Almost everyone is aware of the researched information, computing power and infrastructure available for Google’s myriad of services, and now it’s possible to harness some of this for your own needs. With the introduction of their “Cloud Platform”, you can harness this power that Google has used internally for years to provide Google’s familiar high-speed, high-scale big-data products and services such as Search, YouTube, Google Docs and GMail and make it available as cloud computing services for use with your own Internet-of-Things projects.

Large-scale, high-speed, distributed “cloud” storage and computation with large amounts of data is at the heart of everything that makes Google what it is, so it’s clear that they have substantial opportunities to offer external cloud-computing customers.

Whilst Google is not the first major player in the cloud computing market, their substantial infrastructure and “Big Data” experience represents a significant source of potential competition with other established cloud computing providers such as Amazon Web Services. The capability to use Google’s data centre infrastructure for cloud storage and computation, their data tools such as BigQuery to process very large scale data sets – and integration with Google’s data, services and apps are increasingly attractive.

The Google Cloud Platform is made up of a couple of different core components – Compute and Storage being two of the most important. The Compute component includes the Google Compute Engine, which is an Infrastructure-as-a-Service platform designed to run any application on top of Google’s infrastructure – which offers fast networking, scalable processing and storage, and the App Engine, a platform for developing and hosting web applications. The Storage component includes Google Cloud Storage and the BigQuery large-scale query system.

As with most cloud computing platforms, end users access cloud-based applications and infrastructure through a relatively lightweight local computer – via a web browser, lightweight desktop software, or a mobile device application – with the data and most of the software are stored on remote servers in the cloud. Therefore, the hardware requirements for the user to leverage the power of applications and data on Google Cloud Platform-hosted applications and services are almost trivial.

Many components of the Google Cloud Platform support open standards and protocols such as REST-based APIs. The Google Compute Engine is built atop a JSON RESTful API which
can be accessed via numerous different libraries, command-line utilities and GUI front-end tools. Google’s BigQuery, a cloud-based fully managed interactive query service specifically designed for work with massive datasets, is operated via an SQL-like query language.

Google Cloud Storage complements the Compute component of the Google Cloud Platform and serves to glue together all Google Cloud Services. Google Cloud Storage is a HTTP service that serves data directly over HTTP with high performance and resumable transfers of objects up to the terabyte scale. It offers support for two different APIs – one that is compatible with the XML standard used by competing providers such as Amazon Web Services and another API built around JSON and OAuth, consistent with the Google Compute Engine’s API.

The Google App Engine is a “Platform-as-a-Service” cloud computing platform for the development and hosting of web applications in Google’s managed data centres. Applications are sand-boxed and distributed across multiple servers. One of the major benefits of using the Google App Engine is that it can offer automatic scaling for web applications – that is, automatically allocating more resources for the web application to handle the increased demand as the number of requests for a particular application increases.

All that sounds quite useful, however why would your organisation use the Google Cloud Platform? Whilst it requires an initial investment to import your data (especially on a large scale) into the cloud, this is offset by the substantial advantages offered by the platform. By offering fully managed services that remove the requirement for upfront capacity planning, provisioning, constant monitoring and planning software updates. This can significantly reduce the total cost of ownership of large-scale data handling solutions.

Furthermore there’s one thing in particular that sets the Google Cloud Platform apart – the network that connects the company’s data centres so data can be processed and delivered where it is needed in milliseconds. Google has a private distributed backbone between all its data centres – so if you’re moving data around within Google’s cloud, even within geographically diverse data centres (although this is essentially invisible to the user) your data travels over Google’s backbone, and not over the Internet – providing substantially improved performance.

Whilst the Compute and Storage components of the Google Cloud Platform are separate offerings, the performance of Google’s networks make it appear as though they integrated seamlessly, thus allowing integration of Google’s cloud storage and computation with no obvious slowdown.

At the LX Group we have a wealth of experience and expertise in the IoT field, and can develop new or modify existing hardware and software to integrate your system with the Google Cloud Platform. As always, our goal is to find and implement the best system for our customers, and this is where the LX Group can partner with you for your success.

We can create or tailor just about anything from a wireless temperature sensor to a complete Internet-enabled system for you – within your required time-frame and your budget. For more information or a confidential discussion about your ideas and how we can help bring them to life – click here to contact us, or telephone 1800 810 124.

LX is an award-winning electronics design company based in Sydney, Australia. LX services include full turnkey design, electronics, hardware, software and firmware design. LX specialises in embedded systems and wireless technologies design. http://www.lx-group.com.au

Published by LX Pty Ltd for itself and the LX Group of companies, including LX Design House, LX Solutions and LX Consulting, LX Innovations.

