Here is a list f IoT predictions for year 2018. With the number of connected devices set to top 11 billion – and that’s not including computers and phones – in 2018, Internet of Things will clearly continue to be a hot topic. Here is my prediction list:
1. Artifical Intelligence – it will be talked a lot
2. Blockchain – blockchain will be hyped to be a solution for many IoT problems, and it will turn out that it is not the best solution for most of problems it is hyped for – and maybe it will find few sensible uses for it in IoT. Blockchain can add immutability and integrity to some IoT transactions.
3. 4G mobile for IoT: NB-IoT and LTE-M are ready to be tested or used in many markets
4. 5G will be hyped a lot for IoT applications but it is nowhere near for any real big IoT use cases
6. Security issues will be talked a lot. IoT security is far from solved issue.
7. Privacy issues of IoT will be talked a lot when our homes and pockets are starting to be filled with ever listening digital assistants.
8. Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) will be massive
9. More CPU power will be added or used in the edge. Pushing processing power to the “edge” brings a number of benefits and opportunities.
10. Hardware based security: Hardware based security on microprocessors will be talked a lot after “Meltdown” and “Spectre” disaster
Links to more predictions:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2017/12/19/the-top-8-iot-trends-for-2018/#17a9943267f7
https://www.ibm.com/blogs/internet-of-things/top-5-iot-trends-in-2018/
https://www.inc.com/james-paine/3-internet-of-things-trends-to-watch-in-2018.html
https://www.i-scoop.eu/iot-2018-1/
https://dzone.com/articles/iot-trends-for-2018
1,393 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Internet of Things: Blockchain’s Killer App?
https://it.toolbox.com/articles/internet-of-things-blockchains-killer-app
The definition of Internet of Things can vary, however it is often viewed as a collection of products that implement or improve automation of a personal home. However, there are many IoT applications in the commercial sphere as well – for instance, it can provide sensor grid services for manufacturing floors, provide surveillance for company security, or automate procurement. Furthermore, all these functions can be integrated through the wireless connections that lend IoT the appearance of a sleek, coordinated machine.
These are just some of the reasons why the business-to-business IoT market may be worth as much as $300 billion by the beginning of the next decade, according to PwC, which also estimates that businesses will invest more than $800 billion in the field by 2020.
However, this also poses a problem: what is needed to keep a new IoT field within the company’s control? Cyber-security analysts predict IoT security issues will become an issue, with the industry likely to pose a choice target for hackers, making it more necessary than ever to ensure the integrity and safety of corporate IoT security against outside attack.
Blockchains and IoT
Blockchain is the emerging protocol increasingly put forward to facilitate the privacy and security of software interactions in the future at the most granular levels. It is associated with increased privacy and anonymity, as every pertinent communication is converted into a transaction in a ledger that is also distributed by the blockchain. As a result, blockchain technology is increasingly perceived as the best means to enhance authenticity within a structure, such as a company’s own infrastructure or supply chain.
A ledger is decentralized in order to distribute the risk of incursion or data theft away from a conventional trust determination security system. In addition, the ledger can track individual IoT devices over time and with respect to its activity. Devices can also be ‘anonymous’ or identified through a unique code in the ledger. In other words, the blockchain interacts directly with each device, eliminating the risk of man-in-the-middle style attacks.
On the other hand, devices or the systems that host the ledgers could be compromised in an attempt to manipulate the ledger through false blocks or transactions (which constitute denial-of-service attacks in the blockchain context). Attackers could also exploit the components of the blockchain-IoT interface to drop or obstruct blocks. However, these threats can be addressed through the deployment of keys for requests or sending, and the application of hashing to transactions.
Despite these drawbacks, the blockchain-for-IoT approach is gaining ground for enhanced security in data sharing within a proprietary framework. It can also pair with a secure cloud, which may possibly offer savings when transferring to or upgrading IoT.
Can Blockchain Simplify IoT?
Corporate IoT providers often suggest that blockchain can make IoT connectivity simpler to use, manage and track – it consists of a ledger that translates every interaction between each ‘thing’ into a transaction, and can be visualised as a flowchart rather than the complex circuit diagrams of conventional systems. However, the ledger may span many different workstations or even computer networks, depending on the company’s size, in order to encompass all operations overseen by the IoT system.
Some researchers argue that in its current form, blockchain is too unwieldy and resource-intensive to secure modern business practices. They advocate adaptation of the technology to fit the topology of the environment, an entire field of IoT connections, that it is intended to secure, and propose a new hierarchical system by the same environment broken up into units (e.g. offices), each with a locally-controlled blockchain for all its IoT items.
Cluster Heads
This blockchain is also stored locally, but may connect to a network of other units through a secured connection. The clusters formed as a result can elect cluster heads or shift CH designation in accordance with load and time constraints. Cluster heads maintain the public keys of requesters and requestees within its nodes, and the data sent from them to other CHs, and form an overlay network, with the option of sending data to a cloud as necessary.
The advantages of this form of blockchain and its management include the granularity of control implied at the CH and node leve
Applications for the Blockchain of Things
The gig economy is an obvious target for a blockchain-connected IoT.
This new economy would be facilitated through ‘distribution apps’ (Dapps) that can control devices and allow them to coordinate with others. For example, the apps that direct autonomous vehicles may need to be able to interact with Dapps associated with many other systems to handle repeat costs associated with the use of the car, such as fueling or parking, so ‘Dapps’ could benefit from co-ordination by a localized blockchain.
So far there are very few real-world examples of services using blockchains for pay-per-use systems, such as fully automated Airbnb rentals, although they include Slock.it, a start-up based on access to Dapps that run IoT-powered assets for rent.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft will invest $5 billion in IoT. Here’s why.
https://blogs.microsoft.com/iot/2018/04/04/microsoft-will-invest-5-billion-in-iot-heres-why/
Today, we are announcing that we will invest $5 billion in the Internet of Things over the next four years. The reason we are doing this is simple: Our goal is to give every customer the ability to transform their businesses, and the world at large, with connected solutions.
It’s well understood that IoT solutions can create operational efficiencies, but we know the true impact extends well beyond that into our daily lives. Our customers are delivering electricity to schools in Africa, creating better patient outcomes with predictive care, improving worker safety on job sites and driver safety on Alaskan roadways.
We’ve been invested in IoT before the term was coined, when enterprises had these endpoints in their factories, buildings and other devices that were totally “dark.” Today, we’re planning to dedicate even more resources to research and innovation in IoT and what is ultimately evolving to be the new intelligent edge. With our IoT platform spanning cloud, OS and devices, we are uniquely positioned to simplify the IoT journey so any customer—regardless of size, technical expertise, budget, industry or other factors—can create trusted, connected solutions that improve business and customer experiences, as well as the daily lives of people all over the world. The investment we’re announcing today will ensure we continue to meet all our customers’ needs both now and in the future.
Advancing the Opportunity in IoT and Intelligent Edge
We’re now seeing the kind of increased adoption and exponential growth that analysts have been forecasting for years, and we’re just getting started. A.T. Kearney predicts IoT will lead to a $1.9 trillion productivity increase and $177 billion in reduced costs by 2020. This effect will be pervasive, from connected homes and cars to manufacturers to smart cities and utilities—and everything in between.
Tomi Engdahl says:
An Elaborate Hack Shows How Much Damage IoT Bugs Can Do
https://www.wired.com/story/elaborate-hack-shows-damage-iot-bugs-can-do/
Tomi Engdahl says:
It’s when not if your server room UPS wil be on the IoT
https://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/pt/2018/05/apc-ups-iot.html?cmpid=enl_cim_cim_data_center_newsletter_2018-05-08&pwhid=e8db06ed14609698465f1047e5984b63cb4378bd1778b17304d68673fe5cbd2798aa8300d050a73d96d04d9ea94e73adc417b4d6e8392599eabc952675516bc0&eid=293591077&bid=2095045
Analysts predict that Internet of Things (IoT) devices will grow from around 10 billion connected internet devices today to 30 billion devices by 2020—an uptick of about 3 billion new devices per year. These devices are driving an escalation in connectivity which, in turn, has driven an astounding growth in the amount of data being generated.
