The Internet of Things revolution started in 2015 and will continue to be strong in 2016. 2015 was the year everyone talked about the Internet of Things. (So was 2014. And 2013.) But unlike before, it was the year everyone started making plans, laying groundwork, and building the infrastructure. Internet of Things is coming. It’s not a matter of if or whether, but when and how. The premise of IoT is that a connected world will offer gains through efficiency.
The Internet of Things (IoT) has been called the next Industrial Revolution — it will change the way all businesses, governments, and consumers interact with the physical world. The Internet of Things (IoT) is an environment in which objects, animals or people are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer the data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. IoT has evolved from the convergence of wireless technologies, micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS)
and the Internet. IoT is also called the Internet of Everything. A critical component for the IoT system to be a success will be secure bi-directional communication, mobility and localization services.
In the future, everything will be connected. It won’t just be our phones that access the Internet; it will be our light bulbs, our front doors, our microwaves, our comforters, our blenders. You can call it the Internet of Things, The Internet of Everything, Universal Object Interaction, or your pick of buzzwords that begin with Smart. They all hold as inevitable that everything, everything will be connected, to each other and to the Internet. And this is promised to change the world. Remember that the objects themselves do not benefit us, but what services and functions they make it possible to obtain. We will enjoy the outcome, hopefully even better quality products, informative and reliable services, and even new applications.
There will be lots of money spend on IoT in 2016, the exact sum is hard to define, but it is estimated that nearly $6 trillion will be spent on IoT solutions over the next five years. IoT is now a very large global business dominated by giants (IBM, Intel, Cisco, Gemalto, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Bosch, GE, AT&T, T-Mobile, Telefonica and many others). I see that because it is still a young and quickly developing market, there will be lots of potential in it for startups in 2016.
There will be a very large number of new IoT devices connected to Internet in the end of 2016. According to Business Insider The Internet of Things Report there was 10 billion devices connected to the internet in 2015 and there will be will be 34 billion devices connected to the internet by 2020. IoT devices will account for 24 billion, while traditional computing devicesw ill comprise 10 billion (e.g. smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, etc.). Juniper research predicted that by 2020, there will be 38.5 billion connected devices. IDC says it’ll be 20.9 billion. Gartner’s guess? Twenty-five billion. The numbers don’t matter, except that they’re huge. They all agree that most of those gadgets will be industrial Internet of Things. The market for connecting the devices you use all day, every day, is about to be huge.
Businesses will be the top adopter of IoT solutions because they see ways the IoT can improve their bottom line: lowering operating costs, increasing productivity, expand to new markets and develop new product offerings. Sensors, data analytics, automation and wireless communication technologies allow the study of the “self-conscious” machines, which are able to observe their environment and communicate with each other. From predictive maintenance that reduces equipment downtime to workers using mobile devices on the factory floor, manufacturing is undergoing dramatic change. The Internet of Things (IoT) is enabling increased automation on the factory floor and throughout the supply chain, 3D printing is changing how we think about making components, and the cloud and big data are enabling new applications that provide an end-to-end view from the factory floor to the retail store.
Governments are focused on increasing productivity, decreasing costs, and improving their citizens’ quality of life. The IoT devices market will connect to climate agreements as in many applicatons IoT can be seen as one tool to help to solve those problems. A deal to attempt to limit the rise in global temperatures to less than 2C was agreed at the climate change summit in Paris in December 2015. Sitra fresh market analysis indicates that there is up to an amount of EUR 6 000 billion market potential for smart green solutions by 2050. Smart waste and water systems, materials and packaging, as well as production systems together to form an annual of over EUR 670 billion market. Smart in those contests typically involves use of IoT technologies.
Consumers will lag behind businesses and governments in IoT adoption – still they will purchase a massive number of devices. There will be potential for marketing IoT devices for consumers: Nine out of ten consumers never heard the words IoT or Internet of Things, October 2015! It seems that the newest IoT technology extends homes in 2016 – to those homes where owner has heard of those things. Wi-Fi has become so ubiquitous in homes in so many parts of the world that you can now really start tapping into that by having additional devices. The smart phones and the Internet connection can make home appliances, locks and sensors make homes and leisure homes in more practical, safer and more economical. Home adjusts itself for optimal energy consumption and heating, while saving money. During the next few years prices will fall to fit for large sets of users. In some cases only suitable for software is needed, as the necessary sensors and data connections can be found in mobile phones. Our homes are going to get smarter, but it’s going to happen slowly. Right now people mostly buy single products for a single purpose. Our smart homes and connected worlds are going to happen one device, one bulb at a time. The LED industry’s products will become more efficient, reliable, and, one can hope, interoperable in the near future. Companies know they have to get you into their platform with that first device, or risk losing you forever to someone else’s closed ecosystem.
The definitions what would be considered IoT device and what is a traditional computing devices is not entirely clear, and I fear that we will not get a clear definition for that in 2016 that all could agree. It’s important to remember that the IoT is not a monolithic industry, but rather a loosely defined technology architecture that transcends vertical markets to make up an “Internet of everything.”
Too many people – industry leaders, media, analysts, and end users – have confused the concept of
“smart” with “connected”. Most devices – labeled “IoT” or “smart” – are simply connected devices. Just connecting a device to the internet so that it can be monitored and controlled by someone over the web using a smart phone is not smart. Yes, it may be convenient and time saving, but it is not “smart”. Smart means intelligence.
IoT New or Not? YES and NO. There are many cases where whole IoT thing is hyped way out of proportion. For the most part, it’s just the integration of existing technologies. Marketing has driven an amount of mania around IoT, on the positive side getting it on the desks of decision makers, and on the negative generating ever-loftier predictions. Are IoT and M2M same or different? Yes and no depending on case. For sure for very many years to come IoT and M2M will coexist.
Nearly a dozen contenders are trying to fill a need for long distance networks that cut the cost and power consumption of today’s cellular machine-to-machine networks. Whose technology protocols should these manufacturers incorporate into their gear? Should they adopt ZigBee, Apple’s HomeKit, Allseen Alliance/AllJoyn, or Intel’s Open Interconnect Consortium? Other 802.15.4 technologies? There are too many competing choices.
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, two pioneers of the Internet of Things are expanding their platforms and partnerships. Crowdfunding sites and hardware accelerators are kicking out startups at a regular clip, typically companies building IoT devices that ride Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Bluetooth Special Interest group is expected to release in2016 support for mesh networks and higher data rates.
Although ZWave and Zigbee helped pioneer the smart home and building space more than a decade ago, but efforts based on Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and 6LoWPAN are poised to surpass them. Those pioneering systems are actively used and developed. Zigbee Alliance starts certification for its unified version 3.0 specification in few months (includes profiles for home and building automation, LED lighting, healthcare, retail and smart energy). EnOcean Alliance will bring its library of about 200 application profiles for 900 MHz energy harvesting devices to Zigbee networks. Zigbee will roll out a new spec for smart cities. The Z-Wave Security 2 framework will start a beta test in February and Z-Wave aims to strike a collaboration withleading IoT application framework platforms. Zigbee alredy has support Thread.
The race to define, design and deploy new low power wide area networks for the Internet of Things won’t cross a finish line in 2016. But by the end of the year it should start to be clear which LPWA nets are likely to have long legs and the opportunities for brand new entrants will dim significantly. So at the moment it is hard to make design choices. To protect against future technology changes, maybe the device makers should design in wireless connectivity chips and software that will work with a variety of protocols? That’s complicated and expensive. But if I pick only one technology I can easily pick up wrong horse, and it is also an expensive choice.
Within those who want to protect against future technology changes, there could be market for FPGAs in IoT devices. The Internet of Things (IoT) is broken and needs ARM-based field programmable gate array (FPGA) technology to fix it, an expert told engineers at UBM’s Designers of Things conference in San Jose. You end up with a piece of hardware that can be fundamentally changed in the field.
There seems to be huge set of potential radio techniques also for Internet of Things even for long distance and low power consumpion. Zigbee will roll out a new spec for smart cities in February based on the 802.15.4g standard for metro networks. It will compete with an already crowded field of 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz networks from Sigfox, the LoRa Alliance, Ingenu and others. Weightless-P is an open standard announced by Weightless SIG, which operates at frequencies below one gigahertz. Weightless-P nodes and development cards will be expected to be in the market already during the first quarter of 2016, at the moment Weightless IoT Hardware Virtually Unavailable.
I expect LoRa Technology is expected to be hot in 2016. The LoRaWAN standard enables low-data-rate Internet of Things (IoT) and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) wireless communication with a range of up to 10 miles, a battery life of 10 years, and the ability to connect millions of wireless sensor nodes to LoRaWAN gateways. LoRa® technology works using a digital spread spectrum modulation and proprietary protocol in the Sub-GHz RF band (433/868/915 MHz). I see LoRa technology interesting because lots of activity around in Finland in several companies (especially Espotel) and I have seen a convincing hands-in demo of the LoRa system in use.
It seems that 3GPP Lost its Way in IoT and there is fragmentation ahead in cellular standards. In theory 3GPP should be the default provider of IoT connectivity, but it seems that it has now failed in providing one universal technology. At the moment, there are three major paths being supported by 3GPP for IoT: the machine-type version of LTE (known as LTE-M) and two technologies coming from the Cellular-IoT initiative — NB-IoT and EC-GSM. So here we are with three full standardization efforts in 3GPP for IoT connectivity. It is too much. There will like be a base standard in 2016 for LTE-M.
The promise of billions of connected devices leads everyone to assume that there will be plenty of room for multiple technologies, but this betrays the premise of IoT, that a connected world will offer gains through efficiency. Too many standard will cause challenges for everybody. Customers will not embrace IoT if they have to choose between LTE-M and Sigfox-enabled products that may or may not work in all cases. OEM manufacturers will again bear the cost, managing devices at a regional or possibly national level. Again, we lose efficiency and scale. The cost of wireless connectivity will remain a barrier to entry to IoT.
Today’s Internet of Things product or service ultimately consists of multiple parts, quite propably supplied by different companies. An Internet of Things product or service ultimately consists of multiple parts. One is the end device that gathers data and/or executes control functions on the basis of its communications over the Internet. Another is the gateway or network interface device. Once on the Internet, the IoT system needs a cloud service to interact with. Then, there is the human-machine interface (HMI) that allows users to interact with the system. So far, most of the vendors selling into the IoT development network are offering only one or two of these parts directly. Alternatives to this disjointed design are arising, however. Recently many companies are getting into the end-to-end IoT design support business, although to different degrees.
