IoT: Standards, Legal Rights; Economy and Development

It is safe to say that, at this point, the fragmented nature of IoT will hinder, or even discourage the value for users and industry. If IoT products happen to be poorly integrated, or inflexible regarding connectivity or are complex to operate, these factors can drive users as well as developers away from IoT. Also, poorly designed IoT devices can have negative consequences for the networks they connect to. Therefore, standardization is a logical next step as it can bring appropriate standards, models, and best practices. The standardization can, in turn, bring about user benefits, innovation and economic benefits.

 

Moreover, a widespread use of IoT devices brings about many regulatory and legal issues. Yet, since IoT technology is rapidly changing, many regulatory bodies cannot keep up with the change, so these bodies also need to adapt to the volatility of IoT technologies. But one of the issues which frequently comes in action is what to do when IoT devices collect data in one jurisdiction and transmit it to another jurisdiction with, for example, more lenient laws for data protection. Also, the data collected from IoT devices are often times liable to misuse, potentially causing legal issues for some users.

 

Other burning legal issues are the conflict between lawful surveillance and civil rights; data retention and ‘the right to be forgotten’; and legal liability for unaware users. Although the challenges are many in number and great in scope, IoT needs laws and regulations which protect the user and their rights but also do not stand in the way of innovation and trust.

 

Finally, Internet of Things can bring great and numerous benefits to developing countries and economies. Many areas can be improved through IoT: agriculture, healthcare, industry, to name a few. IoT can offer a connected ‘smart’ world and link aspects of people’s everyday lives into one huge web. IoT affects everything around it, but the risks, promises and possible outcomes need to be talked about and debated if one is to pick the most effective ways to go forward.

IoT: Security and Privacy

Two key IoT issues, which are also intertwined, are security and privacy: the data IoT devices store and work with needs to be safe from hackers, so as not to have sensitive data exposed to third parties. It is of utmost importance that IoT devices be secure from vulnerabilities and private so that users would feel safe in their surroundings and trust that their data shall not be exposed or worse, sold through illegal channels. Also, since devices are becoming more and more integrated into our everyday lives (many people store their credentials on their devices, for example), poorly secured devices can serve as entry points for cyber-attacks and leave data unprotected.

 

The nature of IoT devices means that every unsecured or inadequately secured devices pose a potential threat. This security problem is even deeper since various devices can connect to each other automatically, thus refraining the user from knowing at first glance whether a security issue exists. Therefore, developers and users of IoT devices have an obligation to make sure that no other devices come in any potential harm, so they constantly develop and test security solutions for these challenges.

 

The second key issue, privacy, is thought to be a factor which holds back the full development and implementation of IoT. Many users are concerned about their rights when it comes to their data being tracked, collected and analyzed. IoT also raises concerns regarding the potential threat of being tracked, the inability of discarding certain data collection, surveillance etc. Strategies need to be implemented which, although bring innovation, still respect user privacy choices and expectations. In order for Internet of Things to truly be accepted, these challenges need to be looked into and these problems need to be overcome, which is a great task and a test both for developers and for users.

IoT: Summary

The Internet of Things (or shortened ‘IoT’) is a hot topic in today’s world which carries extraordinary significance in socio-economic and technical aspects of everyday life. Products designed for consumers, long-lasting goods, automobiles and other vehicles, sensors, utilities and other everyday objects are able to become connected among themselves through the Internet and strong data analytic capabilities and therefore transform our surroundings. Internet of Things is forecast to have an enormous impact on the economy; some analysts anticipate almost 100 billion interconnected IoT devices. On the other hand, other analysts proclaim that IoT devices shall input into the global economy more than $11 trillion by 2025.

However, the Internet of Things comes with many important challenges which, if not overcome, could diminish or even put a stop to the progress of it thus failing to realize all its potential advantages. One of the greatest challenges is security: the newspapers are filled with headlines alerting the public to the dangers of hacking internet-connected devices, identity theft and privacy intrusion. These technical and security challenges remain and are constantly changing and developing; at the same time, new legal policies are emerging.

This document’s purpose is to help the Internet Society community find their way in the discourse about the Internet of Things regarding its pitfalls, shortcomings and promises.

