Muhammad Awais

[email protected]

When considering methods of adding Internet-of-things connectivity to existing or new ideas, being able to integrate open-source hardware can help reduce hardware target costs, however support and development advice can be lacking due to the distributed nature of open hardware development.

However with the openPicus ecosystem, we have found an inexpensive hardware choice that is also fully supported by the manufacturer and also allows for integration into final, closed products. The openPicus ecosystem provides user-friendly Internet connectivity for the relatively easy development of Internet-of-Things applications.

openPicus is based around the openPicus Flyport family of low-power, network-connected microcontroller modules, which are available in three different versions, with either Wi-Fi, GPRS or Ethernet connectivity but with the same microcontroller and an otherwise equivalent module pinout.

Each Flyport module is pinout-compatible, allowing the same underlying hardware design to be assembled with different Flyport modules to meet changing connectivity needs that your customer may have. All Flyport modules are based around the same Microchip PIC24FJ256 16-bit PIC microcontroller, making firmware development easily portable across the different modules.

openPicus provides an IDE, comprehensive documentation, tutorials and a consumer discussion forum for its products, aimed at enabling developers of cloud services and mobile apps to use the system to prototype and develop Internet-connected hardware solutions relatively easily with minimal electronic engineering expertise.

Flyport is an open platform, providing an embedded webserver (for the Wi-Fi and Ethernet-connected modules), support for both infrastructure and ad-hoc Wi-Fi network modes (for the Wi-Fi version of the module) and sleep and hibernate modes for efficient power use when operating from batteries.

Each of the Flyport modules provide up to 18 digital I/O pins for interfacing to external hardware, four 10-bit ADC input pins, 4 UARTs, SPI and I2C interfaces. The Ethernet and Wi-Fi versions of the Flyport modules include two megabytes of external flash memory on board, and all versions include an internal real-time clock in the microcontroller.

The Flyport modules are all powered by the openPicus framework, which is itself based on the FreeRTOS real-time operating system. An IDE is provided, free, to make it easy to develop your own applications running on top of Flyport technology. Flyport modules are programmed using a C or C++ like programming language, with Flyport making development easy by managing all the required network interfacing, Internet communications protocols and the webserver internally for you.

The API allows management and programming of all the available functionality of the entire family of Flyport hardware modules, allowing the developer to import web pages, create applications, compile and download code to Flyport modules. Unfortunately, the IDE is only available for Windows at this time, although it can be run inside a virtual machine (with Windows installed) on OSX or Linux PCs.

Most of the underlying technology of the openPicus / Flyport system is released as open source software and open hardware, but with licensing choices such that you are not forced to release all your own code under an open-source license if you choose not to when integrating openPicus technology into your own commercial designs.

The openPicus Flyport IDE has its source code released under the GPLv3 license, and the schematics for the Flyport hardware are released under the CC-BY 3.0 Creative Commons license. Using the openPicus core, libraries and code samples in the firmware of your commercial product does not require you to release the source code of your firmware, provided that the core and libraries are used without modification.

If you tweak or modify the openPicus core or libraries then you are required to release the modified code under the LGPL v3.0 license.openPicus provides their code samples, applications, example projects and libraries for open use under the Apache 2.0 license, and the openPicus Framework (including the TCP/IP stack, email and FTP support) under an LGPL v3.0 license.

A number of pre-designed carrier boards for Flyport modules are available, allowing development with easy-to-use hardware “building blocks” with little or no expertise in custom electronic hardware design and construction required.

For example, the Music Nest is a carrier board for Flyport modules which can be used to develop Internet-connected audio applications. A VLSI1053 stereo audio codec IC is onboard, interfaced back to the Flyport module over SPI, along with an SD card for the storage of audio files.

Another example is the “Grove Nest” carrier board is a simple carrier board for Flyport modules that provides 10 ports for sensors and other peripheral modules which are compatible with Seeed Studio’s “Grove” connector standard. openPicus provides example libraries for a large range of sensor and actuator devices from Seeed’s “Grove” family of development modules, allowing the development of Internet-connected, Internet-of-Things devices in an easy “plug and play” fashion with minimal hardware expertise.

As is typical of Arduino and most similar development boards, these Flyport carrier boards can be powered either via an external power supply or via the same USB connector which is used to download firmware to the Flyport module. The Ethernet Flyport module is a programmable system-on-module based around the 16-bit PIC microcontroller common to all Flyport hardware, combined with a fully integrated 10/100 ethernet interface with integrated MAC and physical layer and a unique MAC address pre-configured for each module.

By default the Ethernet Flyport module includes an RJ-45 ethernet jack, but you can also route the Ethernet signals off the module to an RJ-45 jack on the carrier board, providing flexibility in terms of where the bulky RJ-45 connector is located on your board. Using the Flyport Ethernet module provides the embedded system with a powerful “Internet engine” with a small footprint, low power consumption and low cost, allowing real-time control and display of data on a dynamic webpage accessible from a standard web browser, from a PC, tablet or smartphone.

Thanks to the embedded webserver built into Wi-Fi and Ethernet Flyport modules – they can host HTML pages directly, allowing easy access to information such as sensor readings (or a user interface for control of hardware devices) using an internal webpage. Display of dynamic webpage content in the form of Javascript and Ajax is also supported.

