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 Forecast of 50 Billion Devices by 2020 Is Outdated.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:
Big Data Makes Big Waves
Efforts expand tools and data sets
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1331733&
You could say that big data got its start when Sergy Brin and Larry Page helped develop an algorithm that found more relevant results on the web than the search engines of their rivals. The lesson of Google continues to ripple through all businesses seeking competitive insights from their data pools, however large or small.
Today, the Internet of Things is opening vast new data sources, expanding big data’s promise to reshape business, technology, and the job of the technologist. Along the way, big data is inspiring new kinds of processor and systems architectures, as well as evolving algorithms and programming techniques.
“The concept of being overwhelmed by data is the new normal,” said Anthony Scriffignano, chief data scientist of Dun & Bradstreet, at a recent event hosted by the Churchill Club.
“Machine learning is impressive but really hard to use. Even the most sophisticated companies might only have a couple of people that can apply those techniques optimally,” said Stephen Eglash, executive director of the initiative. “I can imagine the day when these tools are available in the equivalent of Microsoft Office.”
To get there, Stanford researchers are developing Snorkel, a tool to automate the process of labeling and ingesting big data sets. “It’s far enough along that you can see that it will work,” said Eglash. “We want the domain experts to use these techniques without needing a computer science expert.”
Snorkel: A System for Fast Training Data Creation
http://hazyresearch.github.io/snorkel/
Snorkel is a system for rapidly creating, modeling, and managing training data, currently focused on accelerating the development of structured or “dark” data extraction applications for domains in which large labeled training sets are not available or easy to obtain.
Today’s state-of-the-art machine learning models require massive labeled training sets–which usually do not exist for real-world applications. Instead, Snorkel is based around the new data programming paradigm, in which the developer focuses on writing a set of labeling functions, which are just scripts that programmatically label data. The resulting labels are noisy, but Snorkel automatically models this process—learning, essentially, which labeling functions are more accurate than others—and then uses this to train an end model (for example, a deep neural network in TensorFlow).
Tomi Engdahl says:
EU Agency Offers Corrective for IoT Security ‘Market Failure’
Urges standards, product labeling to promote consumer trust
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1331869&
Products connected to the Internet of Things should meet a minimum defined level of security and should be labeled accordingly to promote consumer trust, according to the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA). The agency worked with Infineon, NXP, and STMicroelectronics to produce a position paper that reflects the European semiconductor industry’s IoT security concerns and provides guidelines for policymakers.
The paper warns of a current “market failure” for cybersecurity and privacy: Incorporating security measures increases cost, but buyers are reluctant to pay more for solutions with added security. There is thus “no basic level, no zero level defined for the security and privacy of connected and smart devices,” the authors state.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Six Tech Trends for 2022
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1331870&
The year 2022 will see intelligence at edge of the Internet of Things, voice as the dominant user interface and advances in DNA and microbiome apps, top VCs said.
Churchill Club, a forum for thought leadership in Silicon Valley, annually asks top tech VCs to look out five years and beyond, and make predictions for what’s next in top investible trends. Here’s what you should know about this year’s bets.
The top predictions as voted by fellow panelists and the audience at our May 24 event, were two brainchildren of DFJ partner Steve Jurvetson. Jurvetson, who has a history of winning the annual panel’s most votes, predicted explosive growth for machine learning four years ago.
All of this will be made possible by inexpensive neural networks running on a variety of sensors and other devices. Jurvetson’s perspective comes from chip investments made in companies such as Nervana and Movidius (bought by Intel) and his current investment in Mythic, which is designing an analog chip geared to dramatically lower costs and power consumption.
Among other popular predictions from the panel:
Mike Abbott saw a rise of DNA applications due to low cost sequencing.
Hans Tung of GGV Capital said food production will be revolutionized globally.
Rebecca Lynn of Canvas Ventures said microbiome engineering will help prevent a future plague.
Sarah Tavel forecast a billion-dollar business will be built on understanding our microbiome.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The standard for automated remote updates is sought
The Californian company, Excelfore, is developing a smart transport solution that has launched a project to standardize the remote upgrade and diagnostics of vehicle software and systems.
The company calls technology as eSync. To promote this, a dedicated eSync Alliance has been set up, consisting of automotive electronics vendors. The technology is designed to support OTA collection of vehicle diagnostics information as well as telematics upgrade over radio.
Remote updating of car software is already commonplace in most new vehicles, but connections are based on manufacturer-specific solutions. Getting a networked vehicle on the market would accelerate considerably if there is an open standard, the eSync interface feels.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/6448-autojen-etapaivityksiin-haetaan-standardia
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kia Kokalitcheva / Axios:
Sleep monitoring startup Hello, which raised $40M+, to shut down, has laid off most employees and is seeking a buyer for its remaining assets
Sleep monitoring startup Hello is seeking a savior
https://www.axios.com/sleep-monitoring-startup-hello-is-seeking-a-savior-2440430553.html
Hello, a sleep monitor maker that raised over $40 million in venture capital, has laid off most of its employees and is seeking a buyer for its remaining assets, Axios has learned. The San Francisco-based company did recently hold what one investor referred to as “fire sale” talks with Fitbit, but no deal was reached.
Background: Proud ― one of the earliest Thiel Fellows ― founded the company in 2012. The startup spent over a year developing a wearable tracker but ultimate decided on a sleep-focused device, which raked in $2.4 million via Kickstarter in 2014.
Hello’s Sense device aims to help people sleep better by tracking their sleep patterns and helping them improve their habits.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IC performs lumen maintenance
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4458478/IC-performs-lumen-maintenance
The AS7220 Smart Lighting Manager from ams uses closed-loop sensing to maintain accurate CCT (correlated color temperature) and lumen output of LED lamps and luminaires. Combining a calibrated-for-life XYZ color sensor and an intelligent cognitive lighting engine, the AS7220 can lower bill of materials costs for industrial, commercial, and high-end residential lighting applications.
Tri-stimulus XYZ chromatic white/color sensing provides mapping to x, y (z) of the CIE 1931 two-dimensional color gamut coordinates and scales the coordinates to the CIE 1976 u’v’ coordinate system.
The sensor’s LGA package, which is 4.7×4.5×2.5 mm, includes a built-in aperture with a ±20.5° field of view.
http://ams.com/eng/Products/Smart-Light-Management/Smart-Lighting/AS7220
Tomi Engdahl says:
New group pushes standards for IoT luminaires
http://www.ledsmagazine.com/articles/2017/05/new-group-pushes-standards-for-iot-luminaires.html?cmpid=enl_leds_smartlightingiot_2017-06-12
The IoT-Ready Alliance warns that smart lighting could become obsolete without a common method for keeping sensors up to date.
In the lighting industry’s mission to become the backbone of the fledgling Internet of Things (IoT), it faces several daunting challenges, including a conundrum: While the LEDs inside luminaires last for purported decades, facility operators might have to frequently replace the chips and sensors embedded in those same fixtures.
Not that the chips will fail. It’s just that IT being IT, advanced editions will emerge every 18 months or so. That means that commercial enterprises with IoT-enabled light fittings will have to either live with older technology, or undertake costly retrofits.
Now, a new standards initiative hopes to avert this problem in commercial buildings. The IoT-Ready Alliance wants to ensure a consistent, easy, inexpensive method for keeping indoor smart lighting up to date.
“The Alliance is setting industry standards that will enable LED light fixtures to be ‘IoT-Ready,’ facilitating a quick and easy installation of advanced IoT sensors,” the new group said in launching at the LightFair International exhibition in Philadelphia this week.
The IoT-Ready alliance claimed that by making sensor replacement “as simple as changing a light bulb,” it will “enable building operators to easily upgrade the sensors, ultimately future proofing their buildings as IoT technology continues to advance at a much more rapid pace than that of LED fixtures.”
The lighting industry hopes to convince commercial and outdoor lighting operators that lights provide a perfect ready-made skeleton to house the chips and sensors that gather data for the IoT, because lights are ubiquitous and because the electricity lines that already feed the lights can also power the components, eliminating the need for problematic batteries.
So-called “connected lighting” will observe everything from room occupancy, people movement, air quality, and much more. The data can trigger other actions such as resetting the heating, alerting facility managers how to re-assign space, or engaging and selling to customers in a retail store. In outdoor environments it could help manage traffic, find parking spaces, alert police and fire crews to emergencies, and so on. IoT lighting typically entails tying the data into cloud computing systems for analysis and sharing.
