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 Forecast of 50 Billion Devices by 2020 Is Outdated.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:
Which carrier is winning the IoT race?
https://enterpriseiotinsights.com/20170830/channels/fundamentals/20170830uncategorizedwhich-carrier-is-winning-the-iot-race-tag4
The internet of things is the next frontier for mobile network operators, as smartphone growth slows down and new mobile chips enable low-cost connections for all manner of assets and equipment. Companies in almost every industry are investigating the IoT, and carriers want them to choose cellular instead of an unlicensed spectrum alternative. All four nationwide carriers are in the process of rolling out dedicated IoT networks, and all of them have millions of connections already on their existing networks.
AT&T is the leader among U.S. carriers when it comes to IoT connections. The carrier ended the second quarter with 33.7 million IoT/machine-to-machine connections, according to Compass Intelligence. That’s a 4% increase from the first quarter, and more than twice the number of connections reported by Verizon and Sprint combined. Compass Intelligence reports that Verizon ended the second quarter with 18.2 million connections and Sprint has 13.2 million. T-Mobile US had an estimated 4.6 million IoT connections, down 22% from the first quarter, according to the analyst firm. Compass Intelligence estimates IoT connections at 65% of wholesale connections, which were down in Q2 at T-Mobile US due to the company’s decision to remove Lifeline subscriptions from its wholesale connections.
Wireless carriers hope to see their numbers of IoT connections skyrocket with the roll out of new network technologies that enable low-cost connections over LTE networks. Both AT&T and Verizon have activated LTE Category M1, which keeps costs low by transmitting and receiving very low amounts of data. Verizon and AT&T have IoT data plans in place already, and these prices could come down even further as technologies evolve.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Huawei explores robots-as-a-service for smart manufacturing
https://enterpriseiotinsights.com/20170831/smart-factory/huawei-robots-as-a-service-smart-manufacturing-tag17
The vision is for smart manufacturing applications to be supported by a dedicated 5G network slice
5G is about a lot more than simply higher mobile data rates. The ultra high capacity and ultra low latency of 5G could support a wide range of valuable industries like oil and gas, mining and manufacturing. The digital transformation from more traditional manufacturing to smart manufacturing is poised to come on the back of internet of things-type applications–like the use of industrial robotics to reduce error and drive efficiency–supported by next generation network technologies.
To advance adoption of smart manufacturing technologies, network infrastructure company Huawei is partnering with German industrial automation and control specialist Festo. The companies said the focus on “5G cloud robotics” will look to test a robots-as-a-service business model “that supports the shift from mass production to mass customization…According to this concept, computation is moved from the robot to the fabrication cloud.” And the link between the robot and cloud would come over a 5G network.
5G systems are expected to be built in a way to enable logical network slices, which will allow telecom operators to provide networks on an as-a-service basis and meet the wide range of use cases that the 2020 timeframe is expected to demand. In a single 5G system, network slicing technology can provide connectivity for smart meters with a network slice that connects “internet of things” devices with a high availability and high reliability data-only service, with a given latency, data rate and security level. At the same time, the technology can provide another network slice with very high throughput, high data speeds and low latency for an augmented reality service.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Have Alexa Open Your Garage Door
https://hackaday.com/2017/09/03/have-alexa-open-your-garage-door/
[yoyotechKnows] built an Alexa-controlled garage door opener after his Liftmaster stopped working. Now all he has to do is holler at his mobile phone and he can raise and lower his garage doors at will.
His project is based around a Photon WiFi kit, with a pair of LCC 120 digital relays triggering the two doors, reed switches, and a serial-equipped LCD to display door status, with Alexa, IFTTT, and OpenHab to process the commands. You can find his code in the project writeup.
OK Google, Open my Garage!
https://www.yoyoknows.com/single-post/2017/08/21/Super-Simple-Garage-Door-Open
The Parts.
Particle PHOTON Wi-Fi Kit
Experiment Breadboard
LCC 120 digital relay (1 for each Garage door opener)
Reed Switch (again 1 for each Garage Door)
Pull Down Resistors
Optional Serial Enabled 16×2 LCD
Tomi Engdahl says:
Analysis vs. Analytics: Past vs. Future
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1332172&
What’s the difference between analysis and analytics? One looks at the past while the other tries to predict the future.
The distinction between analysis and analytics is often blurred and more often misunderstood. Indeed, engineers may think that analytics is for marketers, while engineers do analysis. While there’s some truth to that, engineers can perform analytics that can help with manufacturing and reliability.
With the continuing shift toward the collection of massive amounts of data and more powerful tools to extract hidden insights, it can be worthwhile to revisit the definitive and separate contributions of “analysis” versus “analytics.” As we look ahead toward new advanced analytical capabilities, such as predictive and prescriptive analytics, solidifying these fundamental terms can be a good starting point in understanding what is possible.
Data analysis: What happened?
Data analytics: Why did it happen and what will happen next?
Advanced analytics: How do we fix it?
What about individual product quality?
Analytics are now at a juncture where the questions being asked were not previously considered because there wasn’t the prospect of finding an answer. Big-data analytics are now able to examine enormous data sets, detect hidden patterns, and identify “needle-in-the-haystack” correlations that can provide an unprecedented knowledge base that gives answers to previously unanswerable questions.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Week In Review: IoT
Irish firm raises funds; ZingBox works with VMware; Mount Washington weather data.
https://semiengineering.com/the-week-in-review-iot-61/
Dublin-based Cubic Telecom has taken in €40 million (about $47.6 million) in Series C funding, bringing its total funding to €75 million (around $89.25 million). Audi Electronics Venture and Qualcomm are existing investors participating in the new round of funding, joined by new investors Ireland Strategic Investment Fund and Valid Soluciones Tecnologicas SAU. Cubic will use the money to refine its Internet of Things platform and extend its footprint around the world, while also hiring more engineers at the company’s headquarters.
Princeton University researchers report that Internet service providers can snoop on smart-home networks, gaining data from IoT devices that are protected by encryption. “We demonstrate that an ISP or other network observer can infer privacy-sensitive in-home activities by analyzing Internet traffic from smart homes containing commercially available IoT devices even when the devices use encryption,” the Princeton paper states.
ZingBox will work with VMware to provide greater security for enterprise IoT implementations. Gartner forecasts that more than 25% of identified cyberattacks on enterprises will involve IoT by 2020.
Telit’s ME910C1-NA LTE-M module is certified for operation on AT&T’s nationwide LTE-M network. The ME910C1-NA is a single-mode, tri-band module.
Frost & Sullivan has a new analysis, Global IoT in Financial Services Market, 2017. “The increasing application of IoT within insurance and banking services is giving rise to new data-centric business models and innovative processes that help users launch novel products and services,” said Jean-Noël Georges, Frost & Sullivan’s Digital Transformation Global Program Director.
