It’s undeniable: 2014 was the year when the electronics industry decidedly and collectively moved forward to push the Internet of Things (IoT). In year 2015 IoT markets will continue to grow. I think we’re going to see some critical mass on corralling the IoT in 2015. IoT is a young market – no one seems to be clearly leading. Communications are the key here. Over the last 10 years the world has done a remarkably good job of connecting the global wireless world. The last decade has radically changed the way we live. The smartphone and its cousin, the tablet, was the final link to ubiquitous wireless coverage, globally. The fantasy of the IoT is quite grand: everything on the planet can be smart and communicate. The idea is both powerful and impractical.
IoT is entering peak of inflated expectations: The Internet of Things is at that stage when the efforts of various companies involved in it, along with research, are proving to have a lot of promise. At this stage, the Internet of Things should not have too many difficulties attracting developers and researchers into the fold. As we turn to 2015 and beyond, however, wearables becomes an explosive hardware design opportunity. Tie the common threads of IoT and wearables together, and an unstoppable market movement emerges. There seems to be a lack of public appreciation of the extent to which the Internet of Things is going to fundamentally change how people interact with the world around them.
On the other hand, the Internet of Things is getting poised to enter the trough of disillusionment, which means that there is more room for failure now. There are issues of security, privacy, and sharing of information across vertical implementations that still need to be worked out. Until they are, the IoT will not be able to fulfill all its promises.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is beginning to grow significantly, as consumers, businesses, and governments recognize the benefit of connecting inert devices to the internet. The ‘Internet of Things’ Will Be The World’s Most Massive Device Market And Save Companies Billions Of Dollars in few years. BI Intelligence expects that the IoT will result in $1.7 trillion in value added to the global economy in 2019. This includes hardware, software, installation costs, management services, and economic value added from realized IoT efficiencies. The main benefit of growth in the IoT will be increased efficiency and lower costs: increased efficiency within the home, city, and workplace. The enterprise sector will lead the IoT, accounting for 46% of device shipments this year, but that share will decline as the government and home sectors gain momentum. I expect that home, government, and enterprise sectors use the IoT differently.
The IoT is only enabled because of two things: the ability of networks to reach countless nodes, and the availability of cost-effective embedded processors to attach to a multitude of devices. The prices for components and devices continues to decline while the skyrocketing global demand for 24/7 Internet access grows exponentially. The Internet of Things growth will benefit mostly from the autonomous machine-to-machine (M2M) connectivity that will make up the bulk of the objects of the IoT. This is the main driver for double-digit growth across verticals in the electronics, and especially the semiconductor industry well into the next decade. The IoT will connect places, such as manufacturing platforms, energy grids, health-care facilities, transportation systems, retail outlets, sports and music venues, and countless other entities to the Internet.
Internet of Things can become Engineering for Everyone. The emergence of open-source development platforms, developed and maintained by dedicated volunteers, has effectively raised the level of abstraction to a point where nonexperts can now use these platforms. The availability of open-source software and, more recently, hardware targeting embedded applications means that access to high-quality engineering resources has never been greater. This has effectively raised the level of abstraction to a point where nonexperts can now use these platforms to turn their own abstract concepts into real products. With the potential to launch a successful commercial venture off the back of tinkering with some low-cost hardware in your spare time, it’s no wonder that open-source hardware is fuelling an entirely new movement. A new generation of manufacturer is embracing the open-source ethos and actually allowing customers to modify the product post-sale.
Exact size predictions for IoT market next few years vary greatly, but all of the firms making these predictions agree on one thing—it’s going to be very big.
In year 2014 very many chip vendors and sensor algorithm companies also jumped on the IoT bandwagon, in hopes of laying the groundwork for more useful and cost-effective IoT devices. Sensors, MCUs, and wireless connectivity are three obvious building blocks for IoT end-node devices. Wireless connectivity and software (algorithms) are the two most sought-after technologies. Brimming with excitement, and with Europe already ahead of the pack, a maturing semiconductor industry looks expectantly to the Internet of Things (IoT) for yet another facelift. The IC sales generated by the connectivity and sensor subsystems to enabled this IoT will amount $57.7 billion in 2015.
Chips for IoT market to grow 36% in 2015, says Gartner as automotive V2X, LED lighting and smart domestic objects are set to drive semiconductor market growth through the year 2020, according to market analysis firm Gartner. The move to create billions of smart, autonomously communicating objects known as the Internet of Things (IoT) is driving the need for low-power sensors, processors and communications chips. By 2018, the market value of IoT subsystems in equipment and Internet-connected things is projected to reach $103.6 billion worldwide, which represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.0 percent from $39.8 billion in 2013.
BI Intelligence expects that by 2019 IoT market will be more than double the size of the smartphone, PC, tablet, connected car, and the wearable market combined. A new report by Yole Developpement pegs the market size in the $70 billion range by 2018, with the next five years presenting a golden opportunity for device makers as the IoT enters the growth stage. Device shipments will reach 6.7 billion in 2019 for a five-year CAGR of 61%.
Number of connected devices is expected to to reach 36 billion units by 2020, cautions that “all of this new market opportunity is under threat.” Other estimate according to market research firm Radiant Insights of San Francisco is that the number of Internet connections will grow from 9 billion devices in 2014 to 100 billion by 2020 (twice as many as the estimate from Cisco Systems Inc). IC Insights forecasts that web-connected things will account for 85 percent of 29.5 billion Internet connections worldwide by 2020. Currently fragmented market, the number of cellular M2M connections could rise from 478 million today to 639 million in 2020.
By 2024, the report predicts that overall market value for components will exceed of $400 billion, of which more than 10% will come from hardware alone. Revenue from hardware sales will be only $50 billion or 8% of the total revenue from IoT-specific efforts, as software makers and infrastructure companies will earn the lion’s share. As the Internet of Things grows to a projected 212 billion items by 2020, the question of regulation looms increasingly large.
The growth of the IoT will present some very interesting issues in a variety of areas. You will see some very fast activity because unless it gets resolved there will be no IoT as it is envisioned.
General consensus is that the interconnect protocol of the IoT will be IP (Internet Protocol). As it stands today, the deployment of the billions of IoT objects can’t happen, simply because there just aren’t enough IP addresses with IPv4. While there is still some discussion about how to connect the IoT, most are in agreement that the IoT protocol will be IPv6. The first step will be to convert all proprietary networks to an IP-base. Then, the implementation of IPv6 can begin. Because direct interoperability between IPv4 and iPv6 protocols is not possible, this will add some some complications to the development, resulting in a bit of obfuscation to the transition for IPv6.
Is There Any Way to Avoid Standards Wars in the Emerging Internet of Things? I don’t see that possible. IoT will be in serious protocol war in 2015. There is a wide selection of protocols, but no clear set of winners at the moment. The real IoT standardization is just starting – There are currently few standards (or regulations) for what is needed to run an IoT device. There is no single standard for connecting devices on the Internet of Thing, instead are a handful of competing standards run by different coalitions of companies: The Thread Group (Qualcomm, The Linux Foundation, Microsoft, Panasonic), The Industrial Internet Consortium (Intel, Cisco, AT&T, IBM, Microsoft), Open Interconnect Consortium (Samsung, Intel, Dell), Physical Web (Google), AllSeen Alliance (Samsung, Intel, Dell) and huge number of smaller non-standardized protocols in use. Each of the standards vary how they do things.
Anyone who tries to build a physical layer and drive a software stack based on it all the way up to the application layer is a fool. But many companies try to do it this year. Today Zigbee is the most cost effective, but tomorrow WiFi will figure it out. On networking field in every few years there’s a new management protocol – what will happen in IoT, it will keep moving, and people will need open APIs.
