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 Forecast of 50 Billion Devices by 2020 Is Outdated.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:
Software innovations in IP-based access control
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/print/volume-25/issue-10/features/design/software-innovations-in-ip-based-access-control.html?cmpid=enl_cim_cim_data_center_newsletter_2017-11-20
Supported by layer-one infrastructure, these building systems advance to make administration more efficient.
ccess control is among the building system that, in this Internet of Things era, can become digital- rather than analog-based and in doing so, provide building owners with both information and more control over the system’s functions. Axis Communications described some of the technological and business opportunities this transition could create in its white paper “IP opens doors to a new world of physical access control.”
The company explained that the migration of access control from analog to digital will bring benefits comparable to those achieved by migrating video surveillance from analog to Internet Protocol, including lower installation costs, more configuration and management capabilities, enhanced system versatility, and the ability to integrate with other security products. “IP technology is not totally unknown to or unused in the access control industry,” Axis observed, “but existing systems have not been able to fully exploit the advantages of IP.
“Typically, a legacy access control system is dependent on having each device—card reader, handle, door lock, door position switch—hard-wired with RS-485 cable into one central unit or central server”
“Furthermore, when expanding traditional analog systems the process is complicated by the need to consider that a typical central controller is built to accommodate a certain maximum number of doors, normally 4, 8, 16, or 32.”
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) systems enable what Axis called an “edge” solution, which it described as having “one controller for each door, which then is connected to the existing local Ethernet through a regular network switch. Because IP networks are ubiquitous in offices, stores, factory plants and similar facilities, the cost of adding an IP-based door controller would be minimal, as opposed to multiple serial connections wired back to a central server.
ONVIF profiles
Axis authored that paper three years ago. In the time since its publication, some technological evolution and innovations have shaped the IP access control landscape. In July of this year, ONVIF (founded as the Open Network Video Interface Forum in 2008 by Axis, Bosch Security Systems and Sony) announced the final release of Profile A “for broader access control configuration that establishes a standardized interface for access control clients and expands the configuration options of ONVIF conformant access control systems,” the group said. “The release marks the first open specification that allows for the mixing and matching of access control devices and clients within a system, facilitating interoperability for multi-vendor products.”
Per Bjorkdahl, ONVIF steering committee chair, commented, “Profile A is a significant development for the market because it provides a pathway for integrating together access control panels and hardware with management software from different manufacturers. This pathway for integration also provides futureproofing of an access control system, as it allows another manufacturer’s access control management software to be installed in the future, eliminating the need for a hardware rip-and-replace scenario.”
In 2014—the same year the Axis paper was produced—ONVIF released its Profile C for physical access control.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ESP8266 Home Monitor Is Stylishly Simplistic
https://hackaday.com/2017/11/20/esp8266-home-monitor-is-stylishly-simplistic/
It’s often said that “Less is More”, and we think that the chic ESP8266 environmental monitor posted by Thingiverse user [bkpsu] definitely fits the bill. Dubbed “Kube”, the device is a 3D printed white cube with an OLED display in the center, which [bkpsu] says was designed specifically for the approval of his wife. Weirdly, she didn’t like the look of bare PCBs on the wall.
Inside, things are a little more complex. The Kube uses the NodeMCU development board, and a custom breakout that [bkpsu] designed to interface with the display and sensors. For temperature and humidity monitoring, the Kube is using the ever-popular DHT22, and [bkpsu] mentions that he has future plans for things like motion sensors and direct control of RGB LED strips. All the data collected by the Kube is piped into openHAB via MQTT.
The Kube – ESP8266 NodeMCU DHT22 Local/Remote OLED Temperature/Humidity Sensor
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2539897
Tomi Engdahl says:
Distributed Air Quality Monitoring via Taxi Fleet
https://hackaday.com/2017/11/20/distributed-air-quality-monitoring-via-taxi-fleet/
When [James] moved to Lima, Peru, he brought his jogging habit with him. His morning jaunts to the coast involve crossing a few busy streets that are often occupied by old, smoke-belching diesel trucks. [James] noticed that his throat would tickle a bit when he got back home. A recent study linking air pollution to dementia risk made him wonder how cities could monitor air quality on a street-by-street basis, rather than relying on a few scattered stations. Lima has a lot of taxis, so why wire them up with sensors and monitor the air quality in real-time?
Distributed Air Quality Monitoring (Using Taxis!)
https://www.hackster.io/james-puderer/distributed-air-quality-monitoring-using-taxis-69647e
Monitor air quality on a street-by-street level using Android Things, Google Cloud IoT, and taxis!
Tomi Engdahl says:
Edge-computing is the new black – Distence News
https://www.distence.fi/en/edge-computing-new-black-distence-news/
Legacy assets present an enormous opportunity
Any company producing equipment for the industrial sector has a legacy, or installed base. In the industrial sector the life of an industrial asset can be anything from 10 to 40 years. During that period, depending on the asset, the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) excluding initial investment adds up to 70-90%. This includes energy, spare parts, maintenance etc. It does not take into account additional secondary costs, such as the cost to sales from downtime, failures caused to other assets and other ripple effects. This is why the installed base of industrial assets is regarded by many as the biggest opportunity for the Industrial IoT. The portential savings are enoromous, and so are the revenue opportunities.The Distence solution is designed to be a flexible, focused and robust approach to taking those legacy assets fast and efficiently into control, trusted by global players in the energy business. Our goal is to help our customers get closer to their customers, to increase transparency, optimization and control of installed assets. Edge-computing is here and ready to serve the business and optimize that TCO.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Alexa and Arduino Smart Home Challenge
Create the smart home gadget of the future
https://www.hackster.io/contests/alexasmarthome
Tomi Engdahl says:
http://www.futurecitychallenge.fi/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc
Tomi Engdahl says:
iEat Is a Portable Device for Detecting Life-Threatening Food Allergens
https://blog.hackster.io/ieat-is-a-portable-device-for-detecting-life-threatening-food-allergens-6b0361a41c87
Every year roughly 200,000 Americans end up in the emergency room because of food allergies, and about half of those are from anaphylaxis. With costs of life-saving drugs like EpiPens on the rise, prevention of allergic reactions in the first place is more important than ever.
iEAT is small enough to fit in your pocket, only costs about $40 to make, and can detect a host of common allergens in less than 10 minutes. The device uses a disposable sample collector, which is inserted into the small key fob-sized main unit. Once the sample has been analyzed, the results are sent to the user via a smartphone app.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ST SensorTile: IoT Sensing Magic!
https://www.hackster.io/contests/STMicroelectronics
Build and explore using STMicroelectronics SensorTile Development Kit
Tomi Engdahl says:
Coffee Starter Using Blynk
https://www.hackster.io/dos-boys/coffee-starter-using-blynk-c55d62
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why Apple’s HomePod Is Three Years Behind Amazon’s Echo
https://apple.slashdot.org/story/17/11/21/2050214/why-apples-homepod-is-three-years-behind-amazons-echo
Apple unveiled the HomePod, its first smart speaker to take on market-leading Amazon’s Echo lineup of speakers, in June this year. Despite being three years late to the party, the HomePod has largely been pitched more as a speaker that sounds great instead of a device that sounds great but more importantly can also help you with daily chores. On top of this, Apple said last week it was delaying the shipment of HomePod from December this year to “early 2018.” So why does a company, the market valuation of which is quickly reaching a trillion dollar, so behind its competitors?
