occurs through the use of a communication protocol, and wherein said communication protocol includes a data link layer directing all outbound data transmissions from said reader to said endpoint to be Manchester encoded and directing inbound transmissions from said endpoint to said reader to be in a selectable encoding format selected from the set consisting of: Manchester encoding, and non-return to zero data encoding.
6. The AMR system of
The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/500,550, filed on Sep. 5, 2003, and entitled, "DATA COMMUNICATION PROTOCOL IN AN AUTOMATIC METER READING SYSTEM."
This application is related to commonly assigned U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/500,507, filed on Sep. 5, 2003, entitled, "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETECTION OF SPECIFIC ON-AIR DATA RATE," U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/500,515, filed Sep. 5, 2003, entitled, "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MOBILE DEMAND RESET," U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/500,504, filed Sep. 5, 2003, entitled, "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OPTIMIZING CONTIGUOUS CHANNEL OPERATION WITH CELLULAR REUSE," U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/500,479, filed Sep. 5, 2003, entitled, "SYNCHRONOUS DATA RECOVERY SYSTEM," U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/500,550, filed Sep. 5, 2003, entitled, "DATA COMMUNICATION PROTOCOL IN AN AUTOMATIC METER READING SYSTEM," U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/655,760, filed on Sep. 5, 2003, entitled, "SYNCHRONIZING AND CONTROLLING SOFTWARE DOWNLOADS, SUCH AS FOR COMPONENTS OF A UTILITY METER-READING SYSTEM," and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/655,759, filed on Sep. 5, 2003, entitled, "FIELD DATA COLLECTION AND PROCESSING SYSTEM, SUCH AS FOR ELECTRIC, GAS, AND WATER UTILITY DATA," which are herein incorporated by reference.
The present invention relates to automatic meter reading systems and, more particularly, to the communication protocol used for the endpoint to reader hop in the automatic meter reading system.
Current automatic meter reading (AMR) systems are significantly limited in the information that can be obtained from the meter. Generally the AMR system comprises a reader and an endpoint that is interfaced to a meter. In a typical system, the endpoint obtains the consumption reading from the meter and then bubbles up every few seconds to send that consumption reading, via RF signal, to the reader. Alternatively, the endpoint receives a wake-up tone from the reader that prompts the endpoint to send the consumption reading to the reader.
All that is obtained from this configuration is a single consumption reading from the meter and that reading is based on what meter register the endpoint was programmed with initially at the factory.
As such, there is a need for an AMR system that enables the user of the system to have more access to and more control over the information that the meter and endpoint can provide.
The present invention is a data communication protocol used between an endpoint and a reader in an automatic meter reading (AMR) system. The communication protocol enables the reader to have a conversation with the endpoint in that the reader can tell the meter what to do, it can reconfigure the meter, it can tell the endpoint to reconfigure the meter, it can request a specific response, it can request the endpoint to reprogram certain values in both the endpoint and the meter, it can request that the end point get specific information from the meter, return it to the end point, which returns it to the reader, etc.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, an automatic meter reading (AMR) system includes a fixed or mobile reader and an endpoint. The endpoint is interfaced to a utility meter and the fixed or mobile reader is capable of communicating with the endpoint via RF communication. In this system the fixed or mobile reader sends a message to the endpoint that includes a response mode direction; the response mode direction from the reader tells the endpoint to respond to the reader either in a mobile network mode or a fixed network mode.
In another embodiment of the invention, the reader uses a single RF communication protocol in communicating with the endpoint whether one-way communication or two-way communication is used. In still another embodiment of the invention, the RF communication between the endpoint and reader occurs through the use of a communication protocol that uses a data link layer that directs all outbound transmissions from the reader to the endpoint to be either Manchester encoded or transmitted as non-return to zero data. In still another embodiment of the invention, the communication protocol includes a transport layer that provides slotting control for all data transferred between the reader and the endpoint. In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the communication protocol utilizes a command and control frame for communication between the reader and endpoint. In still another embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of readers and endpoints are provided. The readers are quasi-synchronized in time to provide a control frame to at least one of the readers.
The present invention is a data communication protocol for automatic meter reading (AMR) systems. The protocol is designed to be flexible and expandable enabling both one-way and two-way meter reading in both fixed and mobile meter reading systems.
I. System Components
In an AMR system 100, as depicted in
The AMR system 100 and the data protocol is usable in both one-way meter reading and in two-way meter reading. The one-way meter reading system enables the reader to listen to messages sent asynchronously from the endpoint while the two-way meter reading system enables the reader to communicate with and command the endpoint while also enabling the endpoint to respond to the reader.
II. System Protocol
The present communication protocol will be described with reference to the 1430 MHz band that may be utilized within North America, however, it should be understood that any other radio frequency band may be used, as suitable, without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. The present communication protocol will also be described with reference to the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) protocol stack of the International Standards Organization which includes: (1) the physical layer; (2) the data link layer; (3) the network layer; (4) the transport layer; (5) the session layer; (6) the presentation layer; and (7) the application layer.
II.A. System Protocol—Physical Layer
The physical layer describes the physical characteristics of the communication. This layer conveys the bit stream through the network at the electrical and mechanical level. It provides the hardware means of sending and receiving data on a carrier. The physical layer specifications for the reader may be found in
The physical layer specification for the endpoint in a two-way AMR system, at a first data rate and a second data rate, are found in the tables of
II.B. System Protocol—Data Link Layer
The data link layer specifies how packets are transported over the physical layer, including the framing, i.e., the bit patterns that mark the start and end of packets. This layer provides synchronization for the physical level. It furnishes transmission protocol knowledge and management. In the present data communication protocol, all outbound data transmissions, i.e., all communications from the reader's central radio to endpoint, are Manchester encoded with the guaranteed transition mid-bit and each data bit encoded as anan(bar). (See
The data link layer provides a countdown timer. The countdown timer uses Sequence Inversion Keying to represent timer bits. Each system is assigned a 10-bit pseudo noise (PN) sequence (for valid sequences, see Table 1 below). That sequence in the data stream represents a timer bit value 0 and the inverse of that sequence in the data stream represents a timer bit value 1. Timer values are composed of 10 timer bits, or 100 data bits. The countdown timer begins at 1023 or 1111111111 binary, and counts sequentially to zero, encoding all timer bits as either the system PN sequence or its inverse. The total counter time, in seconds, is 102400/r, where r is the bit rate, in bits per second.
The network layer specifies how packets get from the source network to the destination network. This layer handles the routing of the data (sending it in the right direction to the right destination on outgoing transmissions and receiving incoming transmissions at the packet level). The network layer does routing and forwarding. In the present data communication protocol, the network layer functionality is only implemented in electric endpoints, i.e., it is not used for battery-powered endpoints, or in any endpoint that acts as translator or repeater. This layer controls the hopping functions that need to occur between a reader and any endpoint in order to transfer data. This hopping protocol is currently used within the Itron AMR systems and is therefore not described in detail herein.
II.D. System Protocol—Transport Layer
The transport layer is used to solve problems like reliability ("did the data reach the destination?") and ensure that data arrives in the correct order. This layer manages the end-to-end control (for example, determining whether all packets have arrived) and error-checking. It ensures complete data transfer. In the present data communication protocol, slotting control is handled in the transport layer. This includes slot assignments, timing, and any necessary packetization.
The packet number byte, when used as part of the message, is configured as below in Table 2, wherein the first four bits comprise the total number of packets in this message and the last four bits comprise the packet number.
The flags byte is configured as below in Table 3. The first two bits are reserved while the second two bits provides the encoder number (for multi-encoder units), wherein 00=encoder 0, 01=encoder 1, 10=encoder 2, and 11=encoder 3. The fifth bit signifies the status of a pending event, wherein 0=no pending event and 1=a pending event. The sixth bit comprises the security bit, wherein 0=security disabled and 1=security enable. The seventh bit comprises the relay bit, wherein 0=message from originating endpoint and 1=message via relay. The eighth bit comprises the resend bit, wherein 0=first attempt at packet transmission and 1=resend attempt.
Some endpoints in the system have the option of sending out an infrequent (several times a day) fixed format message at a higher power level, for use in 1-way fixed network applications. The message has its own structure, as defined in
The session layer sets up, coordinates, and terminates conversations, exchanges, and dialogs between the applications at each end. It deals with session and connection coordination. In the present data communication protocol, the session layer generally comprises the command and control frame that is sent from the reader to the endpoint.
II.E.i. System Protocol—Session Layer/Two-Way Command and Control
The command and control frame is used to issue command to two-way endpoints either individually or in groups. It also serves to realign the endpoint real-time clock.
