Tag: internet of things

Connecting bridges to the internet of things

A project connecting sensors to the Sydney Harbour Bridge shows the potential of the internet of things.

On Networked Globe today I have a description of NICTA’s Sydney Harbour Bridge Monitoring Project where the research agency is rolling out 800 sensors across the structure to reduce maintenance costs.

The project a good example of how cheap sensors and abundant computing power is changing workplaces, connecting the bridge to the Internet of Things makes it easier for asset managers and engineers to understand what is happening to their structure.

While the project promises a lot, it’s only a fraction of what’s possible as the sensors are only measuring movements so there’s a lot more they can do.

The big promise though is for smaller structures than the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Around the world local governments are struggling to maintain their assets, if NICTA can develop a feasible monitoring product then many agencies will be looking at how they can reduce their budgets.

While we tend to focus on connected kettles and other household devices when we talk about the internet of things, the real benefits and profits lie in the ‘big iron’ industrial and infrastructure applications.

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Computing in a fog

Cloud computing is not always the answer and that’s where fog computing comes in.

One of my favourite IT industry buzz words is fog computing.

Initially coined by Cisco Systems, fog computing also goes by the name ‘distributed computing’ or ‘edge computing’ – never accuse the IT industry of not having enough terms for the same thing.

The idea behind distributed, edge or fog computing is that sometimes cloud computing (another term) is not always suitable for jobs where internet connections are unreliable, sending things to a cloud server wastes valuable milliseconds or lots of unnecessary data is being gathered.

Cisco’s Wim Elfrink discusses fog computing in the interview he did with Decoding the New Economy earlier this year.

For many internet of things applications, edge computing makes sense as it means devices aren’t reliant on being constantly connected and the local computer can filter noise out of the data stream being sent to head office.

Another big advantage is in saving internet costs; rather than having say all the sensors on a car having their own expensive mobile connections they instead report back to a central computer which sends relevant information back to the dealer or manufacturer.

The car is also a good example of needed immediate responses; if the airbags are deployed, the onboard computer system has to make a lot of critical decisions immediately. Waiting for a response from a server on the other side of the world could cost lives.

For computing is not only a good example of how technology vendors make up their own catchy names for concepts, it also shows that there are limits to every solution. In this case, situations where cloud computing is not the answer.

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Heartbleed, kettles and design – ABC 702 Mornings

The Heartbleed bug and the connected kettle are the topics of today’s 702 Sydney segment with Linda Mottram

This morning from 10.20am on 702 Sydney I’m talking to Linda Mottram about the Heartbleed bug, connected kettles and dropping off the grid. It’s crowded twenty minutes and I’m not sure how much we’ll cover.

Heartbleed is the main topic of the segment and it’s a big issue that not only exposes a weakness in secure computing but also points out problems with the Internet of Things and the open source model of developing software.

One of the quirky stories of the last few weeks has been the iKettle, a connected kitchen appliance. Do we need one and what happens to your cup of tea if the internet drops out.

3D printing is changing the world of manufacturing but designers are now looking at 4D printing, what is it and how might it change the world of design.

If we get time we’ll also look at the possibilities of dropping off the all seeing grid with the story of a security researcher who tried to hide her pregnancy from the Internet.

We’d love to hear your views so join the conversation with your on-air questions, ideas or comments; phone in on 1300 222 702 or post a question on ABC702 Sydney’s Facebook page.

If you’re a social media users, you can also follow the show through twitter to @paulwallbank and @702Sydney.

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NASA and the five technologies that will change business

The Chief Technology Officer of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory discusses the technologies that will change business.

What will be the next five technologies that will change busines? CITE Magazine has an interview with Tom Soderstrom, the chief technology officer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on what he sees as the next big game changers for business.

The list features many of the topics we’ve discussed on this blog; data visualization, the Internet of Things, robots, 3D printing and new user interfaces.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a good place to start when looking at what technologies will become commonplace in business as the organisation is testing the limits of modern engineering.

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When the connection drops out, will your iKettle work?

If the Internet of Things is to be trusted by households and industry, it’s essential that systems work when they’re disconnected.

During the dark days of the Tech Wreck, the poster product for the heady excesses of the Dot Com era was the connected fridge.

Today it could be the iKettle that marks the height of the Internet of Things craze, a kettle you can control from your smartphone.

While the app doesn’t automatically fill the kettle; it does allow you to turn it on, schedule times and control the water temperatures.

The problem though is what happens when your kettle or phone can’t connect to the internet?

Burning data centres

Over the weekend, Samsung customers learned what happens when a connected device can’t connect when a fire in a South Korean data centre triggered an outage that prevented the company’s smart TV, Blu-Ray player and phone customers from properly using their equipment.

It would be really irritating if you couldn’t boil a kettle because your internet was down, however the more serious question is what happens when your home’s smoke detectors can’t connect? Or when your smarthome or connected car can’t authenticate your identity and locks you out?

Securing the IoT supply chain

For industry, the problems are even more pressing; in the not too distant future a truck carrying perishable goods may well have its deliveries refused by a customer if the cargo has lost connectivity.

In life or mission critical applications, relying on connections that may not be dependable could have disastrous consequences.

While the iKettle might be a bit of gimmick, it raises some important issues of what happens should your internet connection go down.

If the Internet of Things is to be trusted by households and industry, it’s essential that systems are robust and maintain operations when they’re disconnected.

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Smarthomes come of age

The internet of things isn’t new, it’s just the technology has become more accessible

“After four decades the smartphone comes of age,” proclaims Micheal Wolf in Forbes Magazine.

Wolf is right to a point but he misses the key reason why the smarthome, or the entire internet of things, has become accessible – the technology has simply become affordable.

It was possible to build a smarthome two decades ago, but it was fiendishly expensive and only a few rich people could afford the technology. Today that technology is cheap and easy to install.

This is the common factor with all aspect of the Internet of Things, connecting devices has been possible since before the internet became common but it was expensive and cumbersome so only the highest value equipment – such as oil rigs – was connected.

Now it’s inexpensive and simple to connect things, people are doing it more and that is why there’s a range of security and privacy issues which weren’t so pressing when it was only a few obscure industrial devices that were wired up.

We aren’t inventing the wheel with technologies like the internet of things or big data, they already existed – they are just more accessible and that’s what’s changing business.

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Buying into the Internet of Things

Blackberry and Zebra Technologies buy into the Internet of Things as part of a push into a growing industry

Following Google’s acquisition of smarthome startup Nest in January, it was clear that 2014 was going to be the year that the Internet of Things dominated corporate takeovers.

This week has shown that with Blackberry announcing a stake in medical technology firm NantHealth, obstensibly as an Internet of Things play as CEO John Chen explains;

The NantHealth platform is installed at approximately 250 hospitals and connects more than 16,000 medical devices collecting more than 3 billion vital signs annually. Think about the possibilities when an enormous amount of data and computing power is accessible to doctors in the palm of their hands.

As Chen points out, the possibilities for this data are huge which raises questions about the privacy and security issues for patients along with the importance of having stable software and networks.

The other big Internet of Things acquisition yesterday was Zebra Technologies buying Motorola’s enterprise division for over three billion dollars, again the buyer cited the opportunities in connecting machines.

An interesting aspect is these acquisitions aren’t being made by the big players – Cisco, Google, Microsoft or Apple – but by smaller, but still substantial, players. It shows just how wide the Internet of Things’ applications are.

Blackberry and Zebra won’t be the only big acquisitions this year.

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