Here is wishing you happy holidays! Do buy and gift connected devices to friends and family :P
Monday, December 15, 2014
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Health Monitoring continued..
As we discussed last month, there is a lot to be covered in terms of Health monitoring systems. The most interesting concept I found here was about BAN. Body Area Network! Really! We have come a long way from Wide Area Networks (WAN) to Local Area Network (LAN) and now Body Area Network.
The need of BAN itself suggests that we have multiple wearable computing devices! These devices might be inside the body (embedded or implants Really! , Doesn't it sound like a Hollywood Sci-Fi movie) or they can be mounted on surface. One more thing BAN is also known as WBAN (Wireless BAN) or BSN (Body Sensor Network).
Image courtesy : http://www.wica.intec.ugent.be/research/wireless-body-area-networks
The current focus in on miniaturization , all the devices are getting smaller and smaller. Also devices that can be injected inside the body. Definitely a lot of research is going on and there is a long way to go. Most importantly now that devices will be injected inside the body , they really have to be tiny and there are going to be tight constraints on connectivity and power.
The continuous data collection gives good amount of reliable data points to the doctor to make better decisions. (Lets talk about IBM watson soon) Also immediate assistance can be provided. You don't have to rely on patients inputs.
Health care IoT wouldn't be possible without following technologies
• Low-power operation : So that the device footprint is small
• Integrated precision-analog capabilities : high accuracy and low cost ( high resolution ADC and low power op-amps come in play here
• Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) : To get user readable and useful data
FDA and FCC are getting more strict about the standards for the same and I think its essential
---
Fun thing : so there are some smart tooth brushes available, it will be so cool for moms to check if their kids are brushing the teeth properly and the level of plaque/germs etc.
A lot of us have heard mom talking about the same almost every morning! :P
--
The need of BAN itself suggests that we have multiple wearable computing devices! These devices might be inside the body (embedded or implants Really! , Doesn't it sound like a Hollywood Sci-Fi movie) or they can be mounted on surface. One more thing BAN is also known as WBAN (Wireless BAN) or BSN (Body Sensor Network).
Image courtesy : http://www.wica.intec.ugent.be/research/wireless-body-area-networks
The current focus in on miniaturization , all the devices are getting smaller and smaller. Also devices that can be injected inside the body. Definitely a lot of research is going on and there is a long way to go. Most importantly now that devices will be injected inside the body , they really have to be tiny and there are going to be tight constraints on connectivity and power.
The continuous data collection gives good amount of reliable data points to the doctor to make better decisions. (Lets talk about IBM watson soon) Also immediate assistance can be provided. You don't have to rely on patients inputs.
Health care IoT wouldn't be possible without following technologies
• Low-power operation : So that the device footprint is small
• Integrated precision-analog capabilities : high accuracy and low cost ( high resolution ADC and low power op-amps come in play here
• Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) : To get user readable and useful data
FDA and FCC are getting more strict about the standards for the same and I think its essential
---
Fun thing : so there are some smart tooth brushes available, it will be so cool for moms to check if their kids are brushing the teeth properly and the level of plaque/germs etc.
A lot of us have heard mom talking about the same almost every morning! :P
--
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Health Monitoring Systems and Fitness Trackers
Now this one is my personal favorite. Fitness trackers! I recently got a fitibit one and I am loving it. There are plenty good options available in the market and its a must try!
Unless something is measured or quantified, it can not be improved.. I kept arguing with myself that I do have a healthy lifestyle,. When I look at the number is steps I take or the active minutes of the day.. The other me , has to keep quite and accept that there is long way to go :)
Fitness trackers , I think they are one of the must have devices after phones. These days phones have the capabilities to track the steps , calories and distance but you don't carry your phone everywhere.
Unfortunately I have a tracker that doesn't measure heart rate, but I do have a heart rate monitor. So I can actually see if I am in the fat burning zone when I am running. This is so convenient and its so important to get expected results. People have been complaining for ages that about not getting the expected results after working out for hours! Guess what lets get smarter with these intelligent devices and let them work on the decision making.
