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:
Rohit Khare / Google Cloud Platform Blog:
Google releases beta version of Cloud Pub/Sub, a messaging API for connecting applications and services in real-time
http://googlecloudplatform.blogspot.com/2015/03/using-Google-Cloud-pubsub-to-Connect-applications-and-data-streams.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
The ‘Internet of Things’ will be the world’s most massive device market and save companies billions of dollars
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-internet-of-things-market-growth-and-trends-2015-2#ixzz3TbU442mA
Tomi Engdahl says:
Freescale battery charger for the Portable IoT
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/electronic-product-reviews/other/4438772/Freescale-battery-charger-for-the-Portable-IoT?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150305&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150305&elq=3e499498c0e6415b89d0b5e8ceb59ce0&elqCampaignId=21944&elqaid=24638&elqat=1&elqTrackId=5de48bf57ee043e09ea1a8a8708419c0
Freescale press briefing for a new 2 A switch-mode, dual-path battery charger for portable IoT systems which turned out to be about a lot more than just the battery charger. Freescale is promoting their security offerings for IoT, setting up “centers of excellence” to train folks on security, helping set standards for security, and the like. The battery charger was mentioned as part of the remaining message of “end to end” IoT offerings from Freescale.
there are some problems that customers have with existing battery chargers. One is with proper safety features like heating and overvoltage protection, etc.; The BC3770 has thermal regulation and protection and a 20V tolerant single input USB/DCP adapter.
Another issue is with expanding the use case to target charging of Smart Watches while still being able to use them.
Designers will like the seamless integration of Freescale’s power management, MCU and application processor portfolio which delivers a complete solution that speeds up the time to market and simplifies the creation of increasingly complex battery-powered IoT devices. In addition, there is a BC3770 Freescale Freedom board available featuring a Kinetis KL25Z microcontroller with example interface software and GUI. I think that Freescale’s stackable EVMs are the best form factor available for interoperability of different systems while breadboarding in a compact format. Their “Tower” designs are so versatile for designers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Home> Analog Design Center > How To Article
Wireless communication standards for the Internet of Things
http://www.edn.com/design/analog/4438747/Wireless-communication-standards-for-the-Internet-of-Things?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_review_20150306&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_review_20150306&elq=bea399dc509b41ef92815ff6506d9d26&elqCampaignId=21954&elqaid=24648&elqat=1&elqTrackId=5114f724b9ce4ee6bd454b7c37b5e74e
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scotland Yard Chief: Put CCTV In Every Home To Help Solve Crimes
http://news.slashdot.org/story/15/03/09/1910202/scotland-yard-chief-put-cctv-in-every-home-to-help-solve-crimes
Homeowners should consider fitting CCTV to trap burglars, the country’s most senior police officer declared yesterday. Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said police forces needed more crime scene footage to match against their 12 million images of suspects and offenders.
Police chief: ‘Put CCTV in every home’
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11458153/Police-chief-Put-CCTV-in-every-home.html
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan Howe says CCTV cameras should be installed by homeowners and businesses to help detectives solve crimes
CCTV cameras should be installed by homeowners and businesses to help detectives solve crimes in the age of austerity, Britain’s most senior policeman has said.
Commissioner Bernard Hogan Howe also said that homeowners must make efforts to install equipment properly to avoid undermining inquiries.
When the Metropolitan Police Commissioner was asked if business and home owners needed to make greater use of CCTV cameras he said yes, adding: “We’ve got a strategy to encourage people, with their cameras, is to move them down to eye level.”
But the Commissioner warned those buying such devices to be sure to position them correctly.
He said: “Over the last year as facial recognition software has got better we can apply the software to the images of burglaries or robberies and we can compare those images with the images we take when we arrest people.”
“What we need to be able to do is to be able to compare that photograph with the images we have of people committing a crime.
“As importantly, you get a whole shot of what happened at the event: What did they steal? Did they use a knife? You get all that. But more relevant today is a face. That’s what we need.
Put CCTV in EVERY home: Householders should help us trap burglars, says Scotland Yard chief
Bernard Hogan Howe said people installed their CCTV cameras too high
This meant only the tops of the criminals’ heads were caught on film
Families should install their own cameras to help catch burglars, he said
The Met chief said Britain needed more cameras to help fight crime
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2985202/Scotland-Yard-chief-Hogan-Howe-calls-DIY-surveillance-help-police.html#ixzz3TyDINwMV
Tomi Engdahl says:
Synopsys Opens Up ARC Processor Architecture Online
Open ARC Platform brings open-source tooling to ARC
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1325954&
Synopsys Corp. has just inaugurated the embARC.org website where developers can access its new Open Software Platform. The site offers a variety of open-source drivers, operating systems and middleware for use with the company’s ARC processor architecture in a wide range of Internet of Things applications.
While the ARC architecture has considerable success so far, with cores licensed by more than 190 companies in a wide range of consumer and industrial applications, the nature of the company’s strategy for adoption meant that ARC’s widespread adoption is not widely recognized, Allen Watson, product marketing manager for ARC Development Tools, Systems and Ecosystem, told EE Times. The cores are used in more than 1.5 billion products a year in a wide range of applications such as solid-state drives, connected appliances, automotive controllers, media players, digital TV, set-top boxes and home networking.
At the heart of the ARC is a 16-/32-bit RISC-based instruction set architecture that provides good performance and code density for embedded and host SoC applications. But the secret sauce of the architecture is that unlike most embedded microprocessors, extra instructions, registers and functionality can be added using the ARChitect processor configurator that allows developers to analyze a given task, choose the appropriate extensions, or develop their own ISA extensions.
https://www.embarc.org/index.html
The embARC Open Software Platform consists of software and documentation to accelerate the development of embedded systems based on DesignWare ARC processors.
Comprehensive suite of free and open-source software, including drivers, operating systems and middleware for embedded software development on DesignWare® ARC® processors for IoT applications
Includes ports of FreeRTOS and Contiki OS operating systems
Supported by free open source GNU Toolchain and premium MetaWare tools
Dedicated website with downloads, documentation and user forums
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple announces ResearchKit to help medical researchers collect data
http://thenextweb.com/apple/2015/03/09/apple-announces-researchkit-to-help-medical-researchers-collect-data/
At Apple’s March event today, the company announced ResearchKit, a software framework that allows medical researchers to get data directly from iPhone users.
The company said that users can sign up to participate in medical research and use their iPhones as diagnostic tools.
One example the company gave is a study for Parkinson’s disease that asks the user to perform quick tests on their phone to help diagnose it.
Hands on with the first medical apps using ResearchKit
http://9to5mac.com/2015/03/09/hands-on-with-the-first-medical-apps-using-researchkit/
As part of ResearchKit, Apple’s new foray into medical research, five brand new apps have been launched in conjunction with leading medical institutions that utilize the new capabilities of ResearchKit. These first apps cover the areas of asthma, Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, breast cancer, and cardiovascular diseases. Below is a first look at some of the new application’s capabilities.
Each application comes with a relatively standard setup process, with only minor differences between the apps. You’ll first be prompted with a series of simple questions that determines if you’re eligible for the study. If you aren’t, the app won’t be very useful to you.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Educating the Smart Bulb
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/led-zone/4438810/Educating-the-Smart-Bulb?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_consumerelectronics_20150311&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_consumerelectronics_20150311&elq=939b3ddcd2c6408182872200505115c0&elqCampaignId=22022&elqaid=24723&elqat=1&elqTrackId=7dfcba5ef025485985633285567a1666
The recent announcement of a “smart music player” has forced me to conclude that most of today’s so-called “smart bulbs” are anything but that. I’m convinced that smart bulbs and smart luminaires may eventually become a viable alternative to traditional lighting control systems, but you’d never know it from what’s being sold today.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the Philips’ Hue and some of the other multi-color smart bulbs, even if they seem like the love children of a Lava Lamp and a Mood Ring. But when you come right down to it, they’re mostly novelty items which attempt to command a premium price for being cute and looking pretty.
Despite this, several manufacturers continue to flog smart bulb bulbs which have nearly identical sets of nearly-useless functions as their competitors. I can’t help but wonder if some of their obsession with these over-priced smart bulbs is because they are having problems making “dumb bulbs” which can hit the aggressive price points necessary to win over the average consumer.
Many of the obstacles facing both smart and dumb bulbs can be traced to a crisis of imagination. In the case of smart bulbs, has anybody thought deeply about the useful things which smart lighting could actually be good at doing? So, let’s forget about smart light bulbs, and think instead about what you could do with a dozen-odd tiny embedded systems scattered throughout your home or workplace. Now, imagine that they’re all equipped with basic communication capabilities and an assortment of I/O – one of which happens to be an LED.
