Mairo Leier – TalTech Embedded AI Research Lab

TalTech podcast – Tule õpi TalTechis riistvara arendamist ja programmeerimist

Mairo Leier — Tue, 05 May 2020 07:28:50 +0000

Kuula TalTech podcasti: Tule õpi TalTechis riistvara arendamist ja programmeerimist

Cumulocity IoT platform connects all devices into one integrated system

Mairo Leier — Fri, 20 Jul 2018 11:32:32 +0000

During the last few years, many new cloud based platforms have popped into the market. One of the key reasons of their success is an opportunity to monitor and control devices anywhere, despite the current location. Large computer systems have to be up and running for many years the fulfill their purpose. Unfortunately the practise has shown that sometimes malicious people tend to find important security breaches, which can be used to cause harm for the end user. That’s why it is not rational no use “garage-made” solutions for the clients, instead one should find a way to integrate production ready solutions, which receive constant improvements, are flexible and save a huge amount of time for the developer. Cumulocity is one of these products.

Cumulocity was born in Silicon Valley, California 2010. Its creators were engineers who tried to provide modern IoT (Internet of Things) solutions for the users using cloud technology. As of today, Cumulocity has been nominated for many awards, expanded to Europe and found many remarkable partners like Paypal, Tieto and Telia from all over the world.

Data visualisation

Cumulocity provides wide amount of built-in tools for data visualisation starting from traditional XY type of graphs to different item tracking systems. It also provides development framework in AngularJS, which allows software developers to create completely custom plugins and integrate them to the platform. This feature becomes really handy if the task is to merge Cumulocity and some other system using special API (Application programming interfaces).

Following picture illustrates how easily can we monitor device that is in Germany and also see it’s signal strength during the history from timeline chart.

Every user can order or even schedule customizable data export report, which can be used to regularly send information out to the third parties using email to provide historical trends without creating an extra user to inner system. The report will be outputted as CSV (comma-separated value), which will make it easy to process everything automatically in other computer systems.

Project based approach

Engineers often tend to find themselves in a situation, where user interface for system administrator (or technician) is having too much information for end user or where management of every systems happens in different environment. Cumulocity allows to integrate different applications and craft tailored views for every user from one platform. In TUT (Tallinn University of Technology) we manage to give out user rights and isolated views for people from different institutes inside one central place. As a result, there will be no need to always create a new virtual machine or web page (user interface) for every new project.

Next picture shows, how we manage user rights between different projects

Integration

Cumulocity has built-in REST API available for information input and output, meaning that the device, which wants to communicate with it, has to support TCP/IP protocol. It is possible to use both encrypted (HTTPS) and plain-text (HTTP) method and the access is limited according to the user rights using a special token derived from username and password. To reduce the amount of data written into the packet, a special layer is implemented on top of HTTP. It allows to predefine templates for large packets so, that later on only a few variables and template identificator are required to be passed. This also gives chance to engineers reduce processing power of embedded instruments.

The creators of Cumulocity have also put great thought on how to make device integrations as easy as possible, so they have defined custom utilities for some of the popular development boards. Full list contains Modbus and Lora controllers, different kind of routers and even Raspberry Pi. Specific devices are all described here.

Flexibility

Besides cloud based version, it is possible to install Cumulocity on-premises. This gives chance for the end users to administer and use platform in one’s own private network, which with the right setup can remove any privacy and security concerns that industrious clients may have. With this approach, it is possible to choose custom hardware and use any kind of high availability (or/and some other) solutions that client may already have in use for production services.

Summary

The need for safe, expandable and universal central administration platform rises as the IoT becomes more and more popular. Tallinn University of Technology has chosen out Cumulocity. Its main competitive feature is way to create different views for every project, which allows sharing the platform between all the institutes and removes the need for a new system each time. What is more, software developers can integrate their own custom plugins, which gives opportunity to use tailor made solutions in one place.

If You have any kind of development idea regarding the platform, we are open for cooperation opportunities that may bring great things to life. We have wide range of experts available, who can deliver products just for You.

To discover more, 30 day trial version of Cumulocity can be requested from here.

The Ministry of Education and Research and the Estonian Research Council are supporting the completion of the blog.