Voice is becoming more often used the user interface of choice for IoT solutions. Smartphones let you control a lot using only your voice as Apple, Google, Microsoft and Samsung have their solutions for this. For example Amazon, SoundHound and Nuance have created systems that allow to add language commands to own hardware or apps. Voice-activated interface becomes pervasive and persistent for IoT solutions in 2016. Right now, most smart home devices are controlled through smartphones, and it seems like that’s unlikely to change. The newest wearable technology, smart watches and other smart devices corresponding to the voice commands and interpret the data we produce – it learns from its users, and generate as responses in real time appropriate, “micro-moments” tied to experience.
Monitoring your health is no longer only a small group oriented digital consumer area. Consumers will soon take advantage of the health technology extensively to measure well-being. Intel Funds Doctor in Your Pocket and Samsung’s new processor is meant for building much better fitness trackers. Also, insurance companies have realized the benefits of health technologies and develop new kinds of insurance services based on data from IoT devices.
Samsung’s betting big on the internet of things and wants the TV to sit at the heart of this strategy. Samsung believes that people will want to activate their lights, heating and garage doors all from the comfort of their couch. If smart TVs get a reputation for being easy to hack, then Samsung’s models are hardly likely to be big sellers. After a year in which the weakness of smart TVs were exploited, Samsung goes on the offensive in 2016. Samsung’s new Tizen-based TVs will have GAIA security with pin lock for credit card and other personal info, data encryption, built-in anti-malware system, more.
This year’s CES will focus on how connectivity is proliferating everything from cars to homes, realigning diverse markets – processors and networking continue to enhance drones, wearables and more. Auto makers will demonstrate various connected cars. There will be probably more health-related wearables at CES 2016, most of which will be woven into clothing, mainly focused on fitness. Whether or not the 2016 International CES holds any big surprises remains to be seen. The technology is there. Connected light bulbs, connected tea kettles, connected fridges and fans and coffeemakers and cars—it’s all possible. It’s not perfect, but the parts are only going to continue to get better, smaller, and cheaper.
Connectivity of IoT devices will still have challeges in 2016. While IoT standards organizations like the Open Interconnect Consortium and the AllSeen Alliance are expected to demonstrate their capabilities at CES, the industry is still a ways away from making connectivity simple. In 2016 it will still pretty darn tedious to get all these things connected, and there’s all these standards battles coming on. So there will be many standards in use at the same time. The next unsolved challenge: How the hell are all these things going to work together? Supporting open APIs that connect with various services is good.
Like UPnP and DLNA, AllJoyn could become the best-kept secret in the connected home in 2016 — everyone has it, no one knows about it. AllJoyn is an open-source initiative to connect devices in the Internet of Things. Microsoft added support for AllJoyn to Windows in 2014.
Analysis will become important in 2016 on IoT discussions. There’s too much information out there that’s available free, or very cheaply. We need systems to manage the information so we can make decisions. Welcome to the systems age.
The rise of the Internet of Things and Web services is driving new design principles. The new goal is to delight customers with experiences that evolve in flexible ways that show you understand their needs. “People are expecting rich experiences, fun and social interactions… this generation gets bored easily so you need to understand all the dimensions of how to delight them”
With huge number of devices security issues will become more and more important. In 2016, we’ll need to begin grappling with the security concerns these devices raise. The reality of everything being connected can have unintended consequences, not all of them useful – Welcome to the Internet of stupid (hackable) things.
Security: It was a hot topic for 2015 and if anything it will get hotter in 2016. The reason is clear. By adding connectivity embedded systems not only increase their utility, they vastly increase their vulnerability to subversion with significant consequences. Embedded systems that add connectivity face many challenges, of which the need for security is both vital and misunderstood. But vendors and developers have been getting the message and solutions are appearing in greater numbers, from software libraries to MCUs with a secure root of trust.
Bruce Schneier is predicting that the IoT will be abused in conjunction with DMCA to make our lives worse instead of better. In theory, connected sensors will anticipate your needs, saving you time, money, and energy. Except when the companies that make these connected objects act in a way that runs counter to the consumer’s best interests. The story of a company using copy-protection technology to lock out competitors—isn’t a new one. Plenty of companies set up proprietary standards to ensure that their customers don’t use someone else’s products with theirs. Because companies can enforce anti-competitive behavior this way, there’s a litany of things that just don’t exist, even though they would make life easier for consumers.
Internet of Things is coming. It’s not a matter of if or whether, but when and how. Maybe it’ll be 2016, maybe the year after, but the train is coming. It’ll have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and probably eight other things, and you’ll definitely get a push notification when it gets here.
More interesting material links:
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Tomi Engdahl says:
The Rise of the Data Economy: Driving Value through Internet of Things Data Monetization
https://hosteddocs.ittoolbox.com/rise_data_econ.pdf#page=1&zoom=auto,-147,792
Future-proofing the Connected World: 13 Steps to Developing Secure IoT Products
https://downloads.cloudsecurityalliance.org/assets/research/internet-of-things/future-proofing-the-connected-world.pdf
Tomi Engdahl says:
U-blox – New module for IoT applications plus four new cellular modules
http://www.electropages.com/2016/11/u-blox-module-iot-applications-cellular-modules/?utm_campaign=2016-11-16-Electropages&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=article&utm_content=U-blox+-+New+module+for+IoT+applications+plus+four+new+cellular+modules
U-blox have announced its first RPMA module for Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWA) IoT applications, as well as four new LTE Cat 1 cellular modules.
The NANO-S100, RPMA module created in partnership with Ingenu, is designed to support LPWA IoT applications. RPMA is a low-power wide-area channel access method used exclusively with machine-to-machine (M2M) communication for IoT applications, such as asset tracking and smart metering. With 177dB link budget, RPMA devices have unprecedented range, even underground or indoors, and because it utilizes the globally available 2.4GHz industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) radio band, devices using it can work worldwide, providing scale and cost benefits.
LTE Cat 1 provides data at speeds up to 10Mbps, but at much lower cost than LTE Cat 3 or Cat 4 technology.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IBM® Watson IoT Solutions
https://products.avnet.com/wps/portal/ema/mkttechmenu/iot/iot-world/iot-ecosystem/ibm/!ut/p/z1/jc_NCoJAFAXgZ_EJ5vg3jsvrIOPPOIoZ2WzCVQhlLaLnT6ICF1l3d-E7Bw6zrGd2Gu7jcbiNl2k4zf_e8oOKw9yVEhWqRILCDL5ojY4iznZPoClOM4KnBYUBKDa8QMFBtcfsP3l8OcLvvF0SYbiYCUcXyUaVdbAORPkBqhRZAlcrP_VAzcbPGzTgPl5gbeQSqK5KZrBtA6kNIN4NKzOv522PMR9zcpwHB2EyHQ!!/dz/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/?cmp=na-164-ibm-tpm-pentonenl2-201611
IBM Watson IoT Platform
IBM Watson IoT Platform is a fully managed, cloud-hosted service that makes it simple to build and deploy apps for IoT devices, sensors and gateways. It provides solutions for device registration, connectivity, control, rapid visualization and storage of data derived from the IoT. When combined with the IBM Bluemix® environment, and access to secure Watson APIs, the platform allows you to integrate and analyze predictive, cognitive, and contextual analytics for stronger decision-making.
Key Watson IoT Platform features:
Provides Connectivity for IoT devices, networks and gateways.
- Integrates any virtual smart device or endpoint through a broad and growing ecosystem that uses open standards based communications (MQTT, HTTPS).
Leverages robust analytics capabilities and Watson IoT APIs.
- IBM Analytics and Watson IoT APIs provide predictive and realtime analysis of user, machine and system-generated data including speech, text, video, audio and social sentiment.
Helps manage risk and security of applications and devices within an IoT ecosystem.
- Understands the normal behavior of an IoT system, recognizing usage and performance patterns and identifying anomalies.
Provides information management services for structured and unstructured data, from devices, people, and the world around us.
- Intelligently manage, transform and store IoT data that is connected from diverse data sources and platforms including metadata and unstructured data.
The MicroZed Industrial IoT Starter Kit
https://www.ibm.com/blogs/internet-of-things/microzed-industrial-iot-starter-kit/
There are a number of IoT Starter kits on the market today, with many focused on the Maker and DIY enthusiasts. The price points are attractive – in the $50 to $100 range. They seem to be capable of doing just about anything and are often promoted as a great starting point for IoT developers. So why would anyone want to pay $300 for the recently introduced Avnet MicroZed Industrial IoT Starter Kit?
To start with, let’s recognize the distinction of ‘Industrial’. Industrial implies it’s different from the others, but what does that really mean?
The kit is based on the MicroZed system-on-module, or SOM. For development, the MicroZed plugs into an off-the-shelf carrier card for rapid prototyping. Once a design concept is proven using the development system, designers can then migrate the MicroZed SOM to their own custom designed carrier card. MicroZed can be purchased as an off-the-shelf module, resulting in a simpler and lower cost custom carrier card.
The MicroZed processing system is based on the Xilinx Zynq®-7000 All Programmable SoC. Zynq is the combination of a high performance, dual core ARM Cortex™ A9 processing system with a block of programmable logic, or FPGA.
In working with Wind River, Avnet’s MicroZed SOM comes bundled with Wind River’s Pulsar™ Linux.
IBM Watson IoT platform enabled
Out of the box, the MicroZed IIoT Starter Kit boots to a cloud enabled example design. The connection agent to Watson IoT Platform is already bundled with the Pulsar Linux. A reference design using IBM’s Bluemix services provides an excellent starting point for collecting, analyzing, and taking action. Everything you need to start your IoT development with Bluemix is included.
The MicroZed module that the kit is based on supports both commercial temperature (0° to +70° C) and industrial temperature (-40° to +85° C) ranges.