Bloomberg reports on Tuesday:
Apple audio engineers had been working on an early version of the HomePod speaker for about two years in 2014 when they were blindsided by the Echo, a smart speaker from Amazon with a voice-activated assistant named Alexa.
Why Apple’s HomePod Is Three Years Behind Amazon’s Echo
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-21/why-apple-s-homepod-is-three-years-behind-amazon-s-echo
The Apple speaker started as a side project, was cancelled and revived several times and can’t do as many things as the Echo.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Waste containers will soon notify in Finland as they are full
Teleoperator Elisa and Enevo, who develops waste management optimization, are starting a co-operation in the network of new objects (nb-ios) in the network, where the sensors placed in the waste containers follow the filling of the containers and report the need for drainage.
Elisa and Enevo test Nokia’s nb-iot network at Espoo’s Säterinport.
Enevon service aims to reduce unnecessary waste trucks and, on the other hand, speed up the discharge of full waste bins.
The information goes through the nb-iot network in the Elisa test phase, based on the lte standard of 4g networks, but has a much lower version of the data transfer capacity and hence a lower power consumption.
Elisa has a nb-iot network with its partners in Joensuu, Kangasala and Salo.
Due to the low frequency range, the coverage areas are also wider than existing regular 4g networks.
Operators also call nb-iot technology as a precursor to 5g networks, as the 5g standard is also developing a version of very low power consumption.
Typical data transfer rates in the iot networks are only a few tens of kilobytes.
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/Kaikki_uutiset/jateastiat-ilmoittavat-suomessakin-pian-itse-kun-ne-ovat-taynna-6688544
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Wireless Lighting Market
http://www.electronicdesign.com/wireless/wireless-lighting-market?code=UM_NN7SLB1&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=14075&utm_medium=email&elq2=4ad7d8f46f434bbf93e64e75432f3420
Roughly how large is the wireless lighting market today? Is there one dominant wireless technology for lighting? What factors go into deciding the right wireless technology? How do I pick which wireless protocol to use in my system?
Tomi Engdahl says:
You can not steal a key that is not there
According to surveys, cybercrime will grow to $ 6 trillion in annual business by 2021. Nevertheless, the safety of design will only be considered afterwards. Maxim Integrated is a frustrated solution that protects your device against hacking and IP scams.
It’s a DS28E38 DeepCover circuit. This encryption is based on the physical, random features of the MOSFET circuit. When an encryption key is needed, it is generated with these extraordinary features. When the key is no longer needed, it disappears.
This is called a physically unclonable function (PUF). In practice, the encryption circuit has no key that could be cloned for decryption. At the same time, the need for a complex encryption key management system disappears.
Maxim promises the DS28E38 circuit with a 5ppb security for time, temperature, and voltage. This means that one billion of the chip five may be opened. In practice, the protection is unbreakable.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/7194-et-voi-varastaa-avainta-jota-ei-ole
DS28E38
DeepCover Secure ECDSA Authenticator with ChipDNA PUF Protection
Protect Your Design Using Crypto-Strong Authentication Secured with a Physically Unclonable Function
https://www.maximintegrated.com/en/products/power/protection-control/protection-ics/DS28E38.html
The DS28E38 is an ECDSA public key-based secure authenticator that incorporates Maxim’s patented ChipDNA™ PUF technology. ChipDNA technology involves a physically unclonable function (PUF) that enables the DS28E38 to deliver cost-effective protection against invasive physical attacks. Using the random variation of semiconductor device characteristics that naturally occur during wafer fabrication, the ChipDNA circuit generates a unique output value that is repeatable over time, temperature, and operating voltage. Attempts to probe or observe ChipDNA operation modifies the underlying circuit characteristics, preventing discovery of the unique value used by the chip cryptographic functions. The DS28E38 utilizes the ChipDNA output as key content to cryptographically secure all device stored data and optionally, under user control, as the private key for the ECDSA signing operation. With ChipDNA capability, the device provides a core set of cryptographic tools derived from integrated blocks including an asymmetric (ECC-P256) hardware engine, a FIPS/NIST-compliant true random number generator (TRNG), 2Kb of secured EEPROM, a decrement-only counter and a unique 64-bit ROM identification number (ROM ID).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackers vs. Mold: Building a Humidistat Fan
https://hackaday.com/2017/11/21/hackers-vs-mold-building-a-humidistat-fan/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Connectivity options for the IoT
https://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/5g-waves/4459013/Connectivity-options-for-the-IoT
Tomi Engdahl says:
Testing Strategies for IoT
https://www.techonline.com/electrical-engineers/education-training/tech-papers/4458849/Testing-Strategies-for-IoT
Tomi Engdahl says:
FreeWave Delivers IIoT Solutions on Different Fronts
http://www.mwrf.com/systems/freewave-delivers-iiot-solutions-different-fronts?NL=MWRF-001&Issue=MWRF-001_20171121_MWRF-001_598&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_1_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=14191&utm_medium=email&elq2=d1e84f9f7345487baab213c0486cbd34
By introducing a new embedded radio and app server software, the company shows why it’s at the forefront of industrial wireless applications.
One company on the front lines of military unmanned systems and industrial wireless applications is FreeWave Technologies. Quite literally—millions of FreeWave’s radios have seen action in harsh and dangerous environments throughout the world. One notable product line offered by the company is the ZumLink 900 Series (Fig. 1). This series of 900-MHz radios is intended for a wide range of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) applications, such as agriculture, oil and gas, utilities, and many more.
FreeWave recently introduced the ZumLink Z9-PC radio module, which is the newest addition to the ZumLink 900 Series (Fig. 2). The company actually calls the ZumLink Z9-PC its “most advanced embeddable radio to date.” In addition, FreeWave announced its ZumIQ app server software, which enables developers to program ZumLink 900 Series radios with their own applications. This capability allows for intelligent control and automation of remote sensors and devices.
The ZumLink Z9-PC joins the other ZumLink 900 Series products: the Z9-P, Z9-PE, Z9-C, and Z9-T. Like the other radios in the series, the ZumLink Z9-PC operates in the 902-to-928 MHz frequency band.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Safe battery for IoT devices
TDK has introduced a new surface mount battery for IoT devices, turntable devices and, for example, Bluetooth beacons. Battery electrolyte is solid, making it a very safe solution when compared to liquid electrolyte.
The dimensions of the CeraCharge battery are 4.5 x 3.2 x 1.1 milli. Its capacity is one hundred micro-hours. Voltage is 1.4 volts. The battery can also shorten several milliampere currents shortly.
The battery structure is based on multi-layer technology like ceramic components.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7203&via=n&datum=2017-11-22_15:02:40&mottagare=30929
Tomi Engdahl says:
Finnish cities want a smart time
BM, Digita and Etteplan today launched today the Future City Challenge, where six Finnish cities are searching for new, innovative open data, IoT connections, and artificial intelligence analytics applications. Twenty-five teams have already signed up for the race, but it’s still good to join.
Intelligent cities have been spoken in Finland for a long time, but the Future City Challenge takes many ideas into a concrete direction. The big cities – Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Tampere, Jyväskylä and Oulu – give their open data to the teams, and they develop on the basis of a city, its inhabitants or the inning of innovations.