Smart city concept at TTÜ campus

Mairo Leier — Wed, 27 Jun 2018 09:16:06 +0000

The Internet of Things around us

In recent years, one of the more started Internet of Things (IoT) has been to categorize all devices that are in some way interconnected with the network and are able to communicate with each other without the participation of a person. The list of applications for such equipment increases day by day, starting with personalized medicine and smart home and ending with a smart city, home appliances and self-driving vehicles. The main feature of IoT devices is their low power consumption and low cost, which greatly extend their use. The key factors in the IoT devices when designing them are safety and security, which has once again become a major problem for many solutions.

Developments in the IoT and Developments at the TTÜ

TTÜ has aimed to create a wide range of opportunities for the city to develop a smart city context. It provides the opportunity to play through possible solutions, which communication solutions, how to interact with devices, and how to secure data security. To do this, you need to involve partners from a variety of areas that help create opportunities through different communication interfaces, platforms, hardware, or problem situations. It helps to create an environment that is prerequisite for possible collaborative projects, areas of research, and graduation theses in students. Examining the practical problems that can be exploited by the industry is more interesting and of greater value for all parties. It also gives participation in such projects a better preparation for the student who is on the floor teaching to the industry.

Communication solutions

TTÜ LoRaWAN Gateway

In cooperation with Telia, at the moment it is possible to test, for example, the NB-IoT and LTE Cat M1 radio networks at the TTÜ campus. This is primarily a radio-communication technology for IoT devices that uses the same base stations as our mobile phone. The main advantages are greater bandwidth and lower power consumption, which in turn again results in a lower data rate. It is also important to note that this solution allows for a two-way communication between the devices, which is particularly important for the management of the devices.

However, if it is important to have the maximum battery life and the data needs to be sent only unilaterally and relatively rarely, in cooperation with Levira, the LoRa WAN radio technology can be used at the TTÜ campus. LoRa WAN is a radio network working in license-free band, the precondition for which is the availability of a base station. Devices can be located up to 15 km away from the base station, but in the city and indoor conditions coverage is limited to a few kilometers. The specificity of the LoRa WAN network is also that the devices are sending data to Levira’s own IoT platform. If necessary, this information can be further transmitted from there for further analysis and visualization.

Software solutions

Most IoT solutions must be able to be remotely monitored and sometimes managed. This requires an IoT platform, which are more than 500 different in the world. Telia has allowed TTÜ to use the Cumulocity IoT platform, which, from its functionality and capability, covers a very large part of the basic needs. The choice of a single IoT platform helps to save time spent learning the new platform, and allows partially to reuse already created solutions. TTÜ is also interesting in cooperation with all companies for developing their product or service using Cumulocity. This will allow the development, in cooperation with Telia, to be commercially used at a very fast and cost-effective basis.

Smart city development

As one of the first steps in the smart city development, in autumn 2017, TTÜ started developing a self-driving vehicle, in cooperation with Silberauto and ABB, which can be found on the ISEAUTO web site (iseauto.ttu.ee). This is essentially a project where students solve various tasks related to self-driving. Each development team has its own manager responsible for ensuring that all development stages are completed in a timely manner. Since it is an open platform, we are also very open for possible cooperation with different companies to test new solutions on a self-driving car. In this connection, for example, in cooperation with Telia, in autumn 2018, it is planned to start a 5G telecommunications network test at TTÜ campus. This in turn provides the opportunity to test new solutions both in terms of virtual reality and self-driving cars. Because the speed offered by 5G is high and the latency is very small, it allows, for example, to bring some of the functionality of the self-driving vehicle to the cloud.

Coupled with self-driving cars, the Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) communication continues to evolve. Bercman Technologies, in cooperation with TTÜ, develops, for example, a smart pedestrian crossing that warns the driver of a pedestrian crossing the road with a light signal. This concept can be extended by communication between the crossing and the car, where the car can directly access information about pedestrians from the pedestrian crossing and prematurely retards without intervention by the driver. In partnership with Starship, it is also planned to develop communication between Starship’s last-mile robot and self-driving vehicle. This will enable, for example, the use of similar communication between motorcycles, bicycles and all kinds of vehicles, which will help prevent unexpected collisions and related property damage and personal injuries.

