Hive was designed to completely simplify your connection to your home and protect everyone, and everything, inside it.
Undoubtedly, 2015 will be the year that we see connected living go mainstream. Evident by the sheer number of smart home devices on display back at CES, we can surely expect an uptick in products hitting the market, ranging from hubs to lights to speakers. Now, what if you rolled all those those things into one? That’s exactly what one Salt Lake City startup has done.
Called Hive, the team has set out to create a smart home that is easy to use, and more importantly, even easier to afford. The system — which recently made its Kickstarter debut — is comprised of a smart hub and audio system that offers a complete package of in-home entertainment, automation and security.
The simple, elegantly-designed Hub supports nearly every major wireless networking technology, including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, ZigBee and Z-wave. The device boasts a dual-core 1GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM, 4GB Flash storage, Ethernet, 3G for backup Internet, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, Z-Wave, IEEE 802.15.4 (for ZigBee or Thread), a battery, a Libre audio streaming module with Google Cast support, as well as a wireless transceiver for compatibility with Honeywell security sensors. What’s more, the plug-and-play Hub provides hassle-free setup and customization, allowing users to easily switch on/off the lights, unlock the doors, or activate a number of appliances.
In addition, the Hive Sound is a Wi-Fi and Bluetooth-enabled speaker system that can emit the same (or different) tunes to various parts throughout your connected house. The speakers, which insert right into a standard wall outlet, not only stream beats straight from your Google Play, iHeartRadio, NPR One and Pandora playlists, but can receive alerts and notifications of the important things happening around you as well. In the event of an emergency, the system is equipped with two-way voice for instant communication for first responders.
The speakers are packed with a pair of drivers and a passive radiator for full sound, a series of RGB LEDs for visual notifications, a microphone with noise cancellation, and a Libre wireless audio module. For good measure, the Sound also features a built-in backup battery that allows the system to run, even if the power goes out or Internet goes down.
Like a number of smart home devices on the market today, Hive was developed with simplicity in mind. With its companion app, homeowners can control each Hive Sound throughout the home, as well as individually. Having a get-together or want to blast the radio? You can also pair them together and have a dynamic, surround-sound experience.
Currently live on Kickstarter, the team is seeking $100,000. If all goes to plan, the well-rounded smart home devices are expected to begin shipping in May 2015. Interested in learning more or backing the project, head over to its official page here.
Majeed Ahmad explores the latest sensor hub offerings for wearable devices.
By Majeed Ahmad
Atmel has beefed up its sensor hub offerings for wearable devices with SAM D20 Cortex M0+ microcontroller core to add more functionality and further lower the power bar for battery-operated devices. The SAM D20 MCUs offer ultra-low power through a patented power-saving technique called “Event System” that allows peripherals to communicate directly with each other without involving the CPU.
Atmel is part of the group of chipmakers that use low-power MCUs for sensor management as opposed to incorporating low-power core within the application processor. According to market research firm IHS Technology, Atmel is the leading sensor hub device supplier with 32 percent market share.
Sensor hubs are semiconductor devices that carry out sensor processing tasks — like sensor fusion and sensor calibration — through an array of software algorithms and subsequently transform sensor data into app-ready information for smartphones, tablets and wearable devices. Sensor hubs combine inputs from multiple sensors and sensor types including motion sensors — such as accelerometers, magnetometers and gyroscopes — and environmental sensors that provide light level, color, temperature, pressure, humidity, and many other inputs.
Atmel has supplied MCU-centric sensor hub solutions for a number of smartphones. Take China’s fourth largest smartphone maker, Coolpad, which has been using Atmel’s low-power MCU to offload sensor management tasks from handset’s main processor. However, while still busy in supplying sensor hub chips for smartphones and tablets, Atmel is looking at the next sensor-laden frontier: wearable devices.