Etteplan offers a team of LoRa-enabled cards for teams, whereby the data used in the idea is transmitted via the Digita-operated LoRa network to the server. Application data can be analyzed on an IBM cloud platform, where even Watson artificial intelligence can be accessed.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7204&via=n&datum=2017-11-22_15:02:40&mottagare=30929
More: http://futurecitychallenge.fi/
Tomi Engdahl says:
No-Neutral Wireless Wall Switches for Smart-Home Lighting
https://www.eeweb.com/profile/power-integrations/news/no-neutral-wireless-wall-switches-for-smart-home-lighting
Power Integrations announces a new reference design, DER-622, describing a smart wall switch compatible with wiring conditions most commonly found in residential retrofit installations.
Typically, smart wall switches with wireless connectivity, occupancy/vacancy sensing and/or voice control require a neutral return wire to power the unit, which is not always available in retrofit situations. No-neutral products are available for legacy incandescent bulbs because the small AC input current that is allowed to leak through the load when the smart-switch is in standby mode is insufficient to heat the filament. However, for LED and compact fluorescent designs, high standby-mode current from the smart-switch’s internal power supply can lead to unacceptable flicker often known as “ghosting,” caused by the leakage energy accumulating in the lamp and initiating intermittent start-up and brief light activation.
DER-622 illustrates a Bluetooth® Low Energy (LE) wall switch consuming less than 500 µA in standby mode. The design is based on Power Integrations’ LinkSwitch™-TN2 offline switcher ICs, which have quiescent consumption of less than 75 µA.
In DER-622, the LinkSwitch-TN2 power supply IC is utilized in a non-isolated flyback topology and employs half-wave AC input rectification to reduce solution cost. The power supply provides two outputs – a 12 V rail to drive a relay and a 3.8 V rail to power a Bluetooth LE controller.
“Lighting control products such as smart wall switches and occupancy sensors play an important role in improving energy efficiency in homes and buildings. Many homes have wiring that is incompatible with available products or require rewiring, which increases cost and discourages product adoption.”
Press Release Details
Power Integrations Enables No-Neutral Wireless Wall Switches for Smart-Home Lighting
http://investors.power.com/investors/press-releases/press-release-details/2017/Power-Integrations-Enables-No-Neutral-Wireless-Wall-Switches-for-Smart-Home-Lighting/default.aspx?AdSource=EEWeb
Tomi Engdahl says:
Power Integrations Enables No-Neutral Wireless Wall Switches for Smart-Home Lighting
http://investors.power.com/investors/press-releases/press-release-details/2017/Power-Integrations-Enables-No-Neutral-Wireless-Wall-Switches-for-Smart-Home-Lighting/default.aspx?AdSource=EEWeb
DER-622 – Two-Wire (No Neutral), Wide-Range, Non-Isolated Flyback, Bluetooth Wall Switch
https://led-driver.power.com/design-support/reference-designs/design-examples/der-622-two-wire-no-neutral-wide-range/?utm_campaign=linkswitch-tn2_der622&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pi&utm_content=pressrelease&utm_term=led+linkswitch-tn2+smartlighting+pi+en&AdSource=PRen_DER622
Tomi Engdahl says:
Introducing Arduino Wiring on Windows 10 IoT Core
https://blogs.windows.com/buildingapps/2016/09/07/introducing-arduino-wiring-on-windows-10-iot-core/#Svf3QCVm88M4pid0.97
Developers targeting Windows 10 IoT Core can use a programming language of their choice. Today, this includes C#, C++, Visual Basic, JavaScript, Python and Node.js, but we’re not stopping there. Arduino Wiring is the latest addition to IoT Core.
Arduino is one of the most popular platforms among makers. Its community has produced a large number of libraries to interface with peripherals such as LED displays, sensors, RFID readers and breakout boards. One of the main drivers for Arduino’s adoption is its simplicity. With Windows 10 IoT Core, you can now create or port Arduino Wiring sketches that will run on supported IoT Core devices, including Raspberry Pi 2, 3 and Minnowboard Max.
On an IoT Core device, an Arduino Wiring sketch runs as a background application (headless); i.e. there is no UI visible on an attached monitor. This is similar to running a sketch on an Arduino device such as the Arduino Uno for example. However, you can still debug the sketch as you would any other app under Visual Studio by inserting breakpoints and/or stepping through the code. Additionally, to enable verbose output logging, Serial.print() and Serial.println() have been updated to send their output to Visual Studio’s debug pane when the sketch is running under the debugger
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Week in Review: IoT
Forrester on IoT; Marvell, Cavium combine; Altair chipset validation.
https://semiengineering.com/the-week-in-review-iot-73/
Chris Voce of Forrester Research writes that the Internet of Things next year will move beyond experimentation in this piece. “At Forrester we believe IoT extends beyond devices and connectivity,” he writes. “But it’s the business impact of IoT that truly defines what it is: the insights that you can derive with analytics and the business outcomes you can achieve.”
Marvell Technology Group will acquire Cavium for about $6 billion in cash and stock, confirming earlier market rumors.
Qualcomm once again extended its tender offer for shares of NXP Semiconductors, to December 15, 2017. Qualcomm is resisting an unsolicited takeover offer from Broadcom, which just completed acquiring Brocade Communications Systems.
The board of Rockwell Automation unanimously rejected the revised $29 billion bid for the company by Emerson Electric.
Deutsche Telekom and the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics opened their first IoT development center in Dortmund, Germany.
Moeco, which is developing a blockchain-based IoT support network, has received $5 million in private funding led by Bitfury Group.
Altair Semiconductor said its ALT1210 LTE-M chipset has completed AT&T’s ADAPT chipset validation process. The ALT1210 is an LTE-M IoT chipset that runs on extremely low power and can be upgraded by software to a single-antenna LTE CAT-1.
Digi International reports that Amazon Web Services named the company an Advanced Technology Partner in the AWS Partner Network. Digi was also recognized for achieving AWS IoT Competency status. Digi ConnectCore 6 is verified for AWS Greengrass and AWS IoT implementations.
Emberlight, a startup that raised $300,000 from a Kickstarter campaign in 2014 to develop its smart light socket, is shutting down, citing competition in that market.
Tomi Engdahl says:
SecureRF Wins ARM TechCon Innovation Award
https://www.securerf.com/securerf-wins-arm-techcon-innovation-award/?utm_campaign=Email%20Newsletter&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=58721854&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_yNb17rKAk6TtB1eW9Rlveq7FM3gI0zENzGh_l6iI2Hc8NjSOvwpKz4YVeF943BITGIFZzltFQwiDonETkcLCGwrbTwpISvdmQYSRZ4_ZDTHCQmKQ&_hsmi=58721854
SecureRF was recognized Wednesday with the Best Contribution to IoT Security award at this year’s ARM TechCon in Santa Clara, CA. The company impressed the judges with two of its public-key security solutions, Ironwood™ Key Agreement Protocol (Ironwood KAP™) and Walnut Digital Signature Algorithm (WalnutDSA™), which are quantum-resistant security solutions for low-resource processors and embedded devices.
