According to Intel IoT is expected to be a multi-trillion-dollar market, with 50 billion devices creating 44 zettabytes (or 44 trillion gigabytes) of data annually by 2020. But that widely cited 50 billion IoT devices in 2020 number is clearly not correct! Forecast of 50 Billion Devices by 2020 Is Outdated. In 2017 we should be talking about about some sensible numbers. The current count is somewhere between Gartner’s estimate of 6.4 billion (which doesn’t include smartphones, tablets, and computers), International Data Corporation’s estimate of 9 billion (which also excludes those devices), and IHS’s estimate of 17.6 billion (with all such devices included). Both Ericsson and Evans have lowered their expectations from 50 billion for 2020: Evans, who is now CTO of Stringify, says he expects to see 30 billion connected devices by then, while Ericsson figures on 28 billion by 2021.
Connectivity and security will be key features for Internet of Things processors in 2017. Microcontroller (MCU) makers will continue to target their products at the Internet of Things (IoT) in 2017 by giving more focus on battery life, more connectivity of various types, and greater security. The new architectures are almost sure to spawn a multitude of IoT MCUs in 2017 from manufacturers who adopt ARM’s core designs.
ARM will be big. Last year, ARM’s partners shipped 15 billion chips based on its architectures. The trend toward IoT processors will go well beyond ARM licensees. Intel rolled out the Intel Atom E3900 Series for IoT applications. And do not forget MIPS an RISC-V.
FPGA manufacturers are pushing their products to IoT market. They promise that FPGAs solve challenges at the core of IoT implementation: making IoT devices power efficient, handling incompatible interfaces, and providing a processing growth path to handle the inevitable increase in device performance requirement.
Energy harvesting field will become interesting in 2017 as it is more broadly adopted. Energy harvesting is becoming the way forward to help supplement battery power or lose the need for it altogether. Generally researchers are eyeing energy-harvesting to power ultra-low-power devices, wearable technology, and other things that don’t need a lot of power or don’t come in a battery-friendly form factor.
Low power wide area networks (LPWA) networks (also known as NarrowBand IoT) will be hot in 2017. There is hope that f LPWA nets will act as a catalyst, changing the nature of the embedded and machine-to-machine markets as NB-IoT focuses specifically on indoor coverage, low cost, long battery life, and enabling a large number of connected devices. The markets will become a kind of do-it-yourselfers paradise of modules and services, blurring the lines between vendors, users and partners. At the same time for years to come, the market for low power wide area networks (LPWA) will be as fragmented and is already in a race to the bottom (Sigfox, said to be promising costs approaching $1 per node per year). Competing technologies include Sigfox, LoRa Alliance, LTE Cat 1, LTE Cat M1 (eMTC), LTE Cat NB1 (NB-IoT) and other sub-gigahertz options almost too numerous to enumerate.
We are starting to see a battle between different IoT technologies, and in few years to come we will see which are winners and which technologies will be lost in the fight. Sigfox and Lora are currently starting well, but telecom operators with mobile networks NB-IoT will try hit the race heavily in 2017. Vendors prep Cat M1, NB1 for 2017: The Cat M1 standard delivers up to 380 Kbits/second over a 1.4 MHz channel. NB-1 handles up to 40 Kbits/s over 200 kHz channels. Vendors hope the 7-billion-unit installed base of cellular M2M modules expands. It’s too early to tell which technologies will be mainstream and which niche. It could be that cellular NB-IOT was too late, it will fail in the short term, it can win in the long term, and the industry will struggle to make any money from it. At $2 a year, 20 billion devices will contribute around 4% of current global mobile subscription revenues.
New versions of communication standards will be taken into use in 2017. For example Bluetooth 5 that adds more speed and IoT functionality. In 2017, we will see an increase in the number of devices with the new Bluetooth 5 standard.
Industrial IoT to gain traction in 2017. Industrial applications ultimately have the greater transformative potential than consumer products, offering users real returns on investment (ROI) rather than just enhanced convenience or “cool factor”. But the industrial sector is conservative and has been slow to embrace an industrial IoT (IIoT), but is seems that they are getting interested now. During the past year there has been considerable progress in removing many of the barriers to IIoT adoption. A global wide implementation of an IIoT is many years away, of course. The issues of standards and interoperability will most likely remain unresolved for several years to come, but progress is being made. The Industrial Internet Consortium released a framework to support development of standards and best practices for IIoT security.
The IIoT market is certainly poised to grow. A Genpact research study, for instance, indicates that more than 80% of large companies believe that the IIoT will be essential to their future success. In a recent market analysis by Industry ARC, for instance, the projected value of the IIoT market will reach more than $120 billion by 2021. Research firm Markets and Markets is even more optimistic, pegging IIoT growth at a CAGR of 8% to more than $150 billion by 2020. And the benefits will follow. By GE’s estimate, the IIoT will stimulate an increase in the global GDP of $10 to $15 trillion over the next 20 years.
Systems integrators are seeking a quick way to enter the industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) market. So expect to see many plug and play IoT sensor systems unveiled. There were many releses in 2016, and expect to see more in 2017. Expect to see device, connectivity and cloud service to be marketed as one packet.
IoT analytics will be talked a lot in 2017. Many companies will promise to turn Big Data insights into bigger solutions. For industrial customers Big Data analytics is promised to drive operational efficiencies, cut costs, boosting production, and improving worker productivity. There are many IIoT analytic solution and platform suppliers already on the market and a growing number of companies are now addressing industrial analytics use.
In 2016 it was all bout getting the IoT devices connected to cloud. In 2017 we will see increased talk about fog computing. Fog computing is new IoT trend pushed by Cisco and many other companies. As the Internet of Things (IoT) evolves, decentralized, distributed-intelligence concepts such as “fog computing” are taking hold to address the need for lower latencies, improved security, lower power consumption, and higher reliability. The basic premise of fog computing is classic decentralization whereby some processing and storage functions are better performed locally instead of sending data all the way from the sensor, to the cloud, and back again to an actuator. This demands smarter sensors and new wireless sensor network architectures. Groups such as the Open Fog Consortium have formed to define how it should best be done. You might start to want to be able to run the same code in cloud and your IoT device.
The situation in IoT security in 2016 was already Hacking the IoT: As Bad As I Feared It’d Be and there is nothing that would indicate that the situation will not get any better in 2017. A veritable army of Internet-connected equipment has been circumvented of late, due to vulnerabilities in its hardware, software or both … “smart” TVs, set-top boxes and PVRs, along with IP cameras, routers, DSL, fiber and cable modems, printers and standalone print servers, NASs, cellular hot spots, and probably plenty of other gear. IoT world at the moment is full of vulnerable devices, and it will take years to get then replaces with more secure devices. Those vulnerable devices can be used to make huge DDoS attacks against Internet services. The 2016 October 21 cyberattacks on Dyn brought to light how easily many IoT devices can be compromised. I expect that kind of incidents will happen more in 2017 as DDoS botnets are pretty easy to build with tools available on-line. There’s no question that everyone in the chain – manufacturers, retailers and consumers – have to do a better job securing connected devices.When it comes to IoT, more security is needed.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
IIoT’s emergence just a matter of when
http://www.controleng.com/single-article/iiots-emergence-just-a-matter-of-when/c7543914730e885dc26da626d3b9a25d.html
The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) will continue to grow as more investments are made and technology and skills continue to develop.
This will be remembered as the year that the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) grew up. After so many years of predictions, distractions and industry coaxing, IIoT arrived in 2017. As I look at developments across the industry I see more and more IIoT strategies in progress, with investments being made in infrastructure, technology and skills, and exciting returns being reported on initial projects.
Just as significantly, I see vendors and other industry experts coalescing to build end-to-end solutions that will make IIoT easier to deploy and quicker to yield a return. With so many positive developments, I’m confident IIoT will lie at the heart of every manufacturing facility in 10 years’ time.