Transparency Market Research says the IoT fleet management market will enjoy a 20% compound annual growth rate in the coming years, reaching $15.87 billion by 2025, compared with $3.34 billion last year. Key companies in this field are AT&T, Cisco Systems, IBM, Intel, Omnitracs, Oracle, Sierra Wireless, TomTom International, Trimble, and Verizon Communications.
Tomi Engdahl says:
4G data controls the street lighting system
NB-IoT (Narrowband IoT) is an extension of 4G technology that can transfer IoT data over the carrier’s data traffic. The Swiss u-blox modules have now implemented the world’s first intelligent control system for controlling the city’s light.
It is a joint project involving Deutsche Telekom and Romanian Flashnet in addition to u-blox. Its inteliLIGHT control system has started testing in the Greek city of Patras.
inteliLIGHT supports a variety of communication protocols.
The NB-IoT is suitable for connections that are at a data rate of less than a hundred kilobits, and the delay of 1.5 to 10 seconds does not hurt. Light control works well with technology.
Developed guides can be merged into virtually any streetlight. They allow the lights to be set off and off, and dimmed. The led-based lamp can power up to 400 watts.
The controller can also collect a wide variety of data from the system, as well as update the driver software by air.
The project utilizes u-Blox’s latest NB-IoT (LTE Cat NB1) module for the SARA-N2 series.
The FRE-220-NB-NB-IoT family of Flashnet can be embedded in most lighting systems and enables the remote control of a single LED streetlight to be switched on or dimmed.
Flashnet expects to sell a few hundred thousand luminaires in 3-5 years, especially for a number of smart urban projects.
The u-blox SARA-N2 module for lighting control, according to the manufacturer, is the first NB-IoT module that combines ultra-low power consumption with the expanded temperature range in a small LGA (Land Grid Array) format.
Sources:
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/6775-4g-data-ohjaa-valaistusjarjestelmaa
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2017/09/04/langaton-iot-moduuli-ohjaa-katuvalaistusta/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: Elderly Autonomous Fall Detection
https://hackaday.com/2017/09/04/hackaday-prize-entry-elderly-autonomous-fall-detection/
The device uses an ESP8266, a MPU6050 MEMS gyro-accelerometer combo, and MyDevices Cayenne IoT service. The Cayenne IoT service is free for Makers and non-commercial use at the moment. The only other components needed are a few discretes and a small LiPo battery, keeping the cost of the device under $10. The whole assembly is housed in a 3D printed enclosure.
https://hackaday.io/project/26983-elderly-autonomous-fall-detection
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D-printed “earable” sensor monitors vital signs
http://www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/2017/08/3d-printed-earable-sensor-monitors-vital-signs.html?cmpid=enl_lfw_lfw_enewsletter_2017-09-05
Fitness-tracking wristbands and bracelets have mostly been used to count steps and monitor heart rate and vital signs. Now engineers have made a 3D-printed sensor that can be worn on the ear to continuously track core body temperature for fitness and medical needs.
The “earable” also serves as a hearing aid. And it could be a platform for sensing several other vital signs
3D-Printed “Earable” Sensor Monitors Vital Signs
https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/biomedical/diagnostics/3dprinted-earable-sensor-monitor-vital-signs
Fitness-tracking wristbands and bracelets have mostly been used to count steps and monitor heart rate and vital signs. Now engineers have made a 3D-printed sensor that can be worn on the ear to continuously track core body temperature for fitness and medical needs.
The “earable” also serves as a hearing aid. And it could be a platform for sensing several other vital signs, says University of California Berkeley electrical engineering and computer science professor Ali Javey.
Core body temperature is a basic indicator of health issues such as fever, insomnia, fatigue, metabolic functionality, and depression. Measuring it continuously is critical for infants, elderly and those with severe conditions, says Javey. But wearable sensors available today in the form of wristbands and soft patches monitor skin temperature, which can change with the environment and is usually different from body temperature.
For a customized fit to an individual’s ear, the team printed their sensor using flexible materials and a 3D printer. First they printed a gauzy, disc-shaped base using a stretchable polymer. This base contains tiny channels into which the researchers inject liquid metal to make electrical interconnects in lieu of metal wires. It also has grooves for an infrared sensor; microprocessors; and a Bluetooth module that transmits temperature readings to a smartphone app. They packaged the gadget in a 3D-printed case.
Tomi Engdahl says:
In-Ear EEG Makes Unobtrusive Brain-Hacking Gadgets a Real Possibility
https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/biomedical/devices/in-ear-eeg-makes-unobtrusive-brain-hacking-gadgets-a-real-possibility
Brain hacking gadgets could soon be an unobtrusive part of daily life, thanks to EEG sensors that fit snugly inside the ear. Two research groups are making progress on discreet devices that offer reliable brain data—and that reliability is a key point. A few neuro gadgets for consumers have already hit the market, but it’s not at all clear that they deliver the promised brain data.
Companies and DIYers can make such things today (okay, probably not the X-wing lifter) with sensors that use electroencephalography, or EEG, to pick up a rough recording of brain activity. Typically, these devices use EEG electrodes that are affixed to the scalp, where they detect the patterns of electrical activity generated when millions of brain cells act in concert. The different types of “brainwaves” have been associated with different mental states, such as focus and relaxation, and different actions.
Tomi Engdahl says:
DIY Wireless Sprinkler System? Don’t Mind If I Do.
https://hackaday.com/2017/09/05/diy-wireless-sprinkler-system-dont-mind-if-i-do/
What to do once you have a sprinkler system installed on your property: buy a sprinkler control system or make your own? The latter, obviously.
[danaman] was determined to hack together a cheap, IoT-enabled system but it wasn’t easy — taking the better part of a year to get working. Instead of starting right from scratch, he used the open-source Sustainable Irrigation Platform(SIP) control software — a Python sprinkler scheduler with some features [danman] was looking for
Since he wasn’t running it with a Raspberry Pi as recommended, [danman] wrote a Python plugin that runs on his home server as a daemon which listens to TCP port 20000 for connections and then updates the relevant relays. Ok, software done; on to the relay controller box!
[danman]’s sprinkler system has four 12V AC valves that need wrangling, and no data cables, necessitating the wireless setup. Initially, his control box contained a 240V AC to 12V AC 50VA transformer to power the valves, and a 240 AC to 5V DC power supply for the USB relay board and WiFi router.
Once hooked up outside however, the router proved incapable of a reliable connection. [danman] ordered in and made a second attempt with an ESP8266 — writing a program in LUA to connect to the SIP scheduler, but now the relay’s serial connection was the unreliable link. Frustration!
Opting for a more comprehensive solution, [danman] picked up a LinkNode R4 — a relay controller with integrated ESP8266 and controlled directly by the ESP’s GPIO pins — and reused his code from attempt number two, resulting in a smashing success!
