What would you wanna develop with an IoT development device?

[KaisaT]

Hey everyone!

We've been developing this IoT device that can be used for tracking and monitoring different things. The idea is to combine the best features of what's currently out there in one package. The HW would be first class and the SW would let you come up with all kinds of neat uses for it. Oh, and the thing's also weatherproof.

The reason I'm writing is that we're trying to reach out to people with specific knowledge/interest in the field to find out what (if anything) they would want to do with a device like this. What features are most important (sensors, connectivity, battery life etc. anything, really)?

The features we're currently working on include:
Wireless connectivity: WLAN, 2G Quadband GPRS, BT 4.1
+ Micro USB 2.0, GPIO pins on PCB, JTAG on PCB
Sensors: A-GPS location, 3D accelerometer, gyroscope, temperature, pressure, humidity, magnetometer, ambient light sensor

All comments are highly appreciated. Hit me up with questions if you have anything in mind. Cheers!

 

[Ian Rogers]

Sounds like a sales pitch to me!!!

 

[JimB]

Nah, no good, it cannot make bacon sandwiches!

What is an IoT anyway?

JimB

 

[Misterbenn]

IoT = internet of things, so basically a web capable device.

I2C is important for additional accessory's
an audio grade DAC
PWM outputs
SD card port
Ethernet and even POE would be good
and an OS

 

[KaisaT]

Hey Ian! Thanks for commenting. Sorry if you feel that we’ve somehow invaded your forum, that wasn't my intention. I'm not gonna lie to you, we're hoping to sell the product eventually, but at this point we're just trying to do all we can to make the device as good as possible. But yeah, sorry. I do realise I'm probably not the first person in this forum asking about stuff like this.

Haha, JimB, I knew there was something we hadn't thought about! Sandwiches will definitely be in the 2.0 version.
IoT=internet of things. There are a lot of definitions, but basically it's all about connecting physical devices with one another via internet.

 

[Ian Rogers]

It's not my forum.... I just have to keep watch.... I'll leave it and see how it goes...

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

Oh, and a really obscure request - An astronomical clock.
Some may want the ability to know the weather - watering systems.

No one really makes a cheap monitoring system. I can't find the name of a company that makes a really nice one. I have it somewhere. My monitoring, it means the ability to send email/SMS messages from events such as refrigerator temperatures over-range or an alarm of some sort.

Another possibility is an API/interface for the typical home automation protocols such as UPB, X-10 and Insteon.

Zigbe might be another option because it's typically lower power.

One-wire is another thing to look into.

 

[ronsimpson]

I am looking at upgrading my IoT computer. It is about 17 years old.
I started out looking at the Raspberry Pie.
Then moved on to the Beagle Bone Black.
This weekend I looked at the pcDuino3, and (pcDuino3 nano).
All three of these are some thing like a smart phone and PC. They get on the internet talk to PCs. Talk to LCD monitors, sensors, do home automation, send email, etc.
At the Maker Faire I saw a pcDuino3 downloading and playing a movie at the same time it was running another program and some one was writing a program.

 

[KaisaT]

Hey thanks for your comments! MisterBenn, the thing will come with a built-in micro SD card. And if you need more memory, you will of course be able to change it into a bigger one.

KeepItSimpleStupid, thanks for sharing your ideas. What you described there is pretty much exactly what we're trying to do. You'll be able to get notifications from different events based on rules you've predefined. The app we're currently developing provides some basic functionality but we're also planning to release most of our source code as open source so you'll be able to develop the product further for whatever you need it for.

Just out of curiosity, do you have any opinions about what the battery life in a device like this should be like?

 

[Misterbenn]

With regards to the battery,

I wouldn't build this with an inbuilt battery. We're all electronics builder so we look for building blocks that integrate into our existing project - we're generally not looking for an end to end solution.

However if it had a battery management and programmable smart charger that could be really useful. Then we could use a range of batteries of a size that suits our application.

 

[tunedwolf]

With regard to MisterBenn's comment on battery management, I think he is onto something here, including a controller rather than a complete battery system that supports the latest battery technologies like Lithium Ion Polymer (Li-Ion) and new Lithium Sulphur (Li-S) types, may well be an advantage over the other sbc's currently available

 

[Dr_Doggy]

HI! right off the hop seeing this, i had attempted wifi based device, as rookie i really dont know much about web interface commands or using lan card devices (or gsm), and so i used scrap electronics which had web structures already, it worked, but i was unsatisfied due to the lack of response (RX), I also gave up on my altitude sensor when i seen the equation behind it. In my project commands were issued through http; ie. 192.168.0.2:900/cgi_command = 2, command_2 = 1, ect...