Data centers and server room environments are not immune to this revolutionary tidal wave of “Big Data.”
IoT has changed where value can be derived within the walls of the server room. Consider the rather common device known as the rack-based Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS). It’s not a device that server room administrators typically spend lots of time thinking about.
“Listening” is now the key to performance success
Modern UPS devices come delivered with embedded intelligence that allows them to communicate parameters such as device status, alarms, setting information, and environmental data (such as temperature). A failure to “listen” to this data means that administrators are missing out on valuable business information that helps improve server room performance.
The ability to gather information is important ̶ but only if that information makes it back to the administrator for analysis. Then, once analyzed, that information has to be used to generate actions that contribute to overall business value (such as lowering energy consumption and experiencing fewer incidences of unanticipated downtime). The challenge is to stay ahead of this information curve and to avoid being overwhelmed by the volume of data.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mysterious Wireless Band Fits IoT Apps
http://www.mwrf.com/systems/mysterious-wireless-band-fits-iot-apps?NL=MWRF-001&Issue=MWRF-001_20180508_MWRF-001_777&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_1_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=17153&utm_medium=email&elq2=bc6fda3f6c0c48f9817289a9cf92bf7e
Some useful frequencies are elusive or simply unknown to many engineers, so it wouldn’t hurt to take some time and dig through the FCC “bible” of federal regulations.
Most short-range wireless technologies use the industrial-scientific-medical (ISM) band spectrum in the 902- to 928-MHz and 2.4- to 2.4835-GHz, and more recently, the 5.725- to 5.850-GHz ranges. The 2.4-GHz band is loaded with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, and a half dozen or so others. With all of the recent Internet of Things (IoT) activity, traffic in these bands is heavy and interference is a real problem. If you have a relatively simple but mission-critical application, you might want to consider some other possibilities.
The RCRS regulations state the use of the 72- and 75-MHz bands for model control. For remote control, it designates the range of 26 to 28 MHz. Yes, that’s the same basic range as the CB radio service. Common uses are to turn some device off or on at a remote location. Or it could be used to transmit a signal from a remote sensor that turns some device on or off.
Does this sound like something you can use?
Lemos International has some modules that seem to comply. These are the NTX0 transmitter (TX) and NRX0 receiver (RX) by Radiometrix. The TX uses narrowband FM (FSK) on 27.095 MHz. Max data rate is 5 kb/s. Power can be set to 10 dBm (10 mW), +17 dBm (50 mW), or +20 dBm (100 mW).
Looks like you’re on your own with a protocol but it would be simple if only off-on signals are needed. One possibility is to use available coder/decoders like Holtek H12, the CTA88, and even DTMF chips. UART signals are a good fit if your design is MCU-based. Other Radiometrix products that fit this technology are the multichannel LMT0 and LMR0 modules.
One major benefit of RCRS is that your products don’t need to go through the usual FCC wireless certification process.
The RCRS usage simply involves declaring that your devices conform to the rules and regulations. No third-party testing is involved. That may be justification enough to adopt this technology if it fits the application.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Richard Stallman: Dangers of IoT and Amazon Alexa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAP4N3KyLmM
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Brings Android to Internet of Things
https://www.securityweek.com/google-brings-android-internet-things
Less than a month after Microsoft announced an operating system built for Internet of Things (IoT) security, Google is releasing its own platform for IoT: Android Things.
The managed operating system was designed to provide manufacturers with all the ingredients for a winning IoT recipe: certified hardware, rich developer APIs, and secure managed software updates via Google’s infrastructure.
The platform has been in developer preview until this week, and has already registered over 100,000 SDK downloads, Google says. More than 10,000 developers have provided feedback on Android Things, ultimately leading to the platform’s initial release.
Android Things 1.0 was released with support for new System-on-Modules (SoMs) based on the NXP i.MX8M, Qualcomm SDA212, Qualcomm SDA624, and MediaTek MT8516 hardware platforms. Raspberry Pi 3 Model B and NXP i.MX7D devices (but not NXP i.MX6UL) will continue to be supported for development purposes.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Five reasons to retrofit a press
https://www.controleng.com/single-article/five-reasons-to-retrofit-a-press/84b4a9d0521f284061d232b8a8916f47.html
Instead of replacing a press, which can be costly and time-consuming, retrofitting them might be a better solution.
Presses are hard-working machines, and many have been in service for years—some since the early 1950s. As presses age, problems can occur, and even the most robust of presses will eventually require retrofitting or replacement. The initial symptoms may simply be increased or more frequent downtime while components are replaced.
As time goes on, however, technological obsolescence may mean that the needed replacement parts no longer are available.
Here are five reasons why a retrofit is both possible and cost-effective.
1. Improved performance
2. Improved worker and machine safety
3. Reduced cycle time and operating costs
4. Improved process visibility
5. Technology upgrades
Automation and technological innovation is moving fast. It can be hard to stay abreast of new capabilities that might give a company a competitive edge. Implementing a retrofit gives companies an inside look and hands-on experience with the latest technologies. Even simply consulting with knowledgeable experts about what might be possible can yield unexpected insights.
Implementing a retrofit is not a minor decision.
When deciding on a retrofit, manufacturing engineers and machine operators must consider which factors are critical for their unique operation to stay financially and industrially competitive—and still deliver quality product. A retrofit may even reveal other cost-effective operation upgrades, particularly considering OEE across an entire production system.
Tomi Engdahl says:
That Don’t Require Batteries
https://blog.hackster.io/batless-microchip-may-bring-about-iot-devices-that-dont-require-batteries-b9407f34847d
A group of researchers from the National University of Singapore has designed a microchip capable of self-starting and continue to function even if there is no battery power. Known as BATLESS, the microchip features a tiny on-chip solar cell that measures-out to half of square-millimeter in size and can generate electricity even in low-light conditions. This is good news for small IoT devices that are deployed in remote locations where regular servicing of the device is difficult.
Tomi Engdahl says:
CNBC:
Sources: Amazon’s Alexa division has a “health & wellness” team of over a dozen people, focusing on areas like diabetes management and assistance to new mothers
Amazon is building a ‘health & wellness’ team within Alexa as it aims to upend health care
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/10/amazon-is-building-a-health-and-wellness-team-within-alexa.html
Amazon has built a team within Alexa to dive more deeply into the health-care space.
Members include Missy Krasner, a former Box health executive, and veteran engineer Larry Ockene.
The group wants to eventually provide services to new mothers and people with diabetes and to ensure proper regulatory and data privacy requirements.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Week in Review: IoT
IoT World; Carbon Black goes public; smart water meters.
https://semiengineering.com/the-week-in-review-iot-97/
Nokia acquired SpaceTime Insight of San Mateo, Calif.; financial terms weren’t revealed. SpaceTime CEO Rob Schilling becomes the head of Nokia’s IoT unit as a result. SpaceTime provides visual analytics software.
Carbon Black completed its initial public offering last week, raising $152 million
The cybersecurity software vendor
Brian Krebs, the cybersecurity researcher, writes about a report by the University of California at Berkeley’s School of Information on the Mirai botnet cyberattack of 2016, which took his website and many others offline due to the marshaling of thousands of unsecured IoT devices, such as Internet-connected security cameras, to enable a devastating distributed denial-of-service attack. The report estimates the attack cost IoT device owners nearly $324,000 in bandwidth and power consumption.
Frost & Sullivan forecasts worldwide installations of smart water meters will increase from 13.8 million units last year to 82.1 million units by 2026, with China becoming the largest market for such devices in 2019. Smart water meters are part of the trend toward IoT-enabled advanced metering infrastructure, resorting to low-power, wide-area network cellular communications, such as long-range (LoRa) technology and narrowband-IoT, the market research firm finds.
ON World says IEEE 802.15.4 is the predominant IoT networking technology, thanks to its use in Amazon’s Echo Plus device and wireless mesh sensor networks. The market research firm estimates 500 million 802.15.4 mesh chips have been sold for smart homes and buildings, metering, smart cities, industrial automation, and other IoT applications.