SAM D20 Evaluation Kit
Wearable devices are becoming the epitome of always-on sensor systems as they mirror and enhance cool smartphone apps like location and transport, activity and gesture monitoring, and voice command operation in far more portable manner. At the same time, however, always-on sensor ecosystem within connected wearables requires sensor hubs to interpret and combine multiple types of sensing—motion, sound and face—to enable context, motion and gesture solutions for devices like smartwatch.
Sensor hubs within wearable environment should be able to manage robust context awareness, motion detection, and gesture recognition demands. Wearable application developers are going to write all kinds of apps such as tap-to-walk and optical gesture. And, for sensor hubs, that means a lot more processing work and a requirement for greater accuracy.
So, the low-power demand is crucial in wearable devices given that sensor hubs would have to process a lot more sensor data at a lot lower power budget compared to smartphones and tablets. That’s why Atmel is pushing the power envelope for connected wearables through SAM D20 Cortex M0+ cores that offload the application processor from sensor-related tasks.
LifeQ’s sensor module for connected wearables
The SAM D20 devices have two software-selectable sleep modes: idle and standby. In idle mode, the CPU is stopped while all other functions can be kept running. In standby mode, all clocks and functions are stopped except those selected to continue running.
Moreover, SAM D20 microcontroller supports SleepWalking, a feature that allows the peripheral to wake up from sleep based on predefined conditions. It allows the CPU to wake up only when needed — for instance, when a threshold is crossed or a result is ready.
The SAM D20 Cortex M0+ core offers the peripheral flexibility through a serial communication module (SERCOM) that is fully software-configurable to handle I2C, USART/UART and SPI communications. Furthermore, it offers memory densities ranging from 16KB to 256KB to give designers the option to determine how much memory they will require in sleep mode to achieve better power efficiency.
Atmel’s sensor hub solutions support Android and Windows operating systems as well as real-time operating system (RTOS) software. The San Jose–based chipmaker has also partnered with sensor fusion software and application providers including Hillcrest Labs and Sensor Platforms. In fact, Hillcrest is providing sensor hub software for China’s Coolpad, which is using Atmel’s low-power MCU for sensor data management.
The company has also signed partnership deals with major sensor manufacturers — including Bosch, Intersil, Kionix, Memsic and Sensirion — to streamline and accelerate design process for OEMs and ensure quick and seamless product integration.
The wizarding world of Harry Potter won’t be the only place you’ll find enchanted objects.
According to MIT Media Lab researcher David Rose, the term “enchanted object” is used to describe any everyday object with extraordinary functions.
“We are now standing at the precipice of the next transformative development: the Internet of Things. Soon, connected technology will be embedded in hundreds of everyday objects we already use: our cars, wallets, watches, umbrellas, even our trash cans. These objects will respond to our needs, come to know us, and learn to think on our behalf.”
Entitled “Enchanted Objects: Design, Human Desire, and the Internet of Things,” Rose’s latest book depicts the blueprint for a better (or shall we say ‘smarter’) future, where efficient solutions come hand in hand with technology that delights our senses. Not only are these innovative things fun and alluring, they may hold the key to better satisfying our needs and improving our lives.
“The big lesson here for companies is that they need to embrace and start designing for this world of enchanted objects,” Rose said in a recent BI:Tech interview. “It will mean a key change for how we interact with technology, and it’s a great opportunity for all of these traditional product companies.”
As we prepare for this embedded future where microcontrollers will give once-ordinary objects super “powers,” we’ve decided to explore some of the items currently in existence today. From a pill bottle that can alert you when you’ve skipped your medication to an umbrella that says whether it’ll rain, these gadgets provide us with a glimpse into smarter society — one where fairy tale enchantment becomes a reality.
“The Internet of Things may hit a roadblock: namely, the lack of secure communications between objects and individuals could lead to a situation in which data is being shared without explicit consent and exploited for malicious purposes,” element14 adds. “Therefore any Internet of Things challenge we will undertake in the future will have a security aspect: we will want to see that appropriate security measures have been built into the solutions. Bonus points will be given for clear demonstrations of this in the finished project.”