Finally the TCP/IP stack and the application layer run on the main microcontroller of the Ethernet and Wi-Fi Flyport modules, meaning that you have full control of the connectivity and the application.

This means you can, for example, process data coming in from sensor hardware and display this data on a webpage served up from the Flyport module, or send the data to a remote location via email or FTP. You can also shut down the Wi-Fi or Ethernet connectivity to reduce power consumption when connectivity is not actively required.

The openPicus system provides a well-documented and easy method of integrating IoT connectivity into existing and new products, and thus helps decrease the time to market for your new and existing products.

With our experience in embedded hardware, IoT-connectivity and complete product design – we can partner with you for every stage of product development to meet your needs. As we say – “LX can take you from the whiteboard to the white box”. So for 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.

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

Choosing an Internet-of-things platform can be a challenge, not only due to the ever-increasing range of options in the marketplace – but also the ease of working with the platform to meet your end goal. With this challenge in mind we introduce the Realtime.io/Iota system from iobridge – a system suited to real time monitoring and control.

Realtime.io is a technology platform that enables easy development of near real-time Internet-of-Things applications for developers and manufacturers. The Realtime.io platform is a complete, end-to-end solution of hardware, firmware and a cloud platform for the Internet of Things which allows developers to integrate Internet connectivity into their product designs relatively easily with minimal effort required for either hardware or software development.

Realtime.io Cloud Server and Iota technology are aimed at making it easy and cost effective for manufacturers to Internet-enable their products, either in new or existing designs. The Realtime.io cloud server technology acts as a bridge between embedded devices or products running Realtime.io Iota software and user software running either in-browser or in the form of smartphone applications – which allows your devices or products to be monitored and controlled conveniently over the Internet.

Despite being easy to use with minimal development effort, Realtime.io also provides some flexibility in how it is integrated for more advanced developers with existing hardware platforms.

You have the flexibility of choosing your own hardware and developing your own user interfaces or letting ioBridge do it for you. The Realtime.io connected Iota hardware modules from ioBridge provide 12 GPIO pins, eight of which are usable as either digital I/O or as ADC inputs. These embedded Iota modules are available with either Wi-Fi or Ethernet hardware for connectivity between the device and your LAN (and hence the Internet).

Although you can use the Iota hardware modules for relatively easy hardware development of a new product, or relatively easy integration into an existing microcontroller-based design (for example with a simple UART connection between the Iota module and the existing microcontroller).

Commercial users who already have their own custom Wi-Fi or Ethernet-enabled hardware have flexible options in how they integrate with the Realtime.io cloud platform, giving Realtime.io an advantage over some competing platforms such as Electric Imp where their hardware card must always be used.

Rather than using an Iota hardware module with its integrated firmware, you have the option of licensing the Iota firmware library for integration into your existing embedded hardware design, if your design includes an appropriate microcontroller along with Ethernet or Wi-Fi connectivity.

In either case, for commercial licensing, Realtime.io collects a royalty fee either per Iota hardware module provided or per unit of customer hardware shipped integrating Iota firmware. Easy to use breakout boards and development kits are available for hardware development and experimentation using either the Ethernet-connected or Wi-Fi connected Iota hardware modules.

No port-forwarding, dynamic DNS or complicated firewall reconfiguration is required for an Iota-connected hardware system to talk to the Realtime.io cloud service via the Internet, and initial setup of Wi-Fi credentials is easy, making installation and initial deployment of Realtime.io-connected hardware relatively easy for any user.

The combined infrastructure of Realtime.io and Iota was created to provide a near-instant communications link between devices and applications, providing near-real-time two-way operation for both monitoring and control with a software latency of typically less than 10 milliseconds.

Typical end-to-end delays are only about 100 milliseconds, most of which is the unavoidable ping time across the Internet to the Realtime.io server. This is very desirable, since high latency can significantly detract from user experience with Internet-of-Things connected hardware solutions in applications such as home automation.

Everything is API driven, and easy to use for both hardware developers and web developers. By providing API abstraction, Realtime.io enables developers to prototype their connected project ideas easily and then transition to production hardware and software designs very quickly, without requiring expertise in both electronic and software engineering.

ioBridge provides a web API that can be used by Realtime.io customers to develop their own custom applications or to integrate with their own or other third-party systems.

Realtime.io allows you to create web applications based on HTML5, CSS and Javascript with interaction with physical devices, social networks, external APIs, and ioBridge web services. The Realtime.io App Builder allows you to build web apps directly on the Realtime.io platform, with an in-browser code editor, JavaScript library, app update tracking, device manager, and single sign on with existing ioBridge user accounts.

The web client API allows you to interact with Iota-enabled devices connected to Realtime.io cloud servers. This API provides access to HTTP streaming from one device or multiple devices, access to GPIO registers on your devices (and therefore hardware interaction and control), and administrative information such as access to the connection state and IP addresses of the network of connected devices.

The Realtime.io system holds much promise, and through a four year development period the system can deliver on the promises of reliable, secure and scalable integration with new and existing products.

