Tag: Renesas

Episode 435: How Honeywell is approaching TinyML

This week we make a big announcement about the podcast and newsletter. Get ready! Then we talk about the issues with Matter and who’s to blame. We lay out the challenges that both we and The Verge have highlighted with Thread credentialing, and talk about uneven device support. It’s a mess. Other messy topics include the prospect of hacked radiation sensors in Chernobyl, as reported by Kim Zetter. Then we get chippy, discussing the new RISC-V company that Qualcomm, NXP, Infineon, and others are backing, and the proposed sale of an IoT module business to Renesas. A drone startup is building an on-demand drone network that looks like a satellite network, and we have thoughts. We also discuss Kevin’s experience and reaction to our audience’s comments on his transition to Home Assistant. Then, we highlight some tips to help you prep your home ahead of smart energy management programs. Finally, we answer a listener question about the Amazon Echo Show and devices that might work with it.

Home Assistant energy monitoring. Image courtesy of K. Tofel

Our guest this week is  Muthu Sabarethinam, VP AI/ML product and services with Honeywell, who is on the show to talk about TinyML. We start off discussing how Honeywell is thinking about using data from equipment to build services, and then segue into talking about how Honeywell might use TinyML located on sensors. Sabarethinam explains the reasons Honeywell wants algorithms that can run directly on a sensor, and how it will help with security, power, and latency. He also shares his thoughts on how companies should package their algorithms to make it easier to deploy TinyML at scale. For perspective, Honeywell supports more than a million sensors in the field that could all use TinyML. We conclude by talking about business models and how customers want to access data. It’s a great show.

Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel
Guest: Muthu Sabarethinam, VP AI/ML product and services with Honeywell
Sponsors: Wilderness Labs and Skyhawk

  • We’re hitting pause on the podcast later this month
  • Sensors can lie, so how should we offset that risk?
  • Why RISC-V is getting so much love
  • Why Honeywell wants local AI on industrial sensors
  • How to think about building AI sensors that can scale

 

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Episode 307: Wi-Fi 6 for IoT and water plant security

This week’s podcast starts off with the launch of the Tuya Wi-Fi 6 modules, which will bring features of Wi-Fi 6 to IoT devices. Keeping on the Wi-Fi theme, we also discuss the new Shelly Wi-Fi motion sensor. We then talk about the new Raspberry Pi Pico, and the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s first custom chip before delving into Bosch’s win with AIoT. In consumer news, we cover rumors of an Amazon wall-mounted display and Fitbit’s addition of glucose monitoring. Then we explain why Renesas is buying Dialog Semiconductor, new funding for SecuriThings, and a big round for IoT security company Armis. We end by answering a listener question about Wi-Fi 6 for IoT devices, which brings the show full circle.

Tuya’s new Wi-Fi 6 modules will bring next-generation Wi-Fi to IoT devices. Image courtesy of Tuya.

This week, our guest is Beau Woods, a cybersecurity expert who came on the show to discuss this week’s hack of a water treatment plant in Florida. He lays out the hack and lets us know whether we should freak out or not. After discussing that particular hack, we dig into the nature of threats facing the IoT and how the landscape has changed in the last four years, touching on ransomware, the new IoT Cybersecurity Act, and more secure chips. We end with Woods promoting his upcoming book, Practical IoT Hacking, which will teach readers how to hack IoT devices and help the non-technical get a sense of the types of threats they need to consider as they design their products. Enjoy the show.

Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel
Guest: Beau Woods, a cybersecurity expert
Sponsors: Very

  • What to expect from Wi-Fi 6 IoT devices
  • The smallest Pi has a custom-designed microcontroller and runs FreeRTOS
  • Why smart homes need a display or some useful ambient notifications
  • Should we freak out over Florida’s water treatment plan hack?
  • Organized crime and hackers are teaming up

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Episode 181: Are you ready for IoT to be a $520B business?

A lot of people are getting a smart speaker for the holidays. That’s one of the takeaways from a recent survey by Adobe that Kevin and I talk about this week. We follow that up with the new Sonos integration with IFTTT before covering a $6.7 billion semiconductor merger. Also on the chip side, we discuss Qualcomm’s new chip for smart watches and why I think it’s worth noting. On the security side, we cover a new security chip for Google IoT core, more botnets and a new security bill that awaits the signature of California’s governor. We update some older stories, cover IKEA’s possible smart blinds and talk about my experience with the new Brilliant Switch. We end the news segment of the show answering a question about programming lights to change color in response to the weather.

Adobe surveyed 1,000 consumers about smart speakers.

Our guest this week is Ann Bosche, a partner with Bain & Company. She discusses how IoT will become a $520 billion business by 2021 and which companies will get a piece of that pie. She also explains how vendors need to step up if we want to see more IoT pilots become integral parts of a business. Her suggestions and advice are practical and worth hearing. Enjoy the show.

Host: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel
Guest: Ann Bosche who is a partner with Bain & Company
Sponsors: SAS and Auklet

  • What weird things do you ask your smart speaker?
  • Renesas’ big bid for Integrated Device Technology
  • Is IKEA making smart blinds?
  • What companies will win in IoT?
  • To be good at IoT companies must focus

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Episode 150: Mozilla’s IoT Gateway and LoRa Roaming

There was a lot of smart home related news this week as Mozilla launched IoT gateway software, Apple’s HomePod reviews came out and Nest was folded into Google. Kevin and I discuss all of that, plus Netgear spinning out its Arlo home camera business and offering a 20 percent stake in an IPO, Amazon’s creepy wristband patent, Alexa at the Superbowl and some feature changes in popular devices. We also spend a lot of time talking about Apple’s health ambitions in light of a new study on detecting diabetes with the Apple Watch. We also answer a listener question about how to configure their Echo for Drop-In calls.

Screenshots from Mozilla’s new IoT Gateway web software. Clean design, but this is still very DIY. Image courtesy of Mozilla.

For the enterprise minded, we bring in Bruce Chatterley, the CEO of Senet, to talk about LoRa networks and offer some use cases in the smart city, enterprise and residential setting. I learned some new things, including efforts to allow roaming onto LoRa networks. Chatterley also brought up a new business model and said that new partners mean that Semtech no longer holds all the cards when it comes to LoRa networks. Enjoy the show.

Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel
Guest: Bruce Chatterley, CEO of Senet
Sponsors: PointCentral and Renesas

  • Grab your Pi and order a Z-wave dongle for Mozilla’s new IoT software
  • What does Nest going into Google mean for consumer hardware?
  • Kevin bought a WeMo HomeKit Bridge
  • LoRa, what is it good for?
  • Could you IoT devices one day roam?

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