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IoT Standards and Protocols Explained

Industry Standards and Protocols

BehrTech Blog

IoT Standards and Protocols Explained

For businesses, the transformative power of IoT is increasingly significant with the promise of improving operational efficiency and visibility, while reducing costs.

However, IoT does not come without risks and challenges. While concerns over security and data privacy continue to rise, the lack of IoT standards remains one of the biggest hurdles. The increasing number of legacy, single-vendor, and proprietary solutions cause problems with disparate systems, data silos and security gaps. As IoT successes become more dependent on seamless interoperability and data-sharing among different systems, we want to avoid the scenario of a fragmented market with numerous solutions that simply don’t work with each other.

What are Standards?

Before we continue our discussion on standards, let’s take a step back and clarify their definition.

According to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), a standard is a “document, established by consensus and approved by a recognized body, that provides, for common and repeated use, rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their results, aimed at achievement of the optimum degree of order in a given context.”

Simply put, a standard is a published document that specifies a product’s functionality and verifies its quality. It establishes a transparent, consistent and universal understanding of a technology by eliminating inefficient variety in the marketplace. Standards, therefore, enhance compatibility and interoperability in product development, fuel global adoption, and production, and accelerate time-to-market.

To better illustrate the importance of standards, let’s look at light bulbs as a simple example. Nowadays, you can easily go to any store and buy any brand of light bulb, assuming that it is compatible with your lamp as the bulb base and threads have been standardized. This greatly boosts user demand, allowing manufacturers to ramp up their production and reduce costs leveraging economies of scale.

IoT Standards and Wireless Protocols

In the IoT realm, networking standards are hands down the most important. Standard protocols define rules and formats for setting up and managing IoT networks, along with how data are transmitted across these networks. Networking protocols can be categorized into multiple layers accordingly to the communication stack (i.e. OSI or TCP/IP model). In this article, we focus on the physical and network access protocols for data transfer from edge devices.

Even before IoT becomes a worldwide phenomenon, there have been a number of standardized wireless technologies that are widely acknowledged and adopted on a global scale. The most successful examples include Wi-Fi (based on IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n specifications for wireless local area networks), Zigbee (based on IEEE 802.15.4 specification for low-rate wireless personal networks) and GSM/UMTS/LTE (based on 2G/3G/4G mobile broadband standards developed by 3GPP).

However, these previously existing standards, are not optimized for a majority of large-scale IoT deployments that require interconnection of huge amounts of battery operated sensors (end nodes). Limited range and coverage, low penetration capability, power-hungry transmissions and high costs are factors that hamper their applicability in many use cases. By exactly filling these gaps, the arising group of low power wide area (LPWA) technologies are now taking over the IoT stage.

The problem is, most existing LPWA networks – typically the ones operating in the license-free spectrum – are proprietary solutions that do not implement a recognized industry-standard protocol. By making their technical specifications publicly available on a royalty-basis, many LPWAN providers are attempting to claim their technologies as “open standards.” Nevertheless, this is not really the case.

Strictly speaking, a standard – or let’s say an industry standard – must undergo a stringent evaluation process by an established Standards Development Organization (SDO). This guarantees the quality and credibility of the technology. Key global SDO examples include ETSI, IEEE, IETF, 3GPP, etc. So far, technologies that actually implement rigorous LPWA standards published by SDOs have been Narrowband-IoT/LTE-M/EC-GSM (standardized by 3GPP) and mioty (based on Low Throughput Networks – TS 103 357 specifications by ETSI).

Benefits of IoT Standards

So, why should you choose a standard protocol over a proprietary one? From an IoT user’s perspective, standardized communication solutions offer significant benefits in terms of:

  • Guaranteed Quality and Credibility – IoT standards ensure that products and solutions are fit for their intended purposes. In other words, communication technologies that adhere to rigorous standards deliver high Quality-of-Service, robustness against interferences and industry-grade security to ensure reliable and secure transmission of massive IoT sensor data at the edge.
  • Interoperability and Innovation Flexibility – Standardized communication protocols can be programmed on various commodity, off-the-shelf hardware (i.e. chipsets, gateways) to support multi-vendor solutions and the interconnection of heterogeneous devices. Beside promoting interoperability in the long run, this helps end users avoid commercial risks of vendor lock-in, whereby a single supplier retains total control over functionality design and future product/technology innovation.
  • Global Scalability – Industrial users with worldwide operations want to adopt IoT connectivity that can be implemented across their global facilities. Standardized solutions function universally and help minimize installation complexity, thereby safeguarding long-term investment.

With a vast assortment of IoT connectivity solutions available on the market, choosing the right technology can determine the success of your digital transformation. By opting for an industry-standard IoT solution, you can secure the longevity and ROI of your IoT architecture by making it quality-assured, vendor-independent and scalable worldwide.

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IoT for Data Center Infrastructure Management: 5 Critical Applications

IoT for Data Center Infrastructure Management: 5 Critical Applications

BehrTech Blog

IoT for Data Center Infrastructure Management: 5 Critical Applications

Data centers have become an indispensable part of modern computing infrastructures; housing business-critical applications and information. As they evolve from centralized on-premises facilities to edge deployments to public cloud services, it’s important to think long-term about how to maintain their reliability and security.

Major outages, data interruptions, and downtimes are expensive. According to Gartner, data center downtime costs $5,600 per minute on average. This results in average costs between $140,000 and $540,00 per hour depending on the organization. Good asset intelligence combined with preventive and predictive maintenance boosts equipment reliability and system availability.