Unlike the Maker and DIY kits that have no guarantee of long term production or product change notifications, the MicroZed SOM offers a +5 year production plan.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Harness the power of IBM Watson IoT Platform
https://products.avnet.com/wps/wcm/connect/4847d330-3a38-4421-9e24-bbaf5d585ccb/IBM-Harness-the-power-IBM-Watson-IoT-Platform.PDF?MOD=AJPERES&CVID=liDauOD&CVID=liDauOD&CVID=liDauOD&CVID=liDauOD&CVID=liDauOD&CVID=liDauOD&CVID=liDauOD&CVID=liDauOD&CVID=liDauOD&CVID=liDauOD&CVID=liDauOD&CVID=liDauOD&CVID=liDauOD&CVID=liDauOD&CVID=liDauOD&CVID=liDauOD
Tomi Engdahl says:
WHITE PAPER
The Platform of Platforms in the Internet of Things
https://products.avnet.com/wps/wcm/connect/2a355f35-fee3-4a5a-87df-f1980d08e244/IBM-The-Platform-of-Platforms-IoT.PDF?MOD=AJPERES&CVID=liDaLN0&CVID=liDaLN0&CVID=liDaLN0&CVID=liDaLN0&CVID=liDaLN0&CVID=liDaLN0&CVID=liDaLN0&CVID=liDaLN0&CVID=liDaLN0&CVID=liDaLN0&CVID=liDaLN0&CVID=liDaLN0&CVID=liDaLN0&CVID=liDaLN0&CVID=liDaLN0&CVID=liDaLN0
This white paper examines the Internet of Things with a lens on the IoT platform and why it is needed to bring together the connected endpoints with the enterprise applications, security, and analytics.
The key elements of the IoT platform are discussed and positioned within the overall context of the IoT
market. In essence, the IoT platform is critical to provide connectivity, manage risk, and provide
information management and analytics.
This white paper offers perspective on the opportunities and challenges to enterprises as they look to
invest in an IoT platform. It also provides an overview of IBM’s Watson IoT Platform
Tomi Engdahl says:
Avnet IoT Solutions
https://products.avnet.com/wps/portal/ema/mkttechmenu/iot/iot-world/iot-solutions/!ut/p/z1/jc_LDoIwFATQT-pYoJbl5ZHyKLURiNiNYWVIFF0Yv19iZMFC9O5ucmaSYY51zI39czj3j-E29pfpPzpxUmGQb-IYlaqzFNREKjFJk4GDHd5AU5hmBK4lBT4oNKJAIUA7ztw_eXw5wu-8WxJphAQFAs02tkqW_gxUKbMIG628lINs7eUWFsLDB6xtWALVVNEE2r0fawPIuWFlxf3adhjy4QW_qTAi/dz/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/?cmp=na-1644-xxx-tpm-pentonenl2-solutions-201611
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Avnet Ecosystem Accelerates IoT Initiatives
https://products.avnet.com/wps/wcm/myconnect/ecdeb24f-d210-4f16-87a4-2d5da5f2cd92/1097_-Catalyst-Interfacing-with-Our-World.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CVID=lqUuMoa&useDefaultText=0&useDefaultDesc=0
IoT initiative that focuses on sensing and connecting products, services and solutions for your next IoT design.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Farnell element14 – Development kit enables users to create a prototype and refine concepts efficiently
http://www.electropages.com/2016/11/farnell-element14-development-kit-enables-users-create-prototype-refine-concepts-efficiently/?utm_campaign=2016-11-16-Electropages&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=article&utm_content=Farnell+element14+-+Development+kit+enables+users+to+create+a+prototype+and+…
Stocked by Farnell element14, the Moto Mod development kit (MDK) abstracts complex areas of the Moto Mod architecture so users can focus on design, create a prototype and refine concepts quickly and efficiently.
To get projects up and running quickly, the MDK includes a Reference Moto Mod that attaches to a Moto Z device along with a perforated board that users can use to solder custom components and create a first prototype.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IBM is Bringing AI to the Maker Movement
http://www.designnews.com/electronics-test/ibm-bringing-ai-maker-movement/41462170045587?cid=nl.x.dn14.edt.aud.dn.20161116.tst004c
IBM has announced a new experimental platform, Project Intu, that aims to bring the various machine learning capabilities of its Watson artificial intelligence (AI) system to developers at all levels — even ones that use a Raspberry Pi.
The goal of Project Intu is to make it easier for developers to implement cognitive computing functions (also called “embedded cognition) into their devices, whether it be an IoT device, robot, or other system, to create more natural user interactions via functions. In short, developers will be able to leverage Watson to more easily add functionalities like conversation, speech-to-text, and voice, language, and visual recognition to devices.
Project Intu offers developers a ready-made environment on which to build cognitive experiences running on a wide variety of operating systems – from Raspberry PI to MacOS, Windows to Linux machines, to name a few.”
IBM’s Watson, which rose to fame back in 2011 when it became a Jeopardy champion, has already been leveraged over the years for a number of more ambitious tasks, particularly in factory automation and healthcare.
Project Intu marks the first occasion of Watson being offered in a way that smaller developers as well as homebrew and DIY enthusiasts can access its capabilities. IBM has previously allowed the Raspberry Pi to connect to to Watson’s cloud-based service for purposes of data visualizations , but this latest announcement opens up a much larger sandbox for developers at all levels.
In conjunction with this, IBM has also announced a deal with Topcoder, an online software development community to host hackathons and coding competitions wherein developers will be challenged to create AI apps, APIs, and other solutions using Watson.
partnership expands the Watson Developer Community and Watson’s capabilities to the more than 1 million Topcoder contributors
IBM’s new push for AI is coming at a time when analysts are predicting heavy growth opportunity in the coming years. In a recent report on IT Industry Predictions for 2017 , IDC estimated by 2018 75% of developer teams will be using AI functionality in one or more of their applications and services — a 50% increase from IDC’s predictions from last year.
Project Intu
http://www.ibm.com/watson/developercloud/project-intu.html
Embed cognitive functions in various form factors such as spaces, avatars or other IoT devices.
Project Intu is an experimental service that allows developers to quickly and seamlessly integrate various cognitive services, such as Conversation and Speech-to-Text, with the capabilities of various devices, spaces and physical objects. Project Intu allows the device to act out the interaction with the user. Instead of needing to program each individual movement of a device or avatar, Project Intu makes it easy to combine movements that are appropriate for performing specific tasks like assisting a customer in a retail setting or greeting a visitor in a hotel in a way that is natural for the end user.
Intu Gateway
https://rg-gateway.mybluemix.net/
Intu Gateway for configuring and managing Watson Intu instances.
Project Intu
https://github.com/watson-intu/
Project Intu is the new platform for embodied cognition: bringing the cognitive mind – with context and reasoning – a body through which it can express itself.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Embedded Software’s Future: Platform-Based Development
http://www.designnews.com/design-hardware-software/embedded-softwares-future-platform-based-development/139549642345540?cid=nl.x.dn14.edt.aud.dn.20161116.tst004c
Every time a new embedded software project starts, the air is electrified with energy, hope, and excitement. For engineers, there are few things on Earth as exciting as creating a new project and bringing together new and innovative ideas that have the potential to change the world. Unfortunately, shortly after project kick-off, engineers can quickly lose their passion as they are forced to dig into the nuts and bolts by once again writing microcontroller drivers, trying to integrate real-time operating systems (RTOSes) and third-party components. These repetitive project tasks can consume time, energy, and dampen product innovation. An interesting solution is beginning to arrive that could help developers — embedded system platforms.
An embedded system platform contains all the building blocks that a developer needs to quickly get a microcontroller up and running in a short time period and direct their focus on the product. Too much time and money is wasted just trying to get a microcontrollers software up and running.
The typical development time line has stayed roughly the same. With more to do, smaller budgets, and the same time to do it in, developers need to become smarter and find new methods and ways to develop their systems without compromising robustness, integrity, and features.
One possible solution is to use embedded platforms such as the Renesas Synergy Platform, Electric Imp, and Microchip Harmony, among others.
Platforms can vary from extending the traditional developers capabilities through radically transformational and different development techniques. In either case, given time, budget, and feature sets, it is very obvious that building embedded systems from the ground will very soon no longer be an option.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Internet of Things is Too Thingy
http://www.designnews.com/electronics-test/internet-things-too-thingy/35730098846066?cid=nl.x.dn14.edt.aud.dn.20161116.tst004c
The thing about the Internet of Things, says Cees Links , is that “it’s very thingy.”
It’s not that Links, a pioneer of the wireless data industry, doesn’t see the connection between the Internet of Things and the things themselves, but all the focus on the actual devices, he says, is missing the point and making everyone confused about what the business opportunity and actual potential for the industry is.
The focus on things, posits Links, takes away from the real value IoT provides, which he believes lies in the realm of services.
Take the FitBit, for example. Marketed as a fitness band, it’s true value could be as part of a broader lifestyle service, one that should make the wearer holistically healthier in the long run.
Companies like FitBit, and others in the IoT space, don’t seem to have grasped the difference between what they potentially have and what they are selling, said Links, noting that data is still not being used in an optimized way, nor is it being made particularly actionable. This, Links says, is also where the term “smart” fails, because as advanced as some of these gadgets are, they still aren’t particularly clever in terms of piecing together relevant bits of data and carrying out the next logical step.
The lack of sophistication on a service level means that a “smart” water meter, for example, can be perfectly good at digitally notifying you of your water usage, but can’t yet turn off a faucet that has accidentally been left on, prevent a flood, or even necessarily notify you of one. Likewise, a “smart” thermostat can keep upping the heating of your house if it senses the temperature dropping below a certain level, but it can’t simply close the accidentally left-open window that’s letting the cold air in (and heat out) or tell its user the source of the problem.
“If things are not marketed right, people don’t understand the value, and if people don’t understand the value they just use a FitBit for a few weeks and then they throw it aside. That’s what we are seeing a lot right now.”
“People have very many concerns about standards, and many concerns about security,” he acknowledged, but added that privacy and security were not specific to the IoT, but to the Internet in general, and also to the physical world. One could theoretically just as easily lose the physical keys to one’s house as to have one’s digital lock hacked.
“I have only one main pitch and that is for companies to understand how they can make money and with what type of service, and then to start implementing that service.” It’s inevitable, said Links, that technical challenges would crop up along the way, “but those are the things that you then need to resolve. Don’t start with things like ‘what communication standard do I need to use?’ or with some hardware design. It is very much ‘how can I make money and with what type of service’ and then tracking back from there.”
Links said there are four simple tenets to overall system design, “you need sensors, you need data analytics, you need an application, and you need a billing and support system.” Everything else, he said, is simply “a lot of distraction” over “nice sensors” which Links believes are just a “small part of the whole game.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Printed Energy-Harvesting Device Aimed at Smart Packaging
http://www.designnews.com/electronics-test/printed-energy-harvesting-device-aimed-smart-packaging/200448725345541?cid=nl.x.dn14.edt.aud.dn.20161116.tst004c
A UK-based tech innovation center has completed development of a printed energy harvester that researchers say will help usher in the next generation of smart packaging.
The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) has developed the device — which uses near-field communication (NFC) for power — as part of the HaRFest project , launched more than a year ago to develop a low-cost energy-harvesting device that can be integrated into sensors, displays, and storage devices.
