VDC Research: Embedded Microprocessor, Board & Systems Market Blog

M2M can Authenticate Actionable Intelligence for Hospitality Industry

During a recent conversation at VDC, the topic turned to a problem often seen by users of travel and restaurant advisor sites. It is often difficult to determine legitimate user ratings from those that were created by employees or competitors of the venue in question. We believe that Google, Apple, or another industry participant could mitigate this problem by using an M2M architecture solution. Here is how it would work:

 

The persons who would want to be authenticated reviewers of hospitality venues would register at a cloud-based site. The mobile devices they carry would be linked to their profile. The reviewers would have to opt-in to allow GPS and Wi-Fi location based tracking and logging.

If the reviewer wishes to submit a rating for a venue they log into the cloud-based application. The cloud based application verifies that the location data from the reviewer’s mobile device matches the pattern of a legitimate customer. If the verification passes, the rating and commentary are accepted. The identity of the reviewer could be obscured if needed but, if their reviews were found to be questionable, they could be disqualified in the future.  It’s not foolproof, but it’s better than what many of these rating sites have today.

M2M World Congress – London – Highlights from Day 1 of 2

VDC’s CEO Mitch Solomon is participating in M2M World Congress (one of the industry’s larger M2M-centric conferences) this week in London, and sent in the following post from the field.

First off, the event is oversold and is standing room only, a testament to building interest in M2M (…and perhaps the strong promotional efforts of its producer).  The day consisted of roughly a dozen presentations and panels, covering a broad landscape of topics.  Speakers were largely from major wireless carriers, primarily European.  Below are a few key insights (…derived from a much longer list), just hours after the last session of the day:

All speakers believe the much-anticipated M2M future has arrived, and they see rapid scaling in their business (as measured by M2M SIM card sales and deployments).  Most M2M business leaders within large mobile network operators are carrying aggressive growth targets (handed down from corporate), as their companies look to M2M to drive growth that far exceeds what can be achieved in their established voice and data businesses.

The words “complexity” and “challenges” were used almost as much as “the” and “it” during the course of the day.  The difficulties associated with actual M2M deployments were widely acknowledged, often in the same breath as the notion of how large the opportunity is.  Clever solutions to the biggest M2M deployment challenges were elusive (understandably, as silver bullets are usually are hard to come by), though familiar suggestions like “test, test, and re-test” and “standards can help” and “pilot first, then expand” were offered up. 

The only word used more than “complexity” and “challenges” was…”partner.”  Which makes sense.  It often takes partnerships to solve complex technical problems such as M2M applications.  Every carrier was touting its partnerships, some of which extend geographic coverage while others deliver value-added software and services beyond connectivity.  This is the age of M2M promiscuity, as everyone tries to seduce everyone else lest someone be left on the dance floor alone.

For a myriad of reasons, the discussions were largely focused on technology and vendor strategies (particularly carriers’) instead of OEM use cases and customer benefits (…something many audience members were a bit frustrated by).  Some attempts by panel members to address questions related to devices and OEM use cases were made, and some light was shed.  Overall, however a clear impression was made that senior people with M2M on their business cards are still working their own way up the learning curve (like many others in the industry) when it comes to specific examples of how M2M-based applications can benefit their OEM customers.  This knowledge gap could be indicative of carriers and/or senior leaders at carriers being one or two steps removed from OEMs’ application development efforts, rather than a deficiency in an expected area of expertise.

With the second and final day of the event tomorrow, my hope is that panel members will share more about how OEMs are approaching, evaluating, designing, and deploying M2M based systems.  Discussions of the supporting business cases would be particularly valuable.  If so, it will cap off a very worthwhile two days of M2M immersion in London.

Embedded Sensing & M2M Enable Advanced Efficient Agriculture

The VDC embedded hardware team received a very interesting briefing from RFMicron (Austin, Texas) on an IC component aimed at solving a problem seen with passive RFID tags. In addition to increasing the performance of the RFID tag, the new chip (called Magnus) actually allows the tag to perform additional functions and, as a result, we believe that this product has many potential M2M applications.