While the sheer volume, velocity and structure of IoT data is creating challenges in terms of security, storage management, servers and the network, IoT has also created new opportunities to optimize data center infrastructure management (DCIF). IoT sensors and wireless IoT connectivity are being used to ensure optimal performance of critical data center equipment to maximize uptime, increase energy efficiency, lower operating costs and above all else, protect the data it is housing. Here are 5 critical IoT applications for data center infrastructure management.

IoT for Data Center Infrastructure Management

1. Temperature & Humidity Monitoring

Data center facilities operate 24/7, consuming vast amounts of energy and generating huge quantities of heat. Temperature control within the data center is essential in order to avoid equipment overheating, to regulate equipment cooling, and to measure overall efficiency.

Temperature sensors located in IT closets, data center racks, and key “hotspots” around the company’s facilities such as air conditioning intake and discharge vents can monitor heat generation and output for decentralized, granular control of the HVAC system and computer room air conditioning (CRAC) unit.

This is also a critical function for reducing energy costs which represent the largest operational expense in data centers. Data centers have a tendency to overcool their facilities by several degrees just to err on the side of caution. According to Gartner, environmental sensors can save up to four percent in energy costs for every degree of upward change in the baseline temperature. This is because temperature sensors at the rack inlet provide far more accurate, real-time view of data center temperatures compared to CRAC readings alone. This information can be used to make the cooling system more efficient, for example shutdown CRAC units as needed.

In addition to temperature, humidity control is essential to avoid damage to critical equipment. High humidity may result in equipment corrosion while low humidity may result in a build-up of static electricity. Environmental sensors provide real-time insights to ensure optimal humidity levels across the facility.

2. Indoor Air Quality Monitoring

Indoor air quality is another environmental hazard impacting data centers. Maintenance operations, infrastructure upgrades, and equipment changes as well as outdoor air used for ventilation, pressurization and/or cooling can introduce airborne contaminants into the facility. An indoor air quality monitoring solution can proactively alert teams to pollutants and particulates that affect electronic equipment, corrode contacts and reduce capabilities to failure point, which can result in costly data center outages.

3. Leak Detection

Water leaks are one of the biggest threats to a data center. Whether it is a leaking air conditioner, water cooled server rack, condensation, groundwater or local plumbing, water damage can have considerable costly consequences.

Leak detection sensors notify teams at the very first sign of a leak allowing them to take remedial action. For example, rope sensors can be placed in hard-to-reach locations such as around each CRAC system, cooling distribution units, under raised floors, and any other leak source (such as pipes). Spot leak sensors can be used to monitor fluid overflows in drip pans, monitoring in smaller rooms, closets or any low spots.

4. Remote Power Monitoring

While environmental monitoring is critical to ensuring proactive intervention and response to potential catastrophes, so is remote monitoring of batteries and uninterruptible power supply (UPS). Having the ability to detect potential problems early and rapidly respond to defects or degradation maximizes the reliability of UPS battery systems and gives organizations the adaptability needed in today’s dynamic data centers.

5. Security & Access Control

A data centre physical security breach might result in the loss of equipment, but the real danger has to do with data exposure. With companies collecting personally identifiable information in many different forms, consumers are becoming increasingly concerned with how well that data is being protected. Any sort of threat to a company’s data, can have a significant impact on reputation and business and result in a large financial loss.

While the likelihood of stealing an entire server is low, an asset tracking solution helps companies manage and track any asset, big or small, in real-time. It can also send out alerts the moment an asset is moved or tampered with, allowing personnel to respond quickly to any threat.

When it comes to monitoring and restricting access to the data center itself, wireless sensors can be used for presence detection and people counting in restricted areas as well as suspicious movements such as opening and closing of doors or windows. Likewise, IoT-enabled locks, card readers and keypads can further monitor and control personnel entering and exiting for a multi-layered approach to security.

Whether it’s an enterprise, managed services, cloud or colocation data center, ensuring the efficient performance of this critical environment is becoming increasingly important. IoT for data center infrastructure management provides a holistic view of current environment conditions, resource usage and security to maximize uptime, increase energy efficiency, lower operating costs and prevent data loss and exposure.

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3 Reasons Industrial IoT Projects Fail and How to Overcome Them

3 Reasons IoT Projects Fail

BehrTech Blog

3 Reasons Industrial IoT Projects Fail & How to Overcome Them

With the global market size predicted to reach USD 949.42 billion by 2025, Industrial IoT (IIoT) is expected to bring game-changing opportunities to improve operational visibility, efficiency and productivity, all while lowering costs. Amid this ambitious potential, an IIoT implementation is often easier said than done. A Cisco study revealed that only 26 percent of business decision-makers could name one of their IIoT initiatives a success.

Each project is unique, but the challenges faced are similar. In most cases, replacing existing facilities and equipment with entirely new, greenfield plants with native IoT technologies is simply not feasible. As such, brownfield IoT deployments are the way to go, but there exist a multitude of challenges. Designed in the previous century, legacy assets and systems aren’t meant to be connected to the outside world and thus lack effective communication functions. On top of that, companies haven’t prepared themselves to deal with security and data privacy issues in the IoT era.

In this article, we take a look at the top reasons industrial IoT projects fail and how to overcome them.

3 Reasons IoT Projects Fail

1. Connectivity

While data communications have long existed in industrial automation systems, they are built for closed-looped control tasks only. As such, machine and operational data are often trapped within multiple process silos on the factory floor. Connecting these systems via Ethernet is expensive, cumbersome and conducive to production shutdowns. In many industrial settings like open-pit mines and oil fields, asymmetric topography and vast geographical areas make trenching wires almost impossible.

