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 Forecast of 50 Billion Devices by 2020 Is Outdated.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:
What Exactly is a Smart City?
http://www.electronicdesign.com/iot/what-exactly-smart-city?code=UM_NN7SC1&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=12395&utm_medium=email&elq2=0a77e1cc74f249fe97bc825d320adefc
According to the United Nations, two-thirds of the world’s population will live in urban areas by 2050, leading many—from engineers to political leaders—to concentrate on developing smart-city initiatives.
The goal of smart cities is to improve the quality of life for its citizens through technological means, ultimately creating more sustainable cities. It is a team effort that requires many sectors of a society to safely and strategically integrate technology, information, and data solutions.
The vision of a smart city might differ for citizens living in different geographical locations, because every city has its own challenges and needs. Some of these diverse challenges include density of the population, infrastructure, topography, transportation systems, waste-management programs, or even the disposition of the local government and private business of investing money to create smart-city initiatives.
Smart cities are based on intelligent sensors. Data from those sensors is pulled and processed to create innovative programs or solutions associated with everyday aspects of city life, such as energy, utilities, urban mobility, public safety, air quality, waste management, education, healthcare, etc. Smart sensors can be found in utility poles, water lines, buses, traffic lights, etc.
Use of smart sensors is on the rise, with estimates that there will be 50 billion smart sensors connected by 2020. Those sensors are giving smart cities and the Internet of Things (IoT) a wide range of new applications that will help improve infrastructures and services.
Most of the power consumed by smart sensors comes from the wireless links used to transmit data, which means energy efficiency and security become paramount concerns. Thus, smart-city solution providers, system integrators, software designers, and chip designers are working together to develop more secure sensors that are power-efficient and easy to control and monitor, as the demand grows for low-power chips and more secure sensors.
Chipmakers like Microchip, Analog Devices (ADI), and NXP are actively working to develop better chip designs that meet low-power requirements for battery-power applications.
Copenhagen Leading the Way
Smart cities are emerging around the world, with the Danish capital of Copenhagen considered at the forefront because of its excellent urban-planning projects. Copenhagen has the ambition of becoming the first carbon-neutral capital by 2025. In fact, it has successfully started to apply sustainable city solutions to face climate changes. For example:
• Increased mobility through integrated transport and cycling solutions has significantly reduced congestion and improved the health of its citizens. Approximately 45% of the Copenhagen’s citizens bike to work or school every day, which overall is a much healthier alternative than driving or taking mass transit.
• A new district cooling system, where cold water is taken from the harbor water, saves 70% of the energy compared to traditional air conditioning. Seawater and an environmentally friendly natural refrigerant—ammonia—are used for the cooling system
What Comprises a Smart City?
As many cities around the world seek to become smart cities, how can we define and even rank a smart city? What are the indicators? Several smart city indexes (e.g., A.T. Kearney Global Cities, the Global Power City Index (GPCI), etc.) help make those determinations.
Let’s take a look at the smart cities index prepared by the IESE Center for Globalization and Strategy, called “The Cities in Motion Index” (CIMI). CIMI takes into account 10 categories: economy, technology, human capital, social cohesion, international outreach, environment, mobility and transportation, urban planning, public management, and governance.
In the table, seven American cities are listed in the top 15: New York City, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. New York City is ranked first on the overall ranking due to taking first place in the economy category, third place in technology, and fourth place in the human capital, public management, governance, international outreach, and transport categories.
NYC’s Smart Approach
The fact that New York City ranks first on the overall ranking doesn’t mean that there’s no room for improvement, though. For instance, it ranks quite low in the categories of social cohesion (161) and in environment (93). The city is trying to improve those areas through different initiatives, which include:
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smart Single Pole SSR
https://www.eeweb.com/company-news/ixys/smart-single-pole-ssr
IXYS annouced the immediate production release of the CPC1511 device. It is a current limit 1-Form-A normally open Solid State Relay (SSR) that replaces electromechanical devices while enhancing the performance of switching applications. CPC1511 device is an integrated powered driver with active current limiting and thermal shut down circuitry and Power MOSFET switches.
The 230V COC1511 is manufactured with an optically isolated control input, and an integrated monolithic die for the output current and fabricated with ICD’s HVIC SOI technology. It incorporates thermal shutdown circuitry for improved survivability in harsh environments and is designed to pass regulatory voltage surge requirements when provided with appropriate over voltage protection circuitry. This device is designed specifically for harsh AC or DC applications where printed circuit board space is at a shutdown features offer automatic recovery to the appropriate switch state, as determined by the input control current, once the fault condition is removed. This fault protection circuitry provides excellent robustness in high stress switching environments.
The CPC1511 relay provides current limiting for unidirectional DC applications, in addition to typical AC applications. This current limiting 1-Form-A normally open SSR is ideal for general power switching applications in instrumentation. IoT products, industrial controls, peripherals, security, and medical equipment. Key features include built-in current-limiting protection circuitry, thermal shutdown, linear AC/DC operation, low power consumption, clean, bounce-free switching, and an extended operational lifetime over electromechanical relays.
IXYS Introduces a Smart Single Pole SSR
with Thermal Shutdown and Current Limiting Capabilities
http://www.ixysic.com/Newsroom/2017PR/PR_Aug102017.htm?utm_source=eeweb&utm_medium=tech_community&utm_term=news&utm_content=ixys&utm_campaign=source
Blocking voltage: 230Vp
Load Current: 450 mAdc/mArms
On-Resistance: 4 ohms
CPC1511 is a single-pole, normally open (1-Form-A)
optically isolated Solid State Relay with integrated
current limit and thermal shutdown features. Perfect
for replacing electromechanical relays while enhancing
the robustness of wireline-interface applications, the
CPC1511 can carry loads up 450mA
CPC1511 incorporates thermal shutdown circuitry
for improved survivability in harsh environments,
and is designed to pass regulatory voltage surge
requirements when provided with appropriate over
voltage protection circuitry.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Want to Simplify the Connected World? Enter this IoT Development Contest and Show ‘em What you Got
https://www.eeweb.com/blog/nicole_digiose/want-to-simplify-the-connected-world-enter-this-iot-development-contest-and
If you’re a part of today’s connected world (which I’m assuming you are, since you’re reading this), you know that the Internet of Things (IoT) has been an explosive hot topic in recent years. Unfortunately, IoT development and prototyping cycles are long and expensive due to the time and complexity it takes to build even a simple IoT prototype. But fear not, because the creation of IoT projects doesn’t have to be difficult or time-consuming, and that’s what the world’s first ESP8266 IoT contest is all about.
Three innovative organizations — myDevices, SparkFun, and Espressif — have partnered to present the world’s first ESP8266 IoT contest. Espressif Systems produces the ESP8266 chip; SparkFun is a leader in open-source hardware, providing components, kits, and tutorials to speed up prototyping and make electronics more accessible; and myDevices created Cayenne, the world’s first drag-and-drop IoT project builder, which aims to simplify the connected world. With the help of these forward-thinkers, this contest will be a rewarding experience for all who participate.
So be prepared to show off how you use the ESP8266 to simplify the connected world. There’s no project too big or too small. You can create an automated garden, monitor the temperature in a room, or put your Raspberry Pi to use in a smart home project – it’s all up to you.
Entering this contest is easy and free. Just sign up for your free Cayenne account, create your IoT project using at least one ESP8266 board/module, and submit your project to the contest.
Jumpstart ESP8266 Projects with Cayenne
https://mydevices.com/cayenne/landing/jumpstart-esp8266-projects-cayenne/
Create web and mobile dashboards for ESP8266 projects
Drag and drop widgets to create a customized project dashboard
Add and remotely control sensors, motors, actuators, and more
Create widgets for any connected sensor or actuator
Create triggers and threshold alerts for devices, events, and actions
Schedule one-time or multi-device events for easy automation
Quick and easy setup – connect your projects in minutes
Tomi Engdahl says:
Roger Fingas / AppleInsider:
Toyota, Intel, Ericsson, NTT DOCOMO, others form the Automotive Edge Computing Consortium for network and computing infrastructure of auto big data
Intel, Toyota & others create ‘big data’ consortium for self-driving cars
http://appleinsider.com/articles/17/08/10/intel-toyota-others-create-big-data-consortium-for-self-driving-cars
By Roger Fingas
Thursday, August 10, 2017, 02:43 pm PT (05:43 pm ET)
Several major tech and automotive companies —including Intel, Toyota, and Ericsson —on Thursday announced a consortium that will build a “big data” ecosystem for use with self-driving cars, as well as related technologies like driver assist and mapping using real-time data.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Android Things Developer Preview 5
https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2017/08/android-things-developer-preview-5.html?m=1
releasing Developer Preview 5 (DP5) of Android Things, which includes the major change of being based on the upcoming Android O release. Android Things is Google’s platform to enable Android Developers to create Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and seamlessly scale from prototype to production.
https://developer.android.com/things/index.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sensor Net Makes Life Easier for Rice Farmers
http://hackaday.com/2015/10/05/sensor-net-makes-life-easier-for-rice-farmers/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Another Arduino Compatible? This Time, It’s A Sony
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/13/another-arduino-compatible-this-time-its-a-sony/
When it comes to microcontroller development boards, we have a plethora of choices at our disposal. Each has its strengths and weaknesses, be they associated with its support and community, its interface capabilities, or its choice of processor family.