Usage of single-chip radars

The development of sensory solutions is also in parallel. When self-driving vehicles are currently using cameras, LIDARs and far-field radars for decision-making, the so-called chip-radars, which are working in mm-wavelength radio frequency range, are starting to replace some of those functionalities. Their advantage is low cost, small size and virtually unlimited use-cases, which gives the image of the image below

Usage possibilities of single chip radars

The above projects are a rather limited list of possible developments in the concept of the smart city of TTÜ . It is highly anticipated to collaborate with companies who want to contribute to the testing, refinement and implementation of various technologies outside of TTÜ’s campus. Read more about IoT’s thematic activities in TTÜ at http://iot.ttu.ee

LoRa IoT network available at the TTÜ campus

Mairo Leier — Fri, 18 May 2018 17:18:35 +0000

Since at the end of 2017. it is possible to use LoRaWAN network at the TTÜ campus. Although the coverage area of the LoRaWAN network is officially advertised more than 15km, in urban conditions could be taken into account in a relatively decent area within few kilometers. The services provided by the network can be used by all parties. It is possible to use the network for three purposes:

To develop a new product or service, in which it is desired to cooperate with TTÜ. During the cooperation project, it’s possible to connect your device to the LoRa WAN network and test the whole solution without additional costs. Certainly TTÜ already has experience in setting up, tuning and testing the connection. Among other things we can help you with the following LoRa WAN network related topics:
1. Adding new equipments to the network and managing it
2. Decrypting of encrypted packets for data processing
3. Download data with the API for further processing and analysis
If you want to start offering your product or service for commercial purposes, the fastest way is to contact with Levira, who manages a specific LoRa WAN network and provides you with all the necessary guidance;
If you are a student and would like to learn how to use LoRaWAN or participating in some projects that needs low power wireless data transmission then contact us and we will help you out.

Advantages of LoRaWAN

Very wide coverage range about 3-5 km in urban areas and 15 km in suburban areas
Consumes very low power and hence battery will last for longer duration (up to 10 years)
Uses Adaptive Data Rate technique to vary output data rate/Rf output of end devices. This helps in maximizing battery life as well as overall capacity of the LoRaWAN network. The data rate can be varied from 0.3 kbps to 27 Kbps for 125 KHz bandwidth.
Uses 868 MHz/ 915 MHz ISM bands which is available world wide

Disadvantages of LoRaWAN

Can be used for applications requiring low data rate i.e. upto about 27 Kbps.
LoRaWAN network size is limited based on parameter called as duty cycle. It is defined as percentage of time during which the channel can be occupied. This parameter arises from the regulation as key limiting factor for traffic served in the LoRaWAN network.
It is not ideal candidate to be used for real time applications requiring lower latency and bounded jitter requirements.

Introduction to LoRaWAN

Source: https://www.semtech.com/technology/lora/what-is-lora

LoRaWAN is radio network procotol designed to allow low-powered devices to communicate with Internet-connected applications over long range wireless connections. LoRaWAN operates in unlicensed radio spectrum. In Europe, LoRaWAN operates in the 863-870 MHz frequency band. This frequency band is divided into channels and most channels used by LoRaWAN have a duty-cycle as low as 1% or even 0.1%. The data rate depends on the used bandwidth and spreading factor. LoRaWAN can use channels with a bandwidth of either 125 kHz, 250 kHz or 500 kHz, depending on the region or the frequency plan.

The LoRaWAN specification defines three device types. All LoRaWAN devices must implement Class A, whereas Class B and Class C are extensions to the specification of Class A device:

Class A devices support bi-directional communication between a device and a gateway. Uplink messages (from the device to the server) can be sent at any time (randomly). The device then opens two receive windows at specified times (1s and 2s) after an uplink transmission. If the server does not respond in either of these receive windows (situation 1 in the figure), the next opportunity will be after the next uplink transmission from the device. The server can respond either in the first receive window, or in the second receive window, but should not use both windows.
Class B devices extend Class A by adding scheduled receive windows for downlink messages from the server. Using time-synchronized beacons transmitted by the gateway, the devices periodically open receive windows.
Class C devices extend Class A by keeping the receive windows open unless they are transmitting, as shown in the figure below. This allows for low-latency communication but is many times more energy consuming than Class A devices.

Devices and applications have a 64 bit unique identifier (DevEUI and AppEUI). When a device joins the network, it receives a dynamic 32-bit address.

LoRaWAN 1.0 knows three distinct 128-bit AES security keys.

The application key is only known by the device and by the application.
When a device joins the network (this is called a join or activation), an application session key and a network session key are generated.
The is shared with the network, while the is kept private. These session keys will be used for the duration of the session.

More information is on www.thethingsnetwork.com. Above information is partly based on the mentioned web site.