Field "0" of the command and control frame comprises the system identification (ID). Each system is issued an 8-bit ID value, which is stored in the endpoint, to distinguish different systems within geographic proximity. The endpoints are designed to respond to commands from their own system or to commands that address them specifically by ID number, proper security password, and have a 0x00 in field "0". The system ID functions nearly identically to the cell ID, described below. However, the system ID is universal, while the cell ID is local, i.e., a single system will have multiple cells each having the same system ID but a different cell ID.
Field "1" of the command control frame comprises the frame ID. Each reader within the system is assigned a frame ID to use based on its position in the wake-up sequence. The position in the wakeup sequence is directly related to the frequency reuse pattern that is used in a given system. Table 1, described earlier, correlates the frame ID to the channel, which is correlated to the cell reuse ratio.
Field "2" of the command and control frame comprises the cell ID. Each cell is issued an 8-bit ID value, which is stored in the endpoint, to distinguish different systems within geographic proximity.
Fields "3" through "6" of the command and control frame is the RTC, which is defined as UTC time (coordinated universal time), which is a 32-bit value representing the number of seconds since midnight (00:00:00) on Jan. 1, 1970 GMT.
Field "7" is the command flags 1 field, wherein the first three bits define a slot length according to Table 5.
Field "8" of the command and control frame is the command flags 2 field, wherein the first four bits are reserved. The fifth and sixth bits defined the encoder number, wherein 00=Encoder 0, 01=Encoder 1, 10=Encoder 2, and 11=Encoder 3. The final seventh and eighth bits define the transmit mode, wherein 00=transmit mode 1, e.g., mobile response required, 01=transmit mode 2, e.g., fixed network response required, and 10/11 are reserved. Also see section V below.
Field "9" of the command and control frame comprises the slot offset. Slot offset defines the number of slots between packets in multi-packet messages. For example, if the endpoint has an initial slot number of 50, and the slot offset is 120, a three-packet message would be transmitted in slots 50, 170, and 290.
Fields "10" and "11" of the command and control frame define the first unsolicited message. Specifically, they define the slot number where the unsolicited messages (UMs) are to begin. Any UMs generated during the cell read would be reported in a pseudo-randomly selected slot after the slot defined here. If the value of this field is 0x0000, no UMs are sent from the endpoint.
Fields "12" through "15" of the command and control frame provide the endpoint IDs for those endpoints that the reader is desiring to communicate with.
Fields "16" and "17" are the security fields and are described further in relation to the presentation layer.
Field "18", defines the command set. The commands are divided into two groups: (1) universal and (2) type-specific. Universal commands are numbered 0-63 and are applicable to all the system endpoints. Type specific commands are numbered 64-255 and vary depending on the lower nibble of the command set field in accordance with Table 6 below.
Fields "19" through "21" of the command and control frame define the command and command body. Specifically, the eight command bits of field "19" indicate the command type, wherein the numbers 0-63 are universal commands and 64-255 are the type specific commands. Fields "20" and "21" provide sixteen bits wherein any data needed to carry out the command type is provided. The tables in
Referring to the type specific commands (
Fields "22" and "23" of the command and control frame designate the response frequency for the endpoint. The response frequency is configured as 16 bit flags, identifying valid response frequencies for the endpoint. For example, if the response frequency has a value of 0x00C1 (bits, 7, 6, and 0 are set), the endpoint may respond on channel, 7, channel 6, or channel 0.
Field "24" is reserved for later use.
Field "25" indicates the length of the extended control frame in bytes. A value of 0 indicates that no extended frame is present.
Fields "26" and "27" of the command and control frame provides the cyclic redundancy check (CRC). Specifically, fields "26" and "27" provide a 16-bit CRC. The CRC is preferably a polynomial defined as 0x1021. The CRC initialization value is 0x0000. CRC processing is performed most significant bit (MSB) first, and the final checksum is not inverted.
II.E.ii. System Protocol—Session Layer/One-Way Command and Control
For simplicity one-way devices may opt to use the programming frame shown in
Certain of the commands provided in the command and control frame are described in detail below. For instance, Command 33, which is the set channel frequency. Each of the system endpoints support up to 16 channels, which are set individually. They may or may not be contiguous channels. The channel numbering differs based on frequency band. For example, in the present implementation of the invention, the 1427-1432 MHz band is divided into 6.25 kHz frequency channels, with frequency channel 0 centered at 1427.000 MHz, frequency channel 1 centered at 1427.00625 MHz, etc. If endpoint channel 15 is programmed to a value of 480, that endpoint receiver will always operate at 1427.000+(0.00625*480)=1430.000 MHz. This may be extended to other frequency bands. For example, the 433-435 MHz band is divided into 25 KHz frequency channels with the frequency channel 0 centered at 433.000 MHz, frequency channel 1 centered at 433.025 MHz and so on.
The command body of the set channel frequency command is detailed below in Table 8:
The configuration flag commands, i.e., commands 90, 91, and 92 are used for setting individual flags in the endpoints. Each flag command includes an 8-bit flag mask and an 8-bit flag as shown below (the configuration flags 1 command body):
The present data communication protocol provides at least two commands for use in system testing and analysis. The first command is command 210, i.e., Generate UM (unsolicited message). This command automatically generates an unsolicited message in all endpoints addressed by the command and control frame. It generates the lowest numbered UM supported by the endpoint. The second command is command 211, i.e., Enter Screaming Viking Mode. Screaming Viking Mode is a constant transmission mode, to be used for test only. When this command is received, the endpoint repetitively transmits its ID for the number of minutes declared in the command. If a value of 0 is sent, the mode is active for 15 seconds.
II.E.v. System Protocol—Session Layer/Special Commands—Extension Commands
Commands 48, 49, 50 and 51 of the data communication protocol are implemented as extensions to the command and control frame. The extension commands immediately follow the command and control frame in the same transmit session. Command 48 is the multiple ungrouped endpoint command. In the case where the system needs to command a group of specific endpoints and vector them to specific slots, command 48 is issued. The central radio then issues commands to these endpoints, as shown in
Command 49, i.e., the vector and listen frame, is issued in the instance where the central radio or reader need to download an arbitrary block of data to the endpoint. The endpoint, upon receiving this command receives a data frame, as defined in
Command 50, the multiple command to individual endpoint command, is used in the case where the central radio or reader need to download a series of commands to one specific endpoint. The endpoint, upon receiving this command, receives a data frame as defined in
Command 51, the Extended Frame Mobile Read command, uses the multiple ungrouped endpoint command structure, with a Slotted-ALOHA period between the extended frame and the queried response slots. All endpoints which recognize the command respond. If the endpoint is among those addressed by the extended frame, it responds as commanded, being offset by 16 slots. If the endpoint is not specifically addressed it responds in the Slotted-ALOHA section with its programmed default message.
II.F. System Protocol—Presentation Layer
The presentation layer, which is usually part of an operating system, converts incoming and outgoing data from one presentation format to another and it is sometimes called the syntax layer. In the present data communication protocol, the presentation layer handles data security and any necessary data compression and decompression.
The data security is preferably a simple two-level protocol, which may be enabled or disabled by the customer. Level 1 provides simple encryption for the transfer of normal data while level 2 provides write security to the endpoint to prevent unauthorized users from changing endpoint parameters.
Level 1 is intended for use on ordinary data being transmitted from the endpoint to the head end. All data is encrypted with a simple 8-bit XOR mask. The level 1 security enables flag and encryption mask and are editable by a level 2 parameter write. The factory default for the XOR mask is the bottom 8 bits of the serial number. Level 1 security is applied only to the message itself and not to the EPID, flags, or message type. Level 1 security may be disabled by setting the mask value to 0.
Level 2 security is intended for use on any head end commands to change endpoint parameters. It includes modification of operational, security and reprogramming parameters. Level 2 functionality is independent and can be applied with or without Level 1 functions enabled. Each endpoint has a 16-bit password. This password is originally defined at install, and can be edited by a valid Level 2 command. Any write command must include the current password to be considered valid by the endpoint. For added security, the Level 1 encryption mask may be applied to the password, if Level 1 functionality is active. There is no compression performed on packet data.
II.G. System Protocol—Application Layer
The application layer is the layer at which communication partners are identified, quality of service is identified, user authentication and privacy are considered, and any constraints on data syntax are identified. (This layer is not the application itself, although some applications may perform application layer functions.) In the present data communication protocol, an endpoint application layer is used in conjunction with the application programming interface (API). When data is requested by the presentation layer, via the API, the application layer performs its processing and returns the requested message as a single block, along with one 8-bit value. The value represents the message type.