Now that we’re “thinking outside the bulb”, what might a network of inexpensive, sensor-equipped MCUs be used for?
I’ve got a few ideas, but some of the more interesting answers to that question may be lurking within the sleek shell of the Prizm Smart Audio player.
In many ways, the pyramid-shaped connected audio device can be thought of as a Smart Bulb which swapped its LEDs for speakers.
OK, I’ll admit that I’m not completely comfortable with a chunk of silicon that continuously spies on me and tells me what music I want to listen to – or, as the promo material calls it, “Enabling Mood-Setting Interactions.” But if you can ignore the creepy aspects for a moment, consider how many functions it takes to make highly-educated guesses about your musical tastes, and what those functions could be used for in a distributed array of LED-equipped sensor nodes (i.e. smart bulbs).
Let’s imagine an LED bulb, equipped with a bare-bones MCU, a simple power line transceiver or mesh radio, and a dollar or two worth of assorted sensors (IR motion detect, MEMS microphone, thermistors, ambient light etc…). If manufacturers could agree on a common API for accessing the bulb’s features, an inexpensive gateway could serve as a bridge between the bulb’s mesh network and the home’s LAN, enabling the lights to be monitored and controlled via any PC, laptop, tablet, or a stand-alone control unit.
In such a system, the bulb’s motion sensing capabilities could serve multiple purposes. Besides turning itself on when it senses someone in the area, the bulb could also alert nearby bulbs of the presence. By sharing their data, the bulbs in the nearby area could work out the direction and speed of the person, and light the way ahead of them.
The same bulbs could also act as a security system’s eyes and ears, passing on whatever their motion detectors and microphones picked up to a stand-alone alarm box or to a gateway to a cloud-based security service. The bulb’s temperature sensors could also do double-duty, sharing their data with the HVAC system and the fire alarm. If equipped with a light sensor, the bulbs could also perform daylight supplementation as a stand-alone function or in concert with other nearby bulbs, under the direction of a controller. Heck, it’s not too hard to imagine the smart bulb network sharing its data with one of the Prizm smart music player we looked at earlier in this story, or other “smart, lifestyle-enhancing” devices.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Semi-Coherent Emissions: Are smart bulbs gateways for cyber-terrorists?
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/led-zone/4436963/Semi-Coherent-Emissions—November-5–2014
Tomi Engdahl says:
Top 5 Wireless Ways to Communicate with your Controller
http://www.open-electronics.org/top-5-wireless-ways-to-communicate-with-your-controller/
One of the strongest trend we have seen this year at CES2015 is, as you can imagine easily, the IoT (Internet of Things) development. Consequently, the most important component needed is the “connection and communication” module that enables the remote interaction between the device and “the community” via internet. Here we will sum up the various possibilities you can use to connect your controller using different wireless protocols.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Thousands Have Already Signed Up for Apple’s ResearchKit
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-11/apple-researchkit-sees-thousands-sign-up-amid-bias-criticism
(Bloomberg) — Stanford University researchers were stunned when they awoke Tuesday to find that 11,000 people had signed up for a cardiovascular study using Apple Inc.’s ResearchKit, less than 24 hours after the iPhone tool was introduced.
“To get 10,000 people enrolled in a medical study normally, it would take a year and 50 medical centers around the country,” said Alan Yeung, medical director of Stanford Cardiovascular Health. “That’s the power of the phone.”
With ResearchKit, Apple has created a pool of hundreds of millions of iPhone owners worldwide, letting doctors find trial participants at unprecedented rates. Already five academic centers have developed apps that use the iPhone’s accelerometers, gyroscopes and GPS sensors to track the progression of chronic conditions like Parkinson’s disease and asthma.
At the same time, other researchers caution that potential flaws in the information gathered through ResearchKit may make the data less useful.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nest seeks audio talent to delight … someone
Home audio about to get Googled, aren’t you thrilled?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/03/12/nest_seeks_audio_talent_to_delight_someone/
Google subsidiary Nest has decided the next thing to be Internet of Thinged is going to be the sound system, and wants to get there first.
Shortly after irritating Dropcam users by telling them to create a Nest account – even if they don’t own any Nest product – Nest has posted advertisements seeking someone to head up Nest Audio.
The boss of the noisy Nest will run a team covering “acoustics, audio electronics, audio SW, audio test and validation” to deliver “delightful user experiences and innovative features”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Disney’s $1 Billion Bet on a Magical Wristband
http://www.wired.com/2015/03/disney-magicband/
If you want to imagine how the world will look in just a few years, once our cell phones become the keepers of both our money and identity, skip Silicon Valley and book a ticket to Orlando. Go to Disney World. Then, reserve a meal at a restaurant called Be Our Guest, using the Disney World app to order your food in advance.
The restaurant lies beyond a gate of huge fiberglass boulders, painstakingly airbrushed to look like crumbling remnants of the past. Crossing a cartoon-like drawbridge
Such pint-sized intimacy is a psychological hack invented by Walt Disney himself to make visitors feel larger than their everyday selves. It works. You feel like you’re stepping across the pages of a storybook.
If you’re wearing your Disney MagicBand and you’ve made a reservation, a host will greet you at the drawbridge and already know your name—Welcome Mr. Tanner! She’ll be followed by another smiling person—Sit anywhere you like! Neither will mention that, by some mysterious power, your food will find you.
“It’s like magic!” a woman says to her family as they sit. “How do they find our table?”
Their MagicBands, tech-studded wristbands available to every visitor to the Magic Kingdom, feature a long-range radio that can transmit more than 40 feet in every direction. The hostess, on her modified iPhone, received a signal when the family was just a few paces away. Tanner family inbound!
And it all worked seamlessly, like magic.
No matter how often we say we’re creeped out by technology, we tend to acclimate quickly if it delivers what we want before we want it. This is particularly true of context-aware technology. Just consider how little anyone seems to mind now that the Google Maps app mines your Gmail. Today, Google Maps is studded with your location searches, events you’ve arranged with friends, and landmarks you’ve chatted about. It’s delightful, and it took hold faster than the goosebumps could. The utility seems so obvious, your consent has simply been assumed.
The same idea is taking hold at Disney World: How did they find our table?
“You will find yourself in the land of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy,”
The MagicBands look like simple, stylish rubber wristbands offered in cheery shades of grey, blue, green, pink, yellow, orange and red. Inside each is an RFID chip and a radio like those in a 2.4-GHz cordless phone. The wristband has enough battery to last two years.
Part of the trick lies in the clever way Disney teaches you to use them—and, by extension, how to use the park.
If you sign up in advance for the so-called “Magical Express,” the MagicBand replaces all of the details and hassles of paper once you touch-down in Orlando.
It’s amazing how much friction Disney has engineered away: There’s no need to rent a car or waste time at the baggage carousel. You don’t need to carry cash, because the MagicBand is linked to your credit card. You don’t need to wait in long lines. You don’t even have to go to the trouble of taking out your wallet when your kid grabs a stuffed Olaf, looks up at you, and promises to be good if you’ll just let them have this one thing, please.
This is just what the experience looks like to you, the visitor. For Disney, the MagicBands, the thousands of sensors they talk with, and the 100 systems linked together to create MyMagicPlus turn the park into a giant computer—streaming real-time data about where guests are, what they’re doing, and what they want. It’s designed to anticipate your desires.
Which makes it exactly the type of thing Apple, Facebook, and Google are trying to build. Except Disney World isn’t just an app or a phone—it’s both, wrapped in an idealized vision of life that’s as safely self-contained as a snow globe. Disney is thus granted permission to explore services that might seem invasive anywhere else. But then, that’s the trick: Every new experience with technology tends to gently nudge our notions of what we’re comfortable with.
Disney shrouds its creative process in secrecy. This is both strategic and cultural: The company doesn’t want its magic tainted by the messy realities behind the curtain. That’s particularly true of the MagicBands.
Though the team behind this sprawling platform eventually swelled to more than 1,000 people, the idea started years ago with a handful of insiders.
The Fab Five drew particular inspiration from the then-nascent wearables market.
They assembled Frankenstein-like mock-ups using spare parts cribbed from hardware catalogs and torn-down gadgets. The team debated whether visitors would unlock the experience with a band, a lanyard, or even a Mickey Mouse hat.
