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:
NFC Specs Updated for Mobile, Tags
https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1332898
The head of the NFC Forum provides perspective on the latest update of the group’s specifications.
The 2017 Technical Specification Release from the NFC Forum is made up of 21 new or updated near field communication (NFC) technical specifications. The new specifications are a big step toward ensuring interoperability between NFC solutions in the market with various existing infrastructures, unifying new and existing specs to ensure interoperability and functionality across all solutions using NFC technology.
The 2017 updates were driven by a number of market trends including a prediction that 36 billion connected devices will be in use by 2020 in the Internet of Things. That’s four IoT devices for every person on the planet, a big increase from the already more than two billion NFC-enabled smartphones currently in use.
In addition, Apple’s iOS 11 announcement last spring opening the iPhone 7 and following models to use NFC technology beyond Apple Pay had significant impact across many markets.
Two key updates having a significant positive impact are the analog technical specification and the new requirements for NFC tags.
The analog specification ensures full interoperability of NFC devices with existing RF readers and legacy cards implemented according to ISO/IEC 14443 or ISO/IEC 18092 specifications. It allows NFC devices to interoperate with other contact-less devices with comparable operating distance and performance as experienced by users today. An engineer now can use the optimum antenna for his NFC design without experiencing a negative impact on operating distance or performance when requirements of the corresponding antenna class in the analog specification are followed.
This specification is used to offer public transportation tickets on mobile phones. It also allows verification of the loaded value on contactless ticket cards.
https://nfc-forum.org/our-work/specifications-and-application-documents/specifications/nfc-forum-technical-specifications/#protocol
Tomi Engdahl says:
Up next: Disposable IoT
https://www.networkworld.com/article/3228114/internet-of-things/up-next-disposable-iot.html
Sigfox shows a 20-cent IoT wireless tracker chip that could report when and approximately where a package is opened.
What if every package shipped contained a $0.20 tracker chip that could report when and approximately where the package was opened?
That’s a service that internet-of-things wireless network operator Sigfox thinks its partners could offer over the next year.
It demonstrated a prototype wireless module contained in a cardboard envelope at its partner meeting in Prague on Tuesday, triggering the sending of a text message when the envelope was opened.
Ripping open the envelope, Sigfox scientific director Christophe Fourtet showed off what he described as “an ultra-thin battery, ultra-thin contacts, and an ultra-low cost module, a few tens of cents.” Seconds later, his phone buzzed to report delivery of the package.
How Sigfox’s partners have been able to cut the cost of those wireless modules from US$15 in 2015 to $2 today — and, by dropping some non-essential functionality — will cut it to $0.20 in the near future is largely down to the architecture of its network.
Its wireless base stations across the country use software-defined radios and highly sensitive antennas to listen out for 12-byte packets of data sent by simple, battery-powered wireless modules. Sigfox can then retransmit those messages over the internet, trigger the sending of SMSs, or feed them into corporate IT systems through its APIs.
The modules that work with Sigfox’s classic service, now renamed Admiral Blue, are bidirectional (they can receive as well as send) and can encrypt their messages.
“If you don’t need the bidirectional transmission, if you don’t need the full security, we can do something simple,” said Fourtet. That simple service, called Admiral Ivory, works with modules little more sophisticated than a garage door opener or wireless doorbell. “It’s an almost free-running oscillator with two basic IOs that you can find on any simple microcontroller or almost any digital device,” he said.
The modules don’t need a GPS receiver to report their location: That’s all handled by Sigfox’s network. It’s able to locate the modules by comparing the strength of the signal received by its different base stations. For now it’s accurate to within a few kilometers for 80 percent of devices.
In time that accuracy will improve to within a few meters in many cases, as the company is using machine learning to analyze the data it receives
The wireless modules only represent part of the cost of sending a message over the Sigfox network: There’s also the cost of a subscription to the service.
Those start at $10 — per year, not per month — for up to 140 messages per day. (Those messages are only 12 bytes long, or 8 bytes if sent from the network to the device, however.)
Le Moan said that could come down to as little as $0.10 per subscription for devices such as package trackers that are only likely to send a few messages per year.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wearables Get More Wearable
https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1332904
Designers have a range of options for wearables, one of the most challenging areas in the Internet of Things.
Wearable devices must meet demands in terms of size, power consumption, safety and security, and wireless communication. In addition, they must also be convenient, comfortable, unobtrusive, and in many cases fashionable.
While the first generation of wearable devices showed rather limited communication capabilities such as a Bluetooth link to a smartphone, the newer generation is emerging as an integral part of the IoT. That connectivity is not homogenous, but tailored toward the intended application of the device and enabled by the emergence of wireless connectivity options such as 6LoWPAN, LoRa, ZigBee and others.
A Bluetooth connection to a smartphone works in situation where the wearer would naturally be carrying a phone—most of daily life. The phone offers not only connectivity to the Internet, but also offers room for some level of applications relieving the wearable device of those burdens.
A phone might not be the optimal means for use in an industrial plant where large pieces of metal equipment and walls block cellular signals.
In other cases, LoRa is a god choice given its a longer range and low power consumption.
LoRa gateways and end nodes are increasingly appearing in urban areas for use in traffic control, street lights and other functions. However, LoRa does have somewhat more limited data capacity than other technologies.
LoRa can also be used in some situations where location is important but a phone with its built-in GPS is not an option.
These days designers can readily find extremely small, highly integrated 32-bit microcontrollers and memory.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Amazon rolls out SMS messaging feature for Alexa devices that lets users send text messages via voice, currently only available to Android users in US — Amazon announced today it’s launching a new messaging feature for Alexa devices in the U.S. that will allow you to send texts – yes …
You can now use Alexa to send SMS messages
https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/30/you-can-now-use-alexa-to-send-sms-messages-to-your-friends/
Amazon announced today it’s launching a new messaging feature for Alexa devices in the U.S. that will allow you to send texts – yes, SMS messages – to your friends and other contacts using your voice. Customers can now ask Alexa to send a message to a specific contact, and Alexa will figure out how to route it appropriately – using either the previously launched Alexa messaging system, or by sending it out as an SMS instead, if the recipient doesn’t have an Alexa device of their own.
There is one big caveat, however – the feature currently works only for sending SMS messages to Android phones.
As you may recall, Amazon introduced free calls and messaging last year, but the feature only then worked in between Echo devices, limiting its adoption.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IIoT Rejuvinates an Aircon Factory
https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1332905
An executive from the Industrial Internet Consortium reports on an IIoT test bed he led in China.
Factory automation with limiters and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) form a pretty satisfactory status quo as long as production lines run smoothly and products pass acceptance levels. Nevertheless, some companies are starting to realize that upgrading to a modern Industrial IoT (IIoT) process is unavoidable if they want to stay competitive.
