Here are some IoT trends for year 2019 to watch:
More device: There are four times as many devices connected to the Internet as there are people in the world, and the number of devices is increasing rapidly. There are computers, smart phones and many different kind of connected devices. Gartner forecasts that 14.2 billion connected things will be in use in 2019, and that the total will reach 25 billion by 2021,
Voice: The integration of voice into IoT devices creates an user experience that many consumers seem to enjoy. The next few years will see voice automation take over many aspects of our lives. The current major players in the IoT voice world are Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, and Google Assistant. Microsoft’s Cortana seems to have already lost in the game as Satya Nadella says Cortana won’t challenge Alexa and Google Assistant directly; Microsoft will focus on making it a skill on other voice platforms instead. Voice won’t change everything but it will be one part of a movement that heralds a new way to think about our relationship with devices and data. Consider voice as a type of user interface to be added to the existing list of UI technologies. Voice will not kill brands, it won’t hurt keyboard sales or touchscreen devices — it will become an additional way to do stuff; it is incremental. We need to learn to design around it.Deloitte expects the sales of 164 million smart speakers at an average price of $43 in 2019. The smart speaker market will be worth more than $7 billion next year, increasing 63% from 2018’s $4.3 billion.
Automobiles: Automobiles are leading the way in IoT adoption. Gartner predicts that one in five cars will be connected by 2020. Both Google and Apple have tools that allow drivers to control calls, listen to messages and control apps using voice.
IoT clouds: Developing for the Internet of Things is a complex endeavor, and nobody wants to do it from scratch. IoT data platforms offer a jumping-off point by combining many of the tools needed to manage a deployment from device management to data prediction and insights into one service. There are many IoT cloud platforms to choose from. All cloud platforms have their own distinctive areas of pros and cons. Ultimately the project needs and cost-effectiveness determine whom to choose. Utilizing cloud services also brings new potential risks that are good to understand already at the beginning of the project. I wrote on article to Uusiteknologia.fi magazine issue 2/2018 on IoT cloud platforms.
Digital Twins: Digital twin tech, or a virtual representation of a product, is a critical concept in IoT that’s still being sorted out. Digital twin refers to a digital replica of physical assets (physical twin), processes, people, places, systems and devices that can be used for various purposes. Definitions of digital twin technology emphasize two important characteristics: connection from the physical model to the corresponding virtual model and this connection is established by generating real time data using sensors. Physical objects and twin models interact. Digital twins applications typically integrate internet of things, artificial intelligence, machine learning and software analytics with spatial network graphs to create living digital simulation models that update and change as their physical counterparts change. In various industrial sectors, twins are being used to optimize the operation and maintenance of physical assets, systems and manufacturing processes.
Edge computing: The shift from centralized and cloud to edge architectures is well under way in the IoT space. In the future, computing the edge of the network will become an increasingly important way of processing data from networked devices and sensor networks. Compared to traditional centralized cloud computing, the new edge computing brings computing servers closer to the edge of the communications network. Compared to cloud centered IoT solutions, edge computing allow for lower delays and more reliable operation with respect to cloud services. At the same time, it promises improved security as not all potentially sensitive information needs to be transferred from the site to cloud. However, this is not the end point because the neat set of layers associated with edge architecture will evolve to a more unstructured architecture comprising of a wide range of “things” and services connected in a dynamic mesh. In thins kind of system data processing can be done on almost all network devices from IoT modules to gateways and in the future to 5G base stations. Relevant standardizing organizations on this field are Edge Computing Consortium Europe, OpenFog Consortium and Industrial Internet Consortium.
5G: 5G networks start to arrive. The standards for 5G will be defined in large part by the direct integration of Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrial IoT (IIoT) devices into global networks and devices. 5G networks are expected to be 10 to 100 times faster than current LTE technology. If you are in need for very high speed, your application resides inside the small 5G test networks coverage areas and your IoT device is allowed to consume considerable amount of power (more than 4G solutions), then you might be able to consider 5G. For all other cases I don’t see 5G would offer much for IoT applications in 2019. There is not yet ready 5G standards specifically designed for IoT applications. So for 2019 IoT and IIoT will need to be pretty much stick to 4G technologies like NB-IoT and LTE-M. For 5G to shape industrial computing application in larger scale than just some small tests we will have to wait till 2020. Addressing the issues behind Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) devices and 5G is important in next few years. Qualcomm, the largest supplier of modem chips used in smartphones, has introduced the X50 modem to give IIoT devices the ability to communicate over 5G networks. Beware of “fake 5G” marketing in 2019. The promise is that 5G will enable the future enterprise technologies everyone is predicting and waiting for: fleets of self-driving delivery trucks, virtual (VR) and augmented reality (AR), and a world of enterprise Internet of Things (IoT) deployments — systems that will define an era that the World Economic Forum termed the “Fourth Industrial Revolution.” Those promises will take years to realize, you will not see most of them in real use in 2019.
AI: Number one in Gartner’s predictions, no surprise, is artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence and machine learning will be talked a lot with bold claims that AI goes from expert-only to everywhere. I would not expect it to be everywhere in 2019. Gartner, said in a statement, “AI will be applied to a wide range of IoT information, including video, still images, speech, network traffic activity, and sensor data.” At the moment many neural network systems are power hungry when implemented with traditional computer hardware. “For example, the performance of deep neural networks (DNNs) is often limited by memory bandwidth, rather than processing power.” By 2023, it’s expected that new special-purpose chips will reduce the power consumption required to run a DNN, enabling new edge architectures and embedded DNN functions in low-power IoT endpoints.