Many broad ideas and complex thoughts surround the Internet of Things and in order to find one’s way, the key concepts that should be looked into as they represent the foundation of circumstances and problems of IoT are:

- Transformational Potential: If IoT takes off, a potential outcome of it would be a ‘hyperconnected world’ where limitations on applications or services that use technology cease to exist.

- IoT Definitions: although there is not one universal definition, the term Internet of Things basically refers to several connected objects, sensors or items (not considered computers) which create, exchange and control data with next to none human intervention.

- Enabling Technologies: Cloud computing, data analytics, connectivity and networking all lead to the ability to combine and interconnect computers, sensors and networks all in order to control other devices.

- Connectivity Models: There are four common communication models and are as following: Device-to-Device, Device-to-Cloud, Device-to-Gateway, and finally Back-End Data-Sharing. These models show how flexible IoT devices can be when connecting and when providing value to their respective users.

What is RS-232, what is RS-422, and what is RS-485?

RS-232, RS-422 and RS-485 are serial connections which can be found in various consumer electronics devices. Namely, RS-232 (ANSI/EIA-232 Standard) is the serial connection which can be historically found on IBM-compatible PCs. It is employed in many different scenarios and for many purposes, such as connecting a mouse, a printer, or a modem, as well as connecting different industrial instrumentation. Due to improvements in line drivers and cables, applications often expand the performance of RS-232 beyond the distance and speed limits which are listed in the standard. RS-232 is restricted to point-to-point connections between PC serial ports and various other devices. RS-232 hardware can be employed for serial communication up to distances of 50 feet.
On the other hand, RS-422 (EIA RS-422-A Standard) is the serial connection which can be historically found on Apple Macintosh computers. RS-422 employs a differential electrical signal, as opposed to unbalanced signals referenced to ground with the RS-232. Differential transmission employs two lines each for transmitting and receiving signals which lead to greater immunity to noise and the signal can travel longer distances as compared to the RS-232. These advantages make RS-422 a better option to consider for industrial applications.
Finally, RS-485 (EIA-485 Standard) is an improvement over RS-422, because it increases the number of devices from 10 to 32 and defines the electrical features necessary to safeguard adequate signal voltages under maximum capacity. With this enhanced multi-drop capability, one is able to create networks of devices connected to a single RS-485 serial port. The noise immunity and multi-drop capability make RS-485 the serial connection of choice in industrial applications requiring many distributed devices networked to a PC or other controller for data collection, HMI, or other operations. RS-485 is a superset of RS-422; therefore, all RS-422 devices can be controlled by RS-485. RS-485 hardware can be employed for serial communication with up to 4000 feet of cable network.

Requirements of real time control

Real time embedded control processors are individual computing units which have been implemented into pieces of larger and far more complicated equipment such as vehicles of all sort (trucks, airplanes, boats, yachts etc.), then other computer peripherals, audio systems and military equipment and weapons. The control processors are said to be embedded because they are integrated into a piece of equipment which is not in itself considered a computer nor does it execute some computing functions.

Requirements of real time control

Whether they are invisible or visible to the user, the real-time control processors are nowadays widespread and incorporated into people’s daily life and actions. For example, an invisible real-time control processor can be found in vehicles: this is the ABS (automatic braking system) which holds the vehicle steady on the road and prevents it from skidding on the road. Also, a real-time control processor can be used to replace high cost, high maintenance and bulky components of a given system, while at the same time providing better functions at a lower expense. In other certain occurrences, the presence of a real-time control processor may be visible, for example, an autopilot on an aircraft. But in all aforementioned cases, this real-time control processor is still a part of a larger system. And because of the fact that it is a component of a greater system, and that system has its own requirements and operating capabilities, most of these systems limit the processor in regard to its size, then weight, cost, power or reliability. Simultaneously though, the real-time control processor is bound to deliver top performance, for these real time events are mostly external inputs to the system which is in need of a response within milliseconds. If the processor fails to deliver a response in such short time span, disaster may strike: the autopilot may not change the course of the aircraft accordingly and may misinform the pilot about altitude.

LabVIEW Projects you should Know

STÄUBLI LABVIEW INTEGRATION LIBRARY

The DSM LabVIEW-Stäubli Control Library is created to simplify communications between a host PC running LabVIEW and a Stäubli robotic motion controller so as to control the robot from the LabVIEW environment. 

