Data Science

What it MQTT and «how to» https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MQTT

First steps to built your own factory within IoT technology https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coSKAvh49Fk

Zerynth, an AWS Standard Technology Partner, provides a software development suite that enables Python programming on 32-bit microcontrollers and allows easy connectivity to AWS IoT services. As of this post, Zerynth supports more than 30 different hardware boards, making it a complete ecosystem for IoT development.

​​Interpol Tests Global Cops with IoT Simulation Interpol last week held a simulated training exercise for global investigators designed to help overcome Internet of Things (IoT) skills shortages. The international police organization’s annual Digital Security Challenge saw 43 cybercrime investigators and digital forensics experts from 23 countries face a simulated cyber-attack on a bank launched through an IoT device. During the course of the simulation, investigators found that the malware was sent in an email attachment via a hacked webcam, and not direct from a computer. Interpol claimed this is an increasingly popular tactic designed to obfuscate the source of attacks, but warned that police may not have the skills to forensically examine IoT devices. “The ever-changing world of cybercrime is constantly presenting new challenges for law enforcement, but we cannot successfully counter them by working in isolation,” said Noboru, Nakatani, executive director of the Interpol Global Complex for Innovation. “A multi-stakeholder approach which engages the expertise of the private sector is essential for anticipating new threats and ensuring police have access to the technology and knowledge necessary to detect and investigate cyber-attacks.” The first two Digital Security Challenge exercises in 2016 and 2017 simulated cyber-blackmail involving Bitcoin and a ransomware attack, so the new focus on IoT is reflective of the changing nature of threats. Last week, Trend Micro claimed in its 2017 roundup report that IoT devices are increasingly being “zombified” to mine crypto-currency and launch cyber-attacks like DDoS. Hackers can target exposed IoT endpoints to infiltrate corporate networks, conscript into botnets or even interfere with critical infrastructure. However, nearly half (49%) of all IoT “events” observed by the security vendor last year — amounting to a total of 45.6 million — involved crypto-currency mining. Adam Brown, security solutions manager at Synopsys, argued that IoT attacks will continue until firmware flaws are addressed. “Good practices by vendors around configuration and authentication need to be initiated or matured to prevent this in future,” he added. "I would love to see certification for IoT devices become commonplace so that consumers can know that the devices are cyber-safe, much in the same way that if you buy a toy with a CE mark you know it has been through a process of assessment and it won’t, for example, poison anyone because it has lead in its paint.”

7 transportation IoT predictions from Cisco Cisco is one of the biggest proponents — and potential beneficiaries — of the Internet of Things (IoT). The networking giant is pushing IoT solutions in a number of areas, not least of which is the transporation sector. To learn more about how the company sees the future of IoT playing out in the world of connected transporation, I spoke (via email) with Kyle Connor, Cisco’s transportation industry principal... https://www.networkworld.com/article/3257769/internet-of-things/7-transportation-iot-predictions-from-cisco.html

​​Avast introduced the Smart Life solution for the safety of IoT devices Avast as part of MWC 2018 introduced the Smart Life platform, a solution for protecting digital information based on IoT. Smart Life uses Artificial Intelligence technology to identify and eliminate threats. Avast offers customers and suppliers a Smart Life solution as a software-as-a-Service. The offer makes it easy for users and small businesses to protect IoT devices, networks and sensitive data at home, in the office and out of it. According to forecasts, the number of IoT-devices by 2025 will triple: experts expect more than 75 billion connected to the Internet devices. Manufacturers are rushing to launch smart devices on the market at an affordable price, but some neglect the protection and security systems of manufactured devices. The Smart Life platform is designed to protect these IoT devices from cyberattacks. "We actively use the Internet devices of things at home and at work, but their safety is still not ideal. This means that users are still at risk today, "said Gagan Singh, senior vice president and general manager of mobile development at Avast. - The expectations of users are increasing: we want to get comfort and pleasure from using smart gadgets. Therefore, manufacturers face the issue of securing smart devices ". Avast receives data from 400 million active users from around the world about the operation of IoT-devices. Thanks to this, the machine learning mechanism constantly accumulates experience, which allows you to promptly identify and counteract various violations, botnets and other threats to the Internet devices of things. When developing the Smart Life platform, one of the priorities was the creation of security, which is easy to use to ensure the security of IoT networks and devices. Many smart devices can be hacked by intruders, including heating control systems, smart speakers, webcams and other gadgets, so ordinary users and small businesses are very vulnerable. One of the most common types of attacks - cybercriminals are attacking thousands of smart devices of unsuspecting victims to create a botnet to attack others. And in the future, the number of such cybercrime will grow along with theft of personal data and threats to physical security. If the IoT device exhibits suspicious activity and transmits large amounts of data to an unknown address, Smart Life immediately stops sending traffic and notifies the host about detected strange activity. As the service is deployed, additional features will be available, such as the ability to pause Internet access, limit the monitor's running time, and add strict content filtering. The Smart Life solution for protection of IoT-networks and devices in Russia will be available in 2018.