By the summer of 2013, when MagicBands first trickled into public tests, they would change almost every detail of the meticulously plotted choreography that rules Disney World itself.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How the Internet of Things affects the data center
An enormous amount of processing and storage capacity is needed to keep pace with the Internet of Things.
http://www.csemag.com/single-article/how-the-internet-of-things-affects-the-data-center/7a1b6076ed3aedd0bbfd4641db734c25.html
The Internet of Things (IoT): an intriguing yet enigmatic term that affects roughly 2 billion people who live their day-to-day lives in some degree of dependence on the Internet. What is IoT? Simply put, IoT is the trend of connecting physical objects to the digital world. The term has been used increasingly in the last few years but was actually coined in 1999-still in the early stages of the Internet. Today, the information technology industry is in a constant state of change, shaping and being shaped by the needs of business,research, and private citizens (just to name a few). The most visible examples are the devices we use in everyday life, such as mobile phones, computers, smart watches, home security systems, automobile sensors, and the list goes on. These devices are not stand-alone. They connect to-and have bidirectional communications with-servers and storage devices located in some faraway data center.But here’s the clincher: according to Gartner, 25 billion devices will be connected to the IoT installed by 2020. This means a lot of processing and storage capability is needed, and needed in different ways and different times than what is currently practiced.
How is the IoT shaping our current and future lives? The use of social media, cloud storage, and mobile devices is the triumvirate that rules our daily lives. It is common to take a picture, upload it to a cloud storage site, and post it on a social media site. This is just a typical example of how we are connected to the digital world. But people also use their smartphones to pay bills, deposit checks, play music, scan a document, look up a movie review, pay for parking, order dinner, check out a library book, and gather key stats from a workout, to name a few. None of these things are particularly interesting or out of the ordinary.
But the routineness of these activities drives home the point: As a society, we have become so dependent on our digital lives that we are craving for increasingly more of our current analog activities to be replaced by computer-based solutions. Consequently, our reliance on the IoT will continue to grow at a rapid pace
While this has significant implications on servers, storage appliances, and networking gear, it also impacts the data center cooling and power systems, specifically the systems’ scalability, capacity, and provisioning capabilities. To provide the required power and cooling to keep the IoT whirring along,building services must keep pace with the digital world; there is no choice but to comply. In fact,according to a National Research Council report, next-generation computing platforms will have a greater reliance on redundancy and fault tolerance as the rate of performance improvements begins to slow as Moore’s Law comes to an end in the next decade
Based on improvements of IT hardware over the last decade, data center systems must adapt to operating at different workloads while maintaining energy efficiency and reliability. In electronics(including hardware, communication, and software), scalability is the ability of a system, network, or process to handle a growing amount of work in a capable manner or its ability to be enlarged to accommodate that growth. But scalability is a pretty slippery term. Not only can it be applied differently in multiple industries, but its meaning can vary within a particular industry. To confuse matters even more,we can talk about scaling “up” and scaling “out.”
Scaling “out”-in simple terms-means to add more nodes (computers, storage, etc.) to the system. Scaling “up”-also in simple terms-means to build up on a single node within the system, like expanding memory or adding more processors.
Computers specifically designed to work in the IoT ecosystem must accommodate the new and diverse types of processing, networking, and storage requirements. And they might be very different from traditional rack-mounted servers or mainframes. They have a very high node density, which translates into high electrical density (W/sq ft). The high node count requires robust thermal management to deliver the proper temperatures inside the servers
A cartridge can be taken out of service (hot swap)without having to power down any components or disconnect network cables. This capability greatly improves system reliability and serviceability. And because each cartridge is “software defined,” there can be different types of applications running on different servers, significantly boosting computing flexibility.Knowing that 10 chassis will fit in a standard server cabinet, up to 1,800 servers can be installed in one cabinet, yielding total power per cabinet of 80 kW. These types of servers are aimed at the enterprise audience (e.g., hosting, analytics, gaming, and telecom, to name a few) and can significantly reduce the number of traditional 1U, 2U, and blade servers.
There are many factors that drive the size of a data center facility. But when considering the IoT impact on the size of the facility, a few important ideas emerge. The use of high-density, software-defined servers can significantly reduce the amount of floor space
many high-density server systems-including high-performance, software-defined systems-use internal liquid cooling.
Today’s water-cooled computers are akin to cabinet-mounted servers that are hot-swappable without loss of cooling or power to the rest of the servers in the cabinet.
By using water cooling, almost all of the fan energy associated with the air handling units (AHUs) that typically cool the data center is eliminated.
And when water is used as a cooling medium sent directly to the internal components of the computer, the water temperature can be as high as 80 to 100 F. Using water temperatures like these means that in most parts of the world, all cooling can be done using total free cooling or free cooling using only minimally mechanical cooling. This creates a huge possibility to have incredibly powerful data centers that fuel the IoT using only a fraction of the power that is used in a traditional data center.
As a part of a broader facility-as-a-service strategy, power and cooling systems will be operated using a greater degree of software automation, tightly linked to the actual workload on the computers. Using this approach on HPC systems can reduce the energy required to run the massive computational workloads for which these systems are famous. It also can increase node reliability and reduce backbone traffic by distributing those data across different racks. Having this distributed approach in place will theoretically improve energy use because nodes that have duplicated data can go into a low power state or even shutdown entirely based on how the workload is instructed to move through the system.
What’s next?
Based on industry leaders, analysts, and corporate executives responsible for charting the course of multibillion-dollar organizations, the IoT-driven by IT systems and facilities that make it possible-will continue to grow in number, but also in sophistication.
Far beyond today’s wearable fitness devices, microelectromechanical systems, sensors, and low-power radios embedded in a variety of devices will generate a wealth of information on one’s personal activity pattern, providing advice on howto alter behavior to improve health conditions. Although the raw data are gathered locally, the heavy lifting of data aggregation and analysis will occur in a data center somewhere, linked by the Internet. Based on these examples (and dozens of other cutting-edge technologies currently being developed by private industry, universities, and government agencies), the IoT will continue to drive the need for more reliable and efficient IT systems and data centers.
Another technology is being developed: Based on the daily intake of information gleaned from Internet,”augmented cognition” will help us sort through the digital clutter and identify the truly important action items. It is ironic that a solution to de-clutter our digital world comes from the same source that created the mess in the first place. This is the future.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Arduino v Arduino: Part II
http://hackaday.com/2015/03/12/arduino-v-arduino-part-ii/
The Players
In short, there are two companies calling themselves “Arduino” at the moment.
A Tale of Two Internets of Things
Not surprisingly, both groups have differing versions of where to go from here, but both sides are betting on the Internet of Things. Arduino LLC has partnered with Intel on the Galileo and more recently is working with BeagleBoard.org on the forthcoming Arduino TRE. Arduino SRL is sticking with the WiFi router MIPS solution that powers the Yun and keeping it in-house.
And now on arduino.org, there’s a placeholder product photo for the “Arduino Yun Mini” with the date April 30, 2015 attached. The Yun Mini looks exactly like the Linino One
The next step up from the Yun on the arduino.cc site is the Arduino TRE, which is also a Linux-based solution coupled with an ATmega32u4.
So what does all of this mean for the future of Arduino as we know it? There’s certainly been a code fork and there are at least two divergent hardware design approaches to the IoT and strategic visions for the two firms. The trademark issues may not be resolved until 2016, though, so in the mean time there’s going to be significant market confusion.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bosch Sensortec and Akustika: Android , MEMS, microphones and the Sensor Hub
http://www.edn.com/design/analog/4438883/Bosch-Sensortec-and-Akustika–Android—MEMS–microphones-and-the-Sensor-Hub?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_analog_20150312&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_analog_20150312&elq=4e99fa3e825343c880454e6adef2695d&elqCampaignId=22047&elqaid=24752&elqat=1&elqTrackId=841da9eddd3e4965a0ce370bb914801e
With an accumulated MEMS volume production of 5B, I guess I would say that Bosch Sensortec is riding high in the Internet of Things (IoT) space. They have a state-of-the-art portfolio containing sensors highlighted by inertial, geomagnetic, environmental, smart sensors and microphones and Sensor Fusion software is the bond that creates unity and coherence in performance.
Their recent launch of two integrated sensor hubs, BHI160 and BHA250, take the SmartHub to a new level by combining lowest power with an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) of less than 1 mA, great sensor fusion software and an optimized sensor FUSER Core with integrated microcontroller for Android smart phones. These two devices implement the full Android Lollipop sensor stack and are software upgradeable for future releases of software.
By integrating a dedicated sensor hub they have lowered power consumption significantly, which helps especially in always-on sensor applications such as fitness tracking, indoor navigation and gesture recognition. That does not mean that the stand-alone Sensor Hub will fall by the wayside, but it does mean co-existence with a variety of architectures.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Vendors fielding end-to-end IoT support
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/eye-on-iot-/4438851/Vendors-fielding-end-to-end-IoT-support?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_systemsdesign_20150311&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_systemsdesign_20150311&elq=6b81474370884005814916324a847564&elqCampaignId=22035&elqaid=24740&elqat=1&elqTrackId=67bac8c1ca524031968d73bff20b540b
Companies making processor chips have long known that they need to provide substantial design support in order to gain design wins. They have apparently taken that lesson to heart as they maneuver to capture the emerging Internet of Things (IoT) market. They are starting to position themselves as one stop shops for IoT design by offering everything from the processor to cloud and mobile app support in a unified package.