They couldn’t be more correct. When the world around us becomes increasingly more connected, each and every thing will also need to be secure. Without security, there is no way to trust that the authenticity of things and integrity of its data. Due to the drive for bigger data, the cloud and smart communicating, things are becoming ambient; and, because those things all require security, security itself is becoming ambient as well. Fortunately, as Atmel’s resident security expert Bill Boldt explains, there’s an easy way to spread protection to each of the nodes: CryptoAuthentication.
These so-called enchanted objects are broken down into six caterogies, each based upon human desires. The segments include omniscience (the desire to know all), telepathy (the desire for human connection), safekeeping (the desire to protect), immortality (the desire to be healthy), teleportation (the desire to move effortlessly) and expression (the desire to make).
Like Arthur C. Clarke once said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
Always seem to forget to take that pill in the morning or before bed? This smart cap will remind you to take your medications by lighting up, making chirping sounds, and eventually sending you a text message. You can share your medication data with a remote loved one, a professional caregiver, and even your pharmacy. No more calling to refill those prescriptions!
Created at the MIT Media Lab, the Google Latitude Doorbell chimes a tune when a family member is approaching the house. Each family member has their own tune. Have some fun with it: Imagine setting it to play “Master of the House” from Les Misérables as you approached the door, or the Jaws theme song for your mother-in-law.
When you think of David Rose and ambient object, this “magical” orb is often times the first thing that pops into mind. This device tracks real-time data for the stock market, pollen count, traffic congestion, and more, and glows specific colors to let you know if the data looks good or bad.
Feel like you’re walking on sunshine? This small will let you know whether you’re actually taking in enough bright light during your day, in order to help you improve your energy levels, sleep cycle, mood, and so much more.
Let’s face it, energy bills are the worst — especially those living in extremely cold climates in the winter and warm in the summer. To better help you save a buck or two, the Energy Joule can track energy costs by glowing red if prices are high, yellow if prices are average, and green if prices are low.
‘Like!’ This innovation is bringing coffee talk into the digital era. The incredibly social-savvy table listens to your conversations and displays photos from your Facebook page whenever they are appropriate to the conversation. Think Mark Zuckerberg meets Minority Report.
Never quite sure as to which outfit to buy? Ladies, you’re in luck. This smart mirror records the outfits you try on, so you can compare them and decide what to buy or wear. Never have to go back and forth again.
Amazon Trash Can
Forget to replace the toilet paper? Run out of milk? Need laundry detergent? This trash can can now scans any object you’re disposing and automatically reorder it from Amazon.
This gives a whole new meaning to ‘musical chairs!’ The Pandora Chair is designed to play music based on your level of incline. Envision the possibilities: Sit back, relax and enjoy the tunes of the caribbean. Or, sit upright, intensely focus on your work while listening to some “Eye of the Tiger.”
As our days get too busy, it can quickly become too difficult to manage our liquid intake. Luckily, a smart cup can do that for you — it knows what kind of fluid you’re drinking and track how many calories and how much sugar, fat, protein, sodium, and caffeine are in that beverage.
Tired of always having to grab the computer, flip it open and sign into Skype? Thanks to this project from MIT Media Lab, all you have to do is simply open a wooden door to telconnect with a friend or loved one. No more setup, bad lighting, or those irritating headphones.
NOTHING, we repeat NOTHING is worse than losing your luggage while traveling. This smart luggage tracker can slide right inside your suitcase and inform you of its whereabouts using its companion app, which connects to the tracking device.
Are the culprit in your household’s excessive energy consumption? This innovative clock shares real-time feedback on the amount of energy your home is using. It learns your consumption habits, then offers some subtle feedback on how you’re tracking against yourself.
As we inch closer to a Jetsons-like future, of course there will be smart locks! Easily lock and unlock your door with your smartphone, after snapping pictures of visitors at your door and automatically sending real-time picture alerts to your device.