Currently the IoT lacks a common set of standards and technologies that would allow for compatibility and ease-of-use. The IoT needs a set of open APIs and protocols that work with a variety of physical-layer networks. The IP and network layer should have nothing to do with the media. The fundamental issue here is that at the moment the Internet of Things will not have a standard set of open APIs for consumers. IoT, it will keep moving, and people will need open APIs. I suspect that at some point, after the first wave of the Internet of Things, open APIs and root access will become a selling point.
It is not just technical protocol details that are problem: One problem with IoT is that it is a vague definition. Do we simply mean ‘connected devices? Or something else? One of the main issues, which will only get worse as the IoT evolves, is how are we going to categorize all the different objects.
Early in 2015, the Industrial Internet Consortium plans to wrap up work on a broad reference architecture for the Internet of Things, ramp up three test beds, and start identifying gaps where new standards may be needed. The group, formed by AT&T, Cisco, GE, IBM, and Intel, now has about 115 members and aims to make it easier to build commercial IoT systems. The IIC hopes to finish a first draft of its reference architecture by the end of January and have it ratified by March. It will define functional areas and the technologies and standards for them, from sensors to data analytics and business applications. The framework includes versions for vertical markets including aerospace, healthcare, manufacturing, smart cities, and transportation. A breakout section on security also is in the works. Hopefully the reference architecture could be used to help people construct industrial IoT systems quickly and easily.
With the emergence of the Internet of Things, smart cars are beginning to garner more attention. Smart cars are different than connected cars, which are simply smartphones on wheels. Even though the technology has been on the evolutionary fast track, integration has been slow. For car manufacturers, it is a little tricky to accept driverless cars because it disrupts their fundamental business model: Private resources will evolve to shared resources, centrally controlled, since autonomous vehicles can be controlled remotely.
Over the next few years, we’ll see a torrent of new devices emerge that are connected to the Internet and each other through a wide range of different wireless networking protocols. As a result, there’s a race on, not just to get those devices connected, but also to provide the network infrastructure necessary to managing all of them at scale. WiFi, Bluetooth, and cellular networks are nowadays widely used, nut new alternatives are coming to solve applications were those technologies are not most suitable. There are different plans for wide area wireless networks that use licensed or unlicensed wireless bandwidth to transmit small amounts of data from various connected device – this could create its own connection to them in a cost effective manner without relying on existing cellular or WiFi networks.
Recently we have developed a pressing need, or desire to put our refrigerators, and everything we have access to while mobile, on the net, morphing the brave new world of the Internet of Things, into the Internet of Everything (IoE). And that will make that last 100 meters—that final frontier of interconnect—a reality. Today, only about 10% of the last 100 meter devices that will make up the IoT are connected. As the IoT evolves, other small cells such as businesses, city centers, malls, theaters, stadiums, event centers, and the like, will connect much of what they have on premise (soda or popcorn machines, vending machines, restaurants, parking garages, ticket kiosks, seat assignments, and a very long list of others). And, there are a very large number of devices that are short-range in all of these various cells. What was once the last mile for connectivity is now the last 100 meters.
Plenty of people and companies in the technology world tend to come at the Internet of Things by dwelling on the “Internet.” But what if, instead, we started with the “Things?” Knowing intimately what “things” are supposed to do and how they think and behave will be the key to solving one of the IoT’s most pressing issues: application layers. Over the past 18 months, the industry has launched numerous consortia, from Qualcomm’s AllSeen and Intel’s Open Interconnect Consortium to Apple’s HomeKit and Google’s Thread. Every entity says it’s targeting the “interoperability” of things at home, but each is obviously concentrating primarily on its own interests, and making their “layer” specifications slightly different from those pursued by others.
It seems that no industry consortium is particularly interested in defining — in gory detail — the specific functions of, say, what a door lock is supposed to do. The library of commands for each function already exists, but someone, or some group, has to translate those already determined commands into an IP-friendly format. One of the standards organizations will take up the challenge in 2015. This will be the first step to “knock barriers down for IoT” in 2015.
Missing today in the IoT are reliability and robustness. Consumers expect their light switched and other gadgets to be infinitely reliable. In many today’s products we seem to be far from reliable and robust operation. Today’s routers can relay traffic between networks, but they have no idea how to translate what functions each device attached to them wants to do, and how to communicate that to other devices. The network needs to be able to discover who else is on the network. Devices connected to network need to be able to discover what resources are available and what new devices are being added. The network needs to be extensible.
Despite the oft-mocked naming scheme, the Internet of Things (IoT) has an incredibly practical goal: connecting classically “dumb” objects—toasters, doorknobs, light switches—to the Internet, thereby unlocking a world of potential. Imagine what it means to interact with your home the same way you would a website, accessing it without geographic restriction. But there is one missing piece of the smart home revolution: smart home operating system. So what will be the system that capitalizes on the smart home in the same way, the enabler of all the applications and actions we want our homes to run and do? There are no ready answers for that yet. And there might not be a singular, cohesive operating system for your home, that this stuff isn’t one-size-fits-all. It might be that the real potential for home automation lies not in local software running on a home device but in the cloud. I think that the cloud is going to be more important over time, but there will always be also need for some local functionality in case the connection to cloud is lost. Right now the Internet of Things is rather disjointed compared to Internet and computers.
When everything will be connected, how about security? In the path to IoT, the issue of data and device security looms large. Security for the ‘Internet of Things’ will be talked about very much in 2015 for a good reason. As Internet of Thigs becomes more and more used, it will be more hacked. Thus security of Internet of Things will be more and more talked about. Virtually anything connected to the Internet has the potential of being hacked, no matter how unlikely. Internet of Things devices often lack systematic protections against viruses or spam. Nowadays most security breaches are software-based, when an application can be compromised. Counter-measures for such attacks range from basic antivirus scanning software, to embedded hypervisors to hardware-bound secure applications tying their execution to uniquely identifiable hardware. There is emerging customer demand for silicon authentication. But the threats extend way beyond software and some hackers will put a lot of effort into compromising a system’s security at silicon-level. Individual devices can get hacked, but all systems should have some way of self-checking and redundancy. Those IoT systems can be very complex at device and system level. The problem with complexity is that you create more attack points and make it easier for hackers to find flaws.
Experts recommend far more layers of cyberprotection than manufacturers have thought necessary. Because many of the devices will often be practically inaccessible, the “patch and pray” strategy used for many desktop software packages is unlikely to be an effective strategy for many forms of IoT devices. Right now, there are hundreds of companies churning out “Internet of Things” (IoT) devices as fast as they can, without thinking too much on the security issues they can cause in the future. The imperative is clear: Do your homework on the specific security features of any IoT device you might consider bringing into the home. What steps are IoT companies taking to keep us safe from others online, and what constitutes a truly “safe” smart appliance?
What we’re opening up is a whole new subject not just of security but of safety. That safety depends on devices to be constantly connected to the Internet the same way they’re connected to the power grid. That’s a whole new area that deserves its own consideration. Keep in mind that IoT is one field where cyber security flaws can kill in the worst case. Connecting unrelated devices in the IoT means many more pieces now affect reliability and security. More devices are now considered critical, such as a connected baby monitor or a smart smoke detector, because wrong information can injure or kill people. The Internet of Things is coming no matter what happens. The people in charge of keeping the public safe and the industry healthy need to be ready.
The European Police Office (Europol) said governments are ill-equipped to counter the menace of “injury and possible deaths” spurred by hacking attacks on critical safety equipment. There are many potential dangers are in transportation: many new cars are Internet connected and potentially vulnerable, SCADA Systems in Railways Vulnerable to Attack and Airline bosses ignore cyber security concerns at their peril. With industrial control systems becoming network-connected, security risks rise and will need a long-term solution. In light of the trend toward the Industrial Internet of Things, development teams must start thinking hard about network security and planning for its long-term viability.
