Recovering from a system failure or a software glitch can be no easy task.  The longer the fault occurs the harder it can be to identify and recover.  The use of an external watchdog is an important and critical tool in the embedded systems engineer toolbox.  There are five tips that should be taken into account when designing a watchdog system.

Tip #1 – Monitor a heartbeat

The simplest function that an external watchdog can have is to monitor a heartbeat that is produced by the primary application processor.  Monitoring of the heartbeat should serve two distinct purposes.  First, the microcontroller should only generate the heartbeat after functional checks have been performed on the software to ensure that it is functioning.  Second, the heartbeat should be able to reveal if the real-time response of the system has been jeopardized.

Monitoring the heartbeat for software functionality and real-time response can be done using a simple, “dumb” external watchdog.  The external watchdog should have the capability to assign a heartbeat period along with a window that the heartbeat must appear within.  The purpose of the heartbeat window is to allow the watchdog to detect that the real-time response of the system is compromised.  In the event that either functional or real-time checks fail the watchdog then attempts to recover the system through a reset of the application processor.

Tip #2 – Use a low capability MCU

External watchdogs that can be to monitor a heartbeat are relatively low cost but can severely limit the capabilities and recovery possibilities of the watchdog system.  A low capability microcontroller can cost nearly the same amount as an external watchdog timer so why not add some intelligence to the watchdog and use a microcontroller.  The microcontroller firmware can be developed to fulfill the windowed heartbeat monitoring with the addition of so much more.  A “smart” watchdog like this is sometimes referred to as a supervisor or safety watchdog and has actually been used for many years in different industries such as automotive.  Generally a microcontroller watchdog has been reserved for safety critical applications but given the development tools and the cost of hardware it can be cost effective in other applications as well.

Tip #3 – Supervise critical system functions

The decision to use a small microcontroller as a watchdog opens nearly endless possibilities of how the watchdog can be used.  One of the first roles of a smart watchdog is usually to supervise critical system functions such as a system current or sensor state.  One example of how a watchdog could supervise a current would be to take an independent measurement and then provide that value to the application processor.  The application processor could then compare its own reading to that of the watchdog.  If there were disagreement between the two then the system would execute a fault tree that was deemed to be appropriate for the application.

Tip #4 – Observe a communication channel

Sometimes an embedded system can appear to be operating as expected to the watchdog and the application processor but from an external observer be in a non-responsive state.  In such cases it can be useful to tie the smart watchdog to a communication channel such as a UART.  When the watchdog is connected to a communication channel it not only monitor channel traffic but even commands that are specific to the watchdog.  A great example of this is a watchdog designed for a small satellite that monitors radio communications between the flight computer and ground station.  If the flight computer becomes non-responsive to the radio, a command could be sent to the watchdog that is then executed and used to reset the flight computer.

Tip #5 – Consider an externally timed reset function

The question of who is watching the watchdog is undoubtedly on the minds of many engineers when using a microcontroller for a watchdog.  Using a microcontroller to implement extra features adds some complexity and a new software element to the system.  In the event that the watchdog goes off into the weeds how is the watchdog going to recover? One option would be to use an external watchdog timer that was discussed earlier.  The smart watchdog would generate a heartbeat to keep itself from being reset by the watchdog timer.  Another option would be to have the application processor act as the watchdog for the watchdog.  Careful thought needs to be given to the best way to ensure both processors remain functioning as intended.

Conclusion

The purpose of the smart watchdog is to monitor the system and the primary microcontroller to ensure that they operate as expected.  During the design of a system watchdog it can be very tempting to allow the number of features supported to creep.  Developers need to keep in mind that as the complexity of the smart watchdog increases so does the probability that the watchdog itself will contain potential failure modes and bugs.  Keeping the watchdog simple and to the minimum necessary feature set will ensure that it can be exhaustively tested and proven to work.

Originally Posted here

In the comments section of my 2020 embedded salary survey, quite a few respondents felt that much of the embedded world is being subsumed by canned solutions. Will OSes like Linux and cheap, powerful boards like the Raspberry Pi and Arduino replace traditional engineering? Has that already happened?

A number of people complained their colleagues no longer understand low-level embedded things like DMA, chip selects, diddling I/O registers, and the like. They feel these platforms isolate the engineer from those details.

Part of me says yeah! That's sort of what we want. Reuse and abstraction means the developer can focus on the application rather than bringing up a proprietary board. Customers want solutions and don't care about implementation details. We see these abstractions working brilliantly when we buy a TCP/IP stack, often the better part of 100K lines of complex code. Who wants to craft those drivers?

Another part of me says "save me from these sorts of products." It is fun to design a board. To write the BSP and toss bits at peripheral registers. Many of us got a rush the first time we made an LED blink or a motor spin. I still find that fulfilling.

So what's the truth? Is the future all Linux and Pis?

The answer is a resounding "no." A search for "MCU" on Digi-Key gets 89,149 part numbers. Sure, many of these are dups with varying packages and the like, but that's still a ton of controllers.

Limiting that search to 8 bitters nets 30,574 parts. I've yet to see Linux run on a PIC or other tiny device.

Or filter to Cortex-M devices only. You still get 16,265 chips. None of those run Linux, Windows, BSD, or any other general-purpose OS. These are all designed into proprietary boards. Those engineers are working on the bare metal... and having a ton of fun.

The bigger the embedded world gets the more applications are found. Consider machine learning. That's for big iron, for Amazon Web Services, right? Well, partly. Eta Compute and other companies are moving ML to the edge with smallish MCUs running at low clock rates with limited memory. Power consumption rules, and 2 GB of RAM at 1 GHz just doesn't cut it when harvesting tiny amounts of energy.

Then there's cost. If you can reduce the cost of a product made in the millions by just a buck the business prospers. Who wants a ten dollar CPU when a $0.50 microcontroller will do?

Though I relish low-level engineering our job is to get products to market as efficiently as possible. Writing drivers for a timer is sort of silly when you realize that thousands of engineers using the same part are doing the same thing. Sure, semi vendors often deliver code to handle all of this, but in my experience most of that is either crap or uses the peripherals in the most limited ways. A few exceptions exist, such as Renesas's Synergy. They go so far as to guarantee that code. My fiddling with it leaves me impressed, though the learning curve is steep. But that sort of abstraction surely must be a part of this industry going forward. Just as we don't write protocol stacks and RTOSes any more, canned code will become more common.

Linux and canned boards have important roles in this business. But an awful lot of us will still work on proprietary systems.

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E-commerce has been seeing growth since the past decades. E-commerce had become a trend in retailers and popular in consumers. Owning to its quick, easy, and reliable service, e-commerce's popularity is known to all. Now with the advent of IoT(internet of things), where devices transfer data among themselves without any human interactions, it has benefited e-commerce in myriad ways.

Faster, More Reliable

The first and foremost advantage that IoT provides to e-commerce is that it has added to the reliability of the transactions. As there is no chance of human error anymore. Owning to its automated systems, the data of transactions are reliable and quicker.

Enhancing the business of retailers

Sell more, make money more. The IoT has created a possibility to exactly know the customer's needs and desires using the technology to collect data about the trend on social media. This collected data is then applied to sell the desired products accordingly leading to more and more growth in business via e-commerce. This way it is not only advantageous to the retailers but also to customers as IOT allows a great deal in customer care.

It leads to enhancement in marketing and promotions. Product promotion is also made through IoT and on the other hand it leads to an increase in customer care.