IoT Use Case - Battery Powered Device https://www.iot-architect.de/iot-use-case-battery-powered-device

​​IoT reigniting the Oil & Gas Industry Among the technologies that are in vanguard as a consequence of ongoing fourth industry revolution and is poised for a huge leap forward is called “Internet of Things”...

​​How smart furniture extends the boundaries of small apartments Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) apparently resolved the problems of one-room apartments. Researchers have developed a solution that allows using a mobile application to remotely control a bed, cabinets, desk and other furniture. You just need to say a command or press a button on your smartphone...

​​A new ARM solution will integrate SIM cards into IoT chips ARM announced new technologies for the introduction of SIM-cards in IoT solutions, which can scale up to billions of devices. The Arm Kigen family supports the iSIM standard and is designed to integrate SIM cards directly into the SoC for IoT applications. In combination with built-in hardware protection (for example, ARM CryptoIsland), the new solution will integrate the MCU, cellular modem and SIM card into a single IoT-chip, which will significantly reduce the cost of devices. The presented platform includes ARM Kigen OS, a hardware-independent software stack that allows to fully integrate the functionality of the SIM card into IoT SoC. Server solutions for remote management of ARM Kigen will also be available, which offer flexibility, modular design and easy integration with the IoT platform providers. As noted in ARM, the platform has already received support from key players of the ecosystem, including BT, SoftBank and Sprint.

​​How IoT supports connected health and process optimization Why do healthcare organizations need to think about the Internet of Things? Do they need a strategy? Organizations do not need to think about the Internet of Things ― they need to think about how they want to transform their business and which transformational path will reap the largest benefit. Path No. 1 is optimization of existing business processes. Path 2 is a complete change in business process. Each path will require efforts in re-engineering the people, processes and technologies that are applied to deliver care. There is an old saying, “When you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” At CDW, we have a methodology for the development of a long-term strategy for digital transformation that creates a roadmap based on the individual needs of the organization. 1. Start by bringing all stakeholders to the table ― clinical, administrative and IT ― to identify business challenges (such as HCAPHS scores, 30-day readmission, operating costs or reducing clinician stress), and assign dollar values to each of these challenges. 2. Take these challenges and determine what a solution would look like in general terms (for example, a 30-day readmission solution, or the ability to recognize a negative trend in patients’ health and intervene before he or she shows up at the emergency department), and what measurements will be used for success. 3. Evaluate existing capabilities and infrastructure as well as determine what additional technologies are needed. Create a process map of dataflows and workflows that will support the desired outcome. 4. Roll out a pilot program. Measure and adjust until it delivers consistent results, and then move to production. 5. Repeat this process for all identified challenges and updated challenges. What are some of the most promising technologies emerging in the healthcare IoT space, and how will they improve connected health? CDW has seen tremendous growth in technologies in the areas of wearables, mHealth/telemedicine and smart rooms ― all engineered to address the need to provide care outside the institutional walls and to improve the care and safety of patients and seniors. Wearables will soon have a broad range of form factors (e.g., on your wrist, shoe or clothing) that will have the ability to measure and send to the cloud important physiological data points for evaluation by a decision support technology, which, depending on the trend, may or may not forward to a clinician for review, at which point a telehealth session can be initiated if needed. mHealth is moving from being a passive collector of data via patient data entry to an active aggregator of data from multiple sources for real-time evaluation. Additionally, a lot of eff ort is being put into utilizing mHealth to engage patients in the management of their disease. Smart rooms in homes, senior living and hospitals are being developed 1. to optimize the time an individual can safely and comfortably live at home, relieving the financial pressure on families; 2. to act as a force multiplier for senior-living operators staff to ensure the comfort and safety of residents; and 3. to improve the patient experience in hospital stays, driving up HCAPHS scores and improving safety. These advances, as well as the rapid development of more forward-leaning technologies in artificial intelligence and natural language processing, will have an immense impact on the quality and delivery of care.