Stäubli Robots are usually found in the automation industry. The standard Staubli programming language, VAL3, is an adjustable language allowing for a wide variety of tasking. Although the VAL3 language works well in its environment, there are limited options for connecting the robot to an existing PC-based test & measurement system. The LabVIEW language, on the other hand, has been created from the start to run systems found in a research environment. The DSM LabVIEW-Staubli Integration Library lets the user promptly create applications for a Staubli robot using the familiar LabVIEW programming language.

 

 

AUTOMATED CRYOGENIC TEST STATION

A test station was built with the intent in mind to automate cyclic cryogenic exposure.  A LabVIEW program was inserted to automate the process and collect data. The software featured:

• Checked the temperature of up to 8 thermocouples

• Checked the life status of test specimens twice per cycle

• Automated backups to allow for data recovery

• System was integrated with a pneumatic control board and safety features

 

 

TENSILE TESTER CONTROL PROGRAM

This system is able to record high-resolution x-ray imagery of test subjects of aerospace alloys while they are under tensile and cyclic fatigue tests.  This capability can improve understanding of how grain refinement is used to enhance material properties.  The tensile tester can function in multiple modes of operation. The sample can be fully rotated within the tester, permitting three-dimensional imagery of samples.

 

DYNAMOMETER TEST STATION

A test station designed to characterize piezoelectric motors was built, with programmable current source and a DC motor integrated into the system to apply a range of resistive torque loads to the tested motor.  A torque load cell and a high-resolution encoder were used to measure torque and speed, which is collected at each resistive torque level, forming a torque curve. A LabVIEW project was programmed to run the test. Test settings were configured in the program and data was collected by an NI DAQ card. The program also included data manipulation and analysis.

 

OPEN-LOOP ACTUATOR CONTROLLER

The goal is to characterize the actuator's performance in open-loop so that a closed-loop control scheme can be developed. This program can output voltage waveforms as well as voltage steps up to 40V. Voltage duration is programmable down to the millisecond and an encoder is integrated into the system and readings are real time. The encoder features resolution on a micron level and experiences exceptional noise due to the vibrations present in the system. The data is filtered after the test to report accurate, low-noise data.

I²C and SPI

Nowadays, at the low end of the transmission protocols, I²C (for ‘Inter-Integrated Circuit’, protocol) and SPI (for ‘Serial Peripheral Interface’) are to be found. Both protocols are well-suited for transmissions betwixt unified circuits, for slow transmission with onboard components. At the essence of these two popular protocols two major companies are found – Philips for I²C and Motorola for SPI – and two diverse histories about why, when and how the protocols were generated.
The I²C bus was developed in 1982; its authentic purpose was to supply an effortless way to link a CPU to peripherals chips in a TV set. Peripheral instruments in embedded systems are frequently connected to the microcontroller as memory-mapped I/O mechanisms. One straightforward way to do this is connecting the components to the microcontroller parallel address and data busses. This results in countless wiring on the PCB (printed circuit board) and supplementary ‘glue logic’ to decode the address bus on which all the peripherals are connected. To reserve microcontroller pins, further logic and make the PCBs simpler, in order words, to lower the expenditure.
SPI is a single-master communication protocol. This means that one fundamental device initiates all the communications with the servants.

About Temperature Data Loggers

A data logger is, simply put, an electronic device which records and stores data. There are various ways data devices, or data loggers, tools designed for recording or monitoring processes and different parameters, acquire data. These data loggers have become a revolutionary solution for logging vast amounts of data and are nowadays symbolized by a vast array of devices, from small, handheld ones to complex systems. For example, a data logger device can be applied to automobile and other vehicle control, then the acquisition of machine or engine data and monitoring of conditions present in a machine. Multichannel systems which track vibration, force detection and various measurements in turbines and generators can all be found. The findings are later presented as charts, graphs and diagrams.

Temperature data logger

Temperature data loggers, also called temperature monitoring devices, can be found with ease, and they offer a variety of solutions to adapt to any temperature measurement scenario. Data loggers which measure atmospheric temperature almost always have a built-in sensor which is then employed to measure surrounding temperatures in rooms, fridges or other enclosed spaces. Needless to say, these instruments are capable of autonomous work, that is, they record temperatures over a defined period, without the need of a person meddling with it.