If your organisation is considering bring new IoT-enabled products to market, looking to update existing disparate nodes to a contemporary networked environment – or you have some great ideas and not sure how to start, we can help you at any and all stages of the required processes.

We’re ready to offer our experience and know-how on this and every other stage of product development to meet your needs. As we say – “LX can take you from the whiteboard to the white box”. So for 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.

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

Freescale Semiconductor and Oracle announced earlier this year that they are working together to develop the “OneBox”, a gateway platform for secured service delivery for Internet-of-Things applications based on open Java technology and Freescale silicon.

So what is OneBox all about? The aim of OneBox is standardising and consolidating the delivery and management of Internet-of-Things services through one gateway box rather than multiple gateway boxes from different vendors.

The idea is that the gateway appliance and its Java-based software stack can “speak” all of the different protocols being used to connect devices to the network in a context of, say, a home automation application – a single gateway that is interoperable with every networked Internet-of-Things device in the home.

For example, the OneBox gateway will have the ability to connect to multiple different kinds of RF networks such as 802.15.4, 802.11, Bluetooth and Bluetooth Low Energy, providing conversion and interoperability between different connectivity standards.

The “smart home” OneBox reference implementation from Freescale runs Java SE Embedded and is powered by a Freescale i.MX 6 series applications processor built on the ARM Cortex-A9 core. OneBox has enough local processing power to handle some real-time data processing, and can then send the processed data up to the cloud if desired.

There, Oracle’s infrastructure will be happy to crunch those bytes for you although you could use whatever cloud infrastructure you’d like – there is no lock-in. This local processing power is advantageous because it improves responsive interaction by removing the latency of a trip out to the remote server – for example, when you push the button to turn your lights on you want an effectively immediate response, not a delay of many seconds before the lights actually turn on.

The entire secured service delivery infrastructure – from the core of the network through the gateway to the small edge nodes – uses Java technology, pitched by Oracle as a unifying, open platform for the Internet of Things.

The Freescale/Oracle development team used Java SE embedded on the gateway box and Java ME embedded for the microcontrollers in their OneBox reference implementation. With its broad adoption, open source model, huge ecosystem and well-defined roadmap, Java technology is being pitched by Oracle and Freescale as ideally suited for Internet-of-Things requirements.

Due to the Java base, the system will be open throughout, without requiring hoops for programmers or device developers to jump through. OneBox offers a secure, standard and open infrastructure model for the delivery of Internet-of-Things services, combining end-to-end software with a converged gateway design to aim to establish a common, open framework for secured Internet-of-Things service delivery and management from the core of the network right through to low-power wireless sensors and other nodes at the edge of the network.

As part of the collaboration, Freescale will join the Java Community Process and work with Oracle and other JCP members to drive development of technical specifications for Java, particularly focusing on Java on resource-constrained platforms such as the low-cost microcontrollers that provide the embedded intelligence in Internet-of-Things enabled products.

Freescale will also work with Oracle and other JCP members on new and enhanced Java APIs to improve the support for Internet-of-Things protocols and features available on their microcontroller hardware.

The addition of a service layer based on enterprise-grade Java as an open standard, along with full security, on top of the whole system including the smallest resource-constrained microcontrollers takes the OneBox platform beyond a typical converged gateway.

Oracle and Freescale see it as a blueprint for an ideal secured service delivery infrastructure for the Internet of Things, one that will solve some of the common problems perceived as limiting the advancement of the Internet of Things.

OneBox is designed, both in terms of hardware and software, to be very modular, so the appropriate connectivity – ethernet, WiFi, 802.15.4/6LoWPAN, ANT, Bluetooth, whatever – can be “plugged in” and the corresponding software blocks needed for a particular service automatically loaded. This modularity supports future standards and a variety of use cases – from home automation and consumer electronics to industrial automation.

Freescale believes that it’s the small players that will bring the majority of innovation to the table, and they have specifically ensured that the OneBox platform is open and based on readily available software and hardware in order to promote participation by smaller players and decrease barriers to entry.

Freescale’s edge node sensors and devices based on Kinetis ARM microcontrollers are cheaply available, with all of the tools needed. Freescale silicon is distributed openly through small-volume distributors, datasheets and documentation for their processors are openly available to all, and Java is openly available to download and license.

After this quick summary it appears that this new idea between Freescale and Oracle could provide the backbone for a new, open-source and easily-adapable Internet-of-things platform for almost any situation. As the technology proceeds to mature we’d be more than happy to examine the possibilies available with your organisation for your benefit.

And we’re ready to offer our experience and know-how on this and every other stage of product development to meet your needs. As we say – “LX can take you from the whiteboard to the white box”. So for 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.

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

Moving forward from our introduction to the Electric Imp platform, we’ll now consider how it can be integrated into existing or new designs for your commercial products. Using the Electric Imp platform can potentially simplify development complexity and the time-to-market – and doing so is a lot simpler than you can imagine.

Electric Imp integration with your design requires connecting Electric Imp’s backend with the Internet services that you want to use, such as email or Twitter notifications, existing Internet-of-Things data visualisation services like Xively, or your custom application-specific Web services or mobile apps. It also requires interfacing the 802.11b/g/n-connected Electric Imp hardware card with your hardware design.