Ironwood KAP and WalnutDSA are at least 60 times faster than ECC, consume up to 140 times less energy, and do not require connection to a database or a network. With these solutions, engineers implementing even the smallest ARM Cortex-M series processors can secure their products. WalnutDSA™ also meets the demands of secure boot and secure update applications. SecureRF’s protocols can be used for device-to-device authentication and complements ARM TrustZone technology.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IoT Security News: Cyber Shield, IoTroop, and the Quantum Race
https://www.securerf.com/iot-security-news-cyber-shield-iotroop-botnet-and-the-quantum-computing-race/?utm_campaign=Email%20Newsletter&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=58721854&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_yNb17rKAk6TtB1eW9Rlveq7FM3gI0zENzGh_l6iI2Hc8NjSOvwpKz4YVeF943BITGIFZzltFQwiDonETkcLCGwrbTwpISvdmQYSRZ4_ZDTHCQmKQ&_hsmi=58721854
Tomi Engdahl says:
26% of Execs Say Security Impedes IoT Implementation
https://www.securerf.com/26-execs-say-security-impedes-iot-implementation/?utm_campaign=Email%20Newsletter&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=58721854&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_yNb17rKAk6TtB1eW9Rlveq7FM3gI0zENzGh_l6iI2Hc8NjSOvwpKz4YVeF943BITGIFZzltFQwiDonETkcLCGwrbTwpISvdmQYSRZ4_ZDTHCQmKQ&_hsmi=58721854
The IoT presents exciting new opportunities for companies to develop innovative products and services. However, despite the benefits associated with IoT technology, such as system monitoring and inventory control, many business leaders continue to cite IoT security-related challenges as obstacles to more rapid IoT adoption.
According to a recent Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) report, sponsored by ARM and IBM, 26% of senior business leaders consider security to be a chief impediment to IoT implementation. Only the high cost associated with investing in IoT infrastructure is considered a bigger obstacle to IoT adoption.
The EIU surveyed 825 business executives from 10 industries for the report. The top chief obstacles to IoT adoption were: the high cost of IoT infrastructure (29%); concerns about security and privacy (26%); a lack of senior management knowledge or commitment (23%); and weakness in an organization’s technology infrastructure (16%).
“The survey tells us that most respondents feel their companies would have been further down the path to significant IoT rollouts by now. The survey gives us a clue as to why that is; emphasizing concerns over security and privacy, and the perception that IoT infrastructure is expensive to deploy and manage.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Look At Over-the-air Software Updates for Vehicles
https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1332644&
Microchip Technology demonstrates its infotainment connectivity solution at the 2017 ELIV electric vehicle conference in Bonn, Germany
One of the more useful features in advanced vehicles is the ability to update software based systems remotely. It is important, however, to ensure the software and systems involved communicate in a safe, secure, and accurate manner.
In this video, automotive telematics and connected car service provider Airbiquity explains its Multi-ECU Over-The-Air Software and Data Management solution for advanced vehicles for EETimes at the ELIV electric-vehicle conference in Bonn, Germany. Made in conjunction with STMicroelectronics, the demo shown has representative circuits from all of the major subsystems that can be found in vehicles.
Tomi Engdahl says:
MIKROE-1298
https://www.arrow.com/en/products/mikroe-1298/mikroelektronika
MikroElektronika was proud to announce the recent release of their 300th plug-and-play click board. These revolutionary boards allow users to easily add new functionality to their development board by simply pushing one of the click boards into the MikroBUS™ socket. There are no wires, no need for soldering and zero hardware configuration necessary. Microchip Technologies and many other vendors adopted the MikroBUS™ socket standard onto their boards, expanding their compatible offering to include everything from educational learning kits as well as single board computers running on Linux.
The large number of Click Boards™ is the key value of the mikroBUS™ standard. Each one carries a single IC, module or circuit that brings a specific functionality to a target mainboard. All Click Boards™ have a standardized size, shape and mikroBUS™ connector, and there are hundreds of boards to choose from with all types of sensors and transceivers.
These boards cover the full gamut of technologies, including wireless connectivity modules, wired communication modules, display modules, interface modules, sensor modules and more.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bluetooth 5: More speeds, more range, new RF tests
https://www.edn.com/design/test-and-measurement/4459086/Bluetooth-5–More-speeds–more-range–new-RF-tests
No single wireless technology is ideal for all internet of things (IoT) applications. For short range, low power, and low data rates, the most common choices are ZigBee, Z-Wave, and Bluetooth Low Energy. With new enhancements that are being added to Bluetooth, the wireless link will become even more appealing and its usage will increase in this category of IoT applications.
Bluetooth 5 is adding capabilities to improve range and increase data throughput. It will support mesh networks that can improve reliability while maintaining low power consumption. Let’s look at the key physical layer enhancements being introduced in Bluetooth 5, RF measurements on actual Bluetooth 5 devices, and RF measurement techniques and challenges.
Bluetooth 4 uses a data rate of 1 Mbps, but Bluetooth 5 offers new data rates of 125 kbps and 500 kbps. 500 kbps uses two-times coding gain, which replaces half the user data with coding bits. With 125 kbps, only one-eighth of the data transmitted is user data and 7/8ths is coding bits. This coding method, along with receiver improvements that search for pattern correlation, provides the equivalent of 12 dB of coding gain, effectively increasing receiver sensitivity and providing a theoretical improvement of up to four times the range. Many IoT applications require only very low data rates, so the tradeoff of data rate versus range is often acceptable. For applications that aren’t limited by battery power, the Bluetooth 5 spec allows for higher transmitter power as well. The current Bluetooth 4 specification allows a maximum of +10 dBm, and this has been increased to +20 dBm in Bluetooth 5.
These range improvements will make Bluetooth 5 more reliable in existing applications and more desirable in longer-range applications such as home automation and security.
Bluetooth 5 has introduced a 2 Mbps data rate, which is intended for applications such as over-the-air firmware updates. This higher data rate is achieved by increasing the symbol rate.
Larger data packets for BT5 beacons
Beacon devices are expected to become more prevalent with Bluetooth 5. Not only will these beacons have longer range, but they can also now transmit significantly larger amounts of data than was possible with Bluetooth 4. In Bluetooth Low Energy, beacons use a method known as Advertising Packets to transmit short bursts of data at consistent intervals. With Bluetooth 4, there are three dedicated “Advertising Channels” and each channel can transmit a maximum of 31 bytes of data in each packet. This is quite limiting for some applications and Bluetooth 5 addresses this with a new advertising scheme.
In Bluetooth 5, the devices will continue to transmit on the three dedicated advertising channels, but each of these relatively short transmissions becomes simply a pointer to other data channels that contain significantly more data.
RF testing
For RF testing, Bluetooth 5 continues to use Direct Test Mode (DTM), which was defined by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). In DTM the device under test is controlled via a wired communication method such as USB or universal asynchronous receiver-transmitter (UART). Binary commands are sent to the device to turn on the transmitter or receiver, depending on which type of RF test is being performed. Bluetooth 5 follows this same methodology by introducing extensions to the current DTM commands so that it can now specify a data rate of 125 kbps, 500 kbps, 1 Mbps, or 2 Mbps.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hands-on review: Wi-Fi Witty, the $6 pre-made IoT solution
Cheap, capable, and flexible, this module is a great place to start an IoT project
https://www.electronicproducts.com/Board_Level_Products/Communication_Boards/Hands_on_review_Wi_Fi_Witty_the_6_pre_made_IoT_solution.aspx
The ESP8266 is a wonderful Wi-Fi SoC that I have experimented with several times, playing with various boards and modules. Recently, I found a new ESP8266 toy: the Wi-Fi Witty, which currently sells for around $6 on ICStation. You just need a proper USB cable and a suitable compiler to start programming the Wi-Fi transceiver, which is a complete solution for home automation and IoT projects.