At its Build 2018 developers conference this week, Microsoft announced it is making Azure IoT Edge runtime open source. The company is also providing Custom Vision and other Azure Cognitive Services available on Azure IoT Edge. Edge hardware from Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Advantech, and Moxa will be supported by Azure IoT Edge.
At its developers conference, Google debuted version 1.0 of Android Things, for use by IoT device designers and manufacturers. It will enable the use of the Google Assistant technology and Google’s machine learning capabilities. Android Things 1.0 supports Bluetooth Low Energy, Wi-Fi, and the Weave protocol.
At IoT World, Google Cloud and niolabs will demonstrate distributed computing software integrated with the Google Cloud Platform and Cloud IoT Core.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Week In Review: Design
https://semiengineering.com/the-week-in-review-design-129/
IoT-focused memory chipmaker Adesto Technologies acquired S3 Semiconductors, a provider of mixed-signal and RF ASICs and IP.
Cadence debuted a new design-for-reliability tool for analog and mixed-signal IC design.
The Si2 Compact Model Coalition published the Open Model Interface, a C-language application programming interface that supports SPICE compact model extensions.
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘Smart building’ connectors aid new innovations
https://www.electropages.com/2018/05/smart-building-connectors-aid-new-innovations/?utm_campaign=&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=article&utm_content=%E2%80%98Smart+building%E2%80%99+connectors+aid+new+innovations
If there is anyone in the developed world for whom the word ‘building’ still conjures up an image of a structure comprising just four walls, a roof, a couple of doors and a few windows then the latest ‘smart building’ developments are likely to come as quite a rude shock.
Security is of course a major issue for smart homes and buildings. Indeed, there are now numerous products on the market that work in tandem with smart-phones so that a homeowner – even one hundreds of miles away – can see who’s knocking at the door or looking through the windows of his property. Other smart-door bell options can include two-way talk, infrared lighting and motion detection. And in addition to the increasingly ubiquitous smart-door bells, a number of other ground breaking new developments are now being rolled out that aim to address this issue.
Most of the latest DIY and top of the range home security systems now offer support for Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple Siri. These allow for doors to be unlocked, thermostat settings to be changed, the garage to be opened, and the system to be armed or disarmed with a spoken command to a connected speaker device.
At a recent industry fair in Frankfurt, KNX Secure launched its first interoperable secure devices, based on security standard AES128 and KNX Secure Standard. KNX is a standardised, OSI-based network communications protocol for building automation. And it is the successor to, and convergence of, three previous standards: the European Home Systems Protocol (EHS), BatiBUS, and the European Installation Bus (EIB or Instabus). The standard is administered by the KNX Association.
AES128 is double encrypted and this feature is claimed by the association to have raised the security bar for smart homes and smart building.
“KNX is the first and only smart home and smart building standard that meets the highest security requirements in cyber security worldwide.”
Telegärtner Karl Gärtner GmbH, the developer of modules and cable connectors, said, “The trend of ever higher transmission rates is constantly increasing, also because more and more intelligent, mobile devices are spreading.”
The company recently presented its latest connection module and connector for home installations at an industry fair in Frankfurt. The components are the newly developed, field-terminable AMJ module and the field-assembled cable connectors. The connection module housing and shielding enables secure data transmission even in the event of external electrical interference. An important consideration in their development was to try and make the components as ‘future proof’ as possible. This is in anticipation of the future applications of 25GBase-T or 40GBase-T that is expected to replace the current 10GBASE-T Ethernet, whose 10 GB/s data rates are already insufficient in many cases.
Meanwhile, Atlantik Elektronik, the provider of innovative wireless solutions presented in Frankfurt a new multi-mode solution with integrated Bluetooth® 5, dual-band Wi-Fi and 802.15.4 technology from Qualcomm.
Other recent developments unveiled include a new EGPRS module with global coverage from the Swiss module maker U-blox. The ultra-compact LTE Cat M1/NB1 and EGPRS modules feature low power consumption and longer battery life, together with extended range in buildings, basements, and with NB1, underground. Easy migration between u-blox 2G, 3G and 4G modules is also afforded.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Linux is clearly the most popular in IoT devices
Over the years, the IoT Survey, sponsored by several organizations, has placed IoT technology in preference. As a platform for IoT devices, Linux is in its very own class.
The survey responded to more than 500 IoT developers during the spring. Of these, 71.8 percent of you named Linux as an operating system for your own IoT device. A year earlier, Linux accounted for as much as 81.5 percent.
The second most popular IoT operating system is Windows, which says it uses 22.9 percent of developers. It’s worth noting that many developers use more than one operating system in their different designs.
Third, the list became FreeRTOS, primarily used in smaller microcontrollers. It mentioned 20.4 percent of developers. The announcements were also provided by Arm’s Mbed OS, QNX, Windo River’s VxWorks, Micrium OS and Huawei’s own LiteOS.
In the development of IoT solutions, security was clearly the biggest concern. It was mentioned by 39% of the respondents.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/7982-linux-on-selvasti-suosituin-iot-laitteissa
More:
IoT Developer Survey 2018
https://www.slideshare.net/kartben/iot-developer-survey-2018
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ring doorbell flaw lets others watch after password changes (updated)
At one point, the camera was exposed for months.
https://www.engadget.com/2018/05/12/ring-doorbell-password-flaw/
You’d expect a smart doorbell to instantly boot out everyone the moment you change your password, but that isn’t necessarily the case. The Information has learned that the app for Ring’s video doorbell wasn’t forcing users to sign-in after password changes, regardless of how much time had elapsed
The flaw provides something of a headache for Amazon, which only acquired Ring in February. If it’s going to use Ring’s doorbells as part of delivery solutions like Amazon Key, it needs to know that the devices are reasonably secure against exploits like this. This is also a reminder that smart home security needs to be particularly tight — a loose policy can easily lead to privacy violations.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Study: Attack on KrebsOnSecurity Cost IoT Device Owners $323K
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2018/05/study-attack-on-krebsonsecurity-cost-iot-device-owners-323k/
A monster distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS) against KrebsOnSecurity.com in 2016 knocked this site offline for nearly four days. The attack was executed through a network of hacked “Internet of Things” (IoT) devices such as Internet routers, security cameras and digital video recorders. A new study that tries to measure the direct cost of that one attack for IoT device users whose machines were swept up in the assault found that it may have cost device owners a total of $323,973.75 in excess power and added bandwidth consumption.
My bad.
But really, none of it was my fault at all. It was mostly the fault of IoT makers for shipping cheap, poorly designed products (insecure by default), and the fault of customers who bought these IoT things and plugged them onto the Internet without changing the things’ factory settings (passwords at least.)
The botnet that hit my site in Sept. 2016 was powered by the first version of Mirai
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sharing the Internet with Billions of Things
http://www.mwrf.com/systems/sharing-internet-billions-things?NL=MWRF-001&Issue=MWRF-001_20180514_MWRF-001_722&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_1_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=17278&utm_medium=email&elq2=125cd4834d324afeacf2c58b0470483c
Wireless protocols such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth work with smartphones around the world as controllers for electronic devices that sense and share data via the internet.
In many ways, the internet has become a form of “hard drive” for the masses. It’s a place to store and find a seemingly unlimited amount of information as needed. The internet can be accessed from almost anywhere, with wired or wireless communications devices such as cellular telephones and WLAN laptop computers. But it’s not just people connecting to each other via the Internet: Billions of things, as in Internet of Things (IoT) devices, also hook up with the internet—a number that’s expected to grow dramatically in the next few years.
Recent market forecasts by organizations such as Gartner estimate more than 20 billion worldwide IoT devices by 2020. While these IoT devices will occupy some of that seemingly unlimited memory storage capacity available from the many computers comprising the internet, they will also support numerous functions in homes, factories, even outdoors.