III. System Operation
The two-way AMR system of the present invention, at 1430 MHz, is designed to operate most efficiently in five contiguous RF channels. This allows the use of a cheaper (wider) receiver section in the endpoint while still maintaining the FCC mandated 50 KHz maximum transmit spectrum. The transmit spectrum in all devices, endpoints, and readers, must maintain a 50 KHz or less occupied bandwidth during transmit. The receiver in the reader must also have a good selectivity on the channel of interest. The endpoint receiver is allowed to accept a wider receive bandwidth primarily to reduce the cost of the endpoint.
Refer to
By utilizing an appropriate RF ASIC, the architecture can be reduced to three contiguous channels with the reaming two or more channels scattered throughout the band to ease spectrum allocation requirements. With a reduction in the interference protection to the end point, a completely separated channel model could be used in an alternative configuration. However, in the separate channel model, the endpoint requires additional base band filtering and is still slightly more susceptible to adjacent channel interference on the control channel especially if operating in the high power portion of the band. The separate channel option also allows multiple control channels in the system when mobile operation is used with multiple outbound channels. When using the separate channel model, channels 2 and 4, of a 5-channel block, are used for control signals.
To alleviate cell-to-cell interference in a system with a single control channel the readers must be synchronized in time so that the control frames, which are described in further detail below, do not overlap. The addition of "dead time" in between sequential control frames allow for the receivers to be quasi-synchronized instead of in perfect lock step. In the preferred embodiment, quasi-synchronized means that the receivers are within 0.5 seconds of each other, which can easily by achieved via protocols such as NTP (network time protocol). Other quasi-synchronization times may be used without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. As such, a GPS or other high accuracy time base is not required within the readers.
Within the AMR system, each reader is assigned a frame ID to use based on its position in a wakeup sequence. The position in the wakeup sequence is directly related to the frequency reuse pattern used in a given system. The timings in the diagram of
As shown in
As mentioned, the example of
Unless otherwise specified by the system, the frame ID is preferably tied to the cellular frequency used based on Table 13 below:
To maximize throughput in the system 100, a cellular reuse scheme is employed in the 1430 MHz band. The reuse ratio is preferably a 3, 4, 5, 7, or 9 cell pattern. Smaller patterns are preferred from a delay perspective, however, the final choice is preferably made during the RF planning and installation of actual systems in the field. The 7 and 9 patterns are preferably used in the virtual cell model. The reuse patterns are provided in
IV. Mobile and Hand-Held Operation
When operating in the mobile or hand-held mode, the 2.5 seconds of "dead time" does not apply. Rather slot "0" occurs at the end of the command and control frame plus 25 milliseconds. Note, that due to time required to read the attached meter and/or bring the charge pump to full operation the endpoint may or may not respond in slot "0" even if told to respond immediately.
In programming mode, the hand-held control may reduce its sensitivity by as much as 30 dB to avoid overload conditions at close programming distances. The hand-held and endpoint must work with programming distances as close as 0.5 meters and as far as 300 meters when in the mobile mode of operation with a line of site propagation path.
In mobile operation the wake-up sequence, the command & control data, and the receive portions of a standard read cycle are continuously repeated as the mobile moves through the system. The timing is preferably in the range of a one to five second cycle. The diagram depicted in
The command & control frame preferably contains a group call read that solicits a consumptive type reading from all of the endpoints that can hear the mobile and that have the correct system ID. The endpoint responds to the group call in a random slot, on a random channel. The random channel is chosen from the list of available channels that is provided in the command & control frame. The random slot is one of the 50 ms slots in the Slotted-ALOHA portion of the frame. (Slotted ALOHA is a random access scheme just like regular ALOHA except that the transmissions are required to begin and end within the predefined timeslot. The timeslots are marked from the end of the command & control frame just like in the fixed network).
When the reader hears a response from a given endpoint, it knows that it is within range and can request a specific response from the endpoint in the next command & control frame. The command & control frame is expected to contain both a standard command frame and an extended control frame to allow for the mobile to access the most endpoints possible in a single pass. When the mobile requests a response from the end point it will tell it the channel and time slot that it is supposed to respond on. This is to minimize the chances of a collision on the longer messages that can be delivered in the MDP type of responses. During the mobile cycle, battery endpoints may be required to bubble up their receivers up at a higher rate than normal or synchronize to the first command & control frame to improve mobile performance.
If the van is moving at a maximum of 30 miles per hour it will travel 440 feet in 10 seconds. The van will also have a communications radius of approximately 500 feet give a 1400 MHz system operating at a data rate of 22.6 Kchips/second, with the expected power levels and receiver sensitivities (e.g., +14 dBm endpoint TX power, −110 dBM RX sensitivity in the van, 20 dB margin, endpoint at 5′). The margin is included because the MDP data packet is much longer than the current SCM type messages and is not repeated unless an error occurs. To achieve a low re-try rate, it is desirable to bring the BER down to 0.01%. To do this under normal situations would require an additional 20 dB of margin, however, a diversity setup on the van receivers can be used to achieve the same results. This requires two antennas on the van placed five to six feet apart along with an additional receiver demodulator chain per channel. For SCM data that is repeated multiple times, the system can operate at a much lower margin and still achieve excellent read reliability in the van. A coverage radius of about 1200 feet is obtained for the system when collecting standard consumptive data.
The diagram of
With the current mobile protocol each endpoint is, on average, in the range of the van for approximately 12 to 25 seconds. This is an appropriate amount of time to wake up the endpoint, identify who it is, request an MDP (mobile data packet=250 bytes of raw data maximum) to be sent, receive the MDP and potentially retry the request and receive portions of the process if necessary.
In the basic system, there are five channels at a maximum 75% utilization for MDP responses. This gives an effective data rate of 42375 BPS or 5296 bytes per second or 21 blocks per second. Since the system is looking at a single block per meter, the system can support 21 new meters per second. The mobile then has a nominal range of 500 feet. This gives the system of about 175 meters in range at any given time, even in the densest specified systems. If the van is moving at 30 mph, the system gets 44 feet of new meters per second. In performing a geometric approximation, the result is about 12 new meters per second. So, the system can handle 21 new meters per second but can only get in the range of 10 to 12 meters per second. This allows for a full set of retries in a dense system. (This assumes the low 11.36363. KBPS data rate and the full 250 byte MDP, for smaller packets and with the higher data rate option, the situation is even better.
V. Response Optimization for Mobile and Fixed Network Operation
In order to optimize the batter efficiency, range, and overall system robustness for endpoints that must operate in both a mobile and fixed network scenario without reprogramming, the following methodology is preferably used. The outbound transmission from the reader includes a flag that states the response mode of the endpoint. When the response mode flag is set to "mobile" the endpoint responds at a lower power (e.g., +14 dBm) and in a dynamically randomized slot determined as described above. When the endpoint sees the "fixed network" flag set it responds in its assigned slot at high power (e.g., +30 dBm). The advantage provided by this scenario is that in the mobile case the reader is not burdened with slot dynamic allocation of multiple, which can be computationally intensive and consume additional air time to successfully communicate to all the in-range endpoints. It also allows the endpoint to conserver power and reduce interference. This leads to the ability to transmit more data with less retries. In the fixed network case, the high power mode enables the system to get maximum range from the device (reducing infrastructure costs) while interference is mitigated by assigned slots. The slots are efficiently assigned in the fixed network case because of the pseudo-static nature of the system. Note that prior art systems enabled only static programming of the endpoint to operate in one mode or the other. As such, the previous methodology did not allow for mixed mode operation without reprogramming the endpoint. Thus, the present invention presents the combination of low power operation and dynamic slot assignment for mobile operation with the high power slotted operation for the fixed network all controlled by a flag in the outbound wakeup data. Refer to field "8," bits 7 and 8, of the command & control frame that define the transmit/response mode.
The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit of the essential attributes thereof; therefore, the illustrated embodiment should be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, reference being made to the appended claims rather than to the foregoing description to indicate the scope of the invention.
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THOMASVILLE, N.C. — Thomasville City Schools have qualified for a federal program to pay for breakfast and lunch meals for every student in the district beginning this fall.
It's part of a national program that's an alternative to the free and reduced lunch program that's currently in place in schools nationwide.
The Community Eligibility Provision evaluates the participation of parents in food stamps and emergency food programs.
If the percentage of parents participating is high enough, campuses across the nation can forgo the free and reduced lunch program and offer all students in the school free meals.
Thomasville City Schools Child Nutrition Director Brenda Watford said it will be a big benefit for students who can't afford even the reduced price lunches.
"All the time," said Watford. "Kids just didn't have the money to be able to eat lunch."
Watford said even with just 10 percent of students not on free or reduced lunches last year, they still had many families not keeping up with the bill.