IIoT: The concept of a Smart Factory is composed of many different physical and informational subsystems, such as actuators and sensors, control systems, product management systems and manufacturing systems that all work together. This is a very complex system. It is critical to understand differing operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT) priorities to achieve collaboration and integration. Without this, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and control projects will fail. Also finding the right Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) vendor partner is crucial to success. OPC Foundation has on initiative to extend OPC UA out to field devices to provide vendor-neutral, end-to-end interoperability beyond the plant. Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) network works well for OPC UA applications.
Value chain: IoT as an umbrella term will diminish. There are strong views that “Internet of things is not valuable in and of itself” so the conversation is going to shift away from an ambiguous buzzword to the actual use of technology. For product designers this means that when we design our connected world, we need to pull ourselves away from the cool technology that we are building and look at the system through our customers’ eyes. The sales pitch will be more like “It’s about the use cases, it’s about the solutions, it’s about the applications, managing and monitoring assets, performance management solutions, different kinds of solutions coming together to solve a problem—that’s really what the value proposition is.”
IoT platforms: IoT vendors will compete to be the destination for IoT platforms. The IoT supply chain has been moving toward more collaboration to provide development and design kits designed for specific use cases and industries. IoT development kits are sold more and more with bundled IoT could service offer. IoT cloud service providers offer and recommend hardware that is tested to work well with their platforms. IoT platform vendors will be narrowing their scope in 2019, honing in on specific use cases. Business professionals aren’t looking for one industrial IoT platform to manage every process going on at their company, they are instead looking for platforms that specialize in specific tasks.
New development kits: A new breed of development kits is incorporating the three tenets of IoT design — ease of use, security, and business value. The promise is that the design engineers don’t need to have specialized expertise in several areas like networking protocols or security-related tasks, enabling a much faster development time. One way to simplifying design work is by intelligently reusing the fundamental building blocks.
Security: Wireless IoT devices are considered a major threat to the security of industrial networks. A growing number of embedded systems are open to security threats as a result of increasing connectivity and IoT device adoption. And it’s costing OEMs a lot in terms of money and reputation. A 2018 Gartner Inc. survey found that nearly 20% of organizations surveyed experienced at least one IoT-based attack in the past three years. IoT security is already a 1.5 billion dollar market. The market research firm Garnet expects that global spending on IoT security will rise to $3.1 billion in 2021, up from $1.5 billion in 2018. It is not about the spending on IoT security products. Already “a significant portion of OEMs’ existing in-house labor cost is already dedicated to addressing security” and is rising faster than development costs. VDC pegs the worldwide embedded engineering labor spend related to security at $11.6 billion in 2017, representing nearly 8% of the overall cost of embedded engineering labor. There will be different kind of certification marks for IoT product cyber security – some mandated with laws on some countries and some voluntary. 5G is going to increase security risks. Do we understand the 5G security threats to come? Most probably not because we don’t seem to understand well even that 5G really is.
eSIM: The embedded SIM card has been spoken for a long time, and even the first smartphones in which the SIM card has been implemented with an integrated circuit have already been introduced to the market. Infineon has presented the world’s first industrially qualified eSIM. Of course, eSIM shares opinions. Many operators do not like it.
Infonomics and Data Broking: Last year’s Gartner survey of IoT projects showed 35 percent of respondents were selling or planning to sell data collected by their products and services.“Data is the fuel that powers the IoT and the organization’s ability to derive meaning from it will define their long term success,” This brings us to Social, Legal and Ethical IoT because“ Successful deployment of an IoT solution demands that it’s not just technically effective but also socially acceptable,” It is possible tha tIoT Firms Face a ‘Tidal Wave’ of Lawsuits.
IoT Governance: As the IoT continues to expand, the need for a governance framework that ensures appropriate behavior in the creation, storage, use and deletion of information related to IoT projects will become increasingly important. We also need to manage IoT devices to keep them secure and make sure that they do what they are supposed to do. A market for IoT managed services will develop to help manage and operate fragmented IoT assets. “The idea of managing the ongoing end-to-end life cycle of a connected product is becoming more important, and ultimately this managed service opportunity is going to need momentum in the coming year,”
New Wireless Technologies: IoT networking involves balancing a set of competing requirements, such as endpoint cost, power consumption, bandwidth, latency, connection density, operating cost, quality of service, and range. No single networking technology optimizes all of these.
Trusted Hardware and Operating System: Gartner surveys invariably show that security is the most significant area of technical concern for organizations deploying IoT systems. Today organizations often don’t have control over the source and nature of the software and hardware being utilised in IoT initiatives. “However, by 2023, we expect to see the deployment of hardware and software combinations that together create more trustworthy and secure IoT systems.
Home automation: Arm predicts that the intelligent home goes mainstream. In survey results they published two-thirds of respondents said technology became “more a part of my life” during 2018. Cisco Systems is saying connected homes will be a big driver for the Internet of Things. “Connected home applications, such as home automation, home security and video surveillance, connected white goods, and tracking applications, will represent 48%, or nearly half, of the total M2M connections by 2022, showing the pervasiveness of M2M in our lives,” Cisco states in its new white paper, Visual Networking Index: Forecast and Trends, 2017-2022. The market is starting slowly. Bundled IoT services will try to motivate a slow consumer market.