Message Queue Telemetry Transport, or MQTT, is an open protocol for machine-to-machine (M2M) communications that enables the transfer of telemetry-style data in the form of messages from a network of distributed devices to and from a small message “broker” server – whilst maintaining usefulness over high-latency, expensive or bandwidth-constrained networks. This publish/subscribe messaging transport protocol is designed to overcome the challenges of connecting the rapidly expanding physical world of sensors and actuators as well as personal computers and mobile devices.

The origin of MQTT goes back to the late 1990s, where co-inventor Andy Stanford-Clark of IBM became immersed in M2M communication whilst working with industry partners to mine sensor data from offshore oil platforms, to inform better preventative and predictive maintenance. One of those industry partners was Arlen Nipper of Arcom, an expert in embedded systems for oilfield equipment. Together, Stanford-Clark and Nipper wrote the initial version of MQTT in 1998, and their open-source messaging software has continued to be improved over the following years.

Until recently, one of the challenges limiting widespread development of IoT technologies has been the lack of a clearly accepted open standard for message communication with embedded systems. Today, however, MQTT looks set to play an increasingly significant role in facilitating the Internet-of-Things. In much the same way that the HTTP standard paved the way for the widespread adoption of the World Wide Web as a tool for the sharing of people-to-people information on the Internet, MQTT could set the stage for the machine-to-machine equivalent of the WWW.

MQTT is particularly well matched with networks of small, distributed, lightweight, and pervasive devices – not just mobile phones and personal computers, but embedded computers, sensors and actuators – which can make up the “Internet of Things”. The MQTT protocol specification enables a publish/subscribe messaging model in a very lightweight way, useful for connections with remote devices where a small code footprint is required – low-cost 8-bit micro controllers, for example – and/or where network bandwidth is at a premium.

There is also another standard for sensors – MQTT-S, for which this specification is aimed at embedded devices on non-TCP/IP networks, such as ZigBee/802.15.4 wireless sensor mesh networks. MQTT-S is an extension of the MQTT protocol aimed at wireless sensor networks, extending the MQTT protocol beyond TCP/IP infrastructures for non-TCP/IP sensor and actuator networks. Furthermore, MQTT is already widely supported by servers and brokers including IoT implementations such as cosm, Thingspeak, nimbits, and more.

MQTT is already used in a wide variety of embedded systems. An example documented by IBM demonstrates a pacemaker that communicates via RF telemetry to an MQTT device in the home of a patient – allowing nightly data uploads to the hospital for analysis. This allows recovering patients to leave hospital earlier to recover at home whilst still being monitored by medical professionals. Or if an unexpected event occurs, the system can immediately alert the hospital and emergency services without any patient interaction.

Furthermore IBM has recently announced its’ new “MessageSight appliance”, designed to handle heavy-duty real-time sharing of large amounts of data between sensors and devices and using the MQTT protocol to do so. Finally, IBM and Eurotech have bought MQTT to the open standards process of OASIS – the Organisation for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards. OASIS is a non-profit international consortium that drives the development, convergence and adoption of open standards for the global information society.

The OASIS standardisation process started in March 2013, with the goal of establishing MQTT as an open, simple and lightweight standard protocol for M2M telemetry data communication. The newly established OASIS MQTT Technical Committee is producing a standard for the MQTT Protocol – together with requirements for enhancements, documented usage examples, best practices, and guidance for use of MQTT topics with commonly available registry and discovery mechanisms.

Although MQTT does seem to be championed by IBM, the OASIS recently called for industry representatives earlier this year to sponsor the formation of its MQTT Technical Committee, and was answered by Cisco, the Eclipse Foundation, Eurotech, IBM, Machine-To-Machine Intelligence, Red Hat, Software AG and TIBCO. The group will take the MQTT 3.1 specification, donated to the committee by IBM and Eurotech where it was originally developed, and work to standardise and promote its adoption it as an open standard.

In defining MQTT standards and making them open for all, this allows its’ use and will hopefully guarantee a future standard allowing interaction with devices from all suppliers and manufacturers who choose to work with it. It’s a standard that holds a lot of promise for the future of an efficient and affordable Internet-of-things.

At the LX Group we have a wealth of experience and expertise in the IoT field, and can work with the MQTT standard, hardware and software to solve your problems. Our goal is to find and implement the best system for our customers, and this is where the LX Group can partner with you for your success.

We can create or tailor just about anything from a wireless temperature sensor to a complete Internet-enabled system for you – within your required time-frame and your budget. For more information or a confidential discussion about your ideas and how we can help bring them to life – click here to contact us, or telephone 1800 810 124.