There are many various constructions available for data logging devices. Most of these devices have internal measuring sensors or can be linked to external sources. Also, most of these devices can be connected to via cord, RFID or a wireless system for data retrieval purposes, calibration or set up; many can also be set up and controlled via a personal computer or a smartphone. These devices are usually small, battery-powered, portable, equipped with internal memory for data storage, a connection for data retrieval of choice and sensors.

RS-232 and RS-485 Serial Communication Protocols

The RS232/485 port consecutively sends and receives bytes filled with information one bit at a time. Although the serial method is somewhat slower than parallel communication, which allows the transmission of an entire byte at once, it is far simpler and can be employed over longer distances because power consumption is lower than that of parallel one. As an example, the IEEE 488 standard for parallel communication requires that the cabling between equipment can be no more than 20 meters total, with no more than 2 meters between any two connected devices. On the other hand, RS232/485 cabling is possible to be extended 1200 meters or greater.
Typically, RS232/485 is employed to transmit American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) data. Although National Instruments serial hardware is able to transmit 7-bit as well as 8-bit data packages, many applications use 7-bit data. Seven-bit ASCII can represent the English alphabet, decimal numbers, and common punctuation marks. It is a standard protocol that virtually all hardware and software are able to comprehend. Serial communication is completed employing three transmission lines: (1) ground, (2) transmit, and (3) receive. Due to the fact that RS232/485 communication is asynchronous, the serial port is able to send and receive data on one line while also sending and receiving data on another. Other lines are also available, but are not required nor are they employed. The crucial serial characteristics are baud rate, data bits, stop bits, and parity. These parameters must match to allow communication between a serial device and a serial port on a computer.
The RS-232 port, or ANSI/EIA-232 port, is the serial connection which one is able to come across on most PCs. It is used for many purposes, such as connecting a mouse, a printer, or a modem, as well as other various industrial instrumentation. The RS-232 protocol is able to withstand only one device connected to each port. The RS485 (EIA-485 Standard) protocol is able to have 32 devices connected to each port. With this enhanced multidrop capability, one can create networks of devices connected to a single RS-485 serial port. Noise immunity and multidrop capability make RS-485 the serial connection of choice in industrial applications which are in need of many distributed instruments and peripherals connected to a PC or other controller for data collection.

Uses for Data Loggers

There are numerous uses for autonomous data loggers, one of which being environmental monitoring: they can be taken to various locations that cannot be accessed easily with bulky temperature monitoring equipment such as mountains, deserts, jungles, mines, caves and other similar places. Data loggers, especially portable ones, can also be used in industrial and scientific surroundings – in factories and laboratories where temperature monitoring is highly wanted.

 

Another use for temperature data loggers is monitoring sensitive shipments and products, primarily fresh and prepared foods and other consumables, pharmaceuticals, organs ready for transplant and various chemicals which react to elevated temperatures and need to be kept in order. Exposing the aforementioned items to temperatures outside their designated ranges for a certain period of time can result in them being unusable. Therefore, portable data loggers are placed inside insulated containers or directly attached to products and items so as to monitor the temperature of the product being shipped. Also, the placement of data loggers and sensors is critical to the perseverance of the product: several studies have confirmed that temperatures inside a shipping container (an insulated box, a refrigerator truck or a refrigerated container) rely heavily on the proximity of the container to exterior walls and roof and to the location in regard to them.

 

Modern data loggers also come equipped with the ability to measure temperature in real time. This information can then be used to check whether the product has been exposed to temperatures higher than prescribed for too long. Analyzing these scenarios of high temperature exposure, the outcomes may be that shelf life of products has been reduced and therefore they need to be sold at a faster pace, perhaps the cooling equipment has failed during the shipping of a product but persons cannot pick up the slight difference in temperatures, or the shipment has gone bad and is unusable because of critical oscillations of temperature.

 

All of this data coming from monitoring temperature can prove to be extremely useful as to reduce costs, prolong shelf life and avoid any damage to the precious goods so that they can be usable and in top condition upon arrival.

About I²C

I²C is a multi-master protocol that uses two signal lines. The two I²C signals are named ‘serial data’ (SDA) and ‘serial clock’ (SCL). There is no need of chip select (servant select) or compromise logic. Basically, any number of servants and any number of masters can be united onto these two signal lines and correspond to each other using a protocol that specifies:

 

• 7-bits servant addresses: every device united to the bus has got such a unique address;

• certain control bits for governing the communication commence, end, and direct for any acknowledgement mechanism.