Smart cities: Cities are becoming smarter and smarter in an effort to improve efficiency in operations. Smart cities bring in both benefits and risks. Between smart lighting, traffic controls, and public transportation, smart cities are bringing in a whole new family of threat vectors. Cybercriminals will target smart cities with ransomware attacks. Smart cities need to take precautions.
Silicon Chip Innovation: “Currently, most IoT endpoint devices use conventional processor chips, with low-power ARM architectures being particularly popular. However, traditional instruction sets and memory architectures aren’t well-suited to all the tasks that endpoints need to perform,” New special-purpose chips will reduce the power consumption required to run a DNN. Very low power circuit designs are important in many applications. Battery-powered designs require complex optimizations for power in the context of area, performance and functionality. Devices that work without battery and gather operating power from environment are maybe even more challenging. Clearly, sensors are a big part of any connected device, and there is a lot of innovation occurring in this market that delivers new features — think AI — all housed in smaller packaging.
Open source: 2019 Will Be the Year of Open Source in IoT and embedded systems applications. From software and even hardware, we saw more activity in open source than ever before in 2018. And the momentum isn’t likely to slow down in 2019. Arduino is pushing strongly to IoT markets with MKR1000 series of IoT boards. Raspberry Pi is very widely used in IoT systems, especially on prototyping and small scale deployments
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Links to other articles for IoT trends for 2019:
Internet of Things in 2019: Five predictions
Kymmenen tulevaisuuden kuluttajatrendiä ja ilmiötä
Deloitte’s 9 tech predictions for 2019
New Chip Architectures, Sensors and Trust in Top 10 IoT Trends (Gartner presented its top 10 strategic IoT technology trends)
Week In Review: IoT, Security, Auto (predictions from Arm, Deloitte and Juniper Research)
Predictions 2019: The Internet Of Things
Gartner Identifies Top 10 Strategic IoT Technologies and Trends
1,309 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Aluksi kuitenkin kertaan lyhyesti alan sanastoa. Pahoittelut akronyymiviidakosta, eivät kuulemma saa sammumaan sitä konetta, joka näitä keksii.
NB-IoT = Narrowband IoT, erittäin kapeakaistainen mobiiliverkon MIoT:n (Massive IoT) yhteystekniikka. Joskus näkee puhuttavan Cat-NB1:stä tai Cat-NB2:sta, jotka ovat laitekategorioita NB-IoT:lle.
LTE-M = Long Term Evolution for Machine Type of Communication (MTC). Kapeakaistainen MIoT-yhteystekniikka. Puheissa myös Cat-M, joka tarkoittaa niin ikään käypäisen laitteen kategoriaa.
LPWAN = Low Power Wide Area Network. Langattomien IoT-tekniikoiden luokka, jonka perusperiaatteet ovat vähävirtaisuus, pitkä kantama ja laitteiden matala kustannus.
Lora, Sigfox, Weightless, Symphony Link = NB-IoT:n ja LTE-M:n lisäksi muita LPWAN-yhteystekniikoita. Tyypiltään paikallisempia verkkoja ja ratkaisuja.
2G, 3G, 4G, 5G = täysin valideja IoT-yhteystekniikoita vanhemmalle laitekannalle ja suurta tiedonsiirtokapasiteettia vaativille käyttötapauksille. Huomaa kuitenkin kohta 9 alempana tekstissä.
WiFi, ZigBee, Bluetooth, Thread = lyhyen kantaman langattomia ja hyvin paikallisia yhteystekniikoita. Monesti kuluttaja-/viihdekäyttöön valjastettuja.
https://www.dna.fi/yrityksille/blogi/-/blogs/nb-iot4glte-mwificat-mweightlessmtclora5gmiotzigbeecat-nb2-vai-mita?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=linkad&utm_content=ILTE-blogi-nb-iot4glte-mwificat-mweightlessmtclora5gmiotzigbeecat-nb2-vai-mita&utm_campaign=H_MES_21-18-20_jatkuva&fbclid=IwAR2Xyy9uUmn4DiAEJ05ahqvr6GrYWcgZFi7nUbUbYetR-5baVuuNhDE96Zc
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smart City Shake Up
Vibrosight++ leverages existing reflective surfaces in a city to inexpensively capture accelerometer-like measurements from long distances.
https://www.hackster.io/news/smart-city-shake-up-dd56271e6c1d
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why eSIM standards need to change for low-power IoT
Billions of small IoT devices will change our lives and transform industries, and the technology that supports this must adapt to this evolution. Although eSIM is a great candidate for low-power IoT solutions, there are certain challenges along the way. Read our proposal here.
https://www.ericsson.com/en/blog/2021/3/esim-low-power-iot
Tomi Engdahl says:
Silicon Labs tuo Matter-yhteydet kotiautomaatioon
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2021/05/14/matter-tuo-yhteydet-kotiautomaatioon/
Silicon Labs on tuonut tarjolle ensimmäiset piiri- ja korttiratkaisut, jotka tukevat uutta Matter-IoT-standardia. Piirivalmistajien lisäksi uutta IoT-standardia tukevat Apple, Huawei, Google ja Amazon. Myös suomalais-ruotsalainen lukkoyritys Asso Abloy on tuomassa Matter-tekniikkaa tuotteisiinsa.