Many IoT devices are designed to make environments “smarter,” including motor vehicles, homes, offices, and cities. While some may argue that the only “smart” cities will be those without IoT devices, the rise in applications of IoT technology is apparently unavoidable and will no doubt become relatively mundane with time. For example, users can check the temperature of the rooms in their homes while still at work by gaining remote access to the internet via cellphone.
Although many well-known professional organizations such as AT&T Business and IBM with its IBM Watson IoT service can organize a “smart business” with appropriate IoT devices, the majority of IoT users learn as they go with the technology.
This typically involves a close-range wireless communications technology, such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, to connect IoT devices to a local wireless network for access by a user’s cellphone. The phone would be equipped with appropriate application software to control the IoT devices.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bluetooth, Thread, Zigbee Mesh Compared
https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1333265
Silicon Labs reports on its recently released benchmarks of Bluetooth, Thread and Zigbee mesh networks for the Internet of Things.
Selecting the right mesh protocol for an IoT application can be challenging. Each protocol has its own set of unique characteristics and advantages, depending on use cases and application requirements. Developers need to understand how each protocol performs in the key areas of power consumption, throughput, latency, scalability and security.
Silicon Labs recently released the industry’s first performance benchmark results for Zigbee, Thread and Bluetooth mesh. It compares how each protocol performs in different test conditions and network configurations.
We conducted the tests over a 12-month period in a commercial Boston office building with active Wi-Fi and Zigbee networks in range. The wireless test clusters were deployed in hallways, meeting rooms, offices and open areas.
Key takeaways include:
Thread, Zigbee and Bluetooth mesh perform similarly in small networks under small payloads.
Thread and Zigbee outperform Bluetooth mesh when payload and throughput needs increase. Bluetooth mesh performance can improve after installation if the installer manually optimizes the network by disabling some routing nodes.
Latency increases for all three protocols as network size grows, but Bluetooth mesh experiences the largest increase.
For large Bluetooth mesh networks, relay optimization can be used to optimize performance.
Bluetooth mesh works best when short messages (of 11 bytes or less) are used, especially for multicast messages.
The fact is, there is no winning mesh protocol. Performance varies greatly based on the application requirements. The test results underscored several factors that are critical in making the right protocol choice.
Power consumption should not be overlooked when assessing protocols. Home and building automation applications often use a combination of battery-powered, line-powered and even energy harvesting devices, often presenting very different use cases for mesh protocols.
Benchmarking Bluetooth Mesh, Thread, and Zigbee Network Performance
https://www.silabs.com/products/wireless/learning-center/mesh-performance
Tomi Engdahl says:
The IoT firmware must be able to update flexibly
The devices of the Internet (IoT, Internet of Things) from home appliances to medical devices and cars are on the market all the time. In order to keep pace with new innovators, industry manufacturers must be able to flexibly apply and integrate new technologies.
IoT equipment designers should increase their products with flexible structures that can be used to implement new functions and requirements that are evolving through industrial internet ecosystems. Firmware upgrades allow customers to customize their installations during the initial development process, and add new features and features to existing field devices or when installing any part of the firmware.
With its re-programmability and reliability, non-volatile memories, such as NOR-Flash circuits, are commonly used to store firmware code. By rewriting part of the device software code in the nonvolatile memory of the device, hardware manufacturers can easily refresh to improve the functionality and features of their devices. In updating the firmware, you need to pay attention to three things: what code and how much is updated, how often the update is made, and how long it takes time to upgrade.
Finally
The designer should put more flexibility into thinking about updating the application code and data for the IoT device. What the code and how much is to be updated, how often updates are needed and how fast updates should take place are the challenges that the IoT device needs to take into account. Non-volatile memory is a good choice when you want to solve these challenges and get accurately defined time and speed issues for code updates.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php/tekniset-artikkelit/7978-iot-laiteohjelmisto-pitaa-pystya-paivittamaan-joustavasti
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smart-Home Lightning Hacks
https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/smart-home-lightning-hacks
Home automation should make life simpler, not more complex!
Tomi Engdahl says:
Android Things to boost MediaTek IoT chip shipments
https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20180511PD206.html
MediaTek is expected to see its shipments of IoT chips expand significantly in the second half of 2018, buoyed by Google’s release of Android Things 1.0, according to industry sources.
Android Things 1.0, which was announced at the recently concluded Google I/O 2018, is Google’s managed OS that enables developers to build and maintain IoT devices at scale.
To accelerate the development and production of IoT devices by developers, Google also announced support of certified system-on-modules (SoMs) based on MediaTek MT8516 as well as NXP i.MX8M, and Qualcomm SDA212, SDA624 hardware platforms.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Comcast IoT service goes live in Bay Area
https://www.broadbandtechreport.com/articles/2018/05/comcast-iot-service-goes-live-in-bay-area.html?cmpid=enl_btr_weekly_network_technology_2018-05-15&pwhid=6b9badc08db25d04d04ee00b499089ffc280910702f8ef99951bdbdad3175f54dcae8b7ad9fa2c1f5697ffa19d05535df56b8dc1e6f75b7b6f6f8c7461ce0b24
Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) announced that its enterprise Internet of Things (IoT) service, machineQ, has activated its LoRaWAN IoT network in the San Francisco Bay Area, and now provides coverage in Cupertino, Fremont, Hayward, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Oakland, Palo Alto, Redwood City, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Clara, and Sunnyvale.
Startups and developers in the region building enterprise-grade IoT solutions can now connect to the cloud using the machineQ IoT network. The machineQ network is built using the LoRaWAN wireless protocol, which is currently being used by 80+ carriers in 43 countries around the globe.
The machineQ service launched as a trial in 2016 and was expanded last July.
“It was a no brainer to deliver a dense IoT network in the Bay Area, the epicenter of IoT, because it reduces costs for developers and startups in the region and opens up new business cases for the solutions they are building,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
ST Focuses MEMS Strategy on Industrial IoT
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333278
STMicroelectronics is making a big push into the Industrial IoT space with the announcement of a range of high-accuracy MEMS sensors and components designed to last for at least 10 years, serving the needs of advanced automation environments in which machines can be expected to perform for many years.
As part of this strategy, the company has launched its first product, the IIS3DHHC low-noise three-axis accelerometer, which is optimized for high measurement resolution and stability to ensure accuracy over time and temperature. The MEMS sensor targets precision inclinometers in antenna-positioning mechanisms for communication systems, structural health monitoring (SHM) equipment for keeping buildings and bridges safe, and stabilizers or levelers for a wide variety of industrial platforms. Its long-term accuracy and robustness are also ideal for high-sensitivity tilt and security sensors, as well as image stabilization in high-end digital still cameras (DSCs).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lighting controls: Know the updates, changes
https://www.csemag.com/single-article/lighting-controls-know-the-updates-changes/8e2c00a1e08627d42d2dbbe2fdac3361.html
There has been a move away from traditional lighting controls approaches, which have only incrementally improved over decades, and toward an entirely new way of thinking about, designing, and implementing lighting controls—wirelessly, with internet connectivity, and in an individually addressable capacity all at once.
Alphabet soup: DALI and the IoT
Before we determine where lighting controls are headed, let’s look at one approach that has been around for close to 20 years: the digital addressable lighting interface, known as DALI (trademarked by the Digital Illumination Interface Alliance). While this acronym is familiar to many in the architecture, engineering, construction (AEC) industry, DALI is still somewhat of a specialized system, and one that continues to advance. There are some basics to understand:
DALI is an open, standardized, international protocol that allows devices from multiple manufacturers to work together as long as they adhere to the standard.
DALI technology is built on 0 to 10 V dimming by replacing one-way communication with two-way, establishing a back-and-forth between the controller and the controlled devices. This created a back-check on success or failure of a command.
The 2002 release of DALI standard International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 62386 standardized the DALI protocol. IEC 62386 was most recently updated in 2017 to incorporate additional devices including occupancy and light-level sensors. Additions to the standard that are currently in progress, but have not yet been incorporated, include requirements for wireless DALI systems, load shedding, and light-output compensation over the lifetime of a fixture, to name a few.