Here is a bit of background. Passive RFID tags do not contain any power source of their own. When stimulated by the correct RF signal, they chirp back data that is stored on or measured by the tag at that moment. Because a passive RFID tag is essentially using the received energy to transmit the return signal the tuning between the tag electronics and antenna have to be near perfect. One thing that can interfere with a passive RFID tag’s performance is moisture. The new Magnus chip enables the passive RFID tag to adjust for moisture to maintain optimal operation. That, by itself, is significant because it allows objects that are in sub-optimal conditions (e.g. wet) to be monitored wirelessly at greater distances. As a result M2M applications could be deployed over extremely long periods of time without needing any power source on the individual assets. What made this new component really interesting is that moisture data from the component could be transmitted by the tag along with the stored ID number. In our opinion, passive RFID tags with this component could be a key piece in an M2M optimized agricultural operation. Here is how it would work:

VDC’s View of M2M Enabled Agriculture using Passive RFID Moisture Detection

1.)    During planting process, the farm equipment inserts the RFID tags at given intervals along with the seeds. The embedded computer on the farm equipment logs and transmits the tag’s ID number and GPS location data to the cloud.

2.)    As farm equipment pass over the fields, the RFID reader scans the sensors and the embedded computer collects the data. This allows for the creation of a economical irrigation plan. VDC pictures this as being similar to ink-jet printers in precision as opposed to pumping water and spraying for fixed intervals.

3.)    Data from the moisture sensors can be retained in the cloud to confirm that optimal irrigation was maintained.

4.)    At harvest time, data on crop yields and quality are collected and sent to the cloud.

5.)    The cloud stored data can be used for many purposes that benefit several agricultural stakeholders including:

• The farmer can optimize future crops from the lessons learned from the current one.
• The aggregated data on crop yields can be sold to the investment community for analysis and pricing of agriculture-based financial instruments.
• In the event of a crop failure, the insurance industry can verify that the farmer had followed reasonable practices before making the payout.

6.)    At the end of the process, the farmer tills over the field without having to worry about recovering sensors or their connectivity infrastructure.

What happens to the RFID tags after that?  We have to assume that most of the tags would survive for several years but they would no longer have precise location or soil depth. Although, it is possible that the tags could be recovered for future use, the cost of doing so would likely exceed their cost of approximately $1 per unit. In future growing seasons, any data received from RFID tags deployed with earlier crops would be ignored.

The connected-farm is only one of many possible M2M applications for passive RFID sensor tags. For example, the moisture detecting RFID tags could be installed inside tanks at regular intervals to detect liquid levels.  Other physical properties such as pressure or temperature could be included to increase functionality. The M2M possibilities are endless.

ALPR = Big $$ for Embedded Hardware Suppliers

An interesting opportunity for embedded hardware suppliers caught the attention of the VDC M2M Embedded Platform team. The opportunity was highlighted in a Boston Globe article this week about a local police department that equipped a cruiser with a $28K Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR) unit. There were a number of eye-popping statistics starting with the fact that the unit apparently paid for itself in the first 11 days it was deployed. The ROI was accomplished from revenues generated by identifying vehicles and drivers with expired licenses, registrations, inspections, or other unpaid fines and fees. ALPRs can also be used for parking enforcement particularly in areas where civilian officials want to encourage shoppers with low cost short interval parking spaces. In this parking application, an official uses an ALPR to detect commuters and/or store workers that try to take advantage of the potential arbitrage and fine them.

Now let’s look at the $28K bundle of embedded hardware and software and speculate a bit on what is likely to be involved. The ALPR cited by the Boston Globe had the capability to read 1,800 license plates per minute and cover 4 lanes of traffic simultaneously. It can make those readings at differential speeds of up to 150 mph. This is a key factor because the unit is mounted on a cruiser as opposed to a parking or toll-taking lane where only the vehicle would be moving and the zone where the license plate would be is more predictable. Therefore there has to be a camera system capable of capturing a wide field at varying focal lengths and light conditions. The torrent of data from the camera system has to be rapidly processed to identify license plates and simultaneously perform Optical Character Recognition (OCR) on 4 or more plates in the field of view. Additionally, the system has to identify the state that issued the plate. This is challenging because many states like Massachusetts issue multiple types of specialty plates for sports teams and other organizations or causes. States also control costs by not replacing license plates until they practically fall apart. Therefore, it is fairly safe to say that there would be approximately $10K in optics and high performance processing inside the ALPR to accomplish the OCR function.

What happens next is important. We are going to make an assumption and it is a big one. We will assume that the ALPR generates data that supports law enforcement but this data will not be a cornerstone for court cases. This means that the raw video would not need to be compressed and stored for future reference while preserving chain of custody. For example, if the ALPR were going to be used for moving traffic or criminal violations it would need to have irrefutable video evidence that identified the driver as well as speed measurement data. Because of our limited OCR assumption, the captured data only needs to be combined with time stamps, GPS coordinates and, perhaps a few operational parameters. As a result, this limited data set would be in the order of kbytes per record as opposed to Mbytes per second for full video archiving. Even so, this still represents several thousands of dollars per ALPR unit for the additional embedded sensing, processing, storage, HMI and communication hardware.