LX is an award-winning electronics design company based in Sydney, Australia. LX services include full turnkey design, electronics, hardware, software and firmware design. LX specialises in embedded systems and wireless technologies design. http://www.lx-group.com.au

Published by LX Pty Ltd for itself and the LX Group of companies, including LX Design House, LX Solutions and LX Consulting, LX Innovations.

Unlike other systems, Nearbus takes a different approach to device control. After loading the Nearbus on the device’s microcontroller, it is considered to be part of the “cloud” and as such transparent to the web services or API. In other words, you can read or write to the MCU’s registers directly from the cloud – which makes control much simpler than other systems. By “virtualising” the hardware in the cloud, it makes it much easier for existing services to interact with the real hardware, and in a more secure manner. Let’s examine the how this is possible with regards to the required hardware and software

Hardware – Due to market forces and age of the system at the time of writing, the Nearbus system only works with the Arduino-Ethernet platform. Thus the end microcontrollers used are Atmel ATmega328 programmed with the Arduino boot loader and interfaced with the Wiznet W5100 Ethernet controller. However this allows you plenty of GPIO, ADCs and CPU speed to complete a variety of tasks, and due to the open-source licensing of the Arduino platform the hardware cost for around A$20 per unit in volume. The main downside to this solution is the inability to use onboard WiFi chipsets, so the agent hardware needs to be connected to a separate WiFi router for true wireless control.

Software – Due to the current hardware requirement, the only code for each Nearbus node is their sketch (code) and the Arduino boot loader – both of which are totally open-source. The rest of the work is in interfacing your own cloud- or server-based applications with the Nearbus hub system. This transfer takes place via HTTP requests.

There are two methods for interfacing applications with the Nearbus system. The first method is the “transparent” mode which allows the agent to send and receive a packet of data over preconfigured periods of time, for example every five or ten seconds. This allows your cloud applications to call functions on the agent hardware as if it was controlling the MCU directly.

The second method is the “VMCU” mode (Virtual Microcontroller) which allows direct control of the basic MCU features such as GPIO, ADC, etc., via a web services API. This is the more complex method that maps the MCU remotely and thus allows direct control of the MCU’s registers and returns data in the raw from for your own web app to work with. The ability to map the registers removes a layer of complexity from the user or designer – as they don’t have to worry about network protocols, instead just be concerned with the microcontroller itself.

Furthermore you can configure, add and remove devices with a web-interface, and also create connections to send data to other IoT services such as cosm or twitter. If you don’t have a server capable of running your own web apps to interface with Nearbus, you can use other free or paid services such as Google Spreadsheet web apps – and demonstrations have been provided to show how easy it is to display, capture and analyse data from the hardware agent.

The Nearbus system is a different paradigm to the usual IoT systems. It may seem awkward or different to more conventional or consumer-oriented ways of doing things, however if you have a strong PHP and networking background it can be implemented easily with your server and applications. Due to the low hardware cost it’s ideal for monitoring or remote-control applications that don’t require complete real-time interaction.

If you’re interested in moving forward with your own system based on the Nearbus, we have a wealth of experience with the required hardware options, and the team to guide you through the entire process – from understanding your needs to creating the required hardware interfaces and supplying firmware and support for your particular needs.

Our goal is to find and implement the best system for our customers, and this is where the LX Group can partner with you for your success. We can create or tailor just about anything from a wireless temperature sensor to a complete Internet-enabled system for you – within your required time-frame and your budget. For more information or a confidential discussion about your ideas and how we can help bring them to life – click here to contact us, or telephone 1800 810 124.

LX is an award-winning electronics design company based in Sydney, Australia. LX services include full turnkey design, electronics, hardware, software and firmware design. LX specialises in embedded systems and wireless technologies design. http://www.lx-group.com.au

Published by LX Pty Ltd for itself and the LX Group of companies, including LX Design House, LX Solutions and LX Consulting, LX Innovations.

Photo by Antonio Zugaldia

What is Google Glass?

For those unaware, Google Glass is an augmented reality headset created by Google’s ‘secret’ research and development lab. It’s essentially a wearable computer with a tiny display which Google claims is akin to viewing a 63 cm monitor from a distance of 2.5 mtrs It supports Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, has a microphone, voice recognition system, small touchpad and a camera with 720p video capability. The display is said to feature object-recognition working with a graphical overlay, but its true functionality is fuzzy at this stage.

The current headset looks like a variation of the one worn by Geordi in Star Trek: The Next Generation, but Google is said to be in discussions with eyewear manufacturers including Ray-Ban to combine the tech with trendy design. Early renders of potential styles make the technology appear considerably more viable from a fashion perspective.

