Few connected products have gone through independent testing and evaluations that could head off security problems during their use. Wayne Stewart, Cyber Security, Canada • Intertek It has become a truism that cyber security is one of the most significant risks for manufacturers today. These risks have the potential to cause a great deal of […]
FAQ
Wi-Fi and LoRaWAN for the IoT
The combination of high-date-rate WiFi with low-data-rate, transmit-once-in-a-while LoRaWAN can make numerous IoT applications practical. Rémi Lorrain • Semtech • LoRa Alliance • Wael Guibene • Charter Communications • LoRa Alliance • WBA IoT Work Group An intelligent multiple radio access network (multi-RAN) strategy for IoT is becoming increasingly important. A well-executed multi-RAN strategy can […]
One Fine Mesh: Wi-SUN in M2M communications
The Wi-SUN standard is a candidate for infrastructure networks that demand high bandwidth, low latency, and power efficiency. Soumya Shyamasundar • Silicon Labs The smart city movement is strongly connected to sustainability. It encompasses optimized management of energy resources, resilient infrastructure to improve quality of life, and access to public safety. Efficient use of available […]
Antennas for smart IoT applications
IoT antennas increasingly must handle frequencies well beyond the ISM band and into the cellular and 5G spectrum. Christian Koehler, Felisa Chuang • TE Connectivity The Internet of Things (IoT) bridges the gap between the physical and virtual worlds. Machine to machine (M2M) communications–via low-powered networks such as UWB, WLAN, Zigbee or Bluetooth–has helped drive […]
E-ink and the IoT
E-ink has the potential for delivering wireless color screens on IoT devices that consume little power. Bill Cheung, Orient Display Despite being conceived in the 1970s, e-ink only received wide recognition after the introduction of the Amazon Kindle in 2007. Other manufacturers had used the technology, but none had the practical elegance and reach of […]
What is IOTA?
IOTA is a cryptocurrency designed to add economics to the internet of machines. IOTA is quite different from thousands of other cryptocurrencies. Some key highlights of IOTA are as follows: IOTA is specifically designed for the Internet of Things. IOTA does not use blockchain technology; instead, it is based on Tangle technology. IOTA has theoretically […]
International performance and safety standards for robots
Robots are being used to implement logistics tasks, industrial processes, personal care, medical procedures, and more. The growing variety of robot designs and the breadth of tasks that robots perform is driving a large number of specific performance and safety standards. This FAQ reviews emerging standards for industrial mobile robots, collaborative robots (also called ‘cobots’), […]
Sentient robots and artificial intelligence
Sensors for touch, vision are on the leading-edge of robotics developments. Sensors enable robots to gather information about the environment, determine how the environment may be changing, and provide the data to determine the appropriate response to any changes. Sensor information can be used to improve performance of the task at hand, or it can […]
Robot software environments and motion control architectures
Robots can be classified by their kinesiology, their mechanical performance specifications, and various types of software they employ. This FAQ will consider robot software environments and motion control architectures. The next FAQ will delve into “Sentient robots and artificial intelligence.” The series will conclude with a review of the major “International performance and safety standards […]
Robot axes, drive safety, and power architectures
Depending on the intended tasks and the associated range of motion, robots can have varying axes and various axis configurations called robot kinesiology. This FAQ will consider robot axes, kinesiology, drive safety functions, and power architectures. Subsequent FAQs will focus on “Robot software environments and motion control architectures,” “Sentient robots and artificial intelligence,” and “International […]