Which brings us neatly to today’s story, the quiet announcement from Sony, of a new microcontroller development board called the Spritzer. This is Arduino compatible in both physical footprint and IDE, is intended for IoT applications, and packs GPS, an audio codec, and an ARM Cortex M4 at 156 MHz.
The board is due to be available sometime early next year, and while it looks as though it will be an interesting device we’d sound a note of caution to Sony. It is not good enough to have an amazing piece of hardware; the software and community support must be more than just make-believe.
Sony introduces smart sensing IoT board (Arduino-compatible)
https://developer.sony.com/2017/08/03/sony-introduces-smart-sensing-iot-board-arduino-compatible/
Sony will be showcasing a brand new development board called Spritzer during the Maker Faire Tokyo in Japan, August 5-6. The Spritzer board is specifically designed for IoT applications and comprises a range of smart functionality such as integrated GPS and an advanced digital audio codec and amplifier. Being Arduino-compatible means that Spritzer allows any developer to easily get started with app development using the free Arduino IDE and an ordinary USB cable.
The Spritzer board features a processing chip with a unique combination of low power consumption and a rapid clock speed of 156MHz. This makes Spritzer extremely versatile and can be deployed for a vast range of use cases. During the Maker Faire, Sony will demonstrate various live implementations such as a drone utilizing the GPS and the 6-axis sensor support, a smart speaker utilizing the audio functions, a self-driving line-tracing miniature car, and a low-power smart sensing IoT camera using the camera interface of Spritzer.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Single Device to Control Many Arduinos with NRF24L01+ Sensor
https://www.hackster.io/xkid2023/single-device-to-control-many-arduinos-with-nrf24l01-sensor-b7c79f?ref=similar&ref_id=48050&offset=5
Trying sensor network with NRF24L01+ as what maniacbug did. Though I could only afford to build network with 5 modules.
This build will only have one MCU, the Raspberry Pi, to connect to Cayenne. The great thing with NRF24 is that it reduces clutter in your dashboard while controlling a lot of stuff.
Raspberry Pi (this is connected to Cayenne) Arduino Nano (MCU for the devices we are controlling) NRF24L01 (RF module) Zero Crossing circuit SSR DHT11 PIR sensor Light switches (these are override switches, just in case you want to manually switch device) Wall Power supply (I cant find those with switches, so I added mine into it).
Proximity sensor will tell if you have visitors at your door. At night, this could turn on a light whenever it detects motion.
When it gets too hot, it turns on your fan (due to SSR limit, but change SSR then you can turn AC) when the temperature drops below lower limit, turn off fan.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cayenne, Python and MQTT Tutorials-4 – Analog Input
http://www.instructables.com/id/Cayenne-Python-and-MQTT-Tutorials-4-Analog-Input/
Get temperature sensor value with DS18B20 from anywhere with Cayenne IOT Dashboard.
This tutorial will show you how to get temperature sensor value from Cayenne IOT Dashboard.
You will need the following parts for this tutorial:
1x Raspberry Pi
3x male-female jumper wires
1x 4.7k ohm resistor
1x DS18B20
Tomi Engdahl says:
Reverse Engineering A BLE Service To Control A Light Bulb
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/13/reverse-engineering-a-ble-service-to-control-a-light-bulb/
So, you buy an Internet of Things light bulb, it’s a fun toy that allows you to bathe your environment in pretty colours at the touch of an app, but eventually you want more. You start to wonder how you might do more with it, and begin to investigate its inner workings. Then to your horror you discover that far from having bought a device with a convenient API for you to use, it has an impenetrable closed protocol that defies easy access.
This was the problem facing [Ayan Pahwa] when he bought a Syska Smartlight Rainbow LED bulb, and discovered that its Bluetooth Low Energy interface used a closed protocol. But instead of giving up, he proceeded to reverse engineer the communication between bulb and app, and his write-up makes for an interesting read that provides a basic primer on some of BLE’s workings for the uninitiated.
Reverse Engineering IoT Devices
https://iayanpahwa.github.io/Reverse-Engineering-IoT-Devices/
I recently bought a smart LED RGB light bulb for my work desk from Amazon, A 7 watts Syska Smartlight Rainbow LED bulb which can be controlled using a mobile application compatible with Android and Bluetooth. It was fun playing with it, a perfect mood lamp for my study room, blinks to notify of any new whatsApp message on phone, can wake me up in the morning and I can interact with it in so many ways BUT only through it’s native application.
Unlike other famous smart light bulbs available in the market like Philips Hue, LIFX etc, this one works on Bluetooth Low Energy rather than WiFi and unlike them it has no API to interact with it your own custom made application
After playing with it for couple of weeks, I decided to look whats’s under the hood. I’ve been playing around Bluetooth and Bluetooth LOW energy protocol for quite sometimes now and know the nitty gritty functioning of it ( All thanks to Cypress Semiconductor for sending me a PSoC4 BLE evaluation kit last year ).
though the BLE protocol has some already defined profiles such as basic old UART, BLE Heart Rate monitor, Beacons etc, the vendor is free to use what’s called GATT or Generic Attribute and create their own custom profile of how they want communication to happen between master and slave.
The fact that this bulb is not using TCP/IP based protocol for communication makes it little hard to reverse engineer,
From some previous project on BLE I knew about an amazing application by Nordic Semiconductor which runs on Android and ios called nrf connect which can be used to explore GATT services and characteristics exposed by the device. I can use this app to connect to my light bulb, know it’s Unique Address(sort of MAC address), find which GATT services are exposed by the light bulb and their corresponding characteristics, a good starting point isn’t it? I quickly fire up the application on my android device, turn the bluetooth and light bulb on and scan for devices. The device was shown up swiftly with the name ‘Cnligh’
The two out of three GATT Services exposed by the light bulb are generic to most of BLE Devices, the 0×1800 for Generic access to device and 0×1801 for Generic stuffs
Other than these two, there is one more service exposed by the light bulb which is user-defined, I can tell by seeing it’s 128-bit UUID which are meant for vendor defined BLE GATT profiles
Provided I’ve found the service name, UUID I’d be able to try sending some packets and see the results but it was not the case, hence the next step left was only to sniff the packets sent by the BLE app to the bulb.
I heard about a device called Ubertooth One By Great Scott gadgets which makes possible sniffing of Bluetooth packets but seeing at the price tag and local availability, I decided to look for an alternative, there were some other hardwares too from Nordic and Cypress Semiconductor but spending more bucks than price of a light bulb wont make sense isn’t it.
Further Googling, I found on StackOverflow, that with Android KitKat update it is possible to log bluetooth packets in a file
If you’ve android phone with kitkat and above you can enable this feature by going to settings > Developer option > Enable Bluetooth HCI snoop log. This is basicaly a bluetooth debugging tool, after enabling it all the bluetooth transaction will be logged to the file ‘btsnoop_hci’. I enabled the feature, and run the app controlling my light bulb changing different colors as I normally would, and focusing more on basic colors this time like pure red, blue and green which would help me filter data stream while analyzing packets, close the app and wolla! the file was actually generated, a merely 20Kb log file which could open the gates to the bulb without opening the hood
.
Next step was to bring the file on my workstation and try to visualize it using Wireshark which is a great tool for stuff like this
I found it a BLE based chip by Texas Instruments the ‘CC2540’ which the bulb is probably using
Investigating further, there are few types of protocol involved in overall communication as can be seen in wireshark- HCI_E, HCI_C, ATT etc.
That’t the most exciting thing in reverse engineering, you never know ;). The best way to tell this is by controlling it without using the native Syska bulb app.
I decided to use Bluez software stack which is available on Linux and I used my KALI Linux VM machine, because why not? Ain’t we hacking?
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Week In Review: IoT
NB-IoT in Singapore; MagicCube raises $8.5M; MWC in the U.S.
https://semiengineering.com/the-week-in-review-iot-58/
M1 Limited of Singapore worked with Nokia to launch a nationwide narrowband Internet of Things network, targeting such applications as asset tracking, environmental monitoring, fleet management, and smart energy management for buildings. M1 hopes to boost the IoT ecosystem in Singapore with the new NB-IoT network.
Switzerland-based ELSE has received $3 million in seed funding by Airbus Ventures and other investors to develop a satellite network to support IoT applications. The firm also has funding from the European Space Agency and the Swiss government. ELSE is working on two demonstration spacecraft for its proposed Astrocast system, with plans for a constellation of 64 satellites to be launched between 2019 and 2021.
Cybersecurity
The Synopsys State of Fuzzing 2017 report finds that IoT and industrial control systems software was the most vulnerable to exploits, as reported by Synopsys customers using the company’s Defensics Fuzz Testing offering.