WiFi enabled sprinkler controller
https://blog.danman.eu/wifi-enabled-sprinkler-controller/
Tomi Engdahl says:
COM Express Type 7
http://www.congatec.com/en/technologies/com-express/com-express-type-7.html
With the new revision 3.0 of the most successful Computer-on-Module standard a new pinout Type is added to extend the reach of COM Express to server Type applications.
The new Type 7 is not a replacement for the well-established Type 6 pinout. It trades all audio and video interfaces for four 10G Ethernet ports and a total of 32 PCI Express lanes in order to support enhanced micro servers and other server Type applications that only allow for low power consumption but require high computing performance and communication throughput.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Companies ‘Get’ IoT But Struggle to Implement
https://www.designnews.com/iot/companies-get-iot-struggle-implement/621202856653?cid=nl.x.dn14.edt.aud.dn.20170425.tst004t
Manufacturers understand the importance of deploying IoT, yet most companies are just at the beginning stages of deploying IoT.
According to a study by Business Performance Innovation (BPI) Network , many companies are unprepared for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Yet the study results also indicate that most executives at those companies realize that the future of their business depends on it.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IoT Security News — Issues with Authentication and Open Ports
https://www.securerf.com/iot-security-news-issues-with-authentication-and-open-ports/?utm_campaign=Email%20Newsletter&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=53936100&_hsenc=p2ANqtz–WvlJmlBShiQIex-4wykPz_6W9i8a0jjQ2dh35b1X2NJEqSRppAqkwhYT7KYyxlLF7BMW4XCjOtUPmuGOtDjO83osRswBY4wFnPn-sLMpFkIrUU2o&_hsmi=53936100
Industrial Robots Advance in Complexity, But Lag in Security
As industrial robots grow increasingly complex and networked, they present broader attack surfaces to remote malefactors. That was the conclusion reached by researchers from Trend Micro and Politecnico di Milano, Italy, who subjected standard industrial robots to a systematic series of attacks to show how far robots could be compromised.
New Botnet Targets IoT-Connected Video Cameras
A new botnet, named Persirai (for Persian Mirai), was discovered recently as it went around the globe targeting vulnerable IoT-connected video cameras. By early May, it had infiltrated over 122,000 cameras sold to consumers under more than 1,000 model names. Once a camera is part of the botnet, it can be instructed to attack other cameras and execute DDoS attacks.
Because of inherent flaws in their security, the cameras can be used to open a port on their routers. Each camera then acts as a server and downloads malware from a host site. Once the malware is installed, it deletes itself and runs only in memory so it cannot be detected. It also alters the device so other malware cannot enter the camera.
What makes this hack particularly virulent is that it exploits a zero-day vulnerability in the cameras and enables attackers to obtain the device’s password file. The attackers can then issue commands to the camera regardless of password strength.
Authentication Loophole in Backdoor to IoT-Connected Device
Several GoIP devices made by DBL Technology contain a backdoor that can be used remotely to gain root access to the device.
The researchers said that when they advised DBL Technology of this security loophole, the company did not change the backdoor’s authentication protocol – it only made the response computation more complex.
Backdoors by themselves are not a security hazard, but weak authentication is. As the examples above show, building robust authentication systems continues to be a challenge for makers of IoT devices.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IoT in the Movies
https://www.securerf.com/iot-in-the-movies/?utm_campaign=Email%20Newsletter&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=53936100&_hsenc=p2ANqtz–pEMS-pZRYzP_WC92AfKDojkyA3R82lmtKAD1JE-KFmabxLs3Q3CahUMQOXaFinq6j5tzvaHw3X0brtpN9mBo-0OV_68kOqXHRzsnRE_qT1jxKKU8&_hsmi=53936100
The Internet of Things (IoT) has been appearing in movies for several years now—in some cases, even before there was an IoT. Sometimes, the technology depicted is fanciful, but at other times, Hollywood weaves into its narratives technologies that IoT in the Moviesalready exist or are looming just over the horizon.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IoT Security Workshop gathers the leading security and privacy researchers from all over the world
07.09.2017 / 09:00 – 16:30
http://www.aalto.fi/en/current/events/2017-07-12/
Secure Systems Group will hold a public workshop to discuss progress in IoT security. There will be some leading security and privacy researchers from all over the world discussing the latest and future research on IoT security. The goal of the workshop is to identify avenues of future collaborative research.
Tomi Engdahl says:
EMBEDDED SYSTEMS WHITEPAPER
http://www.mentor.com
HOW TO INTRODUCE RELIABILITY AND SECURITY INTO AN IIoT SYSTEM OF SYSTEMS
http://s3.mentor.com/public_documents/whitepaper/resources/mentorpaper_102045.pdf
The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) continues to expand and promises to bring unbridled expansion to a variety
of industry segments that include healthcare, industrial automation, automotive, robotics, and energy. Increasingly,
devices are becoming more connected. The Gartner Group estimates there are now roughly 6.4 billion connected
devices in the world. By 2020, the number increases to as many as 20.8 billion devices. That’s a rate of about 5.5
million new connected “things”
per day. As a result of so much
connectivity, we are now seeing
connected and interconnected
systems within systems.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mark Wilson / Co.Design:
Researchers find all popular voice assistants, like Siri or Alexa, can be controlled via verbal commands emitted on ultrasonic frequencies over ~$3 of hardware
A Simple Design Flaw Makes It Astoundingly Easy To Hack Siri And Alexa
https://www.fastcodesign.com/90139019/a-simple-design-flaw-makes-it-astoundingly-easy-to-hack-siri-and-alexa
Hackers can take control of the world’s most popular voice assistants by whispering to them in frequencies humans can’t hear.
Chinese researchers have discovered a terrifying vulnerability in voice assistants from Apple, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Samsung, and Huawei. It affects every iPhone and Macbook running Siri, any Galaxy phone, any PC running Windows 10, and even Amazon’s Alexa assistant.
Using a technique called the DolphinAttack, a team from Zhejiang University translated typical vocal commands into ultrasonic frequencies that are too high for the human ear to hear, but perfectly decipherable by the microphones and software powering our always-on voice assistants. This relatively simple translation process lets them take control of gadgets with just a few words uttered in frequencies none of us can hear.
The researchers didn’t just activate basic commands like “Hey Siri” or “Okay Google,” though. They could also tell an iPhone to “call 1234567890” or tell an iPad to FaceTime the number. They could force a Macbook or a Nexus 7 to open a malicious website. They could order an Amazon Echo to “open the backdoor.” Even an Audi Q3 could have its navigation system redirected to a new location. “Inaudible voice commands question the common design assumption that adversaries may at most try to manipulate a [voice assistant] vocally and can be detected by an alert user,” the research team writes in a paper just accepted to the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security.
