Engineers from Centralite, Accenture, and Apigee discuss the lessons learned from a global deployment of Internet of Things architecture at I Love APIs 2015
Talking Points:
Market Requirements:
What are the Real World needs for the device
What are some secondary use cases that can be supported without adding extra cost
Temperature Sensors
Presence Data
Location Data
Repeater?
Customer Requirements:
How are they specifically using the Data it Generates
Locally or Remotely
Shared or not Shared
Is it a Point Solution or connected to a system
Point Solutions are typically more expensive and are typically limited to small number of devices connected to each other all from the same mfg
Devices that know they will be connected to a “hub or gateway” can be stripped down to be more affordable in cost and battery usage.
Is it Retrofitable
Technical Requirements:
Interoperability
HW
Zigbee
Profile
HA 1.2
Switch
Light
Thermostat
Zwave
Door Sensor
Motion Sensor
Certifications
Different Certs for Different Countries
Wireless Certs
Safety Certs
Questions:
Explain some different examples of devices you have created that had very specific requirements but had to keep interoperability.
Talking Points:
Seen or not be seen:
Is the device meant to be hidden away and/or blend into its surroundings or is it something that should stick out?
This has really changed as technology has progressed but some devices are just not yet meant to be a focal point.
Nest is
Light switches are not quite there yet
Gateway device
Wifi
Allows the device to be placed in the open and requires Design to be aesthetically pleasing even if it is hidden away.
Cellular
Requires Device to be placed in a location with good Cell Coverage
Stripped down Data reporting
Ethernet
Requires it to be located near an Ethernet switch or Cable Modem
Typically, these are not in the prime lcoatio
Battery, Mains Powered or Both
Is it Meant for a DIY retrofit
If Battery, What should the typical Life be?
Should it be an off the shelf battery or does the design prevent that?
Rechargeable?
If Mains Powered, would a repeating functionality make sense to add in at no cost?
UX:
How does the End User Interact with a device that might just have an LED and button or now button at all like a light bulb
What form factor is needed to make it retrofittable
Plug Modules and all their types
How do you get Diagnostics out of a device to do trouble shooting. Very important for the “Support” section of this talk
Questions:
1. Typcially do devices of like types have similar User Interfaces or have you found interesting ways to expand the UX without Modifying the devices original design? (BTLE)
Talking Points:
Edge Tier: IOT systems includes ‘physical’ devices
Building, Testing, Demonstrating all require a physical location. Challenging in a world where we work remotely more and more.
The battle of languages: how embedded system are re-defining an industry
Range of issues software people are not used to: hard power constraints, wireless connectivity
Global systems must resolve: differences in power and wireless standards, export controls, production costs, logistics and customs.
Platform Tier: Volumes of data.
Simple hospitality IOT system recently evaluated to 1.5B transactions per quarter
GE jet engine produces 1TB data/day
Enterprise Tier: All our projects are brown field
Making SOA efforts pay off: Presence of ESB to reduce cost of development, maintenance, business intelligence.
Public Tier: Separate from Edge tier because not all IOT systems are open to the public
Separating from Edge Tier to differentiate device-driven communications and user-driven communications
Questions:
What are your key take-aways from developing IOT systems?
Talking points:
CIA - the standard in terms of security
Confidentiality: information only accessible to intended parties (identity)
Integrity: information should arrive as it was sent (securing communications)
Availability: information must be available to all those authorized.
Key aspects of security that makes IOT different:
Physical: Physical security involves preventing hackers from tempering with physical devices
Making connected cars safe? telematics project
Direction: IOT systems are not like typical client-server systems because servers can initiate communications with clients
How do you make sure your system doesn’t initiate communication with a device that lost its integrity?
Volume: and expected response times making securing systems difficult
Detecting threat patterns in exabytes of incoming data
Need in-memory streaming systems like the ones used to secure financial traffic such as Amex transactions flow.
Trust:
Probably one of the most challenging sides of securing IOT
Entertainment company needed to allow customers (hundreds of millions of them) to book shared experiences
Large scale trusting model: making your garage door trust your car...
Managing device ownership transfers
Question to groups:
What are your experiences with this concepts?
Install equipment
Routers, Hubs, Repeaters
End-point devices
Provision equipment
Get all devices within an installation talking to one another
Deploy application(s)
Enable installers with utilities to complete installation and provision devices
Enable users and customers with applications appropriate for their needs
Create accounts
Users of system with appropriate roles, privileges and access
Customers with privileges and access to deliver end customer experience
Claim equipment
Associate end-point devices to user accounts
Setup meta-data
Traditional
Support end-point devices
Additional
Support connectivity infrastructure equipment
Support cloud infrastructure
Support application infrastructure and applications
Monitor device information – performance and diagnostic information
Latent product and connectivity issues
Connected devices add a tremendous effort on the Support front.