Smart Connected Consumer Products

A topic we often worked on in in the innovation center, excellent infographic overview when connected
to the smart city.  Smart at all sorts of levels.  (full clickable graphic at the link)

Reimagining Smart Cities with the Arrival of Smart Connected Consumer Products  Posted by Aarti Sharma in IOT Central

We are fast moving towards a future where cities will feature hundreds and thousands of smart connected objects, talking to each other, exchanging and producing meaningful data and insights, basically reshaping the urban landscape into intelligent and autonomous systems. Internet of Things will be at the heart of this technological transformation, as sensors and digital tags will find their way into various physical city infrastructure, monitoring traffic, weather, crime and even rat infestations! However, it’s not just hardware IoT and sensors that will provide city planners and authorities to gain more visibility into the working and management of a city. Smart connected products or ordinary consumer products tagged with digital ID’s and digital twins can open up new dimensions in how we imagine Smart Cities to function.

For the sake of painting a picture of the role of connected products within Smart Cities, let’s consider a pharmaceutical company supplying critical drugs to a city. Enabling every drug product at batch and serial item level to have a digital twin of its physical self will allow for exchange of product related data to happen between manufacturer, the supply chain, the city authorities, end consumers and the products themselves. Read on to see how the pharmaceutical industry could look like in the not so distant future.     ....   "  (excerpt, much more at the link)  .... ' 

IOT Revolutionizing Manufacturing

From IoTCentral.io  

Here's How the IoT Is Revolutionizing Manufacturing   

The internet of things (IoT) is much more than the next step in consumer technologies — it also represents a significant leap forward for industries of all kinds.

Manufacturing is already — and will continue to be — a field almost uniquely suited to applying IoT technology. In fact, there's almost no part of the process that won't be touched in some way by this ever-expanding web of smart and interconnected sensors, computers and machines. No matter how large or small your operation is, it's increasingly difficult to understate the potential value of adding intelligence and oversight to your processes using the internet of things.

Here are four ways IoT is revolutionizing the field of manufacturing.
A Greater Degree of Competitiveness

According to a report published by Verizon in 2016, an overwhelming majority of manufacturing managers already consider IoT technology a critical competitive advantage. It's hard to believe that such a sea change happened practically overnight, but not quite so much when you realize what's at stake.

Suffice it to say, the IoT represents a bundle of industrial innovations that have been a long time coming. Most of the competitive advantages cited by the Verizon report have to do with parts of the manufacturing and business processes that required guesswork or drew from incomplete data sets. We're talking things like altering business processes based on current demand and future trends, optimizing longstanding workflows and responding to unforeseen events.

Technology powered by the IoT can make manufacturing companies more competitive by, among other things, granting some autonomy and automation to back-end processes that inform the rest of your employee processes and workflows. This type of automation could, for example, automatically flag product for shipment to another location based on current levels or even trip a slowdown on one production line to pivot to another product if future demand isn't expected to be there.

The result is a leaner business that can run circles around your more flat-footed competition, who might've been slow to adopt modern technologies.  ... " 

Fill article.

The IOT and Smart Factories

Notes on IOT, AI and Smart Factories     - Franz

Draft Outline for an upcoming presentation to a global company ....

In the earliest days of AI our management come to us and asked:   How will these methods allow us to manufacture, market and deliver our goods in new and much more efficient ways?  The term 'Lights out' manufacturing was brought up.  Manufacturing operations that would adjust themselves, repair, ingest raw materials, work with minimal human labor and deliver goods.

In the early 1990s the technology was not yet ready to make this happen, though we had some narrow, limited successes.   But things have changed now.   How much more can we do today?   And in the coming years, how will we advance to the goals expressed then? 

The piece mentioned below starts to address this.    About leveraging IOT infrastructure, Embedded analytics, AI, Machine learning, Robotics, Human/Machine Collaborative systems, Process Models,  .... and more .... Thoughts?
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The Internet of Things in Manufacturing: Integration of Smart Factories  Posted by Diana M , in IOT Central 

From smart devices and home automation systems to smart cars and smart buildings, the Internet of Things brings important innovations in our life. In the next years, IoT solutions will continue to take the center stage in the tech environment.

With huge investment in this technology, the global IoT spending is expected to reach $1.29 trillion by 2020 and $1.4 trillion by 2021 (IDC report).