In other words, Silicon Valley has designed human-friendly UI with a huge security oversight. While we might not hear the bad guys talking, our computers clearly can. “From a UX point of view, it feels like a betrayal,”
To hack each voice assistant, the researchers used a smartphone with about $3 of additional hardware, including a tiny speaker and amp. In theory, their methods, which are now public, are duplicatable by anyone with a bit of technical know-how and just a few bucks in their pocket.
In some cases, these attacks could only be made from inches away, though gadgets like the Apple Watch were vulnerable from within several feet.
The exploit is enabled by a combination of hardware and software problems, the researchers explain in their paper. The microphones and software that power voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Home can pick up inaudible frequencies–specifically, frequencies above the 20KhZ limits of human ears.
“Microphones’ components themselves vary in type, but most use air pressures that probably cannot be blocked from ultrasounds,”
In theory, Apple or Google could just command their assistants to never obey orders from someone speaking at 20kHz with a digital audio filter:
But according to what the Zhejiang researchers found, every major voice assistant company exhibited vulnerability with commands stated above 20kHz.
But at least two theories are perfectly plausible, and both come down to making voice assistants more user-friendly.
The first is that voice assistants actually need ultrasonics just to hear people well, compared to analyzing a voice without those high frequencies.
The second is that some companies are already exploiting ultrasonics for their own UX, including phone-to-gadget communication. Most notably, Amazon’s Dash Button pairs with the phone at frequencies reported to be around 18kHz, and Google’s Chromecast uses ultrasonic pairing, too.
User-friendliness is increasingly at odds with security. Our web browsers easily and invisibly collect cookies, allowing marketers to follow us across the web. Our phones back up our photos and contacts to the cloud, tempting any focused hacker with a complete repository of our private lives. It’s as if every tacit deal we’ve made with easy-to-use technology has come with a hidden cost: our own personal vulnerability. This new voice command exploit is just the latest in a growing list of security holes caused by design, but it is, perhaps, the best example of Silicon Valley’s widespread disregard for security in the face of the new and shiny.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Particle E Series
https://www.particle.io/products/hardware/particle-e-series-industrial-cellular-iot-modules
Meet the World’s first all-in-one cellular IoT hardware platform with built-in Cloud connectivity and global SIM support. Available in 2G and 3G variants with future support for LTE M1 / NB1 (NB-IoT).
Tomi Engdahl says:
The ESP32… On A Chip
https://hackaday.com/2017/09/06/the-esp32-on-a-chip/
The new hotness in microcontrollers is the ESP32. This chip, developed by Espressif, is the follow-on to the very popular ESP8266, the cheap, low-power, very capable WiFi-enabled microcontroller that came on the scene a few years ago. The ESP32 is another beast entirely with two powerful cores, WiFi and Bluetooth, and peripherals galore. You can even put an NES emulator in there.
While the ESP32 is significantly more powerful, it has for now been contained in modules. What would really be cool is a single chip loaded up with integrated flash, filter caps, a clock, all on a 7x7mm QFN package. Meet the ESP32-Pico-D4 (PDF). It is, effectively, an ESP32 on a chip. It’s just the ticket if you’re trying to cram wireless, fast microcontroller wizardry into a small package.
At its heart, the ESP32-Pico is your normal ESP32 module with a Tensilica dual-core LX6 microcoprocessor, 448 kB of ROM, 520 kB of SRAM, 4 MB of Flash (it can support up to 16 MB), Wireless with 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.2, and a cornucopia of peripherals that include an SD card, UART, SPI, SDIO, LED and motor PWM, I2S, I2C, cap touch sensors, and a Hall effect sensor. It’s quite literally everything you could ever want in a microcontroller.
Disregarding the just barely hand-solderable package and the need for a PCB antenna, the ESP32-Pico requires very few support components.
Unfortunately, apart from the PDF released by Espressif, the details on the EPS32-on-a-chip are sparse.
http://espressif.com/sites/default/files/documentation/esp32-pico-d4_datasheet_en.pdf
Tomi Engdahl says:
NXP IoT Low Power Sensor Node Board
https://www.eeweb.com/design-library/nxp-iot-low-power-sensor-node-board
Reference Design Description
The IoT Low Power Sensor Node Board is an NXP reference design board built around the NXP MKW24D512 IC. It provides a diverse reference design with all necessary I/O connections to use as a self-contained board or for connection to an external application.
The NXP MKW24D512 wireless MCU is a 2.4 GHz Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) single-chip device intended for the IEEE® Std. 802.15.4, including Thread©, ZigBee Pro, ZigBee RF4CE, and IPv6/6loWPAN protocols.
The IoT Low Power Sensor Node board contains the MKW24D512 transceiver that works in conjunction with a software stack to implement an IEE Std. 802.15.4 platform solution.
Tomi Engdahl says:
AAEON relaunches the RICO-3288
https://www.eeweb.com/news/aaeon-relaunches-the-rico-3288
A major developer of Industry 4.0 computing solutions, AAEON relaunches the RICO-3288, a lightweight single board designed expressly to consolidate Linux and Android systems. As Android is currently the most deployed OS system in the world, these boards will be in high demand for quite some time to come. This new version of the RICO-3288 has been upgraded to provide better performance than its former model, and is built to address recent technical advances such as sunlight readable monitors and IoT-powered displays.
Powered by the Rockchip RK3288 ARM A17 quad-core processor, the RICO-3288 is designed to provide fast, secure and reliable configuration, and supports an impressive 2GB DDR3L for its diminutive size, offering quad-core processing and outstanding low-latency throughput from a versatile form factor with standardized mounting points.
“This newly refurbished version of the RICO-3288 was created to address the fact that Androids are the most popular end-user system, and as such will require a dynamic and assertive platform to operate within and without,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Logitech adds HomeKit to Circle 2 Wired, says Apple won’t allow support on battery-powered model
http://appleinsider.com/articles/17/09/07/logitech-adds-homekit-to-circle-2-wired-says-apple-wont-allow-support-on-battery-powered-model
By Roger Fingas
Thursday, September 07, 2017, 06:44 am PT (09:44 am ET)
Logitech on Thursday released a firmware update for the $180 Circle 2 Wired, making it just the second security camera currently available on the market to support Apple’s HomeKit platform.
HomeKit support won’t be available on the Circle 2 Wire-Free, according to Logitech, since Apple’s own standards are said to block support on battery-powered cameras. HomeKit support for the Circle 2
Tomi Engdahl says:
Me Casa es Techno Casa
https://hackaday.com/2017/09/07/me-casa-es-techno-casa/
“Jarvis, make me a sandwich” is not a reality yet. Though there exist a lot of home automation products out there today, commercial solutions just don’t make the cut for the self-respecting geek. So [Matias] took the DIY route with his La CasaC Home Automation project and achieved the functionality he was after.
[Matias’] project is one of the most elaborate and large-scale DIY home automation projects we have seen in recent years. With over 200 nodes, this project took a number of years of planning and execution. The core of the design is the ever popular Raspberry Pi running OpenHAB to ease the pain of customization and integration with various protocols. To further simplify the ginormous task, the design uses RS485 to communicate between master and slave devices.