The Manufacturing Quality Management (MQM) Testbed in the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) provides an example of the way forward. The testbed helped upgrade the quality control of Haier’s air-conditioner production process and helped reduce labor on the production line.
The analytic engine shown in the platform tier provided a visual assist to help the manager grasp the concept. The MQM process was directly deployed over the QC Station.
The success of the testbed shows countries such as China–the world’s factory for more than two decades–a way to migrate gracefully to smart manufacturing techniques used in developed countries. Just demolishing old plants and building new ones can be expensive and put crews out of work for months.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IoT Knits a Factory Together
https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1332884
A services company shares its experience weaving a thread and yarn maker into the era of the Internet of Things.
This past year, my team at Logical Advantage was contracted to implement an IoT solution on the shop floor of Service Thread, an engineered yarn and thread manufacturer. The company wanted a way to record utilization data for more than 130 machines on their factory floor in North Carolina.
Monitoring uptime and downtime was not straightforward because Service Thread has 24 different types of machines with more than 3,000 individual spindles. To make matters worse, each of these machines has its own proprietary programmable logic controller (PLC).
Many of these PLCs were programmed 15-20 years ago using some obscure computer language that no one knows anymore. We determined that a hardware solution would be much easier to implement than a software-based one.
Thankfully, these machines already had the sensors necessary to monitor the utilization and spindle speed metrics we wanted. We needed a flexible, easy-to-implement piece of hardware which could be used to retrofit all 24 different machine types.
Ultimately, we used a Particle Photon and the Particle device management cloud. We gathered data from the machines’ existing sensors, passed it through the Particle network, then pushed it onto Microsoft’s Azure IoT Hub using Wi-Fi. We then built a mobile app for spindle sensor provisioning.
The final product was successful, but the implementation wasn’t without its sticking points.
The system’s microcontroller learns what type of sensors it’s monitoring as part of the registration process when it starts up and communicates through the Particle Cloud and Azure IoT Hub.
Particle’s support for over-the-air firmware updates was key. It would have been extremely expensive in both travel time and deployment costs to update the applications in person. It takes a long time on some platforms to connect to a device with a USB cable or other physical connection to deploy code, then repeat the process for each device.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Do More with Less: Designing With Power-Efficient Data Converters
http://www.electronicdesign.com/power/do-more-less-designing-power-efficient-data-converters?NL=ED-003&Issue=ED-003_20180131_ED-003_794&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_1_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=15162&utm_medium=email&elq2=172816a411ba486480c1fbd4254d9da0
Sponsored by: Texas Instruments. Efforts to get more “green” have led to several effective power-reducing techniques for data-acquisition designs, and they all start with a power-efficient data converter.
Tomi Engdahl says:
China adopts global device integration technology as national standard
https://www.controleng.com/single-article/china-adopts-global-device-integration-technology-as-national-standard/874059c9c7f143bfb5b5ff96a294ef69.html
China has adopted the FDT 2.0 specification as their national standard to help the country to standardize communication and configuration interfaces between field devices and host systems, and is expected to be a key tool for intelligent manufacturing center integration.
resulted in a national standard for device integration based on FDT 2.0 technology.
The Chinese GB/T 29618-2017 Field Device Tool (FDT) interface specification incorporates the latest technology enhancements by the FDT Group.
The FDT 2.0 specification, employing a future-proof architecture based on Microsoft .NET technology, is designed to provide all properties needed by modern software right up to web- and client/server-based systems. Release of the GB/T 29618-2017 standard incorporating FDT 2.0 will better guide the integration and application of various field buses and devices, and help promote the widespread implementation of standards-based automation solutions.
“The purpose of our ongoing efforts is to enable the effective implementation of advanced industrial standards while promoting social and economic development within China,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smart Factory applications in discrete manufacturing
https://www.controleng.com/single-article/smart-factory-applications-in-discrete-manufacturing/3db48eb54e4197136f0c3fe461f4af77.html
The Smart Factory is helping discrete manufacturers by providing real-time interactions of people, machines, assets, systems, and things that collectively enable processes to govern themselves through machine learning and cognitive computing.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a term that has slipped easily into our everyday vocabulary, bringing with it exotic notions of smart appliances, driverless automobiles, intelligent monitors, and the like. How does it fit in the industrial world, though?
Quite nicely, actually. Just as the IoT has turned the consumer world upside down, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is poised to do the same on the manufacturing floor under the guise of the Smart Factory. The Smart Factory is driven by real-time interactions of people, machines, assets, systems, and things that collectively enable processes to govern themselves through machine learning and cognitive computing.
Industrial applications: where is the business value?
Manufacturers are facing challenges from many fronts—changing customer expectations, accelerated time to market cycles, regulatory pressures, and rising material costs, to name just a few. While the IIoT does not necessarily represent the ultimate answer to solve many of these challenges, there are examples where the IIoT is delivering bottom line business value today and where it is expected to flourish in the future. The IIC created testbeds in nine areas to increase the collective understanding of the technical as well as the IIoT’s business aspects:
1. System-wide visibility – Data flow from the shop floor to the top floor: In the factory, system-wide visibility enables timelier product manufacturing and shipment, reduced rate of product rejection, faster product repair turnaround, and enhanced production throughput.
2. Product automation – Fewer tradeoffs between cost, quality, and speed: Time-sensitive networks will open up critical control applications such as robot control, drive control and vision systems to the industrial internet. This connectivity then enables customers, suppliers and vendors to more readily access data from these systems and to apply preventive maintenance and optimization routines to these systems.
3. Predictive maintenance – Machine downtime visibility and reduction: Conditioning monitoring provides a high return on investment (ROI) in many scenarios by improving asset life, reducing asset downtime, maximizing production, and enabling the predictable delivery of services for assets.
4. Industrial digital thread – Linking manufacturing and service data: The insight generated from the Digital Thread improves overall efficiency of manufacturing setup and end product quality, while reducing asset downtime during service.
5. Global supply chain integration – Supplier to factory to customer and back: This technology will enable the “tools-as-a-service” business model for equipment vendors. It will also provide manufacturers with enhanced productivity, production, quality, and work safety.
6. Resource efficiency – Management of input costs and environmental impact: The testbed will result in 5 to 10% year over year reduction in energy consumption. It will also provide tools to plan the expansion of operations and to achieve sustainability objectives. Overall energy utilization will be normalized and equipment will run optimally resulting in the reduction of operating expenses.
7. Human-machine collaboration – Improved safety and productivity: More rapid development of testbeds and IIoT innovation. Having the right work instructions directly on a mobile device will not only improve the productivity but also the safety of the operator.