Yes, this is exactly what it looks like: a WiFi-enabled rabbit. Unlike Peter Cottontail, this device tells you the time, a recap of the week, RSS news feeds, a report on the air quality or traffic, an MP3 alarm clock, a weather forecast, a stock ticker, and even e-mail alerts.
In essence, the Good Night Lamp is a physical social network. The lamps, which come in a set of two, work in unison. Turning on the larger one not only emits light but triggers on the little one as well. This connectivity allows you to keep in touch with people all over the world without having to pick up the phone.
Tagg is a GPS device that attaches to the collar of your dog. The system enables pet owners to define a safe zone around there home and instantly receive text and email alerts when the pet leaves that zone. What’s more, the wearable also monitors their activity and fitness by measuring the amount of activity in their day.
Boston-based startup Rest Devices has developed a smart baby onesie for parents. Founded by a group of former MIT students, Mimomonitors the respiration, skin temperature, body position, sleeping and activity levels of infants. Meaning, those with newborns will soon no longer have to worry about getting up and frequently checking on the baby throughout the night, instead only when necessary.
The Nest Thermostat doesn’t need to be programmed, and is equipped to learn and remember your temperature habits. Meaning, the device turns itself down when you’re away to help save energy and can change the temperature from anywhere using your smartphone, tablet or laptop.
The smart fork, which was introduced at last year’s CES, uses electronic sensors to monitor your eating habits. Designed by HAPILABS, the ARM Cortex-M0 embedded utensil tracks the number of bites, intake speed as well as notifies you to step away from the dinner plate. This information is then uploaded via USB or Bluetooth to an online dashboard to analyze your progress.
The future for anyone who wants to tell their own story has never looked brighter. That is because of the Atmel | SMART SAM9G25 powered Narrative Clip — a tiny, automatic 5-megapixel camera paired with an app that offers users access to a “photographic memory” which is both searchable and shareable. Clip it onto your shirt and let it snap away, recording all your daily activities in 30-second increments.
Controllino is the first software open-source, Arduino-compatible PLC.
Designed by the SG-Tronic team, the Controllino is an open-source programmable logic controller (PLC) built around Atmel’s ATmega328 and ATmega2560 microcontrollers (MCUs). Recently funded on Kickstarter, the Arduino-compatible PLC allows Makers to produce and control their next Internet of Things project, ranging from industrial to home automation applications.
“When I was at electronic school, I would have loved Arduino. But back then, microcontroller programming wasn’t that easy. When I became aware of Arduino, I thought… What a great idea for young people and those who are not hardcore microcontroller programmers,” creator Marco Riedesser explained. “The only problem with Arduino is [that] when you don’t really know so much about electronic hardware, driving more than a LED can become difficult. And using an Arduino board in a professional project or even a product that you want to sell is quasi impossible if you want to get certification.”
Now fully UL and CE-certified, Makers can begin creating and actually shipping gadgets such as drones, home appliances, or any other electronic project that comes to mind. The Atmel powered PLC is currently being presented in three models: Mini, Maxi and Mega.
“I had to repair the coffee machine for my brother-in-law. I thought it would be easy to use Arduino but there was nothing on the market that could handle switching high voltage and high current. So I thought I had to come forward with a product,” Riedesser revealed to TechCrunch earlier this year.
All Controllino PLCs are equipped with an internal RTC using SPI, which can be switched on/off and allow for the use of SPI for other purposes via pin header. With built-in processor contact, Makers have a direct link to a number of boards (like Arduino). All pins are also 4000V ESD protected. What’s more, both the Controllino Maxi and Mega let users select between internal RTC and Ethernet using SPI, as well as turn it off so they can use the SPI for other purposes via pin header.