In our estimate, the next part of the ALPR application would optimally involve cloud-based Big Data resources. The ALPR would transmit captured data in real time and processed for matches in multiple databases. The response back to the police cruiser would have to be rapid to be effective. The most effective ALPR supporting infrastructure would have to combine data from all municipalities, states, and federal agencies relevant to a particular region. Suffice it to say, the cloud-based and communication services could easily amount to several hundred dollars per month for each ALPR deployed.

The Boston Globe article stated that there were already 87 ALPRs deployed in the state with another 7 Boston area police departments adding 21 additional in the next month. Considering that Massachusetts alone has over 350 cities and towns but the entire US represents over 36,000 municipalities, the potential market for ALPRs and the embedded hardware inside them would appear to be a huge and rapidly growing opportunity.

Is Yahoo’s Collaboration Strategy Flawed? M2M & People Play Key Roles

Based on my experience, there is a point to Marissa Meyer’s new policy at Yahoo. Collaboration can indeed happen when people work in a same physical area. When I worked as a product support engineer back in the late 90’s, our team would take calls from field engineers as the second tier of customer support. There was countless times where the team members would overhear a conversation from a person on a call and offer assistance because they had a good idea about what the problem was. If anything, the challenge back then was proving to people that collaboration could happen without everyone in the same space.

In 2001, I was part of a small group of engineers researching concepts and creating standards to improve product serviceability. While looking at best practices, we discovered that a design engineering team in California was using a Microsoft product called NetMeeting on a “skunk works” basis. Quite simply, they did this at no expense and without the knowledge, support, or approval of the IT department. They used a discarded PC as a NetMeeting directory server and stuck it in a back room.  These engineers were using NetMeeting as a way of holding group meetings without having members travel between buildings on the campus. What our group discovered was that there was a NetMeeting compatible Sun Solaris software application called “SunForum”. This was big news to us because it meant that a software engineer using a PC in Boston could directly support an application engineer working on a Sun-based machine in our company’s Paris office. Up to that point, the conventional process would be phone conversations and e-mails until the point that the lack of progress forced someone to travel. If you loved travel, you hated the new M2M connectivity and if you hated travel, M2M collaboration was great news.

In 2013, remote control software should not be news to anyone. In fact, there are many software applications and hardware platforms that teams can use to collaborate. At the same time, these same platforms can also destroy collaboration and productivity. For example, an engineer wearing headphones and listening to streaming radio is unlikely to hear a neighbor’s communication and offer assistance.  What might work in these cases would be secure on-line chat forums and those could work wherever people were and which devices they were using. In summary, if people want to collaborate, they will find the tools and working styles to do it. If they don’t they will resist. Forcing everyone onto the same company campus won’t change that dynamic by itself.

Will Cloud Based Virtualization Solve Sony’s PS3 - PS4 Platform Migration?

This week, Sony announced some details for the next generation of the Playstation 3 (PS 3) game system. The new product will be called the Playstation 4 (PS 4) which makes sense because once you build a brand, you do not want to create confusion or disruptions with your customer base. From a technical perspective brand continuity is not as easily accomplished while making significant architecture changes between platform models. This is precisely the issue that Sony could have with the PS 4 because of the changes in embedded processing.

The PS 4 will now be using an x86 64-bit 8-core AMD  Jaguar processor as opposed to the Cell architecture used in the PS 3. In addition, a next generation AMD Radeon GPU will provide 1.84 Teraflops of graphics processing.  This embedded processor shift is attractive for game providers because there is likely to be more x86 programming expertise available than was the case with Cell, and the relative familiarity of the processing and graphics capability should allow more projects to be feasible.

If there is a negative note it is that the change in embedded processing architecture will result in the PS 4 not being directly backward compatible with PS 3 games. In other words, the PS 4 will not be able to locally run the PS 3 game disks. If allowed, the lack of compatibility could add a level of complexity to existing PS 3 owner consumer decisions including:

• Do I have enough physical space and unused TV connection ports for both a PS3 and a PS4?
• If so, will my all-in-one remote be able to operate both of them without a problem?
• If all of my PS 3 games will be obsolete, should I wait to see what the new version of the Microsoft XBOX 360 is like before I migrate to next generation gaming?
• At what point will there be enough new PS 4 games for me to consider abandoning all my favorite PS 3 games?