HaRFest project successfully develops printed energy harvesting device for the next generation of smart packaging
https://www.uk-cpi.com/news/harfest-project-successfully-develops-printed-energy-harvesting-device-next-generation-smart-packaging/
The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) has successfully completed a project to create a novel printed energy harvesting device, which will play an important role in the development of packaging with electronic functionality. Powered by near-field communication (NFC) technology, the device will draw energy from the user’s mobile telephone, facilitating the wider adoption of NFC-enabled printed electronic components. This technology is essential for realising the Internet of Things, a world in which smart objects sense information about their environment, process this information to respond appropriately, and communicate with individuals or other electronic devices.
“HaRFest addressed a wide range of potentially high volume applications identified by PragmatIC’s customers, and we look forward to progressing commercial discussions based on the project’s achievements.”
Flexible energy harvesting devices such as this have a key role to play in high value industries such as pharmaceuticals, where smart packaging that incorporates printed sensors and NFC technology enables manufacturers to improve supply chain monitoring and prevent counterfeiting, and provides customers with usage instructions, quality assurance and shelf life assessment.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Futurist Warns, Don’t Get Paralyzed by Cyber Security Fears
http://www.designnews.com/cyber-security/futurist-warns-dont-get-paralyzed-cyber-security-fears/102557625146087?cid=nl.x.dn14.edt.aud.dn.20161116.tst004c
Engineers creating Internet of Things applications mustn’t slow the pace of innovation due to fear of cyber attacks, says hacker.
A noted hacker and futurist at the recent IoT Emerge 2016 show in Chicago warned that engineers creating Internet of Things applications mustn’t slow the pace of innovation due to fear of cyber attacks.
. “If we become digital Luddites and get paralyzed and fail to advance, then technology will pass us by,” Holman, who works at the Intellectual Ventures Laboratory , told an audience of about 200 engineers at the show. “It’s really important not to be fearful, not to be paralyzed by the potential for problems. We solve problems.”
While on stage during a keynote speech, Holman took a few seconds to pick a mechanical lock, and then noted that the lock is still popular among millions of consumers. “A few people care, and they go out and purchase a better lock,” he said. “But the rest of us don’t care enough to change it. It shows that if you have a need for better security, you’ll get it. There are people out there to help you.”
In a subsequent conversation with Design News, Holman cited recent high-profile cyber security failures, and concluded that the problems posed by those failures weren’t catastrophic. The recent distributed denial of service attack that took down websites at Amazon, Netflix and Twitter created fantastic headlines, but little lasting damage, he said. He added that news stories heighten public fear, largely because most people don’t understand what a distributed denial of service attack is. Similarly, he pointed to the infamous Y2K scare at the turn of the century, saying that the fears far outweighed the actual damage.
“If you don’t understand it, if you don’t know the bounds of it, it can create fear,” he noted. “People say, ‘If they can take out Netflix, can they take down the power grid? Are people on life support in hospitals going to die?’ Those are the kind of dark fantasies people have.”
IoT Security: One Size Does Not Fit All. The Internet of Things ranges from homes to cars to factories and jet engines. Clearly, the security requirements of these systems vary
Holman said that cyber attacks are inevitable, but added that engineers are always learning from them. Moreover, IoT engineers get to draw on the many years of experience provided by the PC industry. “We’re not starting from scratch here,” he said. “We have the benefit of hindsight. An IoT is just a little computer with sensors hooked up to it.”
The worst mistake engineers can make is to look at the security risks and decide that benefits of innovation aren’t worth the effort. “In the end, we haven’t seen a catastrophic problem yet that was so bad we couldn’t recover from it,” Holman said. “So we might encounter a problem, and it might be a little bigger than the last one, but we have to solve it and keep going.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Finnish radio know-how is not forgotten
Sony’s announcement yesterday that its subsidiary, Altair Semiconductor opens R & D center in Oulu shows that the world of radio-Finnish know-how is still at a premium.
Altair is an Israeli modem house, which has invented LTE modems. Their circuits have been used for Chromebooks and tablets. The company has also been told to develop a radio chips IoT devices.
Internet of Things is an area where competitive positions are still open. Modems are the requirements are quite different than the peak cell phones with data connection already sent gigabit speed. IoT modem keeps sending small bursts of data quickly with minimal power consumption.
For example, in the 3GPP Release 13 accepted assays NB-IoT technology uses a 180 kilohertz carrier slices between the LTE channels for transmitting sensor data, typically in the cloud.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5417:suomalaista-radio-osaamista-ei-ole-unohdettu&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Seeing Clearly in the Fog: Fog Computing Solutions for the IoT
http://www.techonline.com/electrical-engineers/education-training/tech-papers/4442990/Seeing-Clearly-in-the-Fog
The growth of IoT is burdening wireless networks, running up corporate cloud costs, and exposing gaps in real-time analytics. See how Intel addresses these issues with a system architecture specification for the distributed analytics known as “fog computing”. Fog computing puts computation, communication, control, storage, and services closer to edge devices and systems. Implemented in the edge-to-cloud space where tasks are performed, it enables operational decisions to be made locally, often autonomously, and in real or near-real time.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Increase Business Insight from Edge-to-Cloud
https://aws.amazon.com/iot/intel-and-aws-iot-signup/?sc_channel=PS&sc_campaign=acquisition_ND&sc_publisher=google&sc_medium=iot_nb&sc_content=iot_p&sc_detail=internet%20of%20things&sc_category=iot&sc_segment=154687485500&sc_matchtype=p&sc_country=ND&s_kwcid=AL!4422!3!154687485500!p!!g!!internet%20of%20things&ef_id=ULR4xAAAGjh9PbBD:20161117161200:s
Accelerate the development of enterprise Internet of Things (IoT) applications with AWS IoT and Intel edge-to-cloud solutions. Quickly and securely implement an IoT solution with minimal upfront investment to gain valuable insight from your devices. AWS and Intel deliver enhanced security from device to network to cloud, making it easy to scale globally.
Easily and securely connect devices to the cloud with AWS IoT and Intel edge devices.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Implementing cloud connectivity for IoT and Industrie 4.0
http://www.controleng.com/single-article/implementing-cloud-connectivity-for-iot-and-industrie-40/3237ef1117216d38128abd8d7e6ea22b.html
As information technology and automation technology continue to converge, cloud-based communication and data services are increasingly used in industrial automation projects. Compatible I/O components compatible with Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) enable easy-to-configure and seamless integration into public and private cloud applications.
Beyond the scope of conventional control tasks, applications such as Big Data, data mining, and condition or power monitoring enable the implementation of advanced automation solutions. New hardware and software products for Industrie 4.0 and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) provide simple implementation for advanced solutions.
Industrie 4.0 and IIoT strategies place strict requirements on the networking and communication capabilities of devices and services. In the traditional communication pyramid in Figure 1, large quantities of data must be exchanged between field-level sensors and higher level layers in these implementations. However, horizontal communication between programmable logic controller (PLC) systems also plays a critical role in modern production facilities. PC-based control technologies provide universal capabilities for horizontal communication and have become an essential part of present-day automation projects exactly for this reason. Engineering and control software in PC-based control architectures provides the ideal foundational technology for Industrie 4.0 concepts and IoT communication. Moreover, new IIoT-compatible I/O components enable easy-to-configure and seamless integration into public and private cloud applications.
Creating a competitive edge with Industrie 4.0 and IoT
Industrie 4.0 and IoT applications do not start with just the underlying technology. In reality, the work begins much earlier than this. When implementing IoT projects, it is critical to examine the corporate business objectives first and establish the benefits that will be gained from these projects. From an automation provider’s perspective, there are two distinct categories of customers that can be defined: machine manufacturers and the end customers of the automated machines.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Another Kind of Cloud: The Internet of Farts
http://hackaday.com/2016/11/16/another-kind-of-cloud-the-internet-of-farts/
It’s taken as canon that girls mature faster than boys. In reality, what happens is that boys stop maturing at about age 12 while girls keep going. And nothing tickles the fancy of the ageless pre-teen boy trapped within all men more than a good fart joke. To wit, we present a geolocating fart tracker for your daily commute.
IOF – Internet of farts
A GPS and Wifi enabled car farting logging device. To the infinite stupidity and beyond! Keep reading…
https://hackaday.io/project/18241-iof-internet-of-farts
Tomi Engdahl says:
DHS Publishes Principles, Best Practices for Securing IoT
http://www.securityweek.com/dhs-publishes-principles-best-practices-securing-iot
The Department of Homeland Security recently published (PDF) its Strategic Principles for Securing the Internet of Things. It comprises six non-binding principles designed to provide security across the design, manufacturing and deployment of connected devices. It quotes, “there is a small — and rapidly closing — window to ensure that IoT is adopted in a way that maximizes security and minimizes risk. If the country fails to do so, it will be coping with the consequences for generations.”
STRATEGIC PRINCIPLES FOR SECURING THE INTERNET OF THINGS (IoT)
https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Strategic_Principles_for_Securing_the_Internet_of_Things-2016-1115-FINAL_v2-dg11.pdf
Tomi Engdahl says:
Parc: IoT To Be Self-Powered, Flexible, Transparent
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1330847&
The future of the Internet of Things (IoT) is clear, according to the inventors of the graphical user interface (GUI), the computer mouse, the computer “desktop,” object-oriented programming, amorphous silicon. The clear future of IoT will be transparent, flexible and self-powering, said Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center (Parc) program manager of novel and printed electronics, Janos Veres, at the MEMS Executive Congress 2016 (Scottsdale, Arizona).
To prove his point, Veres showed 27 slides exemplifying the state-of-the-art today, the prototypes in the laboratory and the projected future applications according not just to Xerox Parc but also the U.S. Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-e), Boeing, University of California at Berkeley, British Petroleum (BP), Flex Tech Alliance, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), LG Chem, Nano-Bio Manufacturing Consortium, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), PST Sensors, Stanford University and ThinFilm.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smart meter benefits even crappier than originally thought
Government accused of burying report in wake of Trump election
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/11/17/smart_meter_benefits_even_crapper_than_originally_thought/
The UK government has been accused of burying a report on its hated £11bn smart meters project by releasing revised spending data just hours after the election of Donald Trump.
The scheme will require energy suppliers to offer 53 million meters to homes and small businesses by 2020 and the implementation is to be rolled out in two phases.
A previous official report revealed that the overall benefit to consumers amounted to savings of £26 a year – or 7p per day.
But according to a report by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, first written in August, those consumer benefits have further diminished.
The Evening Standard found that benefits are now £415m lower than originally thought – just £11 per household in 2020.