8. Mass customization – Dynamic manufacturing processes: The testbed enables retrofitable hardware solutions that reduce the costs of the physical installation. Easy access to a high volume of near real-time data enables the improvement of current analytics and the development of innovative applications.
9. Business model execution – Monetize data and shift to services: The testbed creates and validates business models with the flexible assignment of production resources across factory locations. This creates new opportunities for SMEs, allowing them to respond flexibly to manufacturing orders.
Core IoT technologies and enabling change
The convergence of operational technologies (OT) and information technologies (IT) via internet connectivity is transforming the digital manufacturing world.
Interoperability is key to allowing the diverse IIoT technologies to exchange data between both new and legacy systems and emphasizes the importance of standardization across all fronts. Out of the box “plug and play” integration with existing IT and OT systems will dramatically accelerate implementation and reduce required investments. Standards will play a key role in the technology adoption rate.
IoT adoption barriers for manufacturers
The three most prominent challenges to the widespread adoption of IIoT systems include the retrofitting of legacy assets, accommodating rapid data growth, and protecting sensitive assets and systems from cyber-attacks.
Protection against piracy, reverse engineering and intellectual property theft is also a major concern. In its 2016 Piracy Study, the German Engineering Federation, VDMA, revealed that 70% of manufacturing companies surveyed in Germany had been affected by product or know-how piracy, which in turn cost the national GDP an estimated 7.3 billion euro and caused the loss of 34,000 jobs. To ensure the highest level of protections, it is imperative security is a fundamental, built-in design consideration with regards to the IIoT.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Connecting industrial robotics with IIoT on the factory floor
https://www.controleng.com/single-article/connecting-industrial-robotics-with-iiot-on-the-factory-floor/054d19b430ed6a1c311aad7fa0235935.html
The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) presents enormous productivity potential for manufacturers, but the true benefits can be difficult to realize for companies trying to be more efficient on the plant floor.
The state of robotic connectivity in today’s factories
Typically, robots feature an Ethernet or wifi connection.
Most manufacturers want their robots to connect to the cloud with no programmable logic controller (PLC) in the middle for easier data collection and mining. When robot data is brought into the cloud, it can more cleanly be brought into plant production networks or local ERP systems for process analysis. In general, we’re in the early stages of connected robot technology, but the desire for greater connectivity exists. For many facilities, it simply comes down to making the investment at the right time.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Three ways the IoT has emerged as a powerful force in the manufacturing industry
https://www.controleng.com/single-article/three-ways-the-iot-has-emerged-as-a-powerful-force-in-the-manufacturing-industry/286210913655817148224155b94fb532.html?OCVALIDATE&[email protected]&ocid=101781
The Internet of Things (IoT) has changed the manufacturing industry with increased connectivity, an improved supply chain, and has enhanced smart manufacturing.
The Internet of Things (IoT) has triggered a transformation in the manufacturing industry with regards to operational efficiency, supply chain management, asset tracking, and safety and security. The IoT’s impact in manufacturing space seems to be a rather profound one. Statistics further affirm the aforementioned declaration the IoT in the manufacturing industry was almost $27 billion in 2016. Technological breakthroughs and innovations have played a pivotal role in proliferating these industry trends, enabling a seamless connectivity of all devices and systems involved in the plant and ensuring an optimized operational process.
The potential for cyber-physical systems to improve productivity in the manufacturing process is vast, a fundamental aspect that can be credited for IoT in manufacturing industry proceeds. The IoT has set in motion the idea of fourth industrial revolution (Industrie 4.0) with the influx of a new array of technological advancements that focus on decentralizing the production control and maximizing the industrial throughput.
Below mentioned are three major arenas where proliferation of IoT in the manufacturing industry has proved be lucrative:
1. Connected IoT products in the manufacturing industry
The penetration of the IoT in the manufacturing industry has led to a renewed realm of connectivity, where each and every operation is interconnected. The paradigm shift in occupational interlinking has allowed the manufacturers to enhance customer satisfaction with a better service channel and improved product performance.
2. Connected supply chain in the manufacturing industry
Having recognized the potential of the IoT in the manufacturing market, experts have enough reason to believe the IoT will sway future supply chain models. Today, manufacturing is not just about producing goods, but is also about economics of supply and demand, product benchmarking, application scope, customer engagement, and the value chain. A substantial improvement has been observed in the supply chain, with the adoption of advanced sensors such as GPS and radio frequency identification (RFID) with regards to inventory control and better tracking of warehouse assets.
3. Smart manufacturing and the IoT
The growing inclination toward smart manufacturing justifies the growth potential of IoT in manufacturing industry. Smart manufacturing practices require IoT driven data analytics for asset utilization and improved efficiency. Integration of digitization in manufacturing space has opened up new scope of applications for sensors, equipment I/O data, and actuators, thereby offering immense business opportunities for companies involved in IoT in the manufacturing market.
Potential market constraints for the IoT
While the potential of IoT in manufacturing market place is claimed to be humongous, there are a couple of factors that have proved to be deterring for the business growth, interoperability and security concerns being at the pinnacle. Legacy systems associated with the process involve different protocols that don’t allow seamless interoperability. It is deemed to be an intriguing challenge for the players involved in IoT in manufacturing industry, which is not only about deploying a new technology, but also a new operational blueprint for the overall business model.
Tomi Engdahl says:
4 ways Amazon Echo and Alexa pose serious threats to your privacy
Are these voice-activated digital assistants security systems or privacy risks?
https://www.electronicproducts.com/Mobile/Devices/4_ways_Amazon_Echo_and_Alexa_pose_serious_threats_to_your_privacy.aspx
Continual audio surveillance
Amazon’s Echo-and-Alexa-enabled devices constantly monitor sounds in the area for the pre-programmed wake word unless its mute setting is toggled. Amazon claims that all sounds recorded prior to the wake word are processed locally and then deleted a few seconds later. Once the wake word has been registered, the command is then sent to the Amazon cloud servers, from where the response to your command is taken. Exactly how much information recorded or sent prior to or after your request is unknown, along with the identity of who may be listening to it.
Hackable
The Amazon Echo is not immune to the advances of hackers who could use it and its automated features to spy on you or your family. According to Wired, an Echo has already been turned into a wiretap in just a few minutes by an experienced hacker.
It records what you say to it
Your conversations with Alexa are recorded and saved. Being digitally saved, your searches and overheard conversations could be referenced later by Amazon or anyone else that can get a hold of them.