"We have to write letters and call and tell them that their child owes money and they'll tell us, 'We'll pay you when we can' and now we won't have to do any of that," said Watford.
Several other Triad-area schools will also launch the free breakfast and lunch program, but Thomasville is the only school district in which every school qualifies.
In Guilford County, there are 58 schools that will start the program this fall. In Forsyth County, 24 schools will serve up free lunches and breakfasts.
There is concern about lack of participation in the program among Rockingham County school leaders. Earlier this year, they announced plans to launch the program as well, but are still struggling to find the money to cover the costs of expanding their meals.

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|February 13, 2013 09:13 PM EST
AppLayer's RecruitBox is first in series of tailored 'industry cloud' solutions
LONDON, 13 February - Cloud technology company AppLayer today announced the general availability of its new RecruitBox IT solution. RecruitBox takes a new and different approach to IT for recruitment companies, providing a secure, monitored working environment in the cloud. Staff members are provided with Windows Hosted Desktops, on which they can access all the software and applications they need, including the company's preferred recruitment software.
The first of AppLayer's industry cloud 'business in a box' solutions, RecruitBox caters to sector-specific industry issues including high staff turnover, mobile working, staff productivity, worries of employee data theft and costs of IT support.
RecruitBox requires minimal changes to working practices - staff continue to use the software they are familiar with. Easy-to-operate control panels allow managers to configure the security and surveillance settings to match their company policies and to add or remove users. New hires can be set up within one or two minutes and accounts can be closed instantly when employees leave, protecting sensitive information
RecruitBox's features include:
Hosted Desktop: Allows secure access for users' Windows desktops from the cloud, providing a central point for all software and files and remote access for approved team members and devices.
Access from any device, any location. Secure support for remote workers, tablets and smartphones.
Recruitment App Hosting: Recruitment applications, such as Voyager, Bond Adapt and Eclipse can be accessed securely via the hosted desktop.
Business Applications: In addition to industry-specific applications, RecruitBox includes access to general business software including Office, Sage and Exchange email.
Control of access to applications, including precise control of access to the internet. Users can be prevented from accessing types of site such as social networking or shopping sites, or specific sites such as LinkedIn.
Security and Monitoring: Comprehensive security features include prevention of transfer of data to external devices such as USB sticks; setting up alerts for suspicious words in emails; "smart camera" that takes screen-shots of activity; sophisticated facilities for searching through emails and websites visited.
Activity profiling: Dashboards provide snapshot views of how active staff are being and how they are spending their time.
Resource management: Easy to scale up or down as business needs change - add or remove employees or resources instantly.
"We have designed RecruitBox with the specific needs of recruitment firms in mind so directors and managers can focus on running their business, not managing their IT," said Andrew McLean, director of AppLayer. "It is the first of our 'business-in-a-box' cloud solutions, which are designed to make technology simple, accessible and easy to manage for any SME. By providing one secure platform to manage businesses best-of-breed software, our 'boxes' mean that business owners can worry about their businesses and we can manage their IT."
About Business in a Box
AppLayer's 'Business-in-a-box' solutions are tailored industry cloud solutions designed to manage all the IT needs for specific industry sectors. AppLayer collates business applications such as Office and Sage with best-of-breed software to create a single, IT 'box' which it hosts and supports on behalf of its customers.
About AppLayer
AppLayer has been developing cloud-based IT solutions for businesses and partners since 2009. Headquartered in central London, the company is a new breed of IT company, using the latest developments in technology and connectivity to satisfy the demands of modern businesses.
A success story in its own right, AppLayer was founded by a couple of young entrepreneurs at the height of the recent recession, with the simple but ambitious intention of making IT user friendly.
After being approached by a number of investors, AppLayer secured funding in 2011 and continues to go from strength to strength. Today the company has been recognised by Microsoft for its hosting capabilities and continues to make inroads into the IT industry. AppLayer has an international customer base consisting of large hosting companies, IT distributors and value added resellers from the UK and US to the Middle East, Africa and Australia. http://www.recruitbox.co.uk/. http://www.applayer.co.uk/
For further information, please contact:
Lisa Henshaw or Xanthe Vaughan Williams
Fourth Day Public Relations
+44 (0)20 7403 4411
[email protected], [email protected]
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SYS-CON Events announced today that HPM Networks will exhibit at the 17th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on November 3–5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. For 20 years, HPM Networks has been integrating technology solutions that solve complex business challenges. HPM Networks has designed solutions for both SMB and enterprise customers throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.
Aug. 3, 2015 06:45 PM EDT Reads: 561
For IoT to grow as quickly as analyst firms' project, a lot is going to fall on developers to quickly bring applications to market. But the lack of a standard development platform threatens to slow growth and make application development more time consuming and costly, much like we've seen in the mobile space. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Mike Weiner, Product Manager of the Omega DevCloud with KORE Telematics Inc., discussed the evolving requirements for developers as IoT matures and conducted a live demonstration of how quickly application development can happen when the need to comply wit...
Aug. 2, 2015 11:15 AM EDT Reads: 375
The Internet of Everything (IoE) brings together people, process, data and things to make networked connections more relevant and valuable than ever before – transforming information into knowledge and knowledge into wisdom. IoE creates new capabilities, richer experiences, and unprecedented opportunities to improve business and government operations, decision making and mission support capabilities.
Aug. 1, 2015 10:00 AM EDT Reads: 352
Explosive growth in connected devices. Enormous amounts of data for collection and analysis. Critical use of data for split-second decision making and actionable information. All three are factors in making the Internet of Things a reality. Yet, any one factor would have an IT organization pondering its infrastructure strategy. How should your organization enhance its IT framework to enable an Internet of Things implementation? In his session at @ThingsExpo, James Kirkland, Red Hat's Chief Architect for the Internet of Things and Intelligent Systems, described how to revolutionize your archit...
Jul. 30, 2015 07:30 PM EDT Reads: 1,438
MuleSoft has announced the findings of its 2015 Connectivity Benchmark Report on the adoption and business impact of APIs. The findings suggest traditional businesses are quickly evolving into "composable enterprises" built out of hundreds of connected software services, applications and devices. Most are embracing the Internet of Things (IoT) and microservices technologies like Docker. A majority are integrating wearables, like smart watches, and more than half plan to generate revenue with APIs within the next year.
Jul. 30, 2015 02:30 PM EDT Reads: 164
Growth hacking is common for startups to make unheard-of progress in building their business. Career Hacks can help Geek Girls and those who support them (yes, that's you too, Dad!) to excel in this typically male-dominated world. Get ready to learn the facts: Is there a bias against women in the tech / developer communities? Why are women 50% of the workforce, but hold only 24% of the STEM or IT positions? Some beginnings of what to do about it! In her Opening Keynote at 16th Cloud Expo, Sandy Carter, IBM General Manager Cloud Ecosystem and Developers, and a Social Business Evangelist, d...
Jul. 30, 2015 12:00 PM EDT Reads: 2,096
In his keynote at 16th Cloud Expo, Rodney Rogers, CEO of Virtustream, discussed the evolution of the company from inception to its recent acquisition by EMC – including personal insights, lessons learned (and some WTF moments) along the way. Learn how Virtustream's unique approach of combining the economics and elasticity of the consumer cloud model with proper performance, application automation and security into a platform became a breakout success with enterprise customers and a natural fit for the EMC Federation.
Jul. 30, 2015 09:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,183
The Internet of Things is not only adding billions of sensors and billions of terabytes to the Internet. It is also forcing a fundamental change in the way we envision Information Technology. For the first time, more data is being created by devices at the edge of the Internet rather than from centralized systems. What does this mean for today's IT professional? In this Power Panel at @ThingsExpo, moderated by Conference Chair Roger Strukhoff, panelists addressed this very serious issue of profound change in the industry.
Jul. 29, 2015 03:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,311
Discussions about cloud computing are evolving into discussions about enterprise IT in general. As enterprises increasingly migrate toward their own unique clouds, new issues such as the use of containers and microservices emerge to keep things interesting. In this Power Panel at 16th Cloud Expo, moderated by Conference Chair Roger Strukhoff, panelists addressed the state of cloud computing today, and what enterprise IT professionals need to know about how the latest topics and trends affect their organization.
Jul. 29, 2015 02:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,220
It is one thing to build single industrial IoT applications, but what will it take to build the Smart Cities and truly society-changing applications of the future? The technology won't be the problem, it will be the number of parties that need to work together and be aligned in their motivation to succeed. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Jason Mondanaro, Director, Product Management at Metanga, discussed how you can plan to cooperate, partner, and form lasting all-star teams to change the world and it starts with business models and monetization strategies.