“Lighting fixtures are an ideal carrier for IoT technology in smart buildings, providing ubiquitous location for granular data collection throughout the building while delivering electric power to the sensors,” the IoTReady Alliance said. “Yet today, only a small percentage of LED fixtures have smart sensors. After the initial installation of LED fixtures, installing a sensor is cost prohibitive, making the later addition of sensors unlikely.”
The industry is also already involved in other efforts to sort out standards that would facilitate the adoption of lighting-based IoT, which is characterized by a panoply of technologies that don’t always speak the same language, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Z-Wave, NarrowBand IoT, VLC, and others.
IOT-Ready™ Alliance
http://iot-ready.org/
The IoT-Ready™ Alliance is an industry organization working to make it easy for all LED lighting fixtures and the buildings they are installed to be made “smart’ by simply plugging in a compatible IoT sensor.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why IP to the end node in SSL is the end game (MAGAZINE)
http://www.ledsmagazine.com/articles/print/volume-14/issue-5/features/connected-lighting/why-ip-to-the-end-node-in-ssl-is-the-end-game.html?cmpid=enl_leds_smartlightingiot_2017-06-12
Living in a connected world is a marvel, explains KARL JONSSON, but the LED lighting sector will need to evolve to IP-based networks that extend to the end node for smart lighting to reach its potential.
We are living in exciting times – Internet connectivity has already evolved from stationary devices to miniature interfaces in our pockets, with everything around us soon to be connected as we enter the era of the Internet of Things (IoT). You could argue that IoT-enabled products are available now, as we can already control our lights, thermostats, shades, and other “things” over the Internet. Today, we can collect sensory data from devices such as activity trackers, connected scales, and energy meters for analysis that provides consumers with new value-added services. Moreover, demand for smart buildings is escalating the demand for smart lighting. Professional lighting – pervasive, powered, and connected – is playing a key role in building the infrastructure for implementing IoT applications. As a specialist in professional lighting components and systems, Tridonic believes the market is moving quickly to demand integration of high-quality lighting with controls and sensors in smart, automated building systems, as building owners, facility managers, and occupants grow more aware of the value these systems deliver. Still, questions remain as to how solid-state lighting (SSL) systems will be connected in an interoperable manner, although IP (Internet Protocol)-based communications to the end node will ultimately prevail.
IoT roadblocks pose challenges
State-of-the-art IoT solutions possess some major roadblocks that must be addressed before we can fully embrace networks of IoT devices beyond vertically integrated proprietary gadgets and closed ecosystems. This is especially vital for the professional lighting market.
The “things” part of the IoT vision typically comprises small, constrained devices that serve a narrow purpose, with limited or no interface. These could be anything from light bulbs with wireless connectivity for controls to battery-powered heartbeat monitors attached to your wrist. The term IoT may be fairly recent, but users wanting to connect their things is nothing new. Back in the 1970s, people were using the X10 protocol to control their lights remotely using simple analog-modulated signals over their power cables. Then infrared (IR) control became popular and, eventually, radio frequency (RF).
Z-Wave was one of the first modern-day protocols to gain significant traction with hundreds of interoperable products available in the market starting around 2005
ZigBee was a fast follower, with a 2.4-GHz networking layer also based on mesh routing. However, ZigBee’s application layers were categorized into buckets for different industries, creating high market fragmentation with little to no interoperability. As a result, it took years for ZigBee to become a recognized player in the consumer market, but its customization capabilities sped its adoption for business applications.
Newer rivals include the fast-growing Thread protocol and mesh network-based Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE).
Gateways, or not?
Another less visible problem with state-of-the-art IoT devices and protocols is the need for gateways to interface with end devices. Consumers’ phones are typically used as a gateway to bridge the gap between a consumer device and an Internet service, but this is not ideal for business. In other cases, energy usage is being monitored by smart meters grouped in small networks (e.g., 200 households/smart meters per group), which interface with a gateway installed in the street to bridge the gap to a cloud server via a cellular network. However, in an office building, there may be hundreds of gateways interfacing with thousands of sensors and lights; thus, bridging islands is not a viable option.
At first glance, this might not seem to be a problem as multiple translation layers between different protocols can do the job, in theory. But imagine that a connected luminaire or sensor were to become a data carrier serving the Internet to other devices in its line of sight using Wi-Fi, Li-Fi, or other forms of high-speed wireless communication. In this case, translating packages in a gateway wouldn’t be an option.
The problem with using gateways is not just supporting a wrapper/translation layer, but that things could get lost in translation (e.g., application programming interface [API] calls might be interpreted in slightly different ways from gateway to gateway). In large networks, it could also cause serious race conditions, resulting in system failure if state integrity on each side to the gateway can’t be ensured. Finally, terminating an application call in the gateway before the end node can leave open doors for hackers to execute man-in-the-middle attacks, as the end device cannot ensure the integrity of the message.
In many cases, gateways with lightweight protocols are preferred
IoT and professional lighting
The professional lighting industry is embracing the IoT and will play a significant role in becoming the IoT backbone. Why? Because lighting represents the largest network of powered devices in the world, and with the transition to LED lighting, this network is now digital, permitting easy access to power and connectivity for sensors and beacons. Embedding sensors and transceivers of various kinds into the luminaire design allows for new services beyond light such as space management, energy management, asset tracking, inventory/consumable tracking, and other capabilities that we’ve yet to imagine.
The most obvious solution is to base IoT devices on the IP, enabling them to communicate like our laptops and phones. Microcontrollers and system-on-chip (SoC) ICs have evolved quickly, so memory, processing, and security requirements are becoming less of a problem.
New protocols such as Thread permit IP communication directly to end devices using 6LoWPAN (IPv6 over Low power Wireless Personal Area Network) for low-power devices. The figure depicts one example of such a network, Tridonic’s net4more platform
Thread requirements to allow ultimate flexibility and focus on the core problem. Leaving MAC/PHY optional would theoretically enable Thread to run on any wireless or wired network medium, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, cellular, Ethernet, PLC, MoCA (multimedia over coax – home TV cable connections), and others, although they are starting with the wireless 802.15.4 MAC/PHY also used by ZigBee.
Conclusion
It’s inevitable that professional IoT networks will eventually become IP to the end node. However, it will be some time until we can see the true benefits of horizontally integrated, fully-scalable IoT solutions since the technology and standards are still evolving.
Tomi Engdahl says:
European installers avoiding wireless lighting controls
http://www.ledsmagazine.com/articles/2017/06/european-installers-avoiding-wireless-lighting-controls.html?cmpid=enl_leds_smartlightingiot_2017-06-12
While the US makes strides, concerns linger in EMEA over interoperability and battery life, an Osram business developer says.
European installers continue to largely avoid wireless lighting controls because they are concerned about interoperability, battery life and other issues – even though wireless offers many benefits over wired systems, an Osram boss said here.
Wireless is typically much less expensive than wired solutions such as DALI (digital addressable lighting interface) in retrofits, because it does not require costly ripping, tearing, and refinishing of office space, Osram business development manager Mark Vermeulen said at the Smart Lighting Conference 2017. Wireless also avoids the risks of accidentally drilling through electrical cables or gas conduits, as has been known to happen.
And wireless technologies offer flexibility that gives end users greater latitude in making last-minute changes to specifications
“And yet, with all these benefits, there’s still reluctance among installers,” Vermeulen said, noting that while wireless is gaining ground in North America, its share of installations is stuck at a flat 10% in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) region. “So what’s keeping them from accepting wireless controls?”
Vermeulen provided several of his own answers, starting with the lack of standardization.
“There are too many protocols,” he noted. “How do you make a choice?”
While Osram itself prefers ZigBee, there is a raft of other wireless options and movements such as Bluetooth, Thread, Wi-Fi, Z-Wave, NarrowBand, IoT, and VLC as LEDs Magazine has often noted as well as the recently announced IoT-Ready Alliance.
The preponderance of choice is itself stymying, but “even worse, there’s no vendor interoperability,” Vermeulen pointed out. That, in turn, freezes installers with what he called a “fear of lock-in.” It also doesn’t help that wireless technologies are not always backward-compatible with legacy systems.
Installers also worry about problematic batteries in wireless systems. Batteries can have a short or unpredictable lifetime. They can be difficult to detect and locate when they fail, and they can be troublesome to replace. Such problems erode one of the main advantages of LED lighting — that LED lamps purportedly last for a couple of decades and thereby eliminate replacement tasks
“What installers have told me is ‘the lighting industry has solved the issue of lighting maintenance; now you give me the issue of battery maintenance,’” Vermeulen said. “It sounds very confusing to them. Because with lights, at least you can physically see when it has failed. But batteries are a headache.”