Advertising purposes
The most annoying of its security flaws is the Echo’s ability to be used in advertising. When you talk to Alexa or use your Echo to order things online, the items are recorded and stored in Amazon’s databanks. That information is then analyzed and used to suggest future purchases with customized advertisements. This development leads to the dreaded scenario in which you mentioned cat food once and now have advertisements for tasty canned cat food for the next two weeks even though you don’t actually own a cat.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IoT garage opener now more open, a year after customer firestorm
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/01/iot-garage-opener-now-more-open-a-year-after-customer-firestorm/
Founder says Ars “reaffirmed consumers’ concerns about true ownership of IoT devices.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Growing Pains: The 2018 Internet of Things Landscape
http://mattturck.com/iot2018/
For proponents of the Internet of Things, the last 12-18 months have been often frustrating. The Internet of Things (IoT) was supposed to be huge by now. Instead, the industry news has been dominated by a string of startup failures, as well as alarming security issues. Cisco estimated in a (controversial) study that almost 75% of IoT projects fail. And the Internet of Things certainly lost a part of its luster as a buzzword, easily supplanted in 2017 by AI and bitcoin.
Interestingly, however, the Internet of Things continues its inexorable march towards massive scale. 2017 was most likely the year when the total number of IoT devices (wearables, connected cars, machines, etc.) surpassed mobile phones. Global spending in the space continues to accelerate – IDC was forecasting it to hit $800 billion in 2017, a 16.7% increase over the previous year’s number.
The reality is that the various parts of the IoT ecosystem are not evolving at the same speed. Ultimately the Internet of Things covers several industries rather than one.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smart Trust: The Rise of Blockchain in Edge Computing, Part I
http://www.sealevel.com/community/blog/smart-trust-the-rise-of-blockchain-in-edge-computing-part-i/
The new Amazon Key wants to kill traditional package delivery. Their drivers access your home with a special key and place your package inside. Compatible with Alexa and cloud-based, Key expands the Amazon IoT home system. Many people are saying “no, thanks” to this announcement. Vulnerabilities – physical access to the home by a stranger and camera footage transmitted to a cloud – worry consumers.
Questions of data security for this trust economy drive cloud computing. One form of technology leads that discussion: blockchain, made famous by Bitcoin, or distributed ledgers. Part II of this smart trust series will go through the technical details of blockchain. For now, it’s easiest to summarize blockchain as a secure, trustworthy process that makes the keepers safe too.
A relatively new technology, blockchain employs a complicated system of computing and storage to irreversibly and permanently store records, track reputations and enact transactions. It works in conjunction with other cybersecurity measures like encryption, limited access, and authorization to keep a network safe.
Blockchain has the potential to affect multiple disciplines, including those hard-to-digitize fields like contracts. Ongoing research especially seeks to address its feasibility for edge computing and IoT networks, where data is more vulnerable. Part III of our series will discuss current and future applications.
Tomi Engdahl says:
FICORA concerned about IoT devices – online tests started
FICORA today announced its security perspective for the current year. Concerns such as IoT devices, cybercriminals and lack of security experts cause concern for the agency. The agency has also started security testing of devices and systems connected every year on the network.
The Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority lists the top ten information security issues for the website. The agency expects, among other things, new innovative security solutions, investing in security with GDPR and NIS, and transparency with bug bounty and hackathon events.
FICORA has for a number of years mapped out unprotected automation equipment from Finnish data networks. The aim of the thesis was to improve the situation and cybersecurity in Finland. This year, measurements will take place during weeks 5,6 and 7.
The survey is carried out by sending connection requests to certain telecommunications ports on computers and network devices in Finnish networks and by monitoring the responses from them. The results obtained will be compared with the results of previous years.
Source: https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2018/02/01/viestintavirasto-huolissaan-iot-laitteista-verkkotestit-alkoivat/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sensors Are Fundamental To New Intelligent Systems
https://semiengineering.com/sensors-are-fundamental-to-new-intelligent-systems/
But how will vendors make money in the IoT market?
Tomi Engdahl says:
IoT security: hardware vs software
https://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/bakers-best/4460252/IoT-security–hardware-vs-software
We are now in the business of connecting everything to everything. And with this, the Internet of Things (IoT) is born. Once this total connectivity is accomplished, the collective effort this brings lets us start the next string of new and exciting systems. This results in massive amounts of data that must be trusted and processed
But, as they say: “buyer beware.” This is all good, but total connectivity opens the opportunity for unintentional or malicious data corruption and contamination to occur. Cryptographic methods can be applied to resolve these vulnerabilities. A decision that system designers face is deciding between software-based or hardware-based security solutions. Both technologies combat unauthorized access or modification to data; however, their differing features bear further examination before making the final selection.
Software-based security
Utilizing existing system resources, software security systems were the first to show up in the marketplace. These solutions are relatively inexpensive, as they share resources to protect and safeguard data with other programs in the system. An additional capability of a software-based implementation is the ability to revise and upgrade security as threats and vulnerabilities evolve.
A software security system places a load onto a host processor.
Hardware-based security
Hardware-based security uses a dedicated integrated circuit (IC), or a processor with specialized security hardware, specifically designed to provide cryptographic functions and protect against attacks. Security operations, such as encryption/decryption and authentication, take place at the IC hardware level where crypto algorithm performance is optimized. Additionally, sensitive information, such as keys and critical end-application parameters, are protected within the electrical boundary of crypto-hardware.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dawn Of The Data-Centric Era
What markets and technologies will drive growth in 2018.
https://semiengineering.com/dawn-of-the-data-centric-era/
Tomi Engdahl says:
There are serious flaws in IoT’s security
Suddenly, the heating is switched off and the Finnish apartment house is colder. A denial of service denied in China put a kernel on a central automation system. What if the object is a hospital, an industrial plant or an essential part of infrastructure? Or a smart home or just a business office.
- The threat is not really an exaggeration. IoT is part of everyday life for all people and businesses. Still, IoT’s security often has serious shortcomings, even quite basic errors, astonishes Harri Susi, a specialist in cyber safety. He pulls the software test team at Etteplan’s Espoo office.
Threats are varied and criminals constantly develop new ways of exploiting security gaps. – An IoT device can be harnessed into a bot network to perform denial-of-service attacks. The device can be harnessed, for example, to digest bitcoins. At worst, the poor IoT device is a soft route to enterprise infra and critical information systems. Through the gate gate, for example, an attack program is attacked
- It is advisable to include a security expert at the project definition stage. Comprehensive security testing and secure embedded software remote update mechanism are the two most important things, Harri Susi recalls.
Designers should keep in mind the three basic extensions of security, such as confidentiality, integrity, immutability and usability.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/7462-iot-n-tietoturvassa-on-vakavia-puutteita
Tomi Engdahl says:
Getting started with Firmware Emulation for IoT Devices
https://blog.attify.com/getting-started-with-firmware-emulation/
Firmware Emulation can serve a number of different purposes such as analyzing the firmware in a better way, performing exploitation, performing remote debugging and so on.