Having said that, I hope your device could take my sim card, My ISP gave me a second one for only 10$/ month! , I would also like to see a 232data port, for a personal command structure(WITH TX and RX, at least 32 bit string) and a camera feed, and of course easy user interface command structures so i can receive data through webpage, or a way to do it on android web socket. AND (i maybe asking too much here, but adding an ad-hoc and/or WIFI repeater would help too for direct connects without hub

I would buy this right away and see a potential market for this, especially for the adruino users, who are building things like weather balloons and quad-rotors.

btw, PM me if you ever get er done!

 

[Overclocked]

No Ones mentioned the biggie yet: Security. If its not secure it's just another vector for someone to get into your network. Im not a fan of IOT things because of lack of security (and who needs a Internet connected Fridge anyway?).

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

yea, I read a recent article where a IOT "light bulb" allowed access to the network it was connected to.

 

[ronsimpson]

(and who needs a Internet connected Fridge anyway?).

It would be nice if the freezer could e-mail that the power went off and the food is getting warm.
The power company really wants to get control over your fridge and more. The fridge can last hours with out power. During high power peeks the power company wants to suspend operations of some items.
It is nice to tell your house, "I will be home in 1/2 hour", then the heat (or cool) comes on.
I want e-mails and a pictures when some one drives in.
I want e-mails if the house temperature is too high or low.

 

[Overclocked]

It would be nice if the freezer could e-mail that the power went off and the food is getting warm.
The power company really wants to get control over your fridge and more. The fridge can last hours with out power. During high power peeks the power company wants to suspend operations of some items.
It is nice to tell your house, "I will be home in 1/2 hour", then the heat (or cool) comes on.
I want e-mails and a pictures when some one drives in.
I want e-mails if the house temperature is too high or low.

Some People dont like control, and feel that corporations already have a fair amount of control (Just mentioning it!)

My Thermostat has programmable times, I can tell it raise or lower a temperature depending on the time of day. Takes 5 minutes, it was $30ish. As far as AC goes, I just spent a little more money and got a window unit that has a Auto Sensor.

The Second to last is one I will disagree upon. I have no copper pipe for thieves to steal (they already took it ), A tablet can be easily hidden in a bookcase or some place. Laptop can be taken with you. Desktop's are rather hard to steal, as are TV's. Also, its all material stuff. Yes We've worked hard, but it can be replaced. However, there is something to be said about personal data, that cant be replaced. Currently, medical information is worth more than your CC.


To agree with you: A flood alarm would be nice. Maybe a pipe burst in the winter, or a flood in the basement. Water usage tracking, Energy Usage/Generation.

 

[KaisaT]

Yeah, MisterBenn, I hear what your saying. This device is definitely a bit more “ready” than a lot of arduino etc. developers/builders are looking for. I guess you could say it’s ideal for those who want to develop their own projects but don’t want to start from scratch and buy all the sensors and other components separately. That’s also part of the reason why the battery is built-in. I agree with you and tunedwolf though, the battery management idea is definitely something to look into!

Dr_Doggy, the device will take your SIM-card. There’s no 232 dataport but with the right adapter, you can use the micro USB for that. And we’re gonna offer easy API documentation too. It’d be really interesting to hear more about what you’re working on! As for security (which, like Overclocked says, is really important), the device uses AES-128bit encryption.

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

Some interesting things are:
1) SMS at a certain time: Typical uses like a TV program is on or whatever.
2) Tell me when the washer is finished washing.
This could be something like: The washer was ON, and then was OFF more than 5 minutes. The problem is detecting on. You would like to do it with a mostly non-invasive current sensor, but current draw isn't constant. Sometimes when I was, there is some juggling in the beginning, so not all off states should generate a message.
The dryer stopped would be considerably easier. I would find these functions useful, however, a small dedicated beast might be more suited. Hey, you might even be able to use a vibration sensor, after-all when it stops there isn't anymore vibration.
3) The water heater recovered. I have no idea how to do this one for say gas and/or water. Ultrasonic? gas sensor maybe? So, you use this sort of function to kknow when there might be "enough" hot water to take a shower.
4) Generate an inhibit signal. So, let;s say you had an automatic watering system, so this device talks to a weather service API and figures out the rain predictions. So, with any manufacturer's system, you should easily be able to install an inhibit sprinkling.

