In January of 2002 Ambient Computing, Inc., was awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project by the National Science Foundation to demonstrate the system architecture by coordinating wireless sensors and environmental control devices. Ambient Computing developed custom hardware that included a Rabbit Semiconductor processor, integrated wiht a USB host controller, and several sensors. The USB host controller was used to interface to a 802.11b adapter, and device drivers were written to allow the Rabbit processor to communicate with other systems using the 802.11 network. A novel approach for the configuration of wireless parameters of embedded systems with limited user interfaces was developed and a paper was presented at the 2003 High Performance Embedded Computing Workshop at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. The successful system demonstrated the technical and commercial feasibility of connected and coordinated smart devices, and served as a proof of concept for the coordination architecture. The Information & Telecommunication Technology Center (ITTC) at the University of Kansas aided in the evaluation of the systems as part of a sub-award on the grant.

Ambient Computing extended the architecture proven with the prototype, and utilized their distributed coordination software to develop its first product, a WiFi hot spot solution tailored for the cable industry. The complete solution included custom developed access points, captive portals, secure authentication and billing, support for subscription and prepaid calling card accounts, provisioning, and management interfaces (CLI, HTTPS, SNMP). The product was deployed in a field trial in September 2002, followed by a production system in March 2003.

Ambient Computing, Inc. ceased operations in Fall 2003.