With this technique, you can emulate a Firmware originally meant to be run on a different architecture, and interact with it, even without having a physical IoT device.
One of the earlier ways of performing Firmware Emulation was to create a Qemu image and then copy the firmware file system’s contents on to the Qemu image and then launch the image.
However, there exists a much simpler alternative
Tools that you would require:
AttifyOS VM or any Linux based image
Firmware Analysis Toolkit (https://github.com/attify/firmware-analysis-toolkit)
A firmware that you want to emulate (for ex – Netgear WNAP320 )
Tomi Engdahl says:
INTRODUCTION TO IOT (EPISODE #1)
https://wizense.com/topics/iot-series-episode1/?la=en
IoT video series we will explain you details and tips & tricks of IoT. You will learn basics, differences between IOT vs. Industrial IoT, architectures and how to implement serverless IoT solutions for cloud services such as Amazon Web Services.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IoT Developer Story: Deeplocal
https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2018/02/iot-developer-story-deeplocal.html?m=1
Deeplocal is a Pittsburgh-based innovation studio that makes inventions as marketing to help the world’s most loved brands tell their stories. The team at Deeplocal built several fun and engaging robotics projects using Android Things. Leveraging the developer ecosystem surrounding the Android platform and the compute power of Android Things hardware, they were able to quickly and easily create robots powered by computer vision and machine learning.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microprocessor Systems Require End-to-end Security
https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1332941
Much has been written, said and tweeted about the Meltdown and Spectre security flaws in the month since they were unveiled, but the reality is that this conversation is just getting started.
The staggering number of microprocessors that are impacted by these critical, design-level security vulnerabilities in modern CPUs (billions of existing devices) pales in comparison to the number of smart, connected and deeply vulnerable devices that will exist in just a few more years. All of these “endpoints,” including pervasive edge devices like phones, cars, industrial control systems, smart meters and consumer goods, will be susceptible to malicious hacking unless the processor industry starts to think creatively and act swiftly to protect the entire chain of vulnerability.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IoT Chip Security with Highly Secure Manufacture and Test Service
https://www.eeweb.com/profile/eeweb/news/iot-chip-security-with-highly-secure-manufacture-and-test-service
The recent Meltdown and Spectre problems have highlighted the vulnerability of computer chips to hacking that can, at least, be addressed through software patches. However, another area that is increasingly a target for hackers is IoT where each node in an IoT network can provide an entry point to a company’s corporate systems, in a similar manner to the way that home security cameras, robot vacuum cleaners, etc. have been hacked. Presto Engineering is offering a comprehensive manufacturing and test service that is tailored to ensure IoT chips are made to high standards of security.
“According to analysts, there are already billions of IoT chips in use,”
“This figure is predicted to grow exponentially, driven by the ability of IoT to monitor and provide hard data on which actions can be taken, such as scheduling pre-emptive maintenance before a failure can happen. But the rush to design and make IoT chips has often meant that security has been overlooked, or not included, in the drive to a lower price. This is false economy as these chips can be vulnerable to hacking giving access to confidential data streams.”
Turning the design into a chip requires a highly secure manufacturing supply chain.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Thermal Power – Envelopes in IOT Solutions
https://www.mentor.com/products/mechanical/techpubs/download?id=102486&contactid=1&PC=L&c=2018_02_07_mad_ec_6_sigma_paper_wp_2
Design perspective from Intel’s Internet of Things Group (IOTG) on thermal challenges in IOT devices – from the Thermal/Mechanical Systems Engineering team.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Zumtobel lighting-as-a-service deal guarantees lux levels at aluminum plant
http://www.ledsmagazine.com/articles/2018/02/zumtobel-lighting-as-a-service-deal-guarantees-lux-levels-at-aluminum-plant.html?eid=293591077&bid=1997445
Zumtobel Group has served another reminder that lighting-as-a-service (LaaS) contracts do not have to wade into the adventurous new world of using lights as data-gathering nodes in Internet-connected lighting networks, but can focus more simply on illumination and energy savings.
The Dornbirn, Austria company, together with German power utility Vorarlberger Kraftwerke AG, has signed a 6-year LaaS contract with German aluminum company Aluminium GmbH Nachrodt (AGN) to guarantee lighting levels of between 200 and 400 lx at AGN’s aluminum bar factory near Dortmund. The arrangement is also expected to save 40% on energy bills.
AGN is not purchasing the 400 new LED lights. Rather it is paying a monthly fee. Zumtobel declined to reveal the amount.
Zumtobel said the 200–400-lx range represents a “doubling of luminous intensity” over the previous metal halide lamps, which used hydrargyrum quartz iodide technology (at one point associated with Osram).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Avoiding Down Times: Monitoring, Diagnostics And Troubleshooting Of Industrial Wireless Systems
https://semiengineering.com/avoiding-down-times/
How to identify and prevent issues in industrial IoT operations.
The ever-growing proliferation of wireless devices and technologies used for Internet of Things (IoT) applications, such as patient monitoring, military surveillance, and industrial automation and control, has created an increasing need for methods and tools for connectivity prediction, information flow monitoring, and failure analysis to increase the dependability of the wireless network. Indeed, in a safety-critical Industrial IoT (IIoT) setting, such as a smart factory, harsh signal propagation conditions combined with interference from coexisting radio technologies operating in the same frequency band may lead to poor network performance or even application failures despite precautionary measures. Analyzing and troubleshooting such failures on a large scale is often difficult and time-consuming. In this paper, we share our experience in troubleshooting coexistence problems in operational IIoT networks, pointing out the need for a user-friendly, automated failure analysis system.
http://publica.fraunhofer.de/starweb/servlet.starweb?path=urn.web&search=urn:nbn:de:0011-n-4710487
Tomi Engdahl says:
Not All Ops Are Created Equal
https://semiengineering.com/not-all-ops-are-created-equal/
How energy per inference and total memory footprint can vary on resource-constrained devices like microcontrollers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Imperfect Silicon, Near-Perfect Security
https://semiengineering.com/imperfect-silicon-near-perfect-security/
Physically unclonable functions (PUF) seem tailor-made for IoT security.
Some chipmakers, under pressure to add security to rapidly growing numbers of IoT devices, have rediscovered a “fingerprinting” technique used primarily as an anti-counterfeiting measure.
Physically unclonable functions (PUFs) are used to assign a unique identification number based on inconsistencies in the speed with which current causes a series of logic gates to open or close. So otherwise identical chips will deliver different results in identical test circuits due to random variation in the speed with which those gates respond to a test, according to a 2007 paper by MIT researcher Srini Devadas, who discovered the pattern and founded the company Verayo to commercialize systems that use it.
These “fingerprints” have been used largely as an anti-counterfeiting measure or to allow authentication of the chip as part of a secure-boot sequence and in FPGAs, ASIUCs, NFC RFIDs and other chips.