• data are divided into 8-bit bytes

 

The data standard must be chosen betwixt 100 kbps, 400 kbps and 3.4 Mbps, accordingly called standard mode, a fast mode and high-speed mode. Some I²C variations contain 10 kbps and 1 Mbps as genuine speeds.

Physically, the I²C bus comprises the two active wires SDA and SCL and a ground connection. The effective wires are both bi-directional. The I2C protocol necessity states that the IC that begins a data transfer on the bus is treated the Bus Master. Therefore, at the time, all the other ICs were considered to be Bus Servants.

 

At electrical rank, there is literally no conflict at all if multiple instruments try to put any logic rank on the I²C bus lines together. If one of the drivers attempts to write a logical zero and the other a logical one, then the open-drain and pull-up arrangement ensure that there will be no shortcut and the bus will indeed see a logical zero transiting on the bus. In other words, in any conflict, a logic zero always ‘scores’.

Furthermore, the I²C protocol likewise helps at dealing with communication problems. Any apparatus present on the I²C listens to it permanently. Promising masters on the I²C encountering a START condition will wait until a STOP is encountered to attempt a new bus admission. Servants on the I²C bus will decode the device address that follows the START condition and checks if it doubles theirs. All the servants that are not addressed will wait until a STOP status is issued before listening repeatedly to the bus. Likewise, since the I²C protocol foresees active-low acknowledge bit after each byte, the master/servant couple can identify their counterpart presence. Ultimately, if anything else goes bad, this would signify that the apparatus ‘talking on the bus’ would know it by simply comparing what it sends with what is seen on the bus. If a difference is detected, a STOP case must be issued, which discharges the bus.

I²C vs SPI - comparison

Bus topology / routing / resources

I²C needs two lines, while SPI officially defines at least four signals or more if more servants are added. Some informal SPI alternatives only need three wires, that is an SCLK, SS and a bi-directional MISO/MOSI line. Nevertheless, this exercise would require one SS line per servant. SPI lacks further work, logic and/or pins if a multi-master engineering must be built on SPI. The singular problem I²C when building a system is a finite machine address space on 7 bits, overwhelmed with the 10-bits enlargement.
From this point of view, I²C is a clear winner over SPI in sparing pins, board routing and how effortless it is to build an I²C network.

Throughput / Speed

If data must be relocated at ‘high speed’, SPI is apparently the protocol of choice, over I²C. SPI is full-duplex, and I²C is not. SPI does not determine any speed limit. Exercise often go over 10 Mbps. I²C is limited to 1Mbps in Fast Mode+ and to 3.4 Mbps in High-Speed Mode. This last one requires particular I/O buffers, not regularly easily available.

Elegance

It is usually said that I²C is much more elegant than SPI and that this last one is a very ‘rough’ protocol. People tend to think the two codes are equally elegant and comparable on robustness.
I²C is elegant for it offers very advanced appearances, such as automatic multi-master clashes handling and built-in addressing management, on a very light foundation. It can be very complex, nonetheless and somewhat lacks performance.
SPI, on the other hand, is quite easy to comprehend and to implement and offers a great deal of flexibility for extensions and alternatives. The disparity is where the elegance of SPI lies. SPI should be considered as a good platform for building custom protocol piles for transmission between ICs. Thus, in accordance with to the engineer’s need, using SPI may need more work but offers raised data transfer performance and almost total freedom.
Both SPI and I2C offer favourable support for connection with low-speed machines, but SPI is improved suited to applications in which devices assign data streams, while I²C is improved at multi master ‘register access’ application.

Basics and Applications of Optical Sensor

An optical sensor is one that converts light rays into a computerized signal. To measure a physical quantity of light and, depending on the sort of sensor, translate it into a form that is readable by some unified measuring device is the purpose of an optical sensor. Optical sensors can be both external and internal. External sensors assemble and address an appropriate quantity of light, while internal sensors measure the bends and other small changes in direction.

Types of Optical Sensors

There are various kinds of optical sensors, and here are the most common types.

