Posts Tagged → sensors

Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love and The Edge of the Internet of Things

https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/03/edge-computing-could-push-the-cloud-to-the-fringe/

Aint Talkin Bout Love and The Edge of the Internet of Things

 

I’ve been to the edge

And there I stood and looked down

You know I lost a lot of friends there, baby

I got no time to mess around.

  • – Van Halen, Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love

 

Ah … nothing like 1978 classic rock lyrics about getting/giving an STD to start off discussion on emerging technology.

The Edge or Edge computing is an important tenet in understanding the Internet of Things (IoT).  Wherein you may never reach the end of the internet, you can actually see the edge of the Internet of Things.  “Things” or sensors exist everywhere – anywhere in a process or across multiple processes – but at some point there is an end of the line.  From The Edge, sensors stand and look down … and out and around at the physical world. Because they are at the Edge, these nodes can be the furthest extent from the people and processes that are interested in the information or they could be right there where they are needed.  Thus this can be where you gain or lose the best data (friends). This is where measurements are real time… when there’s “no time to mess around”. The Edge is current discussion on security as well, keeping the systems and processes free from disease and evildoers. The Edge is an important feature in building and utilizing IoT.  

 

For Example

To explain how the Edge works, let’s go back to an old school intrusion detection system and smoke/fire alarm (I used this in my IoT Connections blog post.) Pre-Internet, intrusion detection or smoke/fire alarm systems had various sensors hard-wired into place to determine whether the desirable conditions (no fire or intruders) were being met.  Smoke and fire devices triggered alarms for heat or chemical substances within a physical building.  Burglar alarms were usually a circuit that once broken sounded the alarm.  For both, the alarm could be sounds or lights that were experienced just by anyone there or they could be connected via land lines to other players that could call emergency services.

When the sensors are triggered, the alarm sounds there at The Edge.  Anyone in the building who is aware of the alarm understands the dangers and has the ability to make decisions from that information, such as calling the police or fire department or taking others actions such as evacuations or defense procedures.  If the sensors are connected to a monitoring service, the responders are trained and ready to act appropriately.  Perhaps the system may be able to notify the emergency services directly.  That is Cloud decision space.

With the pervasiveness of the Internet and the autonomy of the design, you can easily understand the most preferable choice – an instantaneous, specific and desirable response to an emergent situation.  Thus the IoT has grown exponentially, leveraging the combination of ubiquitous sensors (active and passive, deliberate and advantageous) and omnipresent Cloud.  However, this popularity is changing.

http://www.businessinsider.com/internet-of-things-cloud-computing-2016-10

Keeping it Local

So Why NOT Use the Cloud?

For the 15 years that IoT has been growing, it has crawled the Internet as a natural progression.  Utilizing the ubiquity and ease of the Cloud made undeniable leverage of current operations and projected expansion.  Afterall, so far the Cloud is an amorphous, expanding universe that has served our needs.  We haven’t reached the end of the internet, so why not continue mining a perceived inexhaustible resource? However, recent developments have begun shifting the processing of the sensors back to The Edge for decision making.  Four reasons have driven it back.

 

Cost. The cost of sensors continues to drop, and the capabilities of those sensors are increasing.  Subsequently, more data with more fidelity is possible at multiple touch points.  Processing ALL the sensors in the cloud derives a resource tax.  Simply, you can buy more sensors by saving the cost of connecting to the Internet.  Or you can even more simply spend less money.

 

Security.  Proprietary or personal information is risked with exposure to The Cloud.  Keeping the information local to the sensors for decision at the source can be more effective as well as provide better security.  The Edge sensors still need safe-keeping but the damage control is more easily prevented or contained.

 

Design.  Just because the Cloud is there doesn’t mean you need to use it.  KISS.  The Cloud doesn’t necessarily fulfill the mission of the system created.  The Cloud is actually getting pretty crowded, and for now, this point in time, keeping the game locally may be in the best interest of the system.  Also, capability has developed to collect data from multiple sensors but interested parties have different access for different needs.

 

Speed.  “Instantaneous” is highly measurable now.  The meer fractional computation distribution of data still may not be fast enough.  For example, autonomous driving cars need Edge computing because the criticality of data for safe driving decision simply is too fast to zoom out and back to the Cloud.

 

Farm to Table

A current application of Edge computing is sensors planted with crops.  These nodes constantly provide feedback as to the soil’s properties, such as moisture content, mineral composition, and density.  The automated watering systems then deploy precise amounts meter by meter, not acre by acre, determined by real time monitoring.  Cost savings are realized in both water and fertilizer consumption.  The harvest is more bountiful and The Edge is more likely cheaper than utilizing a Cloud structure.

Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love

But The Edge is where sensors are beginning to do more of the heavy lifting of data processing and decision making – for now.  Technology will evolve and we will rock and roll with it. Be careful though because just as with The Cloud, you wouldn’t want to catch a virus or malicious attack any more than you would give one.  Always practice safe sensor deployment.  Like the 80s, all trends don’t die; they just come back around.

 

Previous post on IoT: IoT Connections

Next up:  PIoT vs IIoT

 

Who is Betting $25 Million on the IoT? Who will be left behind?