Solution

The IIoT value chain essentially starts with data collection and choosing the right connectivity solution might ultimately impact the success of your IIoT initiative. There’s a plethora of wireless technologies in the market, but not all of them can keep up with the demanding industrial environments. Long-range, deep penetration and high interference immunity of the radio link are key to reliable data connection over large industrial campuses. Also, you’ll want to have a unified communications solution to extract data from existing industrial networks and to support a new layer of granular, battery-operated sensor networks for complete operational visibility. In this context, low power consumption and high network scalability are other critical wireless criteria not to overlook.

2. Integration

According to a report by Bain & Company, difficulties in integrating IIoT solutions with existing operational technology and IT systems continue to be a major adoption barrier. These difficulties center around how data is ported across different formats. Many companies struggle to retrofit IIoT technologies into legacy equipment like Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) without involving complex, error-prone modifications. On top of that, how to integrate collected data into existing IT and enterprise management platforms is another reason industrial IoT projects fail. 

Solution

Emerging plug-and-play IIoT solutions are easing integration tasks with the use of a converter or an integration gateway. On one side, the converter interfaces with brownfield PLCs using automation-specific protocols to gather critical production data, reformat and then transmit it using robust, long-range connectivity on the other side. By leveraging such a solution, companies can bypass invasive hardware reprogramming and costly production downtime in a brownfield deployment. In addition, going for an open, API-driven IIoT architecture could greatly simplify integration and data transfer to legacy enterprise applications, software and reporting and analytics tools.

3. Security and Data Privacy

There are no IIoT discussions without security and data privacy concerns. Massive financial and operational damages caused by a breach is a primary reason companies shy away from IIoT and why IoT projects fail. The fact that many legacy industrial control systems have limited or outdated security features, further intensifies these challenges.

Solution

All of that said, there are a few steps companies can take to tackle security and data privacy issues. First, selecting an IIoT architecture with built-in end-to-end security for both non-IP and IP-based data transfer is critical. Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is a proven security mechanism for non-IP, low-power connectivity, while Transport Layer Security is an industry-standard cryptographic protocol for Internet-based connections. Besides data encryption, employing one-way connectivity to collect data from critical automation systems helps circumvent attempts to remotely control machines through reverse communications. If retaining data on-premise to avoid privacy concerns is a top priority, a privately managed and controlled network is preferred over public connectivity services.  

As with previous industrial revolutions, IIoT does not come without challenges. However, addressing and overcoming these challenges with the right technologies and solutions opens the door to immense opportunities to gain more operational visibility, improve efficiencies and lower costs.

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5 Must-Haves to Unlock IoT Data at Scale

IoT Data

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5 Must-Haves to Unlock IoT Data at Scale

The benefits of IoT data are widely touted. Enhanced operational visibility, reduced costs, improved efficiencies and increased productivity have driven organizations to take major strides towards digital transformation. With countless promising business opportunities, it’s no surprise that IoT is expanding rapidly and relentlessly. It is estimated that there will be 75.4 billion IoT devices by 2025. As IoT grows, so do the volumes of IoT data that need to be collected, analyzed and stored. Unfortunately, significant barriers exist that can limit or block access to this data altogether.

Successful IoT data acquisition starts and ends with reliable and scalable IoT connectivity. Selecting the right communications technology is paramount to the long-term success of your IoT project and various factors must be considered from the beginning to build a functional wireless infrastructure that can support and manage the influx of IoT data today and in the future.

Here are five IoT architecture must-haves for unlocking IoT data at scale.

IoT Data

1. Network Ownership

For many businesses, IoT data is one of their greatest assets, if not the most valuable. This intensifies the demand to protect the flow of data at all costs. With maximum data authority and architecture control, the adoption of privately managed networks is becoming prevalent across industrial verticals.

Beyond the undeniable benefits of data security and privacy, private networks give users more control over their deployment with the flexibility to tailor their coverage to the specific needs of their campus style network. On a public network, users risk not having the reliable connectivity needed for indoor, underground and remote critical IoT applications. And since this network is privately owned and operated, users also avoid the costly monthly access, data plans and subscription costs imposed by public operators, lowering the overall total-cost-of-ownership. Private networks also provide full control over network availability and uptime to ensure users have reliable access to their data at all times.

2. Minimal Infrastructure Requirements

Since the number of end devices is often fixed to your IoT use cases, choosing a wireless technology that requires minimal supporting infrastructure like base stations and repeaters, as well as configuration and optimization is crucial to cost-effectively scale your IoT network.

Wireless solutions with long range and excellent penetration capability, such as next-gen low-power wide area networks, require fewer base stations to cover a vast, structurally dense industrial or commercial campuses. Likewise, a robust radio link and large network capacity allow an individual base station to effectively support massive amounts of sensors without comprising performance to ensure a continuous flow of IoT data today and in the future.

3. Network and Device Management

As IoT initiatives move beyond proofs-of-concept, businesses need an effective and secure approach to operate, control and expand their IoT network with minimal costs and complexity.

As IoT deployments scale to hundreds or even thousands of geographically dispersed nodes, a manual approach to connecting, configuring and troubleshooting devices is inefficient and expensive. Likewise, by leaving devices completely unattended, users risk losing business-critical IoT data when it’s needed the most. A network and device management platform provides a single-pane, top-down view of all network traffic, registered nodes and their status for streamlined network monitoring and troubleshooting. Likewise, it acts as the bridge between the edge network and users’ downstream data servers and enterprise applications so users can streamline management of their entire IoT project from device to dashboard.

4. Legacy System Integration

Most traditional assets, machines, and facilities were not designed for IoT connectivity, creating huge data silos. This leaves companies with two choices: building entirely new, greenfield plants with native IoT technologies or updating brownfield facilities for IoT connectivity. Highly integrable, plug-and-play IoT connectivity is key to streamlining the costs and complexity of an IoT deployment. Businesses need a solution that can bridge the gap between legacy OT and IT systems to unlock new layers of data that were previously inaccessible. Wireless IoT connectivity must be able to easily retrofit existing assets and equipment without complex hardware modifications and production downtime. Likewise, it must enable straightforward data transfer to the existing IT infrastructure and business applications for data management, visualization and machine learning.