The dust may never truly settle on wireless lighting control standards, but the industry must strive for better interoperability, noted Osram’s Mark Vermeulen.
“ZigBee has taken 15 years to actually get up to volume,” he noted. “It has taken 15 years before it became a stable standard. Now ZigBee is stable, and now we see a lot of lighting manufacturers move to Bluetooth. There will always be a cycle of technologies coming up and going down. It’s a matter of having the right associations, the right cooperations, to make sure that you take the right protocol and ensure that some of these issues are solved if you want to address the issue of mass market acceptance by installers. Whether you do this with ZigBee at this moment and Bluetooth in two years’ time, that’s not their concern. So the dust, I’m pretty sure, will never settle.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nordic Semiconductor – Accessible Bluetooth 5 SoC for the widest range of applications
http://www.electropages.com/2017/06/nordic-semiconductor-accessible-bluetooth-5-soc-widest-range-applications/?utm_campaign=2017-06-12-Electropages&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=article&utm_content=Nordic+Semiconductor+-+Accessible+Bluetooth+5+SoC+for+the+widest+range+of+…
Nordic Semiconductor has announced that it has extended its nRF52 Series of class-leading, high-performance Bluetooth low energy SoCs with the addition of a peripheral and memory-optimized variant, the nRF52810, that represents the most accessible, single-chip Bluetooth 5 solution available on the market today.
The SoC brings the key performance benefits of Bluetooth 5 to the most cost-sensitive, high-volume applications. These include: 2x the data bandwidth (2Mbps) compared with the Bluetooth low energy implementation of Bluetooth 4.2; and 8x the broadcasting ability with advertising extensions that increase the advertising packet payload size to 251 bytes for more efficient data transfer, particularly in beacon applications.
Tomi Engdahl says:
About IOT-Ready™ ALLIANCE
http://iot-ready.org/About/Overview
IoT-Ready™ is an alliance of leading lighting, building management, and Internet of Things (IoT) companies and organizations that are creating a common standard for IoT-enabled lighting fixtures. This standard will ensure all new LED lighting fixtures can be shipped with a standard socket to easily add intelligent IoT sensors to the fixture after the fixture has been installed.
About the IOT-Ready Alliance
http://iot-ready.org/Resources/Videos
Enlighted CEO Joe Costello describes why having a standard way of installing sensors into light fixtures is urgently needed, what the IoT-Ready Alliance is doing about it, and how organizations can get involved.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Greengrass Embeds Amazon in IoT
AWS runs on GHz-class embedded processors
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1331867
Amazon Web Services can now run on a gateway or even a high-end node for the Internet of Things. Greengrass is a Linux runtime from the Web giant, aiming to extend its reach deeper into the IoT.
“There’s value in processing data at the source,” such as quick response and a known security model using AWS authentication and encryption, said Dirk Didascalou, vice president of AWS IoT at an event here. A Greengrass node also can synch a variety of other nodes when connectivity is intermittent, he added.
Tomi Engdahl says:
March of the Touchless User Interfaces
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1331859&
The world of user interfaces is rapidly expanding. It’s no longer just touch but it includes a great variety of gestures and speech assistants. What can we expect from such advancements?
“Alexa, play the motion picture soundtrack to Moana.” Just two years after Amazon announced Amazon Echo, “Alexa” is part of the common lexicon. “Okay, Google,” “Siri” and “Hey, Cortana” have joined Alexa in the panoply of speech assistants as consumers migrate toward touchless user interfaces – which now include gesture as well as voice. What can we expect from these new user interfaces – and how will MEMS and sensors suppliers help us to get there?
First, let’s not disparage touch completely. It makes good sense for personal computing devices, among other keyboard-based applications, and will remain dominant for some time to come. Still, there are clear instances when voice is more convenient to use. And for me, my b
Tomi Engdahl says:
EU Agency Offers Corrective for IoT Security ‘Market Failure’
Urges standards, product labeling to promote consumer trust
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1331869&
Products connected to the Internet of Things should meet a minimum defined level of security and should be labeled accordingly to promote consumer trust, according to the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA). The agency worked with Infineon, NXP, and STMicroelectronics to produce a position paper that reflects the European semiconductor industry’s IoT security concerns and provides guidelines for policymakers.
The paper warns of a current “market failure” for cybersecurity and privacy: Incorporating security measures increases cost, but buyers are reluctant to pay more for solutions with added security. There is thus “no basic level, no zero level defined for the security and privacy of connected and smart devices,” the authors state.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Endpoint Security and the Internet of Things
http://www.securityweek.com/endpoint-security-and-internet-things
In 2016, the Mirai Botnet hijacked over half a million DVRs and IP cameras, redirecting traffic from these endpoints to some of the internet’s largest brands and taking many services offline. To those in the security community, the attack wasn’t surprising; typically, affordable, commodity internet devices are poorly secured. One unintended consequence of their rapid adoption is expansion of the digital attack surface. We’re on the brink of hypervulnerability in the connected world—put there, in part, by an unwitting accomplice: the endpoint.
Today’s growing attack surface is dominated by non-traditional endpoints, ranging from something as innocuous as an internet-connected toy to something as critical as connected sensors controlling energy production in a nuclear plant. Emerging virtual endpoints, such as cloud microservices and containers that swarm by design, exacerbate the problem. According to Statista, by 2020, the number of connected devices in the internet of things (IoT) will grow to 31 billion. IoT includes embedded systems in retail, automotive, home automation and entertainment devices, as well as operational technology in the manufacturing and energy sectors. There are already proven hacks of these technologies, and as the population grows, it’s hard to imagine how any service pack program or standards body can keep up. As a result, IoT will likely contribute significantly to security vulnerabilities.
Securing the “thing” is not the answer; there will always be too many to manage.
Instead, observing and patrolling to increase visibility, coupled with analysis and tactical action when problems are spotted, have provided a pragmatic approach to reducing risks inherent in explosive endpoint growth.
In practice, breaking down the process into three parts tempers what could be an overwhelming task.
1. Focus on what you can see. Endpoints often have a control point, whether a physical gateway or router in a home or business, or a firewall or proxy at a network or cloud boundary. Get your visibility there and, when possible, control it ruthlessly.
2. Simple analytics is your friend. Non-traditional endpoints share an often overlooked characteristic: their behavior is predictable. Applying machine learning for baseline modeling is extremely effective to profile risk, detect anomalous behavior and stop it on a large scale.
3. Hire the best staff you can find, because we will never stop having to patrol, investigate and remediate—and with properly applied analytics you won’t need your army of employees to grow exponentially with the endpoint explosion.
Success comes down to laying a foundation of monitoring and control to reduce your risk exposure and applying intelligent techniques to the growing endpoint populace. Embrace it, because these technologies make our lives better.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Thousands of IP Cameras Hijacked by Persirai, Other IoT Botnets
http://www.securityweek.com/thousands-ip-cameras-hijacked-persirai-other-iot-botnets
Thousands of IP cameras have been hijacked by Internet of Things (IoT) botnets and data from Trend Micro shows that the recently launched Persirai malware is responsible for a large percentage of infections.
The Persirai backdoor is designed to target more than 1,000 IP camera models, and researchers said there had been roughly 120,000 devices vulnerable to this malware at the time of its discovery several weeks ago.
The malware, which uses a recently disclosed zero-day vulnerability to spread from one hacked IP camera to another, allows its operators to execute arbitrary code on the targeted device and launch distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.
Multiple vulnerabilities found in Wireless IP Camera (P2P) WIFICAM cameras and vulnerabilities in custom http server
https://pierrekim.github.io/blog/2017-03-08-camera-goahead-0day.html
Vulnerabilities Summary
The Wireless IP Camera (P2) WIFICAM is a camera overall badly designed with a lot of vulnerabilities. This camera is very similar to a lot of other Chinese cameras.
It seems that a generic camera is being sold by a Chinese company in bulk (OEM) and the buyer companies resell them with custom software development and specific branding. Wireless IP Camera (P2) WIFICAM is one of the branded cameras.
So, cameras are sold under different names, brands and functions. The HTTP interface is different for each vendor but shares the same vulnerabilities. The OEM vendors used a custom version of GoAhead and added vulnerable code inside.
GoAhead stated that GoAhead itself is not affected by the vulnerabilities but the OEM vendor who did the custom and specific development around GoAhead is responsible for the cause of vulnerabilities.