From a practical perspective, Google product manager, Steve Lee, claims tasks that take around 60 seconds to execute fiddling around with a smartphone could take 2 to 4 seconds on Google Glass. Given that Glass uses voice, movement and vision for its inputs, this is a believable claim – depending on the task at hand.

The Panopticon Problem

Every Google Glass wearer is carrying a web-linked video camera wherever they go, and directing it wherever they look. Understandably, this raises serious issues regarding privacy. It already feels like more of our privacy is being chipped away every year, so imagine if everybody was walking around with Google Glass. You would have entire conversations, events and embarrassing episodes, filmed, uploaded and shared all over YouTube in real time.

So what’s the panopticon problem? A panopticon is a type of building designed in the 1800s using optical principles to create a prison where all inmates could be seen at any given time from one spot, without knowing whether or not they were being watched.

Google Glass isn’t just a minor shift in personal and organisational privacy, but a complete societal game-changer, an issue which has many organizations quite concerned.

Potential Uses for Google Glass

The practical benefits of having an advanced optical overlay in your line of vision at all times are as numerous(less over-the-top word) as they are fascinating. Potential uses for this technology may include:

• The ability to upload and view house blueprints for easier DIY tasks

• Immediate medical alerts and directions to the patient for doctors

• Emergency services announcements and updates

• Other navigational uses including full GPS functions

• Directions to desired shops or services in the local area

• Comparative shopping and item reviews when considering a purchase

• A replacement for instruction manuals in consumer products

• Refining sports techniques such as golf swings

• Endless military applications

• Finding a friend’s face in a busy crowd (an app which is currently under development)

At this stage of its development, Google Glass is still really a glorified media device, so most of these potential uses are some way off, bringing us to our final point.

The Future of Wearable Computers

In spite of various niggles Google Glass is almost certainly a major step towards ubiquitous computing. Perhaps Google will successfully integrate the technology with fashionable sunglasses or reading glasses, making it less conspicuous to wear.

Another possibility is a Silicon Valley competitor beating Google to the first widely adopted device of this nature. Google Glass is expected to be commercially available towards the end of 2013, but Sony also has similar patents filed and Apple and Microsoft are likely contenders too. The first developer of a technology is not necessarily the most successful at implementing it.

Other fascinating advances are on the way, such as Fujitsu’s new display which can read, manipulate and interact with data-containing objects such as magazines in real time. We can only hope that one day we’ll all have the kinds of user interface experiences featured in the Minority Report, though hopefully, without all those scary adverts. Then again, Google is primarily an advertising company…

As with the other systems examined, ThingSpeak gives your devices the opportunity to interact with a server for simple tasks such as data collection and analysis, to integration with your own custom APIs for specific purposes. Due to the open-source nature the start-up cost can be almost zero, and unlike other systems ThingSpeak is hardware agnostic – giving your design team many hardware options. However as always, let’s consider the main two components in more detail.

Hardware – You don’t need to purchase special base units or proprietary devices. As long as your hardware is connected to the Internet and can send and receive HTTP requests – you’re ready to go. For rapid prototyping, examples are given using many platforms including netduino, Arduino, mbed, and even with the competitive Twine hardware. This gives you a variety of MCU platforms from Atmel and ARM Cortex providers to work with, and as these development platforms are either open-source or inexpensive, your team can be up and running in a short period of time.

Furthermore creating your own devices can be quite inexpensive – a simple device based on an Atmel AVR and Ethernet interface can be manufactured for less than $20 in volume, and doesn’t require any software licensing expenses. To save on hardware costs, it could be preferable to have various sensors in a group communicate back to one connected device via inexpensive Nordic NRF24L01 wireless transceivers – and the connected device can thus gather the data into the require fields for transmission back to ThingSpeak.

Software – Thanks to the open-source nature of ThingSpeak either working with the existing server software or creating your own APIs isn’t a challenge. Interaction is easy with simple HTTP requests to send and receive data, which has a useful form. Each data transmission is stored in a ThingSpeak “channel”. Each of these channels allows storage and transmission of eight fields with 255 alphanumeric characters each, plus four fields for location (description, latitude, longitude and elevation – ideal for GPS), a “status update” field and time/date stamp. Data sent over the channels can be public or private – with access via your own devices and software finalising the security.

Once sent to the server this data can be downloaded for further analysis, or monitoring using various HTTP-enabled entities – from a simple web page, mobile application or other connected device. Various triggers can be created to generate alerts for various parameters, and can be sent using email, twitter, or other connected services such as an SMS gateway. After being in operation for almost three years, the platform has matured to a reliable service that has exposed many developers to its way of doing things, so support and documentation is becoming easier to find.