DALI assigns an individual address to every driver or ballast in each (up to) 64-device network. A controller sends messages to those devices, either individually or in groups, to control their behavior. Multiple networks of 64 devices can be combined with the addition of gateways.
Two wires connect all DALI devices to one another in a daisy-chained arrangement. The polarity of the wiring connections does not matter, which simplifies installation.
Smarter buildings
Figure 2: The same sensor that was shown integrated into a fixture in Figure 1 can be mounted flush in a drywall ceiling via a custom detail. A remote-sensor approach is necessary when fixtures cannot accommodate an integral device. Courtesy: SmithGroupJJRWhat could buildings be telling us about themselves and ourselves, exactly? And how would this be helpful to us? Is this something that makes sense for everyone, or just for certain (rare) projects and clients?
When contemplating these questions, one is inevitably reminded of the “smart home” concept that has caught on so fiercely over the past few years. Spurred on by streaming services and millennials establishing their first residences, the notion of a home that synergizes many different systems and can be controlled remotely is de rigueur. Collectively, Americans are growing accustomed to the idea that security systems, thermostats, lightbulbs, music players, TVs, door locks, garage door openers, refrigerators, and washing machines should all be able to communicate with us when we’re not home so we can know what they’re up to and tell them if we don’t like it.
In answer to that pursuit, the IoT, masquerading as a lighting control system, has emerged as a means to optimize square footage in two key ways:
As with DALI, by allowing spaces to be reprogrammed or reconfigured via an intuitive user interface on any internet-connected device.
By allowing owners, renters, and lessors to study the use of their spaces to better understand traffic patterns, space use, and room scheduling.
These benefits are the tip of the proverbial iceberg when it comes to IoT, but they are valuable enough to warrant a flurry of research and development in recent years, which has manifested as a host of new “lighting controls” manufacturers in the marketplace that we’ve never heard of. Because IoT lighting controls aim to improve efficiency in terms of square feet per person (which really means dollars), the demand is strong and the time is ripe for information technology (IT)-savvy companies to break into this game.
Still more money stands to be saved by an IoT-enabled system that monitors energy usage and informs owners of their energy waste in an easy-to-understand format, and then allows them to modify their controls settings in an easy-to-manipulate interface.
Design considerations
When designing an IoT lighting control system, it is important to realize that the system is all about the sensors—the more, the better. The point of an IoT system is first and foremost to harvest data, and the data pool will be better if it’s bigger (assuming things are working properly).
Maximizing the number of sensors has been addressed by some manufacturers by taking a one-to-one sensor-to-fixture approach—that is, integrating a sensor into each fixture. This is more easily said than done, as fixture types like recessed downlights, decorative pendants, or wall sconces don’t typically allow for seamless sensor integration, ruling that option out due to aesthetics.
When sensors are integrated, it is best to complete the integration at the factory prior to shipping fixtures to a job site. This isn’t unique to IoT-type integrated sensors, but they may make the task more complicated, as many IoT controls manufacturers are only starting to establish original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partnerships with fixture manufacturers.
Adding the complexity of shipping sensors and any additional integrated controls components could result in any number of headaches for fixture manufacturers—UL violations when devices don’t fit properly in a listed luminaire assembly, increased lead times, and extra fees.
The IoT is opening the lighting controls world up to the technology sector. While this is unlocking a data-rich world inside the buildings we design and inhabit every day, it may also be putting us—the designers of these buildings and specifiers of the lighting controls within them—at risk of being left out of the conversation.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Linux-Friendly Arduino Simplifies IoT Development
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333282
“The macro trend we’re starting to see is that everyone wants some ability of cloud connectivity,” said Matthew Short, senior director of IoT at IHS Markit. “If you can run an IoT cloud, then potentially, you can start to have more interconnect between the cloud and some of the services cloud providers want to offer and the developer community. That might be a little more compelling to the maker base that Arduino brings.”
“For Linux developers, it gives them more tools in their toolbox,” added Short. “There is going to be more distributed compute so the Linux community is familiar with that and [Arduino support] gives them more access to sensors and peripherals, which translates into access into more interesting data. A lot of IoT is about data and making decisions based on that data so it opens up data-gathering platforms to that community.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why Modular Platforms Make Sense for IIoT Testing
https://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/software/why-modular-platforms-make-sense-for-iiot-testing
Tomi Engdahl says:
Comcast, Cox ramp up IoT projects
https://www.broadbandtechreport.com/articles/2018/03/comcast-cox-ramp-up-iot-projects.html?cmpid=enl_btr_weekly_network_technology_2018-05-17&pwhid=6b9badc08db25d04d04ee00b499089ffc280910702f8ef99951bdbdad3175f54dcae8b7ad9fa2c1f5697ffa19d05535df56b8dc1e6f75b7b6f6f8c7461ce0b24
The Internet of Things (IoT) is getting increased attention from Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) and Cox Communications. The two MSOs each have their own large scale IoT projects running, suggesting growing momentum for a move into a new business services market for cable operators.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Introducing the Internet of Arduino Challenge, Powered by Arrow and Indiegogo
https://www.arrow.com/en/research-and-events/articles/introducing-the-indiegogo-arduino-challenge
http://connected.arrow.com/indiegogo-arduino-challenge
‘
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Internet of Trash: IoT Has a Looming E-Waste Problem
https://spectrum.ieee.org/telecom/internet/the-internet-of-trash-iot-has-a-looming-ewaste-problem
In 2016, Masayoshi Son, the CEO of SoftBank Group Corp., predicted that in the next 20 years there will be a trillion connected devices in the world and orbiting the planet. This spurred his investment in Arm Holdings, the chip-design company,
As we add computing and radios to more things, we’re also adding to the problem of e-waste. The United Nations found that people generated 44.7 million metric tons of e-waste globally in 2016, and expects that to grow to 52.2 million metric tons by 2021.
There are two issues. We’re adding semiconductors to products that previously had none, and we’re also shortening the life of devices as we add more computing, turning products that might last 15 years into ones that must be replaced every five years.
In fact, many small connected devices such as trackers, jewelry, or wearables are designed to fail once the battery dies. At that point, the consumer tosses it out and buys another.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Week in Review: IoT
IoT World; startup funding; White House moves.
https://semiengineering.com/the-week-in-review-iot-98/
Keynote highlights from the Internet of Things World 2018 conference: “Safety is the most important thing,” said Russ Benson, vice president of IT product systems at Boeing; “It’s all about data,” said Juan Perez, chief information officer and chief engineering officer of UPS; “Semiconductors accelerate IoT growth,” said Tony Keirouz, vice president of IoT strategy, ecosystem, and partnerships at STMicroelectronics; “Itron was in IoT before IoT was cool,” said Sharelyn Moore, senior vice president of networked solutions at Itron; “Standards are indeed essential,”
Bsquare says it won a three-year Industrial IoT software-as-a-service contract with an unnamed Fortune 100 firm to provide IoT device and content management for tens of thousands of IoT devices in North America and Europe. The customer will use the Bsquare DataV Manage application and Amazon Web Services IoT services, such as AWS IoT Core and AWS IoT Device Management.
Comcast’s IoT unit, machineQ, launched its low-power, long-range wide-area network service in the San Francisco Bay Area. Santa Rosa, Calif.-based PNI Sensor is an early customer for the machineQ network, using it for the PlacePod smart parking system.
Sigfox introduced its Sens’It Discovery offering at IoT World, combining an IoT sensor device, the sensit.io application for mobile devices and Web browsers, and one year of network connectivity to the company’s IoT Cloud. Sens’It is priced at about $75, including a software development kit.
Cybersecurity
The White House this week eliminated the cybersecurity coordinator position within the National Security Council.
Market Research
Juniper Research forecasts the market for smart home automation and monitoring will be worth $46 billion in 2023. That year will see 1 billion automation and monitoring devices installed worldwide, the market research firm predicts. There will be 65 million smart-home insurance policies issued in 2023, it adds.