My optimism is underscored by a recent survey of 200 manufacturing executives conducted by KRC Research for Honeywell in which nearly 70% of respondents said they plan to invest additional resources in IIoT and data analytics technology in 2017.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Siri Controls Your PC Through Python and Gmail
http://hackaday.com/2017/04/27/how-to-use-siri-to-control-your-pc/
Voice-based assistants are becoming more common on devices these days. Siri is known for being particularly good at responding to natural language and snarky responses. In comparison, Google’s Assistant is only capable of the most obvious commands, and this writer isn’t even sure Microsoft’s Cortana can understand English at all. So it makes sense then, if you want voice control for your PC, to choose Siri as your weapon of choice. [Sanjeet] is here to help, enabling Siri to control a PC through Python.
The first step is hooking up the iPhone’s Notes app to a Gmail account. [Sanjeet] suggests using a separate account for security reasons, as you’ll need to place the username and password in a Python script. The Python script checks the Gmail account every second, looking for new Notes from the iPhone. Then, it’s as simple as telling Siri to make a Note (for example, “Siri, Note shutdown”) and the Python script can then pick up the command, and act accordingly.
Using Siri to control your computer
https://thereallycoolstuff.wordpress.com/2017/02/26/using-siri-to-control-your-computer/
First, you will need a gmail account. I suggest creating a new one, for security issues, as you will have to add your username and password to a simple python script.
The script basically checks for new Notes, every second, after logging into the new gmail account and as you can create a Note with Siri which syncs with your gmail account, you can get the Siri commands on your computer.
That’s it! Just run the script and enjoy controlling your computer using Siri. Here are the commands:
“Note shutdown”
“Note search (whatever you want)”
“Note chrome”
“Note notepad”
“Note logoff”
Of course, you could also create your own commands by just editing the voicecommands and shellcommands array.
Also, I suggest renaming file extension to .pyw, after checking that it runs smoothly. This is so that the horrible black console doesn’t appear when running the script.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Introducing the Google Assistant SDK
https://developers.googleblog.com/2017/04/introducing-google-assistant-sdk.html?m=1
Today, we’re taking another step towards building out that ecosystem by introducing the developer preview of the Google Assistant SDK. With this SDK you can now start building your own hardware prototypes that include the Google Assistant, like a self-built robot or a voice-enabled smart mirror. This allows you to interact with the Google Assistant from any platform.
The Google Assistant SDK includes a gRPC API, a Python open source client that handles authentication and access to the API, samples and documentation. The SDK allows you to capture a spoken query, for example “what’s on my calendar”, pass that up to the Google Assistant service and receive an audio response. And while it’s ideal for prototyping on Raspberry Pi devices, it also adds support for many other platforms.
https://developers.google.com/assistant/sdk/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wall Street Journal:
The annual revenue of the semiconductor industry is estimated to have doubled since 2003 to $352B, driven by the proliferation of connected devices and big data
In the Chips: Tech’s Sleeping Giant Becomes a $352 Billion Cash Cow
https://www.wsj.com/articles/chips-ahoy-techs-sleeping-giant-becomes-a-352-billion-cash-cow-1493217440?mod=e2tw
The proliferation of connected devices and big data is handing new clout to chip makers, as a flood of demand pushes up prices
Tomi Engdahl says:
Radio and controller in the same enclosure
Microchip’s new SAM R30 is a good option. It is a system circuitry that has a combined processor and 802.15.4 radio in the same enclosure.
Microchip agrees that the circuit will operate on battery power for several years. The SAM L21 controller is based on the ARM Cortex M0 + core, which is powered by only 500 nanoamperes.
The circuit operates in the 769-935 megahertz range. It is possible to implement a network based on devices or then based on star or mesh topology. Microchip offers a free MiWi network protocol. The Mesh stack is due later this year.
According to Microchip, the SAM R30 circuit is ideal for connecting street lights or wind and solar power plants to the intelligent grid.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/6241-radio-ja-ohjain-samassa-kotelossa
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Awair Glow is a nightlight that senses – and reacts to – bad air
https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/28/the-awair-glow-is-a-nightlight-that-senses-and-reacts-to-bad-air/?ncid=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29&utm_content=FaceBook&sr_share=facebook
Glow is a small plugin nightlight that connects to an iOS or Android
The device is quite compact – it’s about as big as a Glade plugin – and can sense temperature, humidity, CO2, and “chemicals.” Once it reaches a certain threshold you can activate a built-in plug that can, in turn, start up a humidifier, a fan, or any other home appliance.
The best thing about this device is that it makes dumb things smart.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lily Hay Newman / Wired:
Cloudflare announces Orbit, a security solution for IoT devices
A Clever Plan to Secure the Internet of Things Could Still Have Big Drawbacks
https://www.wired.com/2017/04/clever-plan-fix-iot-security-still-drawbacks/
The Internet of Things security crisis continues apace. New botnets crop up to conscript routers and security cameras, hackers exploit medical devices to compromise entire hospital networks, and smart toys still creep on kids. Internet infrastructure company Cloudflare, though, has spent the last 18 months working on a fix.
Cloudflare’s traditional offerings range from content delivery to DDoS defense, but today it’s announcing a service called Orbit, which it conceives as a new layer of defense for IoT. It has the potential to make connected devices more secure than ever—but also raises a few questions in the process.
A VPN for IoT
Instead of focusing on patches and protections on individual devices, Orbit provides a sort of tunnel that they can automatically use to access the internet. Think of it as a VPN between IoT devices and the internet.
“The traffic to and from [IoT devices] will pass through Cloudflare’s global network. The idea is we’ll patch it in place,” says Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince. “What sits behind us might still be vulnerable, but it buys some time for the software developer or the hardware developer to get the patch itself right and for people to apply that patch over time. So it’s an additional layer of security.”
Cloudflare will offer multiple data security options (from IP verification up to full cryptographic connection signing) to ensure that data moving through the security layer is protected. The company adds that it doesn’t keep data logs.
Orbit has already attracted at least one high-profile client in Qualcomm, along with the smart lock company Lockitron, and the industrial control company Swift Sensors. The service doesn’t replace firmware updates and other important endpoint protections (security on individual units), but should provide some structure to an out-of-control security climate. Many IoT companies simply don’t have a solid grasp on security; partnering with Cloudflare at least gives a measure of protection. One fear might be that companies will rely on Orbit as a panacea, but given that the alternative too often constitutes no investment in security at all, any protective step could be an improvement.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Logs For A Toilet
http://hackaday.com/2017/04/29/logs-for-a-toilet/
The Internet of Things, as originally envisioned in papers dating to the early to mid-90s, is a magical concept. Wearable devices would report your location, health stats, and physiological information to a private server. Cameras in your shower would tell your doctor if that mole is getting bigger. Your car would monitor the life of your cabin air filter and buy a new one when the time arrived. Nanobots would become programmable matter, morphing into chairs, houses, and kitchen utensils. A ubiquity of computing would serve humans as an unseen hive mind. It was paradise, delivered by ever smaller computers, sensors, and advanced robotics.
The future didn’t turn out like we planned. While the scientists and engineers responsible for asking how they could make an Internet-connected toaster oven, no one was around to ask why anyone would want that. At least we got a 3Com Audrey out of this deal.
Fast forward to today and we learn [Christopher Hiller] just put his toilet on the Internet. Why is he doing this? Even he doesn’t know, but it does make for a great ‘logs from a toilet’ pun.