Physically unclonable functions
A set of unique features that can be built into a chip but not cloned.
https://semiengineering.com/kc/knowledge_center/Physically-unclonable-functions/227
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microprocessor Systems Require End-to-end Security
https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1332941
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cybersecurity in an IoT and mobile world: The key trends
http://www.zdnet.com/article/cybersecurity-in-an-iot-and-mobile-world-the-key-trends/
As ever more mobile and IoT devices connect to the internet, the potential for damaging cyberattacks can only increase. How can organisations begin to get the upper hand over the burgeoning cast of ‘bad actors’?
As each new technology appears, manufacturers and service providers rush to bring products to market, often without due consideration for security. Inevitably, ‘bad actors’ — including low-level hackers, organised criminals, ‘hacktivists’ and nation states — exploit the resulting vulnerabilities, stealing or compromising data, denying access to services or causing other kinds of cyber-mayhem. In due course, the tech industry gets its security act together in areas such as threat intelligence, firewalling, endpoint protection, intrusion detection, incident response, network and application architecture, best practices and user education. Governments may also weigh in with laws and regulations, and the insurance industry picks up the pieces. Eventually, some sort of order is restored.
But cybersecurity remains, and will probably always remain, an arms race — especially in the early stages of an innovation cycle.
So what’s the state of play today, and what’s in store down the line?
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Internet of Things: The security crisis of 2018?
http://www.information-age.com/internet-things-security-crisis-123470475/
Manufacturers must pause in their race to join the IoT gold rush and think about security standardisation
IoT, the ability of everyday devices to connect and transfer data to each other, is already carving out a place in the consumer market, with devices like smart home locks, thermostats, lighting and energy monitors.
The latest research also claims that 29% of organisations have already implemented IoT solutions, and this is expected to surge to 48% in 2018, as businesses are increasingly sold on the cost-savings and the productivity-enhancing benefits of IoT.
But with the IoT bandwagon rushing full steam ahead, few vendors or customers are pausing to consider the enormous security risks associated with the devices. The influx of additional entry points into an organisation’s network, plus a current lack of security standards for IoT devices, means there is a gaping hole in the perimeter of any home or business that has installed IoT devices.
Consider the operating systems for such appliances. How do you upgrade the OS in a wall-mounted air conditioning unit that’s connected wirelessly? Or a smart light bulb? If you can’t upgrade an operating system, how can you attempt to patch any vulnerabilities?
Then, when you are hacked (and it is when, not if), where does that leave you? You now have a ‘dirty’ corner of your network and all it takes is for another hacker to connect to that ‘dirty’ corner to repeat the process. It’s a case of vulnerability after vulnerability. By 2020, it is estimated that 25% of cyber attacks will target IoT devices.
Tomi Engdahl says:
March of A Billion Sensors Unveiled at CES
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1332822&_mc=RSS_EET_EDT
Tomi Engdahl says:
AI and IoT Need Each Other
https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1332818&_mc=RSS_EET_EDT
Tomi Engdahl says:
IoT Drives Arrow, Avnet to Apps
https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1332813&_mc=RSS_EET_EDT
In separate announcements, Arrow Electronics and Avnet leapt into the business of developing custom end-user software for the Internet of Things.
Archrivals Arrow Electronics and Avnet started a race to become one-stop shops for the Internet of Things. So far, visibility on the course ahead is low.
Tomi Engdahl says:
It’s 2018. Do You Know Where Your Data Are?
https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1332778&_mc=RSS_EET_EDT
Expect the top IoT agenda in 2018 to be “transparency” for collected data. People will want to know where their data is being moved, who’s using it, and what for.
We’ve always suspected that the real motivation behind the Internet of Things (IoT) is new revenue opportunities that IoT promises to deliver to the business community.
After all, IoT lets data aggregators, service providers, tech companies, cities and federal governments monetize data sucked into billions of connected devices.
By 2017, big data was already a given, at least in concept if not universally in practice. Cisco is just one company expecting to surf the tide of IoT and big data.
Speaking of a platform called “Cisco Kinetic,” Jahangir Mohammed, vice president and general manager of IoT, said: “Cisco Kinetic is a cloud-based platform that helps customers extract, compute and move data from connected things to IoT applications to deliver better outcomes and services.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
SGeT: open standard connects embedded devices to the cloud
http://www.embedded-control-europe.com/article/5981/sget-open-standard-connects-embedded-devices-to-the-cloud
Introducing the Universal IoT Connector (UIC), the Standardization Group for Embedded Technologies (SGeT) has released the first purely software-related standard ever since its inception six years ago. This was preceded by the insight of manufacturers, system vendors and users that a universal IoT connector that standardizes the connection between hardware and cloud is needed for a comprehensive rollout of Internet of Things applications. Previous standardizations often focussed on communication and protection only and thus on the higher software- or communication layers. Or to put it short: where it comes to the application and thus the useful part of IoT solutions.
Tomi Engdahl says:
David Pierce / Wired:
Profile of Google’s SVP of hardware Rick Osterloh, who restructured its hardware organization and is tasked with integrating Google Assistant into devices
One Man’s Quest to Make Google’s Gadgets Great
https://www.wired.com/story/one-mans-quest-to-make-googles-gadgets-great
Google is leaning on Rick Osterloh to completely rewrite its strategy for hardware, with one core goal: Put its virtual assistant everywhere in people’s lives.
Osterloh wasn’t hired to dream up new products. He was brought in to teach a software company how to endure the long, messy, totally necessary process of building gadgets and to change the company’s culture from the inside. It’s not enough to have great software and the industry’s finest collection of artificial intelligence researchers. To take on Apple, Google had to finally learn how to build good hardware.
The man in charge of Google’s hardware renaissance has always had a weakness for gadgets.
Google’s relationship with hardware has always been awkward. Most of the company’s physical products are born the same way: Someone has a great idea for software, but they can’t find the right gear on which to run it. That person then sets out to build the missing gadget with very little help. Google tends to treat these products as reference devices or sources of inspiration, proving that an idea can work and hoping an ecosystem of hardware makers takes it from there. As a result, Google’s list of orphaned products and abandoned ideas—from the Chromebox to the Nexus Q to the Nexus Player—is enough to fill a Circuit City.
That’s no surprise: Making hardware runs counter to Google’s entire corporate culture. The company shuns process and management, two things a hardware maker can’t do without. In its software development, Google actually encourages and applauds chaos, inviting anyone at the company to just build something and see if it works.