Just one pain point I have is charging , I stay in Texas , we have more than fair (way more than fair) share of sun throughout the year. so why do I have to charge my device? When its not sunny I am moving around, there is a lot of energy available for utilization. I am sure Soon we will see this coming on a larger scale.
Well lets look at the more technical details of the product and understanding the underlying architecture. Let me explain a generic architecture in fitness trackers.
I have just added few examples of the sensors. There are multiple sensors available in the market for the same purpose. This is the data collection module. For data processing its important that minimal processing is done on the device and data is sent to the central node/server for further processing. The processing has to definitely low power. (This reminds me of my VLSI classes). Last module is the connectivity module. Currently most of the devices use Bluetooth for connectivity but with the enhancements in networks , there will be much more options available. May be the carriers decide to roll out enhance their networks so that all devices are connected. You can purchase n number of connected devices with your AT&T plan. There are infinite possibilities.
Safety and Fitness Trackers
Whenever we talk about wearables , its very important that the safety features are taken into account. These wearables are in touch with the body. Its very very important to comply with all the safety standards.Recently a giant recalled one of their products due to skin allergies.
Now there are more than 7 billion people in this world and no two human beings are alike. Oh My God , are we looking at 7 billion conditions to test? There are a lot of things happening inside this small unit.
When you are being innovative one can think of numerous possibilities but at the end its necessary to comply to all the FCC safety standards.
From RF point of view, the RF interference/exposure created by the device has to be less than permissible amount. Factors like SAR also need to be taken into account. I have covered the details in antenna testing in older posts.
--
On a broader scale the complete health monitoring system has a lot more than fitness trackers.
IoT will be truly revolutionizing the health care industry. Remote monitoring and lots of data are the two key factors for the same. There are sensors of every kind currently available in the market.
It will be an excellent way to remote monitor the patient , that will save huge medical costs ( only if the prices go down.).
This topic needs more details and a lot of points need to be captured. Lets continue in the next blog..
Unless something is measured or quantified, it can not be improved.. I kept arguing with myself that I do have a healthy lifestyle,. When I look at the number is steps I take or the active minutes of the day.. The other me , has to keep quite and accept that there is long way to go :)
Unfortunately I have a tracker that doesn't measure heart rate, but I do have a heart rate monitor. So I can actually see if I am in the fat burning zone when I am running. This is so convenient and its so important to get expected results. People have been complaining for ages that about not getting the expected results after working out for hours! Guess what lets get smarter with these intelligent devices and let them work on the decision making.
Just one pain point I have is charging , I stay in Texas , we have more than fair (way more than fair) share of sun throughout the year. so why do I have to charge my device? When its not sunny I am moving around, there is a lot of energy available for utilization. I am sure Soon we will see this coming on a larger scale.
Well lets look at the more technical details of the product and understanding the underlying architecture. Let me explain a generic architecture in fitness trackers.
I have just added few examples of the sensors. There are multiple sensors available in the market for the same purpose. This is the data collection module. For data processing its important that minimal processing is done on the device and data is sent to the central node/server for further processing. The processing has to definitely low power. (This reminds me of my VLSI classes). Last module is the connectivity module. Currently most of the devices use Bluetooth for connectivity but with the enhancements in networks , there will be much more options available. May be the carriers decide to roll out enhance their networks so that all devices are connected. You can purchase n number of connected devices with your AT&T plan. There are infinite possibilities.
Safety and Fitness Trackers
Whenever we talk about wearables , its very important that the safety features are taken into account. These wearables are in touch with the body. Its very very important to comply with all the safety standards.Recently a giant recalled one of their products due to skin allergies.
Now there are more than 7 billion people in this world and no two human beings are alike. Oh My God , are we looking at 7 billion conditions to test? There are a lot of things happening inside this small unit.