I Put My Toilet On The Internet
Logging Flushes to the Cloud
https://hackaday.io/project/13336-i-put-my-toilet-on-the-internet
Using a float switch, flushing my toilet will publish an event to Particle. This triggers a web hook on Losant, which updates a dashboard.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Simon Says learn Pi and IoT
This project provides hardware and software to learn/teach electronics and coding
https://hackaday.io/project/20862-simon-says-learn-pi-and-iot
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel® Ultimate Coder Challenge for IoT: What is Team Vaidya* Up to Now?
https://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2016/12/13/intel-ultimate-coder-challenge-for-iot-what-is-team-vaidya-up-to-now?utm_campaign=IHI-IoT-Broad-Q1_17&utm_medium=Syndication&utm_source=Taboola&utm_content=&utm_term=&&utm_term=aol-techcrunch&utm_content=Intel®+Coder+Challenge+Winners+Take+Healthcare+to+Rural+Areas+with+IoT
Team IoT Vaidya captured Grand Prize in the competition with their Cognitive Healthcare System for Rural Areas. The project enabled patients from remote areas with access to a medical diagnostic monitoring system, utilizing an IoT solution which feeds data to the cloud for analysis and diagnosis.
The aim for Team Vaidya was to help communities and rural areas access healthcare. The reality is that the team found support in other types of communities to see their project come to life.
https://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2016/07/24/intel-ultimate-coder-challenge-2016-team-update-iot-vaidya
Tomi Engdahl says:
5 open source dashboard tools for visualizing data
Trying to communicate lots of complex data points quickly?
https://opensource.com/business/16/11/open-source-dashboard-tools-visualizing-data?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY
Tomi Engdahl says:
Monit’s smart diaper sensor lets parents avoid the sniff test
https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/30/monit/?ncid=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29&utm_content=FaceBook&sr_share=facebook
Korean startup Monit’s new Bluetooth sensor wants to make sniff tests a thing of the past by alerting parents as soon as their baby’s diaper is soiled. Later on, the sensor can be turned into a portable air quality and temperature monitor, extending its usefulness.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Honey, When Did We Get an Indoor Pool?
http://hackaday.com/2017/05/01/honey-when-did-we-get-an-indoor-pool/
Is it too much to ask for a home to have a little ‘smart’ built-in? If you’ve ever woken up (or come home) to your dwelling being flooded, you’ll know how terrible it feels, how long it can take to recover from, and how stressful it can be.
[David] took progressively complex measures to prevent a broken water feed flood from happening in the future. First, he lined the entire floor of his laundry closet with a steel tray. OK, that’s a good start but won’t prevent another disaster unless it is caught very quickly. How about a simple audible water alarm? That’s good and all if you’re home, but what if you’re not?
Next, he installed a valve with a mechanical timer on the water line for the washing machine which closes automatically after 2 hours of being opened.
How to Protect Your House From Water Leaks—Without the Internet of Things
http://spectrum.ieee.org/at-work/education/how-to-protect-your-house-from-water-leakswithout-the-internet-of-things
An Arduino and a few modifications to off-the-shelf equipment are all you need to guard against plumbing disasters
So I set about putting together my own flood-prevention system.
It wasn’t difficult because, well…I cheated. Instead of building the whole kit and caboodle from scratch, I decided to modify an inexpensive wireless alarm (US $29). This accepts radio signals from various kinds of sensors that transmit on 433 megahertz. For my house, I deployed four water sensors ($20 each) at strategic locations around my house.
The only other component I needed to purchase was a motorized ball valve ($67), which I had a plumber install when he was visiting to fix the water heater.
So all I needed to do was to make the wireless alarm trigger the motorized valve.
The 12-V wall wart powers the wireless alarm and the LM317, which I configured to output about 9 V, which then supplies the Arduino. I used the LM317 to drop the supply voltage, because while it’s acceptable to feed 12 V directly to an Arduino, the onboard regulator gets uncomfortably hot.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Watch a demo of PoE-enabled ceiling fans
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2017/04/nuleds-poe-enabled-ceiling-fans.html?cmpid=enl_cim_cimdatacenternewsletter_2017-05-01
All the ceiling fans are powered and controlled by the NuLEDs SPICEbox, which the company explains is a PoE control module that delivers power and management capabilities to LED fixtures. “Each SPICEbox is a network device with a unique MAC address and IP address,” NuLEDs says on its website. “SPICEboxes have multi-channel control for separate lighting loads, including color mixing. A SPICEbox can serve as a sensor host for wall switches, PIR [passive infrared] sensors, ambient light sensors, or other sensors.” In addition to the LED lights and ceiling fans, Lisa explains, PoE enables the building’s window actuators, skylight actuators, and exit lights.
SPICEbox communicates with the ceiling fans’ control modules, directing the speed (in rotations per minute) at which the fans should operate. The narrator points out that all the fans are spinning in unison.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to Secure IoT Devices with Nucleus File System
https://www.mentor.com/embedded-software/resources/overview/how-to-secure-iot-devices-with-nucleus-file-system-6a68ef6a-57c0-4b53-8724-419d89b4cda1?contactid=1&PC=L&c=2017_04_27_esd_newsletter_update_v4
Digital technologies such as the burgeoning IoT and cognitive computing are creating significant change across the embedded systems landscape. The need for secure connectivity and computationally intensive applications within a modern connected device will only continue to grow. With these demands, Nucleus RTOS brings a new feature to the embedded forefront. Called Nucleus File Integrity, this new capability helps to protect data on the network and on the actual device.
How to Build Security Into Your IoT Wearable Device
https://www.mentor.com/embedded-software/resources/overview/how-to-build-security-into-your-iot-wearable-device-f6cb081f-62c6-44d3-a36b-5d69d6307bd3?contactid=1&PC=L&c=2017_04_27_esd_newsletter_update_v4
In today’s connected world, IoT wearable devices should be built from the ground up to include basic, fundamental security capabilities.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Week In Review: IoT
SENSORO pulls in $18M; Mentor is Azure-certified; ST offers IoT kit.
http://semiengineering.com/the-week-in-review-iot-50/
Mentor, a Siemens Business, joined Microsoft Azure Certified for Internet of Things, offering the Nucleus real-time operating system and the Yocto Project-based Mentor Embedded Linux platform, among other embedded products, software, and hardware.
ABB and IBM will collaborate on Industrial IoT technology, combining ABB Ability with IBM Watson IoT, providing artificial intelligence and machine learning technology for the factory floor and the electrical power grid.
Mocana this week introduced its IoT Security Developer Kit, which combines its IoT security software modules with an Infineon Technologies OPTIGA Trusted Platform Module. The Mocana IoT Developers Kit is customized for the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B development board
Tomi Engdahl says:
IuT ! IoT
http://hackaday.com/2017/05/01/iut-iot/
Let’s build the Internet of USEFUL Things, not just the Internet of Things. IuT ! IoT
There is no doubt that the future is connected. It has been our future since the advent of the telegraph, and we’re unarguably becoming more connected at a faster rate. The phone in your hand, pocket, or bag connects you to the bulk of human knowledge. But it doesn’t yet connect you to very many “things”. It won’t be that way for long.
Already we’ve seen cameras (security, baby monitor, and everything in between) appear as some of the earliest connected devices, and they’ve brought with them all of the unintended consequences of poorly secured computer gear connected to the wider Internet. At least remote cameras have a purpose; there have been more than enough product launches for things that don’t. Our go-to counter-example is the Internet-connected toaster which is the topic of our wonderful art from Joe Kim this morning. Who needs to toast remotely? Nobody.
Let’s Invent the IoT
Tomi Engdahl says:
Home Alarms Ring Up Sales
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1331669&
Alarm systems are becoming more valuable as products expand to include detection of fire, carbon monoxide and water leaks, as well as home automation features such as smart plugs, locks, cameras, lighting and thermostat control.
The number of monitored alarm systems in Europe is forecast to grow from 8.7 million in 2016 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.0 percent to reach 10.6 million in 2021, according to a new research report by Berg Insight. In North America, the number of monitored alarm systems is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 2.9 percent from 32.1 million at the end of 2016 to 37.1 million at the end of 2021.