You have to accept the fact that at each point in the IoT there are vulnerabilities to malicious attacks and interception of vital information. Soon, almost every network will soon have some IoT-hacking in it. IDC predicts that in two years from 90 per cent of the global IT networks have met IoT data theft. In a report, cybersecurity firm Fortinet expects greater threats from “denial of service attacks on assembly line, factory, industrial control systems, and healthcare and building management…resulting in revenue losses and reputation damages for organizations globally.” This opens new doors of risks in the areas of corporate extortion, altering of corporate business operations, and the extension of cyberattacks to include physical threats of harm to civilians.
There are lessons to be learned to keep the cyber security in control in the IoT era. There will be lessons to be learned for all the parties of the IoT ecosystem. The companies that figure out how to make security available on multi-stakeholder platforms will be the most successful ones. Figuring out a secure platform is important, but having different levels of security is still important. Different uses have different bars. Security is a self-regulating system to some extent because it is supply and demand. That is the Holy Grail for technology right now, which is how to build systems with enough security—not 100% protection right now—from a unified platform point of view for multiple applications.
The data generated by the Internet of Things has the potential to reveal far more about users than any technology in history: These devices can make our lives much easier … The Internet of Things however, can also reveal intimate details about the doings and goings of their owners through the sensors they contain. As the Internet of Things grows to a projected 212 billion items by 2020, the question of regulation looms increasingly large. There is a lot of effort is going today at the government level. They’re not thinking about whether the Internet goes down. They’re worried about what happens if the Internet gets compromised.
When we have devices on the field, there is question how to analyze the data coming from them. This is easily a “big data” problem because of the huge amount of data that comes from very large number of sensors. Being able to monitor and use the data that comes from the Internet of Things is a huge potential challenge with different providers using different architectures and approaches, and different chip and equipment vendors teaming up in a range of different ways. Many large and smaller companies are active on the field: Intel, IBM, Lantronix+Google, Microchip+Amazon, Freescale+Oracle, Xively, Jasper, Keen.io, Eurotech, and many other.
The huge increase of data is coming. Radiant predicts that wireless sensor networks will be used to monitor and control very many domestic, urban, and industrial systems. This promises to produce an explosion of data, much of which will be discarded as users are overwhelmed by the volume. As a result, analysis of the data within the wireless sensor network will become necessary so that alerts and meaningful information are generated at the leaf nodes. This year has seen the software at the very highest point in the Internet of Things stack — analytics — becoming tightly coupled with the embedded devices at the edge of the network, leading to many different approaches and providers.
Integrating data from one IoT cloud to another will have it’s challenges. Automation services make big steps by cutting corners. Sites like IFTTT, Zapier, bip.io, CloudWork, and elastic.io allow users to connect applications with links that go beyond a simple synch. Check what is happening with integration and related services like IFTTT, ItDuzzit, Amazon Lambda. For example IFTTT is quietly becoming a smart home powerhouse.
Most important sources of information for this article:
With $16M In Funding, Helium Wants To Provide The Connective Tissue For The Internet Of Things
IFTTT, other automation services make big steps by cutting corners
Internet of Things: Engineering for Everyone
IoT in Protocol War, Says Startup – Zigbee fortunes dim in building control
Analysts Predict CES Hotspots – Corralling the Internet of Things
What’s Holding Back The IoT – Device market opportunities will explode, but only after some fundamental changes
Apps Layer: ’800lb Gorilla’ in IoT Nobody Talks About
Analysts Predict CES Hotspots – IoT, robots, 4K to dominate CES
10 Reasons Why Analytics Are Vital to the Internet of Things
Tech More: Mobile Internet of Things BI Intelligence Consumer Electronics – Most Massive Device Market
Wearables make hardware the new software
Zigbee Opens Umbrella 3.0 Spec
IoT Will Give ‘Embedded’ a Shot in the Arm - Connected cities to be largest IoT market
Chips for IoT market to grow 36% in 2015, says Gartner
Apps Layer: ’800lb Gorilla’ in IoT Nobody Talks About
Short-Range, Low-Power Sensors – once the last mile for connectivity is now the last 100 meters
The one problem the Internet of Things hasn’t solved
Plan Long Term for Industrial Internet Security
To Foil Cyberattacks, Connected Cars Need Overlapping Shields
IoT cybersecurity: is EDA ready to deliver?
More Things Are Critical Systems
Silicon, Security, and the Internet of Things
The missing piece of the smart home revolution
Hackers will soon be targeting your refrigerator
10 Reasons Why Analytics Are Vital to the Internet of Things
1,316 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Internet of Things and Sensors and Actuators
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIISiYs7lDo
Tomi Engdahl says:
Internet of Things explained simply
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEsKZGOxNKw
Source: Intel.com
Tomi Engdahl says:
M2M, IoT, device management: one protocol to rule them all?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFoFy6C-f54
M2M/IoT is rapidly growing and since its early days different “standard” protocols have emerged (e.g. OMA-DM, TR-069, MQTT, …) or are emerging (e.g. CoAP or Lightweight M2M). Understanding which protocol to use for which application can be intimidating, therefore we propose to give an overview of these protocols to help you understand their goals and characteristics. We’ll present common M2M use cases and why they usually require more than just one protocol ; we will also see whether CoAP associated with Lightweight M2M allows to forge “one protocol to rule them all”.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bringing Node.js to Windows 10 IoT Core
http://blogs.windows.com/buildingapps/2015/05/12/bringing-node-js-to-windows-10-iot-core/
Microsoft is making big investments in the Internet of Things (IoT). Windows 10 IoT will power a range of intelligent, connected IoT devices. From small devices like gateways, to mobile point-of-sale to powerful industry devices like robotics and specialty medical devices. At the //build developer conference, we announced the availability of Windows 10 IoT Core Insider Preview with support for Raspberry Pi 2 and Intel’s Minnowboard Max, and talked about using Node.js for building IoT solutions on Window 10 IoT Core. There is an emerging trend of developers using Node.js for IoT scenarios, and we want to meet developers where they’re at and provide them the tools they need to be successful on the Windows 10 IoT Core platform.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Back to the Future: the internet of things as imagined in 1985
Dust off that clunky old thing; our time has come
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/05/14/back_to_the_future_the_internet_of_things_as_imagined_in_1985/
IoT World 2015 There’s a peculiar thing going on at the Internet of Things World 2015 conference this week.
As the buzz around this nebulous concept has reached fever pitch, it seems that dozens of tinkering dads across the US have looked up from their newspaper, exclaimed “my time has come!” rushed down to the basement, and pulled out the box containing their brilliant 1985 prototype.
A quick dust off, print up news leaflets and it’s off to San Francisco and fortune!
Amid the new chips, open source software and big names (Intel, Samsung, IBM, Dell etc) there are a surprisingly large number of clunky devices – some of them old, some of them actually new – but all of them missing, well not even the ‘wow’ factor, but the ‘oh that’s kinda interesting’ factor.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Stacey Higginbotham / Fortune:
Sources: Apple’s HomeKit will arrive in August or September instead of May or June as expected
Exclusive: Apple delays HomeKit launch
http://fortune.com/2015/05/14/apple-delays-homekit-launch/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Key to IoT Success: Focus on Standards and Technologies That Move You Forward
http://www.techonline.com/electrical-engineers/education-training/tech-papers/4438871/Key-to-IoT-Success-Focus-on-Standards-and-Technologies-That-Move-You-Forward?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150513&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150513&elq=fff0384c52db43bcafdb73bd11b0b1fa&elqCampaignId=22982&elqaid=25868&elqat=1&elqTrackId=c939c45b5a0d41e7bac44d196f7d054e
Many developers are looking to take advantage of the massive business opportunity presented by the Internet of Things, but hesitate to take the first steps due to numerous shifting standard protocol initiatives.
Developers don’t have to wait—as long as they select the right integration partners that enable them to move forward today and continue to grow in the future. Complex architectures need partners that can provide the necessary hardware, software and services for seamless and secure implementation.