5. Interoperability

Each IoT system is a mashup of diverse components and technologies. This makes interoperability a prerequisite for IoT scalability, to avoid being saddled with an obsolete system that fails to keep pace with new innovation later on. By designing an interoperable architecture from the beginning, you can avoid fragmentation and reduce the integration costs of your IoT project in the long run. 

Today, technology standards exist to foster horizontal interoperability by fueling global cross-vendor support through robust, transparent and consistent technology specifications. For example, a standard-based wireless protocol allows you to benefit from a growing portfolio of off-the-shelf hardware across industry domains. When it comes to vertical interoperability, versatile APIs and open messaging protocols act as the glue to connect the edge network with a multitude of value-deriving backend applications. Leveraging these open interfaces, you can also scale your deployment across locations and seamlessly aggregate IoT data across premises.  

IoT data is the lifeblood of business intelligence and competitive differentiation and IoT connectivity is the crux to ensuring reliable and secure access to this data. When it comes to building a future-proof wireless architecture, it’s important to consider not only existing requirements, but also those that might pop up down the road. A wireless solution that offers data ownership, minimal infrastructure requirements, built-in network management and integration and interoperability will not only ensure access to IoT data today, but provide cost-effective support for the influx of data and devices in the future.

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Interoperability: The Secret to a Scalable IoT Network

Scalable IoT

BehrTech Blog

Interoperability: The Secret to a Scalable IoT Network

IoT is an ecosystem game. No single technology in the market can deliver a complete, end-to-end IoT solution on its own. From connectivity, sensors and gateways to the cloud and application systems, an IoT architecture is composed of various components working in concert with each other. While ensuring a seamless data flow along the IoT value chain is critical, it is only half of the battle.

Today’s exploding number of IoT vendors has turned the IoT ecosystem into a highly complex landscape. To address multiple applications and challenges, an IoT infrastructure often needs to incorporate cross-domain hardware and application systems. Likewise, it must be flexible enough to effectively integrate future devices that may come with different hardware models. Beyond vertical integration within a specific industry or application, the diverse nature of the digital ecosystem means that horizontal interoperability between different devices and systems will also be critical to the success of a scalable IoT network.

A Lack of IoT Interoperability

Despite its utmost importance, IoT interoperability for many vendors is still a goal to work towards. A large number of existing IoT solutions are proprietary and designed to operate only within a pre-defined hardware or infrastructure environment. Examples include protocols tied to vendor-specific chipsets or wireless connectivity bound to a single third-party managed backend. The lack of IoT interoperability means that data can’t be effectively exchanged across disparate, sometimes overlapping devices and systems.

From the IoT adopters’ perspective, these closed ecosystems, or better named as silos, pose multiple problems. They hamper effective integration of new IoT devices and solutions that can tackle a wider range of operational issues. Supporting heterogeneous IoT infrastructures for different applications can quickly inflate costs and complexity beyond what companies can handle.

Vendor lock-in also deprives users of control over their data, network uptime and infrastructure management, while preventing them from switching to more cost-effective hardware options in the future. Technical instability is another potential issue, given the inherent risk that the vendor fails to deliver the agreed services and product functionality. This results in impaired Quality-of-Service and network scalability or even security holes.

Scalable IoT

Designing an IoT Architecture for Interoperability

The best way to circumvent these challenges is to prepare your IoT networks for interoperability from the start. Despite today’s highly fragmented IoT landscape, here are three rules of thumb for IoT connectivity that will help navigate your network design.

1. Open, Industry Standards

Solutions incorporating proven standards are built upon an open, universal framework recognized by Standard Development Organizations (SDO). Besides assured Quality-of-Service, open standards foster global transparency and consistency, eliminating incompatible variations in technical design and product development. This fuels worldwide adoption, cross-vendor support and interoperability in the long run. Adopting standard-based protocols, specifically, allows you to benefit from a growing portfolio of compatible off-the-shelf hardware across verticals. You can also avoid the risk of backward incompatibility due to any strategic changes by the proprietary vendor.

2. Software-driven Technologies

In industrial environments, IoT devices often abide by a rigorous set of safety and reliability regulations. Deploying wireless solutions with a hardware-driven approach is challenging in this regard, as you are bound to a certain device type and must depend on the respective vendor(s) to go through the certification process. Software-driven technologies, on the other hand, can be flexibly plugged in any legacy devices and infrastructure that already meet your operational requirements – whether sensors or industry PCs.

3. Open Interfaces

IoT interoperability on the application layer entails effective data transfer to different user’s application systems and servers. Open sourced messaging protocols like MQTT or CoAP and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) based on RESTful principles are key drivers of cross-application interoperability. In a private network architecture, having these open interfaces natively embedded in the IoT gateway enables direct data transfer to your preferred backend for analytics and visualization, without relying on a third-party managed server.

To wrap it up, interoperability is key to robust and scalable IoT network, and requires particular attention in your architecture design. Leveraging a standard-based, software-driven communication platform with built-in open interfaces allows for easy deployment in legacy environments while ensuring long-term interoperability with cross-vertical hardware and systems.

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5 Reasons You Need an IoT Device Management Platform

IoT device management

BehrTech Blog

5 Reasons You Need an IoT Device Management Platform

As IoT adoption continues to develop, companies are struggling to assemble the moving parts in the digital ecosystem. Given the sheer complexity of IoT, it’s not uncommon to overlook important elements of the equation. If you think smart devices, connectivity and cloud analytics are all you need in an IoT architecture, you’re missing out on a major piece of the puzzle – network and device management.