Matter-projektin käynnistäminen merkitsee samalla Zigbee-allianssin päättymistä. Mukana uudessa CSA-yhteisössä ovat Silicon Labsin, NXP:n, TI:n ja STMicroelectronicsin tyylisten piiritoimijoiden lisäksi Apple ja Huawei sekä nettitoimijat Google ja Amazon. Tuettavaksi on tulossa myös heidän Alexa, HomeKit ja Google-ratkaisunsa.
Tomi Engdahl says:
World’s Smallest Gen2 RFID Chip Is Cheaper Than Rivals, Can Be Integrated Onto a Silicon Chip
The smallest Gen2 chip yet made, the part is embeddable in silicon circuits — and could lead to new ways to track and protect chips.
https://www.hackster.io/news/world-s-smallest-gen2-rfid-chip-is-cheaper-than-rivals-can-be-integrated-onto-a-silicon-chip-394e57d8855f
Tomi Engdahl says:
DFRobot’s 24GHz mmWave Radar Offers Simple Person Detection — Even If They’re Sleeping
This 24GHz FMCW and CW radar sensor can pick up people and animals at a range of up to 30 feet — even if they’re staying still.
https://www.hackster.io/news/dfrobot-s-24ghz-mmwave-radar-offers-simple-person-detection-even-if-they-re-sleeping-8e7850faf3f4
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.edn.com/ai-and-the-iot-merge-to-form-the-aiot/
Tomi Engdahl says:
ATMegaZero – ATmega32U4 + ESP32-S2 = EspinalLab’s Latest and Greatest Raspberry Pi Zero Compatible
New 32-bit processor and 3v3 logic brings greater Pi HAT compatibility, plus CircuitPython!
https://www.hackster.io/news/atmegazero-atmega32u4-esp32-s2-espinallab-s-latest-and-greatest-raspberry-pi-zero-compatible-f7e166d93273
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.edn.com/iot-energy-harvesting-is-becoming-turnkey/
Tomi Engdahl says:
IoT Reaches the Hobby Fisherman Thanks to smartLure’s Model Zero Sensor-Packed Bluetooth Lure
Clever lure includes accelerometer, gyroscope, pressure sensor, temperature sensor, and more, all linked to your smartphone.
https://www.hackster.io/news/iot-reaches-the-hobby-fisherman-thanks-to-smartlure-s-model-zero-sensor-packed-bluetooth-lure-dd596036c2e1
Tomi Engdahl says:
Amateur detective uses tiny tracking devices hidden in bins to prove recycling in South London is being chucked in an incinerator
https://www.mylondon.news/news/south-london-news/dustbin-detective-uses-tiny-matchbox-20600651.amp?__twitter_impression=true
After the undercover operation, Merton Council has admitted that up to 80 per cent of recycling collected in public bins isn’t actually recycled
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/new-products/12131-raspberry-pi-pohjainen-anturimoduuli-mittaa-ja-valvoo
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia perusti yrityksille datakauppapaikan
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/12109-nokia-perusti-yrityksille-datakauppapaikan
Nokia ilmoitti tänään avaavansa yritysten datapalvelujen myyntiin kehitetyn markkinakaupan. Nokia Data Marketplace on palvelu, joka helpottaa tietojen ja tekoälymallien turvallista jakamista.
Uusi palvelu antaa myös yrityksille ja palveluntarjoajille/operaattoreille mahdollisuuden tulla itse datamarkkinoiden toimittajaksi. Tämänkin Nokian markkinapaikka mahdollistaa, kun yritys voi muuttaa datanvaihtonsa rahaksi.
Datakauppapaikka täydentää Nokian globaalia IoT-verkko eli WING-verkkoa.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sijainti
Etusivu > Tapahtuma > IT-pomot puhuvat IoT-pajassa – Siilasmaa mukana
IT-pomot puhuvat IoT-pajassa – Siilasmaa mukana
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2021/05/17/it-pomot-puhuvat-iot-pajassa-siilasmaa-mukana/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cheap and simple Solar Power for our small Projects (ESP32, ESP8266, Arduino)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37kGva3NW8w
Adding cheap and simple solar power to our small outdoor projects (e.g. ESP32, ESP8266, Arduino Pro Mini) removes the need to save energy or recharge batteries. Today we will enhance a simple 50 cents Li-Ion charger board to do exactly that.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Rumors of NB-IoT’s Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated
A story of IoT over-hype reaches some kind of stasis.
https://www.eetimes.com/rumors-of-nb-iots-death-have-been-greatly-exaggerated/
It’s a classic case of industry hype overtaking any realistic expectations of a new technology — the story of the birth of narrowband-IoT (NB-IoT) and how commercial hopes for the 4G technology have been severely damped down, at least in North America and Europe.
The technology is designed to serve a specialized niche: connectivity based around the LTE spec, but implemented to connect static sensors on a network and provide the high battery life required (10 years or more), along with the minimal data rates (think kilobits per second!) needed to accomplish a miniscule data transmission once a month, or less.
NB-IoT is specialized for IoT sensors that are often deployed indoors (or even underground) and don’t need to change their position on the network. For instance, permanently situated water sensors that only call back to the network once a month are prime candidates for an NB-IoT connection.