Jul. 28, 2015 04:30 PM EDT Reads: 1,783
Converging digital disruptions is creating a major sea change - Cisco calls this the Internet of Everything (IoE). IoE is the network connection of People, Process, Data and Things, fueled by Cloud, Mobile, Social, Analytics and Security, and it represents a $19Trillion value-at-stake over the next 10 years. In her keynote at @ThingsExpo, Manjula Talreja, VP of Cisco Consulting Services, discussed IoE and the enormous opportunities it provides to public and private firms alike. She will share what businesses must do to thrive in the IoE economy, citing examples from several industry sectors.
Jul. 28, 2015 11:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,057
There will be 150 billion connected devices by 2020. New digital businesses have already disrupted value chains across every industry. APIs are at the center of the digital business. You need to understand what assets you have that can be exposed digitally, what their digital value chain is, and how to create an effective business model around that value chain to compete in this economy. No enterprise can be complacent and not engage in the digital economy. Learn how to be the disruptor and not the disruptee.
Jul. 27, 2015 10:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,057
Akana has released Envision, an enhanced API analytics platform that helps enterprises mine critical insights across their digital eco-systems, understand their customers and partners and offer value-added personalized services. "In today's digital economy, data-driven insights are proving to be a key differentiator for businesses. Understanding the data that is being tunneled through their APIs and how it can be used to optimize their business and operations is of paramount importance," said Alistair Farquharson, CTO of Akana.
Jul. 27, 2015 09:00 AM EDT Reads: 340
Business as usual for IT is evolving into a "Make or Buy" decision on a service-by-service conversation with input from the LOBs. How does your organization move forward with cloud? In his general session at 16th Cloud Expo, Paul Maravei, Regional Sales Manager, Hybrid Cloud and Managed Services at Cisco, discusses how Cisco and its partners offer a market-leading portfolio and ecosystem of cloud infrastructure and application services that allow you to uniquely and securely combine cloud business applications and services across multiple cloud delivery models.
Jul. 27, 2015 08:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,918
The enterprise market will drive IoT device adoption over the next five years. In his session at @ThingsExpo, John Greenough, an analyst at BI Intelligence, division of Business Insider, analyzed how companies will adopt IoT products and the associated cost of adopting those products. John Greenough is the lead analyst covering the Internet of Things for BI Intelligence- Business Insider's paid research service. Numerous IoT companies have cited his analysis of the IoT. Prior to joining BI Intelligence, he worked analyzing bank technology for Corporate Insight and The Clearing House Payment...
Jul. 26, 2015 09:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,600
"Optimal Design is a technology integration and product development firm that specializes in connecting devices to the cloud," stated Joe Wascow, Co-Founder & CMO of Optimal Design, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at @ThingsExpo, held June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City.
Jul. 25, 2015 02:00 PM EDT Reads: 408
SYS-CON Events announced today that CommVault has been named "Bronze Sponsor" of SYS-CON's 17th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on November 3–5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. A singular vision – a belief in a better way to address current and future data management needs – guides CommVault in the development of Singular Information Management® solutions for high-performance data protection, universal availability and simplified management of data on complex storage networks. CommVault's exclusive single-platform architecture gives companies unp...
Jul. 25, 2015 01:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,984
Electric Cloud and Arynga have announced a product integration partnership that will bring Continuous Delivery solutions to the automotive Internet-of-Things (IoT) market. The joint solution will help automotive manufacturers, OEMs and system integrators adopt DevOps automation and Continuous Delivery practices that reduce software build and release cycle times within the complex and specific parameters of embedded and IoT software systems.
Jul. 25, 2015 12:15 PM EDT Reads: 490
"ciqada is a combined platform of hardware modules and server products that lets people take their existing devices or new devices and lets them be accessible over the Internet for their users," noted Geoff Engelstein of ciqada, a division of Mars International, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at @ThingsExpo, held June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City.
Jul. 25, 2015 12:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,569
Internet of Things is moving from being a hype to a reality. Experts estimate that internet connected cars will grow to 152 million, while over 100 million internet connected wireless light bulbs and lamps will be operational by 2020. These and many other intriguing statistics highlight the importance of Internet powered devices and how market penetration is going to multiply many times over in the next few years.
Jul. 25, 2015 09:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,510


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Golden Antiques & Treasures is an upscale antique mall which opened at the end of 2009. Local owners Kevin and Wendy Golden felt the need to offer area individuals a unique business opportunity while bringing something new and different to Summerfield, NC. The antique mall enables our vendors the chance to own their own small business with very little overhead.
We currently have over 72 booth vendors who are constantly selling and replacing their inventory with new and unique treasures that are sure to please.
We invite you to stop in and see why Golden Antiques & Treasures has become the talk of Northwest Guilford County.
We are currently seeking vendors who carry unusual antiques and collectibles. If you are interested in renting a space, please, contact us at 643-6994.
About Us
n addition to antiques, Golden Antiques & Treasures offers a variety of pottery, home furnishings, paintings and photography from local artists. We invite you to come in today and find your "treasure".
Golden Antiques & Treasures
4537 Hwy. 220 N., Summerfield, NC
Website Designed
for Your Business


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These Beach Pain poems are examples of Beach poems about Pain. These are the best examples of Beach Pain poems written by international PoetrySoup poets
If you don't find the poem you want here, try our incredible, super duper, all-knowing, advanced poem search engine.
MONOTETRA: Each stanza contains four
lines in monorhyme. Each line is in
tetrameter for a total of eight syllables.
What makes the Monotetra so powerful as
a poetic form is that the last line contains
two metric feet, repeated.
Line 1: 8 syllables; A1
Line 2: 8 syllables; A2
Line 3: 8 syllables; A3
Line 4: 4 syllables, repeated, A4, A4
A Beach Lagoon
Gorgeous day, it's mid afternoon
Bored, looking for something to do!
Oh, I was just invited to
A beach lagoon, a beach lagoon
Crystal blue waters, ease my mind
Unleashing my creative side
Poetic versus organized
Time to unwind, time to unwind
White sand like silk between my toes
Makes me want to rip off my clothes
Keep on my mesh shorts I suppose
I stand in pose, I stand in pose
Many shells like the angel wing
Skipping the waves, flat rocks I sling
Sun tan is beginning to spring
The pain it brings, the pain it brings
Intoxicating scenery
Secluded from society
Just me, myself and poetry
Feeling set free, feeling set free
Sun starts to fade, the moon appears
Just about bringing me to tears
This day has quickly disappeared
Now in my rear, now in my rear!
Jared Pickett
Who am I?
Am I defined by what is near in sight?
Am I defined by what I have done,
Or am I defined by what I could become?
Perhaps I'm of no use.
To him, or her, or I, nor you.
Or perhaps I'm too misunderstood to be defined,
And it is something like understanding that comes in time.
And if to the world I'm never shown,
Yet in my own light I've grown and grown,
And so I can know no happiness but my own--
The reason for my smile, to you, will forever be unknown.
I do not pray for the world to know my name.
For it and verse; the letters are the same.
And if a man should find his sorrow in what he reads,
I pray his pain my words to keep.
Should his eyes rain on my page,
Better tears than storms of rage.
And if a man should find his sorrow in what he reads.
I pray his pain my words to keep.
And if to the world you're never shown,
Yet in your own light you've grown and grown,
And so you know no happiness but your own.
Let the reason for your smile, to you, only be known.
Dedicated to an author by the name of William Golding... Enjoy!!!
~Two boys meet on an island
~~One is skin 'n bones
~~~The other one is chubby
They discover a lagoon~
Ralph teases him by calling~~
him "Piggy" - how mean!!~~~
Piggy asks him if
There are other people on
The island with 'em
He has no clue
But this'll answer Piggy's question --
Other boys appear -
All diverse shapes and sizes
What'll happen next??
You'll see...
Have you ever read The Lord of the Flies?
I recommend it if yah haven't read it yet - I must admit
It's a book full of adult words and it's simply...FASCINATING! - no lies
You should read it - or you'll regret it!