Smart Home Markets
Vendor Analysis, Impact Assessments & Strategic Opportunities 2018-2023
https://www.juniperresearch.com/researchstore/iot-m2m/smart-home-vendor/vendor-analysis-impact-assessments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Photonics Applied: The Internet of Things: Photonics — a fundamental enabler for the Internet of Things
https://www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/print/volume-54/issue-04/features/photonics-applied-the-internet-of-things-photonics-a-fundamental-enabler-for-the-internet-of-things.html?cmpid=enl_lfw_lfw_enewsletter_2018-05-18&pwhid=6b9badc08db25d04d04ee00b499089ffc280910702f8ef99951bdbdad3175f54dcae8b7ad9fa2c1f5697ffa19d05535df56b8dc1e6f75b7b6f6f8c7461ce0b24&eid=289644432&bid=2109438
Without photonics, the interconnectedness of physical devices and their ability to share and analyze information about their surroundings would not be possible.
According to Wikipedia, the Internet of Things (IoT) is the “inter-networking of physical devices, vehicles (also referred to as ‘connected devices’ and ‘smart devices’), buildings, and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators, and network connectivity which enable these objects to collect and exchange data.”
“If we had computers that knew everything there was to know about things—using data they gathered without any help from us—we would be able to track and count everything and greatly reduce waste, loss, and cost.”
“Less than 20 years after, devices are able to interact with each other and share data better than we do,” Courtillat adds (see Fig. 1). “Enabling Machine to Machine communication (M2M), they send commands to each other, access the available networks—whether mobile, wired, or wireless—and change our old habits of interaction with every element of our environment.”
Communications
As a fast-growing business sector with a global market of around $550 billion in 2015 and projected to reach more than $750 billion by 2020, photonics has been defined as one of the six Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) of Europe by the European Commission.1-3 A large fraction of those billions is represented by the lasers and optical fibers that light our communications infrastructure.
“Charles K. Kao was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics ‘for groundbreaking achievements [since the 1960s] concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication,’” Courtillat says, “ensuring a permanent role for optics in nearly every communications-intensive IoT application and redefining our understanding of connectivity.”4
“We all know that the high-bandwidth optical communications networks that power the Internet rely on optical fibers and powerful laser diode sources,” Courtillat says. “But critical to many IoT applications are smaller, more private networks enabled by light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Historically intended to supplant traditional, low-efficiency (5–10%) incandescent and halogen lighting sources, LEDs offer ultralow energy consumption, long life, and a small size that promises more than simple illumination.”
In LiFi, signals are carried by the modulation of the light emerging from LEDs. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Henrich Hertz Institute (HHI) in Germany have transmitted data at 3 Gbit/s using conventional LED light bulbs in a laboratory setting. In a real-world setting (at a trade fair), the same system was capable of 500 Mbit/s.
Beyond LiFi, the fifth generation of wireless communications technology (5G) will be crucial to successful implementation of numerous IoT applications.
With lower latency (1 ms), higher bandwidth, and improved ability to connect devices, 5G was front and center at the Consumer Electronics Show of 2018. In an article entitled “CES 2018 is where you’ll start caring about 5G,” Asha Keddy, who heads up Intel’s efforts on IoT, connected devices, and next-generation networks, said that in a 5G future, “We’re not just going to be connecting 6 or 7 billion people, we’ll be connecting tens of billions of things. It will be phones, lights, cars, buildings, appliances, you name it.”
Transportation
Optical communications are critical for transportation or mobile environments. And beyond optical fiber and LED/laser sources, photonics is also having a tremendous impact on automotive IoT applications through the networking of light detection and ranging (lidar), time-of-flight, and visual instrumentation being incorporated for both advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and fully autonomous vehicles.
“Capitalizing on the knowledge from the field of VANET [Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks)] and exploiting the new technologies of the Internet of Things, an emerging domain, the ‘Internet of Vehicles or IoV’, is beginning to take shape around V2X [Vehicle-to-Everything] ubiquitous communications,”
Perhaps the ultimate in autonomous vehicles is not necessarily in personal transportation, but in agriculture.
Environmental monitoring
The same lidar principles that enable autonomous vehicles are also being implemented in IoT networks that monitor our environment. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) specifies that lidar data supports activities such as inundation and storm surge modeling, hydrodynamic modeling, shoreline mapping, emergency responses, hydrographic surveying, and coastal vulnerability analysis, allowing scientists to generate more accurate shoreline maps and precise three-dimensional information about both natural and manmade environments.10
Many companies are cashing in on the environmental monitoring IoT craze by making a case for the particular communications networks that they sell. For example, Link Labs (Annapolis, MD), which sells low-power, wide-area-network (LPWAN) technologies, has published information on eight top use cases for environmental monitoring, including monitoring of air, water, soil, forests, natural disasters, fisheries, snowfall levels, and datacenter environments for temperature and humidity. Of course, LPWAN is touted as the best solution for these applications because of its low cost, long battery life (5–10 years), long range (500 m to 10 km), and satellite backhaul ability.
Smart homes, offices, and gadgets
The IoT Online Store at http://www.iotonlinestore.com claims that there will be 50 billion devices connected to the Internet by 2020, with most of those gadgets serving the smart home and wearables markets—considered the top two most popular IoT markets, according to a web analytics ranking.
Concerning wearables, our recent article on wearable photonics describes a variety of wearable illumination and sensor devices, but the power of IoT is the interconnectedness of these devices. On a personal level, a pulse oximeter can help a jogger in Central Park understand their fitness level
On the home front, products that incorporate photonic devices enter the marketplace on a daily basis. The Ring Doorbell uses an HD camera with night vision to let you answer the door from anywhere, day or night, on your smartphone.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Startup Raises $12 Million to Make Most of Embedded Hardware
http://www.electronicdesign.com/embedded-revolution/startup-raises-12-million-make-most-embedded-hardware
As the pace of processor development slows, many companies are betting that custom silicon can cut the cost of machine learning in embedded devices and give them independence from the internet. But even though millions of dollars are pouring into new chips, some argue there is nothing wrong with existing hardware.
The problem is that software is too rough around the edges, and increasingly investors are onboard with startups trying to change that.
“Our ‘A.I. everywhere for everyone’ technology eliminates the need for internet connectivity, runs on inexpensive hardware platforms and eliminates latency inherent in traditional cloud based A.I. systems,” said Ali Farhadi, founder and chief executive of XNOR, which previously raised $2.6 million in seed funding.
Taking machine learning out of the cloud would allow drones to scan farmland to pinpoint failing crops and recommend optimum harvest time without being connected to the internet, said XNOR. Smartwatches could measure vital signs without wasting energy to send raw data to the cloud, and smart speakers could perform simple voice recognition and control functions.
The transportation industry could also enlist XNOR’s technology.
Tomi Engdahl says:
To Tighten Security, Rambus Plants Root of Trust Inside Embedded Core
http://www.electronicdesign.com/embedded-revolution/tighten-security-rambus-plants-root-trust-inside-embedded-core
The technology industry was blindsided by the Meltdown and Spectre security vulnerabilities, which affected many of the most complex computer chips in the world. One of the cybersecurity researchers that identified the design flaws works at the security division of chip designer Rambus, which is now trying to help protect against future hardware vulnerabilities.
Rambus recently released a processor core called the CryptoManager Root of Trust that can be embedded inside chips and isolate sensitive code. Rambus says critical security functions can be handled inside the block instead of inside the main processor. Chip suppliers have focused on performance in recent years while ignoring the effect of increasing complexity on security.
“Doing complex things to improve performance can open vulnerabilities,” said Ben Levine, senior director of product management for Rambus, which targets side-channel attacks in which hackers probe processor designs to help them pry into software. “Rather than trying to secure an inherently insecure processor, we are moving security into an isolated place.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Six Hidden Costs in a 99 Cent Wireless SoC
There are two options when looking to add connectivity to your IoT design: either a wireless system-on-a-chip or a wireless module. So, what is the easiest and most cost effective option? The answer changes depending on the product, the designer, time to market, and so on.