For now, manufacturing industry is still the main investor in the Internet of Things. According to recent surveys, 66% of manufacturers say that the use of IoT solutions is essential for staying competitive and resolving various issues.  .... "

Embedding Software in Everything

We are moving quickly in this area, with lots of changes regarding need for better security, and architectures to ensure that.   So many unexpected things will start to become connected.

Embedded Software Eating the World  in IOT Central  An interview:

Software is eating the world wrote Marc Andreessen in The Wall Street Journal on August 20, 2011. Since that time every company in the world has beefed up their software teams and their digital transformation initiatives. Afterall, software is a key competitive advantage, and to survival.

In the IoT space, we often think about the application software that power industrial systems and consumer connected devices. But what about the embedded software written to control machines or devices that are not typically thought of as computers? This is almost everything, from a small digital watch, e-bikes, electronic control units in cars, microwaves and missile guidance systems.

For insight we turned to Jeffrey Fortin, Head of Product Management, Vector Software. Vector provides automated test tools for embedded software applications in automotive, aerospace, medical devices, industrial controls, rail, and other business critical sectors. .... "

IOT vs IIOT

Overview that is useful ... with examples of applications.

IOT vs IIOT   Do you know the difference?
Not all Devices are IoT or IIoT

Posted by Daniel Ehrenreich  in IOT Central

Business opportunities created by Internet of Things (IoT) and the Industrial IoT (IIoT) are among the most debated topics, as these are designed to function in a broad range of consumer and industrial applications.

Manufacturers of IoT components believe in this new trend, but many of them still not understand the essence of the IoT concept. In reality, not every controlled device is an IoT nor IIoT.

The IoT/IIoT concept is a communication-based eco-system in which control devices, CCTV cameras and industrial sensors communicate via the Internet with cloud-based computer systems and data sources, and the result of this process is displayed on a computer screen, smartphone or used for optimal activation of a process. Through an IoT/IIoT ecosystem you may boost productivity and achieve unique benefits. Examples of IoT/IIoT include applications such as; remote operation of home appliances, medical devices, check on availability of a product in a store, warnings of unusual conditions and malfunctions and more.  .... " 

Healthcare and IOT

From IOTCentral:  a set of useful articles for healthcare applications regarding the internet of things.

Internet of Things Standards and Organizations

  An examination of and links to standards and related IOT groups.   Many I have not seen.  Via  IOT Central, a good group to join.

IOT Central Biweekly Digest

With coverage of a recent conference.  Interesting articles.  Am a  member and actively following.  " ... We went to IoT World last week in Santa Clara, California, where over 150 vendors and 10,000 attendees were there showing there wares and making connections. More posts on that soon. In the meantime, here's our third issue of the IoTC Bi-Weekly Digest. If you're interested in being featured, we always welcome your contributions on all things IoT Infrastructure, IoT Application Development, IoT Data and IoT Security, and more. All members can post on IoT Central. Consider contributing today. ... " 

Internet of Things Architecture

Brought to my attention.  Thingworx.   Presentation today was a useful introduction to IOT Edge architectures, models, security and design decisions.   My interest is the interaction of analytics with the IOT edge data.    Nicely done talk, will the first of a series from O'Reilly, worth following.

Slides here.

 " ... The model-based design and search-based intelligence of the ThingWorx IoT Platform simplifies application development efforts by minimizing cost and risk while accelerating time to market. The platform also combines the key functionality of Web 2.0, search, and social collaboration, and applies it to the world of “things”, including connected products, machines, sensors, systems, and industrial equipment.

Businesses use the ThingWorx platform to rapidly deliver innovative applications and connected solutions across markets ranging from manufacturing, energy and food, to Machine-to-Machine (M2M) remote monitoring and service, as well as in emerging Internet of Things applications, including smart cities, smart grid, smart agriculture, and transportation. Learn more about the ThingWorx IoT Platform. ... "

IOT Central

New:   IOT Central, from the folks that brought you Data Science Central (DSC).

"  .... We are very excited to announce the official launch of a brand new community: IoT Central! Internet of Things. (IoT) is a rapidly evolving opportunity bursting with layers of technology and promise. IoT Central is the online resource connecting a community of professionals, organizations and businesses who are focused on products, services, and businesses in the Internet of Things era. Aimed at the Industrial side IoT, the site covers IoT Infrastructure, IoT Application Development, IoT Data and IoT Security.  ... "     More, and how to join up.