For relatively easy integration of Internet connectivity into your existing microcontroller-based hardware design, the Electric Imp card can be used simply as a peripheral Wi-Fi gateway that is connected via serial UART to your microcontroller.

Your hardware design simply needs a host microcontroller with a spare 3.3V UART available and a 3.3V power rail with at least 400mA of available current capacity to power the card. A standard SD card socket is used for the Electric Imp, with pin 6 connected to the data line on the ATSHA204 IC which is required by Electric Imp as a unique identifier of each Electric Imp-enabled hardware device.

Note that pin 6 on the card socket must not be connected to ground as with the standard SD card pin-out, and this data line to the cryptography IC must be pulled to +3.3V with a 100k resistor.

A sufficiently large decoupling capacitor (preferably 2.2μF) must also be placed close to the card socket’s Vdd pin. With this simple hardware configuration an existing microcontroller design can be made “Imp-ready” for Internet connectivity (excluding the cost of the Electric Imp itself) at a very low cost – an additional cost of only about one dollar for the SD card socket and ATSHA204 IC in large volume.

Your existing microcontroller can exchange basic messages to and from the Electric Imp card over its serial UART, which can then send them on to the cloud. The Electric Imp IDE allows you to write server-side “agents” which make communication with the Electric Imp hardware easy. “Agent” code runs on Electric Imp’s servers and allows you to execute relatively heavy tasks such as HTTP requests, while “device” code runs on the local Electric Imp silicon.

Electric Imp easily passes messages between the agent and the device, so, for example, you can easily write agent code to allow Electric Imp to communicate with Web services targeted at the Internet of things, such as Xively, and that agent then communicates with the device.

This means, indirectly, that you have a chain of connectivity that is very easy to work with that connects your existing microcontroller to these Internet services. You can push your code down to an Internet-connected Electric Imp remotely, anywhere in the world, from Electric Imp’s web based IDE.

Manufacturers are able to push firmware updates from the cloud out to customer hardware in the field automatically – for example for bug fixes, upgrades or modifications to the APIs they use to talk to their web services.

For new designs built from scratch around Electric Imp, it may make more sense to use the power of the Electric Imp’s built-in microcontroller, and interface your sensors and actuators to the Electric Imp directly. This is likely to result in a reduction in the overall cost and complexity of your hardware system.

Thanks to Electric Imp’s cloud-based approach, your system has benefits like the ability to push firmware updates to customer’s hardware in the field, anywhere in the world, with just a few clicks. Electric Imp development doesn’t require downloading and installing an SDK, or connecting a JTAG probe to your target hardware.

You simply develop your code in Electric Imp’s browser-based IDE and it is pushed down to the Electric Imp over the Internet from Electric Imp’s servers.

For commercial use, where you’re integrating the Electric Imp into a product that you’re marketing commercially and connecting the backend to your own service via a HTTP API, you need to pay service fees to Electric Imp.

As a vendor of a commercial Electric Imp connected product, you can pre-pay for Electric Imp service for many years, or opt to be billed annually for each of your active Electric Imp devices in the field that are enabled and used by customers. This is their model for applications where your product designers are using Electric Imp technology for Internet communications – and with your own app in the Apple iTunes and/or Google Play stores, without Electric Imp branding.

The alternative is that the product designer just incorporates a card socket and ATSHA204 “CryptoAuthentication” IC into their product, which makes the product “Electric Imp Ready”. The user can then plug in their own Electric Imp card and pay a fee to use Electric Imp’s own branded service, allowing many different kinds of devices to be connected to services such as Twitter, SMS and email notifications.

Due to the ATSHA204′s unique serial number, each hardware device can be uniquely detected and thus tell the Electric Imp servers what kind of Imp-enabled device it is when the Imp is plugged into it, and the Imp can then download the appropriate firmware from the cloud for that application. This offers a very simple method of setup and firmware maintenance that can be remotely-controlled and out of the hands of the end-user.

No matter your level of technical proficiency, the Electric Imp platform offers a level of Internet-of-Things integration to match your product or design requirements. Furthermore, your new product’s time-to-market or the time to integrate Electric Imp into existing products is much smaller than existing embedded Wi-Fi solutions.

Here at the LX Group we’ve already completed a variety of products that embed the Electric Imp platform, and are ready to offer our experience and know-how on this and every other stage of product development to meet your needs. As we say – “LX can take you from the whiteboard to the white box”. So for 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.

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

One of the major hurdles of developing portable (and connected) devices is finding the balance between power consumption and battery storage that allows for a genuinely useful device and experience. Generally most components can be optimised through good design and wise choices, however the main microcontroller or CPU can be a sticking point – until now.

Intel have taken this problem to heart and as a solution, recently announced their “Quark” family of system-on-chip cores. They’re a family of low-power 32-bit CPU cores designed to compete with ARM’s Cortex-M series in modern Internet-of-Things and wearable embedded computing applications.

Quark is a very low-power and compact x86-compatible core designed to be even smaller and lower in power consumption than Intel’s low-power Atom CPU cores, which are targeted at tablets, low-power netbooks and smartphones.

