It’s undeniable: 2014 was the year when the electronics industry decidedly and collectively moved forward to push the Internet of Things (IoT). In year 2015 IoT markets will continue to grow. I think we’re going to see some critical mass on corralling the IoT in 2015. IoT is a young market – no one seems to be clearly leading. Communications are the key here. Over the last 10 years the world has done a remarkably good job of connecting the global wireless world. The last decade has radically changed the way we live. The smartphone and its cousin, the tablet, was the final link to ubiquitous wireless coverage, globally. The fantasy of the IoT is quite grand: everything on the planet can be smart and communicate. The idea is both powerful and impractical.
IoT is entering peak of inflated expectations: The Internet of Things is at that stage when the efforts of various companies involved in it, along with research, are proving to have a lot of promise. At this stage, the Internet of Things should not have too many difficulties attracting developers and researchers into the fold. As we turn to 2015 and beyond, however, wearables becomes an explosive hardware design opportunity. Tie the common threads of IoT and wearables together, and an unstoppable market movement emerges. There seems to be a lack of public appreciation of the extent to which the Internet of Things is going to fundamentally change how people interact with the world around them.
On the other hand, the Internet of Things is getting poised to enter the trough of disillusionment, which means that there is more room for failure now. There are issues of security, privacy, and sharing of information across vertical implementations that still need to be worked out. Until they are, the IoT will not be able to fulfill all its promises.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is beginning to grow significantly, as consumers, businesses, and governments recognize the benefit of connecting inert devices to the internet. The ‘Internet of Things’ Will Be The World’s Most Massive Device Market And Save Companies Billions Of Dollars in few years. BI Intelligence expects that the IoT will result in $1.7 trillion in value added to the global economy in 2019. This includes hardware, software, installation costs, management services, and economic value added from realized IoT efficiencies. The main benefit of growth in the IoT will be increased efficiency and lower costs: increased efficiency within the home, city, and workplace. The enterprise sector will lead the IoT, accounting for 46% of device shipments this year, but that share will decline as the government and home sectors gain momentum. I expect that home, government, and enterprise sectors use the IoT differently.
The IoT is only enabled because of two things: the ability of networks to reach countless nodes, and the availability of cost-effective embedded processors to attach to a multitude of devices. The prices for components and devices continues to decline while the skyrocketing global demand for 24/7 Internet access grows exponentially. The Internet of Things growth will benefit mostly from the autonomous machine-to-machine (M2M) connectivity that will make up the bulk of the objects of the IoT. This is the main driver for double-digit growth across verticals in the electronics, and especially the semiconductor industry well into the next decade. The IoT will connect places, such as manufacturing platforms, energy grids, health-care facilities, transportation systems, retail outlets, sports and music venues, and countless other entities to the Internet.
Internet of Things can become Engineering for Everyone. The emergence of open-source development platforms, developed and maintained by dedicated volunteers, has effectively raised the level of abstraction to a point where nonexperts can now use these platforms. The availability of open-source software and, more recently, hardware targeting embedded applications means that access to high-quality engineering resources has never been greater. This has effectively raised the level of abstraction to a point where nonexperts can now use these platforms to turn their own abstract concepts into real products. With the potential to launch a successful commercial venture off the back of tinkering with some low-cost hardware in your spare time, it’s no wonder that open-source hardware is fuelling an entirely new movement. A new generation of manufacturer is embracing the open-source ethos and actually allowing customers to modify the product post-sale.
Exact size predictions for IoT market next few years vary greatly, but all of the firms making these predictions agree on one thing—it’s going to be very big.
In year 2014 very many chip vendors and sensor algorithm companies also jumped on the IoT bandwagon, in hopes of laying the groundwork for more useful and cost-effective IoT devices. Sensors, MCUs, and wireless connectivity are three obvious building blocks for IoT end-node devices. Wireless connectivity and software (algorithms) are the two most sought-after technologies. Brimming with excitement, and with Europe already ahead of the pack, a maturing semiconductor industry looks expectantly to the Internet of Things (IoT) for yet another facelift. The IC sales generated by the connectivity and sensor subsystems to enabled this IoT will amount $57.7 billion in 2015.
Chips for IoT market to grow 36% in 2015, says Gartner as automotive V2X, LED lighting and smart domestic objects are set to drive semiconductor market growth through the year 2020, according to market analysis firm Gartner. The move to create billions of smart, autonomously communicating objects known as the Internet of Things (IoT) is driving the need for low-power sensors, processors and communications chips. By 2018, the market value of IoT subsystems in equipment and Internet-connected things is projected to reach $103.6 billion worldwide, which represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.0 percent from $39.8 billion in 2013.
BI Intelligence expects that by 2019 IoT market will be more than double the size of the smartphone, PC, tablet, connected car, and the wearable market combined. A new report by Yole Developpement pegs the market size in the $70 billion range by 2018, with the next five years presenting a golden opportunity for device makers as the IoT enters the growth stage. Device shipments will reach 6.7 billion in 2019 for a five-year CAGR of 61%.
Number of connected devices is expected to to reach 36 billion units by 2020, cautions that “all of this new market opportunity is under threat.” Other estimate according to market research firm Radiant Insights of San Francisco is that the number of Internet connections will grow from 9 billion devices in 2014 to 100 billion by 2020 (twice as many as the estimate from Cisco Systems Inc). IC Insights forecasts that web-connected things will account for 85 percent of 29.5 billion Internet connections worldwide by 2020. Currently fragmented market, the number of cellular M2M connections could rise from 478 million today to 639 million in 2020.
By 2024, the report predicts that overall market value for components will exceed of $400 billion, of which more than 10% will come from hardware alone. Revenue from hardware sales will be only $50 billion or 8% of the total revenue from IoT-specific efforts, as software makers and infrastructure companies will earn the lion’s share. As the Internet of Things grows to a projected 212 billion items by 2020, the question of regulation looms increasingly large.
The growth of the IoT will present some very interesting issues in a variety of areas. You will see some very fast activity because unless it gets resolved there will be no IoT as it is envisioned.
General consensus is that the interconnect protocol of the IoT will be IP (Internet Protocol). As it stands today, the deployment of the billions of IoT objects can’t happen, simply because there just aren’t enough IP addresses with IPv4. While there is still some discussion about how to connect the IoT, most are in agreement that the IoT protocol will be IPv6. The first step will be to convert all proprietary networks to an IP-base. Then, the implementation of IPv6 can begin. Because direct interoperability between IPv4 and iPv6 protocols is not possible, this will add some some complications to the development, resulting in a bit of obfuscation to the transition for IPv6.
Is There Any Way to Avoid Standards Wars in the Emerging Internet of Things? I don’t see that possible. IoT will be in serious protocol war in 2015. There is a wide selection of protocols, but no clear set of winners at the moment. The real IoT standardization is just starting – There are currently few standards (or regulations) for what is needed to run an IoT device. There is no single standard for connecting devices on the Internet of Thing, instead are a handful of competing standards run by different coalitions of companies: The Thread Group (Qualcomm, The Linux Foundation, Microsoft, Panasonic), The Industrial Internet Consortium (Intel, Cisco, AT&T, IBM, Microsoft), Open Interconnect Consortium (Samsung, Intel, Dell), Physical Web (Google), AllSeen Alliance (Samsung, Intel, Dell) and huge number of smaller non-standardized protocols in use. Each of the standards vary how they do things.
Anyone who tries to build a physical layer and drive a software stack based on it all the way up to the application layer is a fool. But many companies try to do it this year. Today Zigbee is the most cost effective, but tomorrow WiFi will figure it out. On networking field in every few years there’s a new management protocol – what will happen in IoT, it will keep moving, and people will need open APIs.
Currently the IoT lacks a common set of standards and technologies that would allow for compatibility and ease-of-use. The IoT needs a set of open APIs and protocols that work with a variety of physical-layer networks. The IP and network layer should have nothing to do with the media. The fundamental issue here is that at the moment the Internet of Things will not have a standard set of open APIs for consumers. IoT, it will keep moving, and people will need open APIs. I suspect that at some point, after the first wave of the Internet of Things, open APIs and root access will become a selling point.
It is not just technical protocol details that are problem: One problem with IoT is that it is a vague definition. Do we simply mean ‘connected devices? Or something else? One of the main issues, which will only get worse as the IoT evolves, is how are we going to categorize all the different objects.
Early in 2015, the Industrial Internet Consortium plans to wrap up work on a broad reference architecture for the Internet of Things, ramp up three test beds, and start identifying gaps where new standards may be needed. The group, formed by AT&T, Cisco, GE, IBM, and Intel, now has about 115 members and aims to make it easier to build commercial IoT systems. The IIC hopes to finish a first draft of its reference architecture by the end of January and have it ratified by March. It will define functional areas and the technologies and standards for them, from sensors to data analytics and business applications. The framework includes versions for vertical markets including aerospace, healthcare, manufacturing, smart cities, and transportation. A breakout section on security also is in the works. Hopefully the reference architecture could be used to help people construct industrial IoT systems quickly and easily.
With the emergence of the Internet of Things, smart cars are beginning to garner more attention. Smart cars are different than connected cars, which are simply smartphones on wheels. Even though the technology has been on the evolutionary fast track, integration has been slow. For car manufacturers, it is a little tricky to accept driverless cars because it disrupts their fundamental business model: Private resources will evolve to shared resources, centrally controlled, since autonomous vehicles can be controlled remotely.
Over the next few years, we’ll see a torrent of new devices emerge that are connected to the Internet and each other through a wide range of different wireless networking protocols. As a result, there’s a race on, not just to get those devices connected, but also to provide the network infrastructure necessary to managing all of them at scale. WiFi, Bluetooth, and cellular networks are nowadays widely used, nut new alternatives are coming to solve applications were those technologies are not most suitable. There are different plans for wide area wireless networks that use licensed or unlicensed wireless bandwidth to transmit small amounts of data from various connected device – this could create its own connection to them in a cost effective manner without relying on existing cellular or WiFi networks.
Recently we have developed a pressing need, or desire to put our refrigerators, and everything we have access to while mobile, on the net, morphing the brave new world of the Internet of Things, into the Internet of Everything (IoE). And that will make that last 100 meters—that final frontier of interconnect—a reality. Today, only about 10% of the last 100 meter devices that will make up the IoT are connected. As the IoT evolves, other small cells such as businesses, city centers, malls, theaters, stadiums, event centers, and the like, will connect much of what they have on premise (soda or popcorn machines, vending machines, restaurants, parking garages, ticket kiosks, seat assignments, and a very long list of others). And, there are a very large number of devices that are short-range in all of these various cells. What was once the last mile for connectivity is now the last 100 meters.
Plenty of people and companies in the technology world tend to come at the Internet of Things by dwelling on the “Internet.” But what if, instead, we started with the “Things?” Knowing intimately what “things” are supposed to do and how they think and behave will be the key to solving one of the IoT’s most pressing issues: application layers. Over the past 18 months, the industry has launched numerous consortia, from Qualcomm’s AllSeen and Intel’s Open Interconnect Consortium to Apple’s HomeKit and Google’s Thread. Every entity says it’s targeting the “interoperability” of things at home, but each is obviously concentrating primarily on its own interests, and making their “layer” specifications slightly different from those pursued by others.
It seems that no industry consortium is particularly interested in defining — in gory detail — the specific functions of, say, what a door lock is supposed to do. The library of commands for each function already exists, but someone, or some group, has to translate those already determined commands into an IP-friendly format. One of the standards organizations will take up the challenge in 2015. This will be the first step to “knock barriers down for IoT” in 2015.
Missing today in the IoT are reliability and robustness. Consumers expect their light switched and other gadgets to be infinitely reliable. In many today’s products we seem to be far from reliable and robust operation. Today’s routers can relay traffic between networks, but they have no idea how to translate what functions each device attached to them wants to do, and how to communicate that to other devices. The network needs to be able to discover who else is on the network. Devices connected to network need to be able to discover what resources are available and what new devices are being added. The network needs to be extensible.
Despite the oft-mocked naming scheme, the Internet of Things (IoT) has an incredibly practical goal: connecting classically “dumb” objects—toasters, doorknobs, light switches—to the Internet, thereby unlocking a world of potential. Imagine what it means to interact with your home the same way you would a website, accessing it without geographic restriction. But there is one missing piece of the smart home revolution: smart home operating system. So what will be the system that capitalizes on the smart home in the same way, the enabler of all the applications and actions we want our homes to run and do? There are no ready answers for that yet. And there might not be a singular, cohesive operating system for your home, that this stuff isn’t one-size-fits-all. It might be that the real potential for home automation lies not in local software running on a home device but in the cloud. I think that the cloud is going to be more important over time, but there will always be also need for some local functionality in case the connection to cloud is lost. Right now the Internet of Things is rather disjointed compared to Internet and computers.
When everything will be connected, how about security? In the path to IoT, the issue of data and device security looms large. Security for the ‘Internet of Things’ will be talked about very much in 2015 for a good reason. As Internet of Thigs becomes more and more used, it will be more hacked. Thus security of Internet of Things will be more and more talked about. Virtually anything connected to the Internet has the potential of being hacked, no matter how unlikely. Internet of Things devices often lack systematic protections against viruses or spam. Nowadays most security breaches are software-based, when an application can be compromised. Counter-measures for such attacks range from basic antivirus scanning software, to embedded hypervisors to hardware-bound secure applications tying their execution to uniquely identifiable hardware. There is emerging customer demand for silicon authentication. But the threats extend way beyond software and some hackers will put a lot of effort into compromising a system’s security at silicon-level. Individual devices can get hacked, but all systems should have some way of self-checking and redundancy. Those IoT systems can be very complex at device and system level. The problem with complexity is that you create more attack points and make it easier for hackers to find flaws.