​​6 strategies to reduce customer frustration with IoT devices 1. Sell or produce universally compatible tech products Whether you manufacture or just sell your own IoT products, you should require that these devices conform to industry interoperability and compatibility standards. This eases the installation of the devices in homes, where consumers can be counted on to have a plurality of devices from many different manufacturers. 2.Hire infrastructure-savvy technicians and tech support personnel You might have to pay experienced infrastructure persons more than entry-level junior techs, but the investment is well worth it if you can assemble a corps of techs who really understand your products and the home tech environments that your products operate in. These techs, with their home tech infrastructure knowledge, will be more likely to resolve tech issues on the first visit. 3. Use videos to help more junior techs Junior techs aren't going to have a broad base of experience when they first make home service calls. At the same time, they might be hesitant to call someone for help while they are on presumes with the customer watching them. "One option is to give them a library of YouTube-style videos on different troubleshooting accounts and procedure they can use in problem solving," said Braswell. "This brings the expert into the home, and the junior tech can more easily address the issue." 4. Map out the entire customer journey "Once the customer purchases your product, think about how that customer is going to interact with the technology," said Braswell. "What type of value does the customer expect from the technology? What types of problems are they likely to experience when they first install the product? How can your service manuals, online help and onsite visits be positioned to solve these issues quickly?" 5. Think about your customer's infrastructure at the point of sale—not when they need servicing "You can be proactive and eliminate needless service calls by having the salesperson ask the customer if (they have) the necessary equipment at home that your product will need to interact with," said Braswell. "If the customer confirms that he or she already has all of the necessary equipment, many problems resulting from failed installations can be precluded." 6. Consolidate omnichannel services for a 360 degree view of the customer Customers get frustrated when they are asked repeatedly to give their names, account numbers, trouble tickets, and problem statements to the service reps they are passed to via chat, phones, in person, etc. This frustration is well-founded. It is fair for consumers to expect companies to be as aware and as interested in their problems as they are. Many companies fail at this—even though they offer omnichannel sales. There is no reason for this to happen anymore. For years, CRM (customer relationship management) systems have provided for integration of omnichannel sales channels into a single view of a customer that gives everyone a single view of the customer experience—from sales to service.

​​📲4G IoT network may ease aviation sector fears over drone safety Vodafone is testing mobile and internet of things network technology to protect commercial aircraft from badly flown drones Mobile network operator (MNO) Vodafone has commenced trials of what it claims is the world’s first air traffic control drone tracking and safety service, using a 4G mobile network and internet of things (IoT) technology to protect air passengers. Since unregulated, commercially available drones are too small to be tracked by conventional radar, the risk to life should a drone collide with an airliner is a source of serious concern for civil aviation authorities. Indeed, over the past few years there has been a steady stream of high-profile incidents in which irresponsible drone hobbyists flew their toys too close to airliners taking off and landing. According to the Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research (Sesar) project, drones will log more than 250 million flying hours a year above Europe – over seven times the cumulative annual flying hours of conventional aircraft in the same space. In response to the problem, Vodafone has developed a radio positioning system (RPS) using a 4G modem and SIM embedded within each drone to enable real-time tracking – with up to 50m accuracy – by operators and air traffic controllers, and over-the-horizon/beyond-line-of-sight control for users. The system also incorporates protective geofencing, with drones pre-programmed to land automatically or fly back to their operators if they stray too close to exclusion zones, emergency remote control intervention to enable authorities to override a user’s commands, and SIM-based identification and registration. It has also incorporated artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to allow large numbers of drones to be tracked and controlled remotely. “This groundbreaking innovation by Vodafone will help to ensure the skies stay safe as drones become ubiquitous, everywhere,” said Vodafone group CTO Johan Wibergh. Matthew Baldwin, European Commission (EC) deputy director general, added: “The Commission supports all trials aimed at realising our vision for safe commercial drone operations in the EU – there is a growing network of demonstrations and projects across the EU. We look forward to hearing the results of Vodafone’s work.” A preliminary trial in the autumn of 2017 saw a 2kg X-UAV drone with a 1.2m wingspan tracked along a 32km course in southern Spain, during which the drone was able to transmit a constant real-time high-definition (HD) video feed and flight data, including its speed, RPS location and GPS coordinates. Further tests of the technology will take place in Germany and Spain this year, with the intention of making it available commercially in 2019. Vodafone has additionally placed its RPS research and intellectual property in the public domain to enable other innovators to work with the technology. The operator said it saw a number of other applications for the technology besides protecting air traffic. These include preventing inadvertent or malicious drone incursions at sensitive locations, such as hospitals or prisons, or addressing the so-far hypothetical worst-case scenario in which a terrorist organisation might use a drone to deliver explosive or biological payloads to targeted locations. RPS technology could also boost functionality for other IoT devices, even replacing GPS in some scenarios, such as indoor location tracking, where GPS may not be viable.

​​Google’s Cloud IoT Core is now generally available Cloud IoT Core, Google’s fully managed service for connecting, managing and ingesting data from IoT devices, is now out of beta and generally available. Google envisions the service, which launched in public beta last September, as the first entry point for IoT data into its cloud. Once the data has been ingested, users can use Cloud IoT Core to push data to Google’s cloud databases, analytics tools, serverless platform and machine learning services. One feature the company stresses is that Cloud IoT Core is able to support data “from millions of globally dispersed devices.” Like similar services, Cloud IoT Core supports the standard MQTT and HTTP protocols for talking to devices. Unsurprisingly, the service supports Google’s own Android Things platform out of the box, but Google has also partnered with the likes of ARM, Cisco, Intel, NXP, Sierra Wireless and other hardware partners to make their products work with its service. Current users include the likes of Schlumberger, which uses it as part of its IoT integration strategy, Smart Parking in New Zealand, bike-sharing service Blaze and Mexican bus operator Grupo ADO. To use Cloud IoT Core, users pay per megabyte of ingested data. The first 250 megabytes per month are free and after that, Google charges $0.0045 per megabyte for the first 250 GB of data (with significant discounts for users with higher data volumes).

