Iot

Editor's Notes

• #12: There are chipset vendors, module vendors, device vendors, and software vendors, and in some cases these are all one in the same. The table below highlights the value chain of technology companies that need to come together to make a solution for a commercial fleet operator, and gives only a small subset of each player in specific areas of the value chain. Airtime Providers AT&T, Verizon, Kore Telematics, ORBCOMM Software Applications Trimble, Omnitracs, MiX Telematics, TomTom Device Vendors Digi International, Trimble, TomTom Cellular Module Vendors Sierra Wireless, Gemalto, Telit Cellular Radio Vendor QUALCOMM, ST Ericsson, Intel
• #13: smart home,,,,, grow to nearly 20 million home by 2017…which excludes the high-end luxury market…. likes of Control4, Savant, Crestron, AMX, and others that sell for thousands of dollars and can control just about every electronic device in your home. Then there are point solutions from appliance vendors such as Nest Labs with its thermostat and smoke detector offerings, Logitech’s Harmony remote controls, NETGEAR’s video surveillance products, Lutron lighting products, Sonos music streaming systems, Kwikset’s remote locks, etc. Finally, there are service providers such as AT&T, Comcast, ADT, and others that use cloud-based control software from vendors such as iControl and alarm.com to offer home automation of security, lighting, and thermostats for a monthly fee. Additionally, each appliance connects to a control system or the Internet in its own unique way. For extreme low power needs, Zigbee modules are generally used, while for higher bandwidth applications Wi-Fi tends to be used, and HDMI and various audio Input/Output (I/O) networking standards are used for connecting TVs and audio systems. This means that there are a number of chip types and vendors that sell into the home automation market.
• #15: One could argue that the connected car has been around since the 1980s when many original analog cell phones were sold as embedded devices within automobiles. This advanced in the late 1990s and early 2000s with the advent of various telematics applications such as OnStar’s suite of services including automatic crash notification, stolen vehicle assistance, diagnostics, and turn-by-turn directions. The automobile industry appears to be making a quantum leap forward as increasingly new models will be sold with embedded LTE connectivity and much higher end infotainment systems that will basically serve as a computing hub for the car. New applications include remote downloading of mapping/traffic information and streaming digital music and video. Over a five- to ten-year time frame, LTE connectivity enables driverless car concepts either fully or partially, although with fully automated driving scenarios requiring 50GB of data every hour, based on data from Infonetics, we doubt whether this will be a mass market application near term.
• #16: The automobile industry’s term for the onboard computer that provides the interface for users to interact with applications is the “infotainment console.” Historically, these infotainment consoles replaced knobs and buttons with a touch screen featuring navigation and audio apps as well as Bluetooth connectivity to speak on your cell phone through the speakers in the car. Leading Infotainment vendor Harman estimates that the in-car infotainment market, or essentially the market for computers inside the car, is about $10 billion annually today, and growing ~8% annually as price points come down and attach rates increase. Current attach rates in the western world for infotainment are about 20%, with ASPs ranging from $1,000 to $2,000 wholesale ($2,000+ as an add-on at retail), but the industry expects the applications driven by always-connected infotainment systems to propel much higher adoption in the future. Since infotainment vendors are largely sourcing all the hardware components and much of the embedded software, gross margins and operating margins in the business tend to be relatively low (~20% gross, ~5-10% operating). It will be likely that connecting the car will happen even without infotainment systems in some cases as well. The European Commission is expected to have an eCall service, its nomenclature for automatic crash notification, throughout the EU by 2015, with the potential to require cellular connectivity in cars to enable such initiative. In terms of the value chain automobile companies themselves. They typically outsource infotainment solutions to third-parand players involved in the connected car market, one has to start with the ty suppliers such as Harman, Denso, Continental, Microsoft, and others, most of whom sell a broad range of auto parts. In most cases the infotainment suppliers source the underlying components (hard drives, processors, voice recognition, etc.) and write their own applications such as turn-by-turn directions, music apps, etc. Apps Vendors Apple, Nokia, Garmin, Nuance, Microsoft, Google Infotainment Systems Vendors Harman, Continental, Denso, TomTom, Garmin Automobile OEMs Toyota, Ford, BMW, Audi, Honda Chips Texas Instruments, NXP, Sierra Wireless, Gemalto, QUALCOMM, Broadcom
• #17: Philips Philips has a number of telehealth initiatives that it sells to health care providers globally. The company’s TeleStation transmits vital sign data from the patient at home to the health care provider. It also offers a number of wireless monitoring devices, enabling the transmission of a number of vital data, such as weight, blood pressure, pulse, ECG data, blood glucose, etc., to health care providers. Another way that Phillips is adding value to solutions through connectivity is its eICU suite of solutions, which allows a centralized staffed center of doctors and nurses to monitor in real time remote intensive care units to help solve a chronic shortage of health care givers in ICU environment