The ultimate vision for the IoT calls for an integrated ecosystem in which product developers can add new devices to existing IoT services and application developers can leverage the data from deployed devices to create new services. But that vision is still some years from realization, and for now IoT developers must provide a fairly complete package from device to cloud services and (in many cases) to mobile device apps.
Processor vendors seeking to capture design wins in the IoT space quickly realized that they would need to help development teams bolster their device designs with cloud services and began forming relationships with cloud service providers that were developers could choose from. The cloud ecosystem that TI launched last April, for instance, brought together a range of providers that had demonstrated their ability to work with one or more TI MCU devices.
At the recent Embedded World conference in Nuremberg, Germany, vendors signaled that they are taking the next step by announcing complete end-to-end packages for developers, all hosted through the chip vendor as a one-stop-shop for IoT development. The goal is, in the absence of industry-wide standards for IoT connectivity, to provide developers with complete systems of pre-tested IoT elements that work together without the need for developers to deal with system integration issues.
ConnectOne, for instance, released its iChipNet platform for its WiFi and Ethernet modules as well as its Internet controller chips. The platform combines the chips and modules with a cloud service, smartphone app library, and optional gateway for zero-configuration connectivity to the LAN.
ARM also announced a program, the mbed IoT Starter Kit, targeting Cortex M-class devices and providing out-of-the-box cloud connectivity and services. The kits link a preconfigured mbed board to the cloud using IBM’s IoT Foundation cloud services, and uses an HTML interface for mobile devices to interact with the IoT device.
Wind River unveiled its Helix IoT-enabled product portfolio at Embedded World, adding cloud application and data services to its operating system offerings and creating a consulting service to help customers flesh out their IoT systems with cloud applications and device management.
Adlink, for instance, highlighted its cExpress-BL computer on module at Embedded World. The module has as built-in software on board Adlink’s Smart Embedded Management Agent (SEMA) technology, which helps stream data from the module to a cloud service the company provides.
The MCUs, modules, and software offerings for embedded systems developers will not all result in an IoT design, but because all IoT devices are embedded systems it makes good business sense for vendors to make supporting IoT a priority if they want to maximize their market potential.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Opinions vary widely on IoT security concern
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/systems-interface/4413081/Opinions-vary-widely-on-IoT-security-concern
Will the IoT (Internet of Things) become a hacker’s paradise? Or is concern over security for the embedded systems that define the IoT overblown?
Opinions about IoT security are as varied as the systems that will make the IoT, according to a study released last week at DESIGN West by UBM Tech (EDN’s parent company) and VDC Research, an M2M market intelligence firm. Study participants represented a broad base of industry segments from industrial automation to general-purpose systems. A full 50% indicated they’re currently using IoT/M2M in current projects – and 69% said they expect to be using IoT/M2M in three years.
From a system design point of view, one of the most interesting results of the study was the participants’ take on their perception concerning the vulnerability of IoT devices to security attacks (Figure 1). The respondents seemed to fall into three groups – not worried, somewhat worried, and really worried.
I have to assume that those who aren’t worried either figure IoT devices a) aren’t penetrable or b) lie below the threshold of interest of bad actors. It’s safe to say that any system can be penetrated – either direct or indirect attacks within the boundaries of the system itself or at its edges, and it’s hard to imagine that a system of billions of embedded systems – as predictions put the size of the IoT – will fall beneath the notice of attackers.
I’m having a hard time with the “somewhat worried” category: If there’s a basic acknowledgement of a security problem, we all should be very worried. Even under the assumption that the IoT will comprise billions of smart sensors with hardwired operation that can’t be modified remotely, there are too many opportunities for corrupting the data stream – make that deluge – of information flowing through the IoT. As soon as someone introduces corrupt data into the IoT (by hacking an “impenetrable” IoT device to steal “protected” crypto keys, say), the concept of the IoT is at risk.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smart grid is industrial IoT for electrical companies:
Data-acquisition: The key to a smart electrical grid
http://www.edn.com/design/test-and-measurement/4438730/Data-acquisition–The-key-to-a-smart-electrical-grid?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_weekly_20150312&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_weekly_20150312&elq=5b5eb02440004ebab250246a634c6844&elqCampaignId=22050&elqaid=24755&elqat=1&elqTrackId=63c142e8eb98462ca497a29aa9b75101
Today’s vision of a smart grid consists of an efficient, reliable, self-healing electricity distribution grid. To be successful, this grid must accommodate distributed resources while still generating energy needed by equipment such as massive fleets of electric vehicles. Because so much depends on this grid, it must function efficiently at all times. The typical, even normal, system faults and failures found with many complex systems simply can’t be tolerated. Thus, the smart grid must automatically detect system faults and quickly isolate them for fast repair. Data-acquisition systems play an important role in keeping the electricity flowing.
Utilities worldwide are deploying smart grid devices that provide accurate, time-aligned information about loads which change constantly. To accurately collect electric-power data, voltage and current measurements must be simultaneously gathered for all power lines because utilities must understand the timing among phases and ensure maximum efficiency and uptime. The most demanding application is measurement of 3-phase power, which requires multiple, time-aligned analog inputs for voltage and current measurements.
One solution is to use seven individual ADCs, one for each voltage meter or current meter; the central control unit would interface with all the ADCs in parallel.
Instead, you can use a multichannel simultaneous-sampling ADC.
To accurately calculate instantaneous power consumption, a 3-phase power monitoring system must simultaneously sample all of the analog inputs. Also, the ADC system needs sufficient resolution, low distortion, and a fast sampling rate.
Some of the important dynamic specifications are:
SNR (Signal-to-noise ratio)
THD (Total harmonic distortion
SINAD (Signal-to-noise and distortion ratio)
SFDR (Spurious-free dynamic range)
An example of a system that meets all of these critical requirements is Maxim Integrated’s Petaluma (MAXREFDES30#) reference design.
Today’s smart grid is an intelligent system that can monitor the distribution network, deliver power efficiently, and accommodate distributed alternative resources. Data acquisition plays a key role in providing the information needed. The smart grid must accurately monitor the power on a 3-phase power distribution network, all phases simultaneously and in real time.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sigfox, Sequans: Tale of Two French IoT Firms
Diversified Networks Hold Key to IoT
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1325997&
IoT and 5G stood out as the undisputed highlights of the World Mobile Congress last week.
On one hand, cellular network operators and technology suppliers (i.e. Qualcomm) eagerly talked about what they think should be required for yet-to-be defined 5G standards.
On the other, Internet of Things (IoT) promoters — such as IBM, Cisco — busily pitched their network visions — potentially enabling 30-mile IoT up to 10 years on two AA batteries — by leveraging Long Range Radio (LoRa) RF platform originally developed by Semtech.
Not to be outdone, two French companies — Sigfox and Sequans Communications — laid out at the show their diverging ideas for IoT networks.
Sigfox (Toulouse, France) is pushing a narrowband network (on 868Mhz in Europe; 902MHz band in the United States) that the company says complements current cellular networks. In contrast, Sequans (Paris), a chip vendor, is sticking to its plan to enable evolving cellular network standards such as LTE Category 1, Category 0 and eventually LTE-M for the IoT market.
While 5G and IoT are two separate topics, there is an underlying thread in both: Diversification.
Diversified networks, network topologies and network infrastructures are necessary to enable both. Carriers realize that there will be no one-size-fits-all network for either 5G or IoT.
After all, the carriers are no longer expected to just cater to mobile phones’ insatiable appetite for faster speed and more volume in voice and data traffic.
A majority of M2M applications today depend on GPRS links. But as operators transition from 2G to LTE networks, LTE will adapt to the needs of M2M, initially through LTE Cat-1, then, Cat-0 and LTE-MTC, according to Karam. Take the example of Verizon in the United States. “They want to turn off their CDMA so that they can use it on 4G,” he said. Verizon has to move its current and future M2M/IoT traffic to somewhere, and that will be LTE, he added.