The resulting hype around the NB-IoT specification in the 2016 to 2018 time frame led to breathless press releases and articles, mostly from vendors, about how NB-IoT would usher in a new age of smart cities with minimal costs for carriers to upgrade their networks to support the new technolog
Although MNOs around the globe have deployed NB-IoT, the expected explosion of smart city-related sensor deployments hasn’t occurred yet, at least not in North America, Europe, and most of Asia. Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo even shut down NB-IoT on its LTE network on March 31, 2020, “to concentrate management resources,” the carrier said in a press release.
The opposite is true in China, where the standard has been dramatically more successful than in the rest of the world so far. China Mobile had a total of 884 million IoT connections as of the end of December 2019. Counterpoint Research says that cumulative NB-IoT connections in China were at around 95 million at the end of 2019.
Adarsh Krishnan, analyst at ABI Research said in an email that China accounts for more than 92% of the global NB-IoT connections. In other words, unless you’re in China, NB-IoT doesn’t really exist.
One reason that NB-IoT is thriving in China is because of the major government support the spec has received. Whereas other LPWAN (low power IoT) technologies, such as Sigfox or LoRa, have only recently taken off in the massive nation.
Many millions of IoT connections still use the older digital cellular networks. Will the shutdown of 2G and 3G networks taking place worldwide have a positive impact on the adoption of NB-IoT?
ABI’s Krishnan tells me, “the ongoing 2G & 3G network shutdowns will have an impact on NB-IoT adoption, but the degree of the impact will vary by region… For example, in the US, existing 2G and 3G IoT connections will migrate more to LTE-M than NB-IoT, whilst, in Europe, NB-IoT might see relatively more uptake of NB-IoT from legacy network sunsets.”
No-one will be surprised that the coronavirus has played its part in slowing the adoption of the narrowband tech. “The pandemic has impacted the adoption of NB-IoT,” the analyst noted. “As a connectivity technology, NB-IoT is relatively a new technology. Additionally, with the market uncertainties and supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic, the adoption outside of China has been slower than earlier anticipated.”
“The disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has also reinforced the value of digital technologies to enterprises,” Krishnan notes. “Enterprises that invested in IoT in the past have fared much better at managing their day-to-day business operations due to automation and better visibility of the supply chain flows during the pandemic compared to the others. Now as we come (out) of the pandemic and economic activity starts to ramp up, end-to-end supply chain visibility becomes even more critical for flexible and efficient management of end-market demand.”
The Future
Despite the lack of huge commercial contracts for NB-IoT in most of the world, the narrowband technology is assured a future, as the technology is being incorporated in the 3GPP 5G Release-17 massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC) specification. The latest 5G spec is expected to be frozen this June, with commercial chips and devices expected to follow around 9 months to a year after Release 17 is frozen.
The big difference between the 4G version of NB-IoT and the 5G variant is in the number of IoT sensors supported in each cell. Compared to a total of 60,680 sensors that NB-IoT can currently support on a 4G network, 5G will support 1 million sensors or devices per square kilometer.
Some Chinese operators have already started vast sensor deployments on 4G, but these will be dwarfed by their 5G successors.
Massive sensor deployments are less likely to take-off in the U.S. and Europe because of the complex relations between government, industry, and mobile operators. NB-IoT will become an unsexy, utilitarian technology in much of the world. China will remain the cash cow for Nb-IoT for the foreseeable future.
Tomi Engdahl says:
One EE turned his hobby of home automation into a product for drought-plagued residential areas.
This Fitbit for Your Water Meter Started as a DIY Project
https://spectrum.ieee.org/view-from-the-valley/consumer-electronics/gadgets/this-fitbit-for-your-water-meter-started-as-a-diy-project
There’s not a lot of room in there, but enough for me to easily strap what looks like a giant fitness monitor, stretchy band and all, around the meter.
From now on, I will be able to know about every drop of water that flows in my house, and exactly in what way many of those drops are being used, by checking my phone. At least, that’s the promise made to me by Marcelo DeCamargo, founder of Nudge Systems, and one of the designers of the device I just tucked into the ground, the Pleco.
From DIY to Startup
She asked if DeCamargo’s system could give real-time information about water usage that could help consumers reduce their water use.
DeCamargo couldn’t find anything on the market that did that without requiring an invasive plumbing operation. So he and Pedreiro began experimenting. Instead of measuring the water flow itself, like the invasive systems, they came up with a plan to piggy-back on the measurements being made by a typical mechanical water meter.
“In the existing device,” DeCamargo explained, “there is a part inside that turns with the water flow. That part is magnetically coupled to the dial that shows the reading.”
The two started with an off-the-shelf magnetometer
They added a processor and built the chips into a device that straps tightly around the water meter, like a big Fitbit. A wire from the sensor/processor package connects it to a box containing D-cell batteries that will last for about a year, a radio transmitter, and a directional antenna that, for underground meters, sticks up above the meter itself but remains hidden beneath the meter’s cover. Data is sent on the 433 MHz band to a receiver in the house
In about a year, the two had a working prototype. DeCamargo patented the technology, sharing credit with Ana Pedreiro.
Turning the data gathered by the magnetometer into useful information about how water is used in a home took what turned out to be another two years of development time, including figuring out how to filter out background noise and testing tens of water meters to determine how to convert magnetic pulses into gallons for each model.