Surprisingly, the Wi-Fi Witty module, produced by GizWits and based on an ESP-12F, offers plenty of hardware to play with. The compact module is available as a stack of two populated circuit boards that come with an onboard 5-mm light-dependent resistor (LDR, aka photoresistor), RGB chip LED, 3x tactile buttons, and a CH340G Micro-USB interface.
https://dev.gizwits.com/en/developer/
Tomi Engdahl says:
IoT Security News: Cyber Shield, IoTroop, and the Quantum Race
https://www.securerf.com/iot-security-news-cyber-shield-iotroop-botnet-and-the-quantum-computing-race/?utm_campaign=Email%20Newsletter&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=58721854&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_yNb17rKAk6TtB1eW9Rlveq7FM3gI0zENzGh_l6iI2Hc8NjSOvwpKz4YVeF943BITGIFZzltFQwiDonETkcLCGwrbTwpISvdmQYSRZ4_ZDTHCQmKQ&_hsmi=58721854
It is an exciting (and challenging!) time for engineers, developers, and business leaders working on IoT security-related solutions. There are no shortages of security problems to solve and IoT business opportunities to consider. Every day, we learn about new security challenges, next-generation semiconductor technologies, and exciting innovations in the field of quantum computing.
“Grade A” IoT Security?
Just three months after US senators introduced the IoT Cybersecurity Improvement ACT of 2017, two US legislators have proposed a new bill that would establish a security rating and labeling program for IoT devices. If the Cyber Shield Act of 2017 passes, device manufacturers could voluntary have their products evaluated and then labeled if they meet security standards established by an independent advisory committee.
Currently, average consumers have no way to assess the level of security in the IoT products they buy. Unlike many food products with ingredient labels and certification stickers (e.g., “Certified Organic”), most IoT devices do not ship with third-party-verified security information.
New IoT Security Threat: IoTroop
A new botnet is threatening the IoT. In mid-October, Qihoo 360 and Check Point Research reported that the IoTroop botnet, also known as “Reaper,” was hijacking IoT devices, such as routers and IP cameras, around the globe at an extremely rapid rate. But since the initial report was published, we have seen conflicting analyses about the botnet’s power and size. Some analysts have claimed that IoTroop has infected only around 28,000 devices, while others have said it has already harvested millions of devices.
Rather than crack passwords and usernames like the Mirai botnet, IoTroop exploits hardware and software vulnerabilities in IoT devices from a variety of vendors, including Netgear, D-Link, and Linksys.
IoTroop is similar to the Mirai botnet of 2016, but it is not a clone.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Home> Community > Blogs > Baker’s Best
Find the right PMIC for your wearable systems
https://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/bakers-best/4459069/Find-the-right-PMIC-for-your-wearable-systems
Tomi Engdahl says:
Home> Analog Design Center > How To Article
Solving smart clothing design challenges with printed flexible sensor technology
https://www.edn.com/design/analog/4459081/Solving-smart-clothing-design-challenges-with-printed–flexible-sensor-technology-
From fitness trackers and smart watches to virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) headgear, wearable devices now permeate the everyday lives of consumers worldwide. People have come to rely on wearables to monitor their health and well-being, keep them connected to the outside world, and provide endless opportunities for engagement. Analysts predict that the wearable technology market will reach US$51.60 billion by 2022, driven by these consumer preferences for sophisticated gadgets, the growing incorporation of next-generation displays in wearables, and their intersection with the rapidly rising popularity of the Internet of Things (IoT) and other connected devices.[1]
As enabling technologies in flexible and printed electronics continue to improve, the field of wearable devices is already moving beyond rigid devices to encompass a host of smart textile-based bodywear, neckwear, eyewear, headwear and footwear. This article will focus on the challenges associated with designing smart clothing, and how flexible, printed sensor technology can provide solutions.
What’s driving the smart clothing market?
Smart clothing is a rapidly emerging market for physical fitness and rehabilitation applications, both at the clinical and personal level. Medical applications are a good starting point for smart clothing, as it has the potential to drive down medical costs and allow clinicians to collect patient data outside of medical facilities. It also helps to more accurately track the patients’ rehabilitation progress; for example, tracking improvements to range of motion or gait over longer periods and in real-world scenarios. However, due to the stricter approval processes, time-to-market in medical applications is likely to be longer than for consumer applications. For that reason, the growth of the industry is expected to be more rapid in the consumer space.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Security
‘Data is the new oil’: F-Secure man on cartels, disinformation and IoT
An unlikely trio? Not according to Mikko Hyppone
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/23/hypponen_interview/
Internet of insecure Things
Hypponen argued IoT is a bigger revolution than mobile because it will transform workforces.
“IoT is not about users wanting internet access on appliances,” Hypponen said, “it’s about vendors wanting to connect them to the internet so that they can collect data.”
Vendors have not quite worked out how to monetise this data as yet. They do know that they’ll need a record of historic data to turn it into something useful in future hence the desire to capture it now. “Data is the new oil,” Hypponen concluded.
Meanwhile, the security of IoT devices remains lamentably poor. Mirai failed to act as a wake-up call, with a few honourable exceptions. “Ikea take IoT security seriously because they don’t want a product recall,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Solving smart clothing design challenges with printed flexible sensor technology
https://www.edn.com/design/analog/4459081/Solving-smart-clothing-design-challenges-with-printed–flexible-sensor-technology-
From fitness trackers and smart watches to virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) headgear, wearable devices now permeate the everyday lives of consumers worldwide. People have come to rely on wearables to monitor their health and well-being, keep them connected to the outside world, and provide endless opportunities for engagement. Analysts predict that the wearable technology market will reach US$51.60 billion by 2022, driven by these consumer preferences for sophisticated gadgets, the growing incorporation of next-generation displays in wearables, and their intersection with the rapidly rising popularity of the Internet of Things (IoT) and other connected devices.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Holiday lights that harmonize around the globe
https://blog.alexellis.io/festive-docker-lights/
Make this festive season one to remember with a project you can build for around $25 over a weekend and share in with your your friends and family.
Grab a mince pie and a cup of coffee as we build your very own Festive Lights decoration that is powered by a Raspberry Pi Zero W and Docker containers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sub-1 GHz Sensor to Cloud Industrial IoT Gateway Reference Design for Linux Systems
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
Analysts estimate that 20+ Billion devices will get connected to the Internet by 2020*. In this exploding Internet of Things (IoT) , users, things and cloud services connect using the Internet to enable new use cases and new business models across multiple markets and applications. Texas Instruments is the only semiconductor company with all of the building blocks to enable the IoT.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Understanding The Protocols Behind The Internet Of Things
http://www.electronicdesign.com/iot/understanding-protocols-behind-internet-things?code=UM_Classics11317&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=14199&utm_medium=email&elq2=060c2b070bea400d88c39b50c75fa434
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. Confusion is understandable, because the high-level positioning is similar. In fact, all four claim to be real-time publish-subscribe IoT protocols that can connect thousands of devices. And it’s true, depending on how you define “real time,” “things,” and “devices.”