Overall the ThingSpeak system offers your organisation a low barrier to the Internet of Things. Creating a proof-of-concept device or prototype hardware interface can be done with existing or inexpensive parts, and the use of ThingSpeak’s free server can make an idea become reality in a short period of time. And once you device on the service, by internalising the server software, you can have complete control and security over your data.

If you’re interested in moving forward with your own system based on the ThingSpeak, we have a wealth of experience with the required hardware options, and the team to guide you through the entire process – from understanding your needs to creating the required hardware interfaces and supplying firmware and support for your particular needs.

Our goal is to find and implement the best system for our customers, and this is where the LX Group can partner with you for your success. We can create or tailor just about anything from a wireless temperature sensor to a complete Internet-enabled system for you – within your required time-frame and your budget. For more information or a confidential discussion about your ideas and how we can help bring them to life – click here to contact us, or telephone 1800 810 124.

LX is an award-winning electronics design company based in Sydney, Australia. LX services include full turnkey design, electronics, hardware, software and firmware design. LX specialises in embedded systems and wireless technologies design. http://www.lx-group.com.au

Published by LX Pty Ltd for itself and the LX Group of companies, including LX Design House, LX Solutions and LX Consulting, LX Innovations.

It’s simple – if more data about a particular item of interest is available, you can make better decisions concerning that item. If that data was available in real-time, you can make informed decisions faster. Let’s consider four areas in the farming arena that can benefit from this technology with some example possibilities.

Horticulture – There’s much more to achieving profitable returns on horticulture than just planting a seed and hoping it will grow. Apart from monitoring the weather – wireless sensors can be used to monitor soil temperature and moisture (even for multiple depths), greenhouse temperature and humidity, leaf wetness levels, solar radiation, and rain levels. Real-time data from these types of sensors can be useful to change crop maintenance procedures from regularly-scheduled to “when required” – saving time and money. Furthermore as data is gathered over time, more accurate predictions can be made with regards to crop success with regards to external factors.

Livestock – The monitoring of livestock is crucial, especially for expensive breeds that require a higher level of maintenance. Tracking individual beasts via a GPS connected to a local wireless network makes it easy to locate animals in a hurry, alarm you if one or more range too far from home – or if one hasn’t moved during the day, which could either mean an animal has become injured or isn’t getting enough exercise. With RFID technology counting and tracking the animals individual statistics from birth to sale becomes faster and simpler. Furthermore as animals come and go the hardware can be reused for new births or acquisitions, reducing recurring costs and further hardware investment.

Security – This is often overlooked due to the nature of the prevailing surroundings and personal relationships built over generations. However as the rest of society has an increasing number of unsavoury elements, so too does the agricultural sector. There are many ways to keep track of assets, such as: adding GPS tracking devices to expensive machinery; intrusion-monitoring sensors to sheds, gates, pump boxes and greenhouses; ultrasonic motion sensors to detect vehicle movement on out of the way tracks and access roads; tank water level sensors can detect when the level drops too quickly – alerting you of a leak or water theft; and closed circuit television cameras are now digital, and can send images that are legible during day and night allowing monitoring of any asset of interest – as well as record passers-by helping themselves to popular vegetable crops.

Water management – In some areas the supply of water is costly. As water rights are reduced and transport costs increase, monitoring water use and wastage is crucial. Water levels can be monitored across all storage tanks, flow sensors can monitor creek and river water movement and speed, and with data from soil moisture sensors, your system can supply the minimum required for agricultural purposes instead of timed watering sessions. Furthermore automated systems can indicate faults in water supply, tank leaks, and faults with irrigation systems – letting you know immediately before wastage becomes too serious and expensive.

All of the sensors and devices mentioned can communicate via wireless networks using WiFI or Zigbee-based technology. For remote situations or multiple-site use these WiFi devices can then communicate via the mobile broadband modems and existing cellular networks. Whether you’re in town or abroad, the data can be accessed via the Internet from almost anywhere.

The examples mentioned above may sound like overkill – or replacement of the work of an experienced farmer. However by automating systems and gathering data remotely you can reduce the time required to stay on top of routine tasks, increase efficient use of expensive resources, become immediately aware of any problems – which leaves you with more time to grow your business.

As an Australian organisation led by a team with a diverse background and industry experience, the LX Group can partner with you for your success. With wireless data and bespoke hardware experience in a wide variety of industries we can help you make the most of your business with our expertise and the best technology from around the world. For more information or a confidential discussion about your ideas and how we can help bring them to life – click here to contact us, or telephone 1800 810 124.

LX is an award-winning electronics design company based in Sydney, Australia. LX services include full turnkey design, electronics, hardware, software and firmware design. LX specialises in embedded systems and wireless technologies design. http://www.lx-group.com.au

Published by LX Pty Ltd for itself and the LX Group of companies, including LX Design House, LX Solutions and LX Consulting, LX Innovations.