Experts recommend far more layers of cyberprotection than manufacturers have thought necessary. Because many of the devices will often be practically inaccessible, the “patch and pray” strategy used for many desktop software packages is unlikely to be an effective strategy for many forms of IoT devices. Right now, there are hundreds of companies churning out “Internet of Things” (IoT) devices as fast as they can, without thinking too much on the security issues they can cause in the future. The imperative is clear: Do your homework on the specific security features of any IoT device you might consider bringing into the home. What steps are IoT companies taking to keep us safe from others online, and what constitutes a truly “safe” smart appliance?
What we’re opening up is a whole new subject not just of security but of safety. That safety depends on devices to be constantly connected to the Internet the same way they’re connected to the power grid. That’s a whole new area that deserves its own consideration. Keep in mind that IoT is one field where cyber security flaws can kill in the worst case. Connecting unrelated devices in the IoT means many more pieces now affect reliability and security. More devices are now considered critical, such as a connected baby monitor or a smart smoke detector, because wrong information can injure or kill people. The Internet of Things is coming no matter what happens. The people in charge of keeping the public safe and the industry healthy need to be ready.
The European Police Office (Europol) said governments are ill-equipped to counter the menace of “injury and possible deaths” spurred by hacking attacks on critical safety equipment. There are many potential dangers are in transportation: many new cars are Internet connected and potentially vulnerable, SCADA Systems in Railways Vulnerable to Attack and Airline bosses ignore cyber security concerns at their peril. With industrial control systems becoming network-connected, security risks rise and will need a long-term solution. In light of the trend toward the Industrial Internet of Things, development teams must start thinking hard about network security and planning for its long-term viability.
You have to accept the fact that at each point in the IoT there are vulnerabilities to malicious attacks and interception of vital information. Soon, almost every network will soon have some IoT-hacking in it. IDC predicts that in two years from 90 per cent of the global IT networks have met IoT data theft. In a report, cybersecurity firm Fortinet expects greater threats from “denial of service attacks on assembly line, factory, industrial control systems, and healthcare and building management…resulting in revenue losses and reputation damages for organizations globally.” This opens new doors of risks in the areas of corporate extortion, altering of corporate business operations, and the extension of cyberattacks to include physical threats of harm to civilians.
There are lessons to be learned to keep the cyber security in control in the IoT era. There will be lessons to be learned for all the parties of the IoT ecosystem. The companies that figure out how to make security available on multi-stakeholder platforms will be the most successful ones. Figuring out a secure platform is important, but having different levels of security is still important. Different uses have different bars. Security is a self-regulating system to some extent because it is supply and demand. That is the Holy Grail for technology right now, which is how to build systems with enough security—not 100% protection right now—from a unified platform point of view for multiple applications.
The data generated by the Internet of Things has the potential to reveal far more about users than any technology in history: These devices can make our lives much easier … The Internet of Things however, can also reveal intimate details about the doings and goings of their owners through the sensors they contain. As the Internet of Things grows to a projected 212 billion items by 2020, the question of regulation looms increasingly large. There is a lot of effort is going today at the government level. They’re not thinking about whether the Internet goes down. They’re worried about what happens if the Internet gets compromised.
When we have devices on the field, there is question how to analyze the data coming from them. This is easily a “big data” problem because of the huge amount of data that comes from very large number of sensors. Being able to monitor and use the data that comes from the Internet of Things is a huge potential challenge with different providers using different architectures and approaches, and different chip and equipment vendors teaming up in a range of different ways. Many large and smaller companies are active on the field: Intel, IBM, Lantronix+Google, Microchip+Amazon, Freescale+Oracle, Xively, Jasper, Keen.io, Eurotech, and many other.
The huge increase of data is coming. Radiant predicts that wireless sensor networks will be used to monitor and control very many domestic, urban, and industrial systems. This promises to produce an explosion of data, much of which will be discarded as users are overwhelmed by the volume. As a result, analysis of the data within the wireless sensor network will become necessary so that alerts and meaningful information are generated at the leaf nodes. This year has seen the software at the very highest point in the Internet of Things stack — analytics — becoming tightly coupled with the embedded devices at the edge of the network, leading to many different approaches and providers.
Integrating data from one IoT cloud to another will have it’s challenges. Automation services make big steps by cutting corners. Sites like IFTTT, Zapier, bip.io, CloudWork, and elastic.io allow users to connect applications with links that go beyond a simple synch. Check what is happening with integration and related services like IFTTT, ItDuzzit, Amazon Lambda. For example IFTTT is quietly becoming a smart home powerhouse.
Most important sources of information for this article:
With $16M In Funding, Helium Wants To Provide The Connective Tissue For The Internet Of Things
IFTTT, other automation services make big steps by cutting corners
Internet of Things: Engineering for Everyone
IoT in Protocol War, Says Startup – Zigbee fortunes dim in building control
Analysts Predict CES Hotspots – Corralling the Internet of Things
What’s Holding Back The IoT – Device market opportunities will explode, but only after some fundamental changes
Apps Layer: ’800lb Gorilla’ in IoT Nobody Talks About
Analysts Predict CES Hotspots – IoT, robots, 4K to dominate CES
10 Reasons Why Analytics Are Vital to the Internet of Things
Tech More: Mobile Internet of Things BI Intelligence Consumer Electronics – Most Massive Device Market
Wearables make hardware the new software
Zigbee Opens Umbrella 3.0 Spec
IoT Will Give ‘Embedded’ a Shot in the Arm - Connected cities to be largest IoT market
Chips for IoT market to grow 36% in 2015, says Gartner
Apps Layer: ’800lb Gorilla’ in IoT Nobody Talks About
Short-Range, Low-Power Sensors – once the last mile for connectivity is now the last 100 meters
The one problem the Internet of Things hasn’t solved
Plan Long Term for Industrial Internet Security
To Foil Cyberattacks, Connected Cars Need Overlapping Shields
IoT cybersecurity: is EDA ready to deliver?
More Things Are Critical Systems
Silicon, Security, and the Internet of Things
The missing piece of the smart home revolution
Hackers will soon be targeting your refrigerator
10 Reasons Why Analytics Are Vital to the Internet of Things
1,316 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Open standards drive smart lighting and the Enterprise IoT
http://www.edn.com/design/led/4440361/Open-standards-drive-smart-lighting-and-the-Enterprise-IoT?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150921&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150921&elq=0b964672a253486f8a216fedaa042bdd&elqCampaignId=24850&elqaid=28190&elqat=1&elqTrackId=8c2076c2e8eb4b768d6febe299304d0b
As organizations weigh the many variables around retrofitting for lighting and building control automation, now is the time to understand the value of open standards. For many organizations, the push for open standards will start with wireless lighting controls. The initial ROI calculations show lighting as the low-hanging fruit for initial entry into wireless control. By choosing open standard-based lighting control systems, organizations provide themselves with an easy upgrade to other related controls, such as thermostats, plug-loads, CO2 sensors, and more.
The flexibility of open standards allows the ability to tie into existing lighting control frameworks without needing to buy a separate system to manage each additional device or system. As a result, wireless lighting controls are a catalyst ushering building controls into the Enterprise Internet of Things (E-IoT).
The interoperability of multiple applications under open standards-based wireless control forms the foundation for the E-IoT.
In the early days of networking (pre-Ethernet protocol) proprietary protocols hurt adoption rates and held up networking innovation in the process. It wasn’t until Ethernet came onto the scene that the other interconnected technologies could proliferate.
By 2020, the growth of the smart lighting market is expected to reach $56 billion at an estimated CAGR of 16 percent, while the total global market for networked lighting controls will be over $5 billion. In an industry currently dominated by proprietary systems, it’s believed that open standards-based wireless technologies will be the catalyst for this amazing growth.
For designers and end-users alike, it is important to understand the definition of ‘open standards’. Standards are considered open when they are developed in an open, collaborative, and transparent process, are freely available, and can be implemented within any business model. Because global reach is key to wide implementation, open standards should be developed in a transparent process that is open to all interested parties worldwide.
ZigBee is the only open, global wireless standard to provide the foundation for the Internet of Things by enabling simple and smart objects to work together. It is an open standard that supports low data-rates, low-power consumption, security, and reliability.
For Designers:
Open and freely available specification based on international standards
Global operation in the 2.4GHz frequency band according to IEEE 802.15.4
Brings together ZigBee PRO and the Building Automation and Networking (BACnet) protocol, the standard for building automation communication
Wireless range up to 70m indoors and 400m outdoors with full control of transmitted output power
Secures Building Automation networks by the use of AES 128 encryption, keys, and device authentication
For End-users:
Can be installed “on top of” or in place of hard-wired networks or outdated systems
Uses “mesh” technology that provides redundant paths of communication
Supports thousands of devices in a single network
Interoperability between a variety of building automation devices with building management systems regardless of manufacturer
New services can be introduced in a controlled manner to scale as requirements grow
Tomi Engdahl says:
Home> Tools & Learning> Products> Product Brief
LTE modems come in small LGA packages
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4440383/LTE-modems-come-in-small-LGA-packages?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20150921&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20150921&elq=c33269e774bf4cdc87a78244c14edc43&elqCampaignId=24856&elqaid=28195&elqat=1&elqTrackId=4f0e3ecf972542c1ba477f55e1d9add4
Swiss manufacturer u-blox offers LTE low-date-rate cellular modules supporting LTE Cat 1 for IoT and M2M designs in the industrial and automotive markets. Targeting North American carriers, the TOBY-R201 and LARA-R200 are housed in very small LGA packages and are a good choice for carriers that are transitioning to LTE from 2G and 3G.
The TOBY-R201 (LTE bands 2, 4, 13, 17 and HSPA bands 2, 5) is a multi-mode, multi-carrier LTE Cat 1 module with HSPA fallback for North America. Its form factor in a 24.8×35.6-mm2 LGA package is the same as the TOBY-L2 Cat 4 module intended for applications requiring high data rates. First samples of the TOBY-R201 will be available in October 2015.
The LARA-R200 (LTE bands 4, 13) and LARA-R202 (LTE bands 2, 4, 17) are LTE Cat 1 modules for the largest North American carriers
Tomi Engdahl says:
HCL, IBM Team Up to Drive IoT Adoption
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1327761&
HCL Technologies, India’s fourth largest software services firm, has teamed up with International Business Machines (IBM) to develop Internet of Things (IoT) solutions.
IoT is a technological concept that aims to make machines communicate with each other to send and receive information in real time.
Under the deal, HCL and IBM will focus on connected products and operations such as remote monitoring, smart inventory management, smart building and facilities management.
The two companies also plan to put up an incubation centre in Noida, India, to develop these solutions for the chosen industries.
The partnership brings together HCL Technologies’ engineering R&D services, global systems integration expertise supported with strong infrastructure services, and IBM’s enterprise in asset management, cloud and analytics.
“Combining HCL’s IoT design capabilities in hardware and platforms with IBM IoT Foundation platform will result in a capability that generates new value across every segment we are targeting,” said Chris O’Connor, general manager of Offerings, Internet of Things, IBM in a press release.
According to research firm International Data Corporation (IDC), the global market size of IoT is expected to reach $7.1 trillion in 2020.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Reach Out and Touch Your Computer
http://hackaday.com/2015/09/21/reach-out-and-touch-your-computer/
[Carter Yagemann] found himself in a bit of a pickle. He uses his computer mostly for gaming, but would like to access it remotely from time to time to do a littler server work on the side. The problem is gaming computers eat up a lot of electrons and he didn’t want to waste them by leaving it on all the time. The obvious solution was to use the Wake on Lan function. Unfortunately, his motherboard did not support this technology.
Like any good hacker would do, [Carter] used an IoT board to connect the power button of his PC to the internet. He achieved this goal with a Particle Core board. His motherboard was an ATX variety, so wiring up two of the IoT board’s I/O pins to the power on pins on the motherboard was a simple task accomplished with the help of an inline resistor.
Using internet of things to turn on a computer.
http://carteryagemann.com/archive/091815-desktop-remote-switch.html
Here’s a fun and quick but practical hack using a small Particle board to turn on and off a computer from anywhere over the internet.
This project takes under an hour and is a good little assignment for anyone looking into learning some basic hardware hacking with useful applications.
One of the nice things about Particle’s boards is that they all communicate with Particle’s cloud. This allows us to write our code through Particle’s web interface and then the cloud can remotely flash the Particle. No need to open the case!
You can communicate with your Particle through their REST API.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Linux and the Internet of Things
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/linux-and-internet-things
I wake up in the middle of the night, mouth parched and vision blurry, and fumble around to find my iPhone. I press my thumb to the fingerprint scanner, and in the dim blue light, just out of instinct, I squint at the screen, find the right app, open it, and check the ambient temperature and air quality indoors. It turns out my goose bumps are lying; the temperature is quite comfortable and not arctic-level freezing, which is how it feels to me. Now, I touch a virtual switch, and warm yellow light illuminates my way to the kitchen. I slowly waddle towards the water bottle without stumbling over one of my cats, have a drink, and safely waddle back to bed. Another tap on my app screen, and the light fades away; I sleep.