Regarding the planned introduction of the IoT Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2017 in the U.S. Senate, Steve Brumer, a partner of 151 Advisors, had this to say about the legislation: “Regulation is often good for business because it will force government agencies to spend money (via IoT security companies in this case) and it propels the adoption for needed solutions with or without standards. Most companies and agencies do not want to allot a budget to security because security does not generate revenue. Spending on security is purely reactive. No one would have spent any budget on security without Target, Sony, and the many other security breaches. The largest threat to security are known security flaws since most hackers exploit security flaws that have been sent patches, but consumers and companies have not downloaded. It is a numbers game and WannaCry shows that there are a ton of devices that have not been updated with the necessary patches. Government funding will provide security companies with the revenue they need to expand and develop tools that will be less expensive for companies in the next couple years. But without addressing the need for worldwide standards in IoT, this will be a Band-Aid reactionary model.”
Ariel Rabkin of the American Enterprise Institute has his own take on the Senate bill. “Covering all Internet devices might be good policy, but it should not be done by accident or haphazardly,” he writes.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Success with the Internet of Things Requires More Than Chasing the Cool Factor
https://hbr.org/2017/08/success-with-the-internet-of-things-requires-more-than-chasing-the-cool-factor
Many companies begin an internet of things (IoT) journey with great expectations, only to end up with disappointing business results. Gartner recently estimated that through 2018 “80% of IoT implementations will squander transformational opportunities” and fail to monetize IoT data. And a new survey by Cisco found that one-third of all completed IoT projects were not considered a success. In my experience with dozens of organizations implementing IoT solutions, those that achieved their expected ROI changed their traditional business approaches in one or more of the following ways:
They Developed a Partner Ecosystem
The essence of IoT is interconnectivity. Interconnectivity is about more than the connections between devices — it is about the connections between customers, partners, and suppliers.
Accordingly, IoT is driving a shift in business structures from a one-company-does-it-all model to a let’s-work-together approach. This means that companies must leave behind traditional models of proprietary systems, rigid processes, and reliance on a few longtime partners and move toward models that embrace open and flexible structures in which partners can solve business problems together. This collaborative approach is no longer optional: No single company, deploying only its own products or services, can capture IoT’s value by itself, and certainly not with the speed required in today’s digital market.
Companies deploying IoT successfully in industrial sectors such as manufacturing, oil and gas, mining, and transportation are seeking multiple agile partners with open IP architectures to co-create solutions. This approach lets organizations aggregate best-of-breed technologies to develop cost-effective solutions that advance their goals.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mouser – Controller offers turnkey crypto security for IoT applications (Maxim Integrated MAXQ1061)
http://www.electropages.com/2017/08/mouser-controller-offers-turnkey-crypto-security-iot-applications/?utm_campaign=2017-08-11-Electropages&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=article&utm_content=Mouser+-+Controller+offers+turnkey+crypto+security+for+IoT+applications
Mouser is now stocking the MAXQ1061 DeepCover cryptographic controller from Maxim Integrated. Designed to protect the confidentiality, authenticity and integrity of software IP, communication and revenue models, the device is a turnkey security solution that enables engineers to add an extra layer of protection to IIoT, smart metering, network appliances and other connected embedded systems.
The controller incorporates DeepCover embedded security technology, which applies multiple layers of advanced physical security to provide the most protected key storage possible. The device’s embedded cryptographic toolbox provides key generation and storage by offering a high level of abstraction including TLS/DTLS key negotiation, ECDSA-based TLS/DTLS authentication, digital signature generation and verification, SSL/TLS/DTLS packet encryption and MAC algorithms. The device can also serve as a secure bootloader for an external microcontroller.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Engineers Must Build the RoI for IoT
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1332129&
Devices and engineers themselves must become more flexible and focused on return on investment to succeed in an era where a software-defined Internet of Things has become the new normal.
Security seems to be the only thing on anybody’s mind when it comes to the IoT from hacked baby monitors to the Mirai botnet. But there are other even more pressing issues at hand, according to new research conducted by our team this year.
Fifty-three percent of the more than 360 IoT professionals we surveyed cited business considerations, such as quantifying return-on-investment from IoT projects, as their primary challenge. It’s time that electronics engineers refocused their efforts to not only show the technical benefits of their IoT devices but also the potential returns that businesses can see by using them.
It’s all too easy to get wrapped up in the development of physical devices. As it stands, 55% of IoT professionals see their long-term profits coming from the sale of hardware.
While there is still significant money to be made in hardware, as the cost of single board computers such as the Raspberry Pi or even lower cost Orange Pi continues to decrease, engineers are taking a more cost-sensitive approach by abandoning custom IoT microcontrollers. This approach has been made possible by the increasing availability and functionality of single-board computers with a fully functioning IoT OS that helps improve overall margins for the finished product.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Color-Adjustable Smart Lighting Reference Design
https://www.eeweb.com/company-news/power_integrations/color-adjustable-smart-lighting-reference-design
Power Integrations and Casambi Technologies OY, announce a new reference design, DER-612, describing a constant-voltage (CV), constant-current (CC) 12-watt isolated flyback power supply with power factor correction for smart lighting applications. The design includes a 3.3 V power supply to drive a Casambi CBM-001 Bluetooth® wireless module, which provides convenient dimming and color management control of the four-string LED load from 0 mA to 400 mA. The power supply operates over a universal input voltage range of 90 VAC to 265 VAC and achieves greater than 0.8 power factor across all line conditions.
“Smart lighting systems monitor and control sophisticated home and workplace lighting installations. The standby power needed for the control subsystem often negates any savings that high efficiency LEDs offer. Casambi’s low quiescent current draw combined with the very low standby consumption of InnoSwich-CH optimizes standby performance while maintaining instant light availability.”
https://casambi.com/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fusing CMOS IC and MEMS Design for IoT Edge Devices
https://www.mentor.com/tannereda/resources/overview/fusing-cmos-ic-and-mems-design-for-iot-edge-devices-5ba8408f-0d3c-46f1-8ea6-eb77d61f4eb2?clp=1&contactid=1&PC=L&c=2017_08_14_tanner_fusing_cmos_ic_and_mems_design_v2
Creating a sensor-based IoT edge device is challenging, due to the multiple design domains involved (Analog, digital, RF, and MEMS). But, creating an edge device that combines the electronics using the traditional CMOS IC flow and a MEMS sensor on the same silicon die can seem impossible. In fact, many IoT edge devices combine multiple dies in a single package, separating electronics from the MEMS design.
This paper focuses on the unique challenge of fusing CMOS IC and MEMS design on a single die.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IoT sensor determines air quality
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4458702/IoT-sensor-determines-air-quality
An environmental sensor from Bosch Sensortec, the BME680 measures indoor air quality, barometric pressure, relative humidity, and ambient air temperature. All four sensors are housed in a single 3×3×0.95-mm LGA package for use in both mobile and stationary IoT applications, such as smart homes, offices, and buildings; elder care; and sports and fitness wearables.
The gas sensor within the BME680 detects a broad range of gases in the parts per billion range, including VOCs (volatile organic compounds), carbon monoxide, and hydrogen. When measuring pressure and altitude, the BME680 is accurate to within ±12 Pa and ±1 m, respectively.
Operating from a supply voltage of 1.71 V to 3.6 V with a 1 Hz data refresh rate, the BME680 typically consumes 2.1 µA when measuring humidity and temperature; 3.1 µA when measuring pressure and temperature; 3.7 µA when measuring humidity, pressure, and temperature; and 0.09 mA to 12 mA for pressure, humidity, temperature, and gas, depending on the operating mode. Average current consumption in sleep mode is 0.15 µA.
The BME680 is sold through distribution at a price of approximately $6.90 each in lots of 1000 units.
http://www.bosch-sensortec.com/bst/products/all_products/bme680
Tomi Engdahl says:
IoT Rolls Up its Sleeves
Market watchers recalibrate the trajectory
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1332156
The hype phase is over. Engineers are rolling up their sleeves to do the hard work of building an Internet of Things.
Early projections for IoT are now seen as overblown. But the market still has huge potential, so a widening circle of companies and consortia is looking ahead to big challenges in areas such as interoperability, security and ease-of-use.
You could trace the end of the beginning to June 2015. That’s when one market researcher and former engineer got tired of the inflated predictions of tens of billions of connected devices just around the bend. He decided to put out a more sober forecast.
At his first event dedicated to the Internet of Things, Linley Gwennap estimated 1.9 billion new IoT devices would ship in 2020, up from about 200 million he projected were shipping at that time, mainly in the industrial space. Gwennap took a bottom’s up approach to sizing the market that resulted in a far less rosy view than the 50 billion devices in 2020 that Cisco Systems optimistically forecasted.
Since then, the outlook has darkened slightly.
At its latest event in late July, the Linley Group said the IoT market won’t hit a run rate of a billion units a year until 2019. The problem is consumer systems expected to make up the brunt of the market someday are still too expensive and too hard to use, said senior analyst Mike Demler.
“Connecting things to Wi-Fi is so difficult and unreliable that it’s been holding things back,” he said, giving an example of his frustrations with an Amazon Echo.