Securing items in the Warehouses

The IoT technology has made it possible to make sure the items do not get over stoked in the Warehouses or the items do not expired/get bruised in them by remotely sensing the products in the warehouses. This has ensured the optimization of productivity. The IoT has the ability to keep in check even at the times when there are lots of chances of human error. So, the items are more secured when the surveillance is through IoT.

Easy Tracking of theft and Losses

The products are always under surveillance, it's location, temperature through multiple devices which keeps a track on this tracking ID. GPS enabled e-commerce business makes it possible to keep track of the products in every instance. Hence making it less prone to theft and other losses. The product is never out of sight and the whole travel history is being constantly recorded. The automated e-mails and texts regarding the product's departure and arrival make it secure in delivering to the right place in a safe way.

E-commerce web Development and Design

When it comes to selling, buying online, eCommerce websites need lucrative web designs to captivate customers and this is one reason Shopify developers are well in demand. Also, not only captivating but also fast and quick. The web development now largely inclined towards using the IoT technologies, as in to make the work fast and more reliable. The IoT devices are meant to communicate more safely. Hence, they are more admired and desired. The web-based user interface also prefer IOT devices for reliability and for making things faster. Als, the IoT enabled websites makes it easier for consumers with a low-speed internet connection by adjusting the response time by minimizing it between the web server and IoT enabled sites.

There's more to come yet in IoT, with its ever-increasing usage of devices. This will help in the growth of e-commerce even more in the future.

Author Bio: Abdullah Ali is Co-founder and Shopify Developer in Los Angeles

by Jack Ganssle

jack@ganssle.com

Recently our electric toothbrush started acting oddly – differently from before. I complained to Marybeth who said, “I think it’s in the wrong mode.”

Really? A toothbrush has modes?

We in the embedded industry have created a world that was unimaginable prior to the invention of the microprocessor. Firmware today controls practically everything, from avionics to medical equipment to cars to, well everything.

And toothbrushes.

But we’re working too hard at it. Too many of us use archaic development strategies that aren’t efficient. Too many of us ship code with too many errors. That's something that can, and must, change.

Long ago the teachings of Deming and Juran revolutionized manufacturing. One of Deming's essential insights was that fixing defects will never lead to quality. Quality comes from correct design rather than patches applied on the production line. And focusing on quality lowers costs.

The software industry never got that memo.

The average embedded software project devotes 50% of the schedule to debugging and testing the code. It's stunning that half of the team’s time is spent finding and fixing mistakes.

Test is hugely important. But, as Dijkstra observed, testing can only prove the presence of errors, not the absence of bugs.

Unsurprisingly, and mirroring Deming's tenets, it has repeatedly been shown that a focus on fixing bugs will never lead to a quality product - all that will do is extend the schedule and insure defective code goes out the door.

Focusing on quality has another benefit: the project gets done faster. Why? That 50% of the schedule used to deal with bugs gets dramatically shortened. We shorten the schedule by not putting the bugs in in the first place.

High quality code requires a disciplined approach to software engineering - the methodical use of techniques and approaches long known to work. These include inspection of work products, using standardized ways to create the software, seeding code with constructs that automatically catch errors, and using various tools that scan the code for defects. Nothing that is novel or unexpected, nothing that a little Googling won't reveal. All have a long pedigree of studies proving their efficacy.

Yet only one team out of 50 makes disciplined use of these techniques.

What about metrics? Walk a production line and you'll see the walls covered with charts showing efficiency, defect rates, inventory levels and more. Though a creative discipline like engineering can't be made as routine as manufacturing, there are a lot of measurements that can and must be used to understand the team's progress and the product's quality, and to drive the continuous improvement we need.

Errors are inevitable. We will ship bugs. But we need a laser-like focus on getting the code right. How right? We have metrics; we know how many bugs the best and mediocre teams ship. Defect Removal Efficiency is a well-known metric used to evaluate quality of shipped code; it's the percentage of the entire universe of bugs found in a product that were removed prior to shipping (it's measured until 90 days after release). The very best teams, representing just 0.4% of the industry, eliminates over 99% of bugs pre-shipment. Most embedded groups only removed 95%.

Where does your team stand on this scale? Can one control quality if it isn’t measured?

We have metrics about defect injection rates, about where in the lifecycle they are removed, about productivity vs. any number of parameters and much more. Yet few teams collect any numbers.

Engineering without numbers isn’t engineering. It’s art.

Want to know more about metrics and quality in software engineering? Read any of Capers Jones’ books. They are dense, packed with tables of numbers, and sometimes difficult as the narrative is not engaging, but they paint a picture of what we can measure and how differing development activities effect errors and productivity.

Want to understand where the sometimes-overhyped agile methods make sense? Read Agile! by Bertrand Meyer and Balancing Agility and Discipline by Barry Boehm and Richard Turner.

Want to learn better ways to schedule a project and manage requirements? Read any of Karl Wiegers’ books and articles.

The truth is that we know of better ways to get great software done more efficiently and with drastically reduced bug rates.

When will we start?

Jack Ganssle has written over 1000 articles and six books about embedded systems, as well as one about his sailing fiascos. He has started and sold three electronics companies. He welcomes dialog at jack@ganssle.com or at www.ganssle.com.

Over the next 25 years, the global energy consumption is estimated to soar by 40%, and unless we don’t stumble upon a vast coal mine, there is no way we can fulfil this requirement.

You may be thinking: “Renewable energy will do the job for us.”

Yes, renewable energy are paving the path for a more sustainable future, however, their mass adoption is still limited due to several barriers. They are highly dependent on natural occurrences, require a high capital investment, and are inflexible with traditional energy grids. It can’t be said with certainty when these limitless sources can be used to a full extent for our ever-growing electricity needs.

Till the time we overcome these barriers and adopt the renewables entirely, optimal and efficient utilization of non-energy resources is the only prominent option to stretch our days of existence with power supply.

Utilities are continually looking for a technological enabler that can help them optimize their processes and manage assets remotely. IoT is one such technology that is helping power generation companies to do so.

With its advanced telemetry and cognition capabilities, energy utilities can boost their energy transmission and distribution processes to facilitate the efficient flow of electricity and reduce energy wastage.

Let us see the ways with which IoT can help utilities for adequate electricity supply:

1)  Remote Asset Monitoring and Management:

This is primarily the most talked-about application of an IoT system. It allows energy companies to remotely manage their equipment; ranging from power generators to transmission lines. Sensors embedded on assets can measure parameters like temperature, vibration, pressure, wear, etc. that can be read by the utilities to identify the probable breakdown point.

This enable utilities to monitor the depreciation of their assets and govern the overall health of their power transmission and distribution architecture. By compiling the continuously stored data, insights and trends can also be generated to estimate the failure time. Subsequently, inspection and maintenance procedures can be scheduled to eliminate failures and reduce downtime.

Furthermore, by planning their repair and maintenance tasks as per IoT based real-time alert system, power generation companies can even reduce energy losses and enhance their operational efficiency. This helps them to optimize the consumption of their resources and facilitate the flow of electricity from power plants to consumers’ facilities in an efficient manner.

2)  Grid Balancing and Supply Rerouting/Restoring:

Smart Grids are a modern IoT variant of the existing power grids that include several energy measures and smart appliances like smart meters. Their implementation in the infrastructure of power distribution and transmission makes the flow of electricity from power plants to the end consumers more efficient and reliable.