Notably, Quark is the first Intel core that is fully synthesizable and designed for potential integration with third-party IP blocks. This means that a customer could use the Quark core, license it from Intel, and hook it to peripherals on a custom system-on-chip, like for example custom graphics, I/O, storage, 802.11 or 3G networking.

It is claimed that Quark will be one-fifth of the size of the Atom core, and have one-tenth of the power consumption. At this level, Quark is much more powerful – and power hungry – than a lightweight 8-bit microcontroller, but it is also not a competitor to the more powerful ARM Cortex-A family either. It aims to compete with the popular Cortex-M family of 32-bit microcontroller cores from synthesizable microcontroller IP leader ARM.

The Quark core is a single-core, single-thread, low-power, small-footprint CPU core, and it is targeted at “Internet-of-Things” applications, wearable computing devices such as “smart watches”, and low-cost disposable medical devices as well as industrial and building automation control systems.

At this years’s Intel Developers Forum, a prototype “smartwatch” based on Quark technology was displayed as a proof of concept, along with a wearable instrumented patch for medical datalogging. Quark has been demonstrated in a prototype Internet-of-Things enabled HVAC automation application by HVAC leader Daikin. Daikin’s prototype system has WiFi and 3G support, and allows for secure remote control and monitoring.

The Quark product line is designed to slot in below the existing Atom family in terms of cost and power consumption, compatible with the Pentium instruction set architecture but aimed at markets where small form factor and low power consumption take priority, with a power consumption target that is apparently less than 100 milliwatts in some cases.

This power efficiency makes Quark attractive in wearable computing applications such as “smart watches” and Google Glass style wearable displays where battery capacity is very limited due to size constraints. Some bracelet-like wearable devices have been shown at this year’s Intel Developers Forum as a proof-of-concept of a wearable system powered by Quark technology.

Being smaller, lower power, and less powerful than Atom, Intel will be targeting the Quark product line at the Internet-of-Things market in applications where more power than a traditional embedded microcontroller is desirable or required, but less power consumption than an ordinary PC or notebook is desirable.

Quark is synthesizable, which means that customers can add their own IP around the core. ARM, for example, lets companies license its CPU cores and then add their own co-processors or other components to create chips optimised for a wide variety of projects and industries. How this would work in the case of Quark is not exactly clear however, since Intel plans to keep manufacturing of Quark silicon entirely in-house, at least initially.

This is a new move for Intel, but the company intends to retain control over their entire chip fabrication process in-house, bringing in existing customer IP for integration with Quark and in-house fab, although it is possible at least in principle that other foundries could fabricate Quark-based systems for licensees of the IP.

Intel’s decision with Quark means leveraging its own IP in a way that lets it offer customisable hardware to potential customers, without giving up control of either its processor IP or its own fab capabilities. Designers will not be allowed to customise the Quark core, they can only connect third-party IP blocks to its fabric.

Quark’s partially-open fabric appears to be somewhat derivative of ARM’s long-standing and successful policy of licensing its Cortex IP to other chip makers in a synthesizable form. ARM Cortex M3 and M4 cores have been rapidly stealing market share away from other microcontroller platforms in recent years – since the 32-bit architecture offers significant performance gains over 8-bit platforms such as PIC or AVR.

Furthermore their Cortex-M3 is finding its way into smartwatches such as the Sony SmartWatch 2 and the Qualcomm Toq as well as wireless sensor network system-on-chips such as TI’s CC2538 802.15.4/ZigBee/6LoWPAN platform. However as the Quark matures we’re sure it will be a successful player in the portable device and IoT arena.

Technologies such as Intel’s Quark are an example of how technology is constantly improving, and with the right knowledge it can be used to your advantage. However there are also many existing power-saving chipsets on the market your team may not be aware of, or unsure about taking on a new development platform.

But don’t let that get in the way of improving your existing or new designs – if you’re not sure about your options, discuss them with a team that understands the latest technologies, platforms and how to integrate them for your advantage – the team at the LX Group.

Getting started is simple – for 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.

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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 1 of 1

LX Group has been named as a finalist in the GIO Award for Best Small Business in the 2013 ActionCOACH My Business Awards

LX Group is pleased to announce its selection as a finalist in the GIO Award for Best Small Business category of the 2013 ActionCOACH My Business Awards. This is the 13th year that My Business Awards have been running and LX is excited to be a part of this prestigious event.

The GIO Award for Best Small Business assesses businesses on their innovation, growth, and entrepreneurial flair. Companies in this category have up to 19 employees. Based on number of employees LX just slipped in to the Small Business Category and based on current levels of growth, LX looks forward to competing next year in the Award for Best Medium Business.

The winners of this year’s My Business Awards will be announced at a gala presentation at the Marquee at The Star Casino Complex on Thursday, 19th September 2013.

Director and founder of LX, Simon Blyth said the company has been going through a strong growth phase and our focus on the business and customer development has been a major factor in this growth. “Despite the current economy LX just keeps growing. We are strong believers in making sure that no matter how busy we get that we have to spend time each week working on the business and our continuing levels of growth is a clear sign that this strategic growth strategy is working for us.