Small alarm systems for businesses and private homes can be divided into two main categories – local alarms and monitored alarms. The simplest type of local alarm only reacts to activation by ringing bells to scare off intruders.
A more advanced type of local alarm is a self-monitoring alarm. Upon activation, this type of alarm informs the owner of the premises by sending a text message or notification. Monitored alarms are connected to a center that can respond to an activated alarm by contacting the police or dispatching a security patrol.
Tomi Engdahl says:
7 Steps to Move Manufacturers to Industry 4.0
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1331654&
Every function and activity in manufacturing has data behind it that should be leveraged to improve processes across the organization that will help it achieve smart factory status.
Many organizations are facing the challenges that come with digital transformation. For those in manufacturing, the task is to keep pace with the fourth industrial revolution, dubbed Industry 4.0, which requires integrated and automated data and process management if they are to remain competitive.
Industry 4.0 is driving manufacturers to become a “smart factory,” according to DocLogix chairman Aurimas Bakas, where all members of the supply chain can communicate without human interaction.
Some companies may choose to deploy Microsoft SharePoint to share information, said Bakas, but as a platform, it requires them to build their own processes on top or spend money on getting outside consultants do that work. Alternatively, he said, they can buy applications targeted at specific areas of operation, such as human resources, risk management, contract management or equipment management.
DocLogix, like SharePoint, is customizable, said Baka
Tomi Engdahl says:
The False Binary of IoT and Traditional Cyber Security
http://www.securityweek.com/false-binary-iot-and-traditional-cyber-security
There’s a new challenge in cyber defense and it’s coming from everyday objects that increasingly surround us — the Internet of Things (IoT). From coffee machines and fridges to virtual assistants and video cameras, consumers are embracing a new wave of connected devices. But they seldom consider the host of unforeseen vulnerabilities that come with them.
With few regulations to hold manufacturers of connected objects accountable, these internet-enabled devices offer a direct path to often very sensitive data. Meanwhile, security teams are scrambling to cope with a threat landscape that is more complex than ever, as any device lurking on your network could be subject to sophisticated attacks — not just desktops and servers.
Most IoT devices weren’t built with security in mind. They were designed for ease-of-use and a quick time-to-market. That’s part of the appeal — IoT devices are generally cheap, useful, and simple to set up. But convenience comes at a cost.
Tomi Engdahl says:
7 Steps to Move Manufacturers to Industry 4.0
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1331654&
Every function and activity in manufacturing has data behind it that should be leveraged to improve processes across the organization that will help it achieve smart factory status.
Many organizations are facing the challenges that come with digital transformation. For those in manufacturing, the task is to keep pace with the fourth industrial revolution, dubbed Industry 4.0, which requires integrated and automated data and process management if they are to remain competitive.
Industry 4.0 is driving manufacturers to become a “smart factory,” according to DocLogix chairman Aurimas Bakas, where all members of the supply chain can communicate without human interaction.
Some companies may choose to deploy Microsoft SharePoint to share information, said Bakas, but as a platform, it requires them to build their own processes on top or spend money on getting outside consultants do that work. Alternatively, he said, they can buy applications targeted at specific areas of operation, such as human resources, risk management, contract management or equipment management.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Home Alarms Ring Up Sales
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1331669&
Alarm systems are becoming more valuable as products expand to include detection of fire, carbon monoxide and water leaks, as well as home automation features such as smart plugs, locks, cameras, lighting and thermostat control.
The number of monitored alarm systems in Europe is forecast to grow from 8.7 million in 2016 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.0 percent to reach 10.6 million in 2021, according to a new research report by Berg Insight. In North America, the number of monitored alarm systems is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 2.9 percent from 32.1 million at the end of 2016 to 37.1 million at the end of 2021.
Small alarm systems for businesses and private homes can be divided into two main categories – local alarms and monitored alarms. The simplest type of local alarm only reacts to activation by ringing bells to scare off intruders.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Micron, Microsoft Team on IoT Security
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1331683&
Cybersecurity is one of the biggest challenges and barriers to the growth of IoT deployments, especially since digitisation and adoption of Internet protocol (IP) for sensors and devices has become increasingly pervasive.
Micron Technology has partnered with tech giant Microsoft to address the major challenge of providing trusted computing models for IoT deployments in industrial, automotive and consumer environments.
The initiative will combine Microsoft Azure IoT cloud with Micron’s Authenta technology. Essentially, the new platform utilises a hardware “root of trust” integrated into Micron’s flash memory in the IoT device along with Microsoft’s Azure IoT cloud to establish a strong trusted link between the device and the cloud.
By using Microsoft’s support of Device Identity Composition Engine (DICE), an upcoming standard from the Trusted Computing Group (TCG), the combination of the Microsoft Azure IoT cloud and Micron Authenta helps ensure that only trusted hardware gains access to the IoT cloud.
Micron, Microsoft team up to toughen IoT security
http://www.eetasia.com/news/article/micron-microsoft-team-up-to-toughen-iot-security
Cybersecurity is one of the biggest challenges and barriers to the growth of IoT deployments, especially since digitisation and adoption of Internet protocol (IP) for sensors and devices has become increasingly pervasive.
Micron Technology has partnered with tech giant Microsoft to address the major challenge of providing trusted computing models for IoT deployments in industrial, automotive and consumer environments.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Manufacturers still not embracing IIoT
http://www.controleng.com/single-article/manufacturers-still-not-embracing-iiot/a3de126cfb0bdb3e22c3fe0d52f4e0f2.html
Seven manufacturing market trends for 2017, according to IHS Markit report at Hannover Messe, include more growth and an attention shift from remote cloud-based analytics to local and edge computing.
echnology was everywhere at Hannover Messe 2017, but there still is a gap between the creation of the next generation of manufacturing production and its actual use on the plant floor.
That was one of many finding at the 2017 research presentation by IHS Markit at Hannover Messe on April 26. CFE Media was a media partner for the presentation, entitled “Smart technologies impacting industrial market dynamics.”
The IT/OT convergence remains a challenge—the ability for information technology and operations teams to find common ground on the IIoT implementation remains a stumbling block.
A preference for which team will lead IIoT implementation is equally split between engineering and IT
The C-suite is taking the lead in only 10% of respondent projects.
Centralized nature of automation products (such as DCS systems) influences decision-making process around IIoT.
“Some companies already support IIoT. Some industries have all elements for IIoT ready, but that’s more on discrete side than process side,” west said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Network integration enables Industrial Internet of Things
http://www.controleng.com/single-article/network-integration-enables-industrial-internet-of-things/031674ce07fc4075856ed7798a0dfc28.html
Control Engineering International: It’s easier to implement Industrial Internet of Things applications with network integration, data collection, visualization, and analysis, according to a Control Engineering China interview.
For Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and intelligent manufacturing, enterprises should lay a firm foundation before integrating higher levels. All plant-level equipment should be connected, and all data from connected equipment should be transmitted to a database, explained Daniel Gao, vice president of sales of Red Lion Controls Asia Pacific.
The automation company can help enterprises with interconnections in the supply chain, interaction with the web and mobile phones, and with writing data to a data center for thing-to-thing connections. Without such foundations, Gao said, it would make no sense to talk about intelligent manufacturing, IIoT, or Industrie 4.0.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Collaboration is the word at Hannover Messe
http://www.controleng.com/single-article/collaboration-is-the-word-at-hannover-messe/070ab1439760bf0552737404c4296645.html
Big names announcing big partnerships to accelerate IIoT growth to help manufacturing productivity; Mexico is announced as the 2018 Hannover Messe Partner Country.
HANNOVER, GERMANY: Collaboration seems likely to propel manufacturing productivity and ease of use with the number and type of recent announcements related to Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), especially at Hannover Messe.
Each year, the Oxford English Dictionary selects a Word of the Year that either is an existing word has taken on new meaning or has been created in the previous year. For example, the 2016 Word of the Year was “post-truth.”