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Different Approach to Energy-Harvesting Data Conversion
https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1333310
Energy harvesting for reporting sensor data takes many forms; this RF-powered temperature sensor exploits the terahertz band and frequency shift.
Energy harvesting is an important topic, as it opens up new options for data acquisition and monitoring. We now have transducers which can capture and convert the ambient energy of vibration, temperature, impact, and RF to electrical energy; ICs which can efficiently harvest and manage this energy; and processors and wireless links which operate at ultras-low power. Most of these applications also need a tiny battery for storing that captured energy and releasing it as operating power to the electronics. Depending on design and situation, the range of these harvesting installations can be fairly small — on the order of a few centimeters, but it can be more.
The self-contained IC measures a tiny 2 × 2 mm and weighs under two milligrams, Figure 1. Present range is about 2.5 cm, but the researchers hope to extend it to 1 m within a year and ultimately to about 5 m — though that’s an aggressive goal. It makes use RF as both power source and data interface.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wifi recognizes movement at home
Security systems have now raised their popularity. Generally, they are based on intelligent cameras, but the American Cognitive Systems solution in motion detection is detected by RF radiation in the wifi network. The company sells its technology under the name Aura.
Aura is not a separate wireless network, so the system is not fit for data transfer. Aura has a central unit connected to the home wifi network and a small repeater to be installed at the other end of the home.
Between these events, the RF traffic Aura monitors and alarms to detect movement. Reports are received in a mobile app that shows the movement as graafe.
Cognitive Systems promises that Aura will cover more than 2000 square meters (25,000 square feet). There are still some shortcomings in that.
the system has to pay 500 bucks.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/8028-wifi-tunnistaa-liikkeen-kotona
Tomi Engdahl says:
Passive Wi-Fi: Bringing Low Power to Wi-Fi Transmissions
https://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/pt/2018/05/passive-wi-fi-bringing-low-power-to-wi-fi-transmissions.html?cmpid=enl_cim_cim_data_center_newsletter_2018-05-21&pwhid=6b9badc08db25d04d04ee00b499089ffc280910702f8ef99951bdbdad3175f54dcae8b7ad9fa2c1f5697ffa19d05535df56b8dc1e6f75b7b6f6f8c7461ce0b24&eid=289644432&bid=2110924
Awarded Best Paper in March 2016 at NSDI ’16, the 13th USENIX Symposium on Networked Systems Design and Implementation .
Abstract:
Wi-Fi has traditionally been considered a power-consuming communication system and has not been widely adopting in the sensor network and IoT space. We introduce Passive Wi-Fi that demonstrates for the first time that one can generate 802.11b transmissions using backscatter communication, while consuming 3–4 orders of magnitude lower power than existing Wi-Fi chipsets. Passive Wi-Fi transmissions can be decoded on any Wi-Fi device including routers, mobile phones and tablets.
Finally, we design a passive Wi-Fi IC that shows that 1 and 11 Mbps transmissions consume 14.5 and 59.2 µW respectively. This translates to 10000x lower power than existing Wi-Fi chipsets and 1000x lower power than Bluetooth LTE and ZigBee.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smart manufacturing: IIoT analytics and predictive maintenance
Enhance operations by using Internet of Things (IoT) platforms and data analysis.
https://www.controleng.com/single-article/smart-manufacturing-iiot-analytics-and-predictive-maintenance/2b81a09a4037cb75ef6176bfc9644038.html
For manufacturing especially, the applications of the Internet of Things (IoT) are endless. By using data collected via IoT platforms, manufacturers can prevent potential plant shutdowns, increase efficiency, and proactively repair plant equipment. The potential gains are huge, matched by the amount the manufacturing sector is planning to invest in IoT solutions by as much as $70 billion by 2020.
The ability to predict and correct machine failures before they occur is one major driving force behind Industrial IoT (IIoT) investments. According to recent research by IoT Analytics, the market for predictive maintenance applications will expand from $2.2 billion in 2017 to $10.9 billion by 2022. Predictive maintenance strategies, which aim to predict machine failures before they occur, are based on the combination of traditional condition monitoring enhanced with analytics algorithms. The IoT and ever-more sophisticated analytics are driving widespread market adoption with users reporting as much as 25 to 30% efficiency gains.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Using system integration to optimize the manufacturing process
Core systems within the manufacturing cycle need to be connected to optimize productivity and performance levels.
https://www.controleng.com/single-article/using-system-integration-to-optimize-the-manufacturing-process/48e3b1911659fd01e0e9bb38c96525d0.html
The building blocks of a product lifecycle
ERP manages the business of manufacturing products; MES controls the production process itself; and PLM tracks the design of the products being built.
The three systems have distinct purposes, but each of them holds data essential for understanding each stage of the product lifecycle to maximize manufacturing efficiency and quality.
Companies that manufacture products in-house typically use an ERP system to manage information that is shared between their finance, sales, and manufacturing departments. Companies use ERP systems to track orders throughout the manufacturing process, from receipt and production through delivery, in order to get a better understanding about ideal inventory levels and delivery lead times. MES is designed to help track and manage manufacturing information in real time, giving managers greater visibility into the shop floor to help improve quality, productivity, and production time. MES works either minute by minute, or over 10 or 20-minute increments collecting and processing data in real time to control and coordinate manufacturing processes for traceability and performance improvement.
PLM is a business system designed to control the product record across all of the development stages—from concept to design to production. Using a PLM system to manage product data, manufacturers have continuous access to the single and correct version of their product record at any time and can implement an efficient and streamlined change process.
With a PLM system, a company can manage all types of product data including bill of materials (BOMs) and product files. A PLM system also enables a company to communicate changes to the product designs to every supplier in the supply chain.
Process optimization with system integration
ERP to MES integration is becoming standard for syncing customers, orders, and inventory data with the shop floor to meet actual production requirements, and for reconciling material consumption for better planning.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Three levels of condition-based maintenance
Compressed air strategies to maximize uptime.
https://www.controleng.com/single-article/three-levels-of-condition-based-maintenance/0c0e793e39ff00b994060c4dd7d31289.html
There are three main tiers of CBM. Each of the three have interdependencies and provide facility managers with insight so they can make informed, educated decisions based on facts about their equipment.
1. Lubricant CBM. Monitoring the lubricant through sampling and lab testing determines contaminant and fluid integrity levels as well as metal content in the fluid. Determining the health of the oil allows for change-out at the right time. Changing too early creates needless expense and changing too late shortens the life of the compression element, called the airend.
The health of the oil is an indicator of the health of the compressor, much like a blood test for a person. Additionally, signs of wear and aging of the airend can be determined through the metal content in the oil. For example, high levels of metal in the lubricant may indicate that the rotors or bearings are wearing down, depending on the type of metal circulating in the lubricant. Another source of metal could be heat exchangers or other passages with which the oil contacts. The metal content in the lubricant, therefore, also informs the mechanical CBM tier.
2. Mechanical CBM. In addition to lubricant CBM, shock pulse monitoring examines the vibration and noise levels to provide a comprehensive view of the airend health. This typically involves special instruments and sensors.
High noise or vibration levels can indicate issues such as bearing wear or rotor degradation. Trending of the wear through vibration monitoring with detection of metals in the oil allow for correlations and predictive models to be built for remaining useful life.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3. Pneumatic CBM. This type of monitoring takes a deep look into the air quality to make sure that the entire system is working efficiently. With CBM, plants can make better decisions based on facts about their unique systems. Using systems such as Ingersoll Rand Air System Modeling and Simulation (ASMS), plants can understand their specific compressed air systems better. This level of monitoring tests the compressed air within the system, air pressure in the piping, air flow levels, humidity, and more. These systems also can indicate where the system needs another piece of equipment. For example, if a test shows that there is high humidity in the air, it indicates that the system may need dryer technology to dry the air before it exits the system.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Teardown: Amazon Echo Dot vs Google Home Mini
https://www.edn.com/design/consumer/4460671/Teardown–Amazon-Echo-Dot-vs-Google-Home-Mini
Tomi Engdahl says:
Buildings become digital
Real estate are turning to digital at a fast pace. The development was clearly visible today at Schneider Electric’s Innovation Summit, which will be held in Finland for the first time. Talking about building automation is beginning to be time-consuming.