La CasaC
https://cat101.bitbucket.io/en/#!index.md
La CasaC is a comfortable, energy efficient, low maintenance and sustainable house. It is an ongoing project me and my wife started back in 2012. After three years of design and planning and two years of construction we moved in
Overall system design
Building the system from scratch was a significant challenge given the scale of the project. The “initial specs” based on the house blueprints and family expectations included:
40 Wall switches to turn lights on/off (i.e. over 45 Light channels to control 136 lamps!)
2 Garage doors and 2 doors with an electric lock
2 Mechanized awnings that had to follow the sun on summer to keep the living room cool
55 sensors (doors switches, PIR sensors, water flood, pool alarm)
A weather station
A solar water heater
7 indoor air conditioning units
2 bathroom heaters and 2 bathroom fans
A kitchen range
8 smoke detectors/air quality sensors
A four channel energy meter with an automatic transfer switch to a backup power generator
A whole house PA system for TTS cues
2 RFID keypads for access control
4 433Mhz RF receivers
This list adds up to over 200 “things” that the house needs to operate. In order to cope with complexity, I distributed the “things” across seven controllers (Arduinos) which are in physical proximity to the sensors/actuators. This also helps reduce the need for cabling.
The seven Arduino slaves are connected to an Arduino master using an RS485 network. The master node polls each slave 4 times per second and executes rules that spawn multiple slaves or that require global or contextual information like time, people presence, sun position, etc.
The master node is also the boundary between the “in wall” control system (aka domotics) and the building management system.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How To Build An IoT Chip
https://semiengineering.com/how-to-build-an-iot-chip/
Experts at the Table, part 1: Strategies for dealing with conflicting requirements, relying on pre-integrated and pre-verified subsystems, and a growing need for better security and reliability.
September 7th, 2017 – By: Ed Sperling
popularity
Tomi Engdahl says:
Is The IoT Making Progress In Business?
https://semiengineering.com/is-the-iot-making-progress-in-business/
A new study identifies cost and security issues as obstacles, but optimism is growing.
Mention the Internet of Things and most people think about smart appliances or wearable electronics. But one of the biggest growth opportunities involves the digitalization of the workplace, and this is where a business case can be made—or lost—for widespread adoption of connected devices.
A new Economist Intelligence Unit study found that 21% of executives surveyed believe the IoT already has had an impact on their business, and another 30% believe it will impact their business in the near future. The most cited benefits were innovation, new revenue opportunities (including new markets and industries) and lower costs, with 47% saying the IoT will be one of the most important parts of their company’s digital transformation strategy.
It’s not all positive news. Of those surveyed, 56% felt progress hasn’t happened as fast as they expected. Some (29%) blame the high cost of IoT infrastructure, while others (26%) point to concerns about security and privacy.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Let’s Talk About Securing Smart Homes
https://semiengineering.com/lets-talk-about-securing-smart-homes/
In the rush to enter the smart home market, OEMs are inadvertently creating major security risks.
The global smart home market is expected to reach at least $40 billion in value by 2020. Perhaps not surprisingly, OEMs are inadvertently creating major security risks in their rush to market by shipping smart home products with inadequate security and unpatched vulnerabilities. As ABI Research Analyst Dimitrios Pavlakis notes, ignoring cybersecurity at the design level provides a wide-open door for malicious actors to exploit smart home products.
Nevertheless, an estimated 80% of IoT devices are vulnerable to a wide range of attacks.
There is obviously no shortage of threats targeting IoT endpoints. As such, connected smart home devices should be protected by a comprehensive IoT security solution (device to cloud) that does not disrupt an OEM’s profitability or time to market. A practical and simple, yet secure solution that can be easily and widely adopted by OEMs and services is more effective than a ‘super solution’ that will inevitably fail to gain serious traction. More specifically, a comprehensive IoT security solution should offer secure boot, mutual authentication, secure (encrypted) communication, as well as agnostic capabilities that are scalable and interoperable across multiple devices.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Combining CMOS IC And MEMS Design For IoT Edge Devices
https://semiengineering.com/combining-cmos-ic-and-mems-design-for-iot-edge-devices/
Using a mask-forward design flow to incorporate MEMS and electronics on a single die.
Creating a sensor-based IoT edge device is challenging, due to the multiple design domains involved. 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.
For many years, Tanner has provided customers the ability to interweave MEMS design into this flow, supporting a top-down MEMS IC flow:
IoT edge design requires that analog, digital, RF, and MEMS design domains are designed and work together, especially if they are going on the same die. The design team needs to capture a mixed analog and digital, RF, and MEMS design, layout the chip, and perform both component and top-level simulation. Designing the electronics and MEMS on a single die include these interesting points
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Road to a Trillion IoT Devices
In a quick 20 years, we’re likely to see one trillion connected devices.
https://www.designnews.com/iot/road-trillion-iot-devices/140216737157410?ADTRK=UBM&elq_mid=893&elq_cid=876648
Imagine one trillion connected devices. That’s a thousand billion. The prediction that we’ll see a trillion IoT devices in the next 20 years came from Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank (which in 2016 acquired ARM) at last year’s ARM TechCon conference .
His crystal ball shows that by next year, the number of IoT devices will surpass the number of mobile devices. By 2021, he expects 1.8 billion PCs, 8.6 billion mobile devices, and 15.7 billion IoT devices. All of this comes with a lot of data. He further predicted that by 2035, the amount of data will grow more than 2,400 times, from 1 exabyte to 2.3 zettabytes. A lot of bits.
One of the issues prompted by this rapid growth is whether we will have the physical ability to create that many devices. “Is there enough material to support that ramping up in the coming years?” Brian Fuller, editor-in-chief at ARM, told Design News . “We’re going to try to get some sense of how this will grow during the next few years.”
There is already growth in IoT devices across a wide range of industries, but there are three areas that have seen especially eager adoption. “Right now, there are three big areas in IoT. They’re industrial, automotive, and consumer,” said Fuller. “With consumer, the fast growth is in wearable devices. Industry is a ripe place for IoT because of the cost benefits it brings in both the short and long term. People talk about home automation, and that’s ramping up, but we’ll see a faster ramp with wearables, cars, and industrial devices.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sensors and artificial intelligence: A powerful symbiosis
http://www.edn.com/design/sensors/4458797/Sensors-and-artificial-intelligence–A-powerful-symbiosis
Artificial intelligence (AI) is presently revolutionizing many diverse aspects of our society. For example, by combining the advancements in data mining and deep learning, it is now feasible to utilize AI to analyze large chunks of data from various sources, to identify patterns, provide interactive insights and make intelligent predictions.