There’s a simple explanation of why network and device management, despite its fundamental role to IoT success, could be easily overlooked. Businesses, especially those at the outset of IoT adoption, are often unaware of why they need it in the first place. In this blog, we dive into five reasons why a network and device management platform is a linchpin in your IoT value chain.

IoT device management

Also Recommended for You: 5 Things to Look for in An IoT Network and Device Management Solution

1. Accelerate Time-to-Market and Reduce Costs

An out-of-the-box network and device management platform helps solution developers shorten development and testing time to bring products to the market in a timely fashion. When bundled with a connectivity offering, the platform provides everything you need to immediately get the network up and running. In addition, a future-proof architecture enables you to readily roll out large-scale deployments and supercharge future growth of your IoT solution. Plus, simplifying and automating network and device administration tasks allows you to focus on your core expertise and effectively keep costs down.

2. Enable Secure Device On- and Off-boarding

A smart device isn’t automatically connected to your IoT network, nor should it be. You need a secure approach to configure and add only authorized devices into the network architecture, and an network and device management tool helps you do so in a simple and straightforward manner. Via a web interface, you can authenticate end nodes and establish secure communications by registering and attaching them to the authorized base station(s) – using their network keys and identification credentials. Only after the onboarding process, is the node permitted to join the network and securely transmit data with network-level encryption. Similarly, if deployed nodes are no longer needed, you can conveniently offboard them from the web UI – without having to travel to the field.

3. Streamline Network Monitoring and Troubleshooting

As your IoT deployment scales to hundreds or even thousands of geographically dispersed nodes, a manual approach to troubleshooting is inefficient, expensive or just practically impossible. On the other hand, by leaving end nodes completely unattended, you risk failing to receive business-critical data when it’s needed the most. A network and device management platform provides you with a single-pane, top-down view of all network traffic, registered nodes and their status. If you have multiple base stations in one network, it serves as a central hub aggregating data across base stations. This is particularly useful in monitoring and diagnosing unexpected issues on both network- and device-level.

Real-time visibility into incoming data, battery level and keepalive messages from individual nodes allows you to immediately identify and determine root causes of bottlenecks. For example, if a node intermittently fails to deliver messages, it could mean that the radio traffic is overloaded. On the other hand, if it completely drops out of the network and stops sending messages, there could be a hardware defect or a firmware bug. Likewise, with continuous battery level monitoring, you can schedule maintenance for multiple devices at once to save time and costs.

4. Simplify Deployment and Management of Downstream Applications

An IoT device management platform also acts as the bridge between the edge network and users’ downstream data servers and enterprise applications. A versatile solution allows for simple integration with any backend systems of your choice, whether on-premises or in the cloud, leveraging protocols such as MQTT, and API calls. As such, you can seamlessly deploy and scale IoT applications to adapt to changes in your business requirements – whether adding new devices to the same application or connecting to a new analytics solution. You can also gain a view into all current integrations and applications from a single window to streamline the management of your entire IoT project.

5. Mitigate Security Risks

Given the ever-growing sophistication of cyber-attacks, Internet-connected components of the IoT network including base stations and routers must always be armed with the latest security features. A manual approach can’t keep up with the demand for constant and timely updates of these critical network infrastructures, particularly those that are remotely deployed. In this context, an IoT network and device management tool can provide automatic operating-system and security updates from afar, allowing you to save costs while assuring that remote base stations are best prepared against malicious attempts. On top of that, round-the-clock network monitoring facilitates timely identification of abnormal patterns such as a surge in data traffic that might indicate a breach.

As IoT initiatives increasingly move beyond proofs-of-concept, businesses need an effective and secure approach to operate and control their networks at scale. An IoT network and device management platform offers simplified provisioning, centralized management and real-time insights into all current devices and integrations to help companies stay on top of their deployment. Coupled with a robust and scalable wireless solution, it allows you to seamlessly expand your IoT network and solutions at minimal cost and complexity.

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12 Must-Know Projections about the LPWAN Market

LPWAN Market

BehrTech Blog

12 Must-Know Projections about the LPWAN Market

A few years ago, “Low Power Wide Area Network” (LPWAN) was an unfamiliar term for most enterprises and industrial users. In fact, it didn’t exist until the beginning of this decade. Now, with the Internet of Things (IoT) rapidly growing, LPWAN is taking over the wireless stage, providing a cost-effective and easy to deploy solution for large-scale IoT sensor networks. IoT Analytics – a leading provider of market insights and competitive intelligence – predicts that LPWAN will be the fastest growing IoT connectivity type in years to come. At a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 109%, the total number of LPWAN connections will surge from 14 million in 2017 to more than 1.15 billion in 2023. According to Global Market Insights, the global LPWAN market is set to surpass USD$65 billion by 2025.

For those who are still unfamiliar with LPWAN, it is a family of wireless technologies sharing common qualities such as long-range, low power and low cost. Different from legacy cellular and Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN), LPWAN technologies aren’t designed for high-bandwidth, low-latency uses like voice and video streaming. Instead, they’re targeted towards telemetry-based applications wherein small amounts of data are sent from a large number of end devices. Examples include condition monitoring, asset management, smart metering, environmental monitoring and worker health and safety. The increasing prevalence of industrial IoT applications is considered an important catalyst for the strong LPWAN market growth, due to their demand for power-efficient and reliable M2M communication.