Tomi Engdahl says:
A healthy dose of data
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/now-hear-this/4439416/A-healthy-dose-of-data?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150513&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150513&elq=fff0384c52db43bcafdb73bd11b0b1fa&elqCampaignId=22982&elqaid=25868&elqat=1&elqTrackId=5c23c2c873fc4375870c84ee5ffe70d7
As a clinician, when called upon to make a timely and accurate diagnosis and to sort through the decision-making process around treatment, my most potent weapon is readily-available data. Evidence-based medicine requires vast amounts of data, both about individual patients and about the most effective treatments, based on experience with large populations.
To most effectively advise my patients, I need medical data such as blood pressure and blood glucose levels, but also information about lifestyle habits that affect those parameters, such as whether or not my patients are getting 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise a day, following a healthy diet, maintaining their medication regimens, and getting good quality sleep.
In the past, I had to rely on measurements of these parameters and self-reporting of lifestyle habits that were gathered only sporadically, usually at an annual physical or when CVD presents itself, when it’s sometimes too late to make meaningful improvements. With the wide range of devices connected through the IoT, I now have access to all this data on a continuous basis, allowing me to help patients keep proactive and strict control of their parameters and to make lifestyle changes as needed.
As the IoT evolves, the connected devices will evolve as well. Innovation will continue to drive improvements in power consumption, connectivity, and intelligence. The cloud will become more accepted as a way of storing and disseminating healthcare data as concerns about privacy, confidentiality, and security are addressed and put to rest. Some of these security and privacy concerns will be addressed within the devices themselves, at the chip level, to ensure an extra layer of security at the end points of the network.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IoT Anxieties in McKinsey-GSA Study
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1326597&
Has the chip industry begun tampering down the financial market’s high hopes for an IoT gold rush?
MADISON, Wis. — As the IoT World gets its mojo working in San Francisco this week, I find myself bombarded with tweets from the show floor. And I hear the devil on my shoulder saying, “Damn, girl! You’re missing all those stories.”
As a reporter, that’s a horrible feeling. After all, I’m not there. I’m on my way to catch a flight to China.
But long trips come with opportunities. First thing, I can catch up on all the reading I never seem to have time for.
On top of my stack is an Internet of Things (IoT) Report recently put together by McKinsey & Company and the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA).
This crisply written report is not just educational, but it confirms — and answers, to some extent — the skepticism about IoT and its challenges, which have worried chip industry insiders for the last few years, although few have expressed their misgivings in so many words.
As much as all of us want to believe in Cisco’s famous forecast that 50 billion devices and objects will be connected to the Internet by 2020, we also recognize our struggles in figuring out how to get from here to there.
As the McKinsey-GSA report points out, a major challenge is the security and privacy of user data. If that’s not a big enough headache, the report listed many other issues. They include the difficulty of building customer demand in a fragmented market, a lack of consistent standards, a fragmented marketplace with many niche products, the challenge of extracting more value from each application, and technological issues that affect the IOT’s functionality.
Such findings are no longer surprising.
Internet of Things – McKinsey&Co and GSA Report
https://www.gsaglobal.org/about-us/emea-leadership-council/internet-of-things-report/
Tomi Engdahl says:
IoT Clash Over 900 MHz Options
Cellular sees low power, wide area alternatives
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326599&
A handful of 800-900 MHz low power wide area networks are emerging as low cost alternatives to cellular for connecting what may someday be billions of nodes on the Internet of Things. Representatives from many of the competing options faced off in a panel discussion at the Internet of Things World here.
Participants agreed the new networks are starting to gain significant traction, and standards are still a ways off. The networks are expected to help monitor everything from smart cities to farm fields in applications where sensors need to send only a little data sporadically over a long life time.
“This is a fundamental game changer…the networks and the devices are a fraction of the cost of the typical [cellular] carrier networks,” said Will Franks, chairman of the Wireless IoT Forum. “We have a potential technology here to connect billions and billions of devices at a very low cost.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Q’comm Rolls Wi-Fi Chips for IoT
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326612&
Qualcomm Atheros announced two low power Wi-Fi chips aimed at the Internet of Things. The QCA401x and QCA4531 pack more memory and compute power for a sector that continues to grow in its diversity and demands, the company said.
Qualcomm President Derek Aberle said the smartphone SoC giant is well positioned for emerging IoT markets. “Companies only playing in Wi-Fi will find it very difficult to succeed in the Internet of Everything space, and companies playing in cellular only will also struggle,” he said.
The QCA401x is designed for a single function end device such as a smart light bulb, and comes with an MCU and up to 800 Kbytes of on-chip memory. It can support 54 Mbits/second with 1×1 MIMO on 802.11n Wi-Fi.
The 4531 targets IoT hubs and can support up to 16 simultaneous device connections with 2×2 MIMO and 802.11n at 108 Mbits/s. Such data rates are unlikely in IoT end nodes, the company said.
“Our vision is we need to fundamentally transform the edge of the Internet in order for the space to really take off. You need to have many, many different kinds of connectivity but you need smarter devices at edge of network,” Aberle said.
To ease connections among connected devices, Qualcomm’s new chips come pre-integrated with the AllJoyn software framework. The AllJoyn software is now part of an open source project called the AllSeen Alliance run by the the Linux Foundation. It competes with an Intel-led effort called Open Interconnect Consortium also run by the Linux Foundation.
Unlike Broadcom’s Wiced developer platform and Samsung’s recently announced Artik products, Qualcomm chips are not sold as part of a module.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Andes Technology Forms New Internet of Things Community Knect.me to Provide Open-Source and Commercial IoT Solutions
Andes Technology Corporation, the leading Asia-based suppliers of small, low-power, high performance 32-bit embedded CPU cores, today announced Knect.me, the new Internet of Things community that provides open-source, commercial solutions for connected devices.Knect.me community partners provide the SoC development platforms, software stacks, application development platforms, and development tools SoC developers need to build highly competitive IoT products to meet narrow, fast moving product windows.
http://www.knect.me/
Tomi Engdahl says:
EtherCAT Linking Factory to Office
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326600&
In the industrial market, one of the key applications for the Internet of Things (IoT) is to provide information on factory operation to the back office. Doing so requires a bridge between the networks running the factory machinery and the IT networks in the office. The EtherCAT Technology Group and the OPC Foundation are working together to develop standards for building such a bridge in next-generation factories utilizing industrial IoT.
The OPC Foundation has created the OPC Unified Architecture (OPC-UA), a platform-independent, service-oriented infrastructure model that facilitates communications of information and control among operations such as field devices, manufacturing execution systems, and enterprise resource planning systems. The EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG) supports the EtherCAT real-time industrial Ethernet, providing conformance and interoperability testing and certification. Together, the two aim to provide industrial users with consistent communications across all levels of a manufacturing enterprise, from factory to cloud, using Internet technologies. The groups have agreed to develop a common definition of open interfaces bridging the two approaches.
OPC’s choice of EtherCAT as the field network for its industrial IoT framework mirrors a growing interest in the bus for next-generation industrial network systems. For instance, both Microchip and Infineon have recently introduced new products supporting EtherCAT. Microchip released the LAN9252 3-port EtherCAT slave controller with integrated PHY. Infineon released the XMC4800, a Cortex M-based microcontroller with integrated EtherCAT node.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Chris Davies / SlashGear:
Amazon Echo adds ability to re-purchase previously bought items from Amazon via voice
Amazon Echo is finally becoming your shopping assistant
http://www.slashgear.com/amazon-echo-is-finally-becoming-your-shopping-assistant-14383603/
Back when Amazon launched its Echo, a digital personal assistant squeezed inside a cylindrical speaker, the obvious question was “why can’t I shop?” Now, roughly six months into its slowly-staged roll out, Echo is finally getting the ability to do voice-controlled shopping, with a new firmware update pushed out today adding support for re-ordering items you’ve previously purchased, all using nothing more than spoken commands.