This is my reality, and an increasingly common one in many people’s homes. The only difference? My tech is mostly self-made—with few exceptions, of course.
Our homes slowly but surely fill up with small, smart gadgets that make our control over our surroundings stronger and more precise
The Four Factors That Led to IoT
What are the circumstances that allowed this wonderful reality to materialize? From my perspective, I think of four factors as being largely responsible:
1. Tiny, inexpensive, power-efficient-yet-powerful processors replacing older, simpler microcontrollers.
2. Cloud processing becoming cheap enough to be accessible and affordable for large and small companies alike.
3. Smartphones becoming powerful multicore computers that are practically ubiquitous.
4. Linux making it remarkably easy to spin up a smart application that can run on anything from toaster to a spaceship with minimal effort, and that same Linux OS powering the back-end cloud side.
Let’s flesh this out a little more.
Microcontrollers:
They bring magic to life with their new lines of low-powered systems on chips (SOCs) and have brought the market to the point where a chip the size of a small postage stamp costs $2–$7 and still has:
A full hardware network stack (that is, a built-in capability to connect to the Internet).
A dual-core ARM family processor.
Enough computation power to run an operating system.
Plenty of other useful features that all run off a single coin cell battery.
All you have to do is stick it in a package—a watch, a small gadget on the wall, a light bulb, or whatever your company desires—and you instantly “smartify” your product. This kind of luxury (which wasn’t available even a decade ago) has driven companies to opt for the use of true operating systems on their devices (namely Linux) and to forgo the older, more difficult and less efficient path of direct microcontroller programming with a single “forever” loop and every software aspect done in-house.
The Cloud:
At the same time, organizations like Amazon are offering their cloud infrastructures to anyone for reasonable costs.
Smartphones:
There is not much to be added about the role of smartphones in the “smartification” of our environment.
Linux:
Linux is the final component that makes the Internet of Things a reality—the glue that holds everything together. How, you ask? Well, let’s look at a typical product and try to understand how Linux contributes to and affects each step of development.
Let’s start with the end point—the wearable or home-based gadget. It usually hides either a high- or low-end ARM-based SOC inside it. (Considering that even low-end microcontrollers are capable of running a small operating system, it’s safe to assume this one could as well.) Now, as a company, what sounds easier: a) building an original software environment from scratch that includes task scheduling, memory management, peripherals access that supports multiple technologies (for example, I2C, SPI, SDIO and so on) and creating your own implementation of a network stack, including various cryptology solutions to support secure socket layer (SSL, the almost omnipresent secure communication standard over the Internet); or b) taking a free, constantly evolving and improving operating system tested by billions that provides all of those things and more? Obviously, b is the clear winner.
The Rise of Linux
Through the years, Linux has become such a complete solution that you would need to find an incredibly convincing argument to choose an alternate approach to a hardware OS. Not only is the Linux kernel versatile and easy to tweak and adjust to fit the needs of a project exactly, but it’s also cross-compilation-friendly; Linux can be brought to almost any given platform, and as operating systems go, it can be very low maintenance in terms of hardware resources. This is an operating system internally built to support almost any imaginable hardware layout or peripheral, and while it’s not completely plug-and-play and certainly requires an investment of labor, it comes ready for such work and aims to make it as easy as possible.
Let’s move on to the next part of the chain—the cloud, where the power of Linux manifests itself from a different angle.
—your operating system is that same Linux, but this time, it’s tweaked to answer your server-side demands, most of the additional components any company needs (such as message queues, caching, Web servers, databases and so on) and comes at no cost thanks to the Open Source community.
The last part is the smartphone. Here, it gets a little trickier—how are an Android or iOS phone, an Internet of Things solution, and Linux all connected?
Android is, in fact, Linux!
even if Linux itself does not necessarily run on the mobile phone, its derivatives and side products often are present, simplifying the process of integrating the smartphone as part of the Internet of Things ecosystem.
The Inherent Benefits of Linux
First, off-the-shelf solutions that help companies develop and deploy solutions without re-inventing the wheel are available on the cloud side, and are applicable at all the points where Linux is used. This means that your hundreds of cloud servers and tiny smart light bulbs potentially could be using the same exact code base for the same purposes—for example, message parsing or queuing—thus saving money, time and manpower.
Second, manpower and skill set also are transferable across different components, provided that both run Linux. A startup script for a toaster and a startup script for a cloud database server require the exact same Linux system administration skills
Finally, it is good to note the benefit of community development. Linux and its components are being developed, used and maintained by a huge community. This is a prime example of the “law of large numbers”, meaning that most bugs eventually will be detected and (mostly sooner than later) fixed by the community that acts as an innate immune system.
Looking Ahead
I believe that the Internet of Things is not a passing trend, and together with continued improvement in the low-end processors market and decreasing prices of cloud computing, we’ll see more and more solutions showing up all around us.
Our homes are the first front of IoT adoption, and with the explosion of smart wearables, our bodies are the second wave. What will the next canvas be?
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Internet of Things will get its own 4g’s – battery life is measured in years
Corresponding to the LTE standard organizational planning techniques in particular, a modified version of the needs of the Internet of Things (IoT).
3GPP plans to develop a NB-IoT standard (Narrowband IoT), based on the international use of already existing mobile network technologies. Technology, however, is to be tuned to fit the battery-powered devices, which carried forward the data volumes are typically small.
NB-IoT will be one of the technologies which can be carried out slow, but long-range networks. This is useful when you combine, for example scattered over a wide area sensors and industrial machines with maintenance intervals of up to years of maturity.
The basis for a new standard for operating in Narrow-Band LTE and Narrowband CIoT’s a combination. A more detailed technical implementation is decided in the end of the year.
Operators will be allowed to use nets part of the current LTE frequencies or use the spectrum released by the GSM networks.
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/Kaikki_uutiset/esineiden-internet-saa-oman-4g-n-akkukesto-mitataan-vuosissa-3486857
Tomi Engdahl says:
Synopsys Touts IP Portfolio for IoT
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1327767&
EDA and intellectual property vendor Synopsys Inc. Tuesday (Sept. 22) announced a broad portfolio of IP for Internet of Things (IoT) applications, including wearables, smart appliances, meters and wireless sensor networks.
The DesignWare IP portfolio for IoT was largely assembled through acquisitions that Synopsys has made this year and represents a significant investment on the part of the company, according to Ron Lowman, strategic marketing manager for IoT at Synopsys. The portfolio is specifically designed for ultra-low power 40nm and 55nm process technologies and includes processor cores, logic libraries, memory compilers, non-volatile memory, data converters, wired and wireless interface IP, security IP and a sensor and control IP subsystem.
Lowman said Synopsys realized the unique requirements of the IoT demand IP specifically tailored to address them. “We couldn’t just slap an ‘IoT’ label on our existing IP,” he added.
“Adding connectivity and security is a pretty big task,” Lowman said. “But the thing that is incredibly difficult is adding those things adds tremendous resources on chip, and the power envelope of these devices is expected to even extend battery life beyond what it’s been. And that’s a big challenge.”
Acquisitions that Synopsys made to create the DesignWare IP portfolio for the IoT include the July acquisition of Bluetooth Smart IP from Silicon Vision to address connectivity and the June acquisition of Technologies, a provider of security IP cores and software.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dialog to Acquire Atmel for USD4.6bn in IoT Push
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1327749&
U.K.-based Dialog Semiconductor PLC is to buy Atmel Corp. in a $4.6 billion cash-and-stock deal in a move to try and capture a larger slice of the Internet of Things (IOT) market.
Dialog sells chips used to manage power in high-end smartphones from Apple Inc. and others. Atmel, based in San Jose, Calif., focuses on microcontrollers that provide computing power for many kinds of consumer and business hardware.
The transaction continues a string of combinations in the semiconductor business, where stock prices have been held down by slowing growth and companies see advantages in merging product lines and sales forces.
Atmel, founded in 1984, achieves about 70% of the company’s revenue from microcontrollers which are used in applications that include smartwatches, fitness devices and Arduino circuit boards. Atmel also sells chips to help manage sensors and touch screens in smartphones and tablets.
Bagherli pointed out that Atmel has also developed technology to provide security for Internet of Things applications. “That is very, very key for IoT,” said Bagherli.
Atmel, founded in 1984, achieves about 70% of the company’s revenue from microcontrollers which are used in applications that include smartwatches, fitness devices and Arduino circuit boards. Atmel also sells chips to help manage sensors and touch screens in smartphones and tablets.
The combined company would have $2.7 billion in annual sales, Dialog said
Tomi Engdahl says:
Not Enough Money in MEMS, Own the Data, Says InvenSense CEO
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1327768&
Behrooz Abdi, CEO of fabless MEMS company InvenSense Inc. (San Jose, Calif.), has said MEMS sensor component companies should offer complete IoT application solutions including data analytics.
What ‘s the reason for that?
Because the price of MEMS sensor components is likely to be eroded rapidly and largest part of the value is perceived to be in the services that can be based on the data acquired by those sensors.
Not Enough Money in MEMS, Own the Data, Says InvenSense CEO
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1327768&
Behrooz Abdi, CEO of fabless MEMS company InvenSense Inc. (San Jose, Calif.), has said MEMS sensor component companies should offer complete IoT application solutions including data analytics.
What ‘s the reason for that?
Because the price of MEMS sensor components is likely to be eroded rapidly and largest part of the value is perceived to be in the services that can be based on the data acquired by those sensors.
“Yes the value is the data rather than the hardware,” said Abdi. “We do plan to bring end-to-end solutions to market in multiple vertical markets,” he told delegates at the European MEMS Summit, an event that was organized by SEMI on September 17 and 18 in Milan, Italy. “It requires a lot of investment but we have to take this chance and try. Otherwise it’s a race to the bottom.”
“Yes the value is the data rather than the hardware,” said Abdi. “We do plan to bring end-to-end solutions to market in multiple vertical markets,” he told delegates at the European MEMS Summit, an event that was organized by SEMI on September 17 and 18 in Milan, Italy. “It requires a lot of investment but we have to take this chance and try. Otherwise it’s a race to the bottom.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Visualize Your Visceral Fat
Kyocera’s new IoT service measures health
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1327766
Kyocera’s new IoT service called “Daily Support” measures individual’s activity, diet, sleep conditions and visceral fat through the combination of a smartphone and a new wearable device.
Call it beer belly or muffin top.
In a country whose government’s health, labor and welfare ministry and healthcare providers are obsessed with “metabolic syndrome,” Japan believes that visceral fat is the number one reason for rising healthcare costs in its aging population. The Japanese government and medical community see high visceral fat as a danger correlated with cholesterol, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and other conditions.
Against this backdrop, it was perhaps inevitable for a high-tech company — in this case, Kyocera — to brainstorm a new service called “Daily Support,” designed to enable the measurement of an individual’s activity, diet, sleep conditions and visceral fat through the combination of a smartphone and a new wearable device.
The amount of data and analytics provided by “Daily Support” appears versatile and comprehensive. To non-Japanese consumers, it might even seem a little invasive, given the fact that the data will be provided directly to healthcare providers.
What to measure
Kyocera’s new wearable device called TSUC (pronounced “tsukku,” not “suck”) is as small as a document clip. Integrated with tri-axial acceleration and air pressure sensors, it measures “step count, calorie consumption, and status detection differentiations,” said Kyocera. The company also boasts that it’s smart enough to detect such differences as: “walking / running / riding vehicles such as bicycles vs cars /going up and down elevators vs escalators / climbing up and down steps vs slopes.”
The data is wirelessly transferred to a smartphone via TSUC’s integrated Bluetooth 4.0 chip. It supports both Android 4.4 and iOS 8.
The strength of Kyocera’s Daily Support service, however, resides in its smartphone app, which visualizes the user’s health condition by monitoring everything from sleep and visceral fat to diet and activities.
The app, for example, records the amount of time spent on meals and analyzes pictures of the meals to calculate calorie consumption.
The app also analyzes sleep quality. According to Kyocera, by placing the smartphone next to the pillow, users can use the app to detect body movement and collect data on the quality of sleep in addition to hours slept.
But then, how do you measure visceral fat?
“By simply tracing the smartphone halfway around their abdomen, users can obtain an estimate of visceral fat levels and see a cross-section image on their smartphones,” said Kyocera in a statement.
IoT as a service business
The most telling aspect of Kyocera’s announcement is not so much the wearable device hardware itself. Rather, it squarely positions its IoT devices as a tool for its own service to generate recurring monthly revenue.
Kyocera’s wearable device TSUC is priced at 7,000 yen ($58), with a standard monthly cost of service at 600 yen ($5) per month.
The device will be distributed by the Association for Preventive Medicine of Japan, according to Kyocera.
The service appears to be arriving in an extremely “trusting” environment in Japan. Kyocera states that Japan’s healthcare professionals can “privately check the activities and data of the service users on the Web site and send messages individually to promote better habits.”
Kyocera’s Daily Support can also integrate blood data analysis, according to the company.
Tomi Engdahl says:
A mid-range approach to home-energy saving
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/power-points/4440403/A-mid-range-approach-to-home-energy-saving?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150923&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150923&elq=e8470eeb25bd4533a9ceeb1f7ac049a5&elqCampaignId=24890&elqaid=28237&elqat=1&elqTrackId=5ed8829a0045448689c66a97676d575a
Energy saving in home HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) is an area of major interest to vendors of system, software, and components, as there are so many diverse scenarios and so many opportunities for improvement.