When you are being innovative one can think of numerous possibilities but at the end its necessary to comply to all the FCC safety standards.
From RF point of view, the RF interference/exposure created by the device has to be less than permissible amount. Factors like SAR also need to be taken into account. I have covered the details in antenna testing in older posts.
--
On a broader scale the complete health monitoring system has a lot more than fitness trackers.
IoT will be truly revolutionizing the health care industry. Remote monitoring and lots of data are the two key factors for the same. There are sensors of every kind currently available in the market.
It will be an excellent way to remote monitor the patient , that will save huge medical costs ( only if the prices go down.).
This topic needs more details and a lot of points need to be captured. Lets continue in the next blog..
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Say Cheeseee
Yes Cameras! Lets talk about IOT and cameras. The first and foremost type of camera that will come to anyone's mind when thinking about IOT and camera is security cameras on the road, malls, home etc. Thats just a limited version of cameras in IOT.
Lets look into more details on what IOT+camera do for us. (May be apart from taking selfies ! :P).
The concept is not very difficult, you have a camera that captures the images (this is the input module) and there us a connectivity module, this module will store your images on the server /central location.
So whats so new about this? Whats so special? One thing to note here, innovation is not equal to discovery. This is a very simple solution can be so useful , that it can be a game changer in terms of security.
The complexity for IoT and cameras lies in the kind of data thats generated. Complex and intensive image processing algorithms come in play here
I am absolutely not a person from this background, for me its just astonishing to make sense out of images and I have tremendous curiosity for the same.
Getting back to the topic , Earlier this month "Weaved, Kii and Astak teamed up on a new IP camera platform that features Internet of things connectivity, open APIs and an online developer portal."
Lets see where it takes the whole connected cameras scenario!
Eye-Fi : a Wi-Fi SD card can be the connectivity module for your digital camera. This memory card enables the data transfer from your camera over Wi-Fi.
Definitely only Wi-Fi connectivity is not sufficient. We need cameras connecting trough cellular network too. Another challenge would be the data transfer. When we are looking at higher quality images, better algorithms for efficient and faster transfer would be required. It can be some kind of compression without compromising quality or transfers.
NFC can also be used for these cameras, that way the images can be transferred to central node, a phone or a tablet.
Sunday, July 27, 2014
ZOooom....ZOOOoooom....zoooOOOM!!
This month its about the transportation. Lets discuss connected Cars!
I would like to discuss the technology that enables the connectivity here. In order to connect to different servers, there is going to be a major dependency on the cellular technologies.
Some basic features include, monitor the car usage from your phone , monitor the health of the car, predict breakdown (crowd-sourcing and more and more data from similar cars can help here) , find the stolen car. Most importantly for people like me, who can never get there car in the mall parking lot , finding the car in the parking lot will be a big help!
The use case that I want to discuss in depth is having multiple connected cars and connected roads.
Ok, I agree connected roads sound weird! :P
So what if all the cars are connected and they are sending information about themselves to a central server. Now we already have information about road conditions, incidents. Depending upon the behavior of other cars, we can get the shortest route ,fastest route. A lot of predictive analysis will be required here. For example, there is a cowboys game and we know 10000 cars are going toward the cowboy stadium , depending on the purchased parking, the GPS will show the route and will route the cars to their parking spots. This will make a significant difference in thw way this situation is currently handled.
The heart of any IoT is the seamless connectivity to the servers. In case of cars, it get little tricky due to the speeds and unlimited possibilities of driving. What if I am driving through Nevada or North Dakota where one might experience extreme heat or snow , and I need my car to be connected.
There are two options for connectivity
1. Use cellular networks
2. Wi-Fi network
The M2M communication or communication between two cars need not happen over any of these.
M2M communication can be used to avoid collisions, request help in case of emergency etc.
This year there has been crazy stuff going on about connected cars! Cisco's vision of internet of things at the CES this year has captured everyone's attention.
