Malcolm, Author at TECHBASE Group - Industrial Raspberry Pi & ESP32 devices

25 February 201524 April 2015

The Internet of Things (IoT Embedded Devices) explained

The “Internet of things devices” (IoT Embedded Devices) is becoming an increasingly growing topic of conversation both in the workplace and outside of it. It’s a concept that not only has the potential to impact how we live but also how we work. But what exactly is the “Internet of things devices” and what impact is it going to have on you if any? There are a lot of complexities around the “Internet of things devices” but our team at Techbase want to stick to the basics.

Broadband Internet is become more widely available, the cost of connecting is decreasing, more devices are being created with wifi capabilities and censors built into them, technology costs are going down, and smart phone penetration is sky-rocketing. All of these things are creating a “perfect storm” for IoT embedded devices.

So what is the Internet of things?

Simply put this is the concept of basically connecting any device with an on and off switch to the Internet (and/or to each other). This includes everything from cell phones, coffee makers, washing machines, headphones, lamps, wearable devices and almost anything else you can think of. This also applies to components of machines, for example a jet engine of an airplane or the drill of an oil rig. As I mentioned, if it has an on and off switch then chances are it can be a part of the IoT. The analyst firm Gartner says that by 2020 there will be over 26 billion connected devices…that’s a lot of connections (some even estimate this number to be much higher, over 100 billion). The IoT is a giant network of connected “things” (which also includes people). The relationship will be between people-people, people-things, and things-things.

How does this impact you?

The new rule for the future is going to be, “anything that can be connected, will be connected.” But why on earth would you want so many connected devices talking to each other? There are many examples for what this might look like or what the potential value might be. Say for example you are on your way to a meeting, your car could have access to your calendar and already know the best route to take, if the traffic is heavy your car might send a text to the other party notifying them that you will be late. What if your alarm clock wakes up you at 6 am and then notifies your coffee maker to start brewing coffee for you? What if your office equipment knew when it was running low on supplies and automatically re-ordered more? What if the wearable device you used in the workplace could tell you when and where you were most active and productive and shared that information with other devices that you used while working?

On a broader scale the IoT can be applied to things like transportation networks “smart cities” which can help us reduce waste and improve efficiency for things such as energy use; this helping us understand and improve how we work and live. Take a look at the visual below to see what something like that can look like.

The reality is that IoT devices allows for virtually endless opportunities and connections to take place, many of which we can’t even think of or fully understand the impact of today. It’s not hard to see how and why IoT embedded devices are such a hot topic today, it certainly opens the door to a lot of opportunities but also to many challenges. Security is big issues that is oftentimes brought up. With billions of devices being connect together what can people to do make sure that their information stays secure? Will someone be able to hack into your toaster and thereby get access to your entire network? IoT embedded devices also open up companies all over the world to more security threats. Then we have the issue of privacy and data sharing. This is a hot button topic even today so one can only imagine how the conversation and concerns will escalate when we are talking about many billions of devices being connected. Another issue that many companies specifically are going to be faced with is around the massive amounts data that all of these devices are going to produce. Companies need to figure out a way to store, track, analyze, and make sense of the vast amounts of data that will be generated.

So what now?

Conversations about IoT embedded devices are (and have been for several years) taking place all over the world as we seek to understand how this will impact our lives. We are also trying to understand what the many opportunities and challenges are going to be as more and more devices start to join the IoT embedded devices revolution. For now the best thing that we can do is educate ourselves about what IoT embedded devices are and the potential impacts that can be seen on how we work and live.

If you would like to know more about how Techbase can help your firm with all its IoT embedded device needs, please do not hesitate to contact one of our consultants today!

TECHBASE Industrial Rapid Deployment Solutions – Making A Difference

25 February 201524 April 2015

What are intelligent smart grid solutions?

Techbase is a leading manufacture of intelligent smart grid solutions, an industrial smart grid is an evolved grid system that manages electricity demand in a sustainable, reliable and economic manner, built on advanced infrastructure and tuned to facilitate the integration of all involved.