Schneider Electric used its Innovation Summit to launch its new EcoStruxure Building platform. This is an open-ended IP architecture that can be used to connect different operating and monitoring devices.
On the chassis, for example, a Building Advisor service is used to analyze the state of the property. The service looks like maintenance equipment even before any real estate user finds the problem. And much of the repairs can be done remotely over IP. Often, the interface is in the tablet, as shown in the picture above.
IP basics and the introduction of IoT devices into buildings mean, of course, that real estate can be collected very versatile. And that is accumulating in huge quantities. Analyzing this data automatically succeeds with software and utilizes more and more artificial intelligence. It is necessary because data is collected from so many places.
On the other hand, only 10% of all data collected is utilized. This is the whole problem affecting the IoT world: what to do with all the data? Probably this data will no longer be seen in conventional control rooms.
“I would not say that the control rooms will disappear completely, but they will be clearly smarter than ever,” Qvick predicts.
Schneider’s customers have a motive, of course, to save costs. For example, on the EcoStruxure Building platform, on the basis of customer cases, savings of around 20% of energy consumption are achieved.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8040&via=n&datum=2018-05-24_14:56:10&mottagare=31202
Tomi Engdahl says:
Memristor Adds Cybersecurity Layer to IoT Devices
https://www.techbriefs.com/component/content/article/29062?utm_source=TBnewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20180524_IOT_Insider&eid=376641819&bid=2115804
The Internet of Things makes our lives more streamlined and convenient, but the cybersecurity risk posed by millions of wirelessly connected devices remains a huge concern. UC Santa Barbara is putting an extra layer of security on the growing number of internet- and Bluetooth-enabled devices with technology that aims to prevent cloning.
Key to this technology is the memristor, or memory resistor, that can change its output in response to its histories. A circuit made of memristors results in a black box of sorts, with outputs extremely difficultto predict based on the inputs.
An Ionic Black Box
UCSB researchers use emerging memory devices to develop electronic circuits for cybersecurity applications
http://www.news.ucsb.edu/2018/018940/ionic-black-box
“You can think of it as a black box,” said Strukov, whose new paper, “Hardware-intrinsic security primitives enabled by analogue state and nonlinear conductance variations in integrated memristors,” appears on the cover of Nature Electronics. Due to its nature, the chip is physically unclonable and can thus render the device invulnerable to hijacking, counterfeiting or replication by cyber criminals.
Key to this technology is the memristor, or memory resistor — an electrical resistance switch that can “remember” its state of resistance based on its history of applied voltage and current. Not only can memristors can change their outputs in response to their histories, but each memristor, due to the physical structure of its material, also is unique in its response to applied voltage and current. Therefore, a circuit made of memristors results in a black box of sorts, as Strukov called it, with outputs extremely difficult to predict based on the inputs.
“The idea is that it’s hard to predict, and because it’s hard to predict, it’s hard to reproduce,” Strukov said. The multitude of possible inputs can result in at least as many outputs — the more memristors, the more possibilities. Running each would take more time than an attacker may reasonably have to clone one device, let alone a network of them.
Tomi Engdahl says:
When the Battery Runs Out, the ‘BATLESS’ Microchip Keeps Going
https://www.techbriefs.com/component/content/article/28968?utm_source=TBnewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20180524_IOT_Insider&eid=376641819&bid=2115804
Conventional sensor nodes stop functioning when a battery runs of energy. A new microchip from the National University of Singapore allows the detectors to run without interruption, even when the battery is only intermittently available.
Thanks to a 0.5mm2 on-chip solar cell, the ‘BATLESS’ microchip continues to function under dim light – without any assistance from the battery.
“This capability is particularly valuable in Internet of Things (IoT) sensor nodes since the longevity of the battery can be sacrificed, thus allowing its miniaturization,” said lead researcher and Associate Professor Massimo Alioto from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the NUS Faculty of Engineering.
With a power consumption of under 1 nW, the self-starting chip substantially reduces the size of batteries required to power sensor nodes, says Alioto, making the components 10 times smaller and cheaper to produce.
Tech Briefs: What inspired the idea for BATLESS?
Prof. Massimo Alioto: Our research was inspired by the initial observation that the battery dominates the form factor of IoT sensor nodes, as well as their lifetime and the cost of next-generation single-chip nodes.
Accordingly, we started focusing on how to shrink the battery by making IoT sensor nodes indifferent towards batteries. Our ultimate goal is to eliminate batteries altogether, which will take some more years of research. So far, we feel we are on track to achieve this ambitious goal.
Tech Briefs: How does the chip operate even when the battery runs out?
Prof. Alioto: When the battery runs out of energy, the IoT sensor node adapts its power consumption to fit the very small power delivered by the energy harvester.
Essentially, it is reconfigured to a special minimum-power mode. In this mode, the power consumption is even lower than the intrinsic transistor leakage, and comes at the cost of slower speed. The latter is acceptable in many IoT applications, in which power is typically much more stringent than speed.
Tomi Engdahl says:
“On a Roll” to Smaller Transformers
https://www.techbriefs.com/component/content/article/29063?utm_source=TBnewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20180524_IOT_Insider&eid=376641819&bid=2115804
The future of electronic devices lies partly within the “internet of things” – the network of devices, vehicles and appliances embedded within electronics to enable connectivity and data exchange.
Three-dimensional rolled-up radio frequency transformers are made with carefully patterned metal wires deposited onto stretched 2D thin films. Once the tension is released, the 2D films self-roll into tiny tubes, allowing the primary and secondary wires to coil and nest perfectly inside each other into a much smaller area for optimum magnetic induction and coupling.
Tomi Engdahl says:
http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8041&via=n&datum=2018-05-24_14:56:10&mottagare=31202
Tomi Engdahl says:
Meeting the Challenges of Transforming the Digital Building from Concept to Reality
http://www.electronics-know-how.com/article/2599/2599
This White Paper discusses the challenges and advantages of the digital building and how a major industry initiative is helping with the convergence of disparate control systems to enable the concept.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IoT Woos Wedding of SoC & RTOS
Phoenix-RTOS goes on GitHub
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333315
Get ready for the emerging battle over the IoT OS.
The market already features a host of real-time operating systems positioned as ideal or “optimized” for the Internet of Things. But the latest wrinkle is a growing demand among IoT SoC designers looking for a “bendable” RTOS. They want to design a proprietary IoT device architecture tightly married to a specific microkernel that they can modify, its framework and communication stacks.
Silicon Labs is among the first IoT SoC vendors to openly discuss this. Its 2016 acquisition of Micrium, a supplier of RTOS software, has allowed the Austin, Texas-based company to “bend the kernel of Micrium RTOS for connected IoT applications,” Daniel Cooley, senior vice president and general manager of Silicon Labs’ Internet of Things (IoT) products, explained to EE Times last year.
Rob Oshana, vice president of software R&D at NXP Semiconductors confirmed a similar trend on the IoT market. He told us, “Yes, next-generation IoT devices are now being designed from the ground-up jointly by software developers, system architects and microcontroller design.”
He noted, “Software teams drive the programming models, which are an abstraction from the underlying compute algorithms and data structures. This helps bridge the gap between supporting layers of application software and the underlying hardware architecture.”
He explained, “This includes the RTOS requirements that can be improved with hardware implementation such as low-level interrupts, memory management, and clock support.” Oshana added, “For connected applications, software teams provide PHY and MAC level stacks that are architected closely with hardware design teams for efficient SoC design.”
In sum, IoT chip vendors say they need an RTOS they can customize to their specific needs. The question is who can offer such a flexible and scalable RTOS.
Fully cognizant of this new trend, a Warsaw, Poland company, Phoenix Systems, last week made available the source code of the company’s Phoenix-RTOS on GitHub.
https://github.com/phoenix-rtos/
Tomi Engdahl says:
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/8038-voiko-jaakaapin-hakkeroida-kylla-voi