The versatile device works in altitudes up to 2,000m above sea level, in temperatures ranging between 5°C to 55°C, and in maximum relative humidity 80% for temperatures up to 31°C decreasing linearly to 50% relative humidity at 55°C. Each Controllino features an automatic input voltage range selection. This internal function changes voltage dividers ratio on the processor input, and enables the use of one input for analog and digital and for 12V or 24V input voltage range without user action. In addition, the Controllino’s main supply voltage fluctuates up to ±10% of the nominal voltage
Every Friday, we’re taking a look at some of the smartest, most innovative projects that have launched on Kickstarter and Indiegogo in the last seven days.
This smart sensor plugs right into your car and gathers important data enhancing both safety and convenience. Drust is currently seeking €30,000 on Indiegogo.
This personal security device is designed to keep you safe in any situation by tracking your exact location and guiding you through any emergency situation. Safeti is currently seeking $60,000 on Indiegogo.
This mattress cover will make any bed smart, ranging from intelligently managing temperature to tracking your sleep, and integrate with your existing connected home devices. Luna is currently seeking $100,000 on Indiegogo.
EinScan-S
The EinScan-S aims to serve as the world’s first high-resolution desktop 3D scanner that gives Makers industrial-grade resolutions. The team is currently seeking $50,000 on Kickstarter.
Coolbox
A complete reinvention of the toolbox, this latest product packs all of the classic storage compartments a handyman would expect — along with several next-gen features. Coolbox, in partnership with Project Copilot, is currently seeking $50,000.
This portable boombox projector wants you to bring the party anywhere you go with big-time video and sound. Dashbon is currently seeking $50,000 on Indiegogo.
Glow
The world’s first smart headphones glow with laser light while pulsing to the beat of your music or rhythm of your heart. Glow is currently seeking $100,000 on Kickstarter.
Lock or unlock your door simply by walking up to it with a phone in your pocket.
Lockitron, one of the first companies to launch a smart home product on Kickstarter way back in 2012, has returned with a new product, Bolt. The sub-$100 connected lock has taken a more user-friendly, less expensive approach to its $300 crowdfunded predecessor. Having ceased delivery of the earlier device, the company will soon ship its original backers the next-gen deadbolt which was designed with eliminating Wi-Fi and improving functionality (better battery life, slimmer form factor and easier installation) in mind.
“In the fall of last year, we came to an impasse for the crowdfunded Lockitron. While ramping up production and nearing shipment to our 10,000th backer, we knew that without significant changes to our existing suppliers we could never make our way through the immense backlog at an acceptable speed,” the company shared in its latest blog post.
The team, led by co-founders Cameron Robertson and Paul Gerhardt, have decided to revert to their original concept of replacing the deadbolt altogether, instead of trying to devise an all-in-one, universal gadget that could fit over most locks. “Basically, as long as we could break the setup down into 20 tiny, doable steps, it didn’t really matter that it required removing the old deadbolt,” Robertson told TechCrunch in a recent interview.
Unlike devices which replace only a portion of a lock and require precise calibration and alignment, Bolt works out of the box without any adjustments or adapters. Installation typically only requires changing six screws and about 10 minutes using the included screwdriver. Thanks to what the team calls “Key Match,” the unit can be adapted to work with the most common keyways, ranging from Schlage and Kwikset five and six-pin variants. In other words, in just about all cases, renters can have Bolt keyed to match their existing lock, granting continued access by those with existing metal keys.
The kit is comprised of two components: Bolt and Bridge. The Bolt connects to your smartphone via BLE, allowing you to unlock the door as you approach a house, apartment or rental property using its accompanying mobile app. What this means is that you can access your lock from anywhere, so that you can open the door for guests arriving while you’re still at work or pet-sitters stopping by while you’re on vacation. While Bolt serves as a Bluetooth-enabled replacement lock that instantly shares access to friends and family, Bridge plugs into a wall and connects to the web. This gives users the ability to control their lock, send data and log visitors remotely, as well as send a notification when a child unlocks the door from their phone.