The LPWAN market can be overwhelming at first sight with at least 16 active players. Nevertheless, it isn’t so hard to decide which technology would be the right fit, once you understand your key network criteria. LPWAN solutions can generally be categorized based on licensed vs license-free operating spectrum, public vs private network deployments and proprietary vs standardized technology. The licensed spectrum is dominated by cellular LPWANs (i.e. NB-IoT, LTE-M and EC-GSM-IoT) that implement 3GPP standards and come as managed connectivity services by telecom operators. Cellular LPWANs provide comparatively higher data rates at the cost of power consumption and are more pertinent to smart city and urban contexts where the telecom infrastructure is already mature.

On the other end, the license-free spectrum is a lot busier with a wide variety of solutions from multiple independent vendors. Proprietary technologies that are tied to custom silicon or a proprietary cloud like LoRa and Sigfox have worked their way into the market leveraging the first-mover advantage. Nevertheless, MYTHINGS™ – the only standard-based solution in the license-free spectrum is quickly catching up, given its unique positioning as a highly integrable, interoperable and future-proof LPWAN solution. According to ABI Research, as of late 2018, non-cellular technologies operating in the license-free spectrum accounts for 71% of the LPWAN market.

By geographical regions, Asia will make up the largest share of the LPWAN market with over one billion connections by 2025, followed by North America and Europe with 917 million and 850 million connections respectively (Machina Research). LPWAN revenue predictions for these three regions altogether are between USD$15 and $18.5 billion.

The following infographic encapsulates 12 of the most important LPWAN forecasts to give you a quick glimpse into the future of this wireless family and where it stands in the IoT market.

LPWAN Market

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MYTHINGS Smart Sensor: 10 Powerful IoT Applications

smart sensor

BehrTech Blog

MYTHINGS Smart Sensor: 10 Powerful IoT Applications

This week, we announced the release of the MYTHINGS Smart Sensor, a demo platform to demonstrate MYTHINGS’s long-range, robust and power-efficient IoT communication. The MYTHINGS Smart Sensor is not just a powerful pilot test tool; with our reference design offering, it is also available for mass production and full-scale IoT deployments.

The MYTHINGS Smart Sensor is a self-contained, battery-powered unit with multi-sensing capabilities including accelerometer, temperature, humidity, pressure and GPS sensors. But, its most intriguing feature is that you can tailor these sensing functions to your specific needs. Depending on your use case, any of the sensing units can be switched off accordingly to drastically reduce power consumption and improve battery life. On top of that, the sensor also provides the option to collect custom payload through an open serial interface, delivering great deployment flexibility.

The Smart Sensor can be either affixed to an existing object or system to collect condition data (e.g. machine vibration and temperature, asset movement etc.) or installed as a stand-alone unit to collect your preferred ambient data. There are numerous scenarios where the sensor will prove to be a valuable part of your IIoT initiative and help you to improve processes and asset utilization, reduce costs and enhance safety. Here are 10 powerful IoT applications that can be enabled by the MYTHINGS Smart Sensor.

1. Indoor Climate Regulation

Thermal and humidity comfort is a major contributor to employee productivity at both commercial and industrial workplaces. The problem is, while temperature and humidity distribution are uneven across a large building, heating and cooling settings are often uniform and do not reflect actual indoor conditions. This could lead to occupancy discomfort and excessive HVAC use and energy waste. With the MYTHINGS Smart Sensor, you can capture real-time room temperature and humidity readings on a micro-zone level to accurately regulate the HVAC system within a large facility. Constant indoor climate monitoring also helps detect bottlenecks like a malfunctioning furnace or air conditioner at distinct building zones.

2. Machine Health Monitoring

Machine vibration can reveal a lot about its current health status and issues such as misalignments or loose parts. Using the accelerometer in the MYTHINGS Smart Sensor, you can constantly monitor vibration patterns of critical equipment to identify potential damage and execute maintenance in good time. Another way you can use the Smart Sensor to ensure machine health is by keeping air moisture in check. High humidity can cause condensation and corrosion in equipment, while overly an arid atmosphere can lead to frictions in electronic components. Monitoring and maintaining the room humidity within the industry-suggested range of 35% and 65% can help keep these problems at bay.

3. Optimization of Production Processes

Environmental conditions have a significant impact on industrial. For example, in auto manufacturing, fluctuating temperatures can cause inconsistent fluid injection or impact the quality of 3D printed components by accelerating the cooling phase. Continuously measuring ambient temperature and humidity on the shop floor helps circumvent unwanted environmental changes that potentially disrupt your production. Combining machine vibration and ambient data with recorded process parameters further unveil hidden inefficiencies that lower production output.

4. Cold Chain Monitoring

Beyond the production stage, many perishable products in industries like pharmaceutical and food and beverage, require a strictly controlled storage condition. By installing the MYTHINGS Smart Sensor in your storage facility, you can ensure the relative temperature and humidity are within the ideal range to avoid property distortion and optimize product lifetime. Continuous observation of the thermal trend also enables you to quickly pinpoint and act on issues such as, a door unintentionally left open or a cooling equipment failure.

5. Off-Road Fleet Management

Management of vehicles distributed over a large industrial premise can be a great challenge. Older fleets often come with limited, if no telematics ability at all. In this context, MYTHINGS Smart Sensors provide you a versatile option to IoT-enable your fleet without a costly overhaul. Simply attach the sensor on your vehicle and collect its vibration/acceleration data for analysis of moving, idling and engine-off time. With this visibility, you can uncover fuel waste sources due to excessive idling, or detect unauthorized vehicle uses outside the operational time. Having information on actual vehicle utilization at hand, you can also make strategic, informed decisions on the fleet size and composition.