However, there benefits far exceeds then simply supplying the electricity from one place to another. They allow utilities to lower operational costs and help customers to manage electricity consumption at home.

In terms of making the flow of electricity more efficient and promote optimum resource utilization, smart grids are the initial choice. As they work on a two-way interaction, they can effectively manage congestion on the power lines. They are even capable of ensuring the connection requirements of the generation stations such as frequency and voltage control to prevent instability.

Furthermore, the smart grids offer astounding electricity rerouting and restoring advantages. In case a transmission line breaks due to adverse weather conditions or voltage fluctuations, smart grids can find another route to transmit electricity to a locality. Other than facilitating a constant power supply, utilities can also use this feature of smart grids to identify causes that result in energy fluctuations. This empowers energy companies to reduce fluctuations that result in wire failure and hence boost their asset utilization efficiently.

Smart Grids also enable the indulgence of renewable energy resources. Let us see how:

3)  Renewable energy management:

As we discussed earlier, the IoT infuses two-way dialogue system in an existing electricity distribution channel. This means that instead of merely supplying power to the users and bill them once a month, the IoT system enables both the utilities and consumers to share information.

“In layman terms, even the end-users can now contribute to a smart grid.”

The most significant advantage of using smart grids is its ability to include renewable energy resources to an existing power grid. Thus, end consumers using solar panels to power their home appliances can discharge excess electricity into the power grid in exchange for money. Many countries like USA and India are providing subsidies to end consumers for creating a small-scale solar power station on their rooftops.

This is assisting in the mass adoption of renewable energy resources, which other than alleviating energy scarcity can also help in reducing the emission of greenhouse gases. Since smart grids act as a stable infrastructure to maintain voltage fluctuations, they can be used to manage the electricity flow from both renewable and conventional methods.

My Personal Opinion:

“As per marketsandmarkets, IoT in the energy market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 24.1% to reach a value of USD 22.34 billion by the end of 2020.”

This showcase the potential that IoT can offer to the vertical of electricity transmission and distribution. Its implementation has the power to facilitate our energy needs and reduce our consumption to a great extent. As per a study by environmental impact assessment (EIA), by effectively utilizing existing IoT technologies, the industries in the US have reduced their coal energy consumption for producing electricity by 14 to 22%.

Similarly, as smart consumers, we can also implement smart meters and IoT based energy monitoring solutions at our homes and facilities to monitor overall power consumption and manage needs accordingly.

This can be the initial step to enjoy limitless power. Let us contribute by joining the IoT revolution and make our homes & industries smart for a sustainable future.

The real estate segment has been acknowledged as the most "behind in development" in multiple Forbes and TechCrunch reports. Mainly because of the fact that real estate investments, management and everything in between aren't very appealing to younger generations, a lot of companies and brokers still rely on a very traditional approach, made of direct marketing, face-to-face meetings and similar. With this in mind, though, there are several ones who refused to remain in an "old" era and embraced new pieces of technology. Let's analyse why IoT should be the pivotal one.

The Usage Of Data

Let's state the obvious: every real estate-related process is bulky and slow. From finance to paperwork, every small individual process could take ages to be finalised and this, for many, was the starting opening point for technology to proliferate within this sector. The usage of data, in the real estate sector, applies to IoT because it revolves around risk management for long term financial procedures: if someone is looking to invest £2 million in a property, for example, a long credit score check will be required, as well as cross-references to evaluate if the request isn't masked as what's known in the segment as a "ghost contractor". Big data, especially if coming from bank accounts and credit card companies, could speed up these processes massively, effectively connecting an extremely slow business segment to the IoT. The UK is very ahead in regards to this very matter, especially within the commercial property auctions segment, where companies are heavily relying on data to speed up the buying process.

Architecture-Ready Applications

Has anyone of you ever used a dedicated software for any real estate task? From development to buying and investments, every piece of software has been designed and planned for professionals who know technical terms, therefore actually blocking "casual" users or junior professionals from approaching them. Having a data-driven, IoT-oriented architecture could heavily help in setting up budgeting for real estate management (having 12 properties and calculating individual fees isn't an easy job) or just to deal with clients, by letting it focus on the taxes/admin part whilst you do the "physical" management part.
Once again, the usage of big data and data points is quintessential for this very purpose, given the fact that it could simplify the way many different tasks are executed, effectively reducing their timescales.

To Conclude

Should the real estate sector approach IoT, data and data science? Definitely. Not only because of the above-mentioned reasons but also because of the fact that data-driven strategies are ahead of time: from 2020, in fact, we will definitely witness a massive growth of data and its applications in business (not just IoT).

We must be prepared for the Internet of Things (IoT) Tsunami, but it will not be in 2020 as many of us believed. The good news is that it is approaching but now more quietly than a few years ago.

For the most pessimistic or unconvinced of the IoT, I must say that much of the hype around the Internet of Things is not really hype anymore. I will say one more time: “IoT’s here to stay”.

In Ten Trends of IoT in 2020, Ahmed Banafa considers that in the year 2020 we will hit all 4 components of IoT Model: Sensors, Networks (Communications), Analytics (Cloud), and Applications, with different degrees of impact. If we pay attention again to the predictions by 2020, the IoT is predicted to generate an additional $344B in revenues, as well as to drive $177B in cost reductions. In his article, Mr, Banafa explore the impact of many technologies on IoT and predict what is next for IoT.

No doubt that disruptive new trends will emerge over the next few years that will pave the way for a complete overhaul in the way we view and interact with our world and the Internet of Things will continue its brisk and steady rise as our planet and everything in it becomes connected.

Nevertheless, some shadows continue to appear for IoT like we can read in “IoT in 2020: awkward times ahead” . The pain points are the usual suspects:

• Security – The divide between IT and OT is one of the central causes of the security problem
• Lack of complete solutions - IT companies have been aggressive in partnering up with OT companies, and there’s a general recognition that most complete IoT solutions will involve products from multiple vendors.
• No single vendor is able to offer a complete solution to a given IoT problem and, therefore, unable to solve the broader issues with IoT technology in a unitary way.
• Edge networking- One of the major trends for 2020. The cloud can be a limiting factor in a lot of IoT deployments.

I was pleased say that I have included some of the Top 5 IoT trends released by Ecosystm in this free report “The Top 5 IoT Trends For 2020”. Here's what we think 2020 has in store for IoT:

• 5G Providers Will Be Forced to Operate Outside their Comfort Zone
• Satellite IoT Connectivity Solutions Will Start to Compete Against and Work with LPWANs
• IoT Sensor Analytics Will Become the Fastest Growing AI Workload
• Construction Will Become the Unsuspecting Influencers for IoT Adoption
• The Edge Will No Longer Be at the Edge 

Following the tradition of previous years, I have been collecting links to other sources with IoT Predictions and Trends for 2020. You can read more predictions in these links:

Previous Predictions collected in my articles

2020 IoT Predictions  - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/2020-iot-trends-predictions-prepared-tsunami-francisco-maroto  

2019 IoT Predictions  -  https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/yes-we-continue-making-iot-predictions-2019-francisco-maroto/

2018 IoT Predictions -   https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/have-we-already-bored-predicting-iot-francisco-maroto/

2017 IoT Predictions - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/finally-2017-year-internet-things-i-do-think-so-francisco-maroto/

Key Takeaway                

This year there are fewer predictions about IoT. This is not bad. On the contrary, it is a symptom that the hype has disappeared and the IoT has evolved and has become more real.