In fact, it’s as straightforward as saying “Alexa,” – or whatever wake command you’re using – “reorder [item].”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and its impact on the design of automation systems
http://www.edn.com/design/analog/4439432/Industrial-Internet-of-Things–IIoT–and-its-impact-on-the-design-of-automation-systems?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_analog_20150514&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_analog_20150514&elq=08b9f369e31a46f59222b43f21ccb04c&elqCampaignId=23001&elqaid=25901&elqat=1&elqTrackId=f0ddc027254c43659ef75f48603ce1b6
Tomi Engdahl says:
IoT Anxieties in McKinsey-GSA Study
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1326597&
Tomi Engdahl says:
Exclusive: Apple delays HomeKit launch
http://fortune.com/2015/05/14/apple-delays-homekit-launch/
Apple’s connected home platform will likely arrive in early fall, rather than early summer.
Apple fans hoping for an imminent release of the company’s home automation platform, HomeKit, will have to wait. Sources participating in the program tell Fortune that the launch date has moved back from an anticipated May or June time-frame to something closer to late August or September.
To be clear, Apple has never announced a launch date for HomeKit, but partners had said during this year’s CES, the annual consumer electronics trade show, to expect something in spring.
Apple announced the HomeKit platform almost a year ago at its Worldwide Developer Conference to much fanfare but with relatively little information. In fact, most of what we know comes from from leaks. For now, the basic information is that Apple is building out a platform that will let consumers control HomeKit-compliant products using Siri, its speech-recognizing assistant, or the notification screens of their phones, tablets, and watches.
Apple’s HomeKit promised to make the set-up process as easy as plugging in the device and putting it on the same Wi-Fi network as your phone.
HomeKit-certified products will rely on the Made for iPhone/iPad program to meet the security and standards associated with getting on the network. Vendors hoping to sell HomeKit products must apply for the program and use certified hardware in their products.
Recently, a bit of information trickled out as to how HomeKit plans to handle Bluetooth, the wireless protocol, which is important for the makers of light bulbs and smart locks (such as Apple HomeKit partner August). When Broadcom BRCM 0.74% recently launched new software for its silicon, it said: “HomeKit devices will be able to bridge from a non-WiFi device such as a Bluetooth Smart light bulb to connect to a smart plug containing Broadcom’s software module, creating a bridge from the light bulb to the user’s HomeKit-supported app on their iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.”
At its developers conference next month, Apple is expected to address this
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cortana for all: Microsoft’s plan to put voice recognition behind anything
Microsoft and co. make computer vision, voice, and text processing a Web request away.
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/05/cortana-for-all-microsofts-plan-to-put-voice-recognition-behind-anything/
When Microsoft introduced the Cortana digital personal assistant last year at the company’s Build developer conference, the company already left hints of its future ambitions for the technology. Cortana was built largely on Microsoft’s Bing service, and the Cortana team indicated those services would eventually be accessible to Web and application developers.
As it turns out, eventually is now. Though the most important elements are only available in a private preview, many of the machine learning capabilities behind Cortana have been released under Project Oxford, the joint effort between Microsoft Research and the Bing and Azure teams announced at Build in April. And at the conference, Ars got to dive deep on the components of Project Oxford with Ryan Gaglon, the senior program manager at Microsoft Technology and Research shepherding the project to market.
The APIs make it possible to add image and speech processing to just about any application, often by using just a single Web request.
Tomi Engdahl says:
OpenEnergyMonitor
http://www.openenergymonitor.org/emon/
OpenEnergyMonitor is a project to develop open-source energy monitoring tools to help us relate to our use of energy, our energy systems and the challenge of sustainable energy.
The OpenEnergyMonitor system is an end-to-end open-source energy monitoring system that is Arduino IDE compatible.
The OpenEnergyMonitor system features:
Wireless sensor nodes that send data at periodic intervals to a web-connected base-station.
Support for Home Energy and Solar PV Import / Export monitoring out of the box.
Fully open-source Arduino IDE compatible
Easily customized for a Variety of Applications
Tomi Engdahl says:
Super Smart HVAC system
https://hackaday.io/project/2047-super-smart-hvac-system
Beginning the process from day 1 on a Super Smart Hvac System. I want it to read weather details, system errors, inside temps & air quality
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bluefruit LE Sniffer – Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE 4.0) – nRF51822 – v1.0
http://store.hackaday.com/products/bluefruit-le-sniffer-bluetooth-low-energy-ble-4-0-nrf51822-v1-0
Have a peek under the hood of Bluetooth Low Energy devices, sniffing and visualising traffic down to the packet level.
Passively capture data exchanges between two BLE devices.
Visualize things on a packet level.
Works on Bluetooth Low Energy devices only, not on Bluetooth (classic) devices.
$29.97
Interested in learning how Bluetooth Low Energy works down to the packet level? Debugging your own BLE hardware and trying to spot where something is going wrong?
This Bluefruit LE Friend is programmed with a special firmware image that turns it into an easy to use Bluetooth Low Energy sniffer. You can passively capture data exchanges between two BLE devices, pushing the data into Wireshark, the open source network analysis tool, where you can visualize things on a packet level, with useful descriptors to help you make sense of the values without having to crack open the 2000 page Bluetooth 4.0 Core Specification every time.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nevermind the IoT: Here Comes the Third Wave
http://www.techonline.com/electrical-engineers/education-training/tech-papers/4438856/Nevermind-the-IoT-Here-Comes-the-Third-Wave?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_funfriday_20150515&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_funfriday_20150515&elq=6a8fef8e70b1463f90f9c12061d7f140&elqCampaignId=23017&elqaid=25917&elqat=1&elqTrackId=931d2d642fc840c9a9aaca4be6d01754
Internet of Things is a disruptive innovation that will revolutionize the way information is accessed, shared and used. Implementing Internet of Things (IoT) will require a fundamental change in how products are designed, built and brought to market. Successful implementation of IoT will depend on understanding the impact of these changes.
distributed architecture can be leveraged for successful IoT deployments.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Technology Lab / Information Technology
Cortana for all: Microsoft’s plan to put voice recognition behind anything
Microsoft and co. make computer vision, voice, and text processing a Web request away.
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/05/cortana-for-all-microsofts-plan-to-put-voice-recognition-behind-anything/
The Internet of things without keyboards
The early targets for the Project Oxford services are clearly mobile devices. The software developer kits released by Microsoft—in addition to those supporting .NET and Windows—include speech tools for iOS and Android, and face and vision tools for Android. The REST APIs can be adapted for any platform.
But it’s also clear that Microsoft is thinking about other devices that aren’t traditional personal computers—devices that generally fall under the banner of Internet of Things. “Especially if you have a device that you’re not going to hook up a mouse or keyboard to,” Gaglon said, “to have a language model behind it that can process intent and interactions is… very powerful.”
The longterm result could be that developers of all sorts of devices could build speech and computer vision into their products, delivering the equivalent of Cortana on everything from televisions to assembly line equipment to household automation systems. All such implementations would be customized to specific tasks and backed by cloud-based artificial intelligence. Some of the components of projects in fields such as cloud robotics could easily find their way into the Azure and Bing clouds.
By making the Project Oxford services as accessible as possible, Microsoft is positioning Azure and Bing to become the cloud platform for this new world of smart products. And ironically in the process, Windows could become even more relevant… as a development platform in a “post-Windows” world.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Do you need IoT-device Wi-Fi connection?
Internet of Things appears to be a wide sense as sensor networks, which are collected and then processing the data in one big data server. However, Qualcomm believes that the IoT devices will be in demand also for wider radio communications.
Qualcomm Atheros subsidiary has introduced two planned IoT devices Wi-circuit. QCA401x circuit is a single-function transmitter, for example, intelligent lamps. It supports the n-type 802.11 connectivity up to 54 Mbps data connection.
QCA4531 circuit is hub solution, which supports up to 16 simultaneous 2×2 MIMO channel contact 108 Mbps data rate. These data links can not IoT nodes need to come, Qualcomm admits.