One example of this innovative development is applying AI to sensor-generated data, and specifically to data gathered from smartphones and other consumer devices. Motion sensor data, together with other information such as GPS location, provides massive and diverse datasets. Therefore, the question is: “How can the power of AI be leveraged to take full advantage of these synergies?”
Motion data analysis
An illustrative real-world application would be to analyze usage data to determine what a smartphone user is doing at any given moment: sitting, walking, running or sleeping?
In this case, the benefits for a smart product are self-evident:
Improved customer lifetime value
Increasing user engagement results in reduced user churn rate.
More competitive product positioning
Next-generation intelligent products to meet customers’ increasing expectations.
Creation of real end-user value
Accurate detection and analysis of indoor movements enable responsive navigation product features, health risk monitoring, as well as improved device efficiency. Insights on actual use case scenarios across a wide variety of smartphone and wearable platforms will greatly assist product designers in understanding the repetitive habits and actions of users, for example to determine the right battery size or identify the proper timing for pushing notifications.
The heightened interest of smartphone manufacturers in these AI-enabled functions has clearly highlighted the importance of recognizing simple activities such as steps
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Road to a Trillion IoT Devices
In a quick 20 years, we’re likely to see one trillion connected devices.
https://www.designnews.com/iot/road-trillion-iot-devices/140216737157410?ADTRK=UBM&elq_mid=903&elq_cid=876648
Imagine one trillion connected devices. That’s a thousand billion. The prediction that we’ll see a trillion IoT devices in the next 20 years came from Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank (which in 2016 acquired ARM) at last year’s ARM TechCon conference .
His crystal ball shows that by next year, the number of IoT devices will surpass the number of mobile devices. By 2021, he expects 1.8 billion PCs, 8.6 billion mobile devices, and 15.7 billion IoT devices. All of this comes with a lot of data. He further predicted that by 2035, the amount of data will grow more than 2,400 times, from 1 exabyte to 2.3 zettabytes. A lot of bits.
There is already growth in IoT devices across a wide range of industries, but there are three areas that have seen especially eager adoption. “Right now, there are three big areas in IoT. They’re industrial, automotive, and consumer,” said Fuller. “With consumer, the fast growth is in wearable devices. Industry is a ripe place for IoT because of the cost benefits it brings in both the short and long term. People talk about home automation, and that’s ramping up, but we’ll see a faster ramp with wearables, cars, and industrial devices.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Making Old Plant Equipment Newly Efficient
There are tactics you can use to improve the efficiency of legacy plant equipment.
https://www.designnews.com/automation-motion-control/making-old-plant-equipment-newly-efficient/14752905857418?ADTRK=UBM&elq_mid=903&elq_cid=876648
Bringing Connectivity to Older Equipment
Wilkins notes that connectivity can reduce the energy consumption of older equipment. “Connected technology made possible by the Industrial Internet of Things has drastically improved visibility in manufacturing,” said Wilkins. “Manufacturers now have access to real-time data to see how the assembly line is running.”
The data coming from machine connectivity can be used to tweak the system toward efficiency. “Manufacturers can use this real-time data to find areas where equipment is not running at maximum capacity, or is consuming more energy than required,” said Wilkins. “Manufacturers must then decide how to optimize this equipment to improve productivity and reduce energy consumption.”
As well as fine-tuning the equipment to improve efficiency, plant machines can be enhanced with advanced motion technology. “There is some equipment that can be added to the supply chain once the inefficient machine has been located,” said Wilkins. “Variable speed drives, for example, can be added to equipment that uses motors, controlling its speed so it will only use the energy necessary to complete an action.”
Benefits of Added Efficiency in Uptime
As well an improving energy consumption, enhanced plant equipment can also prevent costly interruptions in production. “If equipment is consuming more energy than required, it can easily overheat and break down. That leads to unplanned, expensive downtime,” said Wilkins. “Installing equipment that optimizes energy efficiency also means the machine will require less energy to complete its actions, increasing its lifespan.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Measure and Analyze Tide Levels with ThingSpeak and MATLAB
https://www.hackster.io/matlab-iot/measure-and-analyze-tide-levels-with-thingspeak-and-matlab-efa405
Learn how to create a tide gauge that publishes tidal water levels to ThingSpeak and uses MATLAB for tide prediction, analysis, and alerts.
My tide gauge publishes tidal water levels on the Internet, and it sends alerts via a Twitter account using a combination of open source Arduino hardware, the free ThingSpeak service, and MATLAB.
Tomi Engdahl says:
LTE/GPS, Grove and Espruino Compatibility: This is the New Wio Tracker LTE
https://www.open-electronics.org/ltegps-grove-and-espruino-compatibility-this-is-the-new-wio-tracker-lte/
Seeed Studios has just revealed the new $97.50 Wio Tracker LTE.
Compared to the old 2G GPS-enabled Wio Tracker, this new LTE version has the same 54.7 x 48.2mm footprint, 6x Grove connectors, and Arduino IDE compatibility, but offers much faster and more widely supported 4G LTE (thanks to the Quectel EC21-A LTE module) and UMTS/HSPA+ communications.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How Infrastructure Will Benefit From the Internet of Things
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/sponsors/siemens/how-infrastructure-will-benefit-from-the-internet-of-things/?adv=7051&prx_t=xPUCAAAAAAFEANA
In recent years, the world has grown to recognize the value of leveraging the Internet of Things to offer unprecedented visibility into the industrial value chain.
With these new capabilities, what could the IoT mean for U.S. infrastructure, from the vast electrical grid to the trains and buildings that rely on it for power?
It is estimated that the country loses approximately $150 billion annually due to power outages and surges, meaning that even a modest improvement would yield huge financial benefits — not to mention added comfort and security for the citizens who depend on the grid. But to get to that point, it will take industry-wide investments at the device, communication, storage, analytics and application levels.
The IoT can be integral in providing reliable, efficient and sustainable power to consumers, and MindSphere, Siemens’ open, cloud-based operating system for the IoT will serve as the bridge between the data coming from millions of connected devices and those tasked with turning it into insight.
Tomi Engdahl says:
View CC3200 Data Remotely – Simple
https://hackaday.io/project/27217-view-cc3200-data-remotely-simple
CC3200 dev. board is used to measure temperature, collect accelerometer data, and view results remotely at
Recently I have started tinkering with the http_client_demo CC3200 example project. The code demonstrates different HTTP web services methods: like GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE. My goal is to write code that will connect to my website and send temperature and accelerometer data over the internet. I am going to start with the GET method and then continue with the POST method.
https://github.com/attacker145/http_client_CC3200
Tomi Engdahl says:
Yet Another Fidget POV (YAFPOV)
https://hackaday.io/project/25826-yet-another-fidget-pov-yafpov
Call me Slow-on-the-Draw if you like, but I think there’s a lot to be learned from this project even if it’s a me-too.
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fidget spinner pov Attiny84 isp header accelerometer
This project was created on 07/08/2017 and last updated 2 hours ago.