Through-Beam Sensors

The usual system consists of two independent components. The receiver and the transmitter are placed opposite to each other. That transmitter projects a light beam onto the receiver. A breach of the light beam is explained as a switch signal by the receiver. It is insignificant where the interruption appears.
Its advantage is that large operating distances can be attained and the recognition is separated from the object’s surface structure, colour or reflectivity.
It must be assured that the object is sufficiently huge to interrupt the light beam completely, to ensure a high operational dependability.

Diffuse Reflection Sensors

Both receiver and transmitter are in one housing. The transmitted light is reflected by the object that must be identified.
The diffused light intensity at the receiver serves as the switching condition. Regardless of the sensitivity setting the front part regularly reflects worse than the rear part and this leads to the after effect of false switching operations.

Retro-Reflective Sensors

Here, both transmitter and receiver are in the same house. Through a reflector, the radiated light beam is conducted back to the receiver. An interruption of the light beam commences a switching operation. It is not influential where the interruption occurs.
Retro-reflective sensors set up large operating distances with switching points, which are completely reproducible demanding little escalating effort. Any object interfering the light beam is precisely detected independently of its colour or surface structure.

How Stack Machines Meet the Needs of Various Systems

There are various characteristics which need to be met in order for these machines to be suitable and to be fully and successfully implemented into real time systems. These characteristics are as follows: size and weight, power and cooling, operating environment, cost and performance.

Size and Weight 

It has been observed that stack computers are very simple in regards to processor complexity. However, it is the overall system complexity that determines overall system size and weight. The solution to overcoming the size and weight issue is to keep component count small. That is why stack machines are less complex than other machines and are also more reliable.

Power and Cooling

If the processor is complex, it can affect the amount of power it needs. That amount of power is related to how many transistors there are in a processor and how many pins are on the processor chip. Moreover, processors that need a lot of power-consuming high-speed memory devices can also be burdensome regarding power. Of course, power consumption directly affects cooling requirements, since all power used by a computer is eventually transmuted into heat. The cooler operation of processor components can reduce the number of component failures, thus improving reliability.

Operating Environment

Embedded processing systems are well known for extreme operating conditions. The processing system must deal with heat and cold, vibration, shock, and even radiation. Also, in remotely installed applications, the system must be able to survive without field service technicians to make repairs. The general rule to avoiding problems caused by operating environments is to keep the component count and a number of pins minuscule. Stack machines, with their low system complexity and high levels of integration, do well under these conditions.

Cost

Since the cost of a chip is related to the number of transistors and to the number of pins on the chip, low complexity stack processors are basically low in cost.
Computing Performance. Computing performance in a real time embedded control environment is not simply defined. Although raw computational performance is important, there are other factors which influence the system. An additional desirable feat is a fantastic execution in programs that are filled with procedure calls reducing program memory size.

How do RS-232, RS-422, and RS-485 compare to each other?

RS-232 (ANSI/EIA-232 Standard) is the most widespread serial interface and it is used to ship as a standard component on most Windows-compatible desktop computers. Nowadays, it is more frequent to use RS-232 rather than using a USB and a converter. One downfall is that RS-232 only permits for one transmitter and one receiver on each line. RS- 232 also employs a Full-Duplex transmission method. Some RS-232 boards sold by National Instruments support baud rates up to 1 Mbit/s, but most devices are restricted to 115.2 kbit/s. On one hand, RS-422 (EIA RS-422- A Standard) is the serial connection employed primarily on Apple computers. It provides a mechanism for sending and receiving data up to 10 Mbits/s. RS-422 sends each signal employing two wires in order to increase the maximum baud rate and cable length. RS-422 is also specified for multi-drop applications where only one transmitter is linked to and sends and receives a bus of up to 10 receivers. On the other hand, RS-485 is a superset of RS-422 and expands on the capabilities of that previous model. RS-485 was manufactured to deal with the multi-drop limitation of RS-422, letting up to 32 devices to communicate through the same data line. Any of the subordinate devices on an RS-485 bus can communicate with any other 32 subordinate or ‘slave’ devices without the master device receiving any signals. Since RS-422 is a subset of RS-485, all RS-422 devices can be controlled by RS-485.
Finally, both RS-485 and RS-422 have multi-drop capability installed in them, but RS-485 allows up to 32 devices and RS-422 has a limit of only 10 devices. For both communication protocols, it is advisable that one should provide their own termination. All National Instruments RS-485 boards will work with RS-422 standards.