6. Temperature Control in Data Centers

At a data center, excessive heat released from servers can shorten their lifetime by overloading inner fans, increasing energy use and even imposing fire risk. Due to the dynamic heat emission, measuring the overall temperature is less of a concern, but more importantly identifying specific hot spots within the server room. Low-power MYTHINGS Smart Sensors enable you to collect granular, rack-by-rack temperature data to create an accurate data center heat map for effective control measures.

7. Asset Tracking

Knowing where your assets allows you to streamline operations and improve productivity. With its GPS function, the MYTHINGS Smart Sensor can collect position data of any distributed asset on your industrial campus. In indoor environments, GPS signals can be unstable. Here, air pressure and accelerometer readings can help determine vertical and horizontal movements to a certain extent. This enables dead reckoning calculations from knowing the last GPS location.

8. Anti-Theft Protection

The accelerometer in the MYTHINGS Smart Sensor can also be a great instrument for anti-theft protection. For example, it can inform you if an important asset that should be stationed is moved. Just install the sensor on your critical asset and get notified when a suspicious movement is detected.

9. Intrusion Detection

Besides theft detection, the Smart Sensor can be part of your IoT-enabled security system to detect intrusion at night, outside operational hours or in areas with restricted access. By affixing the sensor to the outer edge of a door, acceleration of the door can be measured when it opens. Having an emergency workflow set up, an alarm can be then triggered to inform you of the potential intrusion.

10. Electrical Fire Safety

Electrical failures are the leading cause of fire incidents across commercial and industrial facilities. While useful in detecting overheating caused by circuit issues, infrared inspections of electrical panels and cabinets are typically done on an annual basis. This leaves power systems unattended for most of the time. With a Smart Sensor permanently fixed to the electrical enclosure; you can keep an eye on thermal changes in your distributed power system round-the-clock. Elevated temperatures can quickly be diagnosed for counteraction to prevent fire hazards.

MYTHINGS-Smart-Sensor

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9 Interesting Wireless IoT Sensor Types and Their Applications

Wireless IoT Sensor

BehrTech Blog

9 Interesting Wireless IoT Sensor Types and Their Applications

Wireless sensors are the backbone of IoT and its industrial counterpart the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). In a previous blog post, we talked about some of the more popular sensor types such as temperature, pressure, and accelerometers. In this blog, we discuss a few more interesting wireless IoT sensor types on the market.

Wet Bulb Temperature

Whereas standard, or dry bulb temperature sensors do not take moisture in the air into account when reporting the temperature, wet-bulb temperature sensors provide measurements closer to the true (thermodynamic) temperature. A wet-bulb sensor is essentially a thermometer covered in a water-soaked fabric over which air is passed. In drier, less humid air, the water on the cloth evaporates more quickly, whereas in more humid conditions, the moisture in the air causes the water in the cloth to evaporate more slowly.

When used in conjunction with a dry bulb sensor, a wet bulb temperature sensor can calculate measurements such as relative humidity (difference between the two sensors) and dew point (the temperature at which water starts to condense and form droplets). These measurements are useful in number of applications for humidity control to help avoid condensation within a building which can lead to discoloration, mode/mildew growth and structural damage.

Enhanced Voice Recognition using Facial Vibrations

Voice recognition and applications that use it are everywhere, from virtual assistants to our phones, tablets, and automobiles. However, the voice recognition capabilities in these systems are not always reliable, as they might not understand our voices clearly enough in the presence of ambient or environmental noise.

A new hardware approach is being used to improve voice recognition. This technology uses a laser-based sensor to measure tiny vibrations in a person’s throat and face when they speak. The laser greatly augments the system’s accompanying microphone signal by filtering out background noises and providing an isolated near-perfect signal.

There are many use cases for this technology including, voice recognition in automotive, virtual reality, aviation, industrial handsets and wearables.

Structural Health Monitoring Sensors

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) refers to the use of sensors for collecting and analyzing data, over the service life of structures such as bridges. Instead of reacting to damage that is already occurring, SHM is more about proactive maintenance through the continuous assessment of the structural integrity in bridges and other structures. For example, bridge design must consider factors such as vibration, wind, weather, and traffic alongside the damage that they can cause. Without SHM sensors, inspectors must rely on visual inspection.

There are many types of wireless IoT sensors used in Structure Health Monitoring. Accelerometers can help identify vibration-based damage, while anemometers on suspension bridges monitor wind speed and direction that potentially impact their integrity.

Ultraviolet Radiation Detection

Exposure to radiation can be deadly. When the exposure is high enough, it can remove an electron from an atom. If it reaches human skin cells, the risk of DNA damage and skin cancer is significant. People working with or around radioactive substances wear a device known as a dosimeter. Dosimeters contain phosphor crystals that are designed to trap electrons freed by harmful ionizing radiation.

When heated, the crystals release trapped electrons in the form of light. These electrons can be measured to determine the amount of radiation its wearer has been exposed to. On the consumer side, ultra-violet (UV) detection wearables, apps and stickers have recently been developed to monitor and prevent dangerous levels of sun exposure, and many of these devices use dosimeters.

Air Pollution Sensors

Air pollution is a major problem in cities around the world. While air pollution detection is usually handled by governmental agencies, advances in technology are allowing individuals and community groups to monitor and detect air pollution around their homes, schools, and parks. Two types of air pollution sensors are particulate matter sensors and gas phase sensors.

Particulate matter sensors can detect particulates using either optical particle counting or volume scattering. In the former, particles entering the sensor are individually sized and counted based on how they scatter light. In the latter, particles enter the sensor scatter light from an internal light source.

Gas phase sensors detect gasses such as nitrogen oxide and ozone using a number of different techniques. Ozone and nitrogen dioxide detectors use electrochemical cells to detect gasses as they pass through air or using a metal oxide semiconductor.

