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Estimates suggest that between 2022 and 2030, the number of active Internet of Things (IoT) devices will double from 11.57 billion to 25.44 billion. This indicates an unsurprising, growing interest in IoT considering that: The Internet of Things (IoT) consists of a network of “smart” physical devices (or “things”) embedded with sensors, actuators, and software. These devices interconnect with each other and exchange data over the Internet. Today, we see IoT devices virtually everywhere – in automobiles and industrial machinery, power grids and traffic systems, thermostats, and refrigerators, and even fitness trackers, door locks, and baby monitors! The IoT facilitates seamless communications between things, processes, and even people. And embedded systems play a crucial role in making this happen. This article explores the close connection between embedded systems and IoT, and why IoT cannot exist without embedded systems. What is an Embedded System? An embedded system exists within a more extensive mechanical or electrical system. The term “embedded” means that the system is hidden inside another system, so it’s not visible to the naked eye. Embedded systems combine customized software with customized hardware to do a specific job. The hardware usually includes a microcontroller or microprocessor, both of which contain an integrated circuit (IC). The software can be firmware, bootloaders, user interfaces, operating systems, etc., that perform a particular function.  Regardless of the form, the software is embedded into the system, which is why it cannot be updated once the system is assembled and has left the factory. Where Do Embedded Systems Appear? Each embedded system has a dedicated purpose or role and performs pre-defined tasks with specific requirements. That’s why it usually has limited computing power and memory and fewer connected peripherals. These limitations notwithstanding, embedded systems offer unique capabilities such as real-time computing and high availability, making them highly suitable for many dedicated applications, such as: An embedded system can be as simple as a GPS-enabled tag attached to a bicycle or a complex system that’s part of an airplane or missile. These systems are also key enablers of IoT networks, systems, and devices. In fact, embedded systems and the IoT work together to generate real value for real-world use cases in homes, factories, and offices and for a wide range of industries, including healthcare, finance, automotive, and agriculture. The Evolution of Embedded Systems To better comprehend the close-knit narrative of IoT and embedded systems, it helps to know just how embedded systems have evolved. Embedded systems were traditionally built for a specific purpose, with little or no connectivity between them over wider networks or the Internet. Legacy systems were connected to each other via the low-speed, low-bandwidth RS-232 communication protocol that’s been around since the 1960s. The original objective of these simple systems was to facilitate the real-time processing of real-world information from sensors. Today’s embedded systems are still built for a dedicated function. However, most of them are now more complex than the simple systems of the past. Further, embedded devices with sensors collect and exchange relevant data with each other that’s then sent via the Internet to an online cloud service, a smartphone, or some other Internet-connected device. The Connection Between Embedded Systems and the IoT Embedded systems communicate with each other and with the cloud via faster connectivity protocols and communication channels like 5G, Wi-Fi, and LoRa (long-range wireless). These protocols have larger bandwidth and use wireless means to speed up data exchange. Without embedded systems that collect and process data and the Internet that transmits data – the IoT would not exist. This is what makes embedded systems such a critical element of the IoT revolution. In fact, the IoT consists of a network of embedded systems, communication channels, and software that work together to form a hyperconnected network where the “physical world meets and cooperates with the digital world” (Oracle). This is best explained with an example: A smart home may consist of two “things”: a smart AC and a smartphone. These devices are both embedded systems. These systems are connected to each other and to the Internet and can communicate via Wi-Fi. Thus, the AC, smartphone, and Wi-Fi form an ecosystem of the Internet of Things for the home. It’s important to note that all IoT devices have embedded systems. However, not all embedded systems – which predate the IoT by several decades – are IoT. That’s why embedded systems are a subset of IoT, while the reverse is not true. The Importance of Software in Embedded Systems and the IoT In addition to hardware and the Internet, another element connects embedded systems to the IoT. And that is software. By adding software plus a layer of communications technology that facilitates communication via the Internet, a non-connected embedded system can become part of an IoT system. Here’s an example: A heart pacemaker is an embedded system that monitors and regulates a patient’s heartbeat. On its own, the pacemaker is an embedded system. However, if the device is set up to transmit pulse reads to an Internet-connected smartphone and then to a cloud server, it can be accessed by a remote medical professional. Together, the pacemaker, phone, and cloud server form an IoT system. Further, when the system is bolstered by Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing (NLP), and analytics, doctors can access a lot of data about their patients to gather quick insights, accelerate diagnoses, and provide better care. Conclusion From supply chains, logistics, transportation, to smart cities, smart homes, and smart factories – in the coming years, IoT will help improve and enhance the human experience in many ways. Embedded devices will play an increasingly important role in transforming this aspirational vision into a fabulous reality. Curious to know more about the real-world applications of embedded systems and IoT in your industry? Connect with us to discuss your IoT vision, and we’ll help you realize it.