Every household showed very different signal patterns, thanks to differences in piping configurations, but, said DeCamargo, they were able to spot common features. Machine learning helped develop the algorithms to distinguish the water use of showers, faucets, toilets, irrigation and a general “other” category. Research on how to decode specific types of water use from the overall flow continues, including ways to identify dishwashers and other appliances, whose water use varies dramatically between models.
A key selling point for a water monitor is not, however, normal water use data, as helpful as that can be for identifying ways to conserve water in a drought. It’s for detecting a leak.
And leak detection, it turns out, is the easy part. “A leak is a continuous baseline flow,” DeCamargo says. “In most homes, water goes on and off, there is no reason to have a constant flow.”
They are bootstrapping the company without outside funding, filling orders for 1200 devices to date.
“This approach has made us a bit slow,” DeCamargo admits. And, indeed, while the two were taking their idea from concept to product, another company was likewise inspired by California’s water shortages to bring a similar product to market: Flume. Flume, founded in 2016, went the traditional venture capital route, with $7.5 million in funding to date.
The Flume gadget is, at the moment, mainly being marketed as a leak detector. It does give live updates of overall water usage, but does not currently distinguish between types of usage. (A friend who owns the device figures that out by watching the monitor in real time as, say, family members shower.) Flume promises such a feature will be rolled out as an update to its second generation device.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tiny, Wireless, Injectable Chips Use Ultrasound to Monitor Body Processes
https://www.engineering.columbia.edu/press-releases/shepard-injectable-chips-monitor-body-processes
Columbia Engineers develop the smallest single-chip system that is a complete functioning electronic circuit; implantable chips visible only in a microscope point the way to developing chips that can be injected into the body with a hypodermic needle to monitor medical conditions
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://nitor.com/en/articles/how-to-make-iot-an-ingredient-of-your-sourdough?fbclid=IwAR2n8tbwcd2uJgpBb_npR7kU-sLQzJdMLocCtHLX8Vn0SbD99TpQ89F6jvs
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scientists build army of 1 million microrobots that can fit inside a hypodermic needle
Honey, I shrunk the robots.
https://www.cnet.com/news/scientists-build-army-of-1-million-microrobots-that-can-fit-inside-a-hypodermic-needle/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Our Brains Can Adapt To Having A Robotic “Third Thumb” With Incredible Ease
https://www.iflscience.com/brain/our-brains-can-adapt-to-having-a-robotic-third-thumb-with-incredible-ease/
Tomi Engdahl says:
High-resolution displays and complex #AI datasets in #IoT endpoints and wearable designs increasingly demand additional #memory content #AIoT #microcontroller
The MCU-memory tie-up aims to better serve AIoT designs
https://www.edn.com/the-mcu-memory-tie-up-aims-to-better-serve-aiot-designs/?utm_content=buffer8f0d3&utm_medium=social&utm_source=edn_facebook&utm_campaign=buffer
Tomi Engdahl says:
How Many Megs Is Your T-shirt?
Digital electronics embedded in flexible fibers can be used to make clothing that senses the world, stores data, and runs neural networks.
https://www.hackster.io/news/how-many-megs-is-your-t-shirt-622380020161
Tomi Engdahl says:
See the #hardware inside the Tile Mate #Bluetooth tracker
#SoC #PCB #teardown https://buff.ly/3vnJQTK
Tomi Engdahl says:
NVIDIA Embedded has announced a new entry in its Jetson embedded computing family, and this one’s designed to fit in to some of the harshest environments around: the Jetson AGX Xavier Industrial module.
NVIDIA Launches the Jetson AGX Xavier Industrial Module, Complete with Lockstep Cluster Engine
https://www.hackster.io/news/nvidia-launches-the-jetson-agx-xavier-industrial-module-complete-with-lockstep-cluster-engine-4306d41cd67c?f06edc8ab534b2c7ecbd4c2051d9cb1e
Designed for harsh environments, the new more rugged Jetson offers the range’s first “Safety Cluster Engine.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mishaal Rahman / XDA Developers:
APK teardown of new version of Google Play Services suggests that Google is working to build an Android device network like Apple’s Find My — Because Apple tightly controls the iOS ecosystem, they’re able to build a massive, crowdsourced network of devices that can help locate other devices.
Google may be working on an Android version of Apple’s “Find My” network
https://www.xda-developers.com/google-find-my-device-network/
Because Apple tightly controls the iOS ecosystem, they’re able to build a massive, crowdsourced network of devices that can help locate other devices. Apple, like many other companies, recently released a Bluetooth tracker, and thanks to the Find My network, the AirTags are arguably the most effective tracker on the market. The only other company that can build a network of devices as large as Apple’s is Google thanks to the existence of the Google Play Services app on nearly every Android device. It seems that Google recognizes this fact and is preparing to build its own crowdsourced network of devices.
Tomi Engdahl says:
#Nokia Bell Labs scientists have invented a backscatter radio capable of gigabit speeds, for potential IoT use. Backscatter radios transmit data by making tiny changes to reflected signals, promising simple low-cost battery-free operations.
Backscatter Radio at Gigabit Speeds
https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/telecom/wireless/backscatter-gigabit
Backscatter radios encode data in reflected signals to offer wireless communications that consume as little energy as possible—but they can be limited by poor data rates. Now scientists at Nokia Bell Labs and their colleagues have developed backscatter radios capable of gigabit speeds, for potential use in the emerging Internet of Things and other devices, a new study finds.