Just four months into 2017, if manufacturing were to have such a recognition, the word of the year would be “collaboration.”
What already was known about the IIoT is that it will be built with pieces from a variety of hardware and software vendors, and driven by separate analytics and co-located on a series of cloud-based data platforms. What is clear from the first days at Hannover Messe 2017 is that the pace of the partnerships between these otherwise disparate companies is accelerating.
“Robots and humans can interact and make things safer and more productive,” he added. “By redefining the workforce, we are going to give them technology skills on top of skills we already have.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
In many industrial applications
IoT = Intranet of Things
Tomi Engdahl says:
Expert Says Connected Cars Need Better Software Security
Too little thought has been given to vehicle software security, and the risks are growing, says expert.
https://www.designnews.com/content/expert-says-connected-cars-need-better-software-security/146953808456649?cid=nl.x.dn14.edt.aud.dn.20170503.tst004t
Tomi Engdahl says:
Making your IoT device last longer
http://www.powerelectronicsnews.com/technology/making-your-iot-device-last-longer
Boost converters are widely utilized in consumer electronics to raise and stabilize the sagging voltage of Lithium-ion batteries under load. A new and growing consumer market is the Internet of Things (IoT), a ‘cloud’-based network of wirelessly interconnected devices that frequently include audio, video, smart home and wearable applications. The IoT trend, combined with green energy (the drive to reduce wasted power and move to renewable forms of energy generation), demands that small devices operate autonomously for long periods of time while consuming little power.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Secure Provisioning: A ‘Must Have’ for IoT Security
http://www.techonline.com/electrical-engineers/education-training/tech-papers/4458100/Secure-Provisioning-A-Must-Have-for-IoT-Security
Secure provisioning is a critical component in any security strategy.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Week In Review: IoT
SENSORO pulls in $18M; Mentor is Azure-certified; ST offers IoT kit.
http://semiengineering.com/the-week-in-review-iot-50/
Deals
Mentor, a Siemens Business, joined Microsoft Azure Certified for Internet of Things, offering the Nucleus real-time operating system and the Yocto Project-based Mentor Embedded Linux platform, among other embedded products, software, and hardware.
ABB and IBM will collaborate on Industrial IoT technology, combining ABB Ability with IBM Watson IoT, providing artificial intelligence and machine learning technology for the factory floor and the electrical power grid.
Cisco Systems unveiled a trio of new offerings to support the Industrial IoT. The company’s IE 4000 Switch line now supports time-sensitive networking technology. It introduced the Connected Asset Manager for IoT Intelligence visualization software tool. And Cisco debuted the Industrial Network Director for network management.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Connectivity, Security and the Industrial Internet of Things
http://electronics-know-how.com/article/2476/connectivity-security-and-the-industrial-internet-of-things
Embedded goes IoT: Today, a wide range of connected Embedded Systems is available on the market. And the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is driving the addition of more connected devices. But not only “Connectivity” is essential to the success of the IIoT, “Security” is critical too.
Overview:
Vortex II — The Industrial IoT Connectivity Standard
Building Secure & Reliable IoT Devices
Industrial-Grade IoT Device-to-Cloud Connectivity Platform
Real-time Data Sharing between Medical Devices in Next Generation Healthcare Systems
Global wireless connectivity for IoT
Quick IoT connectivity from specialized development kits
Tomi Engdahl says:
Vortex II — The Industrial IoT Connectivity Standard
https://www.slideshare.net/Angelo.Corsaro/vortex-ii-the-industrial-iot-connectivity-standard
The large majority of commercial IoT platforms target consumer applications and fall short in addressing the requirements characteristic of Industrial IoT.
Vortex
2.4 release sets a the a new standard!
DDS has emerged as the connectivity standard that best addresses the Connectivity, Latency, Throughput, Determinism, Security and Cost of IIoT Systems
Vortex provides different DDS implementations optimised for OT, IT and consumer platforms Each of the DDS implementation optimises usability for its target environments
Vortex Cloud is a elastic, fault-tolerant, multi-data-centre, and IaaS independent “Cloud Messaging” implementation of DDS Vortex Cloud be used to transparently integrate systems that can’t directly talk with each other because of NAT/FIREWALLS It can be used for as a very high performance Private Cloud Messaging as an alternative to Amazon SMS, SQS, or Azure
Tomi Engdahl says:
IIoT for Secure Modbus Protocol Communication
https://www.eeweb.com/news/iiot-for-secure-modbus-protocol-communication
Rohde & Schwarz Cybersecurity announced the availability of its new Modbus protocol detection and extraction capabilities provided by the deep packet inspection (DPI) engine R&S PACE 2. The DPI engine delivers Modbus content and metadata extraction and enables IT security equipment vendors to gain full visibility of Modbus protocol communication in order to detect vulnerabilities and provide protection for the IIoT.
Because Modbus-based industrial systems were designed for isolated environments, their development centers on reliability, availability, and speed – not security. Therefore, the Modbus protocol is lacking common security mechanisms such as authentication, confidentiality and integrity. This makes it inherently insecure and vulnerable to attacks.
Today’s modern conveniences such as electricity, transportation and water systems are powered by SCADA, ICS or ICS. This means that the weakness of Modbus protocol communication must be addressed.
With the new Modbus content and metadata extraction functionality, vendors of security products, such as firewalls or gateways, gain granular visibility and control of the Modbus protocol communication.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Home> Tools & Learning> Products> Product Brief
RF MCU packs sub-GHz radio
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4458344/RF-MCU-packs-sub-GHz-radio
The SAM R30 system-in-package from Microchip meets the power-conscious needs of battery-powered wirelessly connected systems, including connected home, smart city, and industrial applications. This single-chip RF microcontroller integrates an 802.15.4 sub-GHz radio, providing multi-year battery life in a compact 5×5 mm package.
Based on an energy-efficient 32-bit ARM Cortex-M0+ architecture, the SAM R30 offers ultra-low-power sleep modes with wake from GPIO, serial communication, or real-time counter. The part typically draws less than 500 nA from a 1.8 V battery supply. Able to operate within a frequency range of 769 MHz to 935 MHz
Tomi Engdahl says:
Threat Modeling the Internet of Things
http://www.securityweek.com/threat-modeling-internet-things
Interrupting the Interruption
The Internet of Things (where non-humans are the clients as well as the servers) is now on the verge of interrupting the Internet. Like the original Internet, the Internet of Things has grown somewhat organically with apparently very little consideration for security.
We have an opportunity to learn from the mistakes of the original Internet and build some security into the Internet of Things, if we act quickly.
One of the lessons that we can apply immediately is the concept of threat modeling. Threat modeling is a process fundamental to the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC), but it is a broad process that actually doesn’t have to be specific to software at all.
It’s Not Just Internet-connected Toasters
Don’t dismiss the IoT as just a consumer security problem. IoT security is critical for other sectors beyond retail. Consider:
Government: City planners are busily designing so-called smart cities replete with sensors and connectors to make services more efficient. IoT can optimize ground transportation, shipping and power for smart cities, and all of these services will be using the IoT.
Industrial: Heavy industries will monitor workers’ exposure to dangerous natural or synthetic chemicals with internet-connected sensor networks. Sensors in factories will assist with predictive maintenance and feed operational data into analytic engines. General Electric jet engines already produce terabits of data that airlines use to optimize flight paths and fuel plans.