Smart electricity – efficient power for a sustainable world

Electricity is the most versatile and widely used form of energy and global demand is growing continuously. Generation of electrical energy, however, is currently the largest single source of carbon dioxide emissions, making a significant contribution to climate change. To mitigate the consequences of climate change, the current electrical system needs to undergo significant adjustments.

The electrical power system was built up over more than 100 years. It is now one of the most effective components of the infrastructure on which modern society depends. It delivers electrical energy to industry, commercial and residential consumers, meeting ever-growing demand.

Most of today’s generation capacity relies on fossil fuels and contributes significantly to the increase of carbon dioxide in the world’s atmosphere, with negative consequences for the climate and society in general.

To satisfy both the increasing demand for power and the need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, we need an electric system that can handle these challenges in a sustainable, reliable and economic way.

The future belongs to intelligent smart grid solutions:

Intelligent smart grids solutions will provide more electricity to meet rising demand, increase reliability and quality of power supplies, increase energy efficiency, be able to integrate low carbon energy sources into power networks.

Intelligent smart grids solutions possess demand response capacity to help balance electrical consumption with supply, as well as the potential to integrate new technologies to enable energy storage devices and the large-scale use of electric vehicles.

Electrical systems will undergo a major evolution, improving reliability and reducing electrical losses, capital expenditures and maintenance costs. A smarter grid will provide greater control over energy costs and a more reliable energy supply for consumers. Environmental benefits of a smarter grid include reduced peak demand, integration of more renewable power sources, and reduced CO2 emissions and other pollutants.

Techbase believes that intelligent smart grid solutions are the future for electrical systems, as it is designed to meet the four major electricity requirements of our global society: capacity, reliability, efficiency and sustainability.

If you would like to know more our intelligent smart grid solutions or other IOT devices, please do not hesitate to contact one of our sales consultants today!

24 February 201524 April 2015

What are Industrial IoT Solutions?

There is a catchphrase called internet of things (IoT) , at Techbase we are developing smart solutions that use the internet to communicate. We are therefore a leading designer of Industrial IoT solutions and devices. Our design team has put this article together to explain clearly what we mean when we refer to Industrial IoT devices.

A thing, in the Internet of Things, can be a person with a heart monitor implant, a farm animal with a biochip transponder, an automobile that has built-in sensors to alert the driver when tire pressure is low — or any other natural or man-made object that can be assigned an IP address and provided with the ability to transfer data over a network. So far, the Internet of Things has been most closely associated with machine-to-machine (M2M) communication in manufacturing and power, oil and gas utilities. Products built with M2M communication capabilities are often referred to as being smart.

Although the concept wasn’t named until 1999, the Internet of Things has been in development for decades. The first Internet appliance, for example, was a Coke machine at Carnegie Melon University in the early 1980s. The programmers could connect to the machine over the Internet, check the status of the machine and determine whether or not there would be a cold drink awaiting them, should they decide to make the trip down to the machine.

What is clear is that as the world gets more connected, the IoT is not going anywhere any time soon. Industrial IoT solutions and devices will continue to help power our growth and development and at its heart you will find Techbase. If you would like to know more about how our Industrial IoT solutions can help your business, please do not hesitate to contact one of our consultants today!

24 February 201524 April 2015

What are M2M embedded devices?

Our team at Techbase are always trying to keep our clients abreast of new changes in technology and design. We have therefore put a series of articles together that explore the world of IOT (Internet of things) and M2M embedded devices (Machine to Machine embedded devices).

Machine-to-machine (M2M embedded devices) are really just starting to come into its own, At the recent Oracle conference, the company was touting “an ecosystem of solutions” that uses embedded devices to facilitate real-time analysis of events and data among the “Internet of Things,” according to the Dr. Dobbs website.