For my part, every year I am lazier to read predictions and trends. Many articles are written by non-IoT experts, are repetitive and do not add great value.

Let´s keep the positive messages of 2020 IoT Predictions and Trends:

1. IoT is developing at a fast pace
2. The maturity phase of IoT has just begun, and it is soon to become a full-blown business in the coming years.

We, the IoT Pioneers, know that IoT development isn’t something that will happen overnight but we also know that IoT will star developing in 2020 at a fast pace.

Back in 2000, futurist Paul Saffo warned that in 2020, we’ll be “living in an age of technologically induced creative destruction.”

We're far from that. Expect a 2020 year of less IoT technology news and more business news.

No matter if you are running a small business, a medium or large company or a multinational, IoT is going to find its way into your business. So, be prepared for the IoT Tsunami that is coming!

Artificial Intelligence is a popular term currently evolving around software industries. Many app development companies were developing their requirement process to recommend AI-bases workers and also many institutes were trained to learn the concept of AI. It clearly says that in the future, most of the tasks will drive through AI. Hence it is good to know how AI will help the professions to run their routine work effectively. It’s not only about learning the skill but also depends upon the interest you have to learn. AI does not only deals with a particular requirement.

It also deals with sectors like data analytics, machine learning, data mining, etc. By combining these factors will help to maintain the AI to train the job for the long term. Hence make sure to know the areas that follow to build the profession in profit. This blog will help you to know the information for the profession that helps to operate effectively.

Software Development

Software development is one of the topmost demanding jobs in every country. By getting into the job as a software developer will help to promote the career faster than the other industries. In the future, AI will help the programmers to think less as machine learning will take place to eliminate the code and introduce the algorithm to build the application. By allowing the Ai to adopt the section to work will help to play the complete function in an easy mode. IT reduces the effort of using the coding and also helps to build the apps easier and effectively. For example, software testing is one of the important roles in development, by placing AI to automate the testing will help to replace the employee and reduce the effort of them.

Machine Industry

The machine industry is a vital part to run society. Workers were working for the long term and creating a great effort to complete the work. AI will help to respond to the function to operate smarter and effectively. By utilizing the data analytics, the result to maintain the chain process will become easier and more effective. Hence complete machine industry will get a hike to improve their quality. By focusing on furthermore internets of things get communicated with the sources from industry and get huge control. Hence by using these technologies will bury the effort of workers and also increase the quality of time from the manufacturing side. It improves the quality and helps to maintain the product to get qualified.

Education System

Education is the right of every citizen of the country but most of the time students get frustrated due to the load that is given by the system. Hence it collapses the mind easily. Thus to prevent it Ai can implement it. It helps the system to decrease the load of education and improves understanding. It allows the student to get interact easier and helps to improve the concept to understand.

For example, if a student wants to learn the practical session, its easy to make it live virtually. It helps them to improve their creativity and also increase their interest to observe. Hence by implementing AI will tend to improve the whole concept of education.

Healthcare

The healthcare industry is always an important part to get noticed. Every person was looking for improving their health but most of the time they were lazy to build the habit to take care. Thus by using Ai, the cost of spending bucks for health will reduce and the improvement of the human cycle will get increases. Already Ai apps were built to support the human by analyzing their symptom. Hence in the future, apps get increased and also the technology will get improved. By acknowledging the human about their problem with the symptom will help to improve their health without any support and also help to save their money. Even data analytics will help the patient’s improvement of humans in terms of analyzing the error. Thus by using data science as it is a part of Ai will help to maintain the record of patient safer and also reliable to the human.

Supply Chain

The supply chain is one of the toughest parts of the profession as it requires used by many companies to service for them. By using the data analyst, the usage level of getting information will be much good rather than depending on humans. It helps the business person to prevent the time shortage and also increases the quality of response. By ensuring the time is important to supply chain business as it matters a lot to the supply chain profession. Hence applying Ai to the supply chain will be prettier and help the process to work properly and reliability for the system.

Wearable Gadgets

Technology is much reliable to society to help the human and increase the concentration on their work. Wearable devices are one of the popular devices that have been getting merge with human routines. Especially devices are used for health reasons. Hence by using the gadgets will allow the user to acknowledge the ratings of health. By using the gadgets, the usage will be finer to track. Also, the apps related to wearable devices were much high and also demand is also getting a hike. Many top app companies were working for wearable apps. Hence the usage of these kind apps will bring great attention to the software industry. It is related to IOT. Thus automatically Ai will get into the game to manage the data.

Business Models

Maintaining the business as per the requirement of the client is the major responsibility of every person. The important part is the data that has to be analyzed well. It should not get criticized. Hence analyzing the data with the help of AI models will improve the business requirement and also the client requirement. Thus in the future, many companies will seek data analytics to improve their business.

Final Words

Artificial intelligence is one of the topmost sectors in today’s world. And driving the field via these techniques will help to improve the complete session.

Artificial intelligence plays a significant role in the growth of the IoT sector. Artificial intelligence emulates the task more profoundly, Those performances were earlier limited to the human workforce, but now the Artificial intelligence development company has made a lot more noise in almost every sector by actually revolutionize everyone's lives.

The Internet of Things has been introduced in recent years with the objective to transfer data to other devices through the internet. IoT relies heavily on the internet connection that handles large volumes of data. IoT and artificial intelligence from the last two years are going hand in hand as these data helps in generating a lot more data that can be taken as actionable results.

Artificial intelligence helps IoT to handle the data on the basis of algorithms where they can convert data with the help of machine learning-based analytics. These AI Developers help the company to monitor operations that can give great insight from the data with greater accuracy.

Gartner predicts that by 2022, more than 80 % of enterprise IoT projects will include an AI component, up from only 10 % today.

How AI and IoT are Contribution to Growth

AI at work can access your IoT databases and know about your choices on the basis of last preferences, these personalized suggestions can easily make someone's life much easier. Here are some vital factors where Artificial intelligence affects the internet of things. 

• Greater Revenue

IoT and AI are proving to be beneficial for most industries. These effects are enhanced by greater revenues and returns along with smart services-based solutions. With the extraordinary combination are transforming the workflows and other productivity of the businesses. 

• Reduced Costs

AI and IoT ensure to reduce the operational cost by properly monitoring the smart sensors, meters, other fitted appliances. AI solution providers are providing impressive features that minimize the operational costs of households and business enterprises.

• Predictive Analysis

AI uses the power of analysis to forecast and minimize unpredictable incidents at the most basic level. It allows businesses to manage real-time data in determining the condition of machinery and equipment which are likely to break down in some time.  Proper action can be taken prior to avoid any kind of damages or loss with an associated cost. 

• Enhance Risk Management

A number of applications that integrate IoT with AI help companies to better understand and foresee a range of risks with the fast response, allowing them to better manage the safety of the workers, loss or any other cybersecurity attacks. This law enforcement identifies all the possible loss and tries to eliminate the threat before access.

How IoT impacts Industrial Sector

#1 Manufacturing

The manufacturing industries are integrating smart sensors with the help of IoT in order to perform enhance the efficiencies. These smart sensors help in detaching the threats be it aircraft, automobiles, household. By implementing Artificial intelligence solutions and smart sensors can help in diminishing the errors and also reduces the overall cost with the help of prognostic analysis.