Donald Trump victory used to hide holes in government’s smart-meter roll-out
http://www.standard.co.uk/business/trump-victory-used-to-hide-holes-in-governments-smartmeter-rollout-a3395981.html
The Government has quietly chopped £500 million of forecast benefits off its flagship £11 billion smart-meter scheme — and the energy industry tried to bury the news in the aftermath of the US election.
Total costs have shot up by £54 million since the previous forecast just two years ago, and benefits are now £415 million lower — just £11 per household in 2020, less than half the £26 estimated previously. BEIS could not be reached for comment.
The total value of rolling out smart meters across all UK homes and small and medium-sized business is now put at £5.75 billion — or £469 million less than earlier ministerial claims.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Open Source Indoor Localization System – RTLS
An indoor location system based on the UWB radio chip from decawave DWM1000 and an arduino.
https://hackaday.io/project/18296-open-source-indoor-localization-system-rtls
Universal and open source indoor location system. I made universal PCBs that can be used as tags or anchors with or without wifi interface and the DWM1000 library from thotro for example.
In this RTLS system, several anchors were build that dump the ranging data over UDP to a server. This way, long range communication and integration into already existing environments is possible, without having a certain master anchor that calculates the positions and requires alot of processing power. Instead, a local PC grabs the data from the LAN in nearly realtime, runs the positioning calculation and draws the position of the tag.
Tomi Engdahl says:
S1G RF: Sub 1GHZ Radio Modules 915MHZ and 433MHZ
https://hackaday.io/project/17997-s1g-rf-sub-1ghz-radio-modules-915mhz-and-433mhz
Sub 1GHZ RF wireless modules operating at 915MHZ and 433MHZ ISM bands, based on the ADF7023, full open source!
A family of Radios based on the the ADI ADF7023 operating at 915MHZ and 433MHZ An open hardware solution for projects that require excessively long range wireless.
S1G-RF 915MHZ Long Range Radio Platform
A family of Radios based on the the ADI ADF7023 operating at 915MHZ and 433MHZ. An open hardware solution for applications requiring robust long range wireless solutions. The project targets robotics and UAV projects specifically but can have other uses such as HAM radio or low atmosphere weather balloon experiments.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi Robot That Reads Your Emotions
http://hackaday.com/2016/11/17/raspberry-pi-robot-that-reads-your-emotions/
It’s getting easier and easier to add machine intelligence to your hacks, even to the point where you sometimes don’t have to install any special software. In this case [Dexter Industries] has added the ability to read human emotions to their EmpathyBot robot by making use of Google Cloud Vision.
Press a button on the robot and it moves forward until it’s a certain distance from an object. It then takes a picture and sends it off to Google Cloud Vision along with a request to do face detection. The response that Google returns is in JSON format and, if it finds a face, includes the likelihood of the face being happy, sad, sorrowful or surprised. The robot parses that response and gives an appropriate canned speech using the text-to-speech software, eSpeak e.g. “You seem happy! Tell me why you are so happy!”.
[Dexter] has made the source code available on github. It’s written in python and is easy to read by anyone with even just a little programming experience.
https://github.com/DexterInd/GoPiGo/tree/master/Projects/Empathybot
Tomi Engdahl says:
In 2022 the world is 29 billion network-connected smart devices, of which 18 billion is the so-called IoT devices, such estimates in a recent Ericsson Mobility Report. Smartphone, tablet and the computer will lose its position as the most common devices were already connected to two years.
In 2018, issues linked to the Internet of machines and equipment, such as intelligent cars, smart meters, and consumer electronics, is more than smart phones. IoT devices are connected to the network, inter alia, trucks, remotely readable meters, security systems, smart TVs, wearable technology and other connected consumer electronics devices.
IoT and 5G’s development are closely linked, as part of IoT applications require more delays and facilitate faster 5G connections. In 2022 the world will be about half a billion 5G subscriptions, of which a quarter is in the United States, Ericsson predicts.
- IoT and cloud services using Smart technology can be brought within the reach of more and more. Such technology brings market, among other things, Telia, whose service allows ordinary cars can be connected to the Internet and catching intelligent services. It allows third party service providers to provide services to car owners, and accordingly have access to a car owner’s data permitting, Sirkka continue.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5425:ericsson-alypuhelimen-valta-asema-murtuu&catid=13&Itemid=101
More: https://www.ericsson.com/assets/local/mobility-report/documents/2016/ericsson-mobility-report-november-2016.pdf
Tomi Engdahl says:
Finnish NFC smart lock awarded
iLOQ has developed the world’s first lock, which opens onto a smartphone with NFC-radiated radio energy. Now iLOQ NFC is an award-winning magazine Detektor International Award for the winner of the Best Access Control Product 2016 category. The top prize is already second company, the same award in 2008, won the iLOQ S10 locking system.
Smart lock is powered by the NFC induction. Wireless solution does not need batteries, no cables and no key. The phone’s NFC radio download two of the cells inside the lock chamber, and then start encrypted traffic between the lock and the mobile phone.
The first cell opens the lock, then the door can be opened by the handle. The lock will automatically lock after a certain period of time to another cell, the energy stored in the power.
iLOQ NFC is coming to market in the near future in Europe.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5427:suomalainen-nfc-alylukko-palkittiin&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cayenne
The world’s first drag-and-drop IoT project builder
http://www.cayenne-mydevices.com/
Quickly design, prototype, and commercialize IoT solutions
NetworkWorld: “If you’re looking for an IoT management platform, this is a solid, highly functional contender for making a frustration of IoT devices manageable and gets a Gearhead rating of 4.5 out of 5.”
Cayenne, how to manage a frustration of IoT devices
You’re deploying IoT devices like a fiend but what you’ve got is a management problem akin to herding cats. Here’s a promising way to get them under control.
http://www.networkworld.com/article/3093369/internet-of-things/cayenne-how-to-manage-a-frustration-of-iot-devices.html
Consider devices connected to the Internet of Things; what to call a collection of those? We could be boring and opt for “a flock of IoT devices”, which, although it actually sounds pretty good, isn’t as applicable as “a frustration,” a far more apropos term because once you start to wrangle more than half-a-dozen devices, you’ll find yourself drowning in detail and data.
You probably won’t be surprised to find I have a solution for you: A service called Cayenne, published by myDevices. Through a Web-based dashboard, Cayenne allows you to manage as many devices as you want (only Raspberry Pi and Arduino boards are currently supported).
To get started, you register for a free Cayenne account then install the Cayenne agent software on your IoT devices.
Or, if you’ve downloaded and installed the Cayenne app (available for iOS and Android), the app will scan your network, find known IoT platforms, launch a terminal session (you’ll need to enter your credentials if you’ve changed the default Debian credentials from “pi” and “raspberry”), perform the installation for you, then reboot (note this installation process can take a while whichever way you do it). Once you’ve got the agent software installed, your device will appear on the online Cayenne dashboard as well as in the app dashboards.
So, with the RPi now online you can select how the widgets display their data; the choices are gauge, value, or line chart.The dashboard allows you to remotely access your boards via SSH as well as reboot and shut them down.
You can define events and triggers in the dashboard: Events (currently only reboot and shutdown are available) are executed at specific times with optional notification while triggers are events or notifications that occur when a device goes offline or comes online, or a measured attribute (for example, storage use or temperature) is above or below a certain value. It would be useful to have more actions types to choose from particularly launching a process or application on the board.
Using the Cayenne dashboard you can set up additional devices such as temperature, luminosity, pressure, distance, motion, and generic sensors as well as light, motor, valve, relay, and generic actuators and add analog, digital, and PWM extensions. You can also configure the GPIO interface via the dashboard.
The iOS app dashboard, oddly, provides more information than the Web dashboard which includes the network throughput
So, bottom line: Way cool. Cayenne is a big, bold concept.
Pro: Free (at present); lots of “how to” documentation.
Con: A few bugs; inconsistent Web and app presentation; data shown in dashboards for CPU and RAM usage is , user experience needs polishing in some areas
If you’re looking for an IoT management platform, this is a solid, highly functional contender for making a frustration of IoT devices manageable and gets a Gearhead rating of 4.5 out of 5.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Internet of Things Set To Change the Face of Dementia Care
https://it.slashdot.org/story/16/11/18/2027220/internet-of-things-set-to-change-the-face-of-dementia-care?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot%2Fto+%28%28Title%29Slashdot+%28rdf%29%29
The internet of things, also known as connected things, have been in the news lately for all the wrong reasons, but that doesn’t mean they are utterly rubbish. Smart bottles that dispense the correct dose of medication at the correct time, for instance, coupled with digital assistants, and chairs that know how long you’ve sat in them are among the devices set to change the face of care for those living with dementia.
Internet of things set to change the face of dementia care
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/18/internet-of-things-set-to-change-the-face-of-dementia-care
From digital assistants to ‘smart’ medicine bottles, a new wave of connected devices could help people live independently for longer
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
French IoT startup Sigfox raises $160M Series E, sources say at a $637M valuation; Sigfox says it has around 10M devices registered on its network
French IoT startup Sigfox nabs €150M Series E, reportedly at €600M valuation
https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/18/french-iot-startup-sigfox-confirms-e150m-series-e-at-a-valuation-of-around-e600m/
Sigfox, the IoT company based out of France that is building a dedicated, global network to connect, monitor and control devices like smart-home alarms, machinery, refrigerators and city streetlights, today confirmed that it has closed its latest round of funding, a Series E round of €150 million ($160 million). We broke the news of this round in October, noting it was likely to be completed this month.
The company is not disclosing its valuation, but sources close to the company have said it is in the region of €600 million ($637 million). This brings the total raised by Sigfox to just over $300 million, making it one of the better capitalized IoT startups on the market today.
Tomi Engdahl says:
AT&T:
IoT Developers: Get up to 1,000 SIMs on one low-cost IoT data plan from AT&T — Set up a new account or upgrade your existing developer account with up to 1,000 SIMs and a data plan tailored to your needs and budget.
Effortless IoT Connectivity
https://iotdataplans.att.com/?utm_medium=link&utm_source=techmeme&utm_campaign=iot-developers
Launch your IoT product fast with IoT data plans. Get up to 1,000 SIM cards all sharing the same IoT data plan.*
IoT Starter Kit
https://starterkit.att.com/
IoT Developer SIM card
Developer trial includes:
AT&T IoT device SIM with 6-month developer plan*
Tools and RESTful APIs to manage your LTE connection
Store device data, and create new IoT applications
Out of the box compatibility with M2X, AT&T Flow, Microsoft Azure and IBM Bluemix.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jenkins and Slack Report Build Failure! Light the Beacons!
http://hackaday.com/2016/11/19/jenkins-and-slack-report-build-failure-light-the-beacons/
When you have a large software development team working on a project, monitoring the build server is an important part of the process. When a message comes in from your build servers, you need to take time away from what you’re doing to make sure the build’s not broken and, if it’s broken because of something you did, you have to stop what you’re doing, start fixing it and let people know that you’re on it.