Whereas conventional radios generate their own signals, backscatter radios transmit data by making tiny changes to reflected signals. This approach requires a minimal number of active components, promising simple low-cost battery-free operations.
However, the low frequencies that backscatter radios often employ and the strategies they use to encode data in reflected signals typically limit their data rates. For example, radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags, which often employ backscatter radios at sub-gigahertz frequencies, transmit data at only kilobits per second rates. At the 2.4 gigahertz frequency often used by WiFi and Bluetooth, backscatter is generally limited to hundreds of megabits per second.
Now scientists have developed a backscatter radio operating at millimeter-wave frequencies of 24 to 28 gigahertz, the kind used in upcoming 5G cell phones. The new device is capable of data rates of 2 gigabits per second over distances of 0.5 meters, consuming just 0.17 picojoules per bit.
This means it requires thousands of times less power than standard radios—whereas commonly used millimeter-wave radio components consume 600 to 700 milliwatts of power, the new device uses roughly 0.5 milliwatts.
The single transistor at the core of the backscatter radio is simple enough to manufacture using inkjet printing of silver nanoparticle inks on flexible polymer backings
Tomi Engdahl says:
WiFi BackscatterConnecting RF-Powered Devices to the Internet
https://iotwifi.cs.washington.edu/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://blog.arduino.cc/2021/06/11/what-is-cloud-computing-and-what-does-it-do-for-iot/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/12315-vihdoin-saatiin-mittatikku-iot-laitteiden-wifi-tehonkulutukselle
Tomi Engdahl says:
Automated grid-response programs are gaining traction through the U.S. via sweepstakes and incentives, but unknowing users say they’re left sweating.
Smart Thermostats Are Turning Down Air Conditioners During Heatwave
https://www.vice.com/en/article/88n5b3/smart-thermostats-are-turning-down-air-conditioners-during-heatwave?utm_source=vice_facebook&utm_medium=social
Automated grid-response programs are gaining traction through the U.S. via sweepstakes and incentives, but unknowing users say they’re left sweating.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Talojen seinistä tulee älykkäitä – näillä tekniikoilla
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2021/06/28/talojen-seinista-tulee-alykkaita-nailla-tekniikoilla/
Rakennuksen ulkokuori, eli seinät, ikkunat, ovet, katto ja lattia, on perinteisesti ollut staattinen rakenne, mutta digitekniikka tulee muuttamaan talojen rakenteet entistä älykkäämmiksi. Lue lisää Aalto-yliopiston ja Motivan uudesta selvityksestä ja testeistä.
Kun rakennuksen vaippaan liitetään järjestelmiä, joilla esimerkiksi hallitaan auringon lämpösäteilyn pääsyä sisätiloihin, voidaan puhua dynaamisesta ulkovaipasta. Näihin järjestelmiin luetaan myös aktiiviset varjostusratkaisut, kuten kaihtimet ja markiisit, sähköiset ikkuna-avaajat ja sähkökromaattiset lasitukset.
’’Rakennukseen pääsevää lämpösäteilyä ja päivänvaloa voidaan hallita erilaisilla ratkaisuilla. Lämpimänä vuodenaikana liikaa lämpösäteilyä halutaan välttää ja näin säästää rakennuksen viilennyskustannuksissa’’, selventää rakentamisen johtava asiantuntija Jaakko Ketomäki Motivasta.
Dynaamisetrakennusvaipparatkaisut Suomen ilmasto-olosuhteissa
https://www.motiva.fi/files/18900/Dynaamiset_rakennusvaipparatkaisut_Suomen_ilmasto-olosuhteissa.pdf
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/12332-abloy-tuo-uuden-alylukon-suomeen
Tomi Engdahl says:
IIoT in the real world
https://www.controleng.com/articles/iiot-in-the-real-world/?oly_enc_id=0462E3054934E2U
Industrial Internet of Things serves as backbone for other Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), digital twins, the digital thread, big data, analytics, and cloud and edge computing.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mobile access to production data through customized applications
Customized applications can help industrial organizations manage field devices and reduce overall operating and maintenance costs.
https://www.controleng.com/articles/mobile-access-to-production-data-through-customized-applications/?oly_enc_id=0462E3054934E2U
Best practices in mature engineering information management
Mature engineering information management can save millions in operational costs.
https://www.controleng.com/articles/best-practices-in-mature-engineering-information-management/?oly_enc_id=0462E3054934E2U
Tomi Engdahl says:
Making AI ready for safety-critical applications
Artificial intelligence (AI) should make production more flexible while also automating logistics and quality control processes, but safety concerns remain.
https://www.controleng.com/articles/making-ai-ready-for-safety-critical-applications/?oly_enc_id=0462E3054934E2U
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.edn.com/spurring-innovation-for-networked-lighting-control-systems/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2021/07/08/reverse-engineering-a-very-cheap-fitness-band/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Researchers Develop a Wearable for Plants, Capable of Detecting and Monitoring Disease and Stress
Attached to a leaf, these graphene and silver nanowire sensors keep track of a plant’s VOC output as a means of monitoring stress.
https://www.hackster.io/news/researchers-develop-a-wearable-for-plants-capable-of-detecting-and-monitoring-disease-and-stress-ead6838df5c3
Tomi Engdahl says:
The #IoT typically means new, shiny tech that connects seamlessly to our wireless networks. But what about old & trustworthy devices? The IoTIZER is a clever mechanical gizmo w/ mini robot arms to turn any manual gadget “smart.”