It’s no surprise that the lock’s vibrant community is comprised of Makers, developers and engineers, which have demonstrated a number of innovative ways of opening doors using wearable technology. In fact, some Pebble wearers were able to gain entry with merely a fist bump. The company also reveals that Bolt includes a number of popular features as the originally-crowdfunding, megaAVR based Lockitron.
According to its team, the Lockitron Bolt will come in two editions. The preview edition is expected to begin shipping in March, while the production variant of Lockitron Bolt is slated for late spring and will come in varaity of finishes to best match your home’s decor. Interested? Hurry over to the company’s official page here.
Designed for guitarists by guitars, this smart adapter lets you leave the wires and cords behind.
Attention all rockers, your jam session is about to get a whole heck of a lot cooler… and smarter. Typically speaking, guitar “jacks” refer to a style of connector used to link one piece of audio equipment to another. And, while wireless systems for a gig or sesh are nothing new, Scotland-based startup Ingenious Audio is hoping to give in-home and on-stage music recording its biggest breakthrough in the last 50 years.
The aptly named JACKis the world’s first guitar device to connect to any Wi-Fi-enabled gadget such as a PC, tablet or smartphone. The ARM9-based unit works by wirelessly relaying an electric guitar’s output to an amp without musicians having to worry about radio interference or annoying Bluetooth latency. JACK’s customized system provides best-in-class bandwidth with no compression, and responsive high-resolution audio over a secure long-range connection to an entire lineup of devices. Those looking to wirelessly play some guitar riffs through an amp will need a pair of devices, one plugged into the guitar’s jack and the other connected to the amp.
Measuring just 3.9″ x 1.9″ x 0.78” in size, the 3-ounce device is the perfect tagalong and can easily fit inside any bag, trunk, or pocket for that matter. As its creators note, JACK eliminates the need to ensure a venue has a wireless network already in place or mess around with complicated login credentials at home. Instead, users just plug the adapter into any guitar, amp or pedal, and instantly go wireless. This is because it creates its own encrypted Wi-Fi network with click-to-connect simplicity. JACK not only enables a quick and easy setup at gigs, its wireless capabilities allow for a mess-free home or dorm, and rock out on-the-road by plugging in a set of headphones.
“JACK is the missing link for modern guitarist – everyone today expects anything they buy to be wireless and connectable, whether it’s a camera, phone, media player and they do all their recording, editing and sharing on PCs and phones. JACK bridges that gap. JACK provides studio quality uncompressed 24-bit real time audio. Wireless guitar kits exist today, but to date none have been able to use the high data rate Wi-Fi system. Using Wi-Fi means JACK can connect to the five billion Wi-Fi enabled devices out there,” the team explains.
In fact, JACK’s patent-pending technology is believed to be nearly 13 times quicker than conventional Bluetooth and about three times faster than compressed low-latency Bluetooth. The unit also works with companion software with an iOS, MacOS and Android apps in the works. Once the tunes are in the computer, users have the ability to record, edit, upload, and when complete, share songs to the world.
Musicians interested in this next-gen, smart device will be happy to learn that team has launched a Kickstarter campaign, where it has already surpassed its £20,000 goal. To learn more or get your jack kit (which will run about $280), head on over to its official page here.
The evolution of IoT is now at a point that it will require a comprehensively redesigned approach to security threats in order to ensure its continuous growth and expansion.
The relentless flow of new product introductions keeps fueling the gargantuan estimates of billions of connected communicating computing devices which is projected to imminently make the Internet of Things ubiquitous within every facet of our lives. The IoT has been portrayed as the key enabler of a smarter world with compelling use cases that cut across a wide array of both personal and industrial ecosystems.
A great description is that the IoT is the global nervous system. This could be a pun, as IoT is increasingly producing troubling headlines. Stories abound, detailing security breaches that sound as if they were taken from a sci-fi movie, from hacked security cameras to a spamming refrigerator.