Called Calliope, Sequans’ LTE Category 1 (CAT1) chip is sampling now. The module, whose maximum downlink speed is at 10Mbps, will be priced at “mid-teens (US $),”
Promoters of “alternative” IoT networks warn that IoT-friendly versions of LTE standards like CAT0 or LTE-MTC won’t become available until 2016 or later. The CAT0 standard and LTE-MTC are waiting for 3GPP’s Release 12 and Release 13. That’s why the LoRa Alliance and Sigfox are seeing openings to push their proprietary networks in the IoT market.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Industry is undergoing a revolution
The factory halls is ongoing revolution, called the Industry 4.0. It requires more efficient and better performing and more severe packaged automation. Control logic is bound to collapse.
Production is running the correct revolution, which is often referred to as the Industry 4.0.
For manufacturers, this means a huge opportunity. Environment and process variations in the number of sensors is growing all the time. This will accelerate the transition to a distributed control architecture, the mill management to try to get rid of bottlenecks and to shorten the control loops by moving the control logic (PLC, programmable logic controllers) closer to the controlled processes. In the end, improved operational efficiency and productivity, leading to the mill operations in the largest reform since the discovery of the logic control.
For PLC developers to set this big challenge: In order to succeed in this market for system designers to keep to pack more I / O connections, and more features ever smaller dealers in boxes. . Many analog and discrete components, which have worked very well in the previous design, are simply too large to micro-PLC and embedded controllers. 4.0 Industry’s promise can only be realized by increasing the integration of the entire PLC system, all the components.
According to a recent market survey, most designers still believe that digital technology will bring the most opportunities for space savings. And yet, the digital circuits occupy only 15-20 per cent of the PLC module circuit board. The real problem is analog and discrete space occupied by the circuit board. These components consume up to 85 per cent use the cards in the PLC modules. Solving this problem requires a new approach to analog design.
Control logic have been in the industry change unifying factor always Modicon 084′s after the presentation in 1969. Thanks to the digital revolution, they have become more efficient at an accelerating pace over the years. Now they are able to handle more income, longer words and more complex instruction sets.
Today, innovations in analog and sensor technologies to facilitate manufacturers to take full advantage of the massive use of computing resources, as well as the factory lines and in the cloud. Industry 4.0 shows what is possible when you combine this intelligence everywhere to stick his perception, shared governance and sustainable, seamless connectivity.
I / O’s are an essential link in the control logic and a plethora of sensors and actuators between that industry requires 4.0. When manufacturers add sensors around the factory, the machine designers need to increase the channel density, even if the PLC under the guidance of the available space is shrinking all the time.
I / O isolation architecture offers the opportunity to save significant space in use. Traditionally, it is used as optocouplers per channel, wherein each opto-isolator is connected to the output of the microcontroller on a digital input. Today, the multi-channel circuits, such as MAX31911 can reverse, correct, and serialized 24-Volt digital sensor and switch the outputs of micro-controllers required by the 5-volt CMOS compatible levels. This approach may be needed to shrink the number of channels isolated to just three.
The higher I / O density and smaller housing sizes increase their design challenges in the second fundamental way, as a result of the inevitable heat output. The system must be more energy efficient than ever before, so that the control logic does not overheat. This is especially true for applications where cooling fans and air vents are not allowed.
In today’s signal processing, processing and communication circuits require very different power inputs, which often vary only a few volts or even within volts. This compounding the already complex electrical environment. With the addition of increasingly sophisticated energy-saving methods for a variety of power control means, sub-PSU-system price and complexity will increase.
Protect your new security threats
When the plant networks were closed systems, IT security generally related to roistomaisiin employees and internal data theft. These “good old days” are behind us, and they will not return. Today was connected to the control logic needs to be protected from a number of threats, including hackers, malware, and viruses.
The system-level software will bring a basic level of protection, but in many cases it is not enough. Hardware-level security is needed for protection against them
Industry 4.0 is fundamentally changing the rules of the game, according to which the market PLC overcome. Smaller cases, a higher I / O density and advanced features – success requires new strategies in order to manage the competing demands to cram more and more functionality into a smaller space.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2550:teollisuudessa-on-kaynnissa-vallankumous&catid=26&Itemid=140
Tomi Engdahl says:
Connecting to Intel® Edison from Android* with Bluetooth* LE (BLE)
https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/connecting-to-intel-edison-from-android-with-bluetooth-le-ble/?utm_source=Outbrain&utm_medium=Syndication&utm_content=outbrain&utm_campaign=AllZones_ASMO_March2015_TopTrendingContentBlog
Bluetooth* LE (BLE) communication use is exploding both in commercial products and hobby applications, mainly due to its low-cost and low-power requirements. This makes it an excellent choice when you want to communicate from your Android* phone or tablet to your Intel® Edison or Intel® Galileo projects.
The goal of this document is to show you how to write code and connect the hardware to establish BLE communication between an Intel Edison and a Bluetooth 4.0-equipped Android device, using free software tools and low-cost, off-the-shelf hardware.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Arduino 101 with an Intel Edison – Hooking up JSON to an LCD Screen
http://www.hanselman.com/blog/Arduino101WithAnIntelEdisonHookingUpJSONToAnLCDScreen.aspx
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cactus Micro arduino compatible plus WIFI esp8266
https://www.tindie.com/products/AprilBrother/cactus-micro-arduino-compatible-plus-wifi-esp8266/
Cactus Micro tiny size duino board plus WIFI chip esp8266
What is it?
Cactus Micro is our integrated developement board, we have mixed Arduino with WI-FI into a single board. It is targeted for makers to develop low power Internet-Of-Things (IoT) projects quickly and easily.
What makes it special?
Cactus Micro is tiny size Arduino compatible dev board. It’s built-in a esp8266 module (esp-11).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Build Arduino-based IoT apps with Temboo Conditions features
http://blog.arduino.cc/2015/03/12/build-arduino-based-iot-temboo/
Last week Temboo just added new Conditions features to its IoT Mode interface, making it even easier to connect your Arduino to the Internet of Things! Now, the functionality of Temboo’s Device Coder has been extended to all 2000+ Choreos in the Temboo Library, meaning that data collected from sensors attached to an Arduino Yún can be used to trigger any cloud process, and responses from the cloud can be used to trigger all sorts of hardware actions on your board.
Using IoT Mode on the Temboo website, you can automatically generate ready-to-run Arduino code to execute Choreos from your board without having to write a single line of code yourself—just specify which board and shield you’re using and what Choreo you’d like to run, and all the necessary code will be generated immediately in your browser. And you can also now visually specify what sort of hardware inputs and outputs you would like to use: the code to connect them to your Choreo will be generated as well.
The visual interface includes a pin selector tool that lets you choose which pins you want to activate and how you want them to interact with the Choreo you are running. The pin selector identifies the pins on your board that are available, and also indicates whether those pins are configured to work with digital or analog I/O.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Switchmate – smart lighting made simple
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/switchmate-smart-lighting-made-simple
Switchmate is a sleek solution that snaps over your standard light switch to automate it in seconds. Just snap Switchmate over your existing light switch, pair it with your smartphone, and you’re ready to control anything connected to your switch!
Tomi Engdahl says:
OpenPi: wireless computer for inventors, makers and coders
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wirelessthings/openpi-wireless-computer-for-inventors-makers-and
Open source design lowers cost by 2/3rds of building Raspberry Pi Compute 1&2 powered cool stuff.
OpenPi is an open source project, and a neat alternative to the Rasberry Pi Compute development kit. The holistic approach for non-embedded engineers, guides people who love to write software, through the problematic stages of getting small scale products to market. On offer are reference PCB’s, a customisable ABS case, open-source design files and collaborative design support. When it’s as easy to get up and running as a games console, and affordable enough for cottage industry inventors to profit from, OpenPi is forging a new way of bringing cool ideas to the masses.
Inside the injection moulded enclosure a is tiny 32 bit ARM based computer running Linux, 512Mb Ram, 4Gb eMMCstorage and lots of wireless connectivity. The design has 2 internal USB sockets, one spare, one used for WiFi and integrated: Infra RED receiver, Bluetooth LE module and an SRF sub Ghz transceiver for communicating with long range low power nodes, such as the XRF or Arduino compatible RFu.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Top 5 Wireless Ways to Communicate with your Controller
http://www.open-electronics.org/top-5-wireless-ways-to-communicate-with-your-controller/
Tomi Engdahl says:
News & Analysis
Taking on Industrial IoT with Real-Time DDS
400kB module for MCU-based resource-constrained IoT devices
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1325989&
In a move to expand beyond the real-time Data Distribution Services (DDS) middleware it has been providing to military/aerospace and other high-reliability markets, PrismTech has put in place the final building block in its Vortex intelligent data-sharing platform for real-time Internet of Things applications.