The summary of the vulnerabilities is:
CVE-2017-8224 – Backdoor account
CVE-2017-8222 – RSA key and certificates
CVE-2017-8225 – Pre-Auth Info Leak (credentials) within the custom http server
Authenticated RCE as root
Pre-Auth RCE as root
CVE-2017-8223 – Misc – Streaming without authentication
CVE-2017-8221 – Misc – “Cloud” (Aka Botnet)
Shodan lists 185 000 vulnerable cameras.
Tomi Engdahl says:
RainBuddy
https://hackaday.io/project/25413-rainbuddy
Turns your existing sprinkler controller into a Wifi connected controller that saves water when its going to rain.
Turning off sprinklers when its going to rain can save thousands of gallons of water per year, but a new WiFi sprinkler controller is expensive. The RainBuddy device upgrades your existing sprinkler controller so it can get the Weather forecast, turn off your sprinklers until its Sunny, and turn off the sprinklers if it gets too cold.
Description:
The RainBuddy is a low cost device which converts a conventional sprinkler controller into a Wifi connected controller that has the ability to access weather data via the internet, and stop the sprinklers from running before and after rain events. Other features include the ability to turn off the sprinklers during the winter or low temperature events, and for the user to turn off the sprinklers from a phone App. As landscape watering is the single largest residential use of water, this can safe significant amounts of water. The RainBuddy doesn’t replace the existing controller or allow full fledged programming of the watering schedule – it adds the rain and weather delay features to the existing controller, and any other fun features that come with having an internet connected device.
How does it work ?
The RainBuddy device works by taking advantage of the fact that while each sprinkler zone / valve has its own 24VAC power line, all the valves share a common return line – “COM” line. By interrupting the COM line which is the common return line for all sprinkler valves on the same controller, the RainBuddy can prevent the sprinklers from turning on, without having to reprogram the existing sprinkler controller.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IuT voltmeter for a breadboard
https://hackaday.io/project/23122-iut-voltmeter-for-a-breadboard
Measure several voltages on a breadboard and display results on a smartphone for less than $10 for parts
OBJECTIVES:
1) inputs to be protected from overvoltage
2) must be powered from an isolated non-grounded power supply for at least 4 hours
3) resolution down to mVs with decent accuracy and repeatability
4) cost of components below $10; use off-the-shelf modules for easy and quick assembly
Design intentions
- usable straight away with any mobile phone or tablet etc, equipped with a web browser, with automatic refreshes of the measured voltage(s)
- fully self contained (no need to connect to any additional network)
- use of inexpensive ESP8266 then ESP8285 modules for implementing both a web server and an access point
- use of ADS1x15 module for voltage measurements
- protect inputs of ADS1x15 from overvoltage with resistors in series (no damage if the voltmeter’s input is connected to a voltage source of up to 50 V)
- rechargable Li-ion battery for powering the device (to be capable of 4 hour operation without recharging it; allows for operating the IuT voltmeter independently of the breadbord circuit’s power supply and does not require earthing of the volmeter similarly to a conventional DMM);
- ESP82xx is to be programmed in Lua (NodeMCU firmware) for the ease of development and debugging at first
Tomi Engdahl says:
OPC UA Technology Updates Include Microsoft Collaboration
https://www.designnews.com/automation-motion-control/opc-ua-technology-updates-include-microsoft-collaboration/212180548356952?cid=nl.x.dn14.edt.aud.dn.20170613.tst004t
New developments include Azure IoT connectivity, an Industry 4.0 security analysis, a new European certification lab and Microsoft contributing an open source OPC UA stack.
One of the key technology trends in automation and control has been the emergence of OPC Unified Architecture (UA) as a bridging technology to enable a new level of communication connectivity for IIoT and Industry 4.0 industry initiatives.
At the recent Hannover Fair, the OPC Foundation presented a number of key technology updates on OPC UA. These include news on collaborations, Azure IoT connectivity, a report on an Industry 4.0 security analysis, a new European certification lab and an announcement on Microsoft contributing an open source OPC UA stack to the OPC Foundation.
Open-Source OPC UA stack
An open-source implementation of the OPC UA technology is now available on GitHub to enable adoption of OPC UA across markets and platforms. The new OPC Foundation reference stack, based on the new .NET Standard Library technology, was developed and optimized by Microsoft to serve as the complete platform-independent infrastructure, from the embedded world to the cloud.
This new version is enabled on the following supported platforms: Various Linux distributions, iOS, Android, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows Phone, HoloLens, and the Azure cloud.
The original OPC Foundation .NET OPC UA reference implementation has been available to OPC Foundation members, and last year was provided as an open-source implementation on GitHub. This version was targeted and limited to Microsoft Windows only.
In-depth OPC UA Security Analysis
Due to the relevance of OPC UA to Industrie 4.0 and Germany Industry, the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) has performed an in-depth security analysis of the OPC UA specifications and a selected reference implementation.
A video describing their recommendation and analysis is available on the OPC YouTube Channel .
An extensive analysis of the security functions in the specification of OPC UA confirmed that OPC UA was designed with a focus on security and does not contain systematic security vulnerabilities.
Arne Schönbohm, President of BSI, stated that: “OPC UA is one of the most important modern standards for secure, cross-industry networking for industrial equipment. Industrie 4.0 offers tremendous opportunities for Germany as an industrial location, but for being successful it is necessary to consider security for digitalization and interconnection of industrial processes right from the beginning.”
New European Certification Lab
Due to a large increase in demand by end users and suppliers to certify OPC UA enabled products, OPC Foundation also announced an expanded certification program.
“Security Analysis OPC UA” by Jens Wiesner, Federal Office for Information Security, Germany
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSfqXZ0AKzo&feature=youtu.be
Tomi Engdahl says:
List of Open Source OPC UA Implementations
https://github.com/open62541/open62541/wiki/List-of-Open-Source-OPC-UA-Implementations
There are some more open source implementations of OPC UA. In different languages and with different licenses.
Tomi Engdahl says:
OpenOpcUa is an opensource and multi-platform C/C++ project
http://www.openopcua.org/
OpenOpcUa is an initiative launched in 2009 by a consortium of international companies led by Michel Condemine (4CE Industry). The objectives of this consortium are multiple:
Create a professionnal quality codebase implementing OpcUa concept
Help users understand OpcUa technology
OpenOpcUaCoreServer is the first and only one Certified Open Source OPC UA Server.
Freeopcua.github.io
FreeOpcUa: Open Source C++ and Python OPC-UA Server and Client Libraries and Tools
http://freeopcua.github.io/
FreeOpcUa is a project to implement an open-source (LGPL) OPC-UA stack and associated tools.
Tomi Engdahl says:
OFree Stuff – OPC UA
This page draws together all the information we have on freely available OPC UA software.
http://www.opcconnect.com/uafree.php
List of Open Source OPC UA Implementations
https://github.com/open62541/open62541/wiki/List-of-Open-Source-OPC-UA-Implementations
Tomi Engdahl says:
Build OPC UA applications in JavaScript and NodeJS
http://node-opcua.github.io/
NodeOPCUA has been developed using TDD and benefits from more than 1200 unit tests and 96% code coverage. NodeOPCUA uses Travis as a continuous integration service.
Easily create your own OPCUA Server in less than 100 lines of code.
Create your own OPCUA Server on a RaspberryPI with your preferred I/O sensors.
NodeOPCUA is free for commercial use.
NodeOPCUA is available on GitHub
http://github.com/node-opcua/node-opcua
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cisco: Annual IP Traffic to Exceed 3 ZB by 2021
http://www.broadbandtechreport.com/articles/2017/06/cisco-annual-ip-traffic-to-exceed-3-zb-by-2021.html
According to Cisco’s (NASDAQ:CSCO) annual Visual Networking Index, over the next five years (2016-2021), global annual IP traffic will exceed 3 zettabytes (ZB) by 2021, driven by increases in Internet users, connected devices, Internet speeds and online video. One zettabyte is 1021 bytes, or 1 trillion gigabytes.
Top-level indicators for the forecast period include the projected increase in Internet users (from 3.3 to 4.6 billion or 58% of the global population), greater adoption of personal devices and machine-to-machine (M2M) connections (from 17.1 billion to 27.1 billion), average broadband speed advances (from 27.5 Mbps to 53.0 Mbps), and more online video viewing (from 73% to 82% of total IP traffic). Over the forecast period, global IP traffic is expected to increase three-fold reaching an annual run rate of 3.3 ZB by 2021, up from an annual run rate of 1.2 ZB in 2016.