When UTBS (United Technology Building Systems) constructed the first intelligent building (City Place) in 1983, little did they know that their effort to amalgamate LANs, building equipment, and HVAC facilities would give birth to a groundbreaking architectural solution. In the past four decades, Intelligent buildings, as we know them today, have come a long way. The COVID-19 pandemic has only fueled their proliferation – both in terms of building from scratch and retrofitting. Besides, a switch to smart construction has always been on the cards because buildings are responsible for more than 40% of the CO2 emissions every year. To that end, the adherence to the IoT-powered energy-efficient buildings only seems justified. According to Markets and Markets, the intelligent buildings market is projected to constitute a market value of $108.9 billion by the end of 2025. That’s almost double the market size reported in 2019! As it stands, a host of factors are contributing to this growth, including energy price rise, remote building management, and the ever-advancing IoT-based buildings integration capabilities. That said, let’s take an informed look at some of the key aspects of IoT-powered intelligent buildings that are defining the future of construction: 1.     HVAC Control The ubiquitous presence of HVAC systems in buildings today is undeniable. But in most areas of operation, the increased demand for both increased HVAC power and better reliability is a critical issue. To this end, the incorporation of IoT has proven to be a win-win. Here’s how: 2.    Power Management The recent pandemic disruptions have ignited a discussion around energy and demand management, and understandably so. One of the key facets of this discussion is the ability to develop an intelligent Net-Zero building. In fact, International Energy Agency (IEA) claims that the application of smart appliances could result in substantial savings and significantly reduce CO2 emissions. Here’s how: 3.    Security Thanks to the ever-expanding IoT-driven cyber security landscape, the aim of building security has been to improve the reliability and efficiency of traditional physical access control systems. To that end, here’s what IoT implementation brings to the table: 4.    Communication Network By 2027, the number of IoT connections will surpass 12.3 billion worldwide, indicating the growing need for advanced data transmission infrastructure. The proliferation of the IoT is fueling the demand for more bandwidth and driving the need for a more visionary networking approach. At the center of such advancements is the coalition of data, audio, and video communication for intelligent buildings. With IoT, data, audio, and video information can be gathered around the clock. The application of IoT in the form of routers and access points helps to seamlessly interconnect devices in the building, thus creating an environment where voice, video, and data can be transmitted at optimum speeds. 5.    Fire and Gas System The need for intelligent sensors and systems to ensure security in the face of fire and gas is becoming increasingly critical due to buildings’ busy nature and the growing number of occupants. Thanks to the IoT, such developments are easily achievable: 6.    Lighting Control Almost 70% of a building’s overall cost (lifetime) can be attributed to day-to-day energy consumption. And much like the intelligent HVAC system, the adoption of smart lighting systems can help reduce this energy consumption. 7.    Parking Management A building’s parking must not be grouped under externalities, for it is an integral part of the building-integrated core. And for buildings with high-rise structures, like office buildings, parking is essential.  8.    Elevator Control It doesn’t surprise that the smart elevator market will be soaring through the ranks in the next four years, surpassing the market cap of $12.6 billion. Elevator and escalator systems, which have been plagued by a slew of problems, a number of which can be tied to security and safety issues, are in dire need of IoT integration. As it stands, IoT-powered elevators: 9.    Asset Management Implementing IoT-based building systems allows for low-cost integration of multiple types of sensors for both internal and external asset management. As a result, the process of asset tracking can be automated, and time-intensive elements – in terms of maintenance or security monitoring – can be eliminated. An example of the same would be the use of IoT-powered RFID tags for asset tracking. 10. Advanced End-to-End Structure The success of all the aspects mentioned above depends on the seamless hierarchical amalgamation of all IoT-driven systems within the building – an advanced structure that capitalizes on the ability of each system to communicate with its counterparts in real-time, without adding an unnecessary layer of complexity. That said, the intelligent building architecture is (and must be) composed of three layers: management, automation, and field. While the management pertains to administering the policies and sustaining the network architecture, automation satisfies energy, lighting, and communication management needs. As for the field level, it’s concerned with the ground-level administering of ventilation, temperature control, plumbing, parking, and more. Certainly, the benefits of IoT-powered intelligent buildings are manifold. Curious to know how IoT-driven automation can improve your building? Get in touch with us for more information.