Connected CARs , I think this is a true game changer! Its a green field.. all open for imaginations , I am sure it will lead to some of the biggest innovations in the recent times.
The above picture shows some of the expected things a connected car can do.. As I said this is a very very limited discussion. Its a green field and has tremendous scope..
I would like to discuss the technology that enables the connectivity here. In order to connect to different servers, there is going to be a major dependency on the cellular technologies.
Some basic features include, monitor the car usage from your phone , monitor the health of the car, predict breakdown (crowd-sourcing and more and more data from similar cars can help here) , find the stolen car. Most importantly for people like me, who can never get there car in the mall parking lot , finding the car in the parking lot will be a big help!
The use case that I want to discuss in depth is having multiple connected cars and connected roads.
Ok, I agree connected roads sound weird! :P
So what if all the cars are connected and they are sending information about themselves to a central server. Now we already have information about road conditions, incidents. Depending upon the behavior of other cars, we can get the shortest route ,fastest route. A lot of predictive analysis will be required here. For example, there is a cowboys game and we know 10000 cars are going toward the cowboy stadium , depending on the purchased parking, the GPS will show the route and will route the cars to their parking spots. This will make a significant difference in thw way this situation is currently handled.
The heart of any IoT is the seamless connectivity to the servers. In case of cars, it get little tricky due to the speeds and unlimited possibilities of driving. What if I am driving through Nevada or North Dakota where one might experience extreme heat or snow , and I need my car to be connected.
There are two options for connectivity
1. Use cellular networks
2. Wi-Fi network
The M2M communication or communication between two cars need not happen over any of these.
M2M communication can be used to avoid collisions, request help in case of emergency etc.
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Security and IoT : A reality check!
Ok ,a lot of data is transferred from my devices to servers or my other devices. You know exactly what I am doing, how many steps I walked , when I leave home, whats the temperature of my AC and what not! SO my entire life is out there. Is this data actually secure? Is it ok to use all nthese fancy devices and gadgets ?
You , your things, your places, your home, your health everything is connected and what if someone has access to it? What if your neighbor plays with your AC settings (:P)
What if it just gets chaotic!!
I have no intentions to scare you. The intention is that we all should be aware of the security concerns threats and definitely what are people working on to prevent those
One thing for sure id with more and more connected devices, along with convinience comes security issues!
There is always a price to be paid for all the luxuries and comforts you get.. Unfortunately security is the price here...
Lets look at the system architecture here
The architecture is simple, the connected device/thing is connected through a phone, tablet or computer.
Phone or tablet acts as a gateway.
The gateway is connected to cloud.
Where all the processing happens.
The challenges for IoT security is we are looking at multiple protocols or combinations of wireless protocols for data transfer.
Another major hurdle is too many devices communicating at the same time.
Think of it in this way, if you put some grains over a surface area of 10 sq meters, may be 50 pigeons can attack the food. Now you have grains spread over an acre of land, just imagine how many pigeons can compete for food!!
The concept of "exposed surface area" remains the same in the field of IT security too.
In order to secure data, we also cant make the poor small device consume a lot of power and can add limited processing power on the device
From the device booting up , sending the data to the gateway , authentication during commands and actions, authorization etc all need to be taken into account. Data encryption, secured channels, VPNs are not going to be sufficient. Its very very complicated field and the pace at which IoT is growing , the security is definitely the biggest challenge ahead
You , your things, your places, your home, your health everything is connected and what if someone has access to it? What if your neighbor plays with your AC settings (:P)
What if it just gets chaotic!!
I have no intentions to scare you. The intention is that we all should be aware of the security concerns threats and definitely what are people working on to prevent those
One thing for sure id with more and more connected devices, along with convinience comes security issues!
There is always a price to be paid for all the luxuries and comforts you get.. Unfortunately security is the price here...
Lets look at the system architecture here
The architecture is simple, the connected device/thing is connected through a phone, tablet or computer.
Phone or tablet acts as a gateway.
The gateway is connected to cloud.