For the first time in the 12 years of the forecast, M2M connections that support Internet of Things (IoT) applications are calculated to be more than half of the total 27.1 billion devices and connections and will account for 5% of global IP traffic by 2021. IoT innovations in connected home, connected healthcare, smart cars/transportation and a host of other M2M services are driving this incremental growth – a 2.4-fold increase from 5.8 billion in 2016 to 13.7 billion by 2021. With the rise of connected applications such as health monitors, medicine dispensers, and first-responder connectivity, the health vertical is expected to be fastest-growing industry segment (30% CAGR). The connected car and connected cities applications are expected to have the second-fastest growth (29% CAGRs respectively).
Video is expected to continue to dominate IP traffic and overall Internet traffic growth – representing 80% of all Internet traffic by 2021, up from 67% in 2016.
Emerging media such as live Internet video are expected to increase 15-fold and reach 13% of Internet video traffic by 2021 – meaning more streaming of TV apps and personal live streaming on social networks.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How Smart is the Grid?
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/12/how-smart-is-the-grid/
Marketing and advertising groups often have a tendency to capitalize on technological trends faster than engineers and users can settle into the technology itself. Perhaps it’s no surprise that it is difficult to hold back the motivation to get a product to market and profit. Right now the most glaring example is the practice of carelessly putting WiFi in appliances and toys and putting them on the Internet of Things, but there is a similar type of fiasco playing out in the electric power industry as well. Known as the “smart grid”, an effort is underway to modernize the electric power grid in much the same way that the Internet of Things seeks to modernize household appliances, but to much greater and immediate benefit.
To that end, if there’s anything in need of modernization it’s the electric grid. Often still extensively using technology that was pioneered in the 1800s like synchronous generators and transformers (not to mention metering and billing techniques that were perfected before the invention of the transistor), there is a lot of opportunity to add oversight and connectivity to almost every part of the grid from the power plant to the customer.
While the term “smart grid” is as nebulous and as ill-defined as “Internet of Things” (even the US Government’s definition is muddied and vague), the smart grid actually has a unifying purpose behind it and, so far, has been an extremely useful way to bring needed improvements to the power grid despite the lack of a cohesive definition. While there’s no single thing that suddenly transforms a grid into a smart grid, there are a lot of things going on at once that each improve the grid’s performance and status reporting ability.
The most widely used grid control system is known as Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition, or SCADA. This is an industry-standard across a wide range of technologies which has been adapted for use on the grid. This allows power system operators to see which breakers are open or closed, which generators are online, what the voltages are at various points, where problems in distribution lines might be, etc. It allows dispatchers to get a high-level view of the grid and to take some control over how power flows through it.
the use of smart meters. These are electronic (rather than electromechanical) meters that can report energy use remotely, eliminating the need for a meter reader. It also allows for demand-rate metering and other innovative ways of billing at particular times of day and for different uses which older style meters cannot do.
Another important improvement that the smart grid brings to the table is the ability to easily handle energy storage. While battery technology is notoriously behind schedule, it’s currently not economically viable to have large-scale batteries on the grid to store energy for longer than a few hours.
Like battery banks, microgeneration can be used to help the smart grid as well. Microgeneration refers to small power generation like rooftop solar or small methane generators at landfills. A sufficiently smart grid has more ability to know when these distributed generation facilities are online, and can use this information to maintain grid operation in a more efficient way than would otherwise be possible.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Forging a New Distribution Model for Innovators—from Hobbyists to Manufacturers
http://www.electronicdesign.com/industrial-automation/forging-new-distribution-model-innovators-hobbyists-manufacturers
As new types of customers enter the market, electronics equipment distributors are reaching a crossroads on how to meet demands in this fast-evolving industry.
By providing essential supplies and support, distributors of technology components and services are the engines that keep business moving for electronics innovators. However, in the past five years, these distributors have not only seen their customers’ needs change, but also experienced an expansion of their market to include new types of buyers. These two factors prompted a shift in buying behavior, which has ricocheted up and down the electronics-component supply chain.
Professional developers and designers are more dialed in than ever before and not afraid to shop around, while at the same time a new generation of makers and hobbyists are demanding more specialized parts and services. In such a competitive marketplace, distributors need to find new ways to serve customers that best suit their needs—a tall order in fast changing times.
A Changing Customer Landscape
Consumer demand for connected devices and miniaturized wearables has driven rapid growth in the Internet of Things (IoT) sector, with professional makers and hobbyists at the cutting edge of this burgeoning market. That’s because IoT is one of the most exciting and accessible opportunities for a broad range of solution designers, opening the possibility to bring profitable new products to the consumer market than ever before.
However, each IoT or wearable designer may approach the market with different needs. In addition to traditional market incumbents and smaller design houses with previous experience in bringing products to market, new customer groups—professional makers and entrepreneurial hobbyists—may be bringing a product to market for the first time.
Professional designers expect backing from their distributors for high-volume production, which requires careful management of inventory and obsolescence. This sets them apart from traditional hobbyists who find value in broader product lines and have a greater need for technical support. With so many opportunities in these new markets, distributors need to develop a new business model that anticipates the complexity of these differing customers’ needs, with the assurance that meeting these demands will have its rewards.
As developers and designers with differing levels of experience tackle new challenges such as IoT and wearables, they may be entering new markets and applying technologies in new ways. This may mean negotiating compliance challenges within heavily regulated industries such as healthcare and automotive, or developing a deeper knowledge of existing technology as it’s applied in different environments, such as in harsh climates or within flexible applications like clothing.
Traditionally, distributors provide competitive advantages by ensuring components are in stock in high volume and at a competitive price.
The growth of the professional maker and hobbyist sector puts traditional distributors in a bind. For these customer groups, technical support is the biggest area in which a distributor can provide added value. The IoT boom has meant that more makers and hobbyists, many of which may have limited production knowledge, are getting involved with development projects that demand greater levels of connectivity, flexibility, and customization.
Despite the number of plug-and-play modules now available, makers and hobbyists still require higher levels of technical and product support.
Nevertheless, serving the maker and hobbyist market is still demanding. These customers often favor a distributor that carries a broad number of lines, has items in stock, and offers excellent delivery options, technical support, and customer service.
It’s clear that today’s innovators, whether they are professional designers or hobbyists, need the best of both worlds: To work with companies at the scale, size, and global reach of a broad-line distributor, while still having access to the technical support and specialized capabilities to serve makers and hobbyists through all stages of the product lifecycle.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple HomeKit Now Supports Hobbyist Builds
https://www.i4u.com/2017/06/123275/apple-homekit-now-supports-hobbyist-builds
HomeKit development supports Arduino and Raspberry Pi
Apple has a long history of being one of the least supportive companies when it comes to allowing fans and developers to roll their own Apple compatible products.
That fact makes it quite surprising that during the WWDC event Apple noted that it had made it easier for developers to start building new products.
Apple is allowing any registered developer to start building HomeKit devices reports The Verge.
The development of HomeKit compatible devices also support using Raspberry Pi or Arduino now. If you are wondering about a catch, there is one of sorts. Any HomeKit device built under the new rules does have to get an official certification before it can be sold. Apple only wants these devices to be for development or personal use.
What these new rules really mean is that the fans out there who like to tinker with their own gadgets for home automation can integrate them with iOS. The loosened reins also will hopefully mean more HomeKit compatible products coming to market since the development is easier now. Another notable change to HomeKit gear is that every HomeKit device no longer has to have a specific security chip inside.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple will now let hobbyists build their own HomeKit device
https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/8/15761800/apple-homekit-updates-ios-11-easier-build-requirements-wwdc-2017
Though Apple didn’t have much to say about HomeKit during its keynote presentation on Monday, it turns out the company’s smart home system is seeing some very notable changes this year. The updates center on two things: making HomeKit more flexible for users, and making it much easier for developers to start building new products.
Until now, anyone that wanted to create a HomeKit product had to join Apple’s licensing program just to get started. That big hurdle is being removed, and Apple will now allow any registered developer to start building a HomeKit device. Forbes says that devs can even put something together using a Raspberry Pi or Arduino now.
https://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=https://www.forbes.com/sites/aarontilley/2017/06/07/apple-homekit-wwdc-2017-update/&refURL=https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/8/15761800/apple-homekit-updates-ios-11-easier-build-requirements-wwdc-2017&referrer=https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/8/15761800/apple-homekit-updates-ios-11-easier-build-requirements-wwdc-2017#33abfd9d1283
Tomi Engdahl says:
Analyst Tempers IoT Chip Forecast
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=40&doc_id=1331895&
It’s still a huge market, but IC Insights sees slower revenue projections for government projections.
There’s little doubt that the Internet of Things represents a massive opportunity for the semiconductor industry, though quantifying the size of that opportunity remains at best a work in progress.