The consumer IoT has yet to have its “iPhone moment” when a design fires the public imagination, Tuttle complained. “It will take multiple decades for IoT to play out,” he said, adding that he still believes it represents “the biggest opportunity of our lifetime.”
Engineers are feeling some blowback from the IoT bubble bursting, said Gwennap.
“Last year and the year before a lot of chips were popping up like MCUs with integrated radios and chips targeting smart watches and other wearables. This year, I am seeing less interest. We are not seeing follow-ons to last year’s products and more people are just repurposing existing smartphone SoCs,” the market watcher said.
Few innovative chips makes it harder for OEMs to craft the iPhones of the consumer IoT. The good news is in communications.
Chips for Bluetooth mesh and the 802.11ah version of W-Fi for low cost, long range connections over 900 MHz bands should ship this year. Outside the smart home a handful of new options–LoRa, Sigfox, Cat-M1 and NB-IoT–are expanding the still-new low power wide area (LPWA) sector.
Pointing toward a polyglot future, the Imec research institute showed a chip last year that supports five networks that run in the 780-930 MHz ISM band—802.15.4g/k, LoRa, KNX-RF, Sigfox and Wireless M-Bus. A Silicon Labs exec said he sees evidence of collaboration and consolidation in IoT protocols.
The big-company energy pouring into services such as Amazon Echo, Google Home, Baidu DuerOS and others fueled by advances in machine learning will drive consumer IoT growth. Meanwhile businesses are getting traction with still-expensive augmented reality products that will eventually trickle down to consumers, said Sam Lucero, a senior principal analyst for IoT at IHS Markit.
The consumer market may “coalesce around familiar names like Amazon, Google and Apple that control the cloud” and connect smart home devices, said Gwennap. On the commercial side, Amazon announced Greengrass in June, a runtime to host its Web services on any IoT gateway supporting Linux.
Big distributors such as Arrow Electronics (the publisher of EE Times) and rival Avnet are both active in IoT. Defining new data-centric business models and finding IoT-class systems integration experts are among their top challenges, said Aiden Mitchell, who heads up Arrow’s IoT initiative.
“There almost isn’t a company that you can’t have a conversation with, so it’s about prioritizing for the biggest outcomes … We spend a lot of time on finding new talent in roles that never existed in the company before. We’ve had good engineers and sales people but not IoT business developers, or solution architects for sensor-to-cloud system and app engineers,” Mitchell said.
A handful of consortia have coalesced around some of the biggest problems in IoT.
For example, late last year two major application frameworks for consumer IoT merged efforts under the management of the Linux Foundation. The Open Connectivity Foundation and the AllSeen Alliance were the major alternatives to Apple’s HomeKit and Google’s Thread and Weave environments.
Over the last few years a consensus has emerged that security is probably the toughest nut to crack in IoT. The good news is a growing set of efforts are engaged in various aspects of the issue.
OpenFog Reference Architecture, a broad framework that aims to set a baseline for guiding work on standards and product design, starting with security.
The Trusted Computing Group’s standards for a hardware root of trust widely used in today’s systems may need to be modified for IoT, it said.
UL, the former Underwriters Laboratory, aims to take the lead in this space, providing a specific certification for software security it discussed in May. So far progress has been slow: Two systems have received the UL 2900 certification and three more are in progress.
In the U.K., a May 2015 IoT security summit at Bletchley Park, the site where researchers cracked the Enigma machine, helped launch the IoT Security Foundation (IoTSF).
Among other efforts, the Online Trust Alliance already has available a second version of its IoT Trust Framework.
One of the early pioneers in the area was the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC). It released a security framework last year for its target markets.
The IIC has set up a handful of testbeds to get hands-on learning on all aspects of IIoT.
The U.S. Senate proposed the Internet of Things Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2017 to force vendors to set clear standards for things like security software patches.
Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation is scheduled to take effect in May 2018. While its first phase is focused on big-data analytics at Web giants, regulators anticipate a second phase directed at data privacy in IoT.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Thermal management requirements for edge computing
Edge computing requires several variables to be considered and an advanced climate control solution.
http://www.controleng.com/single-article/thermal-management-requirements-for-edge-computing/07e178ffba288a859aa7d5f7558e38ff.html
Edge computing houses data processing capability at or near the “edge” of a network facility. Usually servers are contained in a micro data center, with as few as one or two enclosures. Data which is mission-critical, such as a component malfunction or a software defect, is captured and available in real-time on-site. Edge computing is valuable in capturing bandwidth-intensive and latency-sensitive data for analysis, lowering operating costs and improving energy efficiency. Lower-priority data can be sent to the cloud or to a remote data center.
Companies are recognizing the importance of incorporating edge computing into their processes. However, a basic rack-mounted enclosure is still a challenge. In edge computing, server rack density and small footprints are key components to provide the near-user computing data. However, power consumption of a server rack is converted to heat, deadly to IT systems. And the smaller the space, the more the temperature rises. Thus, thermal safety is a paramount priority.
Of all the concerns for an edge data center, cooling capacity consistently rates as a primary focus. A requirements checklist includes:
Select a climate control system that is well-matched to the heat output of the edge data center
Provide adequate airflow to each server rack
Assure operational reliability of the cooling and redundancy system
Maintain constant acceptable levels of temperature and humidity
Have options for scalability at the rack level and at the edge data center as a whole.
Consider these fundamental criteria and variants in the design phase:
What type of liquid cooling package (LCP) cooling system should be installed? Whether or not a water- or refrigerant-based system is used can depend on the environment and the availability of a water supply.
Will the amount of racks and enclosures require hot and cold aisles? Cold aisle containment usually requires a raised floor. If a space is being retrofitted to accommodate enclosure racks, this design consideration may influence the decision.
What average temperatures should be maintained in the racks? It is still widely accepted that racks should be maintained at a cooler temperature, no more than 68 to 72°F. The setpoint temperature required depends in part on the heat output calculations for the rack enclosure. With densely-populated edge centers, additional cooling power may be needed to offset the higher heat loads.
What is the volumetric flow rate of cooled air required? Calculating the airflow requirement for each center depends on the rack requirements to design an efficient airflow strategy. Rack, inline, or a combination may be the correct solution.
What are the ambient conditions? Temperature extremes in either direction will affect the energy required to maintain an acceptable environment for the racks. The degree to which ambient temperature may assist or hinder cooling may depend on the efficiency of the system and the density of the racks.
Where will the airflow be directed? Directing the cooler airflow to the front of the racks is desirable, but how will the heated air be discharged? Standard airflow management in a small data center provides different design challenges.
Do load fluctuations exist and what impact do these have on the cooling response times? If the operation of the data center will see variations in energy use, a selected cooling system should be adaptable to the variations in power needs.
Should the system be scalable for future expansion? Having a system that can adapt to baying or can support additional rack cooling over the existing needs will eliminate costs if additional computing power is needed.
Protecting equipment with thermal management
Moving toward edge computing makes sense in many industries. With the rapidly increasing volume of data available from the Internet of Things (IoT), to the necessity of reduced latency in analysis, and the finite amount of bandwidth available at legacy data centers, edge computing solves these concerns. Understanding what an edge computing environment will require is not dissimilar to the checklist for any data center: calculate heat output, provide adequate cooling, assure reliability and scalability.
With edge computing, the smaller footprint of the microcenter demands a closer look at the proportions of the equipment relative to the size of the center, and strict parameters on the capacity of each component to perform efficiently and reliably.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Connected SSL plays a key role in the move to intelligent buildings of the future
https://event.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1157600&tp_key=922f0755c4&sti=enl
Lighting is the most pervasive powered element that is ubiquitously and uniformly spread across our commercial building spaces today, and is therefore uniquely positioned as a possible way to connect many elements of a building to an IP-based network — replacing the relatively simple serial connectivity used in systems such as security and HVAC today. IP connectivity in LED-based lighting is already happening in some cases because of added energy efficiency and better lighting control for occupants, and going forward the potential of the smart building will provide more justification for a move to connected lighting.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Vendors roll out compliant Bluetooth Mesh enablers for solid-state lighting products
http://www.ledsmagazine.com/articles/2017/07/vendors-roll-out-compliant-bluetooth-mesh-enablers-for-solid-state-lighting-products.html?eid=293591077&bid=1837145
Tomi Engdahl says:
Extending the Range of Ultra-High Data-Rate WLANs
https://www.eeweb.com/company-blog/microchip/extending-the-range-of-ultra-high-data-rate-wlans
Microchip Technology introduces SST12CP21 high power amplifier which combines ultra-low error vector magnitude and ultra-low current consumption. It paves the way to significantly extending the range of 802.11 wireless networks and MIMO systems while still consuming extremely low current
Power Amplifiers
http://www.microchip.com/design-centers/power-amplifiers?utm_source=eeweb&utm_medium=tech_community&utm_term=news&utm_content=microchip&utm_campaign=source
Microchip RF Division (RFD) offers a broad range of RF front-end products for 1.9 to 6 GHz applications. We offer high-performance Power Amplifier (PA), Front-End Modules (FEM), and Low-Noise Amplifier (LNA) supporting all Wi-Fi® standards, including the new 5 GHz 11ac and 2.4 GHz 256 QAM, as well as ZigBee®, Bluetooth®, and DECT applications.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bluetooth’s range just widened, and IoT lighting companies are thrilled (UPDATED)
http://www.ledsmagazine.com/articles/2017/07/bluetooth-s-range-just-widened-and-iot-lighting-companies-are-thrilled.html?eid=293591077&bid=1837145
Some vendors think the brand new “Bluetooth mesh” standard will kick off a commercial smart lighting bonanza.