Where all the processing happens.
The challenges for IoT security is we are looking at multiple protocols or combinations of wireless protocols for data transfer.
Another major hurdle is too many devices communicating at the same time.
Think of it in this way, if you put some grains over a surface area of 10 sq meters, may be 50 pigeons can attack the food. Now you have grains spread over an acre of land, just imagine how many pigeons can compete for food!!
The concept of "exposed surface area" remains the same in the field of IT security too.
In order to secure data, we also cant make the poor small device consume a lot of power and can add limited processing power on the device
From the device booting up , sending the data to the gateway , authentication during commands and actions, authorization etc all need to be taken into account. Data encryption, secured channels, VPNs are not going to be sufficient. Its very very complicated field and the pace at which IoT is growing , the security is definitely the biggest challenge ahead
Sunday, May 25, 2014
It's All About the Money, Honey!!
The blog has no correlation with Victoria Wood's fantastic book "It's All About the Money, Honey!!"
This month lets look at how the money this month. I am not talking about the banking apps. They have been around for sometime now.
Updates Image : http://mashable.com/2012/06/26/mobile-payments-square-paypal-here/
Lets focus on two technologies for this month
1. Square
2. NFC Payments
First of all Square has made it easy for the smaller vendors to accept credit card payments and second it removes the need of big devices. The best thing about sqaure is its design. The slick design is definitely a winner.
The audio jack has multiple rings : inputs and outputs. For example : a headphone without mic (works only as output) two rings and the one with mic has 3. Square decided to use the inputs for the inputs of the credit card.
Square uses a magnetometer , that connects to the ground tip and mic ring of the headphone jack. The magnetometer converts the magnetic fields in the credit card into an analog electrical signal to send the data read from the card over the microphone input to the app to decode and interpret the analog signal into usable data.
Source : http://hackaday.com/2012/04/18/reading-credit-cards-with-a-tape-head/
With a better usage if millions of already available audio ports, Square has shown excellent product design and great usage of widely available assets
Another technology under discussion this month is NFC payments.
NFC : Near field communications
AT the beginning of the year some banks announcfed that starting 2015 , they will be using NFC.
What if I could simply use my phone or some device to pay for everything. I don't need a physical credit card.
It will definitely take some time before all the transactions are moved to NFC.
NFC (Near Field Communication) is not a new technology. It can be called as an extension to RFID.
It has a set of protocols that enable devices to establish a radio communication with each other. The range here is very less , hardly upto 10cm.
This is anotehr standard of wireless communication but the difference is it uses electromagnetic induction to transfer data. One device induces electric current to the other active or passive device.
With passive device , no power supply is required.
ANy NFC device jas three modes it can work in.
1. NFC Card Emulation : Used for payment and ticketing. The phone acts like a credit card here
2. NFC Read/Write or dual mode : This is used for writing the data to passive components or reading the data from passive/active components
3. NFC peer to peer : So two devices will talk and exchange information
It is said that apple will be changing the game dramatically with some kind of payment system
Read more here :
http://www.wired.com/2014/04/its-only-a-matter-of-time-before-apple-becomes-the-next-way-you-pay/
This fall apple is going to come with some kind of payment system , iPAY may be. But as of now. Its all about speculations.
This month lets look at how the money this month. I am not talking about the banking apps. They have been around for sometime now.
Updates Image : http://mashable.com/2012/06/26/mobile-payments-square-paypal-here/
Lets focus on two technologies for this month
1. Square
2. NFC Payments
First of all Square has made it easy for the smaller vendors to accept credit card payments and second it removes the need of big devices. The best thing about sqaure is its design. The slick design is definitely a winner.
The audio jack has multiple rings : inputs and outputs. For example : a headphone without mic (works only as output) two rings and the one with mic has 3. Square decided to use the inputs for the inputs of the credit card.