Nonetheless, they are very different indeed! Today’s Internet supports hundreds of protocols. The IoT will support hundreds more. It’s important to understand the class of use that each of these important protocols addresses.
MQTT
MQTT, the Message Queue Telemetry Transport, targets device data collection
As its name states, its main purpose is telemetry, or remote monitoring. Its goal is to collect data from many devices and transport that data to the IT infrastructure. It targets large networks of small devices that need to be monitored or controlled from the cloud.
MQTT makes little attempt to enable device-to-device transfer, nor to “fan out” the data to many recipients. Since it has a clear, compelling single application, MQTT is simple, offering few control options. It also doesn’t need to be particularly fast. In this context, “real time” is typically measured in seconds.
XMPP
XMPP was originally called “Jabber.” It was developed for instant messaging (IM) to connect people to other people via text messages
XMPP uses the XML text format as its native type, making person-to-person communications natural. Like MQTT, it runs over TCP, or perhaps over HTTP on top of TCP. Its key strength is a [email protected] addressing scheme that helps connect the needles in the huge Internet haystack.
In the IoT context, XMPP offers an easy way to address a device. This is especially handy if that data is going between distant, mostly unrelated points, just like the person-to-person case. It’s not designed to be fast. In fact, most implementations use polling, or checking for updates only on demand. A protocol called BOSH (Bidirectional streams over Synchronous HTTP) lets severs push messages. But “real time” to XMPP is on human scales, measured in seconds.
DDS
In contrast to MQTT and XMPP, the Data Distribution Service (DDS) targets devices that directly use device data. It distributes data to other devices
While interfacing with the IT infrastructure is supported, DDS’s main purpose is to connect devices to other devices. It is a data-centric middleware standard with roots in high-performance defense, industrial, and embedded applications. DDS can efficiently deliver millions of messages per second to many simultaneous receivers.
Devices demand data very differently than the IT infrastructure demands data. First, devices are fast. “Real time” is often measured in microseconds. Devices need to communicate with many other devices in complex ways, so TCP’s simple and reliable point-to-point streams are far too restrictive. Instead, DDS offers detailed quality-of-service (QoS) control, multicast, configurable reliability, and pervasive redundancy.
DDS implements direct device-to-device “bus” communication with a relational data model. RTI calls this a “DataBus” because it is the networking analog to a database.
AMQP
Finally, the Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP) is sometimes considered an IoT protocol. AMQP is all about queue
It sends transactional messages between servers. As a message-centric middleware that arose from the banking industry, it can process thousands of reliable queued transactions.
AMQP is focused on not losing messages. Communications from the publishers to exchanges and from queues to subscribers use TCP, which provides strictly reliable point-to-point connection. Further, endpoints must acknowledge acceptance of each message. The standard also describes an optional transaction mode with a formal multiphase commit sequence. True to its origins in the banking industry, AMQP middleware focuses on tracking all messages and ensuring each is delivered as intended, regardless of failures or reboots.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Autonomous Factory: Inertial Sensors Conquer IoMT Challenges
http://www.electronicdesign.com/industrial/autonomous-factory-inertial-sensors-conquer-iomt-challenges?code=UM_Classics11317&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=14199&utm_medium=email&elq2=060c2b070bea400d88c39b50c75fa434
Building around location-aware, industrial smart sensors helps boost the quality and accuracy of information retrieval, leading to much more efficient machine automation.
The automation of industrial machinery, whether it be in manufacturing, agriculture, logistics, energy, automotive, or unmanned aerial vehicles, promises great gains in resource efficiency, equipment accuracy, and safety. Key to enabling these gains is the identification of the appropriate sensing technologies to enhance the contextual knowledge of the equipment’s condition.
Since location or position of the equipment is also a valuable input to the equation, precision inertial sensors hold the promise of essentially pinpointing location or maintaining accurate positioning. Coupling both the location and the contextual sensor information is of substantial value in applications where mobility is a factor.
In many situations, the determination of position while operating in a complex or harsh environment is of especially critical value. The Internet of Moving Things (IoMT) has many challenges on the path to great efficiency gains, and high-performance inertial sensors are helping make the difference.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Technologies>IoT
Securing IoT Medical Devices—Are We There Yet?
http://www.electronicdesign.com/iot/securing-iot-medical-devices-are-we-there-yet?code=UM_Classics11317&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=14199&utm_medium=email&elq2=060c2b070bea400d88c39b50c75fa434
To ensure secure communications in a given design, developers must consider integrating key security- and safety-related features that help to harden a medical device against any malicious activity.
As the internet of medical devices grows exponentially, much of the attention has been given to the safety aspect, with less time devoted to protecting the private information transmitted and stored on these devices. However, that imbalance is shifting, as protecting patient data has become a critical concern. In fact, a KPMG 2015 healthcare and cybersecurity survey found that more than 80% of health plans and healthcare providers acknowledged that patient data had been compromised—even after making significant cyber-related investments.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Q&A: Harnessing Data Can Unlock New Doors in the Race to the IIoT
http://www.electronicdesign.com/iot/qa-harnessing-data-can-unlock-new-doors-race-iiot?code=UM_Classics11317&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=14199&utm_medium=email&elq2=060c2b070bea400d88c39b50c75fa434
Technology Editor Bill Wong talks with Philipp Wallner, industry manager EMEA at MathWorks, about the Industrial Internet of Things and its associated data challenges.
The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) differs from consumer and commercial IoT (see “What’s the Difference Between Consumer and Industrial IoT?”). It has challenges with data and system complexity that are tougher than those associated with other IoT platforms.
What’s the Difference Between Consumer and Industrial IoT?
http://www.electronicdesign.com/iot/what-s-difference-between-consumer-and-industrial-iot
The Internet of Things is invading everything from consumer to industrial products, but all platforms are not created equal.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is the latest product-development buzzword, akin to other terms like “the cloud” or “smart cities.” These terms are typically very nebulous, but generally apply to an important set of identifiable products or technologies.
The more-focused terminology helps narrow the collection of vendors, products, and services to a more manageable or understandable level. Hopefully, this will be the case with consumer, commercial, and industrial IoT (IIoT).
To start, we need at least a basic description for IoT. Generally speaking, IoT is a distributed network system that typically employs the internet/cloud for some aspect of its communication and usually includes sensors/control systems, a storage component, a compute component, a user-interface component, and possibly gateways
Granted, the description is very general and a lot of details come into play in an actual system from a plethora of protocols like MQTT and TCP/IP to security and management systems. In theory, an IoT system should be expandable, allowing dynamic changes to its operation and include devices not provided by a single vendor.
Consumer, commercial, and industrial IoT share attributes and are typically built on the same hardware and software platforms. That’s why IoT discussions tend to get murky, especially when delving into the details.
For instance, smartphone and tablet apps tend to provide one way of querying and controlling devices. Windows and iOS PCs, on the other hand, generally run the heavier user interfaces, often providing management tools that would be cumbersome on the smaller, portable devices.
Consumer IoT devices and services are oriented toward individual users or families. This includes products like Amazon’s Echo (Fig. 2) or Google’s Nest Thermostat (see “An Elegant Thermostat Designed For The Internet”). Hardware tends to be designed for low cost and limited lifetime and maintenance. A device is likely to have a shelf life measured in months or years, with new versions quickly replacing older products on store shelves.