Twilight, and the Moon-lit waves
Tranquilly crashing upon the shore
A draught of drink is all I crave,
My sordid Past... all I deplore
Do come to me, for I am the Beach,
Please quench your thirst; drink dry my sands
My ambitions seem far out of reach
As I write my life with pain-stricken hands
A fragile mind breaks
Wake upon the rock laden shores
A muffled heart begs to echo
Whispers lost among a velvet chamber
Dusk comes premature time and again
Dropping the curtain on an optimistic sunrise
If you never witness dawn
There is no tomorrow
Always the dreamer aches
Never awake to make real what he desires
The restless corpse walks blind
Dead ends seem fitting for one of the kind
Lost in the labyrinth of strangling vines
Love is the motive and the weapon
Taking root in throats dry from weeping
Sprouts of amnesia in place of smiles
A garden called heartbreak holds onlookers captive
The comfort takes hold, sets in the bones weary of searching
A plea for rest lands on deaf ears
The hollow boy tires of himself
The last request he will ever make
"End me"
Lost and tired
He wishes to be weak no more
The shadows over take my mind at times
but your love stands so true for me
it takes care of the pain I feel
but when the shadows call it seems so loud
when your soft whisper is covered by clouds
Why so faint is Thy voice for me
did I fall to hard inside this hole
Do the clouds stand so close for a reason
let me out of this season of darkness
let me hold Thy hand inside mine
keep me warm and fill my heart
I love the way you touch my face
when the tears fall and you open your warm Embrace
Your truth is all I need to live
a true life for all to see
your hand and love guiding me
But I can't walk this road alone
I need to hear your voice inside
I need your touch so very much
I see the pain and feel it to
I need your love to lift the blue's
Take me now and use my life
Help me Lord, to escape the strife.
Written By:©Betty Bolden
The Sieve of Time
Cast ashore,
along the banks of time,
whirling through the passing years,
clinging to my futile scribbles set in rhyme,
Cast ashore,
thrust into an unrehearsed pantomime,
clenching slivers of joy as weariness descends,
lulled into a peaceful slumber exhilaratingly sublime.
Cast ashore,
hazily adrift, a dandelion seed on the wings of time,
trapped in the sieve of spiralling memories,
caught between pristine bliss, and reeking slime.
Cast ashore,
flung aside for no discernible crime,
my human heart thuds with elusive hope,
though battered, bruised, and covered in grime,
I stagger ashore,
embracing each moment of detached, oblivious time.
Gushing waters surround me
Swelling . . . swirling, the pressure is whirling
The cries are gone
But the wind still screams
As the timbers of my exhaust
Burst in violence at the seams!
I am going down
I welcome the tempest with a frown
Broken mast amidst the swell
Purging me deeper in this watery hell
Bodies concealed within
Soon the pressure will win
Southward bound, pell-mell
Into the blue, blackened demons of watery hell!
Of sickening inevitably do I sail
Into the depths of my demise
Gone now are the magnificent, mortal cries
Swallowed by the bulging sea
The wind upon the splintered timber still screams
As gleeful as can be!
Going down I never knew
I would falter and die in the deep dark blue
Going down I see Past fly
And wave with my sail the Future—goodbye
Port of Call
Barefoot on a talcum beach,
alone, not lonely,
with the breath of the ocean a caressing balm,
soothing pained memories away,
to the swaying of a solitary palm.
Barefoot on a talcum beach,
alone, not lonely,
feeling the brushing away of all past turmoil,
on a quest for solace, ever so hard to find,
yet comforted by the crashing of the waves,
as the tide cleanses all pain,
and leaves despair far, far behind.
Barefoot on a talcum beach,
alone, not lonely,
drenched in a sea-breeze of mist,
that hushes the ache of bygone moons,
tasting the salty tang on my lips,
as the burnished sun,
over the distant horizon,
and dips.
Barefoot on a talcum beach,
alone, not lonely,
searching, ever searching,
for a slice of solitude,
as memory bids a final adieu,
reaching under the sea so vast,
and seeking comfort in the depths,
while embracing,
the tomorrows to come,
wishing that they be true.
Barefoot on a talcum beach,
alone, not lonely,
seeing my truths drown,
as they slip beneath the turquoise waters,
feeling my heart ablaze,
with a passion that rarely falters.
Barefoot on a talcum beach,
alone, not lonely,
yet knowing that I am home at long last,
wishing the waves would wash away,
the defences that once stood,
like an impregnable wall.
Barefoot on a talcum beach,
alone, not lonely,
I have found, at long last,
my final port of call.
Unfinished sandcastles repeat
in visions encountered in dreams.
The planning of them was so sweet:
unfinished sandcastles. Repeat,
unfinished; and rivals would bleat
with joy as they clutched their ice-creams.
Unfinished sandcastles repeat
with triumphant besiegers' screams.
Lost and lonely broken shell that drifts along the sea. Once was pretty but not broken. Someone crush's it with there bare feet stomping it repeating it again and again, The ocean wash's it away with sour tears. The bitter broken soul carries those's tears within in them every day living as a sea shell that broken but wants to be fixed but can never be fixed from there broken sea shells.


text:
Meet the wondrous, magnificent kinetic beasts of the fascinating Theo Jansen
To give you an idea of the guy who made these creatures, here's a little snippet of his bio: "Born 1948 in Scheveningen, Netherlands, studies physics at Delft University of Technology, 1975 – 1980 Paintings and drawings, 1980 Flies UFO across Delft, 1981 Flies UFO across Paris".
What on earth are you supposed to do when one man has made something completely and utterly unique and mind-blowing to the point that your entire life seems to pale in insignificance? Well, write about it on an art and design blog of course. Theo Jansen's Animaris Adulari herd (or Strandbeest) is, I think, the most awe-inspiring piece of artwork I have ever seen in that, quite simply, there is nothing else like it. Now touring the beaches of Holland, Theo's beasts — which, with the help of the sea breeze, scuttle about like enormous, nervous crabs to the delight of the locals who come into contact with them. About five years in the making, Theo has finally finished this mammoth project (with a TED talk in the bag) as well allowing him to look to the future and what else it may hold. Judging by his track record, it may well be something absolutely spectacular. To read about the making of these beasts click here. Otherwise, just sit back and wonder at these two videos, you won't be disappointed.


text:
Hyatt Regency
Guest Dead After Falling From 12th Floor At Hyatt Regency Dallas
A hotel guest from Missouri attending a business conference has died after falling from the 12th floor of the 30-story Hyatt Regency Dallas.
North Texans Give Back On Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving kindness played out over and over across North Texas today. People helping people was the order of the day.


text:
Romance doesn't get any more old-fashioned than this. This naturally golden beauty first sparkled in the sunshine over 40 million years ago. The world's oldest natural "gem," amber was among the first substances to be prized for its precious beauty. In scientific terms, amber is the fossilized
resin of ancient trees. It can be found along the shores (and at the bottom) of the icy Baltic Sea. It isn't easy to find and the highest quality nuggets from Scandinavia fetch as much as $1,000 a piece! But today,
you can claim your own piece of prehistoric treasure for our exclusive Stauer price!
This Baltic Amber Heart Necklace is crafted from a vibrant piece of natural, honey-colored amber. The smooth heart attaches to a shiny bail of .925 sterling silver (chain is included). Look closely and you can
see microscopic inclusions and bubbles that identify your pendant as a naturally-formed work of art. No two are alike.
Read what customers are saying about this product:
Rating: 5.00 out of 1 votes cast
Amber Heart Necklace
What a lovely gift.....given to me by my older brother for Christmas....I am still in shock, as it is such a beautiful thought and the necklace is beautiful.....thanks to my brother for thinking of me in the year 2015.. from your sister, Jan
Sussex, Wi. 53089


text:
Viewers: in countries Watching now:
In Flash Professional CS5 Essential Training, author Todd Perkins explains the fundamentals of Flash Professional CS5, the industry standard for creating animations and interactive applications for the web, desktop, and mobile devices. This course starts with the basics, such as using the drawing tools to create simple animations, and progresses to automating animation with tweens and adding interactivity with ActionScript. This course also covers how to add sound and video to projects, enhance realism with effects like easing, and publish a project to a variety of platforms. Exercise files are included.
The Oval tool is in the toolbar in the same flyout menu as a Rectangle tool. So you might see an Oval, Rectangle, or hexagon. So click and hold your mouse down in the toolbar and select the Oval tool. Note the keyboard shortcut is O. So with the Oval tool selected I am going to make sure Merge Drawing is on, so I don't have Object Drawing selected. Then I am going to choose a fill color in the properties panel, note that you can choose stroke, stroke style, Cap and Join just like when you are drawing other shapes.
Then you can define a Start and End angle and Inner radius. We will look at those in just a minute. For now, click-and-drag on the Stage to create an oval. Note that when you are clicking-and- dragging, you can also hold the Alt or Option key to draw the oval from the center. You can also hold the Shift key to constrain the shape to a circle. So there's my circle. I am just going to press Command+Z to undo that change and then we'll look back in the Properties panel. So if you expand the Oval Option section, you'll see Start angle, End angle, Inner radius and Close path.