The organization that oversees Bluetooth wireless communication protocols at long last issued a standard today that extends Bluetooth’s physical range, a move that could help open commercial and industrial market opportunities for Internet of Things (IoT) lighting.
“We just completed a several-year effort of completing a set of specifications that define a standardized approach for creating true industrial-grade mesh networking solutions using Bluetooth technology,” Bluetooth SIG vice president of marketing Ken Kolderup said in a phone interview with LEDs Magazine. “Now there’s a standard way that defines how mesh networking gets done on Bluetooth, so that all the vendors can now create interoperable solutions.”
The mesh standard applies across all possible commercial, industrial, and residential information technology uses. The lighting industry is one group in particular that is welcoming the move. As LEDs has been reporting for some time, mesh could help buoy IoT lighting, making it more likely that smart lights can cover large areas of retail stores, warehouse, commercial offices, and other locations. Smart lights can engage shoppers on retail floors, can track assets and inventory in shops and warehouses, can adjust building management systems or readjust their own light settings, can advise facility managers on how to reassign space, and support many other data-oriented processes.
While other technologies such as ZigBee, Z-wave, visible light communication, and Power over Ethernet — to name just a few — can support those schemes, many lighting vendors have been counting on Bluetooth. Today’s announcement, which Bluetooth SIG hinted at when it named a Philips manager to its board last week, is welcome news to them.
“We are extremely excited to see this happen,” Gooee chief technology officer and co-founder Simon Coombes told LEDs. “We’ve been waiting a long time.”
Gooee provides communication chips and sensors to luminaire makers including Aurora, Feilo Sylvania, and many others. It has been a leading advocate of IoT lighting.
Tomi Engdahl says:
SigFox and LoRa in the same IoT module
Mutate is the first major manufacturer to offer the LPWAN module that supports both LoRa and Sigfox. The new ABZ LoRaWAN module can be used to build applications based on any of the sensor network standards. Both networks are already in commercial use.
In Murat’s new module, dual software support is created with a software package. In addition to the LoRa stack, the Magraan ABZ LoRaWAN module can also utilize the Sigfox communication protocol stack.
The Murata-IoT module allows designers to decide which available sensor network technology will best serve the application according to the site, service requirements, and cost.
The new module includes ST Microelectronics STM32-based microcontroller and Semtech SX1276 RFIC. The RF part operated in the 806-930 megahertz frequency band and provides a nominal power of +14 dBm.
The Muratan ABZ LoRaWAN module has, in addition to LoRa, a European certification for the Sigfox network.
Source: https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2017/08/14/sigfox-ja-lora-samaan-iot-moduuliin/
More: http://wireless.murata.com/eng/products.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bootnote: In our background reading for this story, Vulture South has made a shocking discovery: we know who to blame for the permanent trash-fire that is Internet of Things security. Here’s the damning text, with italics added by The Reg.
From RFC 2324:
Coffee pots heat water using electronic mechanisms, so there is no fire. Thus, no firewalls are necessary, and firewall control policy is irrelevant .
Source: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/08/14/error_418_im_a_teapot_preserved/
Tomi Engdahl says:
http://www.iiconsortium.org/pdf/IIC_Vocab_Technical_Report_2.0.pdf
Tomi Engdahl says:
Former Microsoft exec reveals why Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant beat Cortana
https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/14/16142642/microsoft-cortana-amazon-alexa-qi-lu
Microsoft’s former AI expert, Qi Lu, moved to Chinese search giant Baidu earlier this year. Lu spent time working on Cortana and Microsoft’s bot platform whilst he was at the software giant, along with heading up the company’s Bing search and Office teams. In an interview with Wired, Lu has provided some rare insight into Microsoft’s struggles to compete with Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant.
“I worked on Cortana four and a half years ago. At the time we all were like, ‘Amazon, yeah, that technology is so far behind,’” says Lu. “Google and Microsoft, technologically, were ahead of Amazon by a wide margin. But look at the AI race today. The Amazon Alexa ecosystem is far ahead of anybody else in the United States. It’s because they got the scenario right. They got the device right. Essentially, Alexa is an AI-first device.”
Lu believes Microsoft and Google “made the same mistake” of focusing on the phone and PC for voice assistants, instead of a dedicated device. “The phone, in my view, is going to be, for the foreseeable future, a finger-first, mobile-first device,” explains Lu. “You need an AI-first device to solidify an emerging base of ecosystems.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
3 real-world examples of IoT rolled out in the enterprise
http://www.networkworld.com/article/3213868/internet-of-things/3-real-world-examples-of-iot-rolled-out-in-the-enterprise.html
Without network support, businesses may not be able to reap all the benefits of the data IoT generates.
Buying into IoT comes with a wealth of benefits, but adopting heavy use of the internet of things means more than plugging in devices and waiting for the data to pour in; it means modifying network infrastructure to accommodate them.
This is not a trivial consideration. If the network doesn’t adequately support all aspects of IoT, a company may be unable to take advantage of all that data and will fail to realize the return on investment it was hoping for.
Early adopters of IoT can provide valuable lessons to other companies looking to roll out similar projects. Here are three examples of how companies are addressing various IoT networking issues.
IoT Security and an IoT gateway at Rockwell Automation
For some companies, IoT is nothing new. Rockwell Automation, a provider of industrial automation technology, launched its first IoT effort in 2011, says Scott Sandler, technology manager, cloud computing.
“Rockwell’s vision around IoT is really targeted towards [our] customers—how we can better enable their success and achieve specific outcomes,” Sandler says.
One early consideration in terms of network infrastructure was data security, he adds. Rockwell’s early adopters were worried attackers would be able to reach into their manufacturing plants. To address these concerns, Rockwell made sure its IoT service used a gateway device that only connected to the cloud using outbound port 443 (https/TLS); the gateway is architected so that it only makes outbound calls and only receives updates from the cloud in a response to calls it has initiated.
Rockwell also adopted other security measures, such as a policy server that issues shared access tokens and certificates to gateway devices for authentication purposes, so its customers don’t need to make changes to their network or firewall settings, since \port 443 is typically set by default to allow secure browser-based communications.
Other than taking steps to ensure secure data and configuring proxies, the network changes the company has had to make to accommodate its IoT initiative have been “minimal,” Sandler says.
“However, I would point out that Rockwell approached the concept of an IoT gateway from the perspective of being as low impact as possible.”
One suggestion Sandler has for preparing networks for IoT is to choose a solution partner that understands the company’s data sources.
“Failure to do this could significantly impact the network between your gateway and control systems, and even impact the automation itself,” he says.
Iot devices need careful network configuration to insure bandwidth
Thoroughly testing IoT devices before they’re deployed is also a good idea, but this too makes unique demands on network infrastructure.
Marist College is engaged in advanced research with a company that’s an incubator in the late stages of IoT product and service development (the college cannot identify the company due to a non-disclosure agreement). The technology collects bio-digital health information through wireless access directly from sensors worn by people at some level of health risk.
The monitoring devices must persistently stream data using secure wireless protocols to remain constantly connected to monitoring systems and medical services.
“Our data science researchers have the opportunity to use big data—billions of events—to develop and prove advanced predictive processes, utilize machine learning, track interventions, and watch the effect of different variables in real time,” says Bill Thirsk, vice president of IT and CIO at Marist. “It is a perfect environment to develop cognitive computing with impact.”
The diversity and manufacturing specifications of devices play a huge role in how Marist handles IoT devices from a networking standpoint.
A Netgear router transmits the SSL-secured data over the Internet, which is then received through Marist’s Juniper SRX 3600 series firewall and A10 load balancer. Once the device data is received by the predictive analytics server, it’s modeled for use by analysts.
He also recommends testing and creating small pilots of various devices.
“You will invariably be faced with supporting a plethora of devices that users and clients may try to connect to the network,” he warns.
Remember that once you achieve some level of success with IoT, prepare for an influx of connected devices, Thirsk says. “Build in device and group visibility so you can understand the status of things, maintain security, and continue to expand your device presence and value,” he says.
IoT plus Wi-Fi can help track patients
Rolling out an IoT initiative at a single site is challenging enough; doing it across multiple locations at the same time requires even more testing and preparation.
The company is preparing its network to support the connection of objects such as security cameras, nurse call systems and HVAC systems. As part of the transition, Schlegel is migrating from a Novell eDirectory multi-location server setup to a Microsoft Active Directory environment in a single data center.
“In the future we anticipate taking advantage of the Aruba access points’ GPS locating technology, whether to locate lost equipment or get a notification on a resident who has left the building,” says Chris Carde, director of information technologies for Schlegel. “That will assist in saving lives.”