Market research firm IC Insights Inc. recently trimmed its long-term forecast for semiconductor sales driven by IoT, citing lower revenue projections for connected cities applications such as smart meters and infrastructure. The market research firm shaved nearly $1 billion off its 2020 IoT semiconductor forecast, saying it now it expects the total to be about $31.1 billion.
IC Insights still expects IoT chip sales to rise by 16 percent in 2017 to reach $18.3 billion. But the firm reduced its compound annual growth rate (CAGR) projection of IoT chip sales to 14.9 percent from 2015 to 2020, down from a previous CAGR estimate of 15.6 percent.
The firm still expects IoT chip sales for connected cities to post a CAGR of 8.9 percent between 2015 and 2020, but the estimate is down from an original forecast of 9.7 percent.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Triggy – Multi-purpose Smart Companion Tag
https://hackaday.io/project/12829-triggy-multi-purpose-smart-companion-tag
This smart tag can trigger an action on a smartphone each time a physical change is detected (temperature, displacement, click…)
This multi-purpose sensors tag will alert, inform or trigger an action on your smartphone or tablet when a physical event occurs, based on predefined rules. The ultimate ambition of Triggy is to be the Swiss Knife of “life automation” and to offer a cheap solution for an incredible number of everyday life situations.
An Android application is used to find tags and to create rules between triggering events and actions to be executed. Also when using it with IFTTT and cloud connection, the possibilities become even wider: home automation, remote notifications, cloud automation…
Only an Android device is required with the Triggy board, making automation very simple and cheap. Also it will be ultra-low power and small, enabling a lot of usages.
Basically, Triggy aims to be a smartphone or tablet companion tag, sensing the environment and automatically triggering actions based on physical events. A Triggy module can detect an event such as: this door is opening, the temperature in the fridge goes above x degrees, someone pushed the button, etc… Then a fully customizable rule allows to decide what to do: generate a notification on the phone, play a ringtone, or a lot more.
Among possible actions, one can trigger an IFTTT recipe and as a result choose an action among a very large choice. Triggy can be used as a component of a home automation system, however not limited to home applications.
HOW IT WORKS
Here are the components required by the proposed system:
A smartphone or a tablet operated by Android 4.3 or higher, having inside the Bluetooth 4.0 or higher. The application is not available on iOS for now. Optionally the device can be connected to the internet (in WiFi or 3G/4G), otherwise only local actions could be used.
At least one Triggy tag, possibly with an expansion board plugged.
An Android application installed on the smartphone: it will be used to indicate and configure nearby Triggy tags and create the rules
For extended possibilities, an IFTTT account (the creation is free) and the IF application in order to get the IFTTT notifications. The Maker channel will be used to create the “events”.
As previously indicated, any available smart object compatible with IFTTT (WeMo, Lifx…) will widen the range of possibilities.
The module is 25 mm of side and mainly embeds the following parts:
The nRF52832 micro-controller (Cortex-M4) from Nordic, takes care of the BLE link and sensors management. This is the last chip of the nRF series, with more processing power and less consumption. Detail available here: https://www.nordicsemi.com/eng/Products/Bluetooth-low-energy/nRF52832
LSM303D accelerometer/magnetometer from STMicroelectronics, for the movement detection
Pushbutton switch
Bi-color LED
2.4 GHz antenna
Miniature expansion connector (pitch 2 mm)
The expansion connector is used either to connect a daughter board (with up to 2 sensors) or to flash the nRF52832 through the SWDIO and SWDCLK pins. The module power supply is ensured by a CR2032 coin cell battery or through the expansion connector.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: Internet of Fidget Spinners
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/13/hackaday-prize-entry-internet-of-fidget-spinners/
We’re not sure how [Matthias]’ project will rank. It’s an Internet of Things fidget spinner. Yeah, we know, but there are some interesting engineering challenges in building an Internet-connected fidget spinner.
This is a PoV fidget spinner, which means the leading edges of this tricorn spinner are bedazzled with APA102 LEDs. Persistence-of-vision toys are as old as Hackaday, and the entire idea of a fidget spinner is to spin, so this at least makes sense.
These PoV LEDs are driven by an ESP8285, or an ESP8266 with onboard Flash.
IoT POV Fidget Spinner
A WiFi fidget spinner, taken from concept to ordering parts in one weekend
https://hackaday.io/project/25372-iot-pov-fidget-spinner
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Magic Light Bulb For All Your Bright Ideas
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/13/a-magic-light-bulb-for-all-your-bright-ideas/
[Uri Shaked]’s lamentation over the breaking of his smart bulb was brief as it was inspiring — now he had a perfectly valid excuse to hack it into a magic light bulb.
The first step was disassembling the bulb and converting it to run on a tiny, 130mAh battery. Inside the bulb’s base, the power supply board, Bluetooth and radio circuits, as well as the LED board didn’t leave much room, but he was able to fit in 3.3V and 12V step-up voltage regulators for the LiPo battery.
How To Make Your Very Own Wireless, Extra-Magic Smart Bulb
Discover the secrets of smart bulb-magic technology!
https://hackernoon.com/how-to-make-your-very-own-wireless-extra-magic-smart-bulb-bb40b4e3a726
Tomi Engdahl says:
Even More Bluetooth Smart Bulb Hacking
Broken Bulb Leads to Reverse Engineering Adventures!
https://hackernoon.com/even-more-bluetooth-smart-bulb-hacking-fe888a1ab601
Reverse Engineering a Bluetooth Lightbulb
https://medium.com/@urish/reverse-engineering-a-bluetooth-lightbulb-56580fcb7546
Tomi Engdahl says:
Predictive Maintenance System Curbs Pump Downtime
Sensor-based system sends data to the cloud, where servers identify potential problems.
https://www.designnews.com/electronics-test/predictive-maintenance-system-curbs-pump-downtime/164329975856950?cid=nl.x.dn14.edt.aud.dn.20170614.tst004t
Every year, countless manufacturers struggle with unplanned downtime after a pump or blower unexpectedly fails. In the worst cases, the pump or blower can take down a whole process line, leading to major revenue losses.
Now, however, a new sensor-based, predictive maintenance and analytics system offers hope for such scenarios. PumpSense — which combines sensors, software, and wireless communications — promises to tell factory floor managers when a pump or blower is deteriorating and, if so, why. The product is designed for integration by OEM pump manufacturers.
“Our platform monitors 24/7, and it doesn’t just tell you if your bearing is getting bad,” noted Biplab Pal, chief technology officer and founder of Prophecy Sensorlytics, LLC . “It finds the root cause of your problem and tells you why the bearing is getting bad.”
Although diagnostics systems for pumps and blowers have existed previously, Prophecy Analytics claims its new system is a departure from the past in several key ways: It’s simple, inexpensive, wireless, always on, and more deeply analytical than predecessors.
The key to the system is its use of cloud-based servers to analyze the 24-hour, seven-day-a-week stream of data from the pumps and blowers. It uses a MEMS sensor and vacuum sensor mounted on the pump to measure such variables as vibration, temperature, pressure and vacuum. It then “talks” via Bluetooth wireless to a hub, which gathers and converts the data, and sends it along to an Internet-based router. From there, data goes to cloud-based servers that run predictive analytics software and then send the results back to an app on a tablet or smartphone. The handheld device then displays vital information, such as filter and oil status, bearing conditions, vibration data, and vacuum performance, among other parameters. Color-coded data windows — green, yellow, and red — alert users to the urgency of the information.
The use of wireless is important because it simplifies set-up and reduces the cost of the system, Prophecy Sensorlytics says. In the past, manufacturers sometimes used Ethernet cables to make connections, but such systems could be challenging near crowded, dirty process lines, Pal said. To solve the problem, Prophecy Sensorlytics created its own proprietary middleware to enable wireless connections to “self-repair” in the event of temporary disconnection. That way, the system is always on, and always streaming data, Pal said.
http://www.prophecysensorlytics.com/pumpsense/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Putting Smart Tech on Old Machines
Manufacturers are deploying advanced-technology solutions on older factory equipment – but at what cost?
https://www.designnews.com/automation-motion-control/putting-smart-tech-on-old-machines/62576852556902?cid=nl.x.dn14.edt.aud.dn.20170614.tst004t
Most manufacturing equipment is designed and deployed to last at least a couple decades. In that timeframe, tons of important new technology is introduced. Many manufacturers seek ways to derive the benefits of advanced-manufacturing technology without having to replace existing equipment that remains in fine working order. Yet many of the existing machines were simply not designed to support new technology.