Let's take a look at those different options. I am going to just adjust the Start angle and then go ahead and click-and-drag on the screen and you could see how it works. The start angle specifies the angle where the oval will start. So it will have a little bit bigger than a 90-degree angle here. An End angle specifies the ending angle of the shape. So here I have an angle that is 115.47 degrees. Angle is right here at that point on the shape. Go ahead and turn off End angle and I am going to drag up Inner radius, so I can create a radius inside of the oval.
Undo that change again. So if I uncheck Close path and I drag the Start angle up, Flash will just draw that line and it will not close the path into a fold shape with a fill. To reset the Oval settings just click the Reset button and all the options go to 0 and Close path is checked. So when you're drawing ovals in Flash, you just select the Oval tool, which again is in the flyout menu with the Rectangle tool, and you can adjust the various angle options in the Properties panel.
There are currently no FAQs about Flash Professional CS5 Essential Training.
Access exercise files from a button right under the course name.
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text:
Beauty In Hair specialize in healthy and revitalized hair. We offer services for chemically treated hair, such as relaxers, texturizers and colors. We rebuild damaged hair by offering extended care services.
A large band of our services are rendered to clients with natural hair, such as twist, coils,locks,wet sets and hair pressing. Services are contoured to the client's personality and face shape, giving a desired style.
Hair extensions have reshaped our women of today. We offer sevices like Corn Rows, Kinky Twists, Box Braids, Tree Braids, Micro Braids, Crochet Braids and Sew-Ins.
Our goal for each client, is complete satisfaction.


text:
Get connected:
with faculty
Faculty are real people! Connect with them through research, conversations after class, or student organizations.
with employers
Learn what really happens behind the scenes. What skills will get you hired? What makes UW-Eau Claire graduates great candidates?
with the community
Service Learning is an excellent way to explore careers and employers ... make it as valuable of an experience as possible.
with your career interests
Be proactive! Job shadowing.. pizza with a professional...everything you do as a second-year student can help move you forward and one step closer to your career goals.


text:
Form Factor
Operating System / Target
Max Baud Rate
Reduce setup time and develop measurement systems faster with LabVIEW and IDNet instrument-specific drivers.
Develop measurement systems faster with LabVIEW using the graphical system design approach. LabVIEW is a single environment that connects to third-party instrumentation and provides extensive libraries for signal processing and data visualization.Explore LabVIEW for Instrument Control | Download LabVIEW Now | Download Instrument Drivers
Use this system design software to connect to any instrument over any bus.
Easily connect to any GPIB instrument with the industry's most reliable GPIB controllers and software.
Add serial interfaces to your system via USB, Ethernet, PXI, PXI Express, PCI, and PCI Express
See how automation can reduce challenges with precise timing control.
Save time and money. Automate measurements to reduce development time and human error.
Learn how to build instrument control systems with this comprehensive eight-part series.
Reassure your engineering and management teams that they can satisfy current and future testing needs.
Start communicating with your instrument today by downloading free open-source instrument drivers with ready-run-examples.
Troubleshoot GPIB applications using NI-488.2 driver utilities in Windows, Mac, or Linux.
Explore stand-alone and modular instrumentation systems.
Learn about a PC-based approach that combines programmable software and hardware connectivity for automating measurement acquisition from stand-alone instrumentation.
Access support resources for instrument control system setup, training, and debugging.
With the VISA architecture, you can deploy systems in multiple operating systems, communicate to devices through new and existing popular buses, and preserve your software investment.


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Special to the Journal
ELLICOTT CITY, MD —Kevin Conners of Downington, Pa., Patrick Cover of Huntersville, N.C., and Tyler Joiner of Albany, Ga., sit tied at the top of the Boys Division at 3-under-par 139. In the Girls Division, Khushboo Thiagaraj of Haymarket, Va., sits one-stroke ahead of the competition after shooting a 3-over-par 74 in the second-round.
Conducted by the American Junior Golf Association, the JoS. A. Bank / David Leadbetter Championship is a 54-hole stroke play competition on the par-71 Original Course at Turf Valley Resort. The event features 107 boys and 36 girls, ages 12-18, from 19 states, Washington D.C., Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, India and South Korea. The Boys Division is playing the course at 6,692 yards, while the Girls Division is playing the course at 5,947 yards.
At the top of the leaderboard for the second day in a row, Conners was able to stay patient and take advantage of the par-5s en route to a second-round score of even-par 71.
"[Tomorrow] I want to play my own game and record my own scores," said Conners of his game plan to combat the three-way tie for first.
Cover, who received the 2013 USGA-AJGA Presidents' Leadership Award for demonstrating leadership, character and community service through his involvement with the Leadership Links program, is in the hunt for his first AJGA victory.
The rising high school senior, who has given a verbal commitment to continue his golf career at UNC- Wilmington, thought that overall his round of 1-under-par 70 was a step in the right direction.
"I didn't want to think too much about it," Cover said. "I liked the course, and after playing the practice round, I really thought it fit my game. I just wanted to get out there and play golf."
Joiner, who has recorded six top-20 finishes in AJGA competition, used a 5-under-par 66 to propel himself to the top of the leaderboard.
Alone in fourth place is Ryoto Furuya of Wesley Chapel, Fla., at even-par 142. Tied for fifth are Chad McCann of Haymarket, Va., and Owen Bates of Mississauga, Ontario at 1-over-par 143.
In the Girls Division, Thiagaraj used strong putting to maintain her lead over the remainder of the field. Thiagaraj, who began her round on No. 10, used a birdie on the par-3 No. 13 to finish her first nine holes at 1-under-par 34.
Taking a one-shot lead into Thursday's final round, Thiagaraj hopes to complete her wire-to-wire victory. At the AJGA Junior at Penn State in June, Thiagaraj fired rounds of 73-73-77, to finish at 7-over-par 223. Her second place finish in State College was her highest AJGA finish to date.
"My second-place finish at Penn State really taught me a lot," Thiagaraj said. "I'll just need to keep calm and keep my focus."
Currently in second place is Julie Luo of Centreville, Va., at 1-over-par 143. Tied for third are Allison Wong of Rockville, Md., Clementina Rodriguez of Hilton Head Island, S.C., and Katharine Patrick of West University Place, Texas at 6-over-par 148.
Final-round tee times will run from 7:30 – 9:30 a.m. off the Nos. 1 and 10 tees at Turf Valley Resort – The Original Course. For more information about the JoS. A. Bank / David Leadbetter Championship, please contact Tournament Director Chris White at (770) 601-5196.


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|By Business Wire
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|November 5, 2012 08:59 AM EST
Talend, a global open source software leader, today announced the availability of version 5.2 of its next-generation integration platform, the only offering that provides a unified environment for managing the entire lifecycle across data, application and process integration requirements. With version 5.2, Talend extends the industry's most flexible, scalable and adaptive integration platform with the introduction of key new capabilities, including big data profiling for Hadoop, support for widely-used and deployed NoSQL databases, and a set of improvements that increases product usability and performance across the entire platform.
Big Data Profiling
In its mission to democratize big data, Talend has focused extensively on solutions that make deploying and managing Apache Hadoop and related technologies simple, without requiring specific expertise in these areas. With version 5.2, Talend has taken its big data strategy a step further by adding big data profiling for Hadoop, providing companies with the ability to discover and understand data in Hadoop clusters. Among the typical problems associated with data quality are duplication, incompleteness and inconsistency, which create inefficiencies in data processing. Talend Platform for Big Data includes new capabilities for visibility into big data in all its forms and locations. These include the ability to analyze data in Hive databases on Hadoop "in place" without extraction and the ability to perform data hygiene tasks, including data cleansing, enrichment, matching and de-duplication directly inside the Hadoop cluster through Hadoop code generation.
Simplified NoSQL Integration with Hadoop
Talend 5.2 adds support for NoSQL databases in its integration solutions, Talend Platform for Big Data and Talend Open Studio for Big Data, with an initial set of connectors for Cassandra, HBase and MongoDB. Built on Talend's award-winning open source integration technology, Talend Open Studio for Big Data is a powerful and versatile open source solution for big data integration that natively supports Apache Hadoop, including connectors for Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS), HCatalog, Hive, Oozie, Pig and Sqoop – in addition to the more than 450 connectors included natively in the product. As NoSQL has become the go-to technology for certain data architectures, the integration of these platforms into Talend's big data solution enables customers to use these new connectors to migrate and synchronize data between NoSQL databases and all other data stores and systems.