“By the end of the project we will have around 1,500 APs, 16 controllers, and 50 switches installed,” Carde says. “Internal speed means nothing if accessing the Internet is a bottleneck, so we are undergoing a large ISP upgrade from a basic business line to dedicated fiber of 150mbps up and down across all of our 16 sites, and 1000 mbps at our data center. The new infrastructure will allow us to support IoT with better care and services to our residents and administration staff.”
Organizations looking to create an IoT strategy need to think long term in terms of what types of devices will need to be connected, Carde says.
“Ensure your infrastructure is capable of growing with ease to accommodate your future needs,” he says. “There is nothing more frustrating than bottlenecking yourself with a new network infrastructure. Having a plan in place will speak volumes on your ability to design a robust and expandable network.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
What is IoT?
Beyond being a network of online, connected, smart devices, the internet of things it can be a nightmare for IT
http://www.networkworld.com/article/3207535/internet-of-things/what-is-iot.html
The Internet of Things, at its simplest level, is smart devices – from refrigerators that warn you when you’re out of milk to industrial sensors – that are connected to the Internet so they can share data, but IoT is far from a simple challenge for IT departments.
For many companies, it represents a vast influx of new devices, many of which are difficult to secure and manage. It’s comparable to the advent of BYOD, except the new gizmos are potentially more difficult to secure, aren’t all running one of three or four basic operating systems, and there are already more of them.
A lot more, in fact – IDC research says that there are around 13 billion connected devices in use worldwide already, and that that number could expand to 30 billion within the next three years. (There were less than 4 billion smartphone subscriptions active around the world in Ericsson’s most recent Mobility Report.)
Interoperability
The full benefits of the Internet of Things are only realized when large enough numbers of devices are able to interact with each other – and therein lies a big problem. The number of different players in the market covers a wide range, both horizontally, in terms of functionality, and vertically, among different industries.
With a huge number of companies “doing IoT,” – most big-name tech companies, including Google, Microsoft, Apple, Cisco, Intel, and IBM have various types of IoT play – all working to bring as many users as possible into their respective ecosystems, motivation to make sure IoT systems and devices from different companies all work with each other is sometimes lacking.
The problem, of course, is that nobody’s willing to give up on the idea of their own ecosystem becoming a widely accepted standard – think of the benefits to the company whose system wins out! – and so the biggest players in the space focus on their own systems and development of more open technologies lags behind.
Work is underway to improve testing and standardization
Systems
But, for the moment, there’s a vast array of technology out there that can accurately be described as enabling IoT. Just at the networking level, there’s Bluetooth, Bluetooth LE, ZigBee, RFID, Wi-Fi, cellular, Z-Wave, 6LowPAN, Thread, NFC, Sigfox, Neul, LoRaWAN, Alljoyn, IoTivity, Weave, Homekit, MQTT, CoAP, JSON-LD, and plenty more that can and do play a part in IoT implementations.
All of these are technical standards, and there are huge overlaps in their areas of functionality, which means that any given device might work with one, several or none of them. So interoperability can be a problem
Making this even more complicated is that some of these technologies address different layers of the stack
What this means is that different IoT implementations can use vastly different technologies, at every level, to get the job done.
For example, Swedish pest control company Anticimex has its smart traps send text messages, via a carrier network, to an SMS hub that relays those messages back to a control center. This means that compromising a simpler system like a smart trap doesn’t offer a way into the company’s network, the way a more direct connection might.
n contrast, the team at Red Bull Racing needs constant, real-time data from its Formula 1 cars, which are zipping around racetracks at up to 200 mph. This means a proprietary system that feeds data to a central hub on the car, which transmits wirelessly to a service provider, who encrypts the data for Red Bull’s use.
Both of these systems are reasonably secure – but this makes them the exception, rather than the rule, as it’s difficult to overstate the threat posed by IoT technologies on the network. This threat is two-fold, but both of the main issues center on the fact that many IoT endpoints are not well secured, in part because it can be difficult in some cases to build robust security into small, simple computing devices.
Confusion rules the day around IoT security. One of the principal problems is that even cataloguing every connected device on a network is difficult, and many administrators might not be aware of the full IoT presence in their environments. It’s tough to secure something when you don’t even know it’s there.
Beyond simple visibility, the chaotic state of software development for connected devices is probably the biggest concrete security issue – not only are some devices insecure to begin with, but even if manufacturers issue patches for flaws, they can be difficult to distribute and apply in an organized way. Many don’t patch at all, as ongoing software development simply isn’t in the budget for certain types of devices.
It’s a “myth” that manufacturers are going to solve the issue, according to ForeScout chief strategy officer Pedro Abreu.
“The onus is going to fall on the enterprise to create their own security,” he said. “Depending on [IoT] devices to all be secure and sophisticated, it’s going to be impossible.”
“People will continue to connect out of necessity, but the cost and severity of lapses and breaches will increase until it’s a constant, ongoing burden for all,” said Dash.
“Current technology already offers much higher levels of security than the market actually uses; there is a scope for radical improvement if people demand it,”
IoT is everywhere, but there are certainly a few verticals where it’s more prevalent. Heavy industry is arguably the sector that’s been working with IoT concepts for the longest, thanks to SCADA and robotics, and it’s got its own sub-type of IoT – industrial IoT, or frequently just IIoT.
Agriculture is another area where IoT has taken off in a big way – planting, irrigation, harvesting and even soil monitoring have become centralized, thanks to high-precision GPS technology, soil sensors and other systems being wired together in an IoT arrangement.
oT has changed the day-to-day operations in health care
Tomi Engdahl says:
Traffic generated by healthcare equipment is the most important provider of internet access for objects over the next five years.
The number of health monitored devices and networked drug dispensers will increase worldwide by 30% per annum until 2021. Views are apparent from the annual Visual Networking Index forecast by the telecommunications company Cisco.
According to Cisco’s report, half of the on-line devices are available for the Internet of Things by 2021.
Iot is kind of almost everywhere and is at least coming to everywhere.
“If there are tens or hundreds of billions of connections, they are forced to do so somehow,” commented Aalto University Professor Jukka Manner of Computer Networking.
“Does it matter to the whole thing, it’s just another thing. Generally, the traffic generated by small embedded devices is very small and has no major impact on the whole. The 4k video is something completely different, ”
In Helsinki and Uudenmaan sairaanhoitopiiri, the impact of the use of iot on networks is reflected in the major expansion of the wireless network as well as in the accurate design of radio data.
“So far, the use of iot devices has not been significantly affected by HUS’s other network design,” says Pertti Mäkelä , Director of Data Administration Balance Unit.
According to Cisco , with intelligence and intelligent cities, healthcare is about the same growth rate (29%).
For example, in Sweden, the number of iot devices is estimated to be about ten to increase from 1.2 million to nearly 12 million in 2016-2021. Iot’s growth accelerates the pace of global ip traffic, but still iot connections are only about 5 percent of IP traffic.
The total IP traffic is predicted to be around 278 EXPs in 2021 (2016: 96 EXPs, plus this undercut below).
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/Kaikki_uutiset/4k-videot-syovat-internetin-6669089
Tomi Engdahl says:
Verifying SmartMesh IP Data Reliability for Industrial IoT Applications
http://www.techonline.com/electrical-engineers/education-training/tech-papers/4458352/Verifying-SmartMesh-IP-Data-Reliability-for-Industrial-IoT-Applications
The Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) requires industrial wireless sensor networks (WSNs) with stringent reliability and security.
Since such networks must operate reliably more than ten years without intervention, industrial WSNs must cope with severely changing environmental conditions over time. In addition, they must also be scalable and flexible so that the networks can support growing business needs and data traffic over a significant period of time. Linear Technology’s SmartMesh networks deliver >99.999% data reliability in rigorous end-to-end testing and in the field. Over 50,000 SmartMesh networks have been deployed worldwide in demanding applications such as data centers, factories, power utilities, fenceline security, outdoor environmental monitoring, agricultural applications, mining and tunnels, and industrial process.
SmartMesh IP
http://www.linear.com/products/SmartMesh_IP
SmartMesh IP products are wireless chips and pre-certified PCB modules complete with ready-to-deploy wireless mesh networking software. They are built for IP compatibility, and based on the 6LoWPAN and 802.15.4e standards. The SmartMesh IP product line enables low power consumption and >99.999% data reliability even in harsh, dynamically changing RF environments.
Tomi Engdahl says:
SecureRF Collaborates with Intel to Deliver Future-Proof Security Tools for IoT Designers
https://www.securerf.com/securerf-collaborates-intel-deliver-future-proof-security-tools-iot-designers/?utm_campaign=Email%20Newsletter&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=55317743&_hsenc=p2ANqtz–O244oPbzkHf-_Tm4IdLOlWb0RK28Ap-tTjzXxADa7pKXowp2AmtqDQ2wi1DtKj0DBIj0LAW2zOzPIOgIYFbyB6HtXahBD13xkh7SSwmvQe5SEYQE&_hsmi=55317743
Intel’s DE10-Nano kit, based on a system-on-chip (SoC) field programmable gate array (FPGA), is an ideal development platform for developers who require design flexibility while creating innovative applications for the Internet of Things (IoT). Now, a new collaboration between Intel and SecureRF means developers using this board, which features a Cyclone V FPGA, can take advantage of SecureRF’s market-ready DE10-Nano Security Toolkit to protect their next application or solution.