Time robust data connection to the introduction of IoT devices Qualcomm explained by the fact that the Coalition IoT market will oleaan very fragmented. It requires a very different radio circuits, as the needs of different applications are so different.
In order for the new Wi-Fi chips äyttöönotto would be easier to AllJoyn is pre-installed software framework
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2835:tarvitaanko-iot-laitteeseen-wifi-yhteys&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Team IoT’s IoT Relay makes use of an Arduino or other dev boards for Wi-Fi or home automation projects.
The IoT and home automation undoubtedly go hand in hand and while there are kits (SmartThings, Insteon, Nexia, etc.) available that can automate homes, they tend to be limited in function and costly. Team IoT’s relay solution isn’t limited to home automation as it makes use of an Arduino (or other dev boards), allowing users to create any number of IoT projects such as an automated feeder for fish tanks. The IoT Relay features four outlets to connect any number of devices and has a universal voltage control (3.3V to 60VDC or 12-120VAC) with a thermal circuit breaker, allowing users to control power safely without damaging their devices. The best part is that it only costs $20, however it doesn’t come with an Arduino so users will have to supply their own.
Source: http://www.edn.com/design/diy/4439431/10-Arduino-based-crowd-funded-projects-that-deserve-a-look
Tomi Engdahl says:
Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and its impact on the design of automation systems
http://www.edn.com/design/analog/4439432/Industrial-Internet-of-Things–IIoT–and-its-impact-on-the-design-of-automation-systems
The Path to Industry 4.0 Is via the IIoT
In Industry 4.0 production from inception to delivery will be based on communication among the parts to be created and the assembly line machines. Germany is pushing this IIoT movement to leverage their manufacturing and embedded software expertise within the industrial domain. In the United States General Electric (GE) is working on a similar initiative called, ‘The Industrial Internet’”1
Manufacturing is the sector that can get the most leverage from the IoT because of the sheer amount of data captured and processed within manufacturing. And data is the underpinning of the IIoT since it can all be analyzed and visualized to help optimize operations and costs. Within manufacturing the intelligent sensors, distributed control, and complex, secure software are the glue for this new revolution.
What Exactly Is the IIoT?
Industry experts and market analysts define the IIoT.
“The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is the next wave of innovation impacting the way the world connects and optimizes machines. The IIoT, through the use of sensors, advanced analytics and intelligent decision making, will profoundly transform the way field assets connect and communicate with the enterprise. ”2
“Leading O&G companies are building an infrastructure where sensors, data management, advanced analytics and automation are being used to unlock production, reduce operating costs and optimize assets.”3
“The Industrial Internet, a connected network of intelligent machines working the way they are intended, will transform business as dramatically as the consumer Internet has changed our lives.”4
Tomi Engdahl says:
If home energy monitoring is something users are interested in, then they should check out OpenEnergyMonitor’s emonPi, a Raspberry Pi and Arduino open-source home energy and environment monitor. The device uses the RPi (any model) with an Arduino compatible ATmega328 shield to process data collected from various sensors that monitor everything from electrical current use to temperature levels in various areas of the home. The data is then transmitted wirelessly so users can check the information on a Web-based app that can be accessed anywhere. All the electronics are packed into a nice aluminum housing that can be placed or mounted anywhere and comes as a disassembled kit or ready-to-go outside the box. The emonPi is currently being funded on Kickstarter and users can get their hands on one (fully assembled) for about $193.
Source: http://www.edn.com/design/diy/4439431/5/10-Arduino-based-crowd-funded-projects-that-deserve-a-look
Details: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/openenergymonitor/emonpi-open-hardware-raspberry-pi-based-energy-mon
Tomi Engdahl says:
Logos Electromechanical’s Arachnio is an Arduino-based board with integrated Wi-Fi and native USB port
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/logos-electro/arachnio
Tomi Engdahl says:
Arduino Yun Mini
http://arduino.org/products/arduino-yun-mini
Arduino Yun Mini is a breadboard PCB developed with ATmega 32u4 MCU and QCA MIPS 24K SoC CPU operating up to 400 MHz. Qualcomm Atheros CPU supports a Linux distribution based on OpenWRT named Linino. The board has built- in WiFi ( IEEE 802.11b/g/n operations up to 150Mbps 1×1 2.4 GHz ) supports 20 digital input/output pins (of which 7 can be used as PWM outputs and 12 as analog inputs), a 16 MHz crystal oscillator, a micro USB connector, an ICSP header, two reset buttons and one user button.
The Arduino Yún Mini is similar to the Leonardo in that the ATmega32u4 has built-in USB communication, eliminating the need for a secondary processor. This allows the Arduino Yún Mini to appear to a connected computer as a mouse and keyboard, in addition to a virtual (CDC) serial / COM port.
The Bridge library facilitates communication between the two processors, giving Arduino sketches the ability to run shell scripts, communicate with network interfaces, and receive information from the AR9331 processor.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ask Hackaday: The Internet of Things and the Coming Age of Big Data
http://hackaday.com/2015/05/18/ask-hackaday-the-internet-of-things-and-the-coming-age-of-big-data/
Samsung has thrown its hat into the Internet of Things ring with its ARTIK platform. Consisting of three boards, each possesses a capability proportional to their size. The smallest comes in at just 12x12mm, but still packs a dual core processor running at 250MHz on top of 5 MB flash with bluetooth. The largest is 29x39mm and sports a 1.3GHz ARM, 18 gigs of memory and an array of connectivity. The ARTIK platform is advertised to be completely compatible with the Arduino platform.
Each of these little IoT boards is also equipped with Samsung’s Secure Element. Worthy of an article on its own, this crypto hardware appears to be built into the processor, and supports several standards.
Wiki defines the IoT as –
“a network of physical objects or “things” embedded with electronics, software, sensors and connectivity to enable it to achieve greater value and service by exchanging data with the manufacturer, operator and/or other connected devices.”
ARTIK platform
https://www.artik.io/
Tomi Engdahl says:
ARTIK
https://www.artik.io/
ARTIK data sheet
https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/ssic-iot/hardware/artik-1/pdf/Specification_sheet_ARTIK-1.pdf?mtime=20150512034853
MIPS
Core
AP/Memory/PMIC
BLE
/
HW
Security/
Sensor
Module
Development Environments
Arduino® IDE
Samsung SDK
C/C+
Tomi Engdahl says:
“Millions of developers and makers now rely on open platforms and easy-to-access technology to bring their work to life. We’re very excited to make ARTIK fully Arduino-compatible, which will give our community the tools to create something revolutionary in IoT.”
Massimo Banzi, Co-founder Arduino
Source: https://www.artik.io/
Tomi Engdahl says:
. Can we make the coming IoT revolution open source? Because if we can, our community will be able to help ensure safety and privacy and keep our personal data out of the government’s hands. If we cannot, and the closed source side of things wins, we’ll have no choice but to dig in and weed out the vulnerabilities the hard way. So keep your soldering irons sharp and your bus pirates calibrated. There’s a war brewing.
Source: http://hackaday.com/2015/05/18/ask-hackaday-the-internet-of-things-and-the-coming-age-of-big-data/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Everybody is talking about what we CAN do but nobody ask IF we should do it.
I’m interested in the technology and I see a few Use Cases where IoT makes sense, like metering of energy and water consumption but why would I need a showerhead or a toaster with Wifi?
For me IoT is a similar buzzword like industry 4.0… everybody is talking about it, every company is advertising with fancy stuff. But do I see useful products or ideas coming out of that hype? Very few.
In my eyes *grab popcorn* IoT and Industry 4.0 hypes made by people who have no idea about technologie…
simply shiny advertising about how cool this stuff is.
Source: Comment from http://hackaday.com/2015/05/18/ask-hackaday-the-internet-of-things-and-the-coming-age-of-big-data/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Triumph Prototypes Bra as Wearable Device
http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20150515/418380/
Triumph International Japan prototyped a bra that has a speech recognition function, can measure heart rate and the amount of activity and feature other functions normally used for wearable devices.