Commercial IoT
Commercial IoT sits between consumer and industrial IoT and shares aspects of both. Some may actually group commercial and industrial IoT together. The scope of commercial IoT typically resides at the company or organization level. Applications like smart power and lighting would fall under the commercial IoT umbrella.
Commercial systems rarely involve single devices—there may be dozens or thousands depending on the application. A number of sites may also be involved in one system, adding to the management challenge.
Verdigris’ Einstein smart sensor (above right) can be added to existing installations (above) to provide information to Verdigris’ artificial intelligence platform.
Industrial IoT
Industrial IoT might be viewed as rugged, long-term commercial IoT, but that overlooks the differences in IIoT’s design and infrastructure. Like many commercial solutions, IIoT solutions often target existing automated industrial systems. The difference is that these systems may be older, so the level of sensors is often based on what was available. They provide sufficient information to control the industrial process, but additional information would be useful if it’s possible to incorporate more sensors. Such sensors might track the status of components such as plumbing. Sometimes, it can provide supplemental information about system wear and tear to anticipate maintenance requirements.
Integrating information from existing systems with new IoT support is often more complicated than with commercial IoT. Likewise, integration will need to be maintained over the long term as well as support updates on both sides of the equation.
Like commercial systems, industrial IoT is more amenable to gateway use. Incorporating many gateways requires planning, but they ultimately provide the ability to do more processing on the floor. They also enable more independent operation, with the possibility of distributing information locally.
IIoT gateways will often have more user customization, or even the ability to run user applications. These systems may require significantly more customization than a commercial system in order to tailor them for a particular industrial process.
The customization involved with IIoT systems is one reason why deployment will take longer than many commercial IoT systems. IIoT developers will usually require more support and create more integration solutions, whereas most commercial IoT integration is likely to be done in the cloud. Security, latency, and application issues surrounding IIoT often make cloud type of integration impractical.
IIoT equipment also tends to have more demanding requirements than commercial alternatives. Very long-term support and rugged specifications such as extended temperature support are common requirements for many applications.
IoT systems and platforms are not created equal.
Tomi Engdahl says:
A special IoT circuit from Mediatek
aiwanese Mediatek has introduced a system circuit with both the GSM / GPRS modem and the NB-IoT modem operating in LTE networks. A special combination ensures that the developed IoT device can work for a decade or so, for a long time, when the GSM network is down.
The MT2621 circuit supports the NarrowBand IoT of 3GPP’s Release 14 specification and all its frequency bands.
kit requires only one SIM card. Both modems work with the same integrated antenna but only one of them can be turned on at one time.
ARM7 processor operating at 260 MHz
160 KB + 4 megabytes
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/7228-erikoinen-iot-piiri-mediatekilta
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sensor Technologies Will Drive the Next Digital Age
http://www.electronicdesign.com/analog/sensor-technologies-will-drive-next-digital-age?NL=ED-003&Issue=ED-003_20171127_ED-003_145&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_1_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=14243&utm_medium=email&elq2=9a981d244b8141009914716a0a6afb6e
The explosive growth of interconnected devices makes sensors indispensable and integral in digital ecosystems.
This new wave of innovation extends digital intelligence beyond dedicated devices such PCs, tablets, and smartphones. If an object has some kind of electrical power, it can be a smart, connected node in the Internet of Things (IoT) or within any number of autonomous systems such as connected cars, wearable technologies, and smart buildings and cities.
Many consider this phenomenon to be fundamentally digital. After all, the IoT is a network that enables billions of data points to be aggregated in the cloud, then processed and analyzed by sophisticated software. But at the very core of these changes are sensors—the ubiquitous devices that measure and represent physical phenomena such as light, heat, motion, and sound, and anchoring the 1s and 0s of the digital network in the real world.
While sensors have existed in one form or another since before the silicon chip was invented, today’s sensors are evolving at a faster rate than ever to support the proliferation of billions of new devices. New sensing technology is enabling innovative applications, such as 3D optical-sensing technology for consumer and mobile applications, time-of-flight (ToF) measurement for reliable camera autofocusing and image correction, high-end machine vision for Industry 4.0 operations, high-resolution imaging for medical diagnostics, self-regulating buildings, autonomous vehicles, and always-on personal health monitors.
With sensor technology quickly evolving for deployment in everything from lighting fixtures, clothing, food packaging, and even inside the human body or embedded in the skin, they must meet some challenging new requirements:
Extreme miniaturization
Ultra-low power consumption
Capability to interface with networks
Application-ready signal or data outputs
These high-performance sensors designed for digital transformation typically are comprised of three separate technology layers:
The core sensor layer provides an electrical representation of a real-world phenomenon, such as domains including imaging, optical, environmental, or audio.
The miniaturization and integration layer provides a chip-scale or modular (multichip package) implementation in silicon of the core sensing technology. This layer also provides the algorithms that convert raw sensor measurements into a linear signal streams for use by a processor.
The system technology layer is software embedded in the sensor that provides a connection to common networks like Bluetooth Low Energy and Wi-Fi technologies. Sensor system software also supports end-user applications, such as converting optical sensor signals in a smart wristband into a measurement of heartbeats-per-minute.
In next-generation sensor systems, each of the layers includes hardware and software elements and is provided in a single packaged device shipped to end-product manufacturers.
What comes next? The next phase involves shaping the world with sensor solutions, by creating new core sensing technologies, developing algorithms that make sense of sensor data, and building application-ready devices that OEMs can implement easily in end products. Today’s digital transformation is only just beginning—and sensors will be at the heart of the coming waves of change.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Front End: Tell Me What Happened AND When It Happened
Getting proper data-acquisition rand measurement results may be a matter of “timing it right.”
http://www.electronicdesign.com/analog/front-end-tell-me-what-happened-and-when-it-happened
Points of Uncertainty
The killer assumption we make too often is that when we set up some kind of sampling system (for example, using an ADC), we just connect some sort of sampling clock. And hey, presto, we’ll get a dataset of uniformly sampled data points, spaced in time by a known interval. But with any real clock, the frequency is never quite constant, and so the interval between sampling points is also slightly variable.
This isn’t a problem that goes away suddenly when the uncertainty of your measurement timing is reduced below a certain threshold. The clocks used to time the acquisition or reconstruction of signals between analog and digital domains will often suffer from a certain amount of jitter—an inconsistency in the position of the edges of the clock signal. The mean frequency of the clock may be correct, but each edge may be located a small, unknowable distance away from the “ideal” position.
You can think of this uncertainty in edge timing as being the result of phase modulation by some otherwise unknowable signal. Modulation in the time domain has an impact in the frequency domain. Spectral analysis (e.g., taking a fast Fourier transform, or FFT) of an ideal clock’s fundamental component should show up as a single frequency value—a nice sharp line in the FFT. But if the clock’s edges are moving in time, additional sideband frequencies are generated. This smears out the sharp fundamental into a broader spectrum.
Here’s the important bit: Anything that modulates the clock, modulates the output data in essentially the same way. If the clock used by the ADC is smeared out in frequency, the data that comes out of the system will inherit that smearing.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Siemens Digitizes Industrial Machines to Speed Development
Siemens has created Advanced Machine Engineering to reduce prototypes and reuse data.
https://www.designnews.com/automation-motion-control/siemens-digitizes-industrial-machines-speed-development/210330118857844?ADTRK=UBM&elq_mid=2183&elq_cid=876648
Siemens PLM has created the Advanced Machine Engineering (AME) tool to provides a platform that connects mechanical, electrical, and software engineering data to allow engineers access to a completely digital machine-build prototype. This digital twin represents an industrial machine operation that can be tested virtually throughout the development process. The goal of the engineering platform is to increase collaboration and reduce development time, while also reducing risk and allowing for the reuse of existing designs.