• #18: Precipitation Monitoring Trimble sells what is in effect a high tech rain gauge, with more accurate measurements of rainfall. The RainWave solution sends the data to the Internet and illustrates the data in easy-to-read and informative charts available to the farmer. Irrigation Monitoring Through its subsidiary, IQ irrigation, Trimble effectively wireless connects irrigation systems, and allows farmers to control these systems remotely over the Internet or, through an algorithm, recommends the correct irrigation amounts based on crop, terrain, etc. Field Monitoring Trimble allows farmers to visualize real-time yields and field activity (fertilizing, seeding, etc.) to an online dashboard. The Connected Construction Site Construction is another industry that is being radically altered by the Internet of Things, and also happens to be another vertical market where Trimble has pushed the boundaries of connectivity and productivity technology solutions. Starting with a dominant position in optical and laser-based surveying instruments, Trimble and others have moved into connecting everything within a construction site. Machine Control In its simplest form, Trimble connects bulldozers, compactors, piling systems, paving machines, and other machines to a wireless network, allowing for more efficient and accurate use of the asset. Trimble estimates that connected machines save as much as 43% of fuel costs. Machine Monitoring Sensors inside machines can monitor payload and diagnose maintenance issues, and wirelessly send this data to the construction office, allowing more efficient asset utilization. Communications Technology U.S. Research Fleet Tracking for Construction Construction sites have their own fleet tracking issues, and much like in the long-haul or short-haul trucking market, niche fleets such as cement mixers can generate a high ROI by connecting and monitoring their fleets. Connected Tools Connecting just about any tool on a worksite, combined with geofencing, can warn managers when tools leave the construction site and allow a better understanding of hours of operation and requisite maintenance needs.
• #19: remotely managing switches, collection of fares through handheld devices and kiosks, and monitoring engine performance. One interesting solution is for monitoring trains carrying Toxic Inhalation Hazard (TIH) chemicals. Through the use of a security camera and sensors, the solution can track the exact location of the toxic asset, and in the case of a leak, derailment, or any kind of impact, can stream visual evidence in real time to the rail car operator.
• #20: OmniSite makes an M2M solution for waste water management at landfills. The solution allows managers to receive alarms wirelessly whenever an anomaly occurs at a facility, and allows for controlling waste water pumps and the ability to turn them off and on in real time. It also provides the ability to analyze a number of inputs from sensors throughout the landfill, giving the manager a real time holistic view of the landfill. At right is an illustration from Digi International, which offers a solution for managing water levels for numerous end markets
• #21: All Traffic Solutions provides traffic safety signs around the world that are preconfigured with wireless connectivity. Municipalities use the data captured from these signs in real time to understand traffic patterns across their geographic area and to improve road safety.
• #22: ATMs have been wirelessly enabled for many years now, and especially in the case of portability this brings big benefits to ATM providers and their bank customers. Wirelessly-enabled ATMs can now easily be brought in during conventions or festivals when a population is likely to swell materially, and information on remaining cash can make the restocking of ATMs more efficient.
• #23: Locus Traxx provides a wireless system that monitors and tracks temperature and status of refrigerated trucks, providing instant alerts based on pre-set conditions, and allowing for temperature anomalies to be changed in real time, limiting the spoilage of perishable goods.
• #24: Parking lots can be monitored actively with occupancy sensors to measure how many available parking spots exist, and where, and ventilation system sensors to measure air quality.
• #25: Digi International sells an M2M solution to monitor industrial tanks that can be filled with any liquid, solid, or gas. This solution allows for the monitoring of material levels, temperature, and other data from remote storage tanks in the oil/gas, agriculture, and environmental services industries, and for this data to be sent wirelessly to a centralized application for real time monitoring. The illustration below shows the example of a brewery utilizing remote monitoring.
• #26: The warehouse is a key ingredient to most companies’ supply chain, and it is becoming more and more automated and efficient. Increasingly, pallets and packages are wireless tracked from the time they enter the warehouse, are put into inventory, and then “picked” for the appropriate order to be shipped out. Historically, this was a very labor intensive process, which utilized bar codes and scanners with only modest automation. Increasingly, RFID tags and readers combined with Wi-Fi with location awareness are being adopted to limit the labor intensity of the warehouse and improve the efficiency of the picking process.