Enterprise: The new world of soft perimeters will be complicated by the IoT. Nearly half of all new tech workers are remote employees who often work from their domiciles. Imagine their houses full of hundreds of quasi-secure IoT devices hoping to catch a ride into the corporate VPN
Let’s Fix IoT Now Before We Go Back to Space
Like the original Internet, the IoT might revolutionize everything. Unlike with the original Internet, we have an awareness about security and the opportunity to build security into the Internet of Things.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Future is Bright for Medical
http://intelligentsystemssource.com/the-future-is-bright-for-medical/
The overall healthcare market is changing in many ways, growing from $3 trillion to $4.7 trillion by 2024. The wearable devices market is expected to double by 2020. New innovation is fueling dynamic growth in this hot market segment. RTC will cover new breakthroughs in software, silicon, security, safety, wireless, health IoT and FDA regulations.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Securing Medical Devices – The Need for a Different Approach – Part 1
http://intelligentsystemssource.com/securing-medical-devices-the-need-for-a-different-approach-part-1/
problem of what to do about securing medical devices in our hospitals. Most healthcare
executives are acutely aware of the problem (to some degree at least), but very few have an effective or scalable solution at hand to address this ever-growing risk.
The problem as far as risk is concerned, is not just the growth of these standalone devices and the difficulty managing so many, but the fact
that these systems, many of which are critical to patient well-being, by and large have ALMOST NO BUILT-IN SECURITY CAPABILITY. Nor can they
be secured by standard compute endpoint tools like anti-virus / anti-malware. They are a huge vulnerability, not only to themselves, but also
to everything else attached to the network on one side of the device, and the patient on the other side.
Standalone medical devices are designed, built and FDA approved to perform a very narrow and specific function, and to do so reliably for long continuous periods of operation
What’s more, medical devices are rarely retired and withdrawn from service, which means many hospitals
are still using devices designed and built twenty years ago – at a time when Windows 95 had just been released and most of us weren’t even on
the ‘World Wide Web’ as we called it then! How could they POSSIBLY be secured and prepared to defend against the types of cyber attack we see today?
Many standalone medical devices leave the manufacturing plant with all kinds of security vulnerabilities
any of
today’s mass-produced, quick-to-market commercial devices run on Windows 9 Embedded – nothing more than a cut-down version of the hugely vulnerable and highly insecure Windows XP operating system.
Securing Medical Devices – The Need for a Different Approach – Part 2
http://intelligentsystemssource.com/securing-medical-devices-the-need-for-a-different-approach-part-2/
I suggested that he abandon entirely all thoughts of securing individual endpoints by locally hardening devices, and by disabling services
like
I suggested that he use his network as the control point rather than attempt to manage so many individual endpoints. By enabling TrustSec – a
built-in access system in his newer Cisco switches and routers, he could lock down each endpoint device whether wired or wirelessly attached
to the network, and control in a uniformed manner, which ports and protocols each device could communicate on, which users could administer
each device, and which other devices each medical device could communicate with, i.e. specifically authorized canister, gateway or clinical
information systems only…. and nothing else!
By employing ISE (Cisco Identity Services Engine) to set access policy, which would then be enforced by TrustSec,
Furthermore ISE could be used to profile each of model of medical device, such that a profile could be developed and assigned once for each
model, and applied globally across the entire enterprise of 350,000+ medical devices, thus automating security for the almost un-securable!
A large number of leading US healthcare delivery organizations are already using ISE and TrustSec to secure their medical devices, research
and intellectual property, PHI, PII and other confidential information, by security segmentation of their networks and IT systems. Many are
working towards micro-segmentation at the individual device level. Many more are using the same segmentation approach and technology to
isolate their PCI payment systems, their guest and contractor network access, and for network access quarantine to perform posture
assessments on laptops and mobile devices re-attaching to the network after being used to treat patients in the community.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Gecko Microcontrollers Get a Big Boost in Security, Memory and Peripherals
– Create Secure, Feature-Rich and Battery-Friendly IoT Devices with Silicon Labs’ New EFM32™ Jade and Pearl MCUs –
http://news.silabs.com/2017-03-14-Gecko-Microcontrollers-Get-a-Big-Boost-in-Security-Memory-and-Peripherals?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=april2017newsletter&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTWpFeU5HVmhaREJrT0dFMyIsInQiOiJnWWlqaVc2OVJkMnhYb3ZGVGMzZVJUOWtMdVBJSU41czJ6XC9nRk1aZjB6eFp1WWNxR3dxUjlYbk9OUk9TbnFiMXhhSmhKQ0RaSWY1ZStOZ2RzVFdSaEFseUs2Ryt4eEZvUmQwNllnbjlHQXprZXhaZXhib3RFYWdESVFtWXRSZ1kifQ%3D%3D
NUREMBERG, Germany, March 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — (Embedded World) – Silicon Labs (NASDAQ: SLAB) continues to enhance the EFM32™ Gecko microcontroller (MCU) family to meet the needs of embedded developers designing the next generation of secure, sophisticated IoT devices. Using Silicon Labs’ new Jade and Pearl Gecko MCUs, developers can easily add touch-control interfaces, powerful security capabilities and multiple low-power sensors to IoT devices. The new MCUs are optimized for high performance, low-energy applications and support over-the-air (OTA) updates to deployed end products.
The new MCUs offer more flash memory (up to 1024 kB with a dual-bank architecture) and RAM (up to 256 kB) than previous-generation Jade and Pearl Gecko products, making it easier to develop feature-rich embedded applications supporting real-time operating systems such as Micrium OS. The dual-bank memory architecture enables robust in-field update capabilities after product deployment.
Based respectively on ARM® Cortex®-M3 and M4 processors, the enhanced Jade and Pearl MCUs combine ultra-low active current consumption, a range of sleep mode capabilities and other architectural features to enable secure, battery-powered IoT products, as well as other embedded systems requiring high performance and low energy consumption.
Samples and production quantities of EFM32JG12 Jade Gecko and EFM32PG12 Pearl Gecko MCUs are available now in 7 mm x 7 mm QFN48 and 7 mm x 7 mm BGA125 packages. Jade Gecko pricing begins at $3.01 (USD) in 10,000-unit quantities, and Pearl Gecko 10K pricing begins at $3.39 (USD).
Tomi Engdahl says:
An Expanded IoT Role for RDK-B?
http://www.btreport.net/articles/2017/05/an-expanded-iot-role-for-rdk-b.html?cmpid=enl_btr_weekly_2017-05-04
The cable industry’s RDK-B software platform may soon underpin Internet of Things (IoT) and smart city networks. pureIntegration is working with semiconductor vendor Semtech (NASDAQ:SMTC) to develop a commercial integration of a LoRaWAN-based solution on RDK-B.
The LoRaWAN specification, from the LoRa Alliance, is a global, open standard low power wide area network (LPWAN) solution for Internet of Things (IoT) and smart city initiatives. It is intended to enable battery operated sensors and devices to communicate updates at very low data rates over long ranges and periods of time.
RDK-B is the cable industry’s Reference Design Kit software platform specifically for broadband services. The original RDK focused on video platforms such as set-top boxes; RDK-B, the broadband version, was introduced last May.
The LoRaWAN specification is one of several wireless technologies we are working with to deliver IoT and smart city solutions,
http://www.btreport.net/articles/2016/05/rdk-b-debuts-at-intx.html
LoRa Technology is a two-way wireless RF platform designed to enable LPWANs for IoT applications. Use cases include agriculture monitoring, public safety, building and infrastructure management, smart cities, asset tracking and others.
RDK Management has a new software solution available for broadband gateways, dubbed RDK-B. The original version for video set-tops is now called RDK-V.
Tomi Engdahl says:
RS Components – New wireless energy sensor for real-time monitoring of electrical assets (Schneider Electric A9MEM1541)
http://www.electropages.com/2017/05/rs-components-wireless-energy-sensor-real-time-monitoring-electrical-assets/?utm_campaign=2017-05-04-Electropages&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=article&utm_content=RS+Components+-+New+wireless+energy+sensor+for+real-time+monitoring+of+…
RS Components has announced availability of the PowerTag wireless energy sensor from Schneider Electric, which is designed to monitor MCBs and other electrical panel devices. The device delivers precise real-time data on electrical loads to building owners and facility managers, flagging up potential issues and resulting in a significant reduction in system downtime.