Description
A small but functional POV display to fit on a fidget spinner. Uses an ATTINY84 in an SMT package. An accelerometer is included to wake the ATTINY84 from sleep when the fidget spins; it sleeps to save the battery. Since it’s all SMT, a novel scheme for the programming header is implemented. Bright SMT leds are used for the display. Power is from a CR2032 lithium coin cell.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Joe Activation with a WiFi-Controlled Electrical Outlet
https://hackaday.com/2017/09/09/joe-activation-with-a-wifi-controlled-electrical-outlet/
[Mike] is the only one in his house who drinks coffee, and uses a simple single-serving brewer with no auto-on feature. And since no one really wants to have to stand around making coffee in the morning, [Mike]’s solution was to IoT-ize his electrical socket.
MQTT Dash is an Android app “for nerds only ;)”
The project consists of a relay board controlled by an ESP8266-packing Adafruit Huzzah. It’s all powered by a 9V power supply with a regulator supplying the relay coil and Huzzah with 5V. [Mike]’s using CloudMQTT to communicate with the outlet.
Wi-Fi IoT Electrical Outlet: Turning on a Coffee Maker Remotely
Project source code at GitHub: iot-wifi-outlet
https://nootropicdesign.com/projectlab/2017/08/26/wifi-iot-electrical-outlet/
Tomi Engdahl says:
IoT Household Plant Watering System
https://hackaday.io/project/27108-iot-household-plant-watering-system
As I work the plants wither, possibly because of the solder fumes, but most probably because I keep forgetting to water them.
This project is about building a IoT switch and use it with a water pump to irrigate household plants.
It is meant to be part of a larger home automation network, where nodes are controlled from a central hub (via a Node-Red server), but it can also be used as stand-alone.
The IoT Household Plant Watering System integrates some useful features such as:
Large input range (5-20V)
High current (theoretically up to 24A)
Configurable PWM output
Configurable timeout for safety
Persistent configuration across reboots
Uses MQTT protocol
Controllable from Node-Red server
Uses the cheap ESP8266-01 module
Program can be updated over WiFi (Over-The-Air Update) or FTDI module
Open software and hardware
Made with cheap discrete COTS parts
Open software used to develop (Arduino IDE and KiCad)
It can be used for many different applications, the N-MOSFET can be replaced with a relay if higher power or AC switching is required.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Epaper Display Badge
https://hackaday.io/project/25326-epaper-display-badge
A mini EPD badge with bluetooth LE and SD card for standalone display
This project uses a 2.15″ e-paper display from Pervasive Display to implement a badge with SD card and Bluetooth LE.The goal is to store images on the SD card or through Bluetooth and upload/manage images via the same Bluetooth link.The badge also includes a micro USB B port for charging a lithium-ion battery
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smart Home 433MHz RF MQTT Gateway With Some Extras
https://www.hackster.io/markushaack/smart-home-433mhz-rf-mqtt-gateway-with-some-extras-bbb1ca
Control your RF devices via MQTT and integrate them into your smart home, using the WEMOS ESP8266 connected to MQTT service via WiFi.
Smart Home 433Mhz RF MQTT Gateway with Some Extras
The MQTT-433mhz-gateway-homie project is a simple bidirectional gateway to transmit and receive 433Mhz RF signals connected to MQTT. The gateway is built with a cost-effective ESP8266 WiFi chip (I used a Wemos D1 mini, NodeMCU will do as well), simple 433Mhz RF modules and an additional BMP085 sensor.
Hardware
ESP8266 (Wemos D1 mini, Nodemcu)
RF Receiver 433Mhz
RF Transmitter 433MHz
BMP085 or BMP180 sensor breakout
Tomi Engdahl says:
From Zero to Azure IoT in Five Minutes
https://blog.helium.com/from-zero-to-azure-iot-in-five-minutes-f32d74c82b9b
Can we go from unboxing new Helium hardware to sending hardware-encrypted data to an Azure IoT Hub in under five minutes?
Tomi Engdahl says:
Understanding The Protocols Behind The Internet Of Things
http://www.electronicdesign.com/iot/understanding-protocols-behind-internet-things?code=UM_Classics09117&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=12843&utm_medium=email&elq2=05ef5203f8d542c7ba20140e4990b81e
Tomi Engdahl says:
Understanding The Protocols Behind The Internet Of Things
http://www.electronicdesign.com/iot/understanding-protocols-behind-internet-things?code=UM_Classics09117&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=12843&utm_medium=email&elq2=05ef5203f8d542c7ba20140e4990b81e
Protocol Overview
Devices must communicate with each other (D2D). Device data then must be collected and sent to the server infrastructure (D2S). That server infrastructure has to share device data (S2S), possibly providing it back to devices, to analysis programs, or to people. From 30,000 feet, the protocols can be described in this framework as:
• MQTT: a protocol for collecting device data and communicating it to servers (D2S)
• XMPP: a protocol best for connecting devices to people, a special case of the D2S pattern, since people are connected to the servers
• DDS: a fast bus for integrating intelligent machines (D2D)
• AMQP: a queuing system designed to connect servers to each other (S2S)
Each of these protocols is widely adopted. There are at least 10 implementations of each.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sub-1 GHz Sensor to Cloud Industrial IoT Gateway Reference Design
http://www.ti.com/tool/TIDEP0084?HQS=sys-ind-iot-pentonever-asset-rd-tidep0084-wwe&DCM=yes
The TIDEP0084 reference design demonstrates how to connect sensors to the cloud over a long-range Sub-1 GHz wireless network, suitable for industrial settings such as building control and asset tracking. It is powered by a TI Sitara™ AM335x processor and the SimpleLink™ Sub-1 GHz CC1310/CC1350 devices. The reference design pre-integrates the TI 15.4-Stack software development kit (SDK) for Sub-1 GHz star network connectivity and the Linux® TI Processor software development kit (SDK). TI Design Network partner stackArmor supports the cloud application services for cloud connectivity and visualization of the sensor node data.
Features
Large network to cloud connectivity enabling long range, up to 1 km line of sight (LOS)
IEEE 802.15.4e/g standards based Sub-1 GHz solution with the TI 15.4-stack SDK
Based on proven hardware designs enabling quick time to market with out-of-the-box ready to use demonstration software
TI Processor SDK for Linux provides scalability across multiple Sitara processors such as AM437x and AM57x
Tomi Engdahl says:
TI Internet of Things Overview
http://www.ti.com/ww/en/internet_of_things/iot-overview.html?HQS=sys-ind-iot-pentonever-asset-lp-iot-wwe&DCM=yes
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Week In Review: IoT
Deere buys agtech firm; Axonius gets seed funding; IoT products.
https://semiengineering.com/the-week-in-review-iot-62/
Deere & Co. has agreed to acquire Blue River Technology of Sunnyvale, Calif., for $305 million. The transaction is expected to close this month. Blue River develops computer vision and machine learning technology for use in precision agriculture.
