Hardware is crucial to IoT rollout
Speed, ease and reliability of the implementation can define the success or failure of a project or product and its viability and traction in the marketplace.
Considering the IoT enabling products on the market, there are two distinct hardware approaches to implement the capability – these are modular and single board. Many of the huge array of products based on these approaches are ably supported by evaluation boards that are designed to speed and simplify implementation.
Software development kits (SDKs) – usually free- provide a set of intuitive development tools that allow the creation, with minimal experience and specialist programming knowledge, of applications.
Watch it grow – the IoT revolution
The IoT is going to be big and impact most people’s lives through the connectivity and convenience it brings. The term IoT is already widely known, even if sometimes exactly what it means is not! Recognition and awareness is in the consumer space as well as the technology industry and market. The IoT will not happen overnight, though one day we will all likely wonder how we managed without it – much like the World Wide Web in fact.
Some educated estimates suggest that by 2020 there will be 50 billion IoT nodes worldwide and up to 50 connected devices in a typical home. Where this connectivity and the apps will exist could be in anything from white goods to cars and healthcare equipment to plants and animals. Most of the building blocks to make the IoT a widespread reality already exist, for example: Bluetooth LE, Internet protocols, sensor technologies and advanced electronic components and devices.
The enabler to take the IoT to the predicted levels, is combing the elements in open source hardware and supporting cloud platforms. Tools and starter kits are helping to accelerate and simplify this proliferation.
Basic IOT hardware considerations
In common with many other sectors of the electronics industry, hardware solutions for IoT applications are subject to some familiar criteria. They must utilise state-of-the-art technology to achieve small size in order that they can be easily incorporated into designs without impacting aspects such as aesthetics, portability, weight and indeed space for other functionality.
In addition, they must have low power demands – especially as many are used in portable, battery powered designs where long periods of operation between recharging are essential. The diversity of end applications for the IoT mean that the flexibility of hardware, and indeed software is essential such that performance and functionality can be closely aligned with product needs. Simplicity in terms of design and implementation will help attract systems designers to an IoT approach, as will prove reliability achieved through robust mechanical and electronic design.
From a features point-of-view, a piece of IoT hardware of course needs wireless internet capability, various IO and industry standard interfaces should also be built-in to facilitate communications, configuration and diagnostics.
Modular or single board?
Addressing current applications and in anticipation of the almost limitless future IoT market, there is already a remarkable choice of well-supported hardware solutions to facilitate the design of an ecosystem of objects with embedded technology to enable them to sense, measure and then communicate wirelessly.
Conrad Business Supplies for example currently offers approximately 5000 products that could be categorised as IoT related. All of the big players are active in the market – companies such as Altera, Cypress, Freescale and ON Semiconductor.
In general, single board IoT controllers are best suited to applications where a higher degree of customisation and tailoring is needed. Conversely, designs with a set of very specific and well-defined needs lend themselves to modular solutions.
Example of modular and single board approaches
Modular – WunderBar is a modular IoT starter kit with seven detachable modules. These comprise a Wi-Fi-enabled master module with Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE), plus six detachable smart sensor mini-modules. Each module has BLE, a sensor or actuator, and an on-board battery.
The mini-modules give functionality including light, colour, distance, temperature and humidity sensing, plus an accelerometer, a gyroscope and infra-red (IR) remote control capability. The inclusion of a Grove connector from Seeed Studio on the fifth module enables a wide range of additional sensors and actuators that are Arduino compatible to be interfaced with the platform. Modular starter kits like WunderBar lower the barrier to entry into IoT for developers unfamiliar with hardware and bring software closer to hardware.
A further, yet significantly different example of a modular solution is Conrad’s C-Control AVR32-Bit unit, that when installed piggy-back on the AVR32-Bit application board with integrated web server functionality gives a platform that is also equipped with a CAN bus interface.
An example of Conrad’s C-Control AVR32-Bit unit, that when installed piggy-back on the AVR32-Bit application board with integrated web server functionality gives a platform and that is also equipped with a CAN bus interface.
The powerful 32-bit Atmel industrial / automotive grade microcontroller is programmable using Basic or Compact-C; the programs can be transferred directly to the unit via the USB port.
A free downloadable SDK completes the package that can help designers quickly realise IoT projects. Libraries and program examples in the C-Control Forum help simplify application development further still.
Single board – TI Launchpad is a good example of a powerful single-board hardware solution that provides quick-turn, practical programming of microcontrollers for the IoT.
TI Launchpad is a powerful single-board hardware solution that provides quick-turn, practical programming of microcontrollers for the IoT.
The board is a practical introduction to microcontroller programming for the IoT. At the heart of the product is an ARM Cortex-M4-32-bit microcontroller and a WLAN chip CC3100 Wi-Fi core integrated directly on the board. The board is usefully expandable via booster packs and built-in connectivity includes programmable GPIO pins and numerous interfaces such as SPI and I²C. The programming of the microcontroller is performed via USB. Programming is done the Energia open-source platform, but can alternatively be carried out using the intuitive Code Composer Studio integrated development environment (IDE).
Conclusion
Due to the potential of IoT, many major companies are active in offering hardware platforms, free-to-use tools and development aids. For applications with unique needs, single-board controllers are often most appropriate as they can be more readily tailored to requirements. In the case of more generic needs, modular solutions typically work best.
These platforms coupled with readily available SDKs and straightforward programmability, mean developers are spoilt for choice when looking to expedite the design of their products for the IoT. These factors will all combine to help drive the rollout of a remarkable number and diversity of exciting IoT end applications in the coming years.
About the author:
Wolfgang Lex is Senior Area Manager at Conrad Business Supplies – www.conrad.com
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