That final building block is Vortex Lite, a 400 kilobyte-sized software module that can reside on microcontroller-based systems used in low-latency and resource-constrained Internet of Things (IoT) devices, such as networked sensors, single board computers, embedded gateways and network edge nodes. Vortex Lite is an ultra-light weight implementation of the Object Management Group’s (OMG) DDS standard that the company claims delivers deterministic data with an end-to-end latency as low as 30 microseconds over Gigabit Ethernet.
“Over a range of different platforms and operating systems and across a range of packet sizes, we believe that Vortex Lite has the lowest latency of any DDS implementation available on the market,”
This implementation also supports the OMG’s Data-Centric Publish-Subscribe (DCPS) minimum profile and the company is already planning for add-ons content-subscription and persistency.
While the performance of the Vortex Lite would certainly make it a candidate for many deterministic industrial IoT implementations, that alone would not be enough to set it apart from other offerings
Vortex Lite has been designed as one of several components that together will allow enterprises to move quickly into the IoT space:
Vortex Cloud, which extends the capabilities of Vortex Lite with support for data sharing over a Wide Area Network (WAN),
OpenSplice, a DDS implementation targeted for server-class (desktops, racks etc.) platforms and more specialized real-time embedded environments and operating systems,
Vortex Café, a “pure” Java DDS implementation specifically optimized for mobile phones and devices, as well as for cloud data sharing,
Vortex Web, a JavaScript DDS API to use with HTML5/Web-browser apps to send and receive data using the framework’s DDS data backbone,
Vortex Insight, a set of location independent monitoring and management tools to help configure, tune and test DDS-based IoT systems, and,
Vortex Gateway, an extensible and configurable protocol gateway framework with support for connectors to over 100 different protocols.
In a message-centric system, the focus is on delivery of the message itself regardless of the data payload it contains, and the infrastructure’s role is to ensure that messages get to their intended recipients. “In a data-centric system the focus is on user-defined data,” he said. “The unit of exchange in this type of system is a data value. The data model middleware understands the context of the data and ensures that all interested subscribers have a correct and consistent view of the data.”
The framework also offers another bonus for enterprises looking for a low-risk way to get into the IoT business: real-time DDS was introduced initially in 2003 by the Object Management Group, a consortium that has as its charter the development of enterprise integration standards for a wide range of Web and Internet-based technologies.
The APIs specified by the DDS standard, said Jennis, have been implemented in a range of different programming languages including Ada, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, CoffeeScript, Scala, Lua, and Ruby. “Using standardized APIs also means that DDS applications can be ported easily between different vendor’s implementations,” he said, “especially important for enterprises, which must support diverse software packages, many of which might still find application in this new connected environment.”
Vortex the Intelligent Data Sharing Platform for the Internet of Things
http://www.prismtech.com/
Tomi Engdahl says:
AI and IoT merger could signal the end of civilisation, says John Lewis IT head
Expresses concerns over handling of data with IoT in retail
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2399659/ai-and-iot-merger-could-signal-the-end-of-civilisation-says-john-lewis-it-head
THE BLENDING OF artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) in the future could signal the end of civilisation as we know it, John Lewis’ IT chief has warned.
Paul Coby, speaking at the IoT Summit in London, cited Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates and Elon Musk, all of whom have warned of the dangers associated with developing computers that can think for themselves.
“When [Hawking, Gates and Musk] all agree on something, it’s worth paying attention,” he said.
“If you think about putting the IoT and connectivity in almost everything with AI is it going to be like Einstein and the splitting of the atom?” he asked.
Coby also noted that John Lewis is concerned about the ambiguity of data attached with the rise of the IoT in retail, for instance the rise of wearables and connected home appliances.
He highlighted two aspects. The first is spotting the right data in a data-saturated society, for example coping with all that information and still being able to pick out the data that matters, and acting on it in a way that saves or helps customers.
The second aspect is dealing with customers’ concerns about giving away their home data to this “thing” that many do not understand, as well as not knowing who owns it.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Huawei and SAP join forces to kickstart IoT-based ‘industrial revolution’
Firms team up to provide joint cloud, big data and IoT solutions
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2399886/huawei-and-sap-join-forces-to-kickstart-iot-based-industrial-revolution
HANOVER: HUAWEI AND SAP have signed a “Document of Understanding” committing to a number of co-ventures surrounding Internet of Things (IoT) and ‘Industrie 4.0′.
The deal was signed in a glitzy ceremony at CeBit in Hanover, Germany. The theme of this year’s conference is China, and so the union of the German software giant and Chinese hardware vendor was a fitting climax to day one of the show.
In an earlier keynote speech at the conference, Yan Lida, president of the Enterprise Business Group at Huawei, laid out the four tiers of Industrie 4.0, which he described as a “new industrial revolution” based on IoT sensors at the ground level, up to data centre cloud infrastructure at the top, with intercompatibility and open standards at the heart.
The Industrie 4.0 initiative, which originated as a German government proposal, acts as an “alliance of alliances” including household names like Bluetooth and DLNA through to Linux and Hadoop.
The firms are not working to create a common standard per se, but rather a hollistic approach to solving problems such as smart factories and production lines based on decentralised, software-defined controls and the Internet of Services. It is one of several initiatives in this area, with similar alliances in America exploring the same issues.
In a flurry of fountain pens, handshakes, champagne and overenthusiastic commentary from the hostess, Huawei and SAP committed to building a pair of “Co-Innovation Labs” in their respective countries to further the cause of Industrie 4.0, HANA appliances, Cloud Infrastructure and IoT, following on from the companies’ announcement of Fusioncube 2.0, Huawei’s first SAP HANA appliance, at last year’s CeBit.
The key pillars of Industrie 4.0 are interoperability of products, virtualisation of the factory from IoT sensors, decentralisation of decision making processes by different areas of the smart factory, real-time analysis capabilities, service orientation via the internet of services, and modularity allowing outscaling and futureproofing.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fujitsu: Smart data required to tackle potential IoT revolution ‘danger’
Firm says masses of data collected by connected devices could present a big danger
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2399958/fujitsu-smart-data-required-to-tackle-potential-iot-revolution-danger
HANOVER: FUJITSU has detailed its plans for end-to-end solutions at CeBit this year, showing off everything from a semi-indestructible tablet for business through to software-defined solutions to tackle the growing mountain of big data.
One of the popular buzz-topics at the moment is how to manage the masses of data that is being produced by our increasingly digital age. But for Hartmann, the solution lies less in scale-out storage, and more in software-defined solutions.
“There are two things happening,” he explains. “I think there is a big danger of collecting all the possible data because the question does arise of what the hell we’re going to do with it all.
“What you’ll find a lot more conversation about right now is about a hub that has a bit of intelligence so that only relevant data is routed into the big data centre, where the other stuff may just stay at hub level – basic decisions like heat on/heat off, power on/power off, can be done without cluttering up the cloud.
“Big data may be the buzzword right now – but maybe it should be ‘Smart Data’.”
Hartmann talks passionately about Smart Data as a concept, and as part of a holistic approach to the Internet of Things (IoT) revolution.
“Smart Data is something we are investing in heavily. For us, when we talk about the IoT, it’s about all the different layers, so we are looking into the sensor business.
One of the hot technologies at CeBit this year has been connected cars, which is another area Fujitsu is eyeing.
“We are working with some of the automotive companies, using a product called Carserver that crunches all this data being produced and decides which bits should be forwarded and which should not,” says Hartmann.
“That’s another layer, but we are also looking at the infrastructure and cloud business, on topics such as 5G, and an even bigger part again is to get this stuff wrapped together into a solution because once you’ve got all this data together, you’ve got to actually know what to do with it.”
“At the same time, what is clearly happening is that we are expanding our data centres, but we’re finding it’s not so much just because of the amount of data being created, but because we’re finding more and more that our customers are wanting to store their cloud data with a Level 3 encryption layer – that stuff we used to call ‘hosting’ but is now called ‘cloud’.
“IoT in data centres is growing, but not as fast as encryption layering.”
“The bandwidth you can get into a network right now is far more than you can use, even when you add in the storage, you’ve got the three elements of the network, all individually configurable and repeatable thousands of times of different virtual servers.”
“I think we’re right in the middle of a revolution,” says Hartmann. “We’re currently in the transition of everything that can be digitalised being digitalised and watching the old, slow traditional businesses become digital business.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Industrial PLC market actually collapsed in 2012, when economic uncertainty coagulated investments in production facilities. Now the market has returned to a growth path. The logic of the modules, however, need to develop smaller and more efficient investment in order to justify itself.
Frost & Sullivan research institute predicts that in 2018 PLC is sold for 14.6 billion dollars. This covers the services, software and hardware solutions that, in particular the so-called. micro size range of modules is increasing.