”This announcement continues a streak of several business awards noting the company’s rapid but sustainable growth, feats the company attributes to its unwavering commitment to business development, client satisfaction and the creation of different revenue streams.

–End–

Contact:
LX Group, Neala Fraser, Operations Manager,
Tel: (02) 9209 4133
Email: [email protected]

More Information:
About LX Group, visit www.lx-group.com.au

About ActionCoach My Business Awards, visit http://www.mybusiness.com.au/news/2013-actioncoach-my-business-awards-finalists-announced

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

Today’s homes are becoming increasingly connected and “smart”, and previously proprietary systems for applications such as energy monitoring, security and home automation are now moving towards increasing compliance with standard, open protocols such as IP to provide interoperability of the network and connectivity out to the Internet.

One interesting system known as Sensinode – part of the ARM organisation – offers a complete software solution for connected home applications, providing end-to-end software products that bring IP connectivity and web services right out to the end nodes in wireless Internet-of-Things networks, combining highly optimised embedded client software with a scalable management and web application platform.

Sensinode’s NanoStack, NanoRouter and NanoService solutions are valuable building blocks for the Internet of Things – mainly targeting large-scale mesh networks that require IP backbone connectivity such as home and building automation systems, sensor mesh networks for industrial control and monitoring, meter-reading systems and “smart” street lighting systems.

For example, Sensinode’s Connected Home Reference App provides a great starting point to rapidly deploy a web service for a connected home application, including a complete graphical web-based application for home automation and monitoring with floor plan import, device monitoring and control, data graphing and configurable notifications and alarms – an ideal starting point for home automation developers.

The intelligent control and monitoring of lighting systems is another area with great potential for reduced energy consumption and reduced maintenance costs through intelligent monitoring and control. NanoStack and NanoRouter provide low-power wireless IP connectivity for radio platforms ideally suited for indoor and outdoor lighting, while NanoService provides an end-to-end solution for the integration of lighting control and monitoring with web services.

Sensinode’s Street Lighting Reference App provides OEMs and system integrators with the tools to rapidly deploy a web-based service. Leveraging the power of the NanoService platform, this Street Lighting app includes Google Maps integration with real-time light monitoring and control, alarms, firmware updates and light group management.

Using Sensinode’s reference apps, complete graphical web applications and example source code provided, developers are able to easily get started developing and deploying machine-to-machine services on Sensinode’s NanoService platform. NanoService provides efficient embedded end-to-end web-service connectivity, integrating with new and existing backend web services.

NanoStack is Sensinode’s advanced 6LoWPAN protocol stack product for 2.4 GHz and sub-gigahertz 802.15.4 RF chipsets, while Sensinode’s NanoRouter software acts as a 6LoWPAN edge router, enabling routing between 6LoWPAN and IPv4/IPv6 networks. NanoRouter integrates with home and mobile 802.15.4 gateways and 802.15.4-enabled devices such as smart meters, providing Internet routing to the 802.15.4/6LoWPAN network.

The NanoStack communications stack for IP-based wireless sensor networks is platform- and radio-independent and gives hardware manufacturers, OEMs and system integrators a fast, easy and cost-effective way to harness Sensinode’s 6LoWPAN low-power mesh technology on inexpensive RF chipsets and microcontroller radio system-on-chips.

As NanoStack features support for both 2.4 GHz and sub-gigahertz 802.15.4 transceivers, robust performance and the ability to support consumer applications on the same system-on-chip as the IP network stack. NanoStack 2.0 fits the power of 6LoWPAN into a footprint of only about 10 kilobytes of flash memory in a low-cost embedded device. Entire wireless sensor firmwares are possible, using NanoStack 2.0, in a footprint of less than 32 kB of flash and 4 kB of RAM.

As NanoStack is designed to run on cheap, low-power, resource-constrained microcontrollers with embedded RF transceivers, such as the Texas Instruments CC2530 and CC430 system-on-chip devices, to name just a couple of examples. Rather than providing any hardware solutions themselves, Sensinode’s products are just software solutions that are used in conjunction with hardware platforms from third-party hardware providers such as Texas Instruments and Atmel.

Atmel has licensed Sensinode’s 6LoWPAN software stack for use with their ultra-low-power wireless hardware platforms. Sensinode’s NanoMesh and NanoService solutions are available on the Atmel Gallery for download, providing developers using Atmel hardware with a valuable starting point for the development of Internet-of-Things solutions using Sensinode technology.

As an example of a combined hardware and software solution implementing Sensinode technology, the Texas Instruments CC1180 6LoWPAN Network Processor is TI’s CC1110F32 low-power sub-gigahertz RF system-on-chip IC pre-loaded with Sensinode’s NanoStack 2.0 Lite 6LoWPAN stack.

The CC1180 handles all the timing-critical and processing-intensive 6LoWPAN protocol tasks in your Internet-of-Things application, leaving the resources of the application microcontroller free to handle the application. The CC1180 makes it easy to add 6LoWPAN functionality to new or existing products, as it provides great flexibility in the choice of the application microcontroller.

