s and trucking companies the ability to continuously monitor key vehicle components, such as pumps and gear assemblies, as well as cargo. Roland Bryan, MachineTalker's president and CEO, describes the units as "intelligent proxies." "They talk for whatever they're attached to," he says. Bryan says MiniTalker prototypes have been demonstrated to several vendors, although the company has yet to snag any customers. MachineTalker's initial strategy is to target airlines, which can use the technology to gather airframe vibration data, from takeoff to landing. The company also plans to provide MiniTalker-based security services to companies that own and transport shipping containers. Bryan also believes that the technology has potential stationary applications, such as networking a building's vending machines, allowing continuous remote monitoring of product temperature, availability, and other conditions. A mesh WLAN marks an improvement over radio frequency identification (RFID) systems, which can track mobile assets but lack the capability to self- diagnose problems or sense real-world environmental conditions. Additionally, on some types of vehicles, particularly aircraft, mesh WLANs can be less expen- sive to install and maintain than wired LANs. "If you've ever looked under the skin of an airplane, there are wires everywhere," says Thomas Turney, an invest- ment banker with NewCap partners, a Los Angeles venture capital firm. "It's extremely expensive to add wired components." MachineTalker faces several components, most notably MeshNetworks and PsiNaptic, which also offer or plan to offer wireless networks with monitoring capabilities. MiniTalker incorporates several components. Each device includes a micro- processor, a miniature radio, and sensors. The MiniTalker prototype uses an ATmega 128L, an 8-bit RISC microcontroller with 128 kilobytes of flash memory, from San Jose-based Atmel. The radio is a single-chip 900-MHz trans- ceiver from Dallas-based Texas Instruments Inc., although MachineTalker is looking to