Square uses a magnetometer , that connects to the ground tip and mic ring of the headphone jack. The magnetometer converts the magnetic fields in the credit card into an analog electrical signal to send the data read from the card over the microphone input to the app to decode and interpret the analog signal into usable data.
Source : http://hackaday.com/2012/04/18/reading-credit-cards-with-a-tape-head/
With a better usage if millions of already available audio ports, Square has shown excellent product design and great usage of widely available assets
Another technology under discussion this month is NFC payments.
NFC : Near field communications
AT the beginning of the year some banks announcfed that starting 2015 , they will be using NFC.
What if I could simply use my phone or some device to pay for everything. I don't need a physical credit card.
It will definitely take some time before all the transactions are moved to NFC.
NFC (Near Field Communication) is not a new technology. It can be called as an extension to RFID.
It has a set of protocols that enable devices to establish a radio communication with each other. The range here is very less , hardly upto 10cm.
This is anotehr standard of wireless communication but the difference is it uses electromagnetic induction to transfer data. One device induces electric current to the other active or passive device.
With passive device , no power supply is required.
ANy NFC device jas three modes it can work in.
1. NFC Card Emulation : Used for payment and ticketing. The phone acts like a credit card here
2. NFC Read/Write or dual mode : This is used for writing the data to passive components or reading the data from passive/active components
3. NFC peer to peer : So two devices will talk and exchange information
It is said that apple will be changing the game dramatically with some kind of payment system
Read more here :
http://www.wired.com/2014/04/its-only-a-matter-of-time-before-apple-becomes-the-next-way-you-pay/
This fall apple is going to come with some kind of payment system , iPAY may be. But as of now. Its all about speculations.
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Network Testing
I am not sure if everyone is aware of the field of Network Testing. This month I want to bring up the topic of Network Testing and its relation to IoT. Being a product Manager of the system that is designed to efficiently test the cellular and Wi-Fi network , this is definitely my soft corner.
So lets look at the connected world and Network Testing!
We are just so used to having data and calls that we cant imagine life without it.
There is a lot of effort that involved to get us this high speed data and voice calls.
Let me not deviate from the topic of IoT and Network testing. Now that we are looking at every connected device as a thing here. Why not to use that device for testing the network?
The companies spend millions of dollars in network testing every year. There is a lot of testing , analysis and changes required in the whole process. The process is time consuming and expensive too.
So why not use the customer data for network testing?
WAIT , what , use my data for testing? Why ? what about my data security , identity protections etc etc
So lets address this. Some companies did come up with an agent that sits on the customer phone and will send the network data to the operator after every finite time interval. They had taken care not to expose the user's identity and location but still got into the security issues and unfortunately not all of them could continue.
You can read the article published in 2011 here.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/dear-carrier-iq-if-you-want-to-track-me-you-need-to-ask-me-first/2011/12/05/gIQArFNrfO_story.html
Lets look at the technology and architecture behind that.
There are certain android telephony APIs and Modem APIs that give information like RSRP, SiNR , RSRQ , failed events like RACH failures, call drops etc. If this information and usage information is combined and sent to the server. The server can definitely analyse that data and come up with relevant conclusions on hows the coverage, capacity , quality and behavior of the network. Whats the reason for failure scenarios.
How can the network be improved and what changes will be required? All this analysis and information is done and stored on the server. This data is very very useful for the operators.
Actually network testing itself a huge topic for discussion and I might end writing about it for multiple blogs as I work in this sector.
So lets look at the connected world and Network Testing!
We are just so used to having data and calls that we cant imagine life without it.
There is a lot of effort that involved to get us this high speed data and voice calls.
Let me not deviate from the topic of IoT and Network testing. Now that we are looking at every connected device as a thing here. Why not to use that device for testing the network?
The companies spend millions of dollars in network testing every year. There is a lot of testing , analysis and changes required in the whole process. The process is time consuming and expensive too.
So why not use the customer data for network testing?