Snow Level Monitoring

Another interesting wireless IoT sensor use case is the monitoring of snow levels in real time. Snow-related sensors can help skiers determine the quality of ski tracks and can even help with avalanche prevention.

Snow depth can be measured using a variety of methods including ultrasonic and/or laser sensing. In the case of ultrasonic sensors, the sensor is placed at a point where the snow level is to be measured. This sensor continuously captures data on the snow depth and sends it to the microcontroller.

Identification of Storage Incompatibilities

In today’s global economy, goods are continually transported between continents using sea containers. Accidents with and mismanagement of these containers can cause significant problems to the parties involved in the transaction as well as the environment. One method of preventing problems is to use wireless IoT sensors to monitor the logistics of such operations.

Sensors within one container exchange information with other pallets or containers stored around it, using RFID and similar technologies. For example, if a pallet of dangerous goods is located next to a pallet with flammable materials, warning messages can be sent. This allows corrective measures to be taken before a problem occurs.

Water Quality

Poor water and sanitation conditions contribute to illness and millions of deaths worldwide. Conventional water monitoring processes are manual, time-consuming and do not provide real-time results. Wireless IoT sensor nodes offer a promising alternative as they can detect parameters related to water quality such as pH, electrical conductivity, oxidation reduction and turbidity. Like other use cases, real-time water quality monitoring enables early warning abilities and timely response in the event of water contamination.

Solar Radiation

Radiation from the sun is received as wavelengths known as the solar spectrum. A pyranometer is a type of sensor that converts received solar radiation into an electrical signal that can be measured.

There are several use cases / applications that use solar radiation measurements including:

  • Measuring the efficiency of solar panels in converting the sun’s energy into electricity.
  • Determining when solar panels need to be cleaned.
  • Golf and park maintenance including the scheduling of irrigation.
  • Weather prediction models in meteorology.

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This study will prove that MYTHINGS delivers significantly higher interference resilience than LoRa technology

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Public vs Private IoT Networks: 5 Tips for Your Next Digital Project

BehrTech Blog

Public vs Private IoT Networks: 5 Tips for Your Next Digital Project

If you’re planning to undertake an IoT project, chances are at some point you’ll wonder if you should go for a public or private IoT network. Public connectivity services are provided and managed by a mobile carrier or any third-party operator, while a private network is set up and controlled locally for dedicated data communications on your premises.

No matter which side you’re taking, the decision should be tied to your IoT use case requirements. Both public and private IoT networks have pros and cons when it comes to different network criteria. To help you make the best decision, we will deep dive into the top five factors to consider when comparing the two options.

IoT Networks

1. Global vs Campus Coverage

A key selling point of many IoT network operators is their proclaimed global and nationwide footprint, alongside cross-region roaming ability. However, there’s indeed a big difference between “absolute” and “relative” footprint, with the latter resonating more with the reality. While the promise of ubiquitous connectivity might hold true in urban, densely inhabited areas, public coverage still remains inconsistent or absent altogether in many remote industrial areas. As soon as a node gets close to a network’s edge, its reliability is not guaranteed. Depending on your use cases, indoor and underground coverage might also be in question. In direct comparison, a private IoT network can’t offer trans-region connectivity for applications like commercial fleet telematics. But, it surely gives you the best chance to tailor network coverage to your specific needs, especially in a campus-style deployment.

2. Data Privacy and Ownership

Data ownership is among the leading concerns plaguing IoT implementations in industrial contexts. In a recent webcast from Deloitte, the “lack of ownership/ governance to drive security and privacy” landed second place as the top 10 IIoT cyber and privacy risks. The problem with a public network is that no matter what your IoT architecture looks like, your data must be routed through the operator’s backend before reaching the end server or application platform. If retaining data on-premises is at the top of your list, you’re probably better off with a private solution.

3. Infrastructure Requirements

A clear advantage of public IoT networks over private ones is that you can save on upfront infrastructure costs. Depending on the chosen communications technology, investment in gateways, antennas, and repeaters, etc. can be expensive. Besides hardware expenses, labor hours spent setting up and managing the network also quickly ramp up with an increase in the required infrastructure. In this context, going for long-range, scalable connectivity is the best way to minimize infrastructure overheads in private solutions.

4. Network Longevity

Industrial sensors and devices are often designed for long-term use. Once installed, they typically remain there for years, or even decades without the need to be replaced. To ensure a future-proof IoT architecture, it is important to align the network lifecycle with the device lifecycle. Public cellular technologies come and go every decade or so, leaving a big gap in backward compatibility. 2G and 3G networks sunsets are well underway amid increasing LTE prevalence and 5G roll-outs. And, who knows when LTE or the first generation of NB-IoT will phase out? If public cellular connectivity is in your best interest, make sure you’re aware of what’s coming a few years down the road.

5. Network Uptime

Mission-critical IoT applications call for a highly reliable communications infrastructure, even in times of crisis. For undisrupted operations, many industries strive for nearly 100% network uptime, which is often unrealistic for commercial carriers and other public operators. Every year, natural disasters cause massive outages across public connectivity services. This makes the business case for private networks for critical infrastructure clear. With a private deployment, you retain full control over network availability in times of emergency.

The wireless battleground is heating up with a growth in IoT implementation. Public IoT networks surely have their place in a multitude of consumer and smart city applications. Nevertheless, the undeniable appeals of maximum data authority and architecture control are driving the adoption of privately managed connectivity across industrial verticals. Even mobile carriers are now in the race for private LTE offerings to secure their competitive advantage. At the end of the day, you’ll want to pair the evaluation of public vs private solutions with other critical factors like cost, scalability, power efficiency and bandwidth requirements, in your wireless decision.

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