“We evolved a bra, which is the ultimate wearable device for women, so that it not only makes the wearer look beautiful but also has many functions to enhearten her,” the company said.
It took six months to design the concept of the bra, “Triumph Wearable Bra for Female Attractiveness,” and prototype it. Triumph International Japan is not planning to commercialize it.
The bra comes with four major functions.
First, the bra has a speech recognition/response function
Second, when the “excitement button” located in the center of the bra is pressed, the “excitement lamp” blinks on and off with a pattern in accordance with the heart rate
Third, the bra comes with the “excitement pad,” which can measure calorie consumption, the number of steps, travel distance, sleeping hours, etc.
Fourth, a selfie stick is attached to one side of the bra.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wireless MCU advances smart home and IoT designs
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4439453/Wireless-MCU-advances-smart-home-and-IoT-designs?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150518&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150518&elq=54132f51f1d24b30a9e4872ed6c4031b&elqCampaignId=23031&elqaid=25931&elqat=1&elqTrackId=5f0d694370a34dc4be6bdcb137523e03
Marvell has launched the 88MZ300, an IEEE 802.15.4/ZigBee wireless microcontroller SoC offering RF performance that more than doubles the transmission range and reduces power consumption by 50% over Marvell’s previous generation 88MZ100 SoC. Together with its support for open standards, including the upcoming ZigBee 3.0 and Thread protocols, the 88MZ300 SoC, along with a ZigBee to WiFi bridge reference design and an ecosystem of hardware manufacturers and system integration partners, enables OEMs to bring innovative IoT and home automation applications to market.
With a 120-dBm link budget (+13 dBm Tx and -107 dBm Rx) and integrated 13-dBm power amp, the 88MZ300 enables devices to reach the farthest distance, penetrate obstacles, and withstand interference even in harsh environments.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kemi Compus developed industrial internet market in the world
European Commission to allocate EUR 148 million to improving European competitiveness. Lapland University of Applied Sciences is the only Finnish higher education institution involved in the work.
Mantis has a budget of 30.7 million, of which Lapin showing your share of € 455 000.
Mantis main theme is to create a software platform for predictive maintenance purposes. English name of the project as a whole is Cyber Physical System based Collaborative Proactive Maintenance. Mantis project is coordinated by Spanish Mondragon University. Finland is the coordinator VTT in Espoo.
Finland is involved in the energy sector have, and Fortum Power & Heat, the advent of development the main focus was selected as the traditional energy production. In addition to showing your Lapland Fortum and Finnish consortium, VTT, Nome, Solteq and Wa
The project will take three years during which time AMKissa be made to the 54 man-months.
The project involves 30 European companies and 17 research organizations. The best-known companies involved are probably Fortum, Danfoss, Vestas, Atlas Copco, Philips, John Deere and Bosch.
Internet of things made available
Factory Internet has recently been much talk. In what way, then the world will be better after three years?
- There are a lot of intelligence to production equipment and technology. Currently, information is limited and information is a number. Now the aim is to get for the process critical data in the cloud and control from there – that is to create a genuine internet of things, Antti Niemelä says.
- We Finns have traditionally good technology development, but the practical application of limping, Ville Rauhala continues.
At the moment, information and communication technology have advanced at home and in factories. The new type of control is the most advanced entertainment-electronics.
- For example, wireless communication is in homes every day, but the industry still prefer the wire is pulled, Antti Niemelä concretize the current state of the industry.
Industry is not necessarily in the future in large plants but many units in different parts of Europe. Traditional factory perception changes when the production assembly of components. Efficient logistics solutions increase value. Internet of things will help here as well.
- The majority of industrial internet technology could in future become Europe. Even now, the technology used in mines 70 per cent comes from Finland or Sweden. Why is not the situation would be the same here too, Ville Rauhala sue.
A small setback in the preparation of Mantis was seen as Volvo’s withdrawal from the project were the Swedes out completely. At the same time remained out of showing your traditional partner, the University of Luleå, which annoys the project engineers to some extent.
The most economically lean times, and tougher competition are VTT and university research partners such as industry more and more important. This has also been the Lapland AMKissa and the importance of maintenance research has been recognized.
Source: http://www.lapinamk.fi/news/Kemin-Compuksessa-kehitetaan-teollista-internetia-maailmanmarkkinoille/29277/a3a895df-aea9-4ba1-83d4-5f20c1430329
Tomi Engdahl says:
Exclusive: Apple delays HomeKit launch for some devices
http://fortune.com/2015/05/14/apple-delays-homekit-launch/
Apple’s connected home platform will likely arrive in early fall, rather than early summer.
Apple fans awaiting the company’s home automation platform, HomeKit, may have to wait longer than expected for some of its features to appear on select partners’ devices. Sources participating in the program tell Fortune that the launch date for some devices has moved back from an anticipated May or June time-frame to something closer to late August or September.
To be clear, Apple has never announced a launch date for HomeKit, but partners had said during this year’s CES, the annual consumer electronics trade show, to expect something in spring. One partner had told Re/code to expect products in time for Mother’s Day or Father’s Day.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Unilever global SVP Marc Mathieu hails implant as ‘next frontier’ to smart watches
http://www.thedrum.com/news/2015/05/14/unilever-global-svp-marc-mathieu-hails-implant-next-frontier-smart-watches
Smart watches will pave the way to the “next frontier” in connectivity which could see the rise in popularity of implants, according to Unilever’s global senior vice president of brand marketing Marc Mathieu.
“People are always on, never offline. That is the next frontier. Now we have it on our wrist, but I would be surprised if we don’t do it in an implant form pretty soon. Why have it on your wrist if you can have it permanently in you?” he said.
He pointed to the rise of mobile, social media and increased consumer demand for content, along with the internet of things as just some of the catalysts prompting a radical change in how marketers build their brands.
“The question is how do we ensure we bring the consumer on the journey with us in this world that is changing? It’s easy for us to think technology first, not people first. We must remember we are doing our job as marketers for people first,” he said.
People pull in brands like Apple because of iTunes, and Google with search, maps and email “multiple times and on our terms”, Mathieu said.
“The audience is not listening to you any more. we need to think about that in terms of how we build brands in the future,” he added.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Antuan Goodwin / CNET:
Automatic smart driving monitor now connects your car to over 20 apps
http://www.cnet.com/news/automatic-launches-app-gallery-second-generation-hardware/
Today, Automatic launches its new App Gallery of third-party apps and rolls out the second-generation of its OBD-II adapter.
Two years ago, the Automatic smart driving monitor launched as a sort of “fitbit for cars,” connecting on-board diagnostic (OBD) technology to the Web to present driving data in a way that almost anyone can understand. Today, Automatic launches its Automatic App Gallery, a sort of app store for cars with over 20 apps that work with Automatic’s hardware, alongside a new developer platform and second-generation hardware.
Third-party app integration is not exactly new to Automatic. The smart driving monitor already boasts integration with a handful of apps and services including Nest home automation and IFTTT. The App Gallery is a collection where all current and future Automatic compatible apps will be listed to aid in user discovery.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IoT Security Faces Policy Gap
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1326622&
The Internet of Things can bring down barriers that currently exist between vertical markets and domains so valuable information can be shared more readily to everyone’s benefit. The value of moving data easily among sensors, devices and the cloud is clear, but enabling this capability raises serious privacy and security issues that we must address to foster the continued advancement of the IoT.
The issues of security and privacy are especially important when you consider healthcare, a sector at the forefront of IoT development. Individuals may authorize some physicians and others to access their personal health care information, but one can imagine severe, even life-threatening consequences of unsecure IoT networks supporting individual medical devices. Unauthorized access to networks, where someone could see—or change—medical data, is something that must be prevented.
The security risks aren’t limited to healthcare. Imagine the consequences of a cyber attack that shuts down electricity or street lighting.