WAIT , what , use my data for testing? Why ? what about my data security , identity protections etc etc
So lets address this. Some companies did come up with an agent that sits on the customer phone and will send the network data to the operator after every finite time interval. They had taken care not to expose the user's identity and location but still got into the security issues and unfortunately not all of them could continue.
You can read the article published in 2011 here.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/dear-carrier-iq-if-you-want-to-track-me-you-need-to-ask-me-first/2011/12/05/gIQArFNrfO_story.html
Lets look at the technology and architecture behind that.
There are certain android telephony APIs and Modem APIs that give information like RSRP, SiNR , RSRQ , failed events like RACH failures, call drops etc. If this information and usage information is combined and sent to the server. The server can definitely analyse that data and come up with relevant conclusions on hows the coverage, capacity , quality and behavior of the network. Whats the reason for failure scenarios.
How can the network be improved and what changes will be required? All this analysis and information is done and stored on the server. This data is very very useful for the operators.
Actually network testing itself a huge topic for discussion and I might end writing about it for multiple blogs as I work in this sector.
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Agriculture and Industrial IoT
Think about a cow who shares her location as and when she moves. A twitter cow! She will inform you her where abouts and conditions :)
How cool is that! A very few of us will understand the problem of tracking cattle and animals!
Let me give you an example to which most of us can relate, ladies what if when we open that big bag and we are looking for a lipstick , magically is starts shining. Finding stuff in a girl's bag can be so difficult. And we are talking about living animals who can wander wherever they want and you are tying to track them!
Tweeting Cow is no miracle , its a sensor band that is used for livestock monitoring. From monitoring the soil KPIs like moisture, chemical composition etc to using the trackers for asset management in the inventory. All these contribute to IoT.
Lets look at what (or revisit) zigbee a little. Its a protocol (based on IEEE 802.15.4) to create a personal Area Network. The good thing is the low power consumption and the limitation is the range ,its just upto 100m line of sight.
Its a low power , low cost , wireless mesh standards that supports both star and tree topologies.
Its used for controlling and monitoring the devices. The network must have a central node that coordinates.
Sometime IIOT is also looked at as IT + OT which means Information Technology + Operational Technology
One of the major challenges that IIOT and agriculture IOT is the current investments. Companies/firms have already done huge investments in their current infrastructure. It is going to be a challenge .
Its very difficult to convince anyone for the new huge investments, (most importantly getting rid of the old processes and assets).
This definitely is a big word in the industry. Lets see where we go with it.
Its a low power , low cost , wireless mesh standards that supports both star and tree topologies.
Its used for controlling and monitoring the devices. The network must have a central node that coordinates.
Sometime IIOT is also looked at as IT + OT which means Information Technology + Operational Technology
One of the major challenges that IIOT and agriculture IOT is the current investments. Companies/firms have already done huge investments in their current infrastructure. It is going to be a challenge .
Its very difficult to convince anyone for the new huge investments, (most importantly getting rid of the old processes and assets).
This definitely is a big word in the industry. Lets see where we go with it.
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Home is where your heart is!!
So this month I have been looking at different solutions available in the market for home automation and making the home, Connected Home.
More than the solutions available I would like to go to the technology that goes behind the scenes.
Our Mantra here in the blog is living wireless.
According to New York times, 2014 may be a year of connected homes! CES this year might see a huge sector on connected Homes!
Lets start with basics , the kind of devices. Just think of it, Home security system, air conditioning systems , cooking ranges, microwaves , baby monitors , humidity sensors, connected cameras, water level and usage monitors , lighting systems and what not!
Lets look at how these devices are actually communicating with each other. M2M : Machine to Machine communication is integral part of IOT. Same type of machines or devices can talk to each other and hence the system is connected in a true sense. Communication and control to begin with was thought of M2S , in simple terms it was always talking to a centralized piece.
The M2M communication brought higher efficiency and the intelligence to the system.
Lets take an example of a smart (the word is not sufficient to describe it ) baby monitor system.
This system is an excellent example of how IoT is changing our lives.