The CC1180 IC comes pre-loaded with a bootloader, Sensinode NanoBoot. This bootloader is used to download the Sensinode 6LoWPAN stack, NanoStack 2.0 Lite. The CC1180 offers simple integration of 6LoWPAN with mesh support into any design, running Sensinode’s mature and stable 6LoWPAN mesh stack.

This platform offers a simple UART interface to the host microcontroller, and the 6LoWPAN stack can be updated using the Sensinode NanoBoot API. Over-The-Air firmware updates are supported, provided that the host microcontroller has enough memory to store the new stack image.

With our existing experience in producing a wide range of devices incorporating embedded wireless technology our engineers can take your ideas for home or other types of automation to the final product stage using Sensinode or almost any other platform.

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.

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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 1 of 1

LX Design House has been named in the Top 10 of Anthill’s SMART 100 Awards for the QuickFire Pyrotechnics Firing System

The winners of Anthill’s SMART 100 (2013) were published on Anthill’s site on 11 June 2013. LX Design House was announced as being in the Top 10 of Anthills SMART 100 index for their design of the QuickFire Pyrotechnics Firing System, which is being developed for Elite Fireworks. LX is an electronics design house based in Sydney at the Australian Technology Park.

Anthill’s SMART 100 recognises not just innovative, and unique products, but also ranks products based on their potential to achieve consumer adoption and commercial success.

“We’re very excited to receive this prestigious award. Awards such as this, which recognise not only the innovative nature of the design but the ability for the product to be successfully commercialised really goes to the heart of what we are striving towards at LX.

We want our clients to be successful and to see their products being sold on a global scale. This affirms that our internal engineering and design standards are world class. In addition to this, we are all particularly excited for our client, Elite Fireworks, as this award really confirms what our client has been working towards for so long, recognition that their product is not just innovative but will be changing the pyrotechnics industry for many years to come” said Simon Blyth, Director and Founder of LX Group upon receiving the award.

The QuickFire Pyrotechnics Firing System is the first firing system in Australia to use ZigBee wireless mesh networking technology and can fire manually, semi-automatically or automatically, either hardwired or wirelessly. Communication between the devices is secure with encrypted data transmitted with at a frequency of 2.4 GHz DSSS and with RF transmission strategies. In addition to allowing control signals to be repeated across multiple wireless firing units, signals can be rerouted the next available firing unit instead of relying on one main transmitter. Some of the safety and continuity features include:

• an intelligent automatic show recovery function that can detect a system error and restart the controllers within three tenths of a second – and then continue, in sync with the show, and the soundtrack;

• enabling firing units to work independently from the master unit, each firing unit holding local copies of the firing instructions – eliminating firing delay and improving the reliability of the show;

• constant heartbeat monitoring and synchronisation – the wireless units remain in constant contact with the firing unit – and will re-establish communications links if this is lost, firing the next due cue, in sync with the show, and the soundtrack; and

• a dead-man switch that must be held in by the operator for a show to continue.

–End–

Contact:

LX Group, Neala Fraser, Operations Manager, Tel: (02) 9209 4133 Email: [email protected]

More Information:

About LX Group, visit www.lx-group.com.au

About Australian Anthill SMART 100 2013 Awards, visithttp://anthillonline.com/quickfire-nsw-2013-anthill-smart-100/

About QuickFire Pyrotechnics Firing System, visit http://www.quick-fire.com.au/

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

Home automation is an emerging field with great potential, however without the appropriate standardisation of devices it can become a minefield of incompatibilities and frustrated customers. However there’s a standard we’re excited about – Zigbee Home Automation – that is quite promising.

ZigBee Home Automation is an application profile for Networked devices for home automation use – a global standard helping to create smarter homes that enhance comfort, convenience, security and energy management in the home environment. This standard for ZigBee wireless mesh-networked home automation applications can help make every home a smarter, safer and more energy efficient environment for consumers and families.

The standard gives your customers a way to gain greater control of the functionality of their home. By offering a global standard for interoperable products you it enables the secure and reliable monitoring and control of technologies in the home environment with robust, energy-efficient and easy to install wireless networks. Almost anything can be connected, such as appliances, home entertainment, environmental control and sensing, HVAC and security systems – providing convenience and energy efficiency benefits to the resident.

Smarter homes allow consumers to save money, be more environmentally aware, feel more secure and enjoy a variety of conveniences that make homes easier and less expensive to maintain. ZigBee Home Automation supports the needs of a diverse global ecosystem of stakeholders including home owners or tenants, product manufacturers, designers and architects, offering a standard that provides a reliable, consistent way to wirelessly monitor, control and automate household appliances and technologies to create innovative, functional and liveable home environments.

Typical application areas for ZigBee Home Automation can include smart lighting, access control, temperature and environmental sensing and control, intruder detection, smoke or fire detection, automated occupancy sensing and automated lighting or appliance control. The use of wireless radio networks eliminates the cost and effort of cable installation throughout the home, whilst the ZigBee standard provides certified interoperability and global 2.4 GHz ISM spectrum allocation, allowing manufacturers to take their ZigBee-based solutions to the global market relatively easily with relatively simple installation and operation.