#2 Smart Homes

IoT introduced the concept of a smart home where all devices are connected through a shared network. Through integrating this with AI, all of these apps will be able to understand the commands of their users and make smart decisions accordingly.

It can also help to reduce the cost of electricity by switching off devices when things are not used just by switching off the lights.

#3 Airlines

After the evolution of the latest IoT technology, all kinds of machines are run through sensors. We do not need to physically touch the devices to perform. These sensors are needed to identify the maintenance issue if any flight delays or cancellations, sensors automatically send messages to its passengers about schedule time or delays. Artificial intelligence solutions automatically transmit the issue, be it flight delays, cancellation or any other essential information. 

Conclusion

AI and IoT cumulative impact would fundamentally restructure our personal and professional lives. Therefore, wise companies opt for a strategic and innovative strategy to control this incoming phenomenon and transform it into a huge opportunity for their company to escalate. These dependencies and AI and IoT are aiming to gather important issues that process and store data with the visionary approach that can easily escalate businesses. The IoT development company is reshaping the whole scenario by simply combining the AI and IoT functionalities.

“We won't stop until we see every vehicle on the road being electric,” said Elon Musk, the person who works to revolutionize transportation both on earth and in space. “China is about to ban the internal combustion engine,” said a mining financier, Robert Friedland. Tesla Model 3 needs approximately 65 kilograms of copper per vehicle. Cities are now demanding zero-emission buses. Whether it’s electric cars, buses, trucks, solar energy or wind energy generation – as we transit to a sustainable world, we need more copper, nickel, cobalt, lithium, platinum, palladium, zinc and aluminum. That’s why, mining products will be in huge demand. Nevertheless, in the present world, these minerals and other mining products are already a backbone for most industries.

However, just because mining products are vital to run industries and build a low-carbon future, it doesn’t mean that the society should turn a blind eye to the damages caused due to mining operations.

Concerns from communities and governments regarding the environmental effects of digging up the earth to extract metals and minerals is battering the sector. Also, current investors have become restless and new investors are reluctant to finance mining activities as mining operations have not altered significantly since decades. This puts pressure on mine owners to bring a change in traditional mining practices. Such a situation drives many mine owners to bring data-driven practices into their routine mining operations.

Like most industries, the technology that disrupts the traditional ways of mining will be a significant driver of change in mining. The goal is to make mining more effective, sparing, energy intensive and environmental-friendly.

From decades, the mining industry has been deploying PLC and SCADA systems for monitoring and controlling. But these monitoring and control systems are generally proprietary systems and offer limited interoperability with other systems. This is where IoT-based systems prove to be advantageous. IoT-based systems are based on open and highly connected Internet Protocol (IP) network structure. Such open network architectures enable current mining operations to move toward the next generation of smart mining.

Let's look at how IoT implementation empowers mine owners with its ability to transform traditional mining practices and:

Say NO to carelessness

Since the advent of mining, fires and explosions are serious safety issues. Specifically, in coal mines, spontaneous coal seam combustion turns into a catastrophe mainly due to carelessness. Besides, in the biggest coal producer nation like China, approximately 25.1% of their main coal mines are extremely gaseous mines, which after burning could lead to a disaster. Also, the environment surrounding mines can be vulnerable during combustion as massive quantities of toxic gases, including CO2, CO, SO2 and H2S, are emitted when a mine catches fire. Therefore, prevention and protection from fires is important for secured mining production as well as the global environment.

The mechanism of spontaneous combustion of the coal seam is like a typical spontaneous combustion, which requires oxygen. Hence, measuring the concentration of O2 is the key. In addition to O2, other gas contents, such as CO, CO2, N2, CH4, C2H4, C2H6, Rn and so forth, can be evaluated to detect spontaneous coal combustion at the surveillance spot.

As shown in the image above, an IoT-based system continuously monitors the sensed values and displays them to remote users through a web dashboard. Besides, the system can send alerts to such users in the case of detecting abnormal values and it can activate mitigation devices (e.g., forced ventilation) to decrease gas concentrations smartly.

Say NO to waste of resources

There is an increasing demand of mining products, mining equipment and resources – such as conveyors, shearers, boring machines, hydraulic pump stations, hydraulic support stations, crushers, loaders, motor vehicles, water pumps and ventilation fans – to run mining operations continuously. Moreover, to increase profitability form the existing resources, mine owners need an effective and safe resource management platform that can bring resource wastage time to zero. In such situations, an IoT network can help mine owners or managers to know the locations of these expensive resources and its usage statistics. Further, the underground staff can also be monitored via an IoT network.

Dundee Precious Metals sets the best example for this. They have deployed nearly 280 wireless access points over 50 km (31 miles) of tunnels in their flagship gold mine placed in Chelopech, Bulgaria. The firm quadrupled production from 0.5 million to 2 million tons by using an IoT-based system to track miners and vehicles locations, monitor vehicles status and automate safety and maintenance operations.

An IoT-based system is not only helpful to mine owners but original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) as well. The open connectivity of IoT architecture enables OEMs to monitor their product performance in their lifetime, even after the product is sold. Such data can be used to initiate a new revenue stream and to improve product design as well.

Say NO to casualties

In the case of a calamity, miners are taught to escape from the mine first with handy self-rescue equipment and enter a refuge alternative when escaping is cut off. Refuge alternatives are designed to provide 96 hours of breathable air, food and water for underground staff. Although refuge alternatives are only planned for use in post-accident occurrences, so their functionality should be checked periodically to ensure that they are working as intended in an emergency. In addition, a system should be in place to signal the surface instantly when a refuge alternative is triggered after a calamity. One way to monitor a refuge alternative's feasibility status from the ground is to attach sensors, such as a magnetic switch sensor, air quality and temperature sensors to the door of a refuge alternative. These sensors detect the occupancy status, air quality and temperature to ensure that a refuge alternative always stays safe.

To sum up, whether you need to cut expenses, lessen downtime, increase productivity or reduce environmental footprint – an IoT-based system is the right choice.

The automation of industry is steadily advancing into a new era – the fourth industrial revolution (4IR or Industry 4.0), where all things from machines and devices to people and systems will be digitally connected. Industry 4.0 technologies such as the internet of things (IoT), 5G, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning will enable industries to better manage their processes, improve efficiencies and boost their productivity. For many, the objectives for implementing 4IR technologies include greater control and predictability of production quality, improved safety and lower costs. Industry 4.0 also adds flexibility to an organization’s operations, enabling them to rapidly respond to shifts in consumer demand. To achieve these objectives cost-efficiently, however, requires taking a platform approach to digital transformation that is as much organizational as technological.

Industries that have been digitalized for decades, such as finance and online retail, treat IT and its infrastructure strategically — as crucial to their competitiveness. Amazon and Alibaba, the world’s two largest online retailers, for example, have invested hugely in their digital technology platforms. Ironically, Amazon’s AWS cloud business is currently its most profitable business, although it was originally only a platform for enabling its retail side. And these are not isolated examples of the importance of technology platforms in the digital era.

In industries where physical assets lie at the heart of operations, digitalization has been a slower and more complicated process. In these industries, Operational Technology (OT) organizations typically manage a wide range of production and logistics equipment — from manufacturing and assembly equipment to quality control and monitoring systems, to various hand-held devices/tools and material handling systems.