IoT-ize Your Old Gadgets With a Mechanical Hijacking Device This tiny connected manipulator can, its creators say, make any device smart
https://spectrum.ieee.org/iot-mechanical-hijack
IoTIZER is a prototype of a mechanical hijacking device (MHD), designed to replace human manipulation of existing products. As the name suggests, it can IoT-ize just about anything designed to be operated by a human, potentially giving a new connected life to your stuff.
IoTIZER: A Versatile Mechanical Hijacking Device for Creating Internet of Old Things
https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3461778.3461996
Tomi Engdahl says:
Top 5 IoT Development Platforms in 2021
https://www.iotforall.com/top-5-iot-development-platforms-in-2021
According to various studies, the number of IoT-connected devices will exceed 75 billion by 2025. In the following years, the breadth and development of IoT will evolve, driving people and businesses to seek the best IoT product solutions. IoT development tools are designed to track IoT applications across many networks and manage various upgrades to test how app changes affect hardware responses.
Most Popular IoT Platforms in 2021
To help you pick which Internet of Things Development platform to use for your project, we’ve produced a list of the most popular IoT development tools for this year, complete with full explanations of each:
Google Cloud IoT
Cisco IoT Cloud Connect
Salesforce IoT Cloud
IRI Voracity
Particle
IBM Watson IoT
ThingWorx
Amazon AWS IoT Core
Microsoft Azure IoT Hub
Oracle IoT
Tomi Engdahl says:
Best Arduino boards for home automation
Best 3 boards from Arduino for your home automation projects
https://notenoughtech.com/arduino/best-arduino-boards-for-home-automation/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Arm’s cheap and flexible plastic microchip could create an ‘internet of everything’
https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/23/22590001/arm-plasticarm-cheap-flexible-plastic-microchip-internet-of-everything
PlasticARM prototype is the most complex flexible chip yet
Tomi Engdahl says:
Silicon Who? Researchers Develop Arm Microprocessor Built out of Plastic
Truly bendable devices pave the way for the Internet of Everything
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/plasticarm-arm-processor-research
Tomi Engdahl says:
PlasticArm: Realizing the full potential of the Internet of Things
https://community.arm.com/developer/research/b/articles/posts/plasticarm-realising-the-full-potential-of-the-internet-of-things
Tomi Engdahl says:
The home-improvement chain is unveiling power tools that won’t work unless they’re properly scanned and activated at the register via Bluetooth technology. If a thief managed to smuggle a power drill out of the store without paying, the drill simply wouldn’t turn on.
Home Depot plans to foil shoplifters with power tools that won’t work if they’re stolen
https://www.businessinsider.com/home-depot-fights-shoplifters-special-power-tools-2021-7
The home-improvement chain is unveiling power tools that won’t work unless they’re properly scanned and activated at the register via Bluetooth technology. If a thief managed to smuggle a power drill out of the store without paying, the drill simply wouldn’t turn on.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.cnx-software.com/2021/07/30/amazon-alexa-certified-esp-afe-leverages-esp32-s3-ai-dsp-instructions/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/12480-iot-medaljonki-avaa-ovet-maksaa-juomat-ja-loytaa-kaverit-valtamerialuksella
https://www.dialog-semiconductor.com/applications/asset-and-people-tracking
Tomi Engdahl says:
Monkey Store’s OpenThread Sensor Tag Offers Three Years’ Environmental Monitoring From a Coin Cell
“We try to make OpenThread more available to the community because we think it is a great step into connecting devices and smart homes.”
https://www.hackster.io/news/monkey-store-s-openthread-sensor-tag-offers-three-years-environmental-monitoring-from-a-coin-cell-2f6106df34ee
Tomi Engdahl says:
Voiko IoT-laite toimia wifillä?
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/12481-voiko-iot-laite-toimia-wifilla
IoT-laitteiden määrä ympärillämme kasvaa jatkuvasti ja yhä useammin ne toimivat pienellä paristolla, jota halutaan vaihtaa mahdollisimman harvoin. Tarjolla on useita vähävirtaisia radiotekniikoita, mutta voisiko wifi toimia sellaisena? Eikö se ole äärimmäisen energiasyöppö radiotekniikka?
EEMBC esitteli kesällä kokonaan uuden testin juuri tähän tarkoitukseen. IoTMark – Wi-Fi. Se on suunniteltu erityisesti mittaamaan pienitehoisten 802.11-standardin mukaisten wifi-sirujen virrankulutusta realistisissa kuormitustilanteissa.
Testi antaa periaatteessa hyvin yksinkertaisen lukeman radiotaan miettivälle suunnittelijalle. Testitulos kertoo, kuinka pitkään IoT-laite toimii kahdella AA-paristolla realistisissa toimintaympäristöissä.
Tällä hetkellä paras noteeraus testissä on 815. Sen on saavuttanut Dialog Semiconductorin DA16200-piirisarja.
DA16200-piirin saavuttama lukema 815 uudessa testissä tarkoittaa, että piirin avulla voidaan toteuttaa noin 815 päivää kahdella AA-paristolla toimiva IoT-anturilaite. Selvästi yli kaksi vuotta kahdella sormiparistolla on kova lukema laitteelta, joka lähettää mittausdatansa wifi-linkin yli.
https://www.eembc.org/iotmark/wifi/