[ridingintraffic]’s team uses Jenkins to automatically build their project and if there’s a problem, it sends a message to a Slack channel. This means the team needs to be monitoring the Slack channel, which can lead to some delays. [ridingintraffic] wanted immediate knowledge of a build problem, so with some software, IoT hardware, and a rotating hazard warning light, the team now gets a visible message that there’s a build problem.
An Adafruit Huzzah ESP8266 board is used as the controller, connected to some RF controlled power outlets via a 434MHz radio module.
An MQTT broker is used to let the Huzzah know when there’s been a build failure. If there is, the Huzzah turns the light beacon on via the power outlets.
Jenkins build pipeline failure notification
jenkins build pipeline meets arduino and slack bot
https://hackaday.io/project/18006-jenkins-build-pipeline-failure-notification
The Beacons Are Lit! Jenkins Calls for Aid
https://tech.cars.com/the-beacons-are-lit-jenkins-calls-for-aid-7fcfc1af14ea#.4oz7mqajk
How do you notify a developer when a build fails in Jenkins without bombarding them with messages in Slack or email? Turn on a beacon to gather their attention. Great, now we have a light flashing away, thats awesome, how do we turn it off? Build a bot, let the bot handle it. The whole system has to bounce in and out of a secure network, a less secure IoT network and out on the public internet, what could go wrong. Finally this is devops so we gotta monitor and instrument everything we do, lets toss a little Splunk in there, and build a separate jenkins pipeline for updating and deploying the chatbot.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Stairwell Lights Keep Toddler with Night-Blindness Safe
http://hackaday.com/2016/11/19/stairwell-lights-keep-toddler-with-night-blindness-safe/
. Her dad [Jake] realized that the soon-to-be-toddler was at risk due to a dark stairwell and the night-blindness that accompanies Usher, so he came up with a simple tech solution to the problem.
He chose Philips Hue LED light strips to run up the stringer of the stairs controlled by a Raspberry Pi. Originally he planned to use IFTTT for but the latency resulted in the light not switching on fast enough. He ended up using a simple PIR motion sensor which the Pi monitors and then uses the Hue API to control the light.
Adapting the World to Her -Jake
https://memoriesforbecca.com/2016/11/13/adapting-the-world-to-her-jake/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Barely-There GSM GPS Tracker
http://hackaday.com/2016/11/19/barely-there-gsm-gps-tracker/
What’s the most un-intrusive GPS you’ve ever seen? How about for a bike? Redditor [Fyodel] has built a Teensy-based GPS/GSM tracker that slides into your bike’s handlebars and really is out of sight.
The tracker operates on T-Mobile’s 2G service band — which will enable the device to work until about 2020 — since AT/T is phasing out their service come January. Since each positioning message averages 60 bytes, an IoT data plan is sufficient for moderate usage, with plans to switch over to a narrow-band LTE service when it becomes more affordable. [Fyodel] admits that battery life isn’t ideal at the moment, but plans to make it more efficient by using a motion sensor to ensure it’s only on when it needs to be.
I made a Teensy-based GPS/GSM tracker with lots of features that fits in handlebars
https://www.reddit.com/r/electronics/comments/5bu30a/i_made_a_teensybased_gpsgsm_tracker_with_lots_of/
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Week In Review: IoT
http://semiengineering.com/the-week-in-review-iot-27/
Verizon Communications reported acquiring the assets of LQD WiFi LLC, expanding its smart city portfolio
“LQD’s Palo technology hubs capture Verizon’s vision of delivering citizen engagement experiences by connecting people with their communities while providing critical security, transportation, and wayfinding solutions as well as Wi-Fi capabilities. This transaction uniquely positions us to utilize our unmatched infrastructure, platforms and network at scale to deploy elegant and engaging community technology hubs that connect, inform, inspire, and support people where they live, work, and play.”
Samsung signed a deal to buy Harman, a Tier 1 automotive supplier, for $8 billion.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology, along with the Department of Homeland Security, this week issued cybersecurity guidelines for Internet of Things devices. “Securing the Internet of Things has become a matter of homeland security. The guidance we issued today is an important step in equipping companies with useful information so they can make informed security decisions,” said Jeh Johnson, the Secretary of Homeland Security.
Akamai Technologies reports that large distributed denial-of-service attacks of higher than 300 gigabits per second are up 138% this year. “Every couple of years the industry faces what could be considered ‘harbinger attacks,’ where the size and scope of a security event are radically different than what has come before. I believe the industry faced its latest ‘harbinger’ with the Mirai botnet,”
Oracle this week offered a new packaged integration between Oracle Service Cloud and Oracle IoT Cloud, debuting its IoT Accelerator, an open-source integration. Denon + Marantz testified to the Oracle Service Cloud’s IoT integration capabilities. “The Internet of Things is fundamentally changing the way consumers interact with brands and in the process, it is creating volumes of data that organizations can leverage to transform the customer experience,”
Orange Belgium is implementing new dedicated low-power wide-area layers on its 4G network to enable Internet of Things applications.
The company will invest in two mobile IoT technologies, narrow-band IoT and LTE-M.
Tomi Engdahl says:
In 2022 the world may be a fresh Ericsson Mobility report, 29 billion a smartphone or other smart device. Of the 18 billion would be so-called Internet of Things and affairs of IoT devices.
Ericsson estimates that networked smart devices such as smart phones, tablet computers and computer equipment dominance is under threat after only two years.
In 2018, the Internet of Things and matters linked to the machines and equipment, such as intelligent cars, smart meters, and consumer electronics, is more than smart phones.
The upcoming 5G is closely linked to the development of IoT devices. Ericsson believes that in 2022 the world was going to be in about half a billion 5G subscriptions, of which a quarter is in the United States.
Source: http://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2016/11/18/ymparillamme-pian-miljardeja-iot-laitteita/
IoT is more than just technology
Consulting firm SAS Institute was interviewed by representatives of 75 large European company’s experience of IoT projects. According to respondents, the most important lesson was that the customer and user experience should be the guiding factor, even if they can’t be implemented without the technology and systems experts.
The biggest stumbling blocks related to real-time data analytics, security concerns and cultural change management.
” In order to IoT to take full advantage of, the work should be organized in a new way. Also, processes should be redefined in order to support decision-making based on real-time data analysis. A huge amount of data, combined with its safe analysis is a challenging combination, ” says the report
IoT’s successful deployment requires a breach of the business and department boundaries.
Sources:
http://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2016/11/17/iot-muutakin-tekniikkaa/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Flexible sensor to detect speech
University of Northwestern University researchers have developed a small, soft and skin-mounted sensor that measures the vibrations of the human body. heart can be monitored space probe, but it can also be used to recognize speech.
Stretchable sensor pad to capture the body’s physiological transmitted audio signals. It can be mounted almost anywhere on the skin. The sensor resembles a small patch, wights gram fractions, and may collect data continuously.
Boulder Professor Jae-Woong Jeongin, the sensor could think of as a kind of small, wearable stethoscope. It allows you to listen to your bodies produced by, for example, the lungs or the heart.
Similarly, the sensor “hears” the vocal cord vibration. The sensor can be combined with the measurement of ECG signals as well as describing the muscle activity of the EMG signal measurement.
Professor Jeongin, the sensor can easily be converted into a wireless.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5433&via=n&datum=2016-11-21_16:41:55&mottagare=30929
Tomi Engdahl says:
STMicroelectronics latest radio chips IoT devices consume less power. They can serve up to ten years without changing the batteries.
Manufactured by STMicroelectronics circuit S2 LP transceiver power to the front desk only 6.7 mA and transmitting 10dBm of power at the level of 10 mA. Sleep and standby power consumption are, respectively, 600 nA and 350 nA.
The reception sensitivity of the circuits, depending -130dBm allows up to hundreds of kilometers of traveling by using operations. ST: implemented in the districts connection can act as the license-free frequencies below one gigahertz.
The $1.15 chip supports Sigfox., Wireless M-Bus and 6LoWPAN networks, as well as the IEEE 802.15.4g functions.
Source: http://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2016/11/18/virtapihi-iot-radiopiiri/
More:
Ultra-low power, high performance, sub-1GHz transceiver
http://www.st.com/content/st_com/en/products/wireless-connectivity/sub-1ghz-rf/s2-lp.html
The S2-LP is a high performance ultra-low power RF transceiver, intended for RF wireless applications in the sub-1 GHz band. It is designed to operate in both the license-free ISM and SRD frequency bands at 433, 868 and 920 MHz, but can also be programmed to operate at other additional frequencies in the 430-470 MHz, 860-940 MHz bands.
The S2-LP supports different modulation schemes: 2(G)FSK, 4(G)FSK, OOK and ASK. The air data rate is programmable from 0.3 to 500 kbps.
The S2-LP can be used in systems with channel spacing of 12.5/25 kHz enabling the narrow band operations.
The S2-LP shows an RF link budget higher than 140 dB for long communication ranges and meets the regulatory requirements applicable in territories worldwide, including Europe, Japan, China and the USA.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Futurist Warns, Don’t Get Paralyzed by Cyber Security Fears
http://www.designnews.com/cyber-security/futurist-warns-dont-get-paralyzed-cyber-security-fears/102557625146087?cid=nl.x.dn14.edt.aud.dn.20161121.tst004c
Engineers creating Internet of Things applications mustn’t slow the pace of innovation due to fear of cyber attacks, says hacker.
A noted hacker and futurist at the recent IoT Emerge 2016 show in Chicago warned that engineers creating Internet of Things applications mustn’t slow the pace of innovation due to fear of cyber attacks.
Pablos Holman, who has worked on machines ranging from fission reactors to mosquito-killing lasers, said that security has been an issue since the birth of the PC, and engineers have always successfully found solutions to the chaos caused by intruders. “If we become digital Luddites and get paralyzed and fail to advance, then technology will pass us by,” Holman, who works at the Intellectual Ventures Laboratory , told an audience of about 200 engineers at the show. “It’s really important not to be fearful, not to be paralyzed by the potential for problems. We solve problems.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
IoT Developers, ‘Focus on Your Secret Sauce’
With the help of specilized IoT platforms, developers can cut months off their time to market.
http://www.designnews.com/iot/iot-developers-focus-on-your-secret-sauce/43789911646118?cid=nl.x.dn14.edt.aud.dn.20161121.tst004c
Heath, who will host a session titled, Rapid IoT Software Development Using Embedded Python , said that it’s tempting for experienced designers to want to do it all themselves, and then get tangled up in the complexities of routing algorithms and microcontroller interfaces. Instead, he said, it’s better for developers to use existing embedded platforms that help them tie their IoT applications to the cloud.