Frost & Sullivan to bring security one of the key features of the new logic control system. Mills networks are no longer separate from the Internet, so they must be protected with the same seriousness and care as other business networks.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2552:ohjauslogiikoiden-on-pakko-kutistua&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Constrained Application Protocol
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constrained_Application_Protocol
Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) is a software protocol intended to be used in very simple electronics devices that allows them to communicate interactively over the Internet. It is particularly targeted for small low power sensors, switches, valves and similar components that need to be controlled or supervised remotely, through standard Internet networks. CoAP is an application layer protocol that is intended for use in resource-constrained internet devices, such as WSN nodes. CoAP is designed to easily translate to HTTP for simplified integration with the web, while also meeting specialized requirements such as multicast support, very low overhead, and simplicity.[1][2] Multicast, low overhead, and simplicity are extremely important for Internet of Things (IoT) and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) devices, which tend to be deeply embedded and have much less memory and power supply than traditional internet devices have. Therefore, efficiency is very important. CoAP can run on most devices that support UDP or a UDP analogue.
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Constrained RESTful environments (CoRE) Working Group has done the major standardization work for this protocol. In order to make the protocol suitable to IoT and M2M applications, various new functionalities have been added
CoAP makes use of two message types, requests and responses, using a simple binary base header format.
Any bytes after the headers in the packet are considered the message body if any.
CoAP is by default bound to UDP and optionally to DTLS, providing a high level of communications security.
Datagram Transport Layer Security
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datagram_Transport_Layer_Security
Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) protocol provides communications privacy for datagram protocols. DTLS allows datagram-based applications to communicate in a way that is designed to prevent eavesdropping, tampering, or message forgery. The DTLS protocol is based on the stream-oriented Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol and is intended to provide similar security guarantees.
Tomi Engdahl says:
CoAP
RFC 7252 Constrained Application Protocol
http://coap.technology/
“The Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) is a specialized web transfer protocol for use with constrained nodes and constrained networks in the Internet of Things.
The protocol is designed for machine-to-machine (M2M) applications such as smart energy and building automation.”
REST model for small devices
Like HTTP, CoAP is based on the wildly successful REST model: Servers make resources available under a URL, and clients access these resources using methods such as GET, PUT, POST, and DELETE.
Existing skills transfer
From a developer point of view, CoAP feels very much like HTTP. Obtaining a value from a sensor is not much different from obtaining a value from a Web API.
Ready for integration
Since HTTP and CoAP share the REST model, they can easily be connected using application-agnostic cross-protocol proxies. A Web client may not even notice that it just accessed a sensor resource!
Choose your data model
Like HTTP, CoAP can carry different types of payloads, and can identify which payload type is being used. CoAP integrates with XML, JSON, CBOR, or any data format of your choice.
Made for billions of nodes
The Internet of Things will need billions of nodes, many of which will need to be inexpensive. CoAP has been designed to work on microcontrollers with as low as 10 KiB of RAM and 100 KiB of code space (RFC 7228).
Secure
The Internet of Things cannot spread as long as it can be exploited by hackers nilly-willy. CoAP does not just pay lip service to security, it actually provides strong security. CoAP’s default choice of DTLS parameters is equivalent to 3072-bit RSA keys, yet still runs fine on the smallest nodes.
ARM CoAP Tutorial
http://www.slideshare.net/zdshelby/coap-tutorial
Tomi Engdahl says:
Comparing CoAP vs MQTT
http://www.slideshare.net/kellogh/comparing-33417977
Overview of the architectures of MQTT vs CoAP, plus ways to make MQTT act like CoAP and vice versa. Also contains fun graphics to liven the mood
Tomi Engdahl says:
Breakthrough needed for longer battery life
In a speech entitled “’Smart Me’ for Smart Life, Smart Lifestyle,” Dai touched on the growing trend of always-on, context-aware smartphones and wearable devices. “The information between me and my smartphone is now going bidirectional,” said the Marvell president. “My smartphone, which used to pick up only spotty data, is now capable of collecting all the data about me — where I am and what I am doing – through always-on sensors.”
But for such fully bidirectional wearable devices to proliferate, “We need a breakthrough. On the dilemma of battery life, “we are still up against the wall,” Dai said. Citing the recently launched Apple Watch, Dai observed, “Apple did a good job on the smartwatch. But only 18 hours of battery life? That’s a real bottleneck.”
“Smartwatches should last at least “weeks,” she added.
Further, today’s smartwatch is generally designed as a sidekick for a smartphone.
Source: http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326063&
Tomi Engdahl says:
IoT Won’t Need a Unified Platform
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1326050&
The Internet of Things does not need a unified platform, despite fears of a standards war, fragmentation and food fights to get a piece of the IoT.
One of the biggest proponents of the IoT was Samsung, whose chief executive B.K. Yoon announced a $100 million investment to create an open development platform to ensure the imminent flood of internet enabled devices can communicate with each other.
From the successful examples of connected systems I’ve seen already in action around the world, I question whether his vision of a single platform to manage all devices is really necessary.
Yes, there’s been a lot of debate about the IoT standards race and whether we will have another VHS vs Beta situation on our hands. However, there are plenty of applicable and relevant standards already available that are being leveraged to meet specific IoT needs.
For example the EMV standard for contactless payments are accessible to all and can be applied in card format or via mobile platforms, such as Apple Pay, and can even be used to buy tickets on public transport or for access to events and stadiums. Beacon technology also has wide ranging use in retail, and also in city infrastructure like parking and waste management.
This is where I see the greatest benefits and efficiencies from IoT — in smart transport, city infrastructure, and services. Think about an Internet connected car that can direct you towards an empty car space, or public transit networks that provide services based on real-time demand.
Many of these systems are already in operation today with standards interoperability yet to become an issue. We’re even starting to see IoT technology develop in workplaces and cities.
I could list dozens of examples of IoT systems like these around the world that have resulted in pockets of connected communities operating successfully, devoid of standards issues, but in isolation. The challenge is how we connect these independent systems to create smarter cities.
Despite Samsung’s vision, I think our cities are getting smarter organically and don’t require a top down, government or big business orchestrated approach that determines standards, protocols and the rules of connectivity.
The big players are jockeying for ownership of the IoT space, but I believe there is really no need for a universal platform. Integration between systems will occur as necessary, and, as long as developers continue to use open Web interfaces, the growing power of cloud computing services will facilitate easy integration.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Today, we also shared how Windows 10 will support today’s maker boards, enabling makers to do amazing things with Windows in the fast-growing Internet of Things space.
For the first time, a new version of Windows for small footprint IoT devices will be available – for free – when Windows 10 launches. Windows 10 will offer versions of Windows for a diverse set of IoT devices, ranging from powerful devices like ATMs and ultrasound machines, to resource constrained devices like gateways. Through key partnerships with the Raspberry Pi Foundation, Intel, Qualcomm and others, we will provide great options for commercial devices builders, hobbyists and students.
Source: http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2015/03/17/windows-10-launching-this-summer-in-190-countries-and-111-languages/
Tomi Engdahl says:
The PubNub Data Stream Network
Build and Scale Realtime Apps for Connected Devices.
http://www.pubnub.com/
Send and Listen to events within your app using our simple publish and subscribe API calls. Build your entire realtime app in minutes!
Tomi Engdahl says:
Yepzon Donates a Positioning Device to President Putin
http://yepzon.com/yepzon-donates-a-positioning-device-to-president-putin/
Recently, the Russian President Vladimir Putin was missing from the public eye for a short period of time, which caused concern and raised some eyebrows. Now, positioning service pioneer Yepzon has decided to donate President Putin his own Yepzon One positioning device.
Yepzon One is an excellent positioning tool–even for a busy head of state. In addition to Mr. Putin, a similar device will be sent to the US President, Barack Obama.
“If the president doesn’t have time to pick up the phone, his staff will be able to locate the boss nice and easy. This is how Yepzon can help prevent international commotion,” says Mr. Otto Linna, CEO of Yepzon Enterprises.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Build 802.11ah waveforms with a signal generator
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4438939/Build-802-11ah-waveforms-with-a-signal-generator?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150318&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150318&elq=82c4f92d26024e7ba45a62bc9a2f4cb1&elqCampaignId=22122&elqaid=24850&elqat=1&elqTrackId=9bf0d93343014c33a49f690968551d1e
Signal Studio from Keysight provides flexible, standard-based waveforms that let you test 802.11ah-enabled IoT (Internet-of-Things) devices. Signal Studio now supports all major versions of the 802.11 standard, including 802.11a/b/g/j/p and 802.11n/ac.