Legacy communications technologies and control protocols still prevail for these physical assets — with each supplier implementing their own customized versions of industry standards. That is why digital adoption has been slow; there are multiple layers of communication technologies and control protocols that create data siloes where exchanging of information between them is limited. This makes it difficult for operations to obtain a complete and accurate view of their production facilities.

As manufacturing and other industries are moving toward Industry 4.0, it’s becoming more apparent that this legacy communications architecture must change. Unfortunately, according to 451 Research, only 34% of industrial companies have a formal strategy to actively digitalize their business processes and assets — 10 percentage points less than non-industrial organizations. In order to fully move into an Industry 4.0 era, industrial-focused organizations are beginning to link OT with IT, embrace emerging technologies and build out digital platforms that can securely support new applications and use cases as they develop.

The building blocks of an Industry 4.0 platform include industrial IoT (IIoT), cloud, edge computing (MEC), AI and machine learning, digital twins and wireless communications — LTE/4G today, and 5G tomorrow.

IIoT systems connect all the physical assets with the digital platform. IIoT produces digital data that can be collected, integrated and analyzed across operations. Cloud computing enables organizations to quickly scale out resources for storing and processing the new, large volumes of data generated by IIoT. Edge computing, or edge clouds, distribute those parts of the processing that need to be closer to IIoT sensors and machinery for more rapid and precise response to sensor input; which is critical for automation. And as data security becomes an increasingly important part of operations, edge computing will enable critical processing data to remain within the facility premises, thereby protecting its integrity.

The sheer volume and complexity of IIoT data would be overwhelming without AI and machine learning (ML), which filter and process the data to look for actionable patterns. As a result, AI and ML create digital twins; essentially, digital models of the “virtual state” of a physical device, process or system. Leveraging the immense computing power of the cloud, digital twin technology enables these virtual representations to be used to provide predictive maintenance, conduct product or process simulations in order to optimize industrial processes before they are deployed, and in worker training to speed up competency. As a result, digital twins are the foundation component of Industry 4.0.

Given the key role that data plays in industrial automation, it’s clear why the communications network is vital as well. Unfortunately, however, the disparate communications technologies currently in use in many industries cannot provide the digital platform unification that’s required. This is where OT is learning from IT.

Because the platform has to be based on the current digital communications standard — IP — multiservice IP/MPLS networks are helping to accommodate the older communications technology use cases. Cabled networks, such as Ethernet, will still play a role, but linking hundreds of IIoT sensors, as well as mobile robots and vehicles, requires industrial-strength, next-generation wireless. And office wireless technologies, such as Wi-Fi, are not up to manufacturing performance requirements in terms of coverage, capacity, latency or security. As a result, digitally transforming organizations moving toward Industry 4.0 are leveraging IP-based LTE/4G to cover the vast majority of today’s requirements. Moving forward, 5G, with its improved performance beyond LTE, will be able to support many new use cases and applications as Industry 4.0 adoption accelerates.

For those organizations that are already investing in IIoT and cloud platforms, the importance of their communications network to enable industrial automation and the digital transformation of their facilities can’t overlook or under-estimated. To ensure that no site, employee, or system is left behind, organizations in industrial-focused fields must also think strategically about their communications platform.

Over the last few decades, productivity growth for some industrial sectors has lagged behind others where digital technologies have been widely adopted. One of the key lessons that asset-intensive industries can learn from these more progressive “digital” businesses is in the power of digital platforms to remain competitive in a fast-changing world.

$13 trillion in ROI will be generated by 2025 - BI Intelligence.

Over 20 billion devices will be connected to the IoT by 2020 - Gartner

These predictions about IoT clearly reflects how rapidly this futuristic technology is evolving. To stay ahead of the curve, diverse industry-specific businesses are already investing heavily in different IoT initiatives. No wonder why IoT has become the “talk of the town” in the digital world. 

In this article, you are going to get a detailed insight on IoT - perks of adopting IoT in businesses, which industries are benefiting the most from it, how IoT is transforming the mobile app development sector along with what we can expect from this futuristic technology in 2020 and beyond.

IoT advantages for businesses 

By 2020, the IoT platform is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 40%. So, what’s the secret behind its global popularity?

Well, through customized IoT mobile solutions, this advanced technology helps in addressing some common business challenges including

• Safe data access

• Safe data storage

• Device control and management

• Integration and maintenance

Allowing the real-time data exchange to carry out different business actions and analysis is one of the major reasons why businesses are going gaga over it. The list of IoT’s wide range of business benefits includes

• Enhanced productivity

When it comes to the point of dealing with real-time data and variables, IoT does it the best. IoT-based applications help in management procedures. Also, it can help in carrying out automation of routine-based functions, informing employees about expected technical disruptions along with supporting remote troubleshooting procedures.

• Better customer experience

With IoT-based applications, businesses can offer a seamless and smart customer experience. Users can carry out transactions using smart trackers, mobile card readers, etc. Also, the smart meters and smart grid technologies help users to identify and resolve issues. 

IoT-based devices are capable of collecting a plethora of data on users’ behavior which helps businesses to come up with innovative ways to keep their customers engaged and offer better customer experience.

• Cost-effectiveness

Both the IoT devices and the IoT-based applications assist professionals not only to monitor equipment but also to diminish the downtime along with the risk factors. The applications based on this advanced technology can successfully predict possible system misalignments and failures which in turn helps in saving a lot for businesses.

Thus, IoT has become one of the most loved technologies to implement these days. 

Industries to benefit from IoT applications

As IoT technologies help in reducing overall business operating costs, increasing business visibility, business efficiency and productivity along with creating additional revenue streams, businesses across diverse industries are embracing it wholeheartedly. 

Healthcare and fitness

Today’s market is flooded with different IoT-enabled wearables. Such smart wearables help in monitoring calorie intake, heart rate, steps taken while walking, sleep along with tracking various other activities that help us to stay fit and healthy. 

Other than personal use of health wearables, some smart appliances like thermometers, scales, blood pressure monitors, etc. are presently available in the market. 

Smart home

The idea of home automation was relatively unfamiliar to most people until recently. With the emerging IoT technology, smart home automation has started to show its true power. Smart homes make our lives easier, more convenient, and more comfortable. 

Increased energy efficiency, better home security, savings on the electricity bill, maximized comfort, etc. are some popular reasons why smart home automation development with IoT is trending in the market these days. 

Retail and Supply Chain Management

Well, if you think different IoT devices and applications in the Retail industry is limited to only shopping and SCM, you are wrong. Enabling IoT in business is an opportunity for hospitality service providers, restaurants, and other businesses to manage not only their supplies but also to gather valuable insights. 

It allows business owners to avert order overflow, effectively restricting the employees who abuse their privileges along with managing the merchandising and logistical expenses in a better way. Business owners now can manage their inventory in real-time with IoT. 

Automotive

Self-driven cars or connected cars are no longer fiction only. Thanks to IoT. Thus, in the automotive industry, IoT use cases are actively expanding. Smart applications are being developed and integrated into car infotainment systems so that providing telematics, in-car navigation, and entertainment becomes easier than ever.

Also, IoT-enabled apps make sure predictive maintenance, surveillance, security, and safety of the vehicle along with real-time monitoring, cognitive insights for the management, etc. 

Other than the above-mentioned ones, industries related to manufacturing, agriculture, logistics are also ripping benefits out of IoT. 

IoT in mobile app development - what to expect next? 