In 2004, researchers from the National University of Singapore built a framework for a semantically advanced space. Such a space was characterized by context-aware applications gathering insights about the tangible surroundings. The idea was to coalesce the material and the virtual (digitized) worlds to nurture a smart space that complemented human efforts.  Fast forward to two decades, and the idea remains the same, except for the relatively manifold expectations out of advanced technologies like IoT, AI, and edge computing to materialize innovative, integrated, and disruptive smart spaces. It’s noteworthy that COVID-19 impacted the smart spaces market – it’s projected to constitute a global value of $18.4 billion by 2026. With R&D activities fueling up, this number will keep soaring with incremental year-on-year growths. Understanding Smart Spaces An area incorporating data-acquiring networked sensors for facilitating a seamless integration between humans and machines is a smart space or a connected place. These physical locations equip occupants and solution architects with knowledge about dynamic yet efficient space utilization.  Going by that definition, a smart space can be anything from a traffic intersection to a factory or a hotel or even an office — as long as it is equipped with sensors to gather data and insights about the environment. Such insights can be used to: The smart spaces market is a booming ecosystem established around solutions that add value to the physical world. It’s a consumer-oriented niche with spaces like homes or workplaces acting as platforms to provide value for people via real-time contextual services.  As such, the entire gamut of smart space solutions encompasses three key categories, namely: context-aware computing, IoT connectivity, and cloud. These three components are imperative for a fully functional smart space that offers a myriad of applications, ranging from entertainment to safety and security services. Technologies Powering the Smart Spaces of Tomorrow IoT as a Powerhouse for Innovative Smart Spaces The Internet of Things (IoT) is among the top-tier technologies being used to improve the quality of urban living. For instance, smart streetlights, smart roads, ambient lighting, and smart parking are all IoT-powered solutions. Such an ecosystem based on IoT is considerably better equipped to handle the tasks of space monitoring, energy management, and city surveillance.  Not to mention that IoT-powered smart spaces are capable of gathering information about various aspects like location/movement, behavior, personnel/vehicle/object history, energy consumption levels, and so on. To optimize the performance of smart spaces, each piece of information needs to be analyzed against the backdrop of real-time usage patterns. To this end, a variety of intelligent devices can be used to accommodate smart spaces, including: Blockchain as a Catalyst for Disruptive Smart Spaces Blockchain is a decentralized ledger that archives transactions across a network of communicating nodes. Owing to its immutability and transparency, blockchain technology has established itself as an integral part of the IoT ecosystem, where it is customarily used to track supply chain processes. Nevertheless, its applications extend far beyond inventory-oriented use cases.  For example, blockchain’s decentralized ledger system could be leveraged to help manage property leasing and subsequent monetary transactions. In that light, its alliance with the IoT ecosystem becomes highly valuable for the development of smart cities. And the benefits don’t end here.  Researchers from IIIT Kerela outline that blockchain’s “non-fungible token system avoids discrepancies or disputes in land usage patterns and ensures fair distribution of income to all the involved stakeholders.” After all, the success of smart spaces would depend on the overall efficiency of the system. Edge Computing as a Workhorse for Smart Spaces Edge computing refers to a distributed computing model where routing and data-processing tasks are shifted from a central server to end-user devices. In a nutshell, the idea of edge computing is to completely offload the required computational power from an overloaded or central point.  In this regard, edge computing, when considered a driving technology for smart spaces, can be used to speed up decision-making processes by cutting down the amount of data that needs to be processed at the cloud level and reducing the latency.  A prominent example of the aforementioned can be observed in the office space. For instance, an office is equipped with computer vision and an edge computing platform that is designed to collect data from surveillance cameras, motion sensors, and other IoT-enabled devices. As a result, the solution delivers real-time data analytics and insights about the space — both in static and dynamic forms — something that tenant companies can leverage to improve their processes. Another example of this concept is the installation of vision-based intelligent traffic lights. With smart traffic lights, there’s less need to send data to the cloud for processing purposes, which frees up bandwidth and enhances the performance of the network. An extension of the same could be analyzing traffic congestion and subsequently eliminating high congestion costs.  In a Nutshell Smart spaces are here to stay, and the combination of the IoT, cloud, AI, edge computing, and blockchain technologies would add further innovation to these highly efficient environments.  To know more about how to implement smart spaces in your real estate projects, feel free to get in touch with our experts.