M2M embedded devices communicate in the form of sparse data, which can come from sensors and other non-IT devices. The data may itself be only a couple kilobytes and wouldn’t make much sense out of context. But there is so much of it being generated and taken together it can create a full picture. Applications are needed to not only enable devices to talk with others using M2M embedded devices, but also to collect all the data and make sense of it.

Pretty much any device can be connected with M2M embedded devices. In fact, Machina Research, a trade group for mobile device makers, predicts that within the next eight years, the number of connected devices using M2M will top 50 billion worldwide.

That connected-device population will include everything from power and gas meters that automatically report usage data, to wearable heart monitors that automatically tell a doctor when a patient needs to come in for a checkup, to traffic monitors and cars that will by 2014 automatically report their position and condition to authorities in the event of an accident.

Although M2M embedded devices have actually been around since the early days of computing, it has recently evolved to where devices can communicate wirelessly without a human or centralized component.

The most popular M2M embedded devices thus far has been to create a central hub that accepts both wireless and wired signals from connected devices. Field sensors would note an event, be it a temperature change, the removal of a piece of inventory or even a door opening. They would then send that data to a central location where an operator might turn down the AC, order more toner cartridges or tell security about suspicious activity.

The model for M2M embedded devices in the future, however, eliminates the central hub and instead has devices communicating with each other and working out problems on their own. So M2M embedded devices will be able to automatically turn on the AC in an overheated space, order more toner when it senses that supplies are low or alert security if a door opens at an odd hour.

Many M2M embedded devices rely on cellular technology to get their messages out, which is why mobile companies such as Verizon and Sprint are ramping up their M2M efforts. Devices don’t have to communicate over the cell network, as many still use land lines. But the ability to do so, especially if they also have an independent power source like a battery for backup, untethers the devices from the organization they are assigned to. And the more the machine can operate independently, the more work it can do without human intervention.

Humans probably will still need to be in the chain to oversee the different processes, but they will become more of a second pair of eyes and less of a direct supervisor. If everything goes well, the machines will do all the work, and the humans will only need to step in if a machine reports a problem, like a communications failure.

With 50 billion connected devices coming online soon, the need for applications (and developers) to manage all of that, to make the connections between devices work and to make sure it all runs smoothly will be tremendous.

Techbase is at the forefront of the M2M embedded devices revolution. If you would like to know more about how our firm can help your business thrive with our smart solutions. Please do not hesitate to contact one of our friendly consultants today!

24 February 201524 April 2015

What are M2M embedded devices?

Our team at Techbase have put together this series of articles to help explain the often misunderstood terms that our industry uses on a daily basis. Today we will discuss M2M embedded devices. M2M embedded devices are often used for remote monitoring. In product restocking, for example, a vending machine can message the distributor when a particular item is running low. M2M embedded devices communication is an important aspect of warehouse management, remote control, robotics, traffic control, logistic services, supply chain management, fleet management and telemedicine. It forms the basis for a concept known as the Internet of Things (IoT).

Key components of an M2M embedded device will include sensors, RFID, a Wi-Fi or cellular communications link and autonomic computing software programmed to help a networked device interpret data and make decisions. The most well-known type of M2M communication is telemetry, which has been used since the early part of the last century to transmit operational data. Pioneers in telemetrics first used telephone lines — and later, on radio waves — to transmit performance measurements gathered from monitoring instruments in remote locations. The Internet and improved standards for wireless technology have expanded the role of telemetry from pure science, engineering and manufacturing to everyday use in products like home heating units, electric meters and Internet-connected appliances. Products built with M2M communication capabilities are often marketed to end users as being “smart.”

Currently, M2M embedded devices does not have a standardized connected device platform and many M2M embedded devices are built to be task- or device-specific. It is expected that as M2M embedded devices becomes more pervasive, vendors will need to agree upon standards for device-to-device communications.

At Techbase we design smart devices and if you or your firm would like to know more about our powerful M2M embedded devices or other solutions, please do not hesitate to contact one of our support staff today.