You have already seen how IoT is transforming the way different industries operate. According to experts, IoT adoption is still in the early phase. The way the connected world of IoT is evolving, soon we can experience its power to the fullest. Even worldwide app developers would agree that IoT is leaving significant impacts on iPhone and iPad app development services. So, what can we expect from this futuristic technology in the future?

Edge computing will become more popular than cloud computing

We all know how cloud computing brought a wave in the digital world. Even today’s IoT devices store all the data in their cloud. However, in the tech world, change is the only constant. And this is why we will probably soon witness edge computing becoming more popular than cloud computing. 

Now, the question is how?

Instead of sending all the data from devices to the cloud, now, the IoT devices will transfer data to a local storage device first. This device can filter, sort, and accordingly can calculate the data and transfer only the required data set to the cloud. 

Undoubtedly, it will reduce traffic to the network. Also, collecting and processing data locally will allow the IoT apps to consume less bandwidth and work in bad connectivity to the cloud. 

IoT security will get more priority

The graph for IoT application adoption in businesses is increasing exponentially. Now, with more devices being connected to the network, not only the data volume increase but the risk for data security increases as well. 

We have seen how the smart home industry and health care industry is adopting various IoT-based applications. So, be it patient’s health-related data or data related to the home security, everything is being stored in the cloud. So, with sensitive data floating in the cloud, we can expect IoT security will get more priority in the next year and beyond. 

A unified framework for integration

To keep the industry safe and secure, a unified framework is required. The lack of a unified IoT framework - this is a serious challenge that IoT has faced while cooperating with different industries. However, another trending technology Blockchain will be a great help to accelerate the IoT adoption process by allowing the app developers to improve and develop mobile and web applications. 

So if someone is looking to develop IoT apps and looking for an Android or iOS app development company, it is important to know beforehand if they are capable and know the integration. 

IoT and AI

Both Artificial Intelligence and IoT are data-driven technologies. And both technologies are used for storing and analyzing data. So, to make automation more efficient, we may see these two thriving technologies being implemented together to gain better visibility along with accurate insights into various services. 

Other than what we mentioned above,

• We will see the rise of predictive maintenance
• Businesses will deliver more personalized customer experiences
• Software-as-a-Service will be the new normal

And all of these will be the direct or indirect impact of IoT being implemented in the mobile apps. 

However, mobile app developers have to advance their skill sets to integrate IoT successfully in their apps. Having sheer knowledge of Swift or Xcode won’t be enough for smart iPhone or iPad app development services. 

Of course, we will witness new technologies being emerged. However, these will make IoT easier to use and more intuitive to a large extent. 

As IoT becomes more prevalent, more CIOs are asked to take the reins of IoT projects. Gartner recently found that just under a third of responding organizations expected their CIO would lead their IoT efforts, and that by 2020, more than 10% of IoT projects in traditional industries would be headed by the CIO.

This prompted Jenny Beresford, research director, to caution: ‘The IoT will expand rapidly and extensively, continually surfacing novel and unforeseen opportunities and threats.’

Among those threats — which will definitely be CIOs’ responsibility — is the woeful security of traditional IoT and IIoT networks, as well as the privacy, connectivity and transaction speed issues that frequently plague IoT implementation.

To be maximally effective such a network must somehow be both highly connected and highly secure, and currently only one technology — blockchain — can achieve this.

However, obstacles remain, including the lack of an IoT-friendly blockchain consensus protocol.

Network Security and Data Exchange

IoT and IIoT networks typically lack physical security, host-based defences, and software updates and patches. These networks typically also use less-secure wifi protocols, web apps and APIs, combining larger-than-usual attack surface with weaker-than-usual security while retaining single points of control and failure.

In IoT, hackers see a new prize: gigantic botnets which can be used to spread malware, as with the Mirai botnet. And in IIoT, the rewards of network penetration can be industrial sabotage, espionage or large-scale blackmail, like Florida’s Riviera Beach.

Yet, companies cannot afford to hold off indefinitely on deploying IoT technology, since doing so exposes the organization to risk of being outmanoeuvred by competitors. Blockchain offers CIOs a way to deliver their IoT projects with the inherent security issues of large, distributed networks essentially solved.

Blockchain for IoT inherently eliminates single points of control and failure while simultaneously offering modular encryption and auditable transaction logs, so security issues are isolated, easy to identify and cannot spread through the network. Even if they do, they can’t gain control of it.

Transaction Processing

Machine-to-machine (M2M) communications generate gigantic amounts of data in transit — and the number of connected devices is growing rapidly:

With centralized control, much of the processing power of these devices is lost to idling, while trust issues keep transaction costs high. CIOs find themselves in the position of paying for computational capacity they can’t use, and for traditional data centers that represent a ‘honeypot’ for attackers and a bottleneck for their networks.

Peer-to-peer communication across connected devices would enable dynamic transaction load balancing, enabling spare computing power to be identified and employed and potentially eliminating centralized data storage.

To do this successfully, IoT will need to become trustless as well as peer-to-peer. Blockchain offers a trustless peer-to-peer communication and transaction medium with secure, unforgeable and auditable transaction logs; smart contracts can be used to set policies, control and monitor access rights and execute actions autonomously based on pre-defined conditions.

Privacy and Autonomy

IoT systems built on traditional networks cannot prevent access by governments, service providers or criminal actors. With weak security and single points of control, trust on these networks is impossible to guarantee.

IoT and IIoT both require connectivity and modular security. The current solution, ‘security through obscurity,’ must be replaced by a systemic shift to open-source systems that achieve ‘security through transparency’ and are far less vulnerable to sophisticated, persistent institutional attacks.

Without this shift, both consumer and industrial networks will be increasingly vulnerable, and as the number of connected devices grows, radically lower-cost privacy and autonomy will be necessary to save the IoT.

IoT Connectivity Costs

In the current iteration of the IoT, costs are prohibitively high while revenues fail to meet expectations. Many existing IoT solutions are expensive because of the high infrastructure and maintenance costs associated with centralized cloud delivery and large server farms.

IoT devices violate the traditional pricing and revenue model of the IT industry too: device costs and incomes don’t line up, and maintenance costs consume substantial amounts of revenue. Inherent technical reasons make this unavoidable using the current model, but CEOs still don’t like hearing it from their CIOs.

Cost reduction

Blockchain technology allows reliable data to be pooled and shared without trust, directly among stakeholders. This allows for a significant cost reduction, eliminating intermediaries and allowing for automatic transactions and payments across devices using smart contracts.

Blockchain-IoT Integration Challenges: Lack of an IoT-centric consensus protocol

The current consensus protocols available for blockchains — PoW, PoS, PoET, and IOTA — are all designed for permissionless blockchains focusing on financial value transfer. PoS and PoET can also be used in permissioned blockchains, but their consensus is probabilistic and does not end in a permanently-committed block, resulting in an unacceptably high ‘hard fork’ rate.

PoET requires specialist hardware and the enclave allocating wait time is a trusted entity; it has also proven vulnerable to node compromise.

What’s needed is a consensus that can keep the benefits of the distributed, auditable, trustless environment blockchain provides, but deliver it in real time and at scale — without mining or excessing transaction costs, and without multiple hard forks.

Having a smart home is all well and good until you become a victim of data leakage. 

This is not a discouragement against IoT implementation into your home, however. The Internet of Things market has been on the rise, and thanks to that, even our homes have become smarter. We don’t have to worry about doing our laundry, or making coffee manually anymore. With just a command we can do these things without having to move away from that comfy couch. 