It is here that Sony’s July, 2012 acquisition of cloud-based virtual gaming supplier Gaikai makes sense because it can be leveraged by Sony to mitigate the backward compatibility issue between PS 3 and PS 4.  The user places a PS 3 game disk in the PS 4. The PS 4 identifies the disk as being legitimate, and acts as an interface between the game player’s activities, the local graphics display and the cloud based processing resources. This cloud based architecture, if it performs well, should mitigate the PS 3 to PS 4 migration problem, but we believe that questions still remain. For example, the business model for revenues for those cloud resources and who actually provide and pays them will be interesting questions.

Lastly, it appears from the PS 4 hardware description that the AMD CPU and GPU selected by Sony will be purchased as separate components. There are significant product design and performance advantages to combining these functions into a single semiconductor die or package. In fact, this was a key product strategy when AMD acquired graphics expert ATI in 2006. For Sony, having a separate GPU may allow a more efficient architecture for the cloud-based PS 3 compatibility and other services.

Is Huawei’s New Device the M2M Equivalent of 3M’s Post-it Note?

We just saw a review about Huawei’s new Ascend Mate SmartPhone that features a 6.1” touchscreen, and it was far from positive. In summary, CNN Money’s Adrian Covert found the Huawei product’s market placement to be in the less than ideal “Phablet” zone between phone and tablet. We agree with Adrian in one area, it is probably not an ideal size for a phone. But, at the same time, we believe this class of mobile product can possibly experience the same type of success as 3M’s well known Post-It product.

Here’s a quick summary in case you did not know the 3M Post-It story. A chemist at 3M was trying to create a super strong adhesive but the formula failed for that application. It was only much later that the permanently tacky but not so strong adhesive eventually found a consumer and business market where it excelled. This is not to say that the Huawei product is, pardon the pun, tacky. In our opinion, the Huawei’s 6.1” product would be an excellent “Bring Your Own Device” M2M platform. It is just at the right balance where it easy to transport but also where the larger display can function as a Human Machine Interface (HMI) display. Furthermore, the larger form factor allows for a bigger battery and longer time between charges. Here is how that might work in a few m2M applications:

Industrial: Many industrial machines have to be adjusted for operator ergonomics and preferences. At the same time, due to multiple work shifts and operational flexibility, machines don’t always have the same operators. The operator arrives at the machine and places the mobile device in the docking cradle. The device provides a customized HMI and the operators preferred machine settings are transferred to the machine. The operator logs on and that act, coupled with the possession of the registered device, serves as two-factor authentication. Many operational processes can be enabled and enhanced by this type of M2M method.

Transportation/Automotive: In transportation market for M2M, infotainment and telematic are two classes of applications that would be a good fit for the Ascend Mate’s type of function and form factor. If it were docked on the driver’s panel, it could transfer driver preferences where it could optimize vehicle settings. Unsafe activities like texting while driving or game playing would be locked out. The lock-out feature would also make insurance companies very happy. This brings us to the telematic applications where insurance will play a big part in M2M adoption. Drivers can get insurance breaks if they continually exhibit safe driving habits. Since products like the Ascend Mate are intended to be a phone, they contain the necessary cellular connectivity for verifying safe driving. Since these devices would be docked to the vehicle instead of embedded in the console, they could move with the driver from vehicle to vehicle. That would work particularly well for drivers that frequently use rental and/or have shared vehicles. By providing driver and passenger mobile device docks as opposed to full infotainment displays/systems, auto manufacturers could save themselves and customers money. The passenger docks would, of course, allow full texting and gaming functionality.

A few final thoughts:

• Like many M2M solutions, universal standards have to be set or these types of HMI applications and products will never be transferable across and within markets.
• Huawei reports that the Ascend Mate touchscreen works well when users are wearing gloves. This is a good attribute to have in many M2M markets. 
• As stated in the latest VDC Views report on M2M, in many applications such as those found in industrial settings, it is generally preferable to use embedded components designed for those markets as opposed those targeted for consumer products.

Situational Awareness – New Year’s Edition

In the last two days, I have written about two situational awareness applications for embedded hardware products. The first was toward the creepy side and the second much more acceptable on multiple fronts. I think you will find this somewhat in the middle.  As the New Year’s Eve approaches, you might find this application provides you with actionable intelligence that you can really use.