On one side, you have advanced whole-house systems which sense and control almost every point and subsystem in the house, including water temperature, airflows, furnace or boiler situation, room temperatures, electricity usage and rates, available electric power (if there’s home-sourced power in the mix), and more. These are coupled with a controller running a presumably smart software app, usually linked via Wi-Fi, which decides what to do and when to do it, based on homeowner input, fuel cost, weather conditions, and other factors to somehow manage a dynamic situation to balance the resident’s goals while minimizing operating cost.
These systems are relatively expensive, of course, due to all the needed sensors and transducers. They also require a significant amount of effort to retrofit or even add to new construction, even though many appliances and subsystems are available with some level of “smarts” and wireless connectivity. The inherent complexity of the overall system means there’s lots of opportunity for setup and operating headaches and frustration, especially since each installation is unique to a large extent.
At the other end of the spectrum is a relatively basic enhanced device such as the smart thermostat, typified by the popular Nest unit from Nest Labs. This device is a drop-in replacement which upgrades the existing two-wire thermostat
At around $200 to $300, these are much less costly than a whole-house system but obviously do much less, and are really a “point” solution in many ways. Depending on what comments you read at various sites, these smart Internet-enabled thermostats are sometimes “too smart for their own good” devices with long payback; a simple, effective way to save money with short time ROI; or somewhere in between those two extremes.
Then there’s an in-between solution which I saw at a trade show, the Ecovent from Ecovent Systems. It is a form, fit, functionally enhanced unit that replaces the vent in a room with a smart vent. This upgrade unit senses the room temperature and humidity, adjusts airflow, and is connected to a home network to remotely set the temperature in that room alone and report what’s happening.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Does IoT Data Need Special Regulation?
http://news.slashdot.org/story/15/09/24/0136258/does-iot-data-need-special-regulation
As part of the UK’s Smart Meter Implementation Programme, Spain’s Telefonica is deploying a M2M solution, using its own proprietary network, to collect and transmit data from 53 million gas and electricity smart meters. The most troubling issue is that the UK government awarded the contract to a private telecom that uses a proprietary network rather than to an independent organization that uses freely available spectrum and open source solutions? Those Smart Meters are supposed to be in operation for more than three decades, and rely on a network that can cease to exist.
Does IoT Data Need Special Regulation?
http://www.citiesofthefuture.eu/does-iot-data-need-special-regulation/
Do you know that one telecom will collect, consolidate, and transmit, using its own M2M network, two-thirds of smart meter data in the UK? What assurance users have that their data, which can be collected several times a day, do not end up being misused without their knowledge?
Computers, smartphones, tablets, wearables — indeed anything with a CPU — produce data as a natural by-product. Even sensors, feature phones, and connected devices produce data. By 2020, studies project that more than 60 billion devices will be connected.
All that data gets collected somewhere. The question is who gets the right to access and analyse it. Data collected through computers and phones, for instance, are subject to limited regulation. But data collected through IoT devices are still part of the Wild West.
One example is connected smart meters. Last week, I saw a demonstration at the IoT Solutions World Congress in Barcelona where all data from the water, electricity and gas usage of a home could be consolidated in a small box and transmitted together using WiFi or a cellular network.
In fact, Telefonica in the UK is deploying a similar solution involving gas and electricity meters as part of the UK’s Smart Meter Implementation Programme, and will connect 53 million meters, at 30 million domestic and smaller non-domestic properties by 2020, at two-thirds of the UK market.
But who controls all the data that Telefonica collects?
But perhaps what’s more troubling is that Telefonica is using proprietary hardware and software to manage the meters and collect the data; M2M services require a network designed for purpose. So why has the UK government awarded the contract to a private telecom that uses a proprietary network rather than to an independent organization that uses freely available spectrum and open source solutions?
This topic of privacy and who owns the data has been at the top of the agenda of every IT conference I have attended in the last few years. The questions of data ownership, the right to delete and “be forgotten”, and the price we pay for so called “free internet services” are always part of a heated debate.
“The people who have the most valuable data are the banks, the telephone companies, the medical companies, and they’re very highly regulated industries. As a consequence they can’t really leverage that data the way they’d like to unless they get buy-in from both the consumer and the regulators.”
By contrast, Internet giants like Google and Facebook operate in a largely unregulated environment. “They’re slowly, slowly coming around to the idea that they’re going to have to compromise on” issues of data control, says Professor Pentland.
This is where the regulators come in. The European Union is taking an active role protecting its citizens privacy perhaps because it has little faith that the industry will regulate itself.
But the explosion of connected devices, especially IoT ones that collect people’s data, is creating an Orwellian state, where all our activities are constantly monitored, analyzed and archived for further cross-reference. Many experts and organizations are already warning people about the dangers of sharing information they may not want exposed in the future.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Echo, Meet Mycroft
http://hackaday.com/2015/09/23/%65cho-meet-mycroft/
The Amazon Echo is an attempt to usher in a new product category. A box that listens to you and obeys your wishes. Sort of like Siri or Google Now for your house. Kickstarter creator [Joshua Montgomery] likes the idea, but he wants to do it all Open Source with a Raspberry Pi and an Arduino.
The Kickstarter (which reached its funding goal earlier this month) claims the device will use natural language to access media, control IoT devices, and will be open both for hardware and software hacking. The Kickstarter page says that Mycroft has partnerships with Lucid and Canonical (the people behind Ubuntu). In addition, they have added stretch goals to add computer vision and Linux desktop control to Mycroft.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/aiforeveryone/mycroft-an-open-source-artificial-intelligence-for/description
With or without Mycroft, people are going to hack things like this together.
We’ve also seen Echo integration with Roku and even Nest. We imagine an open platform would spawn a lot of interesting hacks.
Tomi Engdahl says:
10 sensors, 3 protocols, 3 minutes, 1 dev kit for cloud-connected IoT apps
http://embedded-computing.com/articles/10-sensors-3-protocols-3-minutes-1-dev-kit-for-cloud-connected-iot-apps/
It should come as no surprise that since the release of the original Arduino, BeagleBoard, and Raspberry Pi platforms only a few short years ago that quick-start development boards have become all the rage. The value proposition is obvious for the developer community and vendors alike, as the low-cost dev kits reduce barriers to entry for those looking to prototype Internet of Things (IoT) designs, and also enable semiconductor companies to market their offerings to a much wider audience than ever before.
However, while sub-$50 development platforms have greatly expanded the reach of embedded hardware and software tools to engineers of all experience levels, their price point also limits the capabilities a single off-the-shelf kit can provide designers that are serious about bringing IoT projects to market. This has lead to the evolution of various “cape” ecosystems wherein additional sensors, connectivity, or other functionality can be obtained through hardware peripherals available at nominal price points. But if you are trying to decide between Bluetooth Smart or 6LoWPAN for a wearable device, or whether adding a temperature or proximity sensor will really help push your smart home monitor over the top, the development time and cost of integrating additional capes can add up quickly, particularly when trying to move from the drawing board to a cloud-connected proof of concept in the fast-paced world of IoT.
SimpleLink SensorTag: More hardware options, quick cloud access
Out of the box the SensorTag kit contains 10 low-power sensors, which may seem like overkill on the surface, but as Boe points out, “it’s much easier for anyone using our design as a starting point to remove sensors than to add new ones.”
More importantly, though, is multiprotocol wireless support permitted by the onboard CC2650 wireless MCU with an integrated Bluetooth Smart, ZigBee, and 6LoWPAN radio. Since most IoT products begin as a simple sensor application, the support for multiple 2.4 GHz wireless standards allows developers to easily test and switch between connectivity solutions with a simple software download as application requirements evolve – where the process of reading, downloading, and patching to get Linux-based gateways off the ground can sometimes be days long, this capability can significantly reduce development time and cost.
The SimpleLink SensorTag also includes access to the IBM Bluemix IoT Foundation, which facilitates cloud access in matter of moments using the IBM Quickstart cloud. From there, all that’s needed to connect your sensor and start developing cloud-based applications is to download the SensorTag app, turn on the SensorTag, and wait about 90 seconds for the sensors to start advertising their data. According to Boe, the process shouldn’t take more than three minutes.
Open season for IoT
Originally labeled as tinker toys for hobbyists, open hardware and software platforms have carved out a space in the embedded market as the starting point for many high-volume product deployments. They represent one of the few areas where business models permit collaborative synergies between the tech establishment and grassroots organizations.
TI Internet of Things Overview
http://www.ti.com/ww/en/internet_of_things/iot-overview.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi Weather Station In Progress
http://hackaday.com/2015/09/24/raspberry-pi-weather-station-in-progress/
[Jeremy Morgan] is building a weather station from scratch using a Raspberry Pi, and he has put together a nice write up that shows where he is at, and how it works. Currently, his setup is in the breadboard stage and is measuring humidity, temperature, pressure and light level using sensors that connect over one wire and I2C. He also shows how he is using Google Docs to store the data, by getting the Pi to write to a Google Spreadsheet over email: the Pi emails the data to Google every 30 seconds.
There is an analysis portion, with a Microsoft Azure web site that graphs the data over time.
Make a Weather Station With a Raspberry Pi 2
https://www.jeremymorgan.com/tutorials/raspberry-pi/how-to-weather-station-raspberry-pi/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jessica Galang / BetaKit:
App marketplace vendor AppDirect acquires AppCarousel, an app management platform for IoT
AppCarousel acquired by San Francisco-based AppDirect
http://betakit.com/appcarousel-acquired-by-san-francisco-based-appdirect/
AppCarousel, a Calgary-based app management platform for connected cars, smartphones, smart screens, and tablets, as well as other connected devices, has been acquired by AppDirect, a company focused on cloud service commerce.
“AppCarousel has built an amazing business delivering applications to a wide range of smart screens, in-car technology and home entertainment devices,” said Daniel Saks, AppDirect’s president and co-CEO.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sending The Internet From an LED Lightbulb
http://hackaday.com/2015/09/27/sending-the-internet-from-an-led-lightbulb/
The number of things that can carry Internet traffic is always increasing. Now, you can add LED light bulbs to this list, as engineers in Disney Research have just demonstrated a system that transmits Internet traffic using an LED light bulb. This method of communication isn’t new: Visible Light Communication (VLC) has been demonstrated before by Disney and others, but this project puts it into a standard LED light bulb. This bulb has been modified to include an Atheros AR9331 SoC running OpenWRT and an Atmel ATmega328p that controls the LED elements and sensors that send and receive the data. So, the device is acting as a gateway between a WiFi network and a VLC one.
Disney builds smart light bulb using MIPS-based Qualcomm Atheros SoC
http://blog.imgtec.com/mips-processors/disney-builds-smart-light-bulb-using-mips-based-qualcomm-atheros-soc
Last week, a team of scientists from Disney Research and the ETH Zurich University in Switzerland took the concept of a connected light bulb to a whole new level. In a whitepaper published here, the four IoT pioneers described the architecture of an innovative LED-to-LED communication system that can be implemented inside toys, wearables, mobile devices, and other Wi-Fi connected devices.
Linux Light Bulbs: Enabling Internet Protocol Connectivity for Light Bulb Networks
http://www.disneyresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/Linux-Light-Bulbs-Enabling-Internet-Protocol-Connectivity-for-Light-Bulb-Networks-Paper.pdf
Linux Light Bulbs: Enabling Internet Protocol Connectivity
for Light Bulb Networks
ABSTRACT
Modern light bulbs based on Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)
can be used to create smart indoor environments: LED light
bulbs provide a foundation for networking using visible light
as communication medium. With Visible Light Commu-
nication (VLC), LED light bulbs installed in a room can
communicate with each other and other VLC devices (e.g.,
toys, wearables, clothing). The vision of the Internet of
Things requires that light bulbs and VLC devices communi-
cate via the Internet Protocol (IP). This paper explores how
the IP stack and other networking protocols can be hosted
on Linux-based VLC devices. The VLC link layer for Linux
consists of a VLC network driver module on top of a previ-
ously developed VLC Medium Access Control (MAC) and
Physical (PHY) layers. The network driver provides the
necessary interfaces to couple the IP networking protocols
and the VLC layers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hacklet 77 – Projects that Tweet
http://hackaday.com/2015/09/25/hacklet-77-projects-that-tweet/
Since it’s launch way back in 2006, Twitter has become a magnet for techies. Maybe it’s the simple interface, maybe it’s the 140 character limit. Whatever the reason, you can find plenty of hackers, makers, and engineers tweeting about their daily activities. It didn’t take long for folks to start incorporating Twitter into their projects. Ladyada’s Tweet-a-watt is a great early example of this. This week’s Hacklet is all about some of the best tweeting projects on Hackaday.io!
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Netflix and Chill Button
http://hackaday.com/2015/09/27/the-netflix-and-chill-button/
While the people at Netflix were busy killing weekends around the world with marathon viewings of 90s sitcoms, they also found time to release the Netflix Switch. It’s a small device with a single button that will control your TV, turn off the lights, and order a pizza. Remember, time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.
The Netflix Switch is a relatively simple device powered by a Particle Core, an Arduino-compatible development board with on-board WiFi. Also in this box is a LiPo battery, a few LEDs, and an IR transmitter that will send the same IR signal as the Netflix button on your TV remote, should your remote have a Netflix button.