LG Electronics is shopping for artificial intelligence and IoT technologies to acquire in the near future, with the aim of expanding and improving its offerings for the smart home. “Based on connectivity, the company will try to bring value to consumers by establishing a smart home ecosystem pivoting on AI, IoT, and robotic technologies,” LG’s Song Dae-hyun said at a press conference ahead of the IFA 2017 trade show in Berlin, Germany.
Northrop Grumman has developed a silicon-based processor containing ultra-low-power one-time-programmable nonvolatile memory intellectual property from Kilopass to provide encryption key storage.
Telit Communications has introduced the BL871E2-HI, a dual-mode Bluetooth 4.2 host controller interface module with embedded chip antenna and audio support.
Sequans Communications and STMicroelectronics have collaborated on development of CLOE, which offers IoT tracking capabilities. CLOE combines Sequans’ Monarch LTE Cat M1/NB1 chip and ST’s Teseo III Global Navigation Satellite System chip.
Synopsys is staging the ARC Processor Summit on Tuesday, September 26
Market Research
There will be 2.4 billion connected devices shipped a year by 2022, according to Mobile Experts. The market research firm also predicts the 70 connectivity technologies currently on offer will be consolidated to 20-25 technologies.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackers Can Remotely Access Syringe Infusion Pumps to Deliver Fatal Overdoses
Saturday, September 09, 2017 Swati Khandelwal
http://thehackernews.com/2017/09/hacking-infusion-pumps.html
Internet-of-things are turning every industry into the computer industry, making customers think that their lives would be much easier with smart devices. However, such devices could potentially be compromised by hackers.
There are, of course, some really good reasons to connect certain devices to the Internet.
But does everything need to be connected? Of course, not—especially when it comes to medical devices.
Medical devices are increasingly found vulnerable to hacking. Earlier this month, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recalled 465,000 pacemakers after they were found vulnerable to hackers.
Now, it turns out that a syringe infusion pump used in acute care settings could be remotely accessed and manipulated by hackers to impact the intended operation of the device, ICS-CERT warned in an advisory issued on Thursday.
An independent security researcher has discovered not just one or two, but eight security vulnerabilities in the Medfusion 4000 Wireless Syringe Infusion Pump, which is manufactured by Minnesota-based speciality medical device maker Smiths Medical.
The devices are used across the world for delivering small doses of medication in acute critical care, such as neonatal and pediatric intensive care and the operating room.
The most critical vulnerability (CVE-2017-12725) has been given a CVSS score of 9.8 and is related to the use of hard-coded usernames and passwords to automatically establish a wireless connection if the default configuration is not changed.
These vulnerabilities impact devices that are running versions 1.1, 1.5 and 1.6 of the firmware, and Smiths Medical has planned to release a new product version 1.6.1 in January 2018 to address these issues.
But in the meantime, healthcare organizations are recommended to apply some defensive measures including assigning static IP addresses to pumps, monitoring network activity for malicious servers, installing the pump on isolated networks, setting strong passwords, and regularly creating backups until patches are released.
Advisory (ICSMA-17-250-02)
Smiths Medical Medfusion 4000 Wireless Syringe Infusion Pump Vulnerabilities
https://ics-cert.us-cert.gov/advisories/ICSMA-17-250-02
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apache Struts Flaw Reportedly Exploited in Equifax Hack
http://www.securityweek.com/apache-struts-flaw-reportedly-exploited-equifax-hack
A vulnerability affecting the Apache Struts 2 open-source development framework was reportedly used to breach U.S. credit reporting agency Equifax and gain access to customer data.
Equifax revealed last week that hackers had access to its systems between mid-May and late July. The incident affects roughly 143 million U.S. consumers, along with some individuals in the U.K. and Canada.
The compromised information includes names, social security numbers, dates of birth, addresses and, in some cases, driver’s license numbers. The credit card numbers of roughly 209,000 consumers in the United States and dispute documents belonging to 182,000 people may have also been stolen by the attackers.
Equifax only said that “criminals exploited a U.S. website application vulnerability to gain access to certain files.” However, financial services firm Baird claimed the targeted software was Apache Struts, a framework used by many top organizations to create web applications.
“Our understanding is that data entered (and retained) through consumer portals/interactions (consumers inquiring about their credit reports, disputes, etc.) and data around it was breached via the Apache Struts flaw,” Baird said in a report.
Some jumped to conclude that it was the recently patched and disclosed CVE-2017-9805, a remote code execution vulnerability that exists when the REST plugin is used with the XStream handler for XML payloads. This flaw was reported to Apache Struts developers in mid-July and it was addressed on September 5 with the release of Struts 2.5.13.
In a statement issued over the weekend, the Apache Struts Project Management Committee (PMC) said it was not clear which, if any, Struts vulnerability was exploited in the Equifax breach. However, the organization did point out that it was either an earlier vulnerability or a zero-day exploit for CVE-2017-9805.
Tomi Engdahl says:
GE Venture, Nvidia Bond over Inspection AI
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1332254
The movers and shakers in a host of different industrial sectors are awakening to the looming impact of artificial intelligence. Few companies, however, have solid strategies to cope with the way their business will change, nor do most have a clear idea about when and how to implement AI, and with whom to partner to make it happen.
Avitas Systems, a GE Venture, and Nvidia are taking steps to bring some clarity to the use of AI in the industrial sector. The companies announced Thursday (Sept. 7) a partnership to work together enabling AI in inspection services for the oil, gas and transportation industries.
Nvidia posted in its latest blog, “How do you send a human being to inspect a petroleum refinery flare stack — one that operates at hundreds of degrees and requires negotiating a high-risk vertical climb? The answer is you don’t.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Making Collaborative Robots You Can Talk To
https://www.designnews.com/automation-motion-control/making-collaborative-robots-you-can-talk/87568106757436?ADTRK=UBM&elq_mid=963&elq_cid=876648
MIT researchers have developed a system that allows robots to understand verbal commands and cues in the same way that smart home devices like Alexa and Google Home do.
Thanks to everyday artificial intelligence like Alexa, Siri, and Google Home, users have come to expect to use simple sentences and queries to communicate with their devices. But while you can give your smart home device a simple statement to find out about weather, movie times, or other benign things, that same ease of communication hasn’t translated into the industrial space, where more and more collaborative robots (cobots) are working alongside humans.
In a new paper, presented at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI) in Australia in August, researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) described their work developing a system called “commands in context” (ComText) that allows robots to understand a wide range of commands that require contextual knowledge about the world around them.
Temporal Grounding Graphs for Language Understanding with Accrued Visual-Linguistic Context
http://www.ijcai.org/proceedings/2017/629
A robot’s ability to understand or ground natural language instructions is fundamentally tied to its knowledge about the surrounding world.