Ideal for installation in either new buildings or in existing panels, the device is designed to be used with Schneider’s Acti 9 Smartlink Modbus and Ethernet-based system, which is used to communicate data from Acti 9 devices to a PLC or monitoring system. In addition, PowerTag is the smallest wireless energy sensor available on the market and can easily fit into any existing panel, taking up no extra space on the DIN rail. In combination with the Acti Smartlink system, it offers a high-density metering solution that saves space and delivers smart connected circuit breakers with no change in the switchboard footprint.
The system allows switchboards to be connected with building management systems for energy monitoring and control or enables the easy addition of metering in existing switchboards for energy-efficiency compliance.
The system concentrates the data that is received wirelessly from the units and simplifies the connectivity of individual breakers within a building management system.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IoT Hero Professor Sergei Bezrukov: Seeding the Next Generation of Innovators
http://community.silabs.com/t5/Official-Blog-of-Silicon-Labs/IoT-Hero-Professor-Sergei-Bezrukov-Seeding-the-Next-Generation/ba-p/189466?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=april2017newsletter&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTWpFeU5HVmhaREJrT0dFMyIsInQiOiJnWWlqaVc2OVJkMnhYb3ZGVGMzZVJUOWtMdVBJSU41czJ6XC9nRk1aZjB6eFp1WWNxR3dxUjlYbk9OUk9TbnFiMXhhSmhKQ0RaSWY1ZStOZ2RzVFdSaEFseUs2Ryt4eEZvUmQwNllnbjlHQXprZXhaZXhib3RFYWdESVFtWXRSZ1kifQ%3D%3D
What Silicon Labs devices are you having the students use in these individual projects, and why did you pick them?
We use many Silicon Labs products, and many of them are our first-preference products. This includes low-power microcontrollers. I have intensive experience with your 8051 series and EFM32 series; they are very low power, actually the best in the market.
Other Silicon Labs products that we intensively use are various USB bridges from the CP21xx series, temperature/humidity sensors from the Si70xx series, and the Sub-1G Si44xx radios. These are really easy to handle, and I like them a lot. This year, I also introduced your Bluetooth and WiFi modules from the Blue Gecko and Wizard Gecko series in my courses, wrote several forum articles on them, and we plan new projects based on them.
Where do you see the IoT going in the next 5–8 years given your unique experience as a researcher and educator?
I think we will see a lot more simple devices will appear which are self-powered and deliver small data as needed for very specific applications. Also, more development will be done in the energy harvesting area for devices can self-power themselves from native power sources like sunlight, heat, or vibration and transmit some data wirelessly. And finally, just more wireless everything as the distance capacity for wireless transmission continues to multiply and forces designers to extend boundaries further in their problem-solving.
Tomi Engdahl says:
New Open-Source thunderboard-ble Node.js Library Available for Feedback
http://community.silabs.com/t5/Bluetooth-Wi-Fi/New-Open-Source-thunderboard-ble-Node-js-Library-Available-for/m-p/189883?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=april2017newsletter&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTWpFeU5HVmhaREJrT0dFMyIsInQiOiJnWWlqaVc2OVJkMnhYb3ZGVGMzZVJUOWtMdVBJSU41czJ6XC9nRk1aZjB6eFp1WWNxR3dxUjlYbk9OUk9TbnFiMXhhSmhKQ0RaSWY1ZStOZ2RzVFdSaEFseUs2Ryt4eEZvUmQwNllnbjlHQXprZXhaZXhib3RFYWdESVFtWXRSZ1kifQ%3D%3D#M17382
Thunderboard into a simple light-weight library.
In it’s current state, it is ideal for auto-connecting to a Thunderboard, setting up monitoring of service characteristics and normalizing measurement data into clean values.
It is by no means complete, and is a crude start … but as long as I’m using the Thunderboard, I’ll look to keep it up to date and try to make it better.
Pull requests and issues are welcome, but time is limited…so patience is requested. Hope it is helpful for someone. Enjoy =)
Check out the GitHub repo:
https://github.com/ryanrutan/thunderboard-ble
Tomi Engdahl says:
Verification And The IoT
http://semiengineering.com/verification-and-the-iot/
Experts at the Table, part 1: Application-specific verification, and why quality may vary from one market to the next; why different models are ready at different times.
SE: How big is your verification problem and how is it changing?
Lacey: It depends on the project. Some of our chips are very large node-controller chips that go into our high-end servers. Those take years to develop, and the challenges are very unique. And then we have much more power-conscious designs that may go into a media controller. Those bring their own set of requirements. We adapt for each of our projects the specific requirements of those particular chips we’re working on. Schedule and resources are other constraints that we pull in. But as we look at all of those pieces, we do try to keep consistent verification methodologies. That enables us to re-use our IP or VIP across projects. We have a substantial infrastructure that enables us to share code across projects. Our verification problem is large. The cost of silicon is increasing dramatically as you go to smaller nodes.
Lawless: Our verification problem is compounded by the schedule pressures we’re under and the expectations of getting out these processors on a faster cadence.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IIoT Grows, But So Do Risks
Things are coming together for the Industrial Internet of Things, but security is a huge and growing issue.
http://semiengineering.com/iiot-grows-but-so-do-risks/
After years of fitful progress, Industrial Internet of Things technology is gaining adoption on the factory floor, in the electrical power grid, and other areas that could do with greater amounts of data analysis and insights from a connected ecosystem.
AT&T, General Electric, IBM, Verizon Communications, and other large enterprises are actively engaging in IIoT and helping companies, big and small, implement IIoT on their own, as part of a general embrace in the Internet of Things construct, according to industry analysts and executives. But connectivity, and all that it brings, comes at a price.
Emil Berthelsen, IoT research director at Machina Research (acquired last November by Gartner), said IIoT is seeing more traction now. “It’s finally really being adopted by the enterprises that are looking at it,” he notes. “A lot of the enterprises, particularly in manufacturing industries and so on, have seen IoT almost as a direct evolution from their SCADA connections, their machine-to-machine connections, their telemetry. They’ve seen it as a nice, slow, progressive evolution, and haven’t realized until very recently the dynamics of IoT as compared to machine-to-machine [communications].”
That realization is becoming much more widespread. “They are definitely moving from what I would call the pure monitoring and remote management of machines to looking much more at the efficiencies in terms of performance and automation of the machinery itself,” said Berthelsen.
This falls into the realm of predictive maintenance, which has become one of the hot growth drivers for IIoT. Manufacturers are tying their programmable logic controllers into operational technology legacy systems, providing a point of convergence for these two worlds.
Security issues
The good and bad of this convergence is that it depends on the Internet to be effective. That makes it easy to set up and move data, but it also greatly increases security risks. Until recently most industrial operations relied almost exclusively on perimeter security. Many of them still do. In effect, that provides a well-guarded entry point into a physical industrial operation as well as its data. But when machinery—especially a control system—is connected to the Internet, that approach falls apart.
“There has never been a focus on industrial control systems for shop floor and manufacturing,” s
There is no simple formula for making this work because every industrial operation is different.
“There are two larger problems that have to be dealt with,” said Robert Lee, CEO of Dragos, and a national cybersecurity fellow at New America. “First, there are not enough security experts. There are about 500 people in the United States with security expertise in industrial control systems. There are only about 1,000 worldwide. And second, most people don’t understand the threats that are out there because they never existed in the industrial space. So what they’ve been doing is copying and pasting industrial control solutions into their ICS systems.”
Lee noted that there is no simple solution to securing IIoT systems. It requires tracking signatures, setting a baseline, identification of anomalies, and behavioral analytics. The latter piece is the most critical, because it requires a deep knowledge of an industry. “Petrochemical is different than another industry. With industrial control systems, you have to assume at the end of the day that the perimeter will fail. A security architecture and passive defenses make it defensible, but it will be humans that ultimately make it defensible.”