By involving mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and software development processes simultaneously, you shift away from the more time-consuming serial development process. You create a concurrent method that effectively turns the process into mechatronics.
One of the goals in developing AME was to make plant equipment modular, so the overall configuration of plant processes could be done more quickly and with greater flexibility. The digitized modular plant concept was also designed to reduce risk and engineering time. The process can be design and tested digitally.
The modular approach to managing plant equipment also supports change, especially since much of the engineering to support the change is worked out on a digital level using existing modules that are already validated.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IoT Edge Gateways Emerging as Enterprise Connectivity Option
https://www.designnews.com/automation-motion-control/iot-edge-gateways-emerging-enterprise-connectivity-option/64826465457861?ADTRK=UBM&elq_mid=2183&elq_cid=876648
Edge gateways are using the MQTT protocol as a way to enable secure data flow between edge devices and the cloud, and create a new class of IIoT connectivity.
Industrial IoT edge gateways represent an emerging product category and key technology for connecting both legacy controllers and edge devices to the Internet of Things (IoT). Along with integrating a variety of protocols for networking, they provide resources for managing data storage and analytics, along with enabling secure data flow between edge devices and cloud services.
New Option for IIoT Applications
The idea behind edge gateways is to provide a way to use data already created by operational technology and translate data from existing control applications into IoT-friendly formats that can be easily accessed via the cloud. One argument is that, because data is often aggregated and displayed for operators on a Human Machine Interface (HMI), the same data can be presented to other users and provides a powerful additional capability for IoT applications.
By building MQTT support into the HMI, data can be organized into topics and presented to upstream IT applications in a flexible, modular and efficient way. According to the Maple Systems website, “The MQTT broker is responsible for maintaining client connections and sending/receiving messages. Client devices, edge gateways, and IT applications (or publishers/subscribers in MQTT language), are freed up to focus on producing and consuming data.”
It’s easy to see how, as MQTT is a lightweight protocol, and up to 1,000 connected clients can be easily supported, the ability to publish data as topics can provide an effective method for monitoring a specific machine or industrial process.
The architectural vision of the Hilscher products is to leverage techniques and protocols that are already available for “crossing the edge” including, for example, HTTP and web services. But to address the needs of automation networking, the hard real-time benefits of protocols like PROFINET and EtherNet/IP will offer additional networking options.
The approach is to use OPC UA as a technology that can exist on both sides of the divide between IT and OT, along with use of the MQTT protocol for transmitting data over long distances for SCADA implementations. The thinking is that both MQTT and OPC UA will become de facto standards for IIoT applications, and that AMQP has the potential to support data management functions needed for MES and ERP connectivity.
With the Industry 4.0 initiative in Germany making progress, along with the work of the Industrial Internet Consortium, the Avnu Alliance, OPC UA, and the IEEE 802.1 Time Sensitive Networking standards groups, there is an unprecedented effort to unify industrial connectivity standards. But edge gateways, on the other hand, provide a way that companies can immediately utilize data from edge devices to implement solutions that don’t require these other technologies to move ahead with IoT applications.
Use of MQTT, and potentially AMQP, provides connectivity options for linking to cloud services, and new options including OPC UA make implementing these systems more realizable.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Alexa, How Do I Design With Your Voice Service?
https://www.designnews.com/electronics-test/alexa-how-do-i-design-your-voice-service/197983121657875?ADTRK=UBM&elq_mid=2183&elq_cid=876648
Smart companies like Amazon are making voice services, like Alexa, accessible to the masses, enabling developers to bring Alexa voice-controlled experiences to customers through available software development kits and hands-on workshops at events like ESC
The Smart Life Roadshow is outfitted with the latest voice-forward technology including the latest smart tech smart tech from Sonos, ecobee, Logitech, and more. Visitors will receive a guided tour of the trailer, which demonstrates how to build an integrated smart home with Amazon Alexa. The trailer features four display areas—a home office, kitchen, product displays, and living room
Design News: What advice would you give developers that are looking to integrate Alexa in a way that adds true value to a device?
Nelson: With AVS, developers can now bring Alexa to their products with ease and offer customers access to the growing number of Alexa features, smart home integrations, and skills. On-device actions specific to a product that have been traditionally difficult for customers, like setting an alarm clock, can now be done easily with a single voice command. One of the greatest advantages of being part of the Alexa family is that Alexa is constantly getting smarter with new capabilities and services through machine learning, regular API updates, feature launches, and custom skills, which, in turn, provide more benefit to customers.
Design News: What is the best way for someone to get started building with Alexa?
Nelson: You can get started at developer.amazon.com/avs or here. Build your first AVS prototype on a Raspberry Pi in under an hour. And come see us at ESC to learn more.
Get Started with AVS
https://developer.amazon.com/docs/alexa-voice-service/get-started-with-alexa-voice-service.html?_mc=arti_x_dnr_edt_aud_campbell_escr_des_33_x-ESCSV2017AmazonQA
Tomi Engdahl says:
Freewave’s Z9-PE and Z9PC
FreeWave Delivers IIoT Solutions on Different Fronts
http://www.mwrf.com/systems/freewave-delivers-iiot-solutions-different-fronts?NL=MWRF-001&Issue=MWRF-001_20171128_MWRF-001_686&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_2_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=14280&utm_medium=email&elq2=9cd639fc9e714055961294d3bc75ef3c
By introducing a new embedded radio and app server software, the company shows why it’s at the forefront of industrial wireless applications.
One company on the front lines of military unmanned systems and industrial wireless applications is FreeWave Technologies. Quite literally—millions of FreeWave’s radios have seen action in harsh and dangerous environments throughout the world. One notable product line offered by the company is the ZumLink 900 Series
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dissertation: A small radio balloon brings intelligence to many places
According to a doctoral dissertation in computer science, Heikki Palomäki’s small radio-swapped radio stations are the future when life routines require new kinds of intelligent, flexible and reliable solutions, such as the safety of children’s kindergartens.
“Intelligent electronics are growing around us and it brings new demands for implementation,” says Palomäki at the University of Vaasa on Monday, December 4.
Electronics should be an unobtrusive and reliable addition to safe and smooth life routines, as well as fail-safe solutions in automation. This requires flexible data transfer and new features that are not always found in wireless data transmission standards.
Palomäki hopes that the development of wireless technology will be carried out in a more open direction, so that everyone can develop new products using other product development costs and offer their own work to others. Even small companies and individuals would be able to implement simple and inexpensive, but intelligent solutions to new environmental challenges.
The doctoral dissertation developed very compact and low-energy radio receivers for different applications. These practically tested different network solutions and some simulated methods. The calibration of a excavator using a neurology as a student project was a successful test. The functionality of radio tapes was also tested in windmill wings, cow positioning and greenhouse measurements.
Compact, simple but smart radionapons will have many new applications in the future
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/7229-vaitos-pieni-radionappi-tuo-alya-moneen-paikkaan