Figure 1 (Source: re-workblog.tumblr.com)
The explosive growth of the IoT coincides with an alarming increase in reported rates of identity theft and hacker attacks on everyday gadgets and appliances. Security researchers have easily established the feasibility of attacks against TVs, cars, security cameras, and medical equipment. There is much more than stolen money on the line if these types of attacks are carried out. The evidence demonstrates that existing security mechanisms are insufficient or ill-suited to address the risks inherent with the ubiquitous deployment of the IoT.
The need for a new original approach
The traditional approach to security, applied to both consumer and business domains, is one of separation – preventing those who are considered bad actors from accessing devices and networks. However, the dynamic topology of the network environments in which IoT applications are deployed largely invalidates the separation approach, making it both impractical and overly rigid. For example, with BYOD (bring-your-own-device), enterprises struggle to apply traditional security schemes to devices that may have been compromised while outside the perimeter firewall.
Many IoT devices self-configure and run autonomously. User interaction is limited to the devices’ operations, and there are no means to change security parameters. These devices rely on the manufacturer to implement security, both in the hardware and the software.
Moreover, manufacturers have to consider the broader ecosystem, not just their own products. For example, recent research has revealed inherent security flaws in USB memory stick controller hardware and firmware. Users must be concerned not only about the safety of the data on the memory stick, but if the memory stick controller itself has somehow been compromised.
Figure 2 (Source: Atmel’s White Paper: Integrating the Internet of Things)
In the hyper-connected world of IoT, security breaches will gravitate towards the weakest link in the chain. It will become very hard to maintain the confidence that any particular device, user, application or service maintains its integrity; instead, the assumption will be that things will occasionally break for a variety of reasons, over which there is little control and no method for fixing. As a result, IoT will force the adoption of new concepts for the establishment of trust.
A smarter network combined
In the loosely coupled world of IoT, security issues are driving a need for greater collaboration among the vendors participating in the ecosystem, recognizing their respective core competencies. Hardware vendors make devices smarter. Software developers make applications and services smarter. The connective tissue, the global Internet with its myriad of communication transports and protocols, is tasked with carrying the data that powers IoT. This begs the question – can the network be made an enabler of IoT security by becoming smarter in its own right?
Context is essential for identifying and handling security threats and is best understood at the application level, where the intent of information is processed. This points towards a higher-level communication framework for IoT – the Internet of Data Streams. This framework enables apps and services to view things as consumers and producers of data. It allows for descriptive representations of devices’ operational status and real-time detection of their presence or absence.
Elevating the functional value of the Internet, from a medium of communication to a network of data streams for IoT, would be highly beneficial to ease collaboration among the IoT ecosystem participants. The smarter network can provide apps and services with the ability to implement logic that detects things that break or misbehave, flagging them as suspect while ensuring graceful and consistent operation using the redundant resources.
For example, a smarter network can detect that a connected sensor stopped functioning (e.g. due to a denial of power attack, possibly triggered through some obscure security loophole) and allow the apps that depend on the sensor to provide uninterrupted service to users. Additionally, a network of data streams can foster a global industry of security-as-a-service solutions, which can, as an example, send real-time security alerts to app administrators and device manufacturers.
The evolution of IoT is now at a point that it will require a comprehensively redesigned approach to security threats in order to ensure its continuous growth and expansion. Addressing the surfaced issues from an ecosystem standpoint calls for apps, services and “things” to explicitly handle communication via a smarter data network, which has the promise of placing IoT in safer hands, courtesy of the Internet of Streams.
The latest Atmel | SMART development kit features video decoder and advanced security features.
element14 has debuted the Atmel | SMART SAMA5D4-XUL Xplained board, featuring an ARM Cortex-A5 microprocessor. The newly-announced development kit enables users to evaluate, prototype and create high performance, application-specific designs. The SAMA5D4 Xplained Ultra is packed with 4Gb DDR2 external memory, one Ethernet physical layer transceiver, two SD/MMC interfaces, two host USB ports and one device USB port, one 24-bit RGB LCD and HDMI interface and debug interfaces.