Without the help of such platforms, they will lose valuable time in getting their product to market, he said. “It’s going to take them longer to get to the same place,” he told us. “The first six months will be spent on solving problems – the routing algorithms and device interfaces. And six months later they say, ‘Now we can start on the real stuff.”
The demo will be done, he said, using tools from Synapse’s Things Platform , along with the Python programming language and Synapse’s SNAP operating system.
“We’re trying to show that in order to develop IoT applications you need a system that that includes an easy way to program,” he told us. “You need different tools at each layer that you can build your applications on.”
SNAP®: the Things Platform
http://info.synapse-wireless.com/iot-development-get-started
In product development, no one has ever said to take it slow. This is even more true when it comes to making your product smart and connected. A platform will give you a head start, and there are a lot of great IoT cloud platforms available, but they’re focused on data processing. Before you can trust the data processing, you have to be able to trust the data. Doing that poses even more questions. How will you connect your product? How do you develop the smarts? How will you deploy and manage it at scale? These challenges are specific to Things, and SNAP: the Things platform is how you overcome them.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Prodigiously sensing devkit also enables IoT/cloud
http://www.edn.com/design/design-tools/development-kits/4443025/Prodigiously-sensing-devkit-also-enables-IoT-cloud?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20161121&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20161121&elqTrackId=dbfc0b90efc64c5a86879cec0af5f66a&elq=66719169698142a9b851b96c74403917&elqaid=34875&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=30447
Silicon Labs’ SLTB001A Thunderboard Sense devkit sports an incredible range of sensors, including motion, temperature, RH, pressure, UV & visible light, gas & air quality, and a microphone. Rounding out the board are a Cortex-M4 and a multi-protocol radio.
iOS/Android apps and cloud streaming software are also provided.
The Thunderboard can be ordered now for $36. Shipping appears to be slated for December.
Thunderboard™ Sense Complete Sensor-to-Cloud Inspiration Kit
SLTB001A
http://www.silabs.com/products/wireless/Pages/thunderboard-sense-kit.aspx
Thunderboard™ Sense is a small and feature packed development platform for battery operated IoT applications. The mobile app enables a quick proof of concept of cloud connected sensors. The multi-protocol radio combined with a broad selection of on-board sensors, make the Thunderboard Sense an excellent platform to develop and prototype a wide range of battery powered IoT applications.
Cloud streaming
Data is stored in Firebase
Web frontend is implemented in ReactJS
Using Alt.js as the flux implementation
D3.js for data driven charts
All source code available
https://www.firebase.com/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Convenient IoT control for LED lamps
Lighting control is in the same LED lamps and various wireless devices via the IoT new features. A good example is Philips, which will expand based on LED laps Hue-Series, compact wireless motion controller.
The sensor can also be set thin light at night to control the LEDs. During the day, the sensor is activated only when the daylight does not illuminate the room sufficiently. The lights can also be set to shut down if the room has not been a movement at a certain time.
Source: http://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2016/11/18/kateva-iot-ohjain-ledilampuille/
More: http://www2.meethue.com/fi-fi/tietoa-huesta/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Commodore Home – Your Smart Home For 1983
http://hackaday.com/2016/11/20/commodore-home-your-smart-home-for-1983/
The Internet of Things is a horrific waste of time, even though no one knows exactly what it is. What would make it better? Classic Commodore gear, of course. Now you can run your smart home with a Commodore 64 and Commodore Home, the newest smart home framework from [retro.moe].
Commodore Home comes with the standard smart home features you would expect. The home lighting solution is a dot matrix printer, a few gears, and string tied to the light switch. Activate the printer, and the lights turn on and off. Brilliant. Multiple light switches can be controlled by daisy chaining printers.
Security is important in the smart home, and while the intruder alarm isn’t completely functional, future versions of Commodore Home will dial a modem, log into a BBS, and leave a message whenever an authorized person enters your home.
Retro Challenge: announcing Commodore Home
Home automation for the masses, not the classes
https://retro.moe/2016/10/31/retro-challenge-commodore-home/
Tomi Engdahl says:
DIY EKG Using Arduino and Javascript
https://www.eeweb.com/project/diy-ekg-using-arduino-and-javascript/
An electrocardiogram or EKG is a testing equipment used to measure the electrical activity of the heart. Using only an Arduino Shield and a set of electrodes, one can create his own EKG, generate a waveform and plot it in realtime using Javascript just like what Ben did. This project may not be suitable for medical use but it’s worth a try if you are really interested in creating one.
https://github.com/TalkingQuickly/ekg-arduino-chrome
Chrome app based real time streaming interface to the Olimex Arduino EKG Shield. For details see http://www.talkingquickly.co.uk/2015/01/diy-ekg-with-arduino-javascript/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Parc: IoT To Be Self-Powered, Flexible, Transparent
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1330847&
The future of the Internet of Things (IoT) is clear, according to the inventors of the graphical user interface (GUI), the computer mouse, the computer “desktop,” object-oriented programming, amorphous silicon. The clear future of IoT will be transparent, flexible and self-powering, said Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center (Parc) program manager of novel and printed electronics, Janos Veres, at the MEMS Executive Congress 2016 (Scottsdale, Arizona).
To prove his point, Veres showed 27 slides exemplifying the state-of-the-art today, the prototypes in the laboratory and the projected future applications according not just to Xerox Parc but also the U.S. Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-e), Boeing, University of California at Berkeley, British Petroleum (BP), Flex Tech Alliance, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), LG Chem, Nano-Bio Manufacturing Consortium, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), PST Sensors, Stanford University and ThinFilm.
Slides:
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1330847&image_number=1
Tomi Engdahl says:
Where Are We with Thread IoT?
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1330802&
So, where are we now with Thread networking protocol-based IoT products?
Connected thermostats, door locks, tooth brushes, alarm systems, lighting, you name it. What’s happening?
It turns out that Thread products — whose commercial market launch the Thread Group promised for the second quarter of 2016 — actually never happened.
The Thread Group decided earlier this year to revamp its spec 1.0 (originally ratified in the summer of 2015) by adding “enhanced features and use cases,” Grant Erickson, president of the Thread Group, told EE Times. That effort led to the development of spec 1.1, which then was ratified last July.
Subsequently, the first-generation Thread products built on the 1.0 who have already gone through the original certification program were rolled back, according to Erickson.
Meanwhile, a new generation of 1.1-spec Thread products are getting prepped to go through a new set of conformance and certification tests. The Thread Group announced Wednesday the release of its initial hardware reference test bed and test harness, as well as the opening of its test lab to members.
1.0 spec vs. 1.1 spec
Thread is an IPv6 networking protocol built on open standards for low-power 802.15.4 mesh networks designed to connect hundreds of devices to each other and directly to the cloud.
Exactly a year ago, it was boasting that more than 30 IoT products based on the 1.0 spec were already undergoing first wave of Thread’s certification program.
Then they realized they need a better spec.
How significant are the updates embedded in the 1.1 spec?
Key highlights of the 1.1 spec, explained by Erickson, include: 1) the ability to change the master key on the network, and 2) allowing applications to initiate network channel changes to a new frequency to avoid interference.
The 1.1 spec comes with many more changes, said Erickson, but the main goal is “to achieve better security and robustness.”
The Thread Group announced Wednesday that test bed participants ARM, NXP and Silicon Labs have released the first conforming stacks.
The non-profit Thread Group is focused on making Thread the foundation for the Internet of Things “in the home and beyond,” according to the Group.
Tomi Engdahl says:
15 IoT Devices Running on 7 Apps?
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1330853&
At Embedded Technology conference here, NXP executive broached the touchy topic of “smart home delays.”
Given that the Internet of Things has become the biggest growth driver for semiconductors, the electronics industry’s love affair with IoT won’t be breaking up anytime soon. Except maybe with the whole idea of smart homes.
Some chip vendors are finally acknowledging – publicly – what we’ve suspected all along:
IoT is great for businesses angling to benefit from big data collection. But, really, what’s in it for us, the lowly consumers?
I’ve been through the hype cycle for connected thermostats, smart lighting and connected door bells.
Still, he raises a legitimate issue about smart homes. Beyond giving consumers the ability to turn lights on and off via smartphones, what else is there? “A lot of players [in the IoT space] overlooked the consumer experience,” Noel noted.
15 connected devices on 7 apps
He talked about a colleague — let’s call him Bob — who spent his own money to install 15 devices for his so-called smart home. These gadgets ranged from a smart thermostat to smart lights, intelligent door locks and high-IQ security cameras.
Each one ran on a different app. So Bob ended up juggling, on his smartphone, “seven different apps,” from Apple’s Homekit to Samsung’s SmartThings to control 15 connected IoT devices.
The end result? You guessed it. One frustrated spouse married to a geek husband who outsmarted himself.
Each connected device must go through a commissioning process in the home network. Bob was surprised to find out that each smart lightbulb he installed lit up in the sequence in which he had screwed it in.
Finding out your so-called smart home is not so smart after all would be a huge letdown for most consumers, especially after spending some 40 hours in installation (in the case of Bob).
Hackers getting aggressive
It turns out concerns expressed by 47 percent of consumers who cited “privacy risk/security concerns” as a barrier to IoT adoption in the Accenture report released earlier this year reflect verifiable problems.
Look no further than a series of attacks on the Internet’s infrastructure last month, causing shutdowns in major services such as Twitter, Spotify and PayPal for many users around the world.
Noel said, “Two years ago, people [developing IoT devices] didn’t think about security.”
Hackers are becoming more aggressive. We now know that an army of vulnerable gadgets took down the Web. More important, hackers don’t need to be highly skilled to replicate attacks. They can mimic and piggyback on other hackers’ work
Noel went on, “By the end of 2015, security researchers found with the help of Censys (a public search engine that enables researchers to quickly ask questions about the hosts and networks that compose the Internet.) that lazy manufacturers of home routers and IoT devices have been reusing the same set of hard-coded cryptographic keys, leaving around 3 million of IoT devices open to mass hijacking.”