"Talend version 5.2 delivers on our vision of simplifying the development, integration and management of big data so that businesses can focus on using that data to make faster and more informed decisions," said Fabrice Bonan, co-founder and chief technical officer, Talend. "We provide the most powerful and versatile open source, big data solution to help organizations load, extract and improve disparate data while leveraging the massively parallel processing power of big data technologies including Apache Hadoop and leading NoSQL databases."
Latest Release of Talend's Integration Products
In addition to Talend's big data enhancements, Talend introduces version 5.2 of its flagship data integration products that leverage the Talend Unified Platform. New features focus on product usability, user productivity improvements and performance to provide a more robust and easier to use solution.
- Talend Enterprise Data Integration – In v5.2, parallel execution of jobs can now leverage multi-core hardware. This new version also supports continuous integration between development, test and production environments and is integrated with open source build manager Maven.
- Talend Enterprise Data Quality – Version 5.2 includes expanded address validation algorithms, precise e-mail validity detection, and native fraud detection capabilities. A new set of components allows customers to use Melissa Data to validate addresses.
- Talend Enterprise MDM – Support for a wider range of enterprise architectures in v5.2 lowers the barrier to MDM adoption; organizations can now use their Oracle, MySQL, Derby or H2 databases as the underlying MDM data store.
- Talend Enterprise ESB – In this version, Continuous Integration between development, test and production environments is now available. Version control system Nexus is also supported for versioning and deployment.
- Talend Enterprise BPM – Talend v5.2 presents a fully integrated BPM engine into the Talend Runtime. Talend users only need to manage a single container, which can run data jobs, web services, REST applications and now BPM processes. With fewer moving parts in system environments and the flexibility to run multiple instances of different application types within the same container, the work of the IT administrator is significantly reduced in terms of management and maintenance of the software.
Version 5.2 of Talend Open Studio for Data Integration, Talend Open Studio for Data Quality, Talend Open Studio for MDM, Talend Open Studio for ESB and Talend Open Studio for Big Data are available for immediate download from Talend's web site www.talend.com. Version 5.2 of the commercial subscription products, available before the end of 2012, will be provided to all existing Talend customers as part of their subscription agreement and can be procured through the usual Talend representatives or partners.
About Talend
Talend is the recognized market leader in open source integration solutions. The company's enterprise integration platform helps organizations minimize costs and maximize the value of data integration, ETL, data quality, master data management, application integration and business process management, while supporting their shift toward the Cloud and Big Data. More than 3,500 paying customers worldwide, including eBay, ING, The Weather Channel, Deutsche Post and Allianz, subscribe to Talend's solutions and services. With over 20 million downloads, Talend's products are the most trusted integration solutions in the world. The company has major offices in North America, Europe and Asia, and a global network of technical and services partners. For more information, please visit http://www.talend.com.
SYS-CON Events announced today that HPM Networks will exhibit at the 17th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on November 3–5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. For 20 years, HPM Networks has been integrating technology solutions that solve complex business challenges. HPM Networks has designed solutions for both SMB and enterprise customers throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.
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For IoT to grow as quickly as analyst firms' project, a lot is going to fall on developers to quickly bring applications to market. But the lack of a standard development platform threatens to slow growth and make application development more time consuming and costly, much like we've seen in the mobile space. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Mike Weiner, Product Manager of the Omega DevCloud with KORE Telematics Inc., discussed the evolving requirements for developers as IoT matures and conducted a live demonstration of how quickly application development can happen when the need to comply wit...
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The Internet of Everything (IoE) brings together people, process, data and things to make networked connections more relevant and valuable than ever before – transforming information into knowledge and knowledge into wisdom. IoE creates new capabilities, richer experiences, and unprecedented opportunities to improve business and government operations, decision making and mission support capabilities.
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Explosive growth in connected devices. Enormous amounts of data for collection and analysis. Critical use of data for split-second decision making and actionable information. All three are factors in making the Internet of Things a reality. Yet, any one factor would have an IT organization pondering its infrastructure strategy. How should your organization enhance its IT framework to enable an Internet of Things implementation? In his session at @ThingsExpo, James Kirkland, Red Hat's Chief Architect for the Internet of Things and Intelligent Systems, described how to revolutionize your archit...
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MuleSoft has announced the findings of its 2015 Connectivity Benchmark Report on the adoption and business impact of APIs. The findings suggest traditional businesses are quickly evolving into "composable enterprises" built out of hundreds of connected software services, applications and devices. Most are embracing the Internet of Things (IoT) and microservices technologies like Docker. A majority are integrating wearables, like smart watches, and more than half plan to generate revenue with APIs within the next year.
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Growth hacking is common for startups to make unheard-of progress in building their business. Career Hacks can help Geek Girls and those who support them (yes, that's you too, Dad!) to excel in this typically male-dominated world. Get ready to learn the facts: Is there a bias against women in the tech / developer communities? Why are women 50% of the workforce, but hold only 24% of the STEM or IT positions? Some beginnings of what to do about it! In her Opening Keynote at 16th Cloud Expo, Sandy Carter, IBM General Manager Cloud Ecosystem and Developers, and a Social Business Evangelist, d...
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In his keynote at 16th Cloud Expo, Rodney Rogers, CEO of Virtustream, discussed the evolution of the company from inception to its recent acquisition by EMC – including personal insights, lessons learned (and some WTF moments) along the way. Learn how Virtustream's unique approach of combining the economics and elasticity of the consumer cloud model with proper performance, application automation and security into a platform became a breakout success with enterprise customers and a natural fit for the EMC Federation.
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The Internet of Things is not only adding billions of sensors and billions of terabytes to the Internet. It is also forcing a fundamental change in the way we envision Information Technology. For the first time, more data is being created by devices at the edge of the Internet rather than from centralized systems. What does this mean for today's IT professional? In this Power Panel at @ThingsExpo, moderated by Conference Chair Roger Strukhoff, panelists addressed this very serious issue of profound change in the industry.
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Discussions about cloud computing are evolving into discussions about enterprise IT in general. As enterprises increasingly migrate toward their own unique clouds, new issues such as the use of containers and microservices emerge to keep things interesting. In this Power Panel at 16th Cloud Expo, moderated by Conference Chair Roger Strukhoff, panelists addressed the state of cloud computing today, and what enterprise IT professionals need to know about how the latest topics and trends affect their organization.
Jul. 29, 2015 02:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,219
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There will be 150 billion connected devices by 2020. New digital businesses have already disrupted value chains across every industry. APIs are at the center of the digital business. You need to understand what assets you have that can be exposed digitally, what their digital value chain is, and how to create an effective business model around that value chain to compete in this economy. No enterprise can be complacent and not engage in the digital economy. Learn how to be the disruptor and not the disruptee.
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Jul. 25, 2015 09:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,510


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This is a tool to put you in contact with particular works of art that are helpful to look at when facing certain problems. We believe the point of art in general is to offer therapeutic assistance; it should help us to better endure and enjoy our lives. For more on Art as Therapy, see here.
We're deeply suspicious of the word 'consumerism'; it's become a stick with which to beat the modern world. Yet consumerism doesn't have to be stupid. At its best, what the word refers to is a love of the fruits of the earth, a delight in human ingenuity and an appreciation of the vast achievements of organised labour and trade. This picture takes us to an instructive time when abundance was new and not to be taken for granted. The picture knows it was hard to get that lobster. They were still amazed - as we should be - that the world can be controlled enough to have lobster in a lemon-butter dressing and pigeon pie; that you can get many varieties of cheese. They knew that marshes had to be drained and cattle fed through the winter; and they were impressed that lemons could reach a northern table: perhaps these very fruits were carried by donkey from the Neapolitan hills down to the harbour, onto leaky wooden ships that braved storms and struggled with unreliable winds. They knew how hard this all was, and how astonishing that human beings could do this. They felt the beauty of trade and understood how easily it could be disrupted by blockades or war. Every pleasure of the table was sending money around Europe - a force for peace and prosperity. The picture remembers all this effort, and celebrates it. We are so afraid of greed that we forget how honourable the love of material things can be. In 1644 homage was still paid to the nobility of commerce; a concept that boredom and guilt make less accessible to us. Perhaps we can learn from this picture. A good response to consumerism mightn't be to sacrifice these pleasures and live without lobster and lemons, but to appreciate what really needs to go into providing them. Our desire to have luxury cheaply is the real problem - to care only for the low price. If the route to your table were dignified and ethical at every stage, a lemon would of course cost more. But maybe then we'd stop taking lemons for granted and our appreciation of their zest would be all the keener.


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Ever since Bayern picked themselves up from their slouch at the beginning of the season, they've seemed unstoppable. With a consistent back-line (which includes some youngsters), a dominant midfield with Schweinsteiger and Van Bommel, and a deadly front-line with Ribery, … Continue reading
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