If cinema classics such as the Terminator and The Matrix franchises are to be believed, encouraging too many advances in M2M may not bode well for the future of humanity. In the real world however, this new technology means miracles performed for business, medicine, education and day-to-day life. In 2012 the machine to machine communication industry generated over $26 billion, and that’s expected to rise to $33 billion by the end of 2013.

From Fiction to Fact

And therein lies the rub. There are different levels of M2M and, in fact, this technology has been used in more basic forms for many years in technology engines and industry. We certainly don’t lose any sleep over the idea that our trusted automobile is about to spring into sentient life and try and terminate us in our sleep, yet a modern vehicle contains extensive M2M communication systems.

We’re talking about the more basic cause-and-effect or action-and-reaction style of communication which will play its role in the Internet of Things which we discussed last week. Firstly, let’s take a look at the underlying fundamental principles of how M2M works.

How it Works

The series of sequential events which allow machines to communicate with one another are as follows.

1. An event happens and is subsequently recorded by a sensor of some kind

2. The data recorded by the sensor is sent into a network

3. That data is read by software and becomes computerised information known as ‘telemetry’

4. This information is used by other computers (or machines) to react accordingly to the event

It seems like a relatively straightforward process and, in many respects, it is. Let’s take a look at each of the individual steps in a little more detail.

The Event

All around us is a massive and complex series of intertwined tiny events. The sensor data collected could be anything from a shift in temperature, to a change in stock inventory, human, animal or plant biometric data, time, distance or just about anything else.

The Network

The network could be wired, wireless or a hybrid of both. The network is the mode of communication used by one or more machines to transfer the data between one another. This is not new, wireless M2M was pioneered by Siemens in 1995.

The Translation

It’s easy for a human to look at a thermometer and understand that it’s around 37°. For the purposes of machine communication, this metric (or any other) must be translated into telematics code before being sent to another computer so it understands exactly what has been measured and where.

The Action

An event happens, it is recorded and translated into telemetry and communicated to another device. This device takes action based on the information received, completing the M2M cycle.

The Possibilities

A reduction in costs and increase in both quality and availability of the necessary technology to carry out Machine to Machine communication means we’re soon to enter the next phase of its evolution. Examples of this include applications such as:

• Measuring biometric data from hospital patients which will automatically administer life-sustaining medicines based on the condition of their body.
• Streamlining and automating processes behind international logistics companies which could save them millions of dollars annually.

It’s won’t be long before widespread adoption of M2M is experienced at the consumer level. This will have profound effects on our daily lives, many of which we cannot even envision yet.

The idea of smart homes and even cities will be a hot topic at the annual M2M conference being held in London this year, and the attendees will be the Who’s Who of global ICT companies.

Do We Need to Start Worrying?

For those who have indeed watched too much science fiction, or if you just have an overactive imagination, it’s worth noting that we probably have some time before we need to start worrying about the overthrow of the human race.

The reality of what makes a truly sentient being is still debated, and there is no indication that the answers are just round the corner. However, advanced M2M is likely to be a significant building block in the creation of a sentient artificial life form – if we ever get there.

Like other systems the Ninja Blocks consist of two major elements – the hardware devices and attached I/O devices, and the software environment. Using this combination you can create sets of “rules” that allow interaction between the hardware and the end user with a variety of methods. For example temperature can be monitored remotely, alerts can be sent when a button is pressed, or an image can be emailed from the connected webcam – ideal for remote monitoring, security or personal interest applications.

Furthermore the entire system is open hardware, and can be modified at whim – all the design files are available for download and examination. So creating your own devices to interact using the system is a possibility, and we can easily help you integrate your existing hardware to make use of Nina Blocks connectivity. Now let’s examine the hardware and software in more detail.

Hardware – Housed inside an enclosure (that you’re encouraged to open) is a “BeagleBone”, which is a single-board Linux-based computer running a 720 MHz super-scalar ARM Cortex-A8 processor. Attached is a daughter board which contains an Arduino-compatible microcontroller and a 433 MHz wireless data link. There’s also three USB ports to connect various sensors (such as temperature, motion detectors), actuators (such as radio-controlled AC outlets) and the aforementioned USB webcam. Connection to the Internet is via a typical RJ45 connection or a Wi-Fi USB adaptor.

Included in the Ninja Blocks retail package is a wireless passive infra-red motion detector, a wireless button (similar to a doorbell button), a wireless temperature/humidity sensor and a wireless door sensor (which is a magnet/reed switch, ideal for doors and windows). This allows experimentation and a rapid method of getting familiar with the system.