• #27: Nike+ FuelBand This device is worn as a bracelet and tracks steps taken and calories burned over the course of the day, and awards its users “NikeFuel” as a way to measure one’s activity. It comes with an app and synchs via Bluetooth so that you can visualize your daily movements on your iPhone or Android screen. Fitbit Force This bracelet measures your steps/calories burned, monitors your sleep patterns, and comes with a clock as well, and is of course synched wirelessly so that you can visualize all of this data on your iOS or Android device. Garmin Forerunner Garmin’s Forerunner series of fitness watches is over a decade old now, and can likely claim the title as the world’s first smartwatch. These watches measure one’s location, speed, altitude, heart rate, vertical oscillation, and many other movements during a run, bike, or swim. It then allows you to upload this data to the garminconnect.com website or app to analyze your performance. Source: Garmin, Inc. Garmin Virb Garmin has revolutionized the action camera market by adding connectivity. Along with being able to video oneself while doing something active, as made popular by the iconic GoPro Hero line of action cameras, Garmin has added wireless connectivity to Garmin sensors to add heart rate, speed, altitude, and other measurements to the video. Source: Garmin, Inc. Garmin Approach This line of watches for golfers adds GPS connectivity and an exhaustive database of golf courses to give the golfer distances to just about any shot on a golf course. train their dogs for either sporting or casual purposes. Source: Garmin, Inc. Razer Razer is a leading vendor of high end keyboards, mice, headphones, PCs, and tablets that are purpose-built for the hardcore gaming market. The company recently announced the launch of a “smart band,” which effectively looks like one of the many fitness bands on the market, but with a use case that integrates with video gaming. Source: Razer. GoPro GoPro invented the concept of the action camera, and part of its innovation has been through connecting the camera to your smartphone to allow users to control the camera and view video files through a smartphone app, thereby allowing users to share video through various social media outlets. Nest Protect/Thermostat Nest Labs has launched two products, a thermostat and a smoke detector, both of which are remotely manageable and monitorable through being wirelessly connected to the Internet. A great example of how connectivity can add value, Nest sells its thermostat for $249 vs. price points in the $20-50 range for unconnected thermostats for the home. Connected TVs Connected TVs are becoming mainstream now, with 50% of the TV market now shipping with an Internet connection (typically Wi-Fi). Additionally, tens of millions of media players have shipped, mostly from Apple (Apple TV) and Roku, to Internet-enable traditional TVs, while service providers such as cable companies will likely to start offering Internet-related content in conjunction with their current programs through platforms from companies like aiotv. Source: Roku, Inc. Communications Technology U.S. Research © 2014 Raymond James & Associates, Inc., member New York Stock Exchange/SIPC. 34 International Headquarters: The Raymond James Financial Center | 880 Carillon Parkway | St. Petersburg, Florida 33716 | 800-248-8863 Connected Cameras Camera vendors such as Sony now create cameras with wireless connectivity to instantly share photos on social networks, and to control the camera through a smartphone app. Connected Coffee Machines Nespresso ships a coffee maker that comes with wireless connectivity to allow the company to know how many Nespresso-branded coffee “pods” are being consumed. Connected Clothing As one may have already guessed, consumers can expect a range of clothes decked out with sensors and connectivity. Athos, a startup in Waterloo, Canada, is expected to launch a line of exercise clothing that measures your muscle usage, heart rate, breathing, etc. Under Armour, a leading brand in fitness clothing and shoes, purchased app vendor MapMyFitness in 2013, and we suspect that likely is the precursor of making similarly connected clothing. The BBC even reported in December that Microsoft is developing a “smart bra” that would monitor heart rate and skin activity to indicate mood levels in order to prevent over-eating due to stress. Connected Appliances LG has introduced an app concept called “homechat” that allows consumers to control appliances remotely using speech recognition. LG appliances with the capability can text a user when a load of laundry is done, ovens can suggest and read aloud recipes for users, and users can control appliances from the homechat app. There are numerous products and even categories of consumer products that we don’t mention above, but one gets the point. Connectivity is coming to everything imaginable, and for consumer product companies this is likely to bring disruption and opportunity, while for semiconductor vendors it should serve as an incremental growth catalyst in their consumer businesses, which up until now have typically been dominated by PCs and mobile handsets.
• #32: These chips effectively detect changes in the environment, creating the information that is ultimately transmitted via a wireless chip and interpreted through application software to create an IoT solution. Sensors or sensor networks (Smart Dust, Mesh Networks, etc.) can provide feedback about numerous physical phenomena including inertia, gravity, light, pressure, temperature, humidity, chemical composition, time, heart rate, glucose, distance traveled, etc. One of the more interesting sensor categories is MEMS-based sensors, which are creating new applications and taking share from more legacy sensor technologies. MEMS sensors have come down in price from $10 to $1 for many devices and in size down to 2mm x 2mm squared or smaller, which has dramatically improved MEMS adoption over the last several years. MEMS devices can be manufactured in CMOS processes, allowing them to become increasingly cost efficient and smaller going forward as well. Another critical factor driving MEMS adoption is that MEMS devices can easily be incorporated into electronic systems. All sensors ultimately need to be attached to analog-to-digital converters (and other analog devices) so that the information they have collected can be turned into a signal that can be digitally processed. MEMS sensors, given their small size and manufacturing, can be easily packaged with or integrated with an analog-to-digital converter, leading to lower overall module cost.