In an unprecedented break from reality, this astute corporate branding of electronics tinkering also has design files, schematics, and real instructions that come along with it.
Make your own switch.
http://makeit.netflix.com/the-switch
BUILD YOUR SWITCH
Turn on Netflix. Dim the Lights. Kick Back and Relax.
The Switch.
To get started, check out our video. You’ll see that we built a switch that does everything you need to get ready for a Netflix marathon with just one press. It turns on your TV and brings you right to Netflix, dims your lights, silences your phone, and even orders you food. Intrigued? Follow along with our instructions to make your own.
The Netflix Switch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTlIGdlbTy4
Tomi Engdahl says:
City of Melbourne pushes for smart cities built on IT
http://www.zdnet.com/article/city-of-melbourne-pushes-for-smart-cities-built-on-it/
The City of Melbourne has presented the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications with its vision of an internet connected Smart City.
The City of Melbourne wants to embrace a smart city approach, whereby IT enhances liveability and achieves economic, social, and sustainability goals.
Speaking before the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications’ inquiry into the role of smart ICT in the design and planning of infrastructure on Friday, the City said technology should be used for asset management, integrated parking, design, mapping, modelling, and data-based public tools for way finding and community engagement.
The City said it has already established a “Smart City” office which incorporates research, innovation, and geographic information systems through the Internet of Things (IoT).
“Our priority areas are open data; engagement with, and the involvement of, external plans; development of urban spaces which are IT enabled; high-bandwidth connectivity — both wired and wireless; using IT to enhance performance; and responding to both positive and negative disruptive impacts.”
Currently, Melbourne employs IoT technology throughout urban areas such as in Fitzroy Gardens in Docklands. The City has solar powered sensors in the area that it said collects real time data on temperature, light, and humidity. The community can also email trees in Melbourne, the City’s program manger Lorraine Tighe said, adding they will even reply to your email.
“Complex urban challenges can now be addressed collaboratively via Smart communities comprising hyper-connected, technologically agile, and often entrepreneurial innovators,” the City said in its submitted response [PDF]. “These Smart communities are the new agents of change and the generators of knowledge.”
What we’re going to head towards in the near future — and we’re getting there now — I don’t think anything will be built in the real world until we’ve built it in the virtual world,”
Currently, the City employs a pedestrian counting system which measures pedestrian activity by transmitting “invaluable” data from 42 wireless pedestrian counting sensors across the Central Business District to a central server and a visualisation website.
The City said it was recently awarded a grant from the IBM Smarter Cities Program to assist in developing its understanding of community engagement processes, related to “anticipation and coordination of municipal responses before, during, and after, extreme events in order to minimise adverse impacts on health and safety, infrastructure and economy”.
He said that embedding smart devices into existing systems such as transport, water, and waste, as well into health and education, will offer governments great opportunities.
“Cloud, analytics, and social networks should be utilised,” Dixon said. “Using big data can only attract the brightest of minds to the gnarliest of problems.”
“Complex urban challenges can now be addressed collaboratively via Smart communities comprising hyper-connected, technologically agile, and often entrepreneurial innovators,”
https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CC0QFjADahUKEwjrvvLB85DIAhVCooAKHTu0Bdk&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aph.gov.au%2FDocumentStore.ashx%3Fid%3D9ae0f9a1-f2f5-4f4c-bbbe-eeb9d54ec302%26subId%3D400674&usg=AFQjCNF7gyUGJ8FYg7ZN_oPo-ZpMt7VOYg&bvm=bv.103627116,d.eXY
Tomi Engdahl says:
Pasta is now a THING, says Cisco
So are QR codes. No, really
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/29/cisco_says_pasta_now_iot/
QR codes are now officially part of the Internet of Things hype-cycle.
That news comes courtesy of Cisco, which has inked a deal with Barilla, under which the codes will be printed on pasta packs to try and add some kind of Thingish excitement to one of the world’s starchy staples.
The QR code lets consumers do a paddock-to-plate-style trace of the particular pasta-pack they’re thinking of buying, or as the release puts it: “scan a QR code on the back of limited edition Farfalle Pasta and Tomato and Basil Sauce packages to easily access a website that tells the story of the specific production batch, through a detailed analysis of all major phases of the supply chain.”
In other words, what Cisco, NTT Data, and Italian professional services firm Penelope have put together is a supply-chain food safety database.
But QR codes? Let’s party like it’s 1999
No, really. Here’s The Borg’s press statement,
http://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-content?type=webcontent&articleId=1718599
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Pizza Button
http://hackaday.com/2015/09/29/the-pizza-button/
How often have you ever wanted a pizza but reaaaaaaally didn’t want to get off the couch to go order, or god forbid, actually go to a pizzeria to pick one up? Well [Brody Berson] has the solution for you! He re-purposed an Amazon Dash button to order himself Domino’s Pizza with the press of a button.
It’s pretty simple too — all he needed to do was a bit of coding. Someone had already made a specific Domino’s Pizza API, and thanks to the interest in the Dash button, he was able to find everything he needed to mash together a one-push-button-pizza-delivery-device.
Hacking Amazon’s $5 Dash Button to order Domino’s Pizza
https://medium.com/@brody_berson/hacking-amazon-s-5-dash-button-to-order-domino-s-pizza-9d19c9d04646
An Amazon Dash Button is a $5 button with a battery and a WiFi connection inside thatAmazon wants you to stick inside your home to order common household items. You can order anything from Gatorade, to diapers, to Glad Trash Bags, or Bounty Paper Towel for example. They are super easy, you just push the button and two days later, you receive your item! Also, while they are $5 to purchase, you get $5 off your first order with them, so they are basically free!
Creating the Node App
I am using a few npm modules to listen for the button press and place the order: RIAEvangelist’s dominos and also hortinstein’s Node-Dash-Button. These two individuals basically put the entire thing together for me and it was all about taking the two, mashing them together, and creating a very cool hack! Both of them have in depth examples of how to use the two, and on my GitHub I have the example of using them both together!
This article shows you what you can do with a Raspberry Pi to set this up as a node server running all the time on your network and it literally would be the press of a button whenever you wanted! You can see the example I made on GitHub
Using the example app, I bet you can wire up a PizzaDash button like I did in about ten minutes with your own custom order. That’s pretty awesome to think about since you were never intended to do that with these little pieces of plastic.
Tomi Engdahl says:
SmartFusion2 development kit comes with JTAG emulator
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4440431/SmartFusion2-development-kit-comes-with-JTAG-emulator?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150928&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150928&elq=c1005f1dfbc94102961e3ab2814e2e6c&elqCampaignId=24949&elqaid=28312&elqat=1&elqTrackId=2e22587cfa9b4dc0be03fbc77c0e1e81
Based on a SoC FPGA with embedded security, Avnet’s SmartFusion2 KickStart kit enables the prototyping of low-power, high-security IoT designs for the communications, medical, automotive, video, smart energy, and industrial markets. Unlike existing SmartFusion2 development boards, the Avnet KickStart board furnishes a JTAG emulator and power supply. The USB-powered board is also outfitted with a Microchip RN4020 Bluetooth Lower Energy module.
At the heart of the development board is the Microsemi M2S010S SmartFusion2, an SEU-immune SoC FPGA that integrates 10,000 logic elements and a 166-MHz ARM Cortex-M3 processor. The board’s Arduino-compatible interface and three 12-pin Pmod-compatible connectors allow the addition of existing custom modules to implement bridging, acceleration, or I/O expansion. Also included are onboard ambient light, motion, and temperature sensors; four user LEDs; and two user push-button switches.
Microsemi SmartFusion2 SoC FPGA KickStart Development Kit
http://www.em.avnet.com/en-us/design/drc/Pages/Microsemi-SmartFusion2-KickStart-Development-Kit.aspx?cmp=NA-AVT-PR-SF2KS-201509
Avnet’s SmartFusion2 KickStart Kit features the Microsemi M2S010S SmartFusion®2 SoC FPGA, a secure and integrated programmable system-on-a-chip device with 10k logic elements and a 166 MHz ARM® Cortex®-M3 processor. This low power SmartFusion2 device is flash-based and single event upset (SEU) immune
Low cost development kit, only $59.95!
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hack Anything into a Phone
http://hackaday.com/2015/09/29/hack-anything-into-a-phone/
If you’ve spent much time tinkering with electronics, you’ve probably heard of [Seeedstudio] from their development boards, tools, and their PCB fabrication service. Their latest Kickstarter venture is the RePhone, an open source and modular cell phone that will allow hackers to put together a phone by blending GSM modules, batteries, screens, and other stock units, including an Arduino-based processing core, GPS, NFC, and other building blocks.
RePhone Kit – World’s First Open Source and Modular Phone
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/seeed/rephone-kit-worlds-first-open-source-and-modular-p
Create a phone yourself in minutes and hack a new way to communicate with things.
RePhone GSM + BLE features the world’s smallest System-on-Chip (SOC) for Wearables and Internet Of Things. It offers a wide range of communication protocols including GSM, GPRS and Bluetooth (4.0 and 2.1 Dual mode). It supports quad-band 850/900/1800/1900MHz, connecting onto any global GSM network.
RePhone Core Module 3G
Powerful microcontroller
Standard xadow interface, USB, 20*GPIO(I2C\SPI\UART\EINT)
Support analog audio interface(1*speaker, 2*mic, 1*headset)
Compatible with all xadow modules
Nano SIM, button, LED, antenna
HSPA/WCDMA:850/1900
GPRS/EDGE:850/1900
Voltage:3.3-4.2V
Tomi Engdahl says:
Comments from http://hackaday.com/2015/09/29/hack-anything-into-a-phone/
Are there already nice 3G Modem Boards with Good Documentation out there that are below 39$?
I would love to have some Adafruit FONA 3G for a throw-away price from china:
http://www.adafruit.com/products/2691
That’s the constant compromise you’re always struggling with in electronics. Same problem shows up with WiFi modules like the ESP8266. Sure an ESP-12E is cheap as dirt but you won’t find anywhere near the same documentation and support as a TI CC3000 series or GaineSpan module. I think if there was a cheap, US-made, reliable, well-documented 3G modem board on the market, it would have exploded into the mainstream by now.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ron Miller / TechCrunch:
GE says its Predix industrial-IoT platform is on pace to generate $6B in revenue this year
GE Predicts Predix Platform Will Generate $6B In Revenue This Year
http://techcrunch.com/2015/09/29/ge-predicts-predix-platform-will-generate-6b-in-revenue-this-year/
Like many big companies, GE has been in the process of trying to reinvent itself, and Predix, its Industrial Internet of Things platform has been a big part of that.
Today, at its annual Minds + Machine conference in San Francisco, GE announced that the Predix platform had grown into a big business with $5 billion in revenues and $6 billion in orders expected this year.
The company also made a slew of other announcements including Predix.io, their Platform as a Service offering, which enables companies to build their own custom applications on top of Predix. The program has about 4000 developers today, and GE is hoping for 20,000 by next year — although the vast majority of these will be from GE and its ISV partners for now.
This is very much like the Salesforce 1 approach to development where Salesforce has provided a platform and companies have built custom solutions and entire businesses on top of it. GE is likely looking at a much more modest uptake with its platform, but it is a similar idea.
To fill in that last piece, GE is also offering some industrial software packages on top of Predix to prime the development pump. These include Brilliant Factory and Digital Power Plant, two products designed to help squeeze more efficiencies out these verticals Both products were announced today at Minds + Machines.
“We are connecting real-time controls and sub-systems and creating models for optimizing [the system]. We use sensor data, then work against models and adjust controls in real time based on that,” Bill Ruh, vice president and global technology director at General Electric told TechCrunch.
The software helps factory managers by sending warnings when data shows an imminent part or machine failure, so they can plan accordingly. It also helps optimize the job scheduling based on factors such as how much pressure the equipment can take.
In fact, Ruh says companies running this software can expect $230 million in savings per plant over 20 years, which if true is obviously significant.
Finally, GE is announcing more capability around Wurldtech , the security company it bought last year. The company is protecting more than 4000 wind turbines, gas pipelines and similar industrial equipment from cyber attack. These kinds of equipment require a different kind of protection from the datacenter, Ruh said.
A cloud purpose-built for industrial data and analytics
https://www.ge.com/digital/predix
At the intersection of people, machines, big data, and analytics stands Predix: The cloud-based platform powering innovative Industrial Internet apps that turns real-time operational data into insight for better and faster decision-making.
Tomi Engdahl says:
LinkIt ONE: Smart Devices for Smart Cities
https://www.hackster.io/challenges/smart-devices-for-smart-cities
Build next generation devices for our future smart cities. From better-designed traffic lights, to connected homes, urban farms and citizen information services, what will you build?
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ditch Linux For Windows 10 On Your Raspberry Pi With Microsoft’s IoT Kit
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/15/09/28/1949211/ditch-linux-for-windows-10-on-your-raspberry-pi-with-microsofts-iot-kit
Partnering with Adafruit, Microsoft has announced the Windows IoT Core Starter Kit. The $75 kit comes comes with an SD card preloaded with Windows 10 IoT. According to the Raspberry Pi blog: “The pack is available with a Pi 2 for people who are are new to Raspberry Pi or who’d like a dedicated device for their projects, or without one for those who’ll be using a Pi they already own.”