The wireless hardware operates in the consumer product 433 MHz frequency area, which allows integration with a wide variety of commercially-available products. If you can decode or understand the protocols used by such hardware it can be used with Ninja Blocks. For example the use of wireless AC outlets is a perfect example of how quickly (and safely) almost any device can be controlled remotely. In doing so this also removes the requirement for customised AC wiring and certification.

Software – Getting started is incredibly simple, as the cloud-based environment allows you to create sets of rules that generate actions based on the data coming from the hardware. Like any other IoT system you can also create specific applications for your own needs to work with the cloud service. Further you can also update the firmware on the Arduino-compatible hardware inside the Ninja Block to allow for customised hardware interactions.

Just like the hardware design, there’s no secrets to the software and the Ninja Blocks API is documented including various examples that is growing over time. Any programmer with contemporary experience can get up to speed within a reasonable amount of time. However the system can remain “code-less” as the owner can simply work with the graphical cloud interface if need be.

The Ninja Blocks system spans almost every user type, from the interested beginner to the organisation who knows what they want and doesn’t have the resources to “reinvent the wheel”. It may look like a simple product however there is a huge scope for customisation and adapting existing hardware is a genuine possibility.

If you’re interested in moving forward with your own system based on the Ninja Blocks, we have existing experience with the platform, a relationship with the Ninja Blocks organisation and thus can guide you through the entire process – from understanding your needs to creating the required hardware interfaces and supplying firmware and support for your particular needs.

Our goal is to find and implement the best system for our customers, and this is where the LX Group can partner with you for your success. We can create or tailor just about anything from a wireless temperature sensor to a complete Internet-enabled system for you – within your required time-frame and your budget. For more information or a confidential discussion about your ideas and how we can help bring them to life – click here to contact us, or telephone 1800 810 124.

LX is an award-winning electronics design company based in Sydney, Australia. LX services include full turnkey design, electronics, hardware, software and firmware design. LX specialises in embedded systems and wireless technologies design. http://www.lx-group.com.au

Published by LX Pty Ltd for itself and the LX Group of companies, including LX Design House, LX Solutions and LX Consulting, LX Innovations.

That’s a big call, however the system comprises of a relatively simple hardware solution and software development environment that has a low financial and learning entry level yet is quite customisable. Like other systems it comprises of a hardware and software component, so let’s examine those in more detail.

Hardware – Unlike other IoT systems such as Twine or cosm, the Electric Imp has a very well-defined and customisable hardware structure that is both affordable and incredibly compact. Almost all of the hardware is in a package the size of an SD memory card, and the only external parts required are a matching SD socket to physically contain and connect with the Imp card with your project, and supporting circuitry for an Atmel ATSHA204 authentication chip which enables Imp cards to identify themselves as unique unitsin the system.

Connection to the cloud service is via a secure 802.11b/g/n WiFi network and supports WEP, WPA and WPA2 encryption, however due to the size of the Imp there isn’t an option for a wired connection. The external support schematic is made available by the Imp team so you can easily implement it into almost any prototype or existing product. But how?

Imagine a tiny development board with GPIO pins, an SPI and I2C-bus, a serial UART, and a 16-bit ADC inside your project that is controlled via WiFi – this is what the Imp offers. It’s quite exciting to imagine the possibilities that can be introduced to existing projects with this level of control and connectivity. From remote control to data gathering, system monitoring to advanced remote messaging systems – it’s all possible. Furthermore, due to the possibility of completely internal embedding of the Imp system inside your product, system reliability can be improved greatly as there’s no points of weakness such as network cables, removable parts or secondary enclosures.

Software – As each Imp is uniquely identifiable on the Imp cloud service, you can use more than one in any application. Furthermore, your Imp firmware is created and transmitted to each Imp card online – which allows remote firmware updates as long as the Imp has a network connection; and a cloud-based IDE to allow collaboration and removes the need for customised programming devices, JTAGs, or local IDE installations. This saves time, money, development costs and offers a more portable support solution.

The firmware is written in a C-like language named “Squirrel”, which is created using the aforementioned online IDE. Once uploaded to the Imp card the firmware can still operate if it loses a network connection – or if a run-time error occurs and a network is available, the details will be sent back to the IDE. This allows developers the ability to remotely debug Imp applications in real-time – saving on-site visits and unwanted client-supplier interactions.

Furthermore, Imps have an inbuilt LED which can be utilised to display status modes if an application fails or other information which can be used to a clients’ benefit, helping them describe possible issues if a network connection isn’t available. There is a detailed language description, a wide range of tutorials and example code to help developers get started – and although some features are still in the beta-stage, the core advertised features are available at the time of writing.