Given the pace of change today, there is a pressing need to fast-track digital transformation journeys to drive innovation and create new value for all stakeholders. The more complex the operating environment is, the more effort needs to be put in to transform it to their advantage. For organizations in the intelligent buildings, manufacturing, healthcare, or transportation sectors, transformation is particularly challenging because of the presence of controlled environments. The complexity of real-time data analysis Industrial and building automation companies that work with IoT applications and other intelligent technologies need to be able to carry out detailed micro-analysis of their environments across data centers, warehouses, retail outlets, and more. But despite the pressing need for real-time data analysis, they are not able to deliver the intended results because their existing macro-level environment monitoring devices are not adequate for environmentally controlled spaces. Not only do these devices lack modern analytics capabilities, but they also do not use configurable gateways or cloud platforms that can help unearth deep insight into business operations. Lack of such insight means organizations end up having little or no understanding of different aspects of their controlled environments such as temperature, pressure, air quality, and humidity. This often leads to poor or inaccurate decisions being taken on the ambient environment, which can not only disrupt business operations but also put the workplace at risk of a disaster and the workforce at risk of injury. For instance, in large environmentally-controlled data centers which house thousands of servers, real-time data analysis is extremely crucial. Operators need to have high level of expertise in fix (or prevent issues) to maintain uptime as per SLAs while also minimizing disruptions. But without the right tools in place, they do not have the capacity to address these issues. Lack of insights into operations and little or no way to correlate issues makes it impossible for them to understand the impact they can have on the overall performance and availability of services. Similarly, in cold storage logistics, companies need to be able to deliver perishable food and medical products in the best condition possible. Yet, due to the constantly changing regulations and the volatile nature of the industry, in the absence of the right analytics, most companies end up wasting goods that amount to billions of dollars in losses. These issues arise mainly due to an inability to maintain temperature, faulty equipment, mishandling, inadequate packaging, and more. For blood banks, refrigerated warehouses, and cold storage rooms, these issues can result in far-reaching consequences. Monitoring cold storage logistics via real-time data analytics provides them with more granular insight into what’s exactly happens in their cold chain, that eventually leads to devising better strategies to run more effective cold chains. The criticality of real-time analysis Business decisions that are taken in controlled environments need to be extremely accurate and precise. Therefore, organizations must plan to invest in modern tools and technologies that allow them to maintain regulated environmental factors to meet operational needs.  Here’s why real-time data analysis is critical in controlled environments: The real success of intelligent buildings stems from their ability to offer an advanced level of insight and control – which is only possible through real-time data analysis. The right data analytics systems can not only pave the way for more efficient operations, but they can also help in optimizing resource management, enabling better space utilization, as well as greater productivity. Using smart devices, analytics, sensors, and the cloud, can also help optimize energy requirements – a key priority for businesses to keep up with the green wave. At Intellore, we believe in transforming the foundations of intelligent buildings. Therefore, we offer a range of data analytics services to deliver new levels of insight and control, so you can get the most out of your controlled environments.