One current example is connectivity. The Internet of Things (IoT) offers a wide range of benefits, but tying it to older machines is not easy.
“It is difficult to deploy IoT solutions alongside legacy equipment. The reason is that legacy systems were designed with particular requirements in mind, such as minimal data transferred at relatively long update rates,”
Sticking new technology on legacy equipment can lead to problems when the older equipment isn’t structured to support data-driven tools. “Often, end-users try to bolt on these new solutions and they create a complex problem from a maintenance point of view,” said Mustard. “If the organization becomes dependent on the new IoT and big data solution – if they run their business based on the output of this equipment – they can find themselves unable to function if the complicated and unreliable infrastructure does not deliver.”
Cybersecurity is another critical consideration when connecting older equipment to the outside world. Much of this equipment was conceived to live in an air-gapped world. “Legacy equipment was not designed with security in mind. It was designed to be used in relatively secure facilities with everything self-contained,” said Mustard. “IoT solutions are all about enabling businesses to get real-time data from manufacturing systems in order to manage the business, communicate with suppliers and customers, and with machinery manufactures who are maintaining the production line.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Multisensor RFID tags read 10 meters out
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4458397/Multisensor-RFID-tags-read-10-meters-out
Employing multiple sensors in a single tag, the PCT100 and PCT200 passive RFID tags from Powercast provide a read range of 10 meters (32 feet), along with an RF operating range of -17 dBm to +20 dBm. According to the manufacturer, the tags have more than 10 times the operational power of standard passive RFID tags.
The PCT100 enables battery-free wireless sensing and reads data within seconds. The PCT200 adds a battery with the ability to recharge using any standard RFID reader’s field. With up to one month of battery life without recharging, the PCT200 offers long-lasting data logging while outside the RF field.
Both units furnish a frequency range of 860 MHz to 960 MHz, conversion efficiency of up to 75%, and an operating temperature range of -40°C to +85°C. A “Find Tag” feature allows users to locate a specific tag by illuminating an onboard LED.
PCT100 and PCT200 High Function RFID Tags
http://www.powercastco.com/products/rfid-tags/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Amazon unveils $20 Dash Wand with Alexa for voice-enabled grocery ordering and home controls
https://www.geekwire.com/2017/amazon-unveils-20-dash-wand-alexa-voice-enabled-grocery-ordering-home-controls/
Amazon just introduced a new Alexa device: a $20 version of its Amazon Dash Wand with the voice-enabled smart assistant built in for ordering food, getting recipes and controlling smart-home devices.
The new device is exclusive to Prime members, and works in conjunction with the AmazonFresh grocery service. The video above was posted a short time ago to Amazon’s YouTube channel, and the product page is live.
This looks to be the smallest and most inexpensive Alexa-enabled device yet, extending the virtual assistant further beyond the existing Echo smart speaker lineup. Amazon describes the device as “essentially free” because customers will get a $20 Amazon credit when they register the device.
Unlike Amazon’s other Alexa-enabled devices, the device does not support music playback
However, it does offer many standard Alexa features.
https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Dash-Wand-With-Alexa/dp/B01MQMJFDK/ref=nav_ya_signin?ie=UTF8&qid=1497489431&sr=8-1&keywords=dash+wand+with+alexa&
Tomi Engdahl says:
Natalie Gagliordi / ZDNet:
IDC: overall IoT spending will rise 16.7% YoY to ~$800B in 2017, driven by enterprise investment, before reaching $1.4T in 2021 — By 2021, global IoT spending is expected to total nearly $1.4 trillion, according to the research firm. — Research firm IDC has released updated spending estimates for the Internet of Things.
IoT spending to surpass $800 billion in 2017, led by hardware: IDC
http://www.zdnet.com/article/iot-spending-to-surpass-800-billion-in-2017-led-by-hardware-idc/
By 2021, global IoT spending is expected to total nearly $1.4 trillion, according to the research firm.
Research firm IDC has released updated spending estimates for the Internet of Things. Overall, IDC expects IoT spending to grow 16.7 percent year-over-year in 2017, reaching just over $800 billion.
By 2021, global IoT spending is expected to total nearly $1.4 trillion, led by enterprise investments IoT hardware, software, services, and connectivity.
Breaking down use cases, IDC says manufacturing, freight monitoring and production asset management will attract the largest investments. Smart grid technologies for electricity, gas, and water, and smart building technologies are also expected to see significant investment gains this year.
Long tail, investments in smart home technologies will jump over the next five years, as well as airport facilities automation, electric vehicle charging, and in-store contextual marketing.
From a technology perspective, IDC says hardware will garner the most spending throughout the forecast, followed by services, software, and connectivity. But while hardware spending will nearly double over the forecast timeframe, its growth is the slowest out of all IoT technology groups.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smooth Ambience System With Voice Command
https://hackaday.io/project/25467-smooth-ambience-system-with-voice-command
Trigger via voice command a smooth ambience system that turns off your main lights, turn on smooth lighting and starts relaxing music
A project meant to let you create ambience automation workflows with DIY smart lights and smart music system and a good way for maker starters to discover home automation
Step 1: NECESSARY COMPONENTS
Raspberry Pi 2 or 3 // ~$10~$35
16 GB SD card // ~$8
Breadboard with jumper wires // ~$2
LEDs // <$2
Old speakers with AUX cable // ~$0
USB stick // ~$0
Philips Hue bulb // ~$10-$20
RF socket + RF transceiver // ~$8
Total should be below $50
Tomi Engdahl says:
Distributed Art
A framework for building a distributed network of small interactive art pieces
https://hackaday.io/project/11135-distributed-art
This project involves putting together a software and hardware framework to enable small interactive art pieces to be controlled in a distributed manner. The goal is that the framework will allow for relatively easy configuration and coding of new pieces, provide means of sending and receiving commands between the pieces, and to abstract away the underlying communication layers the pieces use to interact. As this framework essentially builds a masterless network of small embedded devices, it could also be used for home automation or other similar projects.
The initial framework allows for one of these devices to control addressable LEDs, high-power single LEDs, and any other simple device that can switched using DC power. For communication the devices will use RS485 for wired communication, XBee or RFM69 for wireless communications, and will allow for using a Raspberry PI as a bridge for connecting via IP.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Amazon adds Alexa to Dash Wand for AmazonFresh ordering, home controls, more, includes access to some Alexa skills but will not play music; available for $20
Amazon unveils $20 Dash Wand with Alexa for voice-enabled grocery ordering and home controls
https://www.geekwire.com/2017/amazon-unveils-20-dash-wand-alexa-voice-enabled-grocery-ordering-home-controls/
Amazon just introduced a new Alexa device: a $20 version of its Amazon Dash Wand with the voice-enabled smart assistant built in for ordering food, getting recipes and controlling smart-home devices.
The new device is exclusive to Prime members, and works in conjunction with the AmazonFresh grocery service. The video above was posted a short time ago to Amazon’s YouTube channel, and the product page is live.
https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Dash-Wand-With-Alexa/dp/B01MQMJFDK/ref=nav_ya_signin?ie=UTF8&qid=1497489431&sr=8-1&keywords=dash+wand+with+alexa&
Tomi Engdahl says:
Eagle Eye Networks buys Panasonic’s cloud video surveillance service and Nubo security camera
http://www.zdnet.com/article/eagle-eye-networks-buys-panasonics-cloud-video-surveillance-service-and-nubo-security-camera/
Cloud-based video management specialist Eagle Eye Networks expands its global reach by acquiring Panasonic’s video surveillance solution.
Founded in 2012 by serial entrepreneur Dean Drako (whose track record includes Barracuda Networks), Eagle Eye Networks specialises in cloud-based video management for security and operations teams in businesses. Its flagship product is Eagle Eye Cloud Security Camera VMS (Video Management System), which works with a broad range of analogue and IP video cameras, providing secure encrypted access to cloud storage via an onsite bridge appliance, with on-premise video storage also available.
dean-drako.jpg
Dean Drako, founder and CEO of Eagle Eye Networks.
“We’ve had incredibly good success in the US market, and incredibly good success in Asian markets — Japan, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, Taiwan — but we have not put a whole lot of effort into the European market,” Drako told ZDNet.
That’s the background to Eagle Eye’s acquisition, for an unspecified sum, of Amsterdam-based Panasonic Cloud Management Services BV, whose key assets are Cameramanager, a cloud-based video surveillance solution, and Panasonic Nubo, a wireless (wi-fi and 4G LTE) security camera.
Unlike Eagle Eye’s VMS, Panasonic’s Cameramanager (which will be renamed Eagle Eye CameraManager post-acquisition) is designed to handle modest numbers of cameras — no more than three per site. That’s because the cameras talk directly to the cloud via a software agent, rather than going through an onsite bridge appliance.