Marc Andreessen is betting $25million

on the Internet of Things (IoT) becoming a big thing. His famous ability to forecast the evolution of emerging technology weaves a picture of sensors embedded in walls and doors and doorknobs. It makes today’s humble offerings – the likes of remote operation of your house security and appliances or fitness bands that connect to a mobile device and the cloud – seem kinda silly.

Marc Andreessen stretches out that belief a little further with his opinion that cell phones will become obsolete. In his perspective a single point of contact such as a cell phone is a limiting vision. He conceptualizes that screens will pervade many more surfaces so much that having to carry your own electronic portal seems a bit ridiculous. That’s an intriguing perspective from an expert on the subject. Goodness knows that a home phone or a pay phone seems quite antiquated today; even paying for a phone call is becoming upended. It’s becoming possible to speak to anyone in the world with an Internet connection and a choice of free apps.

So what happens to the countries …or continents … that are amassing mobile service by leaps and bounds but still lagging far behind? Are they going to be left even further behind …again? Will the technology gap drop those that can’t afford the latest and greatest?

Mobile Phone Adaption

Africa for example doesn’t have as many mobile devices per capita as the rest of the world, but they do use mobile phones in the din of the more remarkable remote locations. Their mobile technology isn’t so much smart as functionally adaptive, performing the most cursory and vital functions, such as currency, in more creative ways than more technologically adapted regions.

So how could it be possible this makes Africa a better candidate to take a technology leap than further advanced countries? Let’s looks at that.

In 2008 Intel reported on their self-developed “Technology Metabolism Index” – a map of what countries adapt technology relative to economics. What they found was that those that “have” don’t necessarily beat out the “have nots” to adopting new technology. The United States had a relatively low index in consideration of the greater resources, access and availability of new technology.

tmi_2007_global_map

Some experts worry that a technology gap threatens to leave behind vast swaths of the world population too poor to afford new innovations, but Nafus work could be seen as evidence that more complex dynamics are at play than just disposable income levels. http://www.wired.com/2008/06/intel-anthropol/

Intel’s Dawn Nafus, a Cambridge PhD, conducted the study in order to better determine the potential of emerging markets versus mature markets. Her team found a couple of surprises. The first is a bit counter-intuitive.

Population size is actually a constraint on technology adoption, just the sheer number of connections between people seems to slow adoption.

The research also supported that foreign direct investment, or how much money foreign firms pour into a country’s economy, can actually constrain how fast technology is adopted. Again, it’s not what you’d think, when more money usually portends resources and capabilities.

Didn’t See It Coming

So let’s look at another technology adaptor story – Colombia. For years, Colombia was known for illegal drug activity that held it hostage. By investing in technology growth its economy has tripled from what it was 10 years ago and its middle class has increased 50%. The country’s remarkable make over has attracted US businesses, increasing import from the US to Colombia by nearly 400% since 2003. Google, Facebook and Microsoft have established presence in country, and of course, Starbucks is there as well to fuel the creativity.

150312172901-colombia-latina-america-780x439

The advances are attributed in great part to fostering entrepreneurship in tech hubs such Ruta N in Medellin and Bogoda’s HubBOG, a 5-year-old tech campus. These hubs are a common theme worldwide.

Another reason entrepreneurs may want to take a strong look at Colombia is because it’s coming online quickly. The Colombia government is working to bring 63 percent of its population online by 2018, according to a report by Colombia Reports. It also boasts 69 percent smartphone adoption, according to the GSMA “Mobile Economy” report for Latin America. http://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/07/three-growing-start-up-cities-in-south-america.html

Big Data Africa Opportunity

According to the TMI index map, a case could be made for South America, Africa, Eastern Europe or the Far East to make Big Data a turn-around industry for any of these regions or countries within.

The availability of Big Data is an inevitable global factor that grows exponentially continuously. Because it is ubiquitous and open source, in Africa or any of the other emerging regions, Big Data is a tremendous opportunity.

Big Data is already deployed in multiple directions: competitive industry, government interest and non-government action. Where there is a will, there is a Big Data way. Training and deployment of all levels of Big Data tools are ubiquitous, given connectivity. Big Data has a relatively low cost of entry as well.

Innovation Hubs in Africa

Africa already has a healthy network of these centers. The number of technology centers in Africa has increased dramatically over the past couple of years. More than half of African countries have a technology hub and leader South Africa has nineteen. According to World Bank, more than half of African nations have at least one tech hub, totaling around 90. In 2014, investment in tech hubs has gone from $12 to $26 million.

Africa Mobile Adaption

A wide variety of participants are needed to make Big Data work. The Big Data industry has an extreme shortage of data scientists and technicians. Even the occupation “data scientist” is actually not as straight forward as it would seem. This is opportunity to find a niche or create a new one.

Not Another NGO

The volume, velocity and variety of data accumulating are a worldwide phenomenon. Perhaps it is relative size, but every person in every country is creating more and more streams of information. In the same thread, every business creates and has access to tremendous amounts of data, but who uses it varies greatly. It’s not a necessity now for entity differentiation, but it is rapidly becoming so.

Those that don’t adapt to utilizing Big Data will get left behind – corporation or country.  We are in a global economy ecology as well.  In a post 9/11 world, we can’t leave others behind and hope for the best.  We’ve got to create the rising tide to lift all boats.  Bring on the Big Data.