But over the last couple of years, some incidents have shown that the matter of smart homes might not be all it’s hyped up to be. Just like everything, IoT implementation in smart homes has a bright and a dark side, but it seems the dark side is more sinister than the bright one. 

Incident one:

The combined research conducted by Northeastern University and Imperial College of London has shown how consumer devices are not to be trusted when dealing with client data. The researchers conducted 34,586 controlled experiments on 81 different IoT devices, 46 of which are from the US and 35 are from the UK, and this is what they found out-

• 72 out of these 81 devices are connecting to services that are not the first party. Which means they are connecting domains and addresses that have no business connecting to the device. 
• The research showed that 56% of the US devices and 83.8% of the UK devices were connecting to domains that were not in their region. 
• The safety of the data on an online connection depends on the level of encryption, but here’s the kicker- according to the research, all the tested devices have at least one plain-text flow, which means at least one data flow from all the devices is non-encrypted. Not to mention, any cyber-evesdroppers can analyze device traffic, encrypted or not, and figure out the user and device behavior. 

But in any case, this is just research. What happens when a smart home management platform leaves a server with important user data exposed on the internet without any password or protection?

Incident Two:

Around mid-June, the security team at vpnMentor, lead by security researchers Noam Rotem and Ran Locar, spotted a completely exposed server containing the customer details of 2 million users, including their usernames, passwords, and password reset codes. 

The server in question belongs to a Chinese smart home management platform Orvibo. Their smart home management Smartmate helps users control every aspect of their smart home, from security to closing the curtains. 

Not only a smart-home management system, but Orvibo also deals in self-manufactured smart home products such as smart light bulbs, HVAC systems, home entertainment systems, security cameras, smart power plugs, and many more. 

The open server containing user information poses a huge threat to everyone who’s data has been exposed. Since the data breach being exposed, Orvibo has taken steps to secure the server. Even then, the data breach can have serious repercussions for the users. What are these repercussions though? Let’s find out what can happen to your data if it is leaked by your smart home device. 

What will happen if your data is breached?

When hearing about IoT and data breach, the user can have two kinds of reactions.

One group would panic, and probably stop using all kinds of smart devices. 

Another group would ask so what if their data is being breached? And this point is to answer the question for the latter group. 

There is a reason why smart home security is something to be concerned about. The personal and sensitive data, the users enter in order to run the devices, can be manipulated in various ways, and each one would only harm the users. 

So what are the ways hackers can manipulate the IoT devices and data that make your home smart?

1. Manipulating The Devices

The first thing you might do after getting a smart device for your home is to configure its username and password. 

However, this is not a widespread practice. Most people often end up using the same default username and password the device came with, which means that it’s going to be super easy for the hackers to get your data and gain access to your device. And from there on, it’s an open sandbox for them to play with. They can do whatever they want with your device, but there’s one guarantee- whatever they do is not going to do you any good. 

2. Holding Your Data And Device For Ransom

The ransomware attack is the most familiar in the IoT industry. Through this, what the hacker usually does is that they would gain access to an IoT device, and cut off the legitimate user’s access. Then they would ask for a ransom for restoring the user’s access to that device. 

While this may not seem to be as dangerous, it is a serious threat. Once the hackers have gained access to your data, they can use it for many malicious ends, things you don’t even have any idea about. And not to mention, there is no guarantee that they would give you back the access to your data once you pay them. And that’s why implementing some serious security protocols in place is needed to prevent your device and data from ransomware attacks. 

3. Doing Serious Damage To Your Home

This one might seem a little petty, but here we go anyways. 

Imagine having a smart thermostat, which you can control using online access. Now imagine going out on a vacation with your family, making sure that everything around the house is shut down, even the thermostat. However, when you get back, you see that the thermostat turned up to its highest setting on its own, melting every plastic thing in your house. 

But did it happen on its own? How are you going to find out whether it just happened or someone purposefully hacked into your smart home system and used the thermostat to seriously damage your home? Stealing the authorization details, hackers can do this for multiple reasons, ranging from personal vendetta to trivial entertainment because they were bored. Either way, it is your home that will be damaged. 

4. Actively Robbing Your Home

When details such as passwords and user IDs, along with device IDs are being sent to an unknown third-party domain without any encryption, the data can be used in many ways, and one of them can be to rob your home. 

Think about how a hacker-robber group can hack into the security system of your home, disable it and then walk into your home to steal everything from you. This is a bold use of smart home data breaches, and it can be quite fatal in case someone is home when they decided to hit the house. In this case, the loss of data security can result in serious loss of physical property as well. 

5. Launching A Botnet Attack

Last but not least, gaining access to your IoT smart home devices, the hackers can turn these devices into zombie devices and launch a botnet attack. A botnet is a number of internet-connected devices. Each of these devices is running one or more bots, which can be used to perform distributed denial-of-service attacks. 

Through this, the hackers can also steal important data, send spam emails, getting the attacker access to the device, this is not only going to create a problem for you but others as well. 

With a DDoS attack, the botnets can connect to a website, generating so much traffic that the website crashes, leaving them vulnerable for many data exploitations. Using your IoT device, the hackers can launch a similar botnet attack to that of the Mirai Botnet attack of 2016. The Mirai botnet attack brought down a french host OVH. and that’s how your smart home devices can be turned into a weapon to bring down popular websites around the world. 

What Is Going To Be The Solutions?

Every problem has a solution, and so does this one. 

There have been plenty of solutions suggested for the data security of IoT devices. But so far only two of these solutions stand out. One is the use of machine learning, another being Blockchain. 

The Machine Learning Solution For Smart Homes

Rather than looking for a security solution for each device, AI and machine learning can create a shield of security for all the IoT devices for your home network. Deep learning and machine learning can not only monitor each and every device connected to the network, but they can also detect and prevent any unwanted and unknown device trying to connect with the home network. 

The use of AI comes in handy when analyzing the network traffic. This way the AI can keep up with the general traffic flow of each of the devices and detect any anomalies in the normal flow of traffic. Which means fewer chances of any hackers getting inside your home network. You can check out these top 10 highly performing smart home apps making it big.

Along with these benefits, the use of Machine learning and deep learning can also detect botnet activity, manage device authentication and access management. This way they can manage to give your smart home network 360-degree security without worrying you. 

The Blockchain Solution To All Things Smart-homes

The main problem with the smart home network is the centralization of data, which could be easily hacked into. And that’s why Blockchain can provide a decentralized solution to this problem. 

Once the smart home IoT systems start utilizing the blockchain system for data communication, the security will increase tenfold, because it is close to impossible to hack into a blockchain network and change the data. To do so, the hacker would have to have control of 51% of the devices connected, and when the number of connected devices spans millions, it can be a little tough. 

Not to mention, blockchain in IoT will end the trend of data monopolization. Your data won’t be a subject of daily business deals with large conglomerates. Blockchain can bring affordability and security for smart homes that people have been asking for a long time.

Conclusion 

So does it mean you should not be using smart home technology?

The answer is no, absolutely not. It is undeniable that smart home technology has its own benefits and you should be able to take advantage of that. But only after you have made sure of your data security. Once you have made sure that all the devices you are using are secure. You can make use of IoT devices for your home as much as you want. Always remember that the security measures for your home IoT devices are not a matter of joke.