Ditch Linux for Windows 10 on your Raspberry Pi with Microsoft’s IoT kit
$75 kit comes comes complete with an SD card preloaded with Windows 10 IoT.
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/09/microsofts-iot-kit-helps-you-ditch-linux-for-windows-10-on-your-raspberry-pi/
While those interested in running Microsoft’s Windows 10 IoT Core—its free OS for hobbyist boards like the Raspberry Pi 2 and MinnowBoard Max—will likely have the chops to put together their own custom hardware configuration, the company wants to give newbies a helping hand. Microsoft has partnered with Adafruit to release the Windows IoT Core Starter Kit, which gives users everything they need to get started with IoT development.
The $75 (~£50) kit comes comes complete with an SD card preloaded with Windows 10 IoT Core, a Raspberry Pi 2 case, full size 40-pin breadboard, miniature WiFi module, BMP280 environmental sensor, RGB colour sensor, eight channel 10-Bit ADC with SPI interface, and a whole host of different resistors and LEDs. Those who needed Raspberry Pi 2 can pick up a $114.95 (~£70) with one included
Microsoft is hoping that kit, along with some free sample code, will encourage users to ditch Linux on their IoT projects in favour of Windows 10. While that’s a big ask, the company has been heavily courting the hobbyist community of late.
Windows 10 Core Starter Pack for Raspberry Pi 2
https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/windows-10-core-iot-starter-pack/
When we released Raspberry Pi 2 in February this year, we announced that Microsoft’s Windows 10 IoT Core, a version of Windows 10 for small Internet-of-Things devices that may or may not have a screen, would be available for the device. Since the Windows Insider release of Windows 10 Core in August, we’ve found that lots of people looking for a Pi 2 are arriving at sellers’ websites from sites catering for Windows developers.
The pack is available with a Pi 2 for people who are are new to Raspberry Pi or who’d like a dedicated device for their projects, or without one for those who’ll be using a Pi they already own. The box contains an SD card with Windows 10 Core and a case, power supply, wifi module and Ethernet cable for your Pi; a breadboard, jumper wires and components including LEDs, potentiometers and switches; and sensors for light, colour, temperature and pressure. There’s everything you need to start building.
The Windows 10 Core Starter Pack website provides very clear directions for setting up your PC and programming environment and your Raspberry Pi. It also has links to tutorials for four carefully chosen projects to get you up and running on hackster.io.
Starter Pack for Windows 10 IoT Core on Raspberry Pi 2
http://ms-iot.github.io/content/en-US/AdafruitMakerKit.htm
https://www.hackster.io/
Windows 10 IoT Core – Home Automation Contest
https://www.hackster.io/challenges/Windows10Automation
Tomi Engdahl says:
New Part Day: Tiny, Tiny Bluetooth Chips
http://hackaday.com/2015/09/30/new-part-day-tiny-tiny-bluetooth-chips/
The future of tiny electronics is wearables, it seems, with companies coming out with tiny devices that are able to check your pulse, blood pressure, and temperature while relaying this data back to your phone over a Bluetooth connection. Intel has the Curie module, a small System on Chip (SoC) meant for wearables, and the STM32 inside the Fitbit is one of the smallest ARM microcontrollers you’ll ever find. Now there’s a new part available that’s smaller than anything else and has an integrated Bluetooth radio; just what you need when you need an Internet of Motes of Dust.
The Atmel BTLC1000 is a tiny SoC designed for wearables. The internals aren’t exceptional in and of themselves – it’s an ARM Cortex M0 running at 26 MHz. There’s a Bluetooth 4.1 radio inside this chip, and enough I/O, RAM, and ROM to connect to a few sensors and do a few interesting things. What makes this chip so exceptional is its size – a mere 2.262mm by 2.142mm. It’s a chip that can fit along the thickness of some PCBs.
Atmel unveils an ultra-low power Bluetooth Smart solution for the IoT
http://blog.atmel.com/2015/01/05/atmel-unveils-an-ultra-low-power-bluetooth-smart-solution-for-the-iot/
Evident by the sheer volume of connected objects infiltrating our homes, offices, cars and nearly every facet of our life, the Internet of Things (IoT) market is set for explosive growth. With billions of devices expected to become network-enabled, designers of all levels will require a very low-power platform that allows them to develop these smart gadgets in space-constrained applications. Luckily now, there’s the BTLC1000.
Expanding upon the Atmel SmartConnect wireless portfolio, the BTLC1000 is a Bluetooth Smart link controller integrated circuit that connects as a companion to any Atmel AVR or Atmel | SMART MCU through a UART or SPI API requiring minimal resource on the host side. The standalone Atmel | SMART SAMB11 Bluetooth Smart Flash MCU leverages the embedded ARM Cortex-M0 core combined with the integrated analog and communication peripherals to implement application-specific functionalities and is available as a system-in-package or a certified module. Both devices are fully integrated with a self-contained Bluetooth Smart controller and stack enabling wireless connectivity for a variety of applications to be quickly implemented without the wireless expertise typically required.
“One of the primary challenges of the IoT market is system integration—connecting one or multiple devices to the gateway and cloud,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
LTE modems come in small LGA packages
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4440383/LTE-modems-come-in-small-LGA-packages?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150924&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150924&elq=067d1f5a48cd433c8c28fba75133dd04&elqCampaignId=24908&elqaid=28264&elqat=1&elqTrackId=8cd0a42b38c247d7909722a230f6a436
Swiss manufacturer u-blox offers LTE low-date-rate cellular modules supporting LTE Cat 1 for IoT and M2M designs in the industrial and automotive markets. Targeting North American carriers, the TOBY-R201 and LARA-R200 are housed in very small LGA packages and are a good choice for carriers that are transitioning to LTE from 2G and 3G.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google’s Colt McAnlis talks wearables, networked Pop-Tarts
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/arm-techcon/4440453/Google-s-Colt-McAnlis-talks-wearables–networked-Pop-Tarts?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150930&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150930&elq=8a0b9eeabfdf43bd9737a32f9824d522&elqCampaignId=24996&elqaid=28375&elqat=1&elqTrackId=81af7b978d784be6913dc8c76361c164
EDN: Do consumers really care about IoT? Aren’t they just more interested in why that smartwatch is so ugly, big, expensive, etc.? How can designers stay ahead of consumer expectations?
McAnlis: Like most technological adoption, the average consumer won’t start caring about the technology in-particular; rather they will care about how it starts influencing their daily lives. Until then, it’s pretty easy to see that the early adoption trend for IoT will be huge in the manufacturing / retail space, which is where most consumers will first be exposed to the concepts. This is the classic IoT scenario, where a consumer can walk up to a movie poster, and when they glance at their phone, all the show-times are listed already. It’s that type of interface between the location-aware content and human device, which should get consumers interested in these types of things. Once their primary device starts humming along with useful communications to the device-world around them, it’ll start making more sense. There might even be some point in the future that purchasing decisions will be made based upon if something is IoT enabled or not (like your Pop-Tart® box, because it always seems like you have infinite Pop-Tarts, or just an empty box in your cupboard…. we need to fix this….).
And designers really don’t have to change much. The goal of every technological adoption is straightforward: Be as useful as possible to the most people possible.
EDN: What new materials/technologies are the ones to watch for enabling IoT devices and networks?
McAnlis: It’s really exciting to see the recent boom of battery technologies that have been announced in the past month or so. It doesn’t make sense to have an IoT where 20,000 devices need to be plugged in. Sure long-form wireless charging could get us closer to that goal, but then we have the whole “will this fry my dog’s brain” debate (I know Nikola Tesla did early research to show it wouldn’t..but there’s some questions about how that scales to 7 billion devices). So for at least the short-term, IoT will be reliant (“shackled” might be a better word?) on portable battery solutions. Deep extensions to that technology will allow more powerful devices (think media rich) with longer life spans. This will be key for manufacturers to get IoT functionality into their products (smart pop-tart boxes) since in those form-factors, battery replacement probability will be low, yet life-span might be high.
EDN: In the heady excitement of IoT, what are we forgetting? Missing? At risk of royally messing up?
McAnlis: Oh.. you’re tricky… I see what you’re doing there.. Trying to get me to divulge all the content of my soon-to-be famous ARM keynote (or is it already famous? depends on when you’re reading this..). Well, I will not be tricked so easily! Just like everyone else, you’re going to have to attend the talk to hear war stories about the difficulties that IoT is going to have with respect to battery life, data sizes, and networking constraints.
Tomi Engdahl says:
NASA’s Wi-Fi Reflector Chip Speeds Up Wearables
Created on Friday, 11 September 2015
http://www.techbriefs.com/component/content/article/1198-ntb/news/news/22975
Whether you’re tracking your steps, monitoring your health, or sending photos from a smart watch, you want the battery life of your wearable device to last as long as possible. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, is working on microchips for wearable devices that reflect wireless signals instead of using regular transmitters and receivers. Their solution transmits information up to three times faster than regular Wi-Fi.
This simple switch mechanism uses very little power and allows for the fast transfer of information between a wearable device and a computer, smart phone, tablet, or other technology capable of receiving the data. The team developed a wireless silicon chip that constantly senses and suppresses background reflections, enabling the Wi-Fi signal to be transmitted without interference from surrounding objects.
A Wi-Fi Reflector Chip To Speed Up Wearables
http://www.nasa.gov/jpl/a-wi-fi-reflector-chip-to-speed-up-wearables
When incoming energy is absorbed by the circuit, that’s a “0,” and if the chip reflects that energy, that’s a “1.” This simple switch mechanism uses very little power and allows for the fast transfer of information between a wearable device and a computer, smart phone, tablet or other technology capable of receiving the data.
To overcome background reflections, Tang and Chang developed a wireless silicon chip that constantly senses and suppresses background reflections, enabling the Wi-Fi signal to be transmitted without interference from surrounding objects.
The technologists have tested the system at distances of up to 20 feet (6 meters). At about 8 feet (2.5 meters), they achieved a data transfer rate of 330 megabits per second, which is about three times the current Wi-Fi rate, using about a thousand times less power than a regular Wi-Fi link.
A base station and Wi-Fi service are still required for the system to work. To compensate for the low power drain on the wearable device, the computer or other technology it’s communicating with must have a long battery life or else be plugged in. The router will experience more power usage, too
Tomi Engdahl says:
System Status as SMS Text Messages
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/system-status-sms-text-messages
Let’s Talk about Text Messages
I was watching the Apple introduction of its new Apple Watch and was struck by the fact that like a few of the high-end Android smart watches, it will show you the entirety of e-mail and text messages on the tiny watch screen. This means it’s a great device for sysadmins and Linux IT folk to keep tabs on the status of their machine or set of machines.
Sure, you could do this by having the system send an e-mail, but let’s go a bit further and tap into one of the e-mail-to-SMS gateways instead. Table 1 shows a list of gateway addresses for the most common cellular carriers in the United States.
For example, I can send a text message to someone on the AT&T network with the number (303) 555-1234 by formatting the e-mail
Armed with this information, there are a lot of different statuses that you can monitor and get a succinct text message if something’s messed up.
What Else Could You Monitor?
Tracking load average is rather trivial when you think about all the many things that can go wrong on a Linux system, including processes that get wedged and use an inordinate amount of CPU time, disk space that could be close to filling up, RAM that’s tapped out and causing excessive swapping, or even unauthorized users logging in.
All of those situations can be analyzed, and alerts can be sent to you via e-mail or SMS text messag
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Amazon adds 11 partners, including Samsung, GE, and August, to its Dash Replenishment Service, which lets connected devices automatically reorder supplies
Amazon’s Supply Reordering Service Gets Integrated In Nearly A Dozen More Household Devices From GE, Samsung, Oster And More
http://techcrunch.com/2015/10/01/amazons-supply-re-ordering-service-gets-integrated-in-nearly-a-dozen-more-household-devices-from-ge-samsung-oster-and-more/
Amazon this morning announced a significant expansion of device partners that will support its Dash Replenishment Service – the initiative that enables connected household devices to monitor their supply levels and automatically reorder when those supplies run low.
For example, printers can reorder ink just before you run out. Your Brita water pitcher can reorder a new filter as the old one goes bad. Today, Amazon says that it has added eleven new brands to the program, including General Electric, Samsung, August, Gmate, Oster, Obe, Petnet, CleverPet, Sutro, Thync and Sealed Air.
The new partners are in addition to the much smaller handful that were already participating in the program: Brother, Whirlpool and Brita.
With the expansion, consumers will soon be able to buy things like washing machines that automatically order detergent, smart locks that send you replacement batteries, pet food dispensers that ship you new dog food, and more.
DRS is the same reordering service that also powers Amazon’s consumer-facing Amazon Dash Buttons, which are the hardware dongles you can mount or hang around your home to reorder everyday supplies like paper towels, trash bags, diapers, and more.
At this time, these companies have committed to launching DRS-enabled devices, but products are still arriving to market. An Amazon spokesperson confirms that the first ones will arrive later this year.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How the Internet of things could stop the next Volkswagen scandal in its tracks
http://fortune.com/2015/09/25/volkswagen-internet-of-things/
The Internet of things and a culture of experimentation makes it harder to lie to consumers and regulators.
Volkswagen is still reeling from the revelations that it lied to U.S. regulators and pumped nearly 1 million tons of extra pollutants into the air by installing software onto its cars to fool emissions tests. Now regulators, legislators and others are wondering how to prevent such a scandal from happening again. Open source software has been a suggested salve. So has random testing.