The development of appropriate standards is essential to ensuring security and privacy and helping drive this horizontal IoT transition, but such work probably is not enough on its own. The bigger problem is that a gap exists between today’s technology and how policies regarding privacy and security are created.
Technology’s spread today is global. On the Internet, IP packets zip across the globe. However, privacy and security issues are regional, and in some cases even a single country may have numerous sub-regions.
To close this gap between policy making and technology development we need to encourage and build cohesion through a global platform for collaborative exchange of information and expertise between policy makers and technologists. The IEEE has launched the IEEE Internet Initiative to connect the voice of the technical community to global policymaking for Internet governance, cybersecurity, and privacy.
Tomi Engdahl says:
News & Analysis
China Wonders: Whither Wearable Wares?
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326620&
DONGGUAN, China — Surveys indicate that 45.7 percent of consumers stop using their wearable devices within a month. In six months, that number swells to almost 99 percent. The sobering stats that show how quickly wearables pass into oblivion comes from a survey by Tencent, China’s popular Internet service portal. They illustrate the dilemma of the wearable market in China — which designs, produces and consumes a majority of the world’s wearable devices.
Many Chinese system and IC designers are keenly aware that they’ve got to rethink this whole thing if they want a viable future for wearable electronics.
Chinese vendors see the nascent wearable market, despite its uncertainties, as their chance to seize the initiative, compared to their catch-up/copycat status in smartphones.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ARM, UMC to Roll 55nm Ultra-Low Power IoT Chips
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326628&
TAIPEI — ARM and United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC), the world’s second-largest chip foundry, announced Monday (May 18) what they say is the first availability of a new ARM Artisan physical IP platform on 55nm to accelerate embedded systems and Internet of Things (IoT) device development.
UMC is targeting its 55nm ultra-low-power (ULP) technology for energy-efficient IoT applications. The new physical IP offering will help chip design teams accelerate and simplify the implementation of ARM-based SoC designs for IoT and other embedded applications, the companies said in a press statement.
The technology is targeted at wearable devices, UMC spokesman Richard Yu told EE Times. Wearables need ULP technology to prolong battery life because wearable products and sensors are in an “always on” status, Yu said.
The Artisan physical IP platform is expected to help enhance UMC’s ULP technology to maximize power efficiency and reduce leakage, the companies said. Features such as thick gate oxide support and long, multi-channel library options are expected to give SoC designers multiple tools to help optimize IoT applications.
ARM and UMC Target New 55nm ULP Physical IP Solution for Energy-Efficient Applications
http://www.umc.com/English/news/2015/20150518.asp
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wearables Pocket IoT Crowdfunding
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326652&
Incubator Wearable World hosted an event to showcase the intersection of crowdsourced startups and big-name tech giants scrambling for position in this emerging sector of the Internet of Things.
Hardware startups want to build lean, Indiegogo CEO and co-founder Slava Rubin told attendees, and those startups often use crowdfunding as a way to augment their staff. Recently, venture capital firms have taken to crowdfunding platforms as a way to determine whether a startup has truly developed a product that fits a market, he said.
The result may be a more robust climate for startups, as well as a wider variety of devices offered by major vendors.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Charles Clover / Financial Times:
Huawei launches Lite OS, an operating system for the Internet of Things
— Huawei launches ‘internet of things’ operating system — Huawei, the Chinese telecoms group, has launched an operating system designed to work exclusively with internet connected objects — from cars to watches to toothbrushes …
Huawei launches ‘internet of things’ operating system
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0%2F240ef87e-fea8-11e4-8efb-00144feabdc0.html
Huawei, the Chinese telecoms group, has launched an operating system designed to work exclusively with internet connected objects — from cars to watches to toothbrushes — which it predicts will number more than 100bn by 2025.
the company’s “Lite OS” was part of the group’s strategy to take advantage of the “internet of things”
Even the humble electric toothbrush, he said, could one day “record how often and how effectively you brush your teeth, and could tell you when to do it and how to do it better”.
Huawei is offering device suppliers its open source technology to connect their gadgets to the internet. “We want to provide the connections, not the devices,”
The Lite OS launch comes a month after Tencent, the Chinese internet group, revealed its own operating system dedicated to connected devices.
Tomi Engdahl says:
8051 Development Targets IoT
http://www.eeweb.com/news/8051-development-targets-iot
IAR Systems® announced the release of its new version of the development toolchain IAR Embedded Workbench® for 8051. The high-performance compiler and debugger toolchain has been further improved with added support for new IoT-targeted microcontrollers as well as parallel build for shorten build times.
The 8051 technology has become very popular in low-power, sensor-dense Internet of Things (IoT) applications. To make full use of these devices, developers need powerful, easy-to-use tools that create small and smart code. Version 9.20 of IAR Embedded Workbench for 8051 adds full support for the EFM8 microcontroller series from Silicon Labs. The energy-efficient EFM8 MCUs are targeted for IoT systems processing data that comes from port I/O or sensor inputs.
Tomi Engdahl says:
NFC Interface IC with Energy Harvesting
http://www.eeweb.com/news/nfc-interface-ic-with-energy-harvesting
ams AG (SIX: AMS) announced the release of the AS3955, an NFC interface chip (NFiC™) which offers unique energy harvesting and data transfer capabilities.
Like its predecessor the AS3953, the AS3955 provides a contactless bridge between an NFC reader (for instance, a smartphone or tablet) and any microcontroller. But the AS3955 can also act as a power supply for the host device, harvesting as much as 5mA at 4.5V – enough to charge a
Li-ion cell battery – from the RF energy radiated by an NFC reader.
The AS3955 also offers the designer a choice of two bi-directional data transfer modes. The Extended mode allows the use of standard NFC tag commands to transfer data with minimum processing overhead on the host microcontroller. A second mode, the Tunneling mode, provides a transparent and fully flexible channel between the reader and the host microcontroller, leaving the user free to implement any standard or proprietary communication protocol. Neither mode requires data buffering in the AS3955’s internal EEPROM memory, resulting in faster data transfers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The company predicted that 22 per cent of the estimated 100bn “smart” connections by 2025 would be lifestyle gadgets such as watches and phones, with a further 18 per cent smart home gadgets such as vacuum cleaners and televisions. The rest would be mainly business and manufacturing related, utilities, cars, and “smart city” gadgets, Huawei predicted.
Source: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0%2F240ef87e-fea8-11e4-8efb-00144feabdc0.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
The ‘Internet of Things’ will be the world’s most massive device market and save companies billions of dollars
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-internet-of-things-market-growth-and-trends-2015-2#ixzz3alR7CswD
Tomi Engdahl says:
Huawei’s LiteOS Internet of Things Operating System Is a Minuscule 10KB
http://linux.slashdot.org/story/15/05/20/2054257/huaweis-liteos-internet-of-things-operating-system-is-a-minuscule-10kb
Chinese firm Huawei today announces its IoT OS at an event in Beijing. The company predicts that within a decade there will be 100 billion connected devices and it is keen for its ultra-lightweight operating system to be at the heart of the infrastructure. Based on Linux, LiteOS weighs in at a mere 10KB
The operating system will be open for developers to tinker with, and is destined for use in smart homes, wearables, and connected vehicles.
Huawei’s LiteOS Internet of Things operating system is a minuscule 10KB
http://betanews.com/2015/05/20/huaweis-liteos-internet-of-things/
Chinese firm Huawei today announces its IoT OS at an event in Beijing. The company predicts that within a decade there will be 100 billion connected devices and it is keen for its ultra-lightweight operating system to be at the heart of the infrastructure.
Based on Linux, LiteOS weighs in at a mere 10KB — smaller than a Word document — but manages to pack in support for zero configuration, auto-discovery, and auto-networking. The operating system will be open for developers to tinker with, and is destined for use in smart homes, wearables, and connected vehicles.
LiteOS will run on Huawei’s newly announced Agile Network 3.0 Architecture and the company hopes that by promoting a standard infrastructure, it will be able to push the development of internet and IoT applications.