As an example : Owlet wearable tech for infants
These guys came up with an sock that will tell you everything about your little angel.
If he is sleeping well, it will monitor the heartbeat , it will monitor the sleep cycles and also it learns with time.
I am not sure if they do have any predictive analysis portion available.
But I am sure with this kind of data and if we apply algorithms in order to understand the behavior.
The more and more data is fed into the databases, I am sure it will be able to predict certain traits of the baby, With this , the system will grow with the child. Lets look at the architecture here
Most of the elements who communicate with a server will have this architecture.
The sensor device or the data collection device will always have the power challenges that one needs to overcome. Also in the race of making the device smaller and power efficient the processing will be moved to the server. So the second piece is the storage/processing piece. Here the sock is the sensor or data collection device, the phone where the data is sent will be storage/processing device.
Now the last piece of the puzzle, Display/User Interface , this piece completes the puzzle as for the end user, who doesn't care how the data is stored or what algorithms are you running , He just needs the results.
Results that can be read and understood. (We cant provide results in assembly language :P )
This is one architecture of the IOT system. Lets continue with another field next month
Sunday, January 26, 2014
The connected World!
For years we have been talking about the connected world! By 2020 millions of the number of connected devices is going to be 50 billion! Yes you read it right, 50 billion.
The population of the world in 2020 is going to be 7 billion! Yes the ration is almost going to be 7 devices per person on the planet earth. Well surely the distribution is not going to be uniform across the globe but yes 7:1 !
To add more Morgan Stanley has said the number will be around 75 billion!! Are we looking at 11:1 ratio?
(Image Credits : http://www.businessinsider.com/75-billion-devices-will-be-connected-to-the-internet-by-2020-2013-10)
(So far you have realized that this year I will be writing about the connected world, internet of things and such buzzwords!! )
So lets start with our basics.
Connected world, in less than a decade the concept of connected world has not only become a reality but also its getting difficult to imagine life without the connected world. In 1980s when people were looking at connected world as connecting to human beings across the globe and today I want to look at my father's blood sugar who stays on the other side of the world real time. Or I want to know where exactly my sister is driving or if the house is locked properly when no one is home..
And I don't even have to struggle to find such devices.
And I am sure you will agree , I am definitely not talking about any alien concept here. All these things are so widely used that we forget to appreciate the innovation, efforts that has been put behind these concepts.
The population of the world in 2020 is going to be 7 billion! Yes the ration is almost going to be 7 devices per person on the planet earth. Well surely the distribution is not going to be uniform across the globe but yes 7:1 !
To add more Morgan Stanley has said the number will be around 75 billion!! Are we looking at 11:1 ratio?
(Image Credits : http://www.businessinsider.com/75-billion-devices-will-be-connected-to-the-internet-by-2020-2013-10)
(So far you have realized that this year I will be writing about the connected world, internet of things and such buzzwords!! )
So lets start with our basics.
Connected world, in less than a decade the concept of connected world has not only become a reality but also its getting difficult to imagine life without the connected world. In 1980s when people were looking at connected world as connecting to human beings across the globe and today I want to look at my father's blood sugar who stays on the other side of the world real time. Or I want to know where exactly my sister is driving or if the house is locked properly when no one is home..
And I don't even have to struggle to find such devices.
Kevin Ashton , in 1999 coined the term Internet of Things! or we can call it Internet of everything. He did foresee the hyper-connectivity we will be getting into very soon. Everything (it need not be a device) it may be a chip , sensor anything that can transmit information will be conncted to this one big mesh.
We are going to "Bring Your Own Device" and hence think of anything you want to , it will be connected, from smart cities, connected cars, fitness trackers , health monitoring systems, phones, tablets , watches, homes, cameras , sensors... Whatever you can think of, One day it is going to be connected!
Lets talk about one field of internet of things, Lets appreciate the efforts and innovation people are putting behind it.
I will try to cover atleast one technology that makes IOT a possibility with every example.