IEEE 802.11ah is an emerging standard that defines a WLAN system operating in sub 1-GHz, license-exempt bands. Keysight views 802.11ah as a key enabler of IoT devices, relying on power efficient, long range, and scalable Wi-Fi services. Compared to existing 802.11 standards operating in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, 802.11ah offers a significantly improved transmission range. This makes it ideal for use in large-scale sensor networks, extended range hotspots, power efficient devices, and outdoor Wi-Fi for cellular traffic offloading.
After creating 802.11ah-compliant reference signals, you can download them to a variety of Keysight instruments.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft announces Windows 10 and Azure for humanity’s implacable IoT foes
If you use a keyboard, forget it
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/03/16/windows_10_for_internet_of_things/
Microsoft has announced Windows 10 for the Internet of Things and an Azure IoT suite.
The software giant said on Monday that Windows 10 would be delivered for a “diverse set of IoT devices” under the new moniker.
Microsoft announced the Windows branch at the Convergence 2015 conference in Atlanta, Georgia.
According to Microsoft, Windows 10 for Internet of Things means one version of Windows that covers universal applications, along with different drivers.
It’s believed Windows 10 for IoT uses OneCore, the shared architecture Microsoft is working on for different versions of Windows.
OneCore includes common DLLs and application platform layer with different APIs and features used according to device by Universal Apps.
Windows 10 for IoT will span a “wide range” of devices, from low-footprint controllers such as gateways to more powerful devices like ATMs and robots.
In other words, this is the Windows 10 edition of Windows Embedded. For example, ATMs largely run Windows XP Embedded – banks have dodged successive editions of Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8. This time, however, Microsoft is marrying up the operating system to the cloud, along with analytics.
Microsoft also used Convergence to announce its Azure IoT Suite, which will provide apps for “common” IoT scenarios, such as remote monitoring, asset management and predictive maintenance.
Part of this will be Azure Stream Analytics, which will also be available as a stand-alone service. Azure IoT Suite is in preview now and due “later this year”.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Vendors fielding end-to-end IoT support
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/eye-on-iot-/4438851/Vendors-fielding-end-to-end-IoT-support?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_systemsdesign_20150318&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_systemsdesign_20150318&elq=e98b167a64944ea58dd219e59e5cb716&elqCampaignId=22127&elqaid=24855&elqat=1&elqTrackId=69abb49bb8e24ca894b97fec2e697d98
Companies making processor chips have long known that they need to provide substantial design support in order to gain design wins. They have apparently taken that lesson to heart as they maneuver to capture the emerging Internet of Things (IoT) market. They are starting to position themselves as one stop shops for IoT design by offering everything from the processor to cloud and mobile app support in a unified package.
The ultimate vision for the IoT calls for an integrated ecosystem in which product developers can add new devices to existing IoT services and application developers can leverage the data from deployed devices to create new services. But that vision is still some years from realization, and for now IoT developers must provide a fairly complete package from device to cloud services and (in many cases) to mobile device apps.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Everything’s Connected – Now All You Need is a Platform: Internet of Things
https://ssl.www8.hp.com/hpmatter/issue-no-4-spring-2015/everythings-connected-now-all-you-need-platform-internet-things
The Internet of Things has exploded which means tremendous implications for apps, the cloud and the telecommunication service providers who keep it all connected.
Every device and application you can think of can be connected through the Internet of Things, and when combined with the cloud, this creates mind-boggling possibilities.
HP’s new Internet of Things architecture for Communications Service Providers is designed to deliver a standardized end-to-end platform that will help create new services and drive value from the data they manage.
Tomi Engdahl says:
2.IoT: The Traffic Explosion
The next major trend that will impact Telecommunications is the explosion of connected devices. This Internet of Things, or Thingification, will add billions if not trillions of new connected data sources globally by 2020. Objects throughout our lives will become connected, aware and chatty, constantly transmitting information across our global networks.
The upswing of all of these devices will be an astronomical growth in data volumes
Most first generation “smart” objects aren’t really smart, they’re chatty. They use sensors to describe their situation, but they’re not really analyzing or thinking about that data; they just measure and transmit. As traffic explodes and as these devices evolve, we will embed more and more intelligence in these end-points.
Source: https://ssl.www8.hp.com/hpmatter/issue-no-4-spring-2015/content-barons-smart-dust-skynet-6-telecommunications-disruptions-2020
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google drops a log into its cloud. A log analyser, that is
Chocolate Factory is catching up with cloudy confrères
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/03/20/google_drops_a_log_into_its_cloud_a_log_analyser_that_is/
Google’s decided its Compute Engine and App Engine users need to know if their cloudy rigs are full of … bugs, by dropping a log (analyser) into the cloud.
The new Google Cloud Logging beta collects Compute Engine and App Engine logs and lets users perform the following tricks:
Ingest and view the log data, so that you can see all your logs in one place
Search the log data in real-time, so that you can resolve operational issues
Analyze the log data in real-time, so that you can glean actionable insights
Archive logs data for longer periods, to meet backup and compliance requirements
Cloud Logging is free, but as usual in the cloud it also introduces the chance for users to pay for more stuff. In this case, Google says you’ll pay to store your logs in its cloud and if you chose to use BigQuery to analyse the logs there’ll be a bill for that too.
Google’s a bit behind on logging aggregation and analysis. AWS’ CloudTrail has been around for a while now and there are also numerous third party tools to do the job. Azure’s Event Hubs and other features, plus third-party tools, mean Microsoft is in the market too.
News & Analysis
PCB-Friendly Motion Module Targets Sensor Hubs
Coin-cell sized module fits on constrained PCBs
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326096&
Microchip Technology has just introduced a second generation MIPS-derived processor hub for use in space-constrained embedded apps for the Internet of Things, wearable fitness monitoring, remote controls, and gaming.
Unlike the first generation SSC7102, which was made available in an 84-in TFBGA (thin and fine ball grid array) form, the new SSC7150 is in an 28-pin QFN (quad flatpack no leads) package and is only available as part of its newest MM7150 motion module.
Designed for use in the extremely small custom-printed circuit boards typical of such designs, the module measures 17mm x 17mm, about the size of a standard CR2032 coin cell battery (Figure 1). All components are integrated, calibrated and available on the module for PCB mounting.
In the active mode, the 3.3 Volt module consumes about 7.68 mA of active mode current.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Taking on Industrial IoT with Real-Time DDS
400kB module for MCU-based resource-constrained IoT devices
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1325989&
Tomi Engdahl says:
Help! There’s an Imp in my Coffee Pot!
http://hackaday.com/2015/03/22/help-theres-an-imp-in-my-coffee-pot/
Coffee. The lifeblood of our society. The sweet nectar of bean, whose chemical compound makes us feel so, so good. Doesn’t it deserve a place in the Internet of Things? [Matt] and [Don] thought so — so they connected their old coffee pot to their phones.
After receiving their developer version of the Electric Imp board, the two started thinking of small projects to test it out on; ones that might even have a real-world application. Since the Imp is capable of receiving inputs via the web, it’s super easy to write an app to control things — in this case, a coffee pot.
iPhone Powered Coffee Pot
http://www.impcreations.com/2012/09/07/iphone-powered-coffee-pot-electric-imp/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Interoperability the key to industrial Internet of Things, says consortium
http://www.itwire.com/it-industry-news/strategy/67140-interoperability-the-key-to-industrial-internet-of-things-says-consortium?utm_source=eCampaign&utm_medium=E_mail&utm_campaign=201503-iA-IoTMart-eNews-AEU-C000005804_1-0&CampId=ca14d332b5&UID=vKYPLp
The Industrial Internet is too broad a field for any one organisation to cover alone, so cooperation and interoperability is a must.
The Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) was founded a year ago by AT&T, Cisco, General Electric, IBM and Intel, and has since grown to more than 140 members including CSIRO and Telstra.
IIC CTO Stephen Mellor (pictured) told iTWire that with an expected 50 billion sensors around the world by 2020, there is a big opportunity for the Industrial Ethernet (essentially the non-consumer side of the Internet of Things) to make a difference.
For example, a 3% improvement in the fuel efficiency of cars would save billions of dollars, and connecting various pieces of hospital equipment can save lives as well as money, he said.
“We’re not a standards body,” he explained. Rather, the IIC identifies where existing pieces do not fit together and then writes requirements documents that other organisations can use to fill the gaps.
The IIC works with “whoever and whatever” to achieve broad interoperability.
As interoperability is achieved on paper, testbeds – experimental platforms that confirm to IIC reference architectures – are required to prove it has really been accomplished.
While many IIC members are substantial organisations, Mellor pointed out that there are opportunities for smaller organisations with specific technology or domain expertise to network and partner with major players and perhaps participate in projects. There are some one or two person firms in the ranks of the IIC.
Collaboration is important to the Industrial Ethernet