Now, let's go weird and it's an area of interest, but not an an area of interest. Embedded web servers seem to have to be smarter than a normal webserver when trying to implement say an IR remote control. One of the functions is the ability to change an IR signal dynamically depending on how long the button is held down. It's a wierd repeat mode. Some remotes send an entirely different sequence when the key is repeating. I know of a remote that sends two identical commands with a short space between them for "push once" and single commands with the short delay for "repeat" as I understand it.

I don't see this sort of functionality, nor do I have the foggiest idea how to do it.

Something like:
On keypress send X
If keypress is held down send Y continually until released/

I do have some home automation stuff in the works, but other stuff is taking precedence.

Some automation stuff that's planned is HOT water: A reciculator that is turned on with RF and PIR sensors. PIR for say bathroom and RF for kitchen. So, you enter the bathroom and the PIR sensor starts the recirculating system. In the kitchen, you would have to start it manually. The manufacturer doesn't offer a wireless doorbell xmitter

Door bell: A wireless doorbell based on "security alarm" transmitters/receiver. Somehow the doorbell might have to get more sophisticated because there is a person in a wheelchair in the house. An SMS in response to doorbell would be mildly useful.

Telephone: Line in use indicator. Possibly something that detects specific "ringtones" and uses an alternate signal like a strobe. The phone has a page mode which is now used and therefore it would not respond to a telephone ring, An SMS when the house phone rings could be useful. This is not planned, but just thought about.

Outdoor light: Make it UPB capable and operate-able from the car and kitchen. Unfortunately, I can't program the Homelink system to work X-10 receivers because it's one of the earlier ones. Eventually, I would be able to turn this light on from my cell. It's planned. At one time it worked under X-10, but I haven't installed UPB yet.

I have another outdoor light that is motion triggered, but it's a stupid light and triggers when it's not supposed to. This might turn to something different sometime in the distant future. i.e. UPB controlled and therfor controlled by the cell. Always on, always off and motion controlled.

Then there is a post lamp and a front door lamp that needs to be addressed. Astronomical timers, UPB and blink may come into play. Blink would happen when the medical alarm gets triggered.

The medical alarm trigger needs to be addressed too. Not really sure how, Kinda wish there was a local and monitored alarm mode from a single wearable transmitter.
In any event, the activation should generate blinking lights and an SMS.

Now that you got me thinking, I don't even know if it's possible, BUT... The base has the ability to talk back. It would be COOL, if you could say, use WIFI or zigbee and have multiple microphones. The base does support an extra location for talkback. Wouldn't it bee cool if more than one xmit/receiver could be used with echo cancellation, so that better coverage could be had?

Some ideas. Some not applicable, but ideas nonetheless. Brainstorming.

 

[Dr_Doggy]

well usb is cool so i can plug in to comp. but what i really want is again the camera cos i have no idea how to do that myself, all those sensors you got would again be great for my quad rotor, which i designed a few years back, right now thou the only data links i have with it are the futaba remote which can only send a few pwm instructions about a mile or the bluetooth, which is low range. I got the hardware finished but it is only half programed, so it can startup and lift off, but thats it for now, it is designed with dual processors, one for sensors and motors which can operate indepndantly, and the other is deticated for complex calculations that may take more time, it has gps , and plans for onboard stability, with that in mind your chip would provide that long range communication iv been looking for.

either the 232 or i2c would be perfect for integration to my micro controllers, which is what i see other hobbyists doing as well.

 

[KaisaT]

Hey KeepItSimpleStupid, really interesting brainstorming and good questions to think about. It’s good to hear about possible use cases close to home, we’ve been a bit stuck concentrating on the outdoors. When it comes to monitoring the washing machine, the vibration sensor is actually the first thing the came to my mind as well. You could get a notification when the vibration stops for five minutes etc.

Dr_Doggy theoretically it would be possible to transfer image data via for example BT? Don’t know if that solves your problem though. But I2C access is covered.