Why we forget everything: books, films and people's names Among us there are lucky ones who perfectly remember movies that had been watched a long time ago, books that had been read at school, the names of random acquaintances and phone numbers of friends. But most people complain about forgetfulness, writes Julie Beck in a column published in The... https://allowwonder.com/why-we-forget-everything/

NIST develops security standards for IoT The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published a draft document entitled "The Status of International Cybersecurity Standardization for IOT". The document should help in the development of security standards for IoT. NIST proposes to divide the IoT into five functional areas: connected devices; IoT consumer class; medical equipment and devices used in health care; "Smart" buildings; "Smart" production (including ACS TP). For each area, their standards must be developed in accordance with their characteristics. There are differences between the standards of cybersecurity for each of the above areas and generally accepted standards. If, traditionally, confidentiality, integrity and accessibility are considered to be priorities in ensuring cybersecurity (in the descending order), the main priority in ensuring IoT security is availability. The exception is the consumer class IoT area, where the main priority is still the protection of privacy and privacy. Protecting the privacy of patients is also one of the main tasks in ensuring the safety of medical equipment. However, it is also important to ensure the integrity and inviolability of the work of both medical devices and the medical institutions themselves. Cyber ​​attacks can stop the work of hospitals, thereby exposing the health and life of patients to a great threat. The main difference between traditional cyber security and IoT cybersecurity lies in the fact that the latter is closer to operational technologies (OT) than to information technologies (IT).

👨🏻‍⚖️Businesses could be overwhelmed by useless IoT data, says vendor CTO Without an understanding of what data resides where, the Internet of Things (IoT) could become a dangerous place with too much data that’s of too little business value, says software provider Yotta. Adrian Bridgwater spoke to CTO Manish Jethwa. Businesses risk being overwhelmed by IoT data that has little use to the enterprise, claims software provider, Yotta. This is why Internet of Things (IoT) apps need to be engineered and architected for the data landscape in which they will run, according to Manish Jethwa, CTO of the infrastructure asset management software firm. “The application itself needs to provide an interface that is capable of applying a structure around the data it comes into contact with, such as its hierarchy, so that it can establish which information to classify as useful for business insight. “More, the use of data queues – with high uptime specifications – can help resolve resiliency issues by providing a temporary store for data, which the application can process when it has the capacity,” he explained. The madness of data crowds Jethwa believes that developers should push applications towards a better appreciation of data structure and queuing principles, especially on the journey towards smart cities or heavyweight Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) applications. In these areas, cloud-based metadata analytics will be essential to stop organisations being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of data being gathered by sensors. “For sensors and probes that operate with low power limitation, the cloud provides the first opportunity to analyse data, and identify important trends or patterns using elastic resources,” he said. “In this way, the analysis process to extract metadata can act as a filter, only passing on key information that requires action.” Microservice modular boundaries Jethwa believes that microservices will be critical in driving data to the right place on the IoT data map. But there are hurdles to clear in installing and managing them, he said. “The challenges of maintaining microservices are the same as with any distributed system, in that managing multiple services on a regular basis demands efficient operations management skills. “Microservices provide strong modular boundaries, but maintaining consistency with other components poses a challenge. Realistically, problems like these can only be solved through the use of ‘distribution automation’, using tools to connect directly to cloud services platforms, such as AWS and Azure.” From a technical viewpoint, what are the key elements to consider when developing a set of software layers that are intended to operate as an IoT network? “With a typical IoT network, the business requirements for the data being collected, and for the network engineering, are most likely being developed by separate organisations. So it is quite possible that the data provided by IoT sensors may not be what the business requires. “Again, microservices can serve as a translation mechanism in the data stream to make the data more useful. But it is vital that the business case for the data is assessed beforehand, to ensure that the commercial need to use the data exists.” Internet of business says Wise words. Simply powering up IoT applications and turning on the data pipe will be of little use to organisations if they then drown in a torrent of useless data. Jethwa’s commentary provides welcome granular detail, as well as stressing the need for strategic business use cases. What happens next will perhaps come down to the new breed of data-developers, who will engineer this complexity into real-world IoT systems. Programming the IoT requires a developer who has an appreciation for data architecture and topography, and an understanding of just how fast the data pipe filling up the business.