Devices will have a typical RF range of up to 70 meters indoors or 400 meters outdoors, offering a flexibility to cover homes of all sizes. As with all ZigBee solutions, ZigBee Home Automation systems are built on top of an open and freely available specification based on international standards and represent a highly scalable solution with the ability to potentially network thousands of devices.

The devices are easy to install, even allowing for do-it-yourself installation in most cases. Employing wireless radio networks as well as battery power in many cases means that ZigBee Home Automation devices require little or no cable installation, making them ideal for easy retrofitting to existing homes and buildings as well as remodelling and new construction. Self-organising networks with easy device discovery simplify the setup and maintenance of networks consisting of many nodes, and the proven interference avoidance mechanisms in ZigBee networks ensure worry-free operation even in environments where coexistence with other 2.4 GHz radios such as 802.11 WiFi and Bluetooth is required.

The ZigBee Home Automation standard is designed for full coexistence with 2.4 GHz IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs and Bluetooth, as with all ZigBee technologies. Thus all devices based on these standards are designed to operate effectively in the same environment as WiFi networks, employing proven interference avoidance techniques such as channel agility.

Internet connectivity to the ZigBee network allows ZigBee Home Automation devices to be controlled via the Internet from anywhere in the world, as well as allowing WiFi-connected smartphones to be used as compact, powerful control and user-interface appliances to control the network of ZigBee appliances around the home.

Furthermore the standard is secure – employing AES128 encryption and device authentication to secure personal information, prevent unauthorised control of or access to the network, and to prevent interference or unauthorised access between independent neighbouring networks.

ZigBee Home Automation devices can be used to monitor household energy use, and to turn on and off devices remotely. Since ZigBee Home Automation is a ZigBee standard, ZigBee Home Automation devices will interoperate effortlessly with other products already in consumers’ homes using other ZigBee application profiles, such as ZigBee Light Link, ZigBee Remote Control, ZigBee Smart Energy or ZigBee Building Automation.

Finally – the standard is interoperable – integrating control and monitoring devices for lighting, security, home access and home appliances, allowing the customer to select from a variety of different products to meet her needs. All ZigBee-certified products are interoperable with each other and with other ZigBee networks, regardless of their manufacturer. All certified ZigBee devices, including but not limited to ZigBee Home Automation devices, from different vendors all use the same standards and are tested and certified to be fully interoperable with each other, allowing the consumer to purchase new devices with confidence.

With our existing experience in producing a wide range of devices incorporating Zigbee-based wireless technology our engineers can take your ideas for home automation to the final product stage.

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

Custom electronics prototyping and designs are often needed when a company is making something innovative or that’s never been seen before. Off-the-shelf printed circuit boards, (PCBs) hardware communication controllers and many other electronic components can limit a company’s creativity when designing such a brand-new product from scratch.

While in the beginning prototype phases, heavily customized components can be avoided, but when it comes to manufacturing the complete package that both does the job as intended and looks the intended way, this is where custom electronics start to play their role.

For many years now, LX Group has offered many prototyping, design and other customization services for electrical hardware. Usually, conceptual development is the first phase of an electronics project where a custom element is needed.

Conceptual Development in Custom Electronics Prototyping & Designs

At the very beginning of the design process comes the conceptual development. When creating an electronic device customized to suit specific needs, the process can vary greatly from case to case. Broadly speaking however, the stages go something like the following:

Understanding needs, requirements and goals of the problem, client or task
Exploring technology options to meet or exceed these parameters
Defining the best practical solution

Usually, a Product Spec and an Acceptance Test Plan are produced out of this process and things can move forward.

Making Custom Prototypes of Electronic Devices

The prototyping phase comes next whereby a mockup of the custom device is built. These can either be working or nonworking though usually in electronics design, a proof of concept must be made whereby it’s demonstrated that the technology behind advice will in fact work.

For example, the working mockup may be larger and less ergonomic, consume more electricity and be less aesthetically pleasing than the finished product, but the electrical systems and technology as a whole will be functional and able to do the job.

If a more complete prototype is needed to secure order contracts by impressing a third party, a ‘demonstration prototype’ may be fabricated that more closely resembles the finished article in addition to proving that the technology works in practice.

3D Printing Custom Components

Modern 3D printing hardware can play a key role in prototyping custom designs and hardware. While a 3D printer won’t specifically create the electrical components for customized designs, it often creates casing, mountings and other fittings for the process.

This technology works by a computer aided design (CAD) engineer creating digital version of the piece required for the custom electronic component design prototype using the appropriate software. Once this design is finalized (and just like printing out an image on paper), the data is sent to the 3D printer. It then builds up layers of resin in the required shape.

Manufacturing Custom Electronic Components

Whether the goal is to impress an investor, board of Directors or any other party, once this prototype has satisfied the necessary criteria, the process can move towards production. This is where customized electrical circuit boards and other components will be made.

For example, in a hand held measuring device, a circuit board the correct size and shape to hold the correct number of resistors, integrated circuits, sensors and other components may need to be manufactured from scratch.

Because we live in an age where complete customisability of electrical hardware is available, practically any electronics device conceivable can be manufactured and made into a reality.