Quantum-Resistant Security
FPGAs like Intel’s Cyclone V require security functions, such as a secure boot or remote device authentication and identification. The problem is that legacy security methods such as ECC are computationally expensive and won’t work on the low-resource devices (e.g., 8-bit sensors) with which the FPGA gateway may need to communicate.
To start working with the DE10-Nano and SecureRF solutions, developers can download SecureRF’s DE10-Nano SD card image, which is available on the Security Toolkit webpage. The image includes SecureRF’s WalnutDSA Digital Signature Verification Algorithm and Ironwood Key Agreement Protocol. The latter enables two endpoints to generate a shared secret over an open channel. WalnutDSA enables one device to generate a document that is verified by another. Both are implemented partially in software on the Intel Cyclone V’s ARM Cortex-A9 and partially in FPGA fabric. The FPGA image is configured to run WalnutDSA together with Ironwood as a demo.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Alexa Enabled Sprinkler Controller
https://hackaday.io/project/26850-alexa-enabled-sprinkler-controller
Low cost, Alexa Enabled IoT 8 zone sprinkler controller based on the NodeMCU ESP-12E
Tomi Engdahl says:
IoT Happy Plant Monitor
https://hackaday.io/project/26849-iot-happy-plant-monitor
Get a text or call if your plant is getting too dry, along with a nice LCD display giving information regarding your plant’s health.
The wonderful people at DFRobot reached out to me to do a project using their amazing soil moisture sensor and I2C 16×2 LCD.I had an idea to create a device that would monitor a plant, and theyprovided me with the necessary hardware. I decided to build a simple box that is powered by a single Particle Photon.Every 30 minutes it takes a reading of the soil and determines if it’stoo dry. If it is, it publishes an event, and then IFTTT can send a text, call, or email to notify you that it’s too dry. There is also an RGB LED on top that turns green if the plant is happy, and blinks blue if the plant is too dry. The LCD displays messages.
Tomi Engdahl says:
AspenCore Global Report
IoT Rolls Up its Sleeves
Consortia get cracking on security and more
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?_mc=RSS%5FEET%5FEDT&doc_id=1332156&page_number=3
Tomi Engdahl says:
Alexa In A Bunny Rabbit
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/16/alexa-in-a-bunny-rabbit/
The Raspberry Pi is the perfect candidate for Google’s AIY where you can talk to a cardboard box with some electronics in it. [BuddyCasino] took on the challenge of squeezing an Alexa Client in an ESP32 and to make things interesting, a bunny rabbit was chosen as the host of the virtual assistant.
A few months ago, we did a teardown of the Google AIY Kit where [BuddyCasino] commented that he managed to port the Echo Dot client into and ESP32.
An Alexa Smart Speaker project for the ESP32.
https://github.com/MrBuddyCasino/ESP32_Alexa
Connecting the I2S codec
If you don’t know about the I2S standard, it is a special protocol for transferring digital audio data between chips, similar to I2C. There are many I2S chips you can choose from, the most important differences are:
Amplification: some chips only decode the audio to a low analog level, so you need a separate amp, but some also have a built-in amplifier. Most of these 2-in-1 chips are made for smartphones so their energy output is in the range of 2-4W, but some other ones made for domestic audio appliances can go a lot higher.
MCLK: this is a separate clock signal that sometimes needs to be a precise number in the MHz range that depends on the current sample rate, sometimes can be a single constant value (“asynchronous”) independent of the current sample rate, and sometimes is not required at all. The ESP32 does not output a MCLK signal, so a chip that does not require MCLK is most convenient. If you already have an asynchronous one lying around (e.g. ES9023), you will need a quartz oscillator, usually in the range of 20-50MHz.
I tested several I2S codecs, and was happiest with the MAX98357A, because it does not require MCLCK and also amplifies the audio to speaker levels
Connecting the I2S microphone
Connect the I2S microphone like this:
ESP pin – I2S signal
———————-
GPIO18 – LRCK
GPIO17 – BCLK
GPIO05 – DATA
Tomi Engdahl says:
Siemens Preaches Gospel of Manufacturing ‘Digitalization’
Automation giant’s software platform aims to unite design, engineering, manufacturing.
https://www.designnews.com/automation-motion-control/siemens-preaches-gospel-manufacturing-digitalization/111886482557300?cid=nl.x.dn14.edt.aud.dn.20170816.tst004t
Siemens AG continued its push this month to unite the design and manufacturing realms into a single data model, announcing it will soon add two more key software tools.
The automation giant said that in September it will unveil an application called Manage MyMachines for its MindSphere operating system, along with a separate software solution called Sinumerik Edge for analyzing data from machining processes. The products will serve as two more elements in Siemens’ effort to create an end-to-end software portfolio for companies seeking to “digitalize” their operations. By doing so, Siemens hopes to further close the loop between design and manufacturing, enabling manufacturers to more readily identify whether products are manufacturable before they reach the factory floor.
“Up to now, not everyone has had the ability to close that loop,” Sal Spada, research director for discrete automation at ARC Advisory Group , told Design News . “That’s a big part of their initiative – closing the loop from design down to the manufacturing processes. It’s the digitalization thread.”
The Manage MyMachines product is the first application for Siemens’ MindSphere, an open IoT operating system that allows machine data to be sent to the cloud. Manage MyMachines would give operators an overview of the machine data, enabling them to optimize their production. Similarly, Sinumerik Edge would allow operators to process machine data, but to do so at the machine, without sending it to the cloud. Siemens announced the two new products at a press event in Chicago last week.
Siemens believes the demo is key to helping design and manufacturing engineers comprehend the benefits of an end-to-end simulation environment. “What’s important here is to show the art of what’s possible in terms of digitalization,” Batra said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Web-enabled vibrator class action put to bed
The plaintiffs must be buzzing
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/08/16/web_enabled_vibrator_class_action_put_to_bed/
The case against sex toy maker We-Vibe, which agreed to pay out $3.75m for tracking owners’ use, has finally been put to bed, with a judge yesterday signing off the settlement.
Earlier this year We-Vibe’s parent company, Standard Innovation, agreed to fork out following a privacy infringement lawsuit, and also said it would ensure that personal information collected from users would be deleted.
The firm was accused of collecting information on the date and time of use, the “vibration intensity level” and users’ email via its accompanying app, We-Connect.
“We have enhanced our privacy notice, increased app security, provided customers [with] more choice in the data they share, and we continue to work with leading privacy and security experts to enhance the app.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
U-blox – Wi‑Fi and Bluetooth IoT gateway certified for use in hazardous environments
http://www.electropages.com/2017/08/u-blox-wi%e2%80%91fi-bluetooth-iot-gateway-certified-hazardous-environments/?utm_campaign=2017-08-16-Electropages&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=article&utm_content=U-blox+-+Wi%E2%80%91Fi+and+Bluetooth+IoT+gateway+certified+for+use+in+hazardous+…
U‑blox has announced that its ODIN-W2 stand-alone IoT gateway module has achieved ATEX certification for use in potentially explosive atmospheres (zone 0). Already designed to withstand harsh environmental and electrical conditions, the professional grade, dual band Wi-Fi and dual‑mode Bluetooth module is now certified for use in potentially explosive atmospheres, found in the oil and gas, mining, petrochemical industries and more.
The multi-radio module has achieved both ATEX and IECEx certification for use in explosive atmospheres. The ATEX Directive (2014/34/EU), valid for Europe, and IECEx certification, valid in most regions outside the EU, require equipment to be designed and tested to ensure it does not initiate an explosion, due to an electric arc or high temperature of this equipment.
Tomi Engdahl says:
What is Sedona
– a language, a protocol, a framework, a town in Arizona?
http://www.automatedbuildings.com/news/oct11/articles/skyfoundry/110926012707sedona.html
Actually it is all of the above! The best way to describe Sedona is as a complete “platform” to speed the development of smart, networked devices such as I/O controllers. As a platform it includes several components:
Programming Language: a simple Java-like language used to create your application logic and define new function block components
Standard Library: of APIs and predefined function block components to speed development of new functionality
Virtual Machine: to efficiently execute software developed in the Sedona programming language on different hardware devices that might use various microprocessors or operating systems (or have no operating system)
Sox Protocol: a simple UDP/IP protocol to provision and configure devices
What is Sedona used for?
Sedona is essentially a ready-to-use software platform which is designed to be easily added to a networked device to give it smarts. The Sedona software can be used to augment existing software or be the primary software application on a device. Out-the-box, the Sedona Framework can be used to:
provide a control engine to execute traditional function block control logic
enable network connectivity for reprogramming that logic
enable network connectivity to configure devices (such as modify setpoints, modes, etc)
enable network connectivity to update firmware and software modules
provide software framework to develop new protocol stacks and applications
Are people using Sedona today?