The 720p video decoder and playback at 30fps alongside the LCD controller with graphics accelerator are targeted for consumer and industrial designs, including terminals and Internet of Things (IoT) applications. In addition, the SAMA5D4-XULT leverages the advanced security features found on the board’s microprocessor, like ARM Trust Zone, secure boot, encrypted DDR bus, tamper detection pins and secure data storage.
Seven headers, compatible with both the Arduino Uno and Due and two Xplained headers are available for various shield connections.
“Our partnership with Atmel continues to grow with the latest addition to the Atmel Xplained family of development kits,” explained David Shen, Premier Farnell Group CTO. “The comprehensive security features and display capabilities of the SAMA5D4-XULT are key to the advancement and implementation of IoT applications where the user interface and security information are critical.”
As we’ve previously discussed on Bits & Pieces, the SAMA5D4 is optimized for control panel/HMI applications requiring video playback and is well suited for other use cases that require high levels of connectivity in the industrial and consumer Internet of Things market. The new ARM-based series is a high-performance, power-efficient Cortex-A5 MPU capable of running up to 528 MHz. Furthermore, the device integrates the ARM NEON SIMD engine for accelerated signal processing, multimedia and graphics as well as a 128 KB L2-Cache for high system performance.
While it might look like an ordinary digital picture frame, it’s so much more.
A digital photo frame that shares memorable moments of your life and saves you money on your electric bill each month? Picture that! That is the premise behind CEIVA Energy’s HomeView digital picture frame, which allows users to keep tabs on home energy use, without the need for another display showing boring information about kilowatt hours.
Founded in 2000 by former Disney executives, the Burbank, California company officially launched in 2011. Since its inception, the infiltration of smart devices throughout the home has led to an assortment of sophisticated thermostats, like the Google Nest and Honeywell Lyric, that can learn a homeowner’s energy consumption habits and automatically adjust the temperature accordingly to mitigate costs and unnecessary use.
While the idea of merging a digital photo display with energy data may seem a bit absurd, the team behind the frame believes it has developed a new, more intuitive alternative to increase customer engagement. And, as the smart home market continues to emerge, some consumers may find connected devices to either be too pricey or unnecessary, or the average consumer may just not be interested in another form of technology. What’s great about CEIVA HomeView is that it simply brings an accessory already found throughout your home into the digital-savvy era.
How it works is pretty simple. The frame displays a montage of photos uploaded by its owner on its 8-inch screen. Meanwhile, the ZigBee-enabled device wirelessly receives energy use data from the home’s smart meter. Once the information has been sent to and processed by CEIVA’s servers, the frame then displays home energy consumption approximately every 90 seconds. The data points are reduced to two or three numbers, not an entire chart or graphical representation that shares a bunch of confusing information. Instead, the gadget reveals useful things like electric rate and an estimated utility bill for that month.
While receiving information about current and historical electricity, water and gas usage is a welcomed addition into any home, users can also invite friends and family to send photos directly to the frame, send pictures to a frame remotely via the web, email, camera phone, tablet and social media channels, as well as insert a memory card and view a camera’s photos in real-time.
One of, if not the, most important feature of the HomeView is its security — an imperative element as the number of smart home hacks are on the rise. Equipped with an Atmel ATECC108 crypto engine, CEIVA notes that the frame never be replicated and all communications to and from frame are uniquely assigned for that specific. In other words, only you can view information and control your devices. This is because the ATECC108 provides a full turnkey Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) engine using key sizes of 256 or 283 bits, which are appropriate for modern security environments without the long computation delay typical of software solutions.
Want a HomeView frame for your home? Head on over to company’s official page here. In the meantime, watch as CEIVA’s Jack McKee and Jack Brooks provide a hands-on overview of their latest smart device below.