But I think these are part of two bigger trends that will come together to prevent these sort of shenanigans going forward—the Internet of things and the development of a maker culture. The Internet of things and its proliferation of data gathering sensors that are connected to the cloud and to each other combined with an increasing number of people who are comfortable building their own gear to experiment with the world around them will create an environment of constant scrutiny.
“It seems like we’ve gone through this trough where only 100 people in the world have the tools to test something like the Volkswagen emissions, to having a limitless number of people having the tool to detect this,” said Eben Upton, the creator of the Raspberry Pi computer, which is a computer beloved by makers. “But it’s not just that the tools are available, but that the tech culture has changed.”
Upton explained that people are willing to play with technology and experiment with cheap sensors to see if what they are being told is true. The combination of $1 or $2 sensors and a general skepticism has led a class of people to build tools to see if their air quality is really what the EPA is telling them. And, said Upton, as the tools are commercialized through companies, that ability to test will only get easier for the average consumer.
The Internet of things and a culture of experimentation makes it harder to lie to consumers and regulators.
Volkswagen is still reeling from the revelations that it lied to U.S. regulators and pumped nearly 1 million tons of extra pollutants into the air by installing software onto its cars to fool emissions tests. Now regulators, legislators and others are wondering how to prevent such a scandal from happening again. Open source software has been a suggested salve. So has random testing.
But I think these are part of two bigger trends that will come together to prevent these sort of shenanigans going forward—the Internet of things and the development of a maker culture. The Internet of things and its proliferation of data gathering sensors that are connected to the cloud and to each other combined with an increasing number of people who are comfortable building their own gear to experiment with the world around them will create an environment of constant scrutiny.
“It seems like we’ve gone through this trough where only 100 people in the world have the tools to test something like the Volkswagen emissions, to having a limitless number of people having the tool to detect this,” said Eben Upton, the creator of the Raspberry Pi computer, which is a computer beloved by makers. “But it’s not just that the tools are available, but that the tech culture has changed.”
Upton explained that people are willing to play with technology and experiment with cheap sensors to see if what they are being told is true. The combination of $1 or $2 sensors and a general skepticism has led a class of people to build tools to see if their air quality is really what the EPA is telling them. And, said Upton, as the tools are commercialized through companies, that ability to test will only get easier for the average consumer.
He thinks environmental groups will lead the charge.
Already there are projects such as AirCast that are trying to track air quality around cities using air quality sensors worn by volunteers.
Or you can buy an Air Quality Egg for $240 that measures carbon monoxide and nitrous oxide and become part of a worldwide air quality monitoring effort linked over the Internet.
Again, you’d need to make correlations between a cluster of offending Volkswagens and higher-than-expected pollution levels. However, in today’s era of cheap and easy data analysis such a thing isn’t too far fetched.
So, as cheap, connected sensors proliferate, a culture of making and experimenting expands, and civic groups embrace both attributes to start testing the world around them, more consumers will have the tools they need to tell if companies are lying. For those who are damaging the environment, they could find themselves having some sticky conversations.
VW’s Cheating Proves We Must Open Up the Internet of Things
http://www.wired.com/2015/09/volkswagen-open-iot/
It’s been a rough year for the Internet of Things. Security researchers uncovered terrifying vulnerabilities in products ranging from cars to garage doors to skateboards. Outages at smart home services Wink and Google’s Nest rendered customers’ gadgets temporarily useless. And the Volkswagen emissions scandal, though not precisely an Internet of Things issue, has exposed yet another issue with “smart” physical goods: the possibility of manufacturers embedding software in their products designed to skirt regulations.
And those are only the most immediate concerns. The Internet of Things brings with it privacy concerns and compatibility headaches. There’s also the potential for the companies that make this stuff to go belly-up at any moment—as Wink’s parent company Quirky just did. In the worst case scenario, customers could be left with a house full of expensive, not-so-smart gadgets.
The Safety of Objects
Today, the vast majority of smart home gadgets, connected cars, wearable devices, and other Internet of Things inhabitants are profoundly closed. Independent researchers can’t inspect the code that makes them run. You can’t wipe the factory-loaded software and load alternative software instead. In many cases you can’t even connect them to other devices unless the manufacturers of each product have worked out a deal with each other.
Ostensibly, this is for your own protection. If you can’t load your own software, you’re less likely to infect your car, burglar alarm, or heart monitor with a virus. But this opacity is also what helped Volkswagen get away with hiding the software it used to subvert emissions tests. It makes it harder to trust that your thermostat isn’t selling your personal info to door-to-door salesmen or handing it out to the National Security Agency.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Arduino’s Long-Awaited Improved WiFi Shield
http://hackaday.com/2015/10/01/arduinos-long-awaited-improved-wifi-shield/
Announced at the 2014 Maker Faire in New York, the latest Arduino WiFi shield is finally available. This shield replaces the old Arduino WiFi shield, while providing a few neat features that will come in very handy for the yet-to-be-developed Internet of Things.
While the WiFi Shield 101 was announced a year ago, the feature set was interesting. The new WiFi shield supports 802.11n, and thanks to a few of Atmel’s crypto chip offerings, this shield is the first official Arduino offering to support SSL.
The new Arduino WiFi Shield 101 features an Atmel ATWINC1500 module for 802.11 b/g/n WiFi connectivity. This module, like a dozen or so other WiFi modules, handles the heavy lifting of the WiFi protocol, including TCP and UDP protocols, leaving the rest of the Arduino free to do the actual work.
Also included on the WiFi shield is an ATECC508A CryptoAuthentication chip.
This is perhaps the most interesting improvement over the old Arduino WiFi shield, and allows for greater security for the upcoming Internet of Things. WiFi modules already in the space have their own support for SSL, including TI’s CC3200 series of modules, Particle‘s Internet of Things modules, and some support for the ESP8266.
Arduino WiFi Shield 101 is now available in the US store!
https://blog.arduino.cc/2015/09/30/arduino-wifi-shield-101-available-in-the-store/
We are excited to announce that Arduino Wifi Shield 101 developed with Atmel is now available for purchase on the Arduino Store US (49.90$).
Tomi Engdahl says:
PocketLab
Swiss army knife of science
http://thepocketlab.com/
PocketLab is a wireless sensor for exploring the world and building science experiments. We built PocketLab for the curious explorers, educators, students, and makers to bring science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) to life like never before.
PocketLab connects with a single button to a smart phone, tablet, or Chromebook and instantly streams measurement data that you can see and record. PocketLab measures acceleration, force, angular velocity, magnetic field, pressure, altitude, and temperature. Using our cloud software, you can easily analyze your data, create graphs, and integrate your data with other software. PocketLab has the same features as lab equipment that costs thousands of dollars but is low cost and intuitive to use.
$98.00
Tomi Engdahl says:
NXP-Freescale: Merger of ‘Compatible’ Giants on Track
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1327868&
NXP’s pending acquisition of Freescale is “on track,” but awaiting regulatory approvals
IoT and security
Wainwright believes automotive and the Internet of Things (IoT) will bring significant opportunities to the merged entity. At Thursday’s “Designing with Freescale” event in Paris where more than 80 demos were presented, he cautioned, “What can derail IoT is security.”
Referring to data in the United States, where 70 percent of connected devices have no password-protected connectivity, he said Freescale is positioned and well-prepared to help IoT startup companies with security. “We offer trusted architecture to end node, gateway and cloud” complete with cryptographic security protocols.
Tomi Engdahl says:
France: All In With ‘Objets Connectés’
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1327878&
There is mounting evidence for a French fascination with IoT. There are dynamic startups including SigFox, Netatmo, Parrot and Withings. But who else are on horizon?
PARIS – Several weeks ago, Matthew Quint, my long-time friend and ‘thinking’ high-tech pitchman in Silicon Valley, asked me, “What’s IoT in French?”
“Internet of Things” turns out “L’Internet des Objets” in French. So, it’s technically “IdO,” not “IoT.” But Laurent Massicot, Freescale’s spokesman based in Paris, assured me, “Even in France, we also call it IoT.”
There is, in fact, mounting evidence for a French fascination with IoT.
In the 2015 International CES, 160 French companies and startups came, and French startups snatched up 23 awards, according to French Tech, a group working with startups both in France and abroad to build an ecosystem.
In June, 2015, the French built Cité de l’Objet Connecté (the city of connected objects) in Angers (a city approximately 185 miles southwest of Paris). Its mission is to create a site – currently as large as 22,000 square feet, with room to grow to 86,000 square feet — where people with a variety of skills including electronics, mechanics and design gather and work. It would give entrepreneurs access to different services (including machines/equipment and consultations with experts) so that they can advance their ideas, build prototypes and eventually commercialize products.
Locals are also abuzz with a project developed by Xavier Niel, founder of French telecommunication giant Free. Niel purchased an old industrial site, called the Halle Freyssinet building located in Paris’ 13th arrondissement. He is revitalizing what was once a warehouse for delivering parcels, closed in 2006. It’s now a gigantic digital incubator scheduled to open in 2016 with 1,000 startups. Niel reportedly said to the French media that the project was not a financial investment, but a way to offer young entrepreneurs their best chance to succeed.
Of course, the strength for the French Tech ecosystem won’t be measured by the size of an incubator or grants given to entrepreneurs. What matters is the ultimate success of their commercial products.
We know France already has globally recognized, dynamic startups including SigFox, Netatmo, Parrot and Withings. France is proving that it has a role to play, especially in the IoT area.
There is mounting evidence for a French fascination with IoT. There are dynamic startups including SigFox, Netatmo, Parrot and Withings. But who else are on horizon?
1. Embedded software platforms for intelligent objects
IS2T came up with a solution designed to simplify the growing complexity of embedded software.
The key is MicroEJ, developed in-house. The embedded Java is directly linked to a small kernel – 30Kbyte flash and less than 1.5Kbyte RAM.
However, by using Is2T’s MicroEJ, each third-party app — dynamically deployed from the cloud – can be executed as though it’s the only app installed on the device, explained Cotte.
2. Safe design in real time
Today’s embedded systems have a lot of pitfalls that involve embedded applications and their complex scheduling. Can we automatically dispatch scheduling? “We can,” says Samuel Dellcacherie, vice president of marketing at Krono-Safe. He claims that it’s possible, without extensive manual tuning at the RTOS level and tedious validation on the hardware platform.
3. Get your own swimming coach via wearables
oach in an electronics board loaded with sensors, algorithms for effective analysis, and an app on a smartphone?
That was the genesis of BIRD. The electronics board, which will be fitted into a flipper, is integrated with sensors such as an accelerometer, a gyroscope and a magnetometer. Data is first locally saved on a 4Gbyte card. The recorded data will be sent to a smartphone via Bluetooth. The board comes with a battery capable of lasting 3 hours of swimming.
4. Going beyond detecting a fall
Lifeplus is getting ready with hardware — a wrist band packed with medical sensors, which can detect when an elderly person’s health problems, he said.
But isn’t everyone else on the wearable market doing the same? Exactly, he said. What matters more to Chiquit is the second phase of his project. “My goal is to develop a device that not only detects falls but prevents falls. Detection is what all others are doing.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple buys AI outfit VocalIQ to boost Siri and fuel automotive plans
UK-based firm claims the ‘world’s first self-learning dialogue API’
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2428909/apple-buys-ai-outfit-vocaliq-to-boost-siri-and-fuel-automotive-plans
CAMBRIDGE-BASED SPEECH TECHNOLOGY FIRM VocalIQ has reportedly been scooped up by Apple as the latter looks to bolster its Siri voice assistant.
The firm typically didn’t reveal much else, but the acquisition points to Apple looking to supercharge Siri, potentially ahead of the launch of its first vehicle, as well as boost its presence in the growing Internet of Things (IoT) market.
VocalIQ builds speech processing technology and describes its software as “the world’s first self-learning dialogue API”. The software is designed to facilitate more natural communication between humans and computers, which the firm describes as crucial to the future of the IoT, saying that more than automated speech recognition in needed to improve conversations between people and machines.
“For all of the many devices we use, we want to find a way to get what we need, in the easiest, safest way possible. That’s where voice comes in.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Portable environmental monitor
https://hackaday.io/project/4977-portable-environmental-monitor
A handheld, battery powered, sensor array unit for environmental monitoring focused mostly on air quality using a global infrastructure.
This is not the regular detector: packed with powerful sensors capable of detecting both the chemical and the physical harmful factors, these devices are designed with Internet connectivity thanks to a 802.11B/G wifi module, and will share all readings to the Global uRADMonitor network.
Online data allows us to build graph, stats and send automated notifications when certain thresholds are reached.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sensor Net Makes Life Easier for Rice Farmers
http://hackaday.com/2015/10/05/sensor-net-makes-life-easier-for-rice-farmers/
Rice is cultivated all over the world in fields known as rice paddies and it is one of the most maintenance intensive crops to grow. The rice paddy itself requires a large part of that maintenance. It is flooded with water that must be kept at a constant level, just below the height that would keep rice seedlings from growing but high enough to drown any weeds that would compete with the rice stalks for nutrients.
This process is labor intensive, and the technology in use hasn’t changed much over the centuries
TechRice is a project that started as a collaboration between hackerfarm and Digital Garage in Japan.
Rice Paddy Sensor Networks Make a Lot of Sense
The rice paddies are not adjacent to the farmers’ homes so the farmers must travel to the entrance of the rice terrace every day and walk uphill to their rice paddy to inspect it.