If you’re interested in moving forward with the Electric Imp, we can guide you through the entire process, from understanding your needs to creating the required hardware interfaces and supplying firmware and support for your particular needs. The up-front hardware cost is much lower than other systems, and with volume pricing the implementation costs can be reduced further.

Our goal is to find and implement the best system for our customers, and this is where the LX Group can partner with you for your success. We can create or tailor just about anything from a wireless temperature sensor to a complete Internet-enabled system for you – within your required time-frame and your budget. For more information or a confidential discussion about your ideas and how we can help bring them to life – click here to contact us, or telephone 1800 810 124.

LX is an award-winning electronics design company based in Sydney, Australia. LX services include full turnkey design, electronics, hardware, software and firmware design. LX specialises in embedded systems and wireless technologies design. http://www.lx-group.com.au

 Published by LX Pty Ltd for itself and the LX Group of companies, including LX Design House, LX Solutions and LX Consulting, LX Innovations.

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The statement “we’re on the brink of a revolution” typically induces an eye rolling response. The phrase has been bandied around by just about every marketing company which, frankly, makes it sound boring. Furthermore, if anything genuinely ‘revolutionary’ was imminent for humanity, surely we’d know all about it? Well, not necessarily, and for those unaware: we really are on the brink of a revolution.

This particular revolution comes in the form of a very tangible technological transition referred to as ‘the Internet of Things’ (IoT). The phrase was coined in 1999 by Kevin Ashton, a tech guru hailing from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). ‘Things’ in this instance refers to day-to-day material objects and devices which historically have not been connected to the Internet. But we are now entering an age where everything is connected via the Internet, rather than just the varying types of computers that we are used to. This is the IoT revolution, and in this article we’re going to take a look at the ramifications therein.

How Does It Work?

‘Wirelessly’ is the short answer to that question. Wireless technology is advancing and being adopted at an incredible pace, and organisations such as ABI Research estimate over 5 billion wireless chips will ship in 2013. In addition to the kind of wireless chips which might be used for WiFi connection, other technologies are also on the rise including radio frequency identification (RFID) chips, improved Bluetooth, ZigBee, and plenty more besides.

With this relatively inexpensive method of information transfer in place, the next element of the Internet of Things is sensors. If everything from temperature readings, to the contents of your stomach (more on this later), to geolocation of just-about-anything, to pollution levels, can be measured and reported on, the potential is genuinely limitless.

Is It Too Early to Start Getting Excited?

It’s easy to see many products incorporating aspects of this technology even today. One better-known example would be the Nike+ System which records and monitors your workout data with sensors installed in trainers. Earlier this year, President and COO of KORE Telematics, Alex Brisbourne had an article published in Forbes also pointing out that the Internet of Things isn’t such a new concept when you consider that telemetry systems such as those used in black box airplane recorders, and homing devices, have been around for a long time.

However, many respectable organisations and forecasters believe 2013 will be the year of IoT, and MIT is counted among them. For example, while the Google Glass reality augmentation headset is being met with considerable scepticism, a story in the Washington Post suggests that the product could offer an ideal method to control, manage and interact with various IoT objects with the necessary wireless communication hardware installed.

A Day in the Life of the Internet of Things

Whether your interest in the IoT stems from a business profit perspective or more of a geeky tech enthusiast angle, the ramifications are as significant as they are exciting. A simple example might be if you had an early flight to catch, let’s say you’re taking a two-week holiday. Your smart phone would communicate with the airport timetable and be aware of any changes to the flight times, and this information would be shared with your local IoT. You would be automatically woken up in good time to make the airport, and your electronic appliances that had automatically activated early would switch to energy-saving holiday mode once they detected that you had left the house. Your vehicle navigation would determine the best route to take based on real time information from traffic and weather sensors, and would guide you to the closest or lowest cost vacant parking space when you reached the airport. While on holiday similar interactions with your accommodation environment would ensure a comfortable, effortless and energy efficient experience. Then on your return the process would reverse, your household appliances would be informed of your schedule and activate in advance so you returned to a warm and organised house.

Examples Pending Release

Naturally, as this revolution has been unfolding, so has a race between commercial technology companies. Some great examples include

• A digestible sensor which stays in your stomach and communicates optimal timings for consumption of prescribed medicines – Source

• A baby monitoring garment to make sure we know what’s going on with our toddlers when we’re not around – Source

• Significantly improved energy efficiency (the world over) – Source

• Monitoring the successful growth of plants, both commercially and domestically – Source

• Finding parking spaces in heavily congested cities more easily – Source

It’s an exciting time and IoT technology may genuinely revolutionise humanity. Ideally, it will greatly support reductions in energy consumption and consequently global warming, plus it has the potential to increase human productivity and quality of life in hundreds of ways that we haven’t even thought of yet.