In Wednesday’s Boston Globe I read a story about a company called SceneTap and they provide a downloadable application that can give you current population and demographic information from local bars or hangouts that you might be interested in. How does SceneTap provide this product? The answer is quite interesting from both a technical and business perspective. Let’s look at both sides:

Business Perspective: SceneTap provides the downloadable application to users for free and it is activated when users open an account using a valid e-mail address. To the potential patrons, they can use the application to see if a place is “hopping” or not. SceneTap earns revenues by selling the hardware and/or service to establishments in a covered urban area. The value proposition to one of these establishments is multi-faceted. First of all, if you have a place that is relatively popular at least some of the time, it should increase business because more people will know that it is a good place to go. If they have a good time, they are likely to come back. The application can also provide management with actionable intelligence about the exact demographics of patrons during all hours, days, and/or events. Previously, this would have been done with less accurate and manpower-intensive qualitative data. SceneTap could also provide information on the application use either inside the establishment or, at a minimum how many times users looked up the establishment. This data could be used to send e-mail offers to targeted users and also be a source of advertising revenue for SceneTap.

Hardware Perspective: The SceneTap embedded hardware consists of people counters at the entry/exit doors and cameras that provide facial images that are analyzed by local and/or cloud-based computers. We believe that SceneTap can use something like Intel’s AIM Suite as part of the solution stack. SceneTap stresses that their application only performs facial analysis as opposed to facial recognition which is a very important distinction for placement of this product on the creepiness scale. So, if you are using the SceneTap application to determine if a specific person is at a particular place, you will have to use Twitter, Facebook or something else like a phone call for that actionable intelligence.

Other embedded hardware that could potentially deployed as part of the solution stack would be microphones and DSP components to detect sound levels and Wi-Fi equipment that could detect the number (but hopefully not identity) of SceneTap users inside the particular establishment.   

Final Thoughts: So, as you look for a place to go on New Year’s Eve, you might think of using SceneTap if they are covering your area. I am lucky because they do have coverage in Boston, but I would probably use it in a way that SceneTap founders probably did not originally envision.  Since I am no longer young, hip, or single, I would tend to use SceneTap to find a quite place that is NOT hopping. Then, I won’t have to stand in a line to get in, wait very long to get served, and most importantly, be able to hear the conversation of my wife.

Have a great New Year’s everyone and best wishes for a prosperous and fiscal cliff-less 2013.

Sandy Hook & Aurora Theatre - Can Embedded Technology be a Part of the Solution?

In yesterday’s blog we looked at some pretty creepy applications for situational awareness technology. Now, let’s look to how these systems can be employed in a much more socially acceptable manner. In the wake of the Sandy Hook School and Aurora Theatre tragedies, President Obama has made a governmental call to action with a task force being formed to examine every possible solution. Gun control will be considered as well as the NRA’s plan to use more armed guards.  Neither extreme is likely to be a good standalone solution.

Embedded computing could be part of a more optimal solution. Situational awareness technology similar to the signage and Verizon patent could be used as part of surveillance and security systems. In large urban areas, systems that detect and precisely locate gunshots are already being successfully deployed.  When these Gunshot Location (GSL) systems are coupled with remote controlled high definition cameras it is makes it much more likely that a perpetrator can be swiftly apprehended.

In an indoor setting like a school and movie theatre a GSL system would be presented with challenges that they would not have outdoors. The acoustics of walls and hallways will require sophisticated Digital Signal Processing (DSP) capabilities to account for the echoes and make a precise location. If we take the movie theatre into account, there would have to be some feedback of the movie soundtrack back into the GSL system to ignore the gunshots in the movie.

So, would this situational awareness and GSL technology be the complete solution? Unfortunately the answer would be no. What it would be is a mitigating factor allowing in some cases a much more timely response from security and/or law enforcement. The emergency responders would immediately know the identity and location of the threat. It is also possible that a situation could be prevented if the situational awareness presented an actionable alert to security before the shooting starts. Angry shouts, rapid changes in the area population’s mood / emotions could be possible triggers. Camera systems that identify possible guns being carried could also play a part but they would need humans as a backup. Even so, these surveillance systems would have the constant attention that no human could consistently apply over long time periods.

Regardless of the exact details of President Obama’s task force findings and the resulting US government legislation and response that follow, there are a few elements that are certain. Money will be appropriated and visual and acoustic data from widespread camera and microphone installations will need to be tightly integrated to provide the actionable data. Therefore, there will be