“That works great for one, two, three cameras per location,” said Drako, “but if you get to more cameras, the cameras start to fight each other getting up to the cloud, and you don’t really want to try and manage them all individually.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
F-Secure Security Wifi for sale
Elisa brings the F-Secure Sense router as the first operator to sell home intelligence devices from the digital bios to the latest IoT devices. The router includes an application that protects smartphones and computers even when they are outside the home network
The new device developed by F-Secure is a WiFi router that, with its sophisticated security application and cloud-based security, promises to secure all home intelligence devices.
” The Internet of Things comes home from a device. Wireless network connection can already be found as a home entertainment devices (such as smart TVs and game consoles), web cameras, home appliances like heating solutions ”, says Elisa’s business director Matias Castrén.
The service included in the price of a Sense device is valid for 12 months and can be connected with an unlimited number of home smartphones and telephones and 25 computers. Then the price is 9.90 euros / month.
Source: http://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2017/06/15/f-securen-turva-wifi-myyntiin/
More: https://fi.safeandsavvy.f-secure.com/2017/05/18/f-secure-sense-on-verkottuneen-kodin-puuttuva-palanen/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Internet hygiene still stinks despite botnet and ransomware flood
Millions of must-be-firewalled services sitting wide open
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/06/14/rapid7_device_scanning_audit/
Network security has improved little over the last 12 months – millions of vulnerable devices are still exposed on the open internet, leaving them defenceless to the next big malware attack.
A follow-up audit by Rapid7 – the firm behind the Metasploit pen-testing tool – found that more than a million endpoints were confirmed as exposing Microsoft file sharing services (Server Message Block, TCP port 445). The majority (800,000) of these systems were on Windows, leaving a target-rich environment for WannaCrypt, the ransomware worm that infected many NHS hospitals and enterprise targets worldwide last month. The SMB SYN scan results increased by 17 per cent this year compared to the same audit last year (4.7 million to 5.5 million nodes).
SYN scanning for Telnet in 2017 returned just under 10 million responsive nodes, compared to 2016′s scan results of over 14.8 million. This 33 per cent drop in apparent Telnet services can almost certainly be pinned on a response to Mirai, BrickerBot, and other botnets. Mirai was responsible for a DDoS attack on DNS provider Dyn last October that left scores of high-profile websites unreachable for hours as domain lookup queries failed to resolve.
“Server ransomware, ransomworm propagation, insecure Internet of Things, and dozens more headlines reminded us, almost monthly, that the internet is, indeed, a fragile ecosystem that needs deliberate care and attention,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
BMW climbs into IBM Watson’s cloudy connected charabanc
Hey, insurance firms! We’ve got smart car data to flog you!
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/06/14/ibm_bmw_cardata_bluemix_deal/
IBM’s partnership with German carmaker BMW has resulted in a contract to supply cloud-based data management services.
The deal, as reported by The Wall Street Journal, is a victory for IBM Watson, the American tech firm’s Internet of Things (IoT) product line.
Connected cars is one of the areas where IBM, along with the world’s other large technology companies, is keen to spread its Watson-y goodness.
Running on IBM’s Bluemix cloud, the latest deal will have data from BMWs collected into what both companies hope will become a “global data hub” known as CarData. In the medium term, BMW hopes “encrypted” telematics data from its ConnectedDrive app can be shared with local car dealers and the like.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Rambus’ Aharon Etengoff points to a survey that says nearly half of U.S. companies using an IoT network have been hit by a recent security breach, and the significant cost of those breaches.
U.S. firms confirm IoT security breaches
https://www.rambus.com/blogs/u-s-firms-confirm-iot-security-breaches/
A new survey conducted by Altman Vilandrie & Company confirms that nearly half of U.S. firms using an Internet of Things (IoT) network have been hit by a recent security breach. According to the strategy consulting group, anything with an Internet connection can be hacked, creating serious financial and legal exposure for companies and safety concerns for workers and consumers.
“While traditional cybersecurity has grabbed the nation’s attention, IoT security has been somewhat under the radar, even for some companies that have a lot to lose through a breach,” says Altman Vilandrie & Company Director Stefan Bewley, who co-directed the survey.
“IoT attacks expose companies to the loss of data and services and can render connected devices dangerous to customers, employees and the public at large. The potential vulnerabilities for firms of all sizes will continue to grow as more devices become Internet dependent.”
Survey: Nearly Half of U.S. Firms Using Internet of Things Hit By Security Breaches
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170601006165/en/Survey-U.S.-Firms-Internet-Hit-Security-Breaches/?feedref=JjAwJuNHiystnCoBq_hl-Q-tiwWZwkcswR1UZtV7eGe24xL9TZOyQUMS3J72mJlQ7fxFuNFTHSunhvli30RlBNXya2izy9YOgHlBiZQk2LOzmn6JePCpHPCiYGaEx4DL1Rq8p
Other key findings of the survey include:
Sixty-eight percent of respondents think about IoT security as a distinct category; yet only 43% have a standalone budget.
Despite the fact that separate business units may have different needs, 74% of firms centralize IoT security decisions for the entire organization.
After “preventing loss of control over IoT devices”, traditional cybersecurity concerns such as “preventing breaches of customer information” and “preventing breaches of company data” are ranked as the next most important reasons to adopt IoT security.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Analyst Tempers IoT Chip Forecast
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=40&doc_id=1331895&
It’s still a huge market, but IC Insights sees slower revenue projections for government projections.
Market research firm IC Insights Inc. recently trimmed its long-term forecast for semiconductor sales driven by IoT, citing lower revenue projections for connected cities applications such as smart meters and infrastructure. The market research firm shaved nearly $1 billion off its 2020 IoT semiconductor forecast, saying it now it expects the total to be about $31.1 billion.
IC Insights still expects IoT chip sales to rise by 16 percent in 2017 to reach $18.3 billion. But the firm reduced its compound annual growth rate (CAGR) projection of IoT chip sales to 14.9 percent from 2015 to 2020, down from a previous CAGR estimate of 15.6 percent.
Tomi Engdahl says:
HBR article: How smart, connected products are transforming the competition
https://enterprisersproject.com/article/2016/1/hbr-article-how-smart-connected-products-are-transforming-competition
“The changing nature of products is disrupting value chains and forcing companies to rethink nearly everything they do, from how they conceive, design, and source products; to how they manufacture, operate, and service them; to how they build and secure the necessary IT infrastructure,” write authors Michael E. Porter and James E. Heppelmann.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Connectivity software upgrade for IIoT solutions
http://www.controleng.com/single-article/connectivity-software-upgrade-for-iiot-solutions/724ecc9b67e71d8b558635915861ae6b.html
Kepware’s KEPServerEX Version 6.1 connectivity software is designed to strengthen the industrial connectivity platform’s core server functionalities for Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solutions.
Kepware’s KEPServerEX Version 6.1 connectivity software is designed to strengthen the industrial connectivity platform’s core server functionalities that support operational intelligence and the rapid development and deployment of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solutions.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The importance of cybersecurity in industrial robots
http://www.controleng.com/single-article/the-importance-of-cybersecurity-in-industrial-robots/43f8600e448bfe610f6b30fc72547312.html
For end users of industrial robots, cybersecurity needs to be a business priority in order to protect the company from hacking that can cause safety issues or defects that lose the company money.
What are the consequences of poor cybersecurity in industrial robotics?
In an effort to boost productivity, current industrial robots can be connected to the larger Internet of Things (IoT), and like all other IoT devices, this potentially leaves them vulnerable to hacks.
For example, if a robotic arm is hacked, the hacker can take full control of the arm, with nearly limitless possibilities of what could come next. They could potentially cause the robot arm to extend past the limits of its reach, ultimately breaking it. A robot could be recalibrated by a few millimeters without anyone ever noticing, leading to mass-scale recalls. Small changes to the robots’ programming could cause a loss of revenue all from a remote location.
Beyond productivity concerns, there are obvious safety concerns too, especially considering the use of robots in the medical field. There are potential dangers to technicians if a robotic arm is hacked and turned on while maintenance is being performed.
How can industrial robot users ensure proper cybersecurity?
It’s not all doom and gloom for industrial robot users. In fact, quite the opposite. There will be 1.3 million more industrial robots deployed in 2018. Robots are continually becoming more productive and safer in the workplace.
For end users of industrial robots, cybersecurity needs to be a business priority not only to maintain productivity levels but to protect employees and investments in automation.