One Simple Board Does it All
The main sensor node uses a device called “Saboten” meaning “cactus” in Japanese.
It consists of a modified Arduino platform based on the ATMega1284P microcontroller.
The main sensor is an ultrasonic acoustic range sensor called MaxSonar by MaxBotix.Acoustic sensors are often used in non-contact liquid level sensing
The front end RF interface consists of a 900 MHz 802.15.4 wireless transceiver with a 500 mW power amplifier on the transmitter and an 8 dB low noise amplifier on the receiver.
With proper antennas, it’s possible to send data over ten kilometers so its overkill for the rice terraces which have a diameter of approximately 2 km.
The Saboten device goes down to about 300 uA in low power mode which is good enough to survive about 9 months on a standard 2000 mAh LiPo battery.
Saboten has a built in solar charge controller that was fitted with a 100 mA, 5V solar panel. This is a fairly standard solar panel that can be purchased in the Shenzhen markets for less than a dollar.
The Saboten sensor nodes send all their data to an edge router which is basically a Saboten with a 3G shield mounted on it. The 3G modem is usually powered off and is just turned on twice per day to upload data. It’s a huge consumer of power with a maximum current consumption of 2A at 5V (10W) when it’s just turned on and searching for base stations.
Firmware, REST, and Python
The firmware is basically vanilla firmware that implements power management and communications via the chibiArduino library.
the full device code is hosted on the Digital Garage Futurelab GitHub account.
In my opinion, the more interesting part of the software is the web backend.
We used Python Flask which makes creating a RESTful API ridiculously easy. The Flask framework also contains database plugins to handle most popular databases so interfacing is also quite simple.
The TechRice API Halfdan wrote is called the Satoyama API and handles standard CRUD operations in a RESTful way. The data is exchanged via JSON messages uploaded to a server housed on Heroku with a Postgre database. Data is collected by each of the sensor leaf nodes and sent to the aggregator node which is the edge router with the 3G modem. The 3G modem is fired up twice a day to upload the data via HTTP to the Satoyama server which will update the database entries. Once the data is in the database, the data is available to be consumed by either the mobile app or to be displayed on a web page.
Network topology is an interesting topic for people involved in sensor networks. I was originally a fan of meshing networks but since I’ve had a few real deployments already, I’ve come to prefer single hop networks. In this case, I’m using the chibiArduino wireless stack to implement a single hop link to the aggregator node.
Tomi Engdahl says:
If the Internet of Things scares you now: Cisco’s CEO is bent on hooking up robots, EVERYTHING
New boss talks of factories, pipelines, power sub-stations
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/10/06/cisco_robbins_keynote/
On Monday, in his first major speech as new CEO of Cisco, Chuck Robbins was clear about one thing. He pretty much wants everything on Earth to be networked and connected together.
Big shock, right? Network hardware and software giant wants to sell more network hardware and software. Cisco wants the Internet of Things to be powered by Cisco products.
But think about it: we’re talking about more than just smartphones, smartlight-bulbs, and smartfridges connected to the web.
Robbins isn’t playing for nickels and dimes here – he means factories, robots, oil pipelines, electrical sub-stations, hospitals, trains and buses, banks and corporations. Big dangerous things that can potentially be reached across the internet.
At the company’s headquarters in San Jose, California, staff from robotics maker Fanuc were wheeled out to the press to confirm they’re going to use Cisco systems to hook up assembly line machines across the world. It is hoped that with masses of data coming back from sensors in the factories, software can analyze and identify robots that aren’t performing properly, and give early warnings to repair technicians and manufacturers.
These mechanical workers will provide “highly secure remote access and monitoring,” we’re told.
Security! Security! Security!
Are you worried? There have been so many horror stories published on security flaws in the Internet of Things – from home routers and kit being hopelessly insecure, to cars, more cars, and industrial and medical equipment left lying around on the web for miscreants to hijack.
Robbins said the Internet of Things is going to be 500-billion-strong by 2020, and to us, it sounds like we’re piling more exploitable code on more exploitable code.
Cisco has a trick up its sleeve to keep stuff secure, apparently: traffic analysis. By studying patterns of packets in real-time, anomalous activity – such as a rogue employee trying to sabotage equipment, or weird storage accesses – should in theory stick out and be trapped by the network. Robbins likened it to a bank freezing someone’s credit card if it spotted unexpected, and likely unauthorized, transactions on the monthly bill.
Other companies offer similar machine-learning-based tech, which El Reg is keeping an eye on closely.
“True rich analytics are available in the infrastructure,” said Robbins.
Can traffic analysis truly protect organizations from hackers outside and disgruntled or incompetent staff within? What happens when the firmware in the underlying systems is compromised, as we just saw with SYNful Knock. We really do wonder.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Industry Disruptors Transform Businesses Using Cisco’s Digital Solutions
http://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-content?type=webcontent&articleId=1720690
New Digital Solutions and IoT-specific Security Portfolio Solve Top Challenges in Manufacturing, Transportation, Utilities, and Oil & Gas
Cisco Global Editors’ Conference – SAN JOSE, Calif., October 5, 2015 – Forty percent of today’s leading companies will be displaced from their market position by digital disruption in the next five years, yet 75 percent of these companies have yet to address this risk by prioritizing their digital strategy, according to research conducted by the Global Center for Digital Business Transformation.
Removing Barriers to Efficiency
To remain competitive, industries like manufacturing, utilities, oil and gas, and transportation need to increase productivity, deliver more value, and create better experiences for customers and end users. Some of the greatest obstacles to efficiency are operational silos. Silos separate people, machines, systems, information, and complete areas of a business; they separate information from operational technology. Breaking through silos with a more holistic and connected architecture connects people, streamlines communication and drives a more agile operation.
Introducing Four New Digital Solutions for Industries and IoT System Security Portfolio:
Connected Machines for Digital Manufacturing: A connected architecture that redefines secure, efficient, and visible operations. This solution enables rapid, standards-based, repeatable machine connectivity, and global factory integration
Smart Connected Pipeline for Digital Oil and Gas: A connected, highly secure architecture that allows oil and gas companies more control over their pipelines, helping to protect assets from accidents or cyber-attacks.
Substation Security for Digital Utilities: A connected and timely architecture that enables highly-secure power grids for reliable, more efficient service across the utilities industry. Now, more than ever, the nation’s power grid needs additional layers of safety and security.
Connected Mass Transit for Digital Transportation: A connected architecture that will enable the delivery of greater safety, mobility – and a better passenger experience.
IoT System Security: The IoT System Security product-portfolio helps deliver highly secure connectivity, visibility and control to assure that IoT initiatives deliver competitive advantage for customers across all verticals
Tomi Engdahl says:
Powering a dust mote from a piezoelectric transducer
Jim Drew, Linear Technology -September 27, 2015
http://www.edn.com/design/power-management/4440437/Powering-a-dust-mote-from-a-piezoelectric-transducer?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20151005&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20151005&elq=ac81411ab71d4479a793a0ef4d0fb512&elqCampaignId=25055&elqaid=28463&elqat=1&elqTrackId=b847329308454700b22031376cf868a6
Increasing the level of remote monitoring and control of industrial environments—such as factories, plants and refineries—enables process engineers and managers to see the overall health of a system or factory, ultimately improving decision making. The easiest way to increase monitoring and control coverage is to use Dust Networks® SmartMesh® wireless sensor networks, which enable easy installation in remote environments. SmartMesh sensors and controllers are often deployed in locations where electrical power connections are not readily available. For this reason, using energy harvesting technology as the source for powering these sensors is attractive.
When vibration energy is available, the LTC3330 uses this as its source of power rather than the battery. For short periods when vibration energy isn’t available, the LTC3330 charges and balances a supercapacitor that can be called on to support the load.
Conclusion
The LTC3330 provides a complete solution for powering a Dust Networks mote from a vibration source using the Midé V25W piezoelectric transducer and a primary cell battery connected to the BAT pin. The V25W piezoelectric transducer supports output power requirements from a vibration source, thus extending the life of the battery. When combined with a supercapacitor attached to VOUT, the LTC3330 enables even longer extended battery life, reducing maintenance calls to replace batteries.
Tomi Engdahl says:
REPORT: Industrial Internet is no longer a hype
Will the next industrial revolution of Finnish companies over, asks Market Vision a few months on its report. According to the report the Finnish company management still does not understand the objects and benefits of the Internet Affairs and threats.
Internet of Things (IoT) will create the next few years very significant growth potential, the value of which may be a Market Vision, the year 2020 is approximately EUR 1.4 billion of new business in Finland. From the industrial Internet will account for one-third, or EUR 425 million in 2020.
The digital means business relocation or expansion of electronic channels, content and transactions. Digitalisation up changing the way companies operate, to meet its customers, develop new products and services and generate new business.
In order to remain competitive in this environment, Market Vision, the organizations should have the ability to react quickly to changing conditions and trends. In order for organizations to understand and anticipate the environment as well as their own business, products and services takes place, we need more intelligence, real-time data and analytics.
“The organization needed courage and a better ability to take risks”
Source: http://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2015/10/04/selvitys-teollinen-internet-ei-ole-enaa-hypea/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google OnHub Can Has Root
http://hackaday.com/2015/10/07/google-onhub-can-has-root/
It’s always nice to get down to the root directory of a device, especially if the device in question is one that you own. It’s no huge surprise that a Google product allows access to the root directory but the OnHub requires locating the hidden “developer mode” switch which [Maximus64] has done. The Google engineers have been sneaky with this button, locating it at the bottom of a threaded screw hole. Has anyone seen this implemented on other hardware before?
There isn’t a blog post regarding this, however [Maximus64] shared a video on YouTube walking us through the steps to root and un-root Google’s OnHub, which is embedded after the break. He also states “wiki coming soon” in the description of the video, so we’ll keep eye on it for an update.
Tomi Engdahl says:
AWS Introduces Kinesis Firehose To Move Sensor Data To Cloud
http://techcrunch.com/2015/10/07/aws-introduces-kinesis-firehose-to-move-sensor-data-to-cloud/
Today at AWS re:invent, Amazon introduced a new service called Kinesis Firehose to move data streaming from sensors and other locations directly to the cloud.
As Andy Jassy, SVP at AWS, pointed out, the company launched Kinesis a few years ago to take this kind of streaming data and build custom applications on top of that to handle the data. Amazon found that was taking customers far too long, and some customers didn’t have the resources to build it themselves.
This new service essentially eliminates the need for creating the application by using Firehose as a service. Jassy claims that with a single API call to Firehose, customers can now put the data into Amazon Redshift or S3 and immediately begin working with the data.
The system is of course is completely elastic, meaning Amazon will be more than happy to sell you as much storage as you need to process the incoming data. The service compresses and encrypts on the way in, and the company does give you the ability to set time intervals of when to upload the data or to set limits on how much data to suck in.
Once the data is in the system, customers can decrypt it with the same key and load it into Hadoop clusters (or wherever they wish) to process it and begin to analyze it.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Amazon announces AWS IoT cloud platform that lets connected devices interact with cloud applications and other devices, launching in beta — Amazon Announces AWS IoT — A Platform For Building, Managing And Analyzing The Internet Of Things — Make way for another big player entering the Internet of Things space.
Amazon Launches AWS IoT — A Platform For Building, Managing And Analyzing The Internet Of Things
http://techcrunch.com/2015/10/08/amazon-announces-aws-iot-a-platform-for-building-managing-and-analyzing-the-internet-of-things/#.ojwuxm:CdBp
Make way for another big player entering the Internet of Things space. Amazon today is announcing its long-awaited IoT platform for AWS at its re:Invent developer conference in Las Vegas.
As Amazon describes it, it is a managed cloud platform “that lets connected devices easily and securely interact with cloud applications and other devices.” The platform, which is launching in beta, will be able to support billions of devices and trillions of messages, “and can process and route those messages to AWS endpoints and to other devices reliably and securely.”
AWS IoT will integrate with Lambda, Amazon Kinesis, Amazon S3, Amazon Machine Learning, and Amazon DynamoDB to build IoT applications, manage infrastructure and analyze data.
“Connected does not necessarily mean useful,” said Amazon’s CTO Werner Vogels during the keynote today, and indeed this is what Amazon is aiming at tackling with its mega platform: a place where the many different strands of creating services for disparate connected objects can come together into one place to be run in a cohesive way (all ultimately bring traffic and revenue to one consolidated company, too: Amazon).
The company acquired IoT platform 2lemtery earlier this year, so today’s announcement doesn’t come as a huge surprise, especially given that some of Amazon’s competitors like Microsoft have recently made IoT support one of the cornerstones of their cloud computing strategies.
The platform will make it easier for developers to ingest incoming data from devices using standard gateways and protocols like MQTT and HTTPS.
As with other AWS services, pricing for the IoT platform is based around what you use with no minimum fees. Prices are based the number of messages published to AWS IoT (Publishing Cost), and the number of messages delivered by AWS IoT to devices or applications (Delivery Cost). As a sweetener to keep you in the AWS ecosystem, pricing does not include deliveries to certain AWS services, specifically Amazon S3, Amazon DynamoDB, AWS Lambda, Amazon Kinesis,Amazon SNS, and Amazon SQS.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://aws.amazon.com/iot/pricing/
The AWS IoT free tier gets you started with 250,000 free messages (published or delivered) per month, for 12 months.