The company’s most successful products are subject to constant refinement. Former CEO Eric Schmidt calls this system “Ship and Iterate,”
Ship and Iterate simply doesn’t work with hardware. A single tweak can cost weeks and millions of dollars. Every small change ripples through the entire supply chain, changing vendor timelines, requiring new tools, and slowing everything down. If one part is late, you’ll miss your ship date, and it’s not like you can move Black Friday. Oh, you want 50 percent more product than you thought? You’ll get it in six months if you’re lucky. There is no bending the hardware world to your whim.
Even when hardware development was going well, company culture didn’t support those teams in getting the software they needed. “We had to go beg and plead to make all the software teams care,”
At Google, the culture revolves around software. That’s what it’s best at and where it makes its billions. With its push for a virtual assistant, that ethos was no different. Except that this time the stakes seemed much higher.
Pichai was certain that this helpful chatterbot would be the way billions of people interacted with Google in the future. Done right, Assistant could be an omnipresent artificial being
When Google had built hardware in the past, it had done so through partnerships with seasoned manufacturers. But its relationships with its Android partners were souring. Samsung, Android’s most important partner, was developing its own virtual assistant, Bixby, and distancing itself from the Mountain View giant. Google couldn’t even rely on its traditional Nexus program
Unfortunately, Google had already divested itself of its own hardware expertise, selling Motorola to Lenovo in 2014 for about $3 billion. Nest, its other giant hardware acquisition, had lost its founder and was embroiled in management and product turmoil.
He told Osterloh that Pichai was looking to start a hardware group and wanted some advice. Just advice, nothing else.
Osterloh’s meeting with Pichai quickly turned into a job interview, with lots of questions on both sides. In many hours over a few days, Osterloh realized Pichai was actually, finally, talking about his dream job.
Osterloh centralized all that hardware under his leadership, giving 55 percent of those 1,000 employees a new manager.
Part of the impetus for Osterloh’s new structure was to make sure nobody felt like their job was tied to one product, so they wouldn’t panic if that product were killed. Because Osterloh needed to kill some products.
He went through every hardware initiative at Google, choosing which to continue and which to wind down.
He had to embrace the fact that even as Google gets serious about gadgets, the company’s focus is, and always will be, elsewhere.
For the new hardware team, the task was clear: Find more ways to get Google Assistant in front of people and build a sustainable business around it. Oh, and hurry, because Google is already behind, with Siri and Alexa already entrenched in consumers’ minds.
Designing hardware and software in tandem allows for the detailed decision-making that makes people fall in love with their phones.
With the employees of the hardware division settled into their new roles, Osterloh and his team started working out their production needs. He and Corrales toured manufacturers in Asia, telling them what Google was up to and how they’d be interacting going forward, and they brokered new deals with suppliers. In November 2017, Osterloh oversaw the $1.1 billion acquisition of an HTC division that brought more than 2,000 engineers to Google,
There’s plenty of reason to rush. Apple and Samsung continue to push new competitive software onto their hardware, and new classes of devices are getting better all the time.
At every turn, rather than tout spec sheets, Osterloh explains how artificial intelligence can extract remarkable experiences from ordinary hardware.
All these issues make Osterloh angry—“I lose sleep every time customers aren’t happy,” he says—but they seem to energize him as well. He knows how to handle these kinds of challenges: more rigorous process, tighter management. It’s typical hardware stuff, lessons he learned long ago.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Week in Review: IoT
https://semiengineering.com/the-week-in-review-iot-84/
Products/Services
Mozilla’s Project Things has come up with a way for Internet users to develop their own Things Gateway with a Raspberry Pi single-board computer.
Intel this week unveiled the Intel Xeon D-2100 processor, a system-on-a-chip device, for edge computing and for applications in data centers and networks that are constrained by power and space. Enterprise networks can use the chip line for embedded mid-range IoT devices, among other applications.
Infineon Technologies introduced OPTIGA Trust X, a hardware-based security offering for IoT devices. It offers secured communication and software updates, mutual authentication, and other cybersecurity features for drones, industrial robots, refrigerators, washing machines, and smart home systems, among multiple applications.
Connectivity
Verizon Communications reports completing its first narrowband IoT data session and will use the cellular specification across its LTE network during this year, joining T-Mobile in offering commercial NB-IoT services. Verizon used Ericsson software to test the technology in the 189 kilohertz frequency band, which won’t interfere with other cellular traffic.
Market Research
BI Intelligence has a new report on IoT technology, forecasting there will be more than 55 billion IoT devices by 2025, compared with about 9 billion devices last year.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Exclusive: Amazon paid $90 million for camera maker’s chip technology – sources
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-amazon-com-m-a-chips/exclusive-amazon-paid-90-million-for-camera-makers-chip-technology-sources-idUSKBN1FW0BI
Amazon.com Inc paid about $90 million to acquire the maker of Blink home security cameras late last year, in a secret bet on the startup’s energy-efficient chips, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IIoT and condition monitoring turn data into decisions
http://www.controleng.com/single-article/iiot-and-condition-monitoring-turn-data-into-decisions/0658e6b47f9f1e49bd4e0c2e4a76561d.html
Manufacturers can leverage IIoT data in nearly all stages of the manufacturing process, including monitoring product quality and performance.
For manufacturers, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) represents tremendous revenue potential in a variety of ways. In product development, connected sensors on product componentry can gather and deliver real-time information about the performance of the product or the individual components and materials.
From aircrafts to automotive engines and sensitive medical equipment, for instance, placing sensors on parts as they go through their design and development evolution delivers critical data related to performance, safety, durability, and more.
Sensors and remote condition monitoring
Based on the information they receive and analyze, manufacturers could help customers and clients avoid breakdowns and performance problems. These companies also could use the data collected for their design-in engineering processes by revising the design of products and components to achieve more durable and higher performing technology. Data could draw immediate attention, followed by corrective action, such as repair, maintenance, or replacement.
Manufacturers can leverage IIoT data in nearly all stages of the manufacturing process. Data on how resources are used within the facility can help to optimize manufacturing production schedules and allow companies to better capitalize on opportunities for savings or plant improvements. Using sensors to collect data also can help companies to benchmark their equipment once it leaves their facility. They can log and compare data from equipment in different locations or operating environments. This process could unearth operational inefficiencies that would otherwise go undetected until a fatal failure occurs.
Manufacturers also could use and analyze the data they receive to offer more appropriate preventative maintenance and warranty programs. Instead of only getting calls when things go wrong, sensor data could help manufacturers to get alerts for service when something is needed, based on the performance of the equipment going beyond the prescribed parameters for optimal performance.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Time to start turning digital twins into improved productivity
http://www.controleng.com/single-article/time-to-start-turning-digital-twins-into-improved-productivity/a38846e85d43351fc5e3d403a68d6822.html
Digital manufacturing in the auto industry is changing the way products evolve. From design to manufacturing, digitalization is optimizing the process.
