The Week In Review: IoT

Products
NASA this week deployed its latest Technology Educational Satellite, TechEdSat-5, from the International Space Station. The satellite, said to be about the size of a fire extinguisher, will provide wireless data communications for ISS payloads and other satellites. TechEdSat-5 has Digi XBee 802.15.4 modules from Digi International to use in the test program.

Flexpoint Sensor Systems and 11 Health and Technologies report continued development and progress on 11 Health’s ostom-i Alert Sensor, a component of a colostomy care management system. The product uses Flexpoint’s Bend Sensor. Flexpoint says it is filling orders from 11 Health at present and expects to realize production purchase orders this year.

Kepware says Teel Plastics is using the IoT Gateway for the KEPServerEX platform, connected with Allen-Bradley and Siemens programmable logic controllers on its factory floor in Baraboo, Wisconsin. The PTC software development business has a case study here.

VIMOC Technologies has introduced the neuBox IoT edge computing device with an integrated embedded platform for artificial intelligence applications. The computer uses Nvidia’s Jetson TX1 card for the AI capabilities. Arrow Electronics will distribute the neuBox and related software.

CalAmp brought out the AssetOutlook telematics application for IoT in construction asset management. The app connects to the CalAmp Telematics Cloud service.

Maxim Integrated Products has introduced the MAXREFDES155# DeepCover embedded security reference design, which it will exhibit next week at embedded world 2017 in Nuremberg, Germany. The reference design is priced at $125 and available at Maxim’s website and select franchised distributors. The company is also offering the MAX32600MBED# development platform for programming the reference design, priced at $49 and available at the same sources.

Analysis
Mike Krell of Moor Insights & Strategy analyzes Mobile World Congress announcements about 5G, LTE-NB1 (aka NB-IoT), and LTE-M1 in this article. He writes, “5G, LTE-M1 and LTE-NB1 have all made great strides in the last year, but the truth is we have a long, long way to go before these technologies are fully deployed and able to produce significant IoT revenues for the companies involved.”

The WikiLeaks release of purported Central Intelligence Agency documents revealed that the agency apparently has the capacity to intercept encrypted messages from mobile devices and to listen in on conversations made around Internet-connected televisions, even when the TV is apparently off. (Samsung Electronics earlier alerted owners of its smart TVs of this problem.) Jay Stanley of the American Civil Liberties Union warns about the privacy issues raised by these revelations and the technology behind the Amazon Echo in this blog post. He writes, “There’s a very good chance that within a few years we may find ourselves absolutely surrounded by devices that have microphones, cameras, or other sensors capable of collecting sensitive private information about us.”

Privacy
Consumerist, part of a not-for-profit subsidiary of Consumer Reports, is launching a project to develop an open-source privacy standard for the Internet of Things. All are welcome to participate.

Market Research
Zebra Technologies reports that almost 70% of retail decision makers are considering the adoption of IoT technology and 65% plan to invest in automation technologies for inventory management and planogram compliance by 2021. See the company’s 2017 Retail Vision Study.

Freckle IoT will work with LiveRamp to make its custom segments available on LiveRamp’s IdentityLink offering. Freckle IoT has more than 50 million mobile devices around the world, providing deterministic, in-store location data.

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