So just how many attacks are there? It’s difficult to tell. Metrics are generally based on how many instances there are of known malware installers. Lee said the number is probably about 3,000 per year.
The value of data
One of the reasons security has become such a big issue for the IIoT is that the data within these companies is extremely valuable and highly exposed. While industrial data has always been valuable, illicitly tapping into it generally required someone to be physically present. The IIoT changes that equation.
“Industrial IoT (previously referred to as M2M) has been around for quite a while,”
A number of standards also have been introduced to provide some structure to this connectivity. Among them:
• The Industrial Internet Consortium’s Industrial IoT Connectivity Framework
• OPC Foundation’s OPC Unified Architecture (UA)
• Open Connectivity Foundation’s OIC Specification 1.1
• OASIS’ MQTT v3.1.1. Many of the Cloud vendors, such as IBM, Microsoft, and Amazon have adopted MQTT as the lightweight messaging protocol for their IoT Cloud. MQTT is gaining much popularity because of its simplicity and ubiquity. MQTT is small enough to run on a tiny Arduino board and powerful enough to support large IIoT device installations.
• The Linux Foundation just announced the launch of EdgeX Foundry. According to the website, “It’s an open-source project to build a common open framework for Internet of Things (IoT) edge computing and an ecosystem of interoperable components that unifies the marketplace and accelerates enterprise and Industrial IoT.” This will be interesting because the group focuses on the edge vs. the whole IIoT stack.
Regarding the Industrial Internet Consortium, Arkell said, “Connectivity and security seem to be the primary objectives, which is fitting, since these are two of the top issues facing IIoT implementers. “
Tomi Engdahl says:
Putting A Hardware Root-of-Trust To Work In An Anti-Counterfeiting IC
http://semiengineering.com/putting-a-hardware-root-of-trust-to-work-in-an-anti-counterfeiting-ic/
Going beyond a software-based approach to chip authentication.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IoT Green Boosts Environmental Effectiveness
Internet of Things technology is bringing advances to environmental work, from fuel savings to green farming.
https://www.designnews.com/automation-motion-control/iot-green-boosts-environmental-effectiveness/31865078156681?cid=nl.x.dn14.edt.aud.dn.20170504.tst004t
Turns out IoT technology offers benefits to the environment. With all the attention on environmental challenges that came during Earth Day last month, we decided to show some of the green advantages of IoT. Digital security firm, Gemalto, has identified environmental applications for IoT. Some of these efforts are new, while others – such as green farming – have been around for years.
Green on the Go
Intelligent, autonomous cars are primed to usher in a new era of green driving by allowing cars on the road to communicate and process what other vehicles are about to do. “This is one of the promises that IoT can bring but had not yet been fully implemented,” JC Lazcano, VP of M2M sales for North America at Gemalto, told Design News .
When implemented, sensor-enabled IoT systems will allows traffic to move at one speed with only a few meters between vehicles, thus reducing the fuel inefficiency brought on by the speed and gear changes of human-operated vehicles.
Gemalto noted that IBM’S Watson IoT Platform has been used to create a driverless car called Olli. IBM’s platform analyzes the vast amounts of data that come from the sensors in the vehicle, allowing it to accelerate, decelerate, and change lanes without driver input.
Connected Wildlife
IoT has been used to bring species back from the brink of extinction, with great success, according to Gemalto. The company pointed out that the Iberian Lynx was re-established in Spain after using IoT technologies to track and monitor the few remaining wild lynxes.
Smart and connected homes can prevent this unnecessary energy use.
Sensors Detecting Changes in the Environment
Sophisticated sensors can now be carried around by people with ease. There are a range of sensors that measure air quality and warn users through apps on their smartphones when the air is at dangerous levels or likely to cause asthma. This is not only helpful for the user, but it can also raise awareness of pollution and high emissions in populated areas. “In some cities in the US and Europe, they have already deployed connected sensors to help the city planners find ways to better manage pollution made by noise and contamination,” said Lazcano.
Using smart sensors, farmers can reduce the amount of waste they produce and monitor their agricultural processes so they can adjust operations based on weather, humidity, sunlight, and other external factors. It’s also possible to reduce the amount of water used to hydrate growing crops when a sensor discovers that the moisture levels in the soil are just right. “Smarter farming has been deployed at various levels, but it is getting implemented mostly in corporate farming,” said Lazcano.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Protecting Firmware that Can’t Be Un-Hacked
Infected operating systems can be ditched and reloaded, but firmware isn’t so soft. Once hacked, it’s unfixable.
https://www.designnews.com/content/protecting-firmware-can-t-be-un-hacked/17739891756710?cid=nl.x.dn14.edt.aud.dn.20170504.tst004t
Cybersecurity has become a critical issue in recent years. Attackers have gone professional. Some seek riches, while others desire to crush political foes. Either way, attacks have become deliberate, focused, and unrelenting. When the attack penetrates firmware, the result is particularly grim, since firmware can’t be scrubbed clean.
When sophisticated attacks are launched on network equipment, strong protection is required for network equipment, both on the device and service level. The industry consortium, Trusted Computing Group (TCG), provides security standards to keep networking services free of disruption. Membership in TCG includes the leading computer and network companies.
On a Mission to Protect Firmware
TCG is focused on protecting against the attack itself, since there is little ability to recover from a deliberate attack on firmware. “The thing that’s different about firmware, is that once it gets hacked, it may be impossible to un-hack it,” Guy Fedorkow, a distinguished engineer at Juniper Networks who works with TCG, told Design News. “If your laptop is infected, you might have to re-install the operating system. Then, whatever was hacked in the OS is gone. That’s not true of firmware. You can’t just remove it.”
TCG’s goal is to create security specifications and promote best practices for cybersecurity protection that involves firmware. TCG’s Network Equipment Working Group is tasked with providing guidance in the security design for communication devices and in the application of Trusted Computing standards within network infrastructure.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Industrial Robots, Hacking and Sabotage
http://hackaday.com/2017/05/04/industrial-robots-hacking-and-sabotage/
Everything is online these days creating the perfect storm for cyber shenanigans. Sadly, even industrial robotic equipment is easily compromised because of our ever increasingly connected world. A new report by Trend Micro shows a set of attacks on robot arms and other industrial automation hardware.
This may not seem like a big deal but image a scenario where an attacker intentionally builds invisible defects into thousands of cars without the manufacturer even knowing. Just about everything in a car these days is built using robotic arms. The Chassis could be built too weak, the engine could be built with weaknesses that will fail far before the expected lifespan. Even your brake disks could have manufacturing defects introduced by a computer hacker causing them to shatter under heavy braking. The Forward-looking Threat Research (FTR) team decided to check the feasibility of such attacks and what they found was shocking. Tests were performed in a laboratory with a real in work robot. They managed to come up with five different attack methods.
Why are these robots even connected? As automated factories become more complex it becomes a much larger task to maintain all of the systems. The industry is moving toward more connectivity to monitor the performance of all machines on the factory floor, tracking their service lifetime and alerting when preventive maintenance is necessary. This sounds great for its intended use, but as with all connected devices there are vulnerabilities introduced because of this connectivity. This becomes especially concerning when you consider the reality that often equipment that goes into service simply doesn’t get crucial security updates for any number of reasons (ignorance, constant use, etc.).
https://documents.trendmicro.com/assets/wp/wp-industrial-robot-security.pdf
Tomi Engdahl says:
Can Robots Be Compromised?
https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/news/internet-of-things/rogue-robots-testing-industrial-robot-security
The modern world relies heavily on industrial robots. But is the current robotics ecosystem secure enough to withstand a cyber attack?
Industrial robots have replaced humans in a lot of large-scale production and manufacturing activities because of their efficiency, accuracy, and safety. These mechanical, programmable devices can now be seen in practically all industrial sectors―making cars, fabricating airplane parts, assembling food products, and even providing critical public services