Digitalization, and its proper implementation, now is emerging as a critical success factor for the industry. It means gathering more data and analyzing that data in a virtual context so that better decisions (and in many cases predictive decisions) can be made. It’s changing the way products are developed, built, and delivered through machine learning, additive manufacturing, and advanced robotics. And it’s changing the way products evolve through cloud technology, knowledge automation, and Big Data analytics.
Digital transformation provides a competitive advantage
Digital technologies present a billion-dollar opportunity for vehicle manufacturers to transform their production and re-orient their value proposition to meet the needs of today’s digital consumers. The competitiveness of the automaker increases because digitalization introduces even higher speed into product development life cycle, thus enabling faster response to consumer demand.
Simulation is one digitalization tool which drives shorter innovation cycles, even when highly complex products and large volumes of manufacturing data are involved. In a simulation environment, a virtual model of each component in a device or machine is generated, which allows designers and builders to explore what-if scenarios easily, inexpensively, and quickly.
These virtual models have come to be known as “digital twins.” They analyze the gathered data then use it to run simulations and benchmark performance, allowing plant operators to pinpoint where gains can be made. By pairing virtual and physical worlds (the twins), analysis of data and monitoring of systems can avert problems , which prevents downtime, develops new efficiency opportunities, and enables planning for the future. Existing assets can be modeled against their digital twins and new designs can be tested in the virtual world, saving time, money, and resources. Testing the interaction on a screen can verify a modification to a car engine, for instance, before new holes need to be drilled.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Maverick Research – The Edge Will Eat the Cloud
https://www.equinix.se/resources/analyst-reports/gartner-the-edge-will-eat-the-cloud/?ls=Advertising%20-%20Web&lsd=18q1_cross-vertical_no-program_analyst-reports/gartner-the-edge-will-eat-the-cloud/_emea-programs_Equinix_newsletter-email_newsletter-email_se-en_EMEA_newsletter-18q1&utm_campaign=se-en_newsletter-email_newsletter-email_newsletter-18q1_emea-programs&utm_source=newsletter-email&utm_medium=newsletter-email&utm_content=no-program_&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWVRKa1pHWm1ObUkxTlRZMyIsInQiOiJxQ1wvTVRLRzJlM3BFWlYxTHhFQXNEc1pnVE5aT2h5XC9qeFBuTUNhTFwvNXkrYkQwS0I2UmpzT29YTVYxc2ZtWlNWb3FUYWcyWHdXV1lJTzVtd2R6QlRCUFRsczg4OHN5TXF2eEMzTEcyMDVvdVZUdHNFRG4ya3pmekdUUmw2RWJsNSJ9
Learn how modern enterprises can stay competitive by adapting to an edge computing strategy to meet the rising demands of storage of apps, IoT and new user/machine interfaces.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ex-Samsung CTO to Lead Google’s IoT Business
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1332960
Injong Rhee, a former chief technology officer at Samsung Electronics, has joined Google as an entrepreneur-in-residence to lead Google’s Internet of Things (IoT) business, Rhee said in a blog posting on LinkedIn.
Rhee, who left Samsung in December after six years — including two as CTO and head of R&D, software and services — said in the posting that he will report to Diane Greene, CEO of Google’s cloud computing unit, Google Cloud, and a member of Google parent Alphabet’s board of directors.
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6368746821380112384/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Omega said she had introduced a new technology in the Korean Olympics to tell more about the athletes’ movement.
In practice, Omega has sensed both athletes and venues. The sensors allow viewers to transmit real-time data and many measurements during broadcasting. For example, in alpine skiing, viewers are informed about the acceleration and slowdown of skiers’ pace. The difference in timing may seem to be virtually all the time, so the old temporary places are getting lost in history.
In skiing and in the combined Omega, you can tell the exact location of each skier on the route. The men in the combination suit remember how accurate the system told the winner of Sime Hestad Kruger’s breakthrough effects on time lag.
In snowboarding, the sensors produce accurate speeds when jumping on the jump. The same goes for course in ski jump. Speed skating has become more attractive as the difference between the skaters and its development is reflected in the accuracy of hundreds of pieces all the time.
In ice hockey, players and reels produce motion sensor data that makes it easier to analyze the evolution of situations.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/7545-pyeongchangissa-urheillaan-anturoituina
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cybex starts selling its $330, app-enabled car seat made for safety geeks
https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/12/cybex-starts-selling-its-330-app-enabled-car-seat-made-for-safety-geeks/?utm_source=tcfbpage&sr_share=facebook
Some of the techy features include Bluetooth monitoring and an app to alert parents when a caregiver may have left the kid in the car, the kid has unbuckled their seatbelt while the car is moving or if their baby is in danger of overheating.
Parents will get an alert in the form of a chime though an installed vehicle receiver if something is wrong while driving — like your child unbuckles their clip. Should the parent not be with the child, they will be sent an alert via the app.
The car seat also monitors vehicle temperature
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia wants to sell its healthcare business
Nokia today announced massive co-determination negotiations for both the company’s online business and Technologies that develop new technologies. As part of the arrangements, Nokia is announcing that it has started evaluating strategic options for its digital healthcare business unit, Nokia Technologies.
In practice, this means that a digital healthcare unit is sought for a buyer. The business unit’s product portfolio includes both consumer and business products, both manufactured and sold by the unit. The range includes smartphones, scales and other digital healthcare equipment.
Nokia bought Withings in the spring of 2016 with 170 million euros. At that time, many were shocked by the company’s decision to enter into a business that was not directly related to its previous core activities.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7566&via=n&datum=2018-02-15_15:01:17&mottagare=31202
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bluetooth data with a few milliwatts
Especially for battery powered IoT devices, it is essential that the radio used to transmit data consumes as little current as possible. Researchers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology have now developed a Bluetooth radio, which is clearly less conducive to previous solutions.
The receiver was designed in a standard 65nm CMOS process. The physical dimensions of the chip are 1.9 x 2.26 millimeters. The radio works at 2.4 gigahertz frequency.
When sending data, the circuit consumes 2.9 milliwatts of power. Receiving power consumption is even lower, ie 2.3 milliwatts.
the Nordic Semiconductor nRF5188 circuit used in many circuits consumes more than ten times the power compared to the Japanese researchers’ chip.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7567&via=n&datum=2018-02-15_15:01:17&mottagare=31202
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google hires former Samsung executive to coordinate Internet of Things projects
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-alphabet-cloud/google-hires-former-samsung-executive-to-coordinate-internet-of-things-projects-idUSKBN1FX0CQ
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Alphabet Inc’s Google this month hired Injong Rhee, who recently resigned as Samsung Electronics Co’s chief technology officer, to lead its Internet of Things business, he said in a LinkedIn post Monday.