Attack surfaces on IoT devices are many. Hackers can remotely attack the connection between Internet and service providers. They can scan the link and install malware. Impersonating IoT gateways or cloud service, or brute force credential guessing are certainly possible
Once inside the connected home, hackers can make physical attacks on IoT devices through key extraction or reverse engineering. Eavesdropping, sniffing, spoofing and replay injections, for example, can enable local attacks.
The results include stolen data, denial of service, physical malfunctions and even system hijacks and ransoming, the NXP executive explained.
Completely unexploited
In designing an IoT device, “You need to start with zero assumptions,” stressed Noel.
It’s not as though no tools exist to prevent some hacking on each application. There are also programming tools to detect bugs in software.
The hard reality is that “a lot of tools are completely unexploited,” said Noel.
But Noel acknowledged that the company is finding out IoT security to be a whole different kettle of fish.
A lot more players are participating in the open IoT ecosystem. They are operating in much more accessible, but fragmented market segments, using open API, he explained.
This wide-open world makes security for connected smart home devices a lot more challenging.
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Rebel Alliance for Internet of Things Standards
http://hackaday.com/2016/11/21/a-rebel-alliance-for-internet-of-things-standards/
Back when the original Internet, the digital one, was being brought together there was a vicious standards war. The fallout from the war fundamentally underpins how we use the Internet today, and what’s surprising is that things didn’t work out how everyone expected. The rebel alliance won, and when it comes to standards, it turns out that’s a lot more common than you might think.
Looking back the history of the Internet could have been very different. In the mid eighties the OSI standards were the obvious choice.
In fact by the early nineties the dominance of TCP/IP was almost complete. In January of 1991 the British academic backbone network, called JANET (which was based around X.25 colored book protocols), established a pilot project to host IP traffic on the network. Within ten months the IP traffic had exceeded the levels of X.25 traffic, and IP support became official in November.
This of course wasn’t the first standards battle, history is littered with innumerable standards that have won or lost. It also wasn’t the last the Internet was to see. By the mid noughties SOAP and XML were seen as the obvious way to build out the distributed services we all, at that point, already saw coming. Yet by the end of the decade SOAP and XML were in heavy retreat. RESTful services and JSON, far more lightweight and developer friendly than their heavyweight counterparts, had won.
Yet, depending on which standards body you want to listen to, ECMA or the IETF, JSON only became a standard in 2013, or 2014
The Standardization of IoT
Right now there’s a new standards body or alliance, pushing their own standards or groups of standards, practically every month or so. And of course there are companies, Samsung for instance, that belong to more than one of these alliances. I think it’s unlikely that these bodies will create a single standard to rule them all, not least because many Internet of Things devices are incapable of speaking TCP/IP.
These bodies also move slowly. Despite the fact that the member companies live on Internet time, no standards body does. The “rough consensus and running code” of the IETF era will not be replicated by today’s standards bodies. Made up of companies, not people, they’re not capable. Instead that consensus will be built outside of the existing standards bodies, not inside them.
We’re Stuck in the Unknown
No one really knows how this is going to shake out right now, and obviously the outcome of that standards battle, which I think is going to take at least a decade, will have a fundamental influence on the path our technology takes.
Beyond that, architectures that stand a chance of making the next generation of Internet of Things devices work needs to deal with selective sharing of data; both sharing of subsets of data from individual things, or a superset from multiple things. Right now we’re seeing those emerging proto-standards in interesting ways. For a brief period of time it looked like Twitter was going to become a protocol. It could, in fact, have been the protocol.
Back in 2010, Twitter proposed something called ‘annotations,’ it was an experimental project where you could attach 1kb of JSON to each tweet. Annotations could be strings of text, a URL, a location tag, or arbitrary bits of data. It would have fundamentally changed the way Twitter operated.
It could, in other words, have become the backbone network — a message bus.
Building something like this is really hard, a classic social network chicken and egg proposition. But Twitter already had the users
Perhaps they dropped the idea because they could see, not it failing, but it being too successful.
As with Everything: IoT as a Service
Right now perhaps the easiest way to get one Internet of Things device to talk to another isn’t a standard, it’s a service. Right now the standard Internet of Things messaging bus belongs to one company, and that company is IFTTT. “If This Then That” is currently one of the few ways that consumers can get the incompatible things in their life to talk to one another. For someone building a device, that doesn’t come cheaply.
The standards for the Internet of Things will be a rebellion against the standards bodies. It will be developers deciding that what they’re doing is good enough for now
Tomi Engdahl says:
Talking Turkey about IoT Security
http://www.securityweek.com/talking-turkey-about-iot-security
What’s worse than having to cook a Thanksgiving turkey? How about being forced to relegate the poor bird—or pieces of it—to a crock pot after discovering that your net-connected oven and wireless meat thermometer have both been hacked by crazy Cousin Constantine?
For those who really don’t want to miss any of the game, there are wireless grill thermometers. They will transmit the progress of your cooking straight to your phone. Yippee! And then not. These devices often run the powerful Linux operating system and, if poorly secured, a hacker could use the device to perform a man-in-the-middle attack. In other words, basically to pretend to be your WiFi and steal data from your connections.
There isn’t always an assessment of what bringing one into a household could mean in the grander scheme of things.
As a colleague recently said to me, “Wait until app developers realize they can post things like, I just saw what you did in the living room. Pay $9.99 to delete it.”
The underlying IoT security message is that there is a lot of inconsistency in terms of the quality and security of devices on the markets. People are buying products like the connected meat thermometer, thinking it’s a great idea, but not realizing that the thing could be lying to them
If you live in a networked house, you may love how Amazon Alexa turns your lights on and off. But what if she were to, without your command, turn down your oven, crank up the heat, or freeze Sonos on a never-ending loop of “Let It Go”?
Turns out Internet-connected home appliances, while offering convenience, can also be real party poopers. They are susceptible not only to hacks (if connected to your smartphone, your Gmail credentials might be easy prey), but also hijacks.
A general lack of security awareness amongst consumers and manufacturers—coupled with an absence of rudimentary security features on connected home devices—can add up to serious issues for users. For instance, let’s say you plug in your new cat cam or baby monitor.
What’s worse, sometimes users aren’t even given a choice. For example, in the recent case where webcams and DVRs were used to launch a DDoS attack against Dyn to disrupt service to Twitter and other companies
Another possible entry point? A poorly secured, open WiFi connection.
Let’s give thanks. To the fact that good home Internet hygiene is within the grasp of anyone. Start with the basic stuff:
• Be thoughtful. Think about your exposure.
• Don’t leave your WiFi open.
• Use proper encrypted protocols (HTTPS, SSH, etc.) over your WiFi (or wired) network.
• Change your modem’s default password; update your modem’s firmware.
• Change your printer login password.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cisco Fog Computing Solutions: Unleash the Power of the Internet of Things
https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en_us/solutions/trends/iot/docs/computing-solutions.pdf
Connect things. Analyze and act on the data they produce in milliseconds. Then send the right data to the cloud for big-data analytics and storage
The Internet of Things (IoT) speeds up awareness and response to events. It’s transforming whole industries, including manufacturing, oil and gas, utilities, transportation, public safety, and local government.
But the IoT requires a new kind of infrastructure. The cloud by itself can’t connect and analyze data from thousands and millions of different kinds of things spread out over large areas. Capturing the power of the IoT requires a solution that can:
● Connect new kinds of things to your network. Some of them might be in harsh environments. Others might communicate using industrial protocols, not IP.
● Secure the things that produce data. And secure the data as it travels from the network edge to the cloud. This requires a combination of physical security and cybersecurity.
● Handle an unprecedented volume, variety, and velocity of data. Billions of previously unconnected devices are generating more than two exabytes of data each day. Sending all of it to the cloud for analysis and storage is not practical. Plus, in the time it takes to send data to the cloud for analysis, the opportunity to act on it might be gone.
Cisco® Fog computing solutions meet all of these requirements.
Choose from a wide variety of fog nodes to connect your IoT devices. Options include Cisco routers, switches, wireless access points, and video surveillance cameras, and Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) servers.
All Cisco fog nodes have converged compute, networking, and storage, which simplifies management and reducespower and space requirements. You can develop and enhance IoT applications in the cloud, and then deploy them to run in the cloud a nd in the fog. The same application can run on different kinds of fog nodes without modifications.
Fog Computing and the Internet of Things: Extend the Cloud to Where the Things Are
https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en_us/solutions/trends/iot/docs/computing-overview.pdf
The Internet of Things (IoT) is generating an unprecedented volume and variety of data. But by the time the data makes its way to the cloud for analysis, the opportunity to act on it might be gone. This white paper, intended for IT and operational technology professionals, explains a new model for analyzing and acting on IoT data. It is called either edge computing or Fog computing:
● Analyzes the most time-sensitive data at the network edge, close to where it is generated instead of
sending vast amounts of IoT data to the cloud.
● Acts on IoT data in milliseconds, based on policy.
● Sends selected data to the cloud for historical analysis and longer-term storage
Tomi Engdahl says:
The edge of the IoT
https://www.oreilly.com/ideas/the-edge-of-the-iot
As the Internet of Things grows ever larger, data analysis and decision-making will have to localize—shifting from the cloud to the edge.
The edge of the IoT is where the action is. It includes a wide array of sensors, actuators, and devices—those system end-points that interact with and communicate real-time data from smart products and services.
By 2020, it’s projected there will be anywhere from 25 to 50 billion1 Things2 connected to the IoT—that’s up to seven connected Things for every person on planet Earth. On our way to this milestone, we can anticipate that these billions of connected objects will generate data volume far in excess of what can easily be processed and analyzed in the cloud, due to issues like limited bandwidth and network latency (among others).
Living on the Edge
Edge computing or fog computing—a paradigm championed by some of the biggest IoT technology players, including Cisco, IBM, and Dell—represents a shift in architecture in which intelligence is pushed from the cloud to the edge, localizing certain kinds of analysis and decision-making. Edge computing enables quicker response times, unencumbered by network latency, as well as reduced traffic, selectively relaying the appropriate data to the cloud.
Learning Path
Programming the Internet of Things
This Learning Path introduces you to Raspberry Pi, Arduino, and other practical technologies that the Internet of Things is built on.
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Regardless of whether system intelligence is ultimately located in the cloud or the fog or some hybrid of the two, development for the Internet of Things requires technologists to have a clear understanding of edge architecture and how information is both gathered from devices and communicated.
An Abstract Edge Architecture Model
While specific solutions—from smart homes to smart grids to smart factories—may have their own unique variations, for the purpose of discussion, let’s abstract a basic edge architecture that describes the key elements.