Yes, quite a few manufactures are shipping devices with Sedona as a standard software component. Off the top of my head I know the following vendors are shipping Sedona powered devices: Infocon, Contemporary Controls, Solidyne, Pervasive Devices, SysMik.
Sedona Framework
http://www.sedonadev.org/
The Sedona Framework is designed to make it easy to build smart, networked embedded devices. Some of the Sedona Framework highlights:
Sedona Language
A general-purpose component oriented programming language very similar to Java or C#. The Sedona language is used to write your own custom functionality.
Sedona Virtual Machine
The SVM is a small interpreter written in ANSI C designed for portability. It allows code written in the Sedona programming language to be written once, but run on any Sedona Framework-enabled device. The SVM itself is designed to be highly portable to new microprocessors and operating systems.
Small Devices
The Sedona Framework is targeted to be run in very small embedded devices – Sedona Framework applications can be run in under 100KB of memory!
Component Oriented Programming
The Sedona Framework enables a style of programming where prebuilt components are assembled into applications. Components can act as services or be explicitly linked together to create data and control flow. This model is especially suited to graphical programming tools.
Networking
Several protocols are bundled with the Sedona Framework to provision, program, and communicate with Sedona Framework-enabled devices over various network topologies. You can remotely add, remove, and modify the components in your application in real-time. You can even upgrade the firmware itself over the network. All networking is designed to work over any IP network including 6LoWPAN.
Open Source Ecosystem
The core Sedona Framework technology is licensed under a flexible academic styled license. This makes it easy for manufacturers to Sedona Framework-enable their devices. Tools and applications written in Sedona are portable to any certified Sedona Framework device.
Tomi Engdahl says:
CPT Tools
https://www.easyio.eu/pagina/8349/cpt-tools
CPT Tools is an open source software programming tool that provides third party configuration and management tools for products that run in a Sedona environment, such as the FG series, the FC series, the FW series and the 30P. Our EasyIO F-series are boosted with the latest technology onboard, like HTML5, PHP, SQL, embedded gateways and protocols. CPT Tools has the ability to configure and manage the webserver on the EasyIO F-series.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Amazon expands cash rewards for high-performing Alexa apps beyond games to lifestyle, productivity, education apps, and more
Amazon expands program that pays Alexa developers for top-performing voice apps
https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/16/amazon-expands-program-that-pays-alexa-developers-for-top-performing-voice-apps/
Amazon today announced a new program that gives developers a way to earn money for their Alexa skills – the voice apps that run on smart speakers like the Echo, and other Alexa-powered devices. According to the company, developers will be compensated for top-performing and “engaging” voice apps across over a half-dozen categories, including games, which were previously being compensated through a similar program.
This program had first begun in May, when Amazon quietly introduced direct cash payouts to Alexa developers with popular games.
Now, Amazon will begin to reward voice apps in other categories, including Education & Reference, Food & Drink, Health & Fitness, Lifestyle, Music & Audio, and Productivity, it says
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft launches Azure Event Grid, a fully managed event routing service
https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/16/microsoft-launches-azure-event-grid-a-fully-managed-event-routing-service/
Microsoft announced a new product in its Azure line-up in preview today that will make it easier for developers to build event-based applications.
The Azure Event Grid makes events (like uploading a picture or video, clicking a button, updating a database, etc.) first-class Azure objects. Event Grid complements Azure Functions and Azure Logic Apps, Microsoft’s existing serverless offerings, and gives developers access to a fully managed event routing service. This new service gives them the flexibility to ingest and react to virtually any event — whether that’s happening inside Azure or on a third-party service or in an existing application.
Developers can use Event Grid to route events to specific endpoints (or even multiple endpoints) and filter them as necessary.
“Serverless” has always been a misnomer, given that even the most serverless of serverless applications still needs to run on servers. Still, the basic idea behind serverless platforms is that you can use this model to build event-driven applications without having to worry about the underlying infrastructure.
Indeed, Microsoft director of Azure Compute Corey Sanders told me that Event Grid actually sits on top of Service Fabric, Microsoft’s platform for building microservices.
Event Grid takes the ideas of Azure Functions and Logic Apps a bit further, though, thanks to its built-in ability to take inputs from any application with the help of webhook endpoints
Out of the box, Event Grid also supports Azure Blog Storage, Resource Manager, Application Topics, Event Hubs, Azure Functions, Azure Automation and Logic Apps, with support for other Azure-based services, including the new CosmosDB database service and IoT Hub, coming later this year. Given that IoT applications are a logical fit for this service, it’s actually a bit of a surprise that support for IoT Hub isn’t part of this initial release.
Pricing for Event Grid is based on the number of operations you process. The first 100,00 operations are free; after that, you pay $0.60 per million operations
Operations are defined as any ingress, advanced match, delivery attempt or management call.
Introducing Azure Event Grid – an event service for modern applications
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/introducing-azure-event-grid-an-event-service-for-modern-applications/?ranMID=24542&ranEAID=TnL5HPStwNw&ranSiteID=TnL5HPStwNw-MAJW0UxhdIK4BpayBgUjFw&tduid=(f494d488cb302b13dd2f44552eca92b0)(256380)(2459594)(TnL5HPStwNw-MAJW0UxhdIK4BpayBgUjFw)()
Tomi Engdahl says:
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Google to roll out voice calling feature to Google Home users in US and Canada soon, but it will lack caller ID except for Google Voice or Project Fi users
Google Home can now make phone calls in the US and Canada
https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/8/16/16155994/google-home-voice-calling-feature-now-available
Google is rolling out a long-awaited feature for its Google Home smart speaker today: voice calling. The company just announced that Home users in the US and Canada will very soon be able to call people in their contacts and local businesses using their voice and the signature “OK Google” command. That makes it more flexible than what Amazon is doing with Alexa / Echo-to-Echo calls and messaging. But you can’t call another Google Home from yours or answer calls with it; only outgoing calls work right now.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Did you know one of NATO’s first JANUS acoustic modems was built around Linux code running on a BeagleBone Black?
The Internet of Underwater Things: Open Source JANUS Standard for Undersea Communications
https://www.linux.com/blog/event/elce/2017/internet-underwater-things-open-source-janus-standard-undersea-communications
Open standards exist for all manner of wireless and terrestrial communications, but so far none has emerged for underwater communications.
Below the waves, submarines, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), and undersea sensor stations use a hodgepodge of incompatible proprietary technologies including acoustic, radio, and optical modems.
The multinational defense organization recently announced it has adopted a new JANUS digital communications standard for underwater acoustic modems. Deployed as an official NATO standard called STANAG 4748 (PDF), JANUS will be implemented on all NATO vessels.
As detailed by IEEE Spectrum, the open source, GPL-licensed JANUS standard uses acoustic modems.
JANUS, which is named after the Roman god of gateways, has been tested at 900Hz to 60kHz frequencies at distances of up to 28 kilometers. However, it’s optimized for sending data underwater at up to 10 km.
JANUS assigns the 11.5 kHz band for initial discovery, and defines a procedure for handshaking, synchronization, and 80bps data transmission using 56-bit packets. Once synchronized, the systems can then switch to a different frequency or protocol
As it turned out, one of the first JANUS acoustic modems was built around Linux code running on a BeagleBone Black.
http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/telecom/wireless/nato-develops-first-standardized-acoustic-signal-for-underwater-communications
Tomi Engdahl says:
Modular WiFi-Switch
Modular ESP8266 Wi-Fi switch to the installation in switch boxes.
https://hackaday.io/project/20035-modular-wifi-switch
Tomi Engdahl says:
Develop IoT applications with the PSoC 6 BLE Pioneer Kit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiAj6qcJT9M&list=PLDglzuv1g_h9_TdwOGDnQLorJ6gtOGz7W&index=7
The PSoC 6 MCU offers ultra-low power, various connectivity options, customizable peripherals, and increased design flexibility. Watch the video to discover how you can leverage this kit to design high quality wearable and IoT technology.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IoT: The Interference of Things
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/the-emc-blog/4458714/IoT–The-Interference-of-Things
I hereby declare that IoT stands for “Interference of Things.” Anything else you may have heard is just marketing hype.
Tomi Engdahl says:
AspenCore Global Report
IoT Rolls Up its Sleeves
Market watchers recalibrate the trajectory
http://eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1332156
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ethernet-connected variable frequency drives
http://www.controleng.com/single-article/ethernet-connected-variable-frequency-drives/99e436c579d2780bd3c86712a3a5a216.html
The Mitsubishi Electric FR-A800- E and FR-F800- E variable frequency drives (VFDs) are designed to provide Ethernet connectivity as a standard feature.
Mitsubishi Electric Automation, Inc.’s Ethernet-connected versions of its FR-A800 and FR-F800 Series variable frequency drives (VFDs) provide Ethernet connectivity as a standard feature, allowing the drives to be connected directly to automation equipment and plant information management systems. These VFDs are designed for factory automation in the automotive and food processing sectors, as well as wastewater treatment plants. They can be used in process control applications, multiple pump control systems and in networks that require continuous monitoring, such as the measurement of energy consumption.