If I understand correctly, the Digitrax item hit issues within the FCC for wifi access and licensing costs thereof. I've heard that happen to more then one DCC or related manufacturer. Also, I think as Arduinos/Raspberry Pis progress in size and power output, that could be the start of OSS command stations. I'm already looking at that for signaling outside of needing it hooked up to block detectors, etc.,
Yes - the bar is prohibitively high for small manufacturers to offer turnkey products with integrated WiFi. For this reason alone the future is going to be software for general-market consumer products like smartphones. Not that this is bad, but it does translate to no purpose-built hardware unless you make it as a peripheral on an existing smartphone (say, for instance, a throttle knob that hangs off audio port of an iPhone, like those credit card readers). Now that you jogged this issue, I now wonder if ESU's throttle will be legal in the U.S.
I'm also looking at Arduino for a block signalling/tower controller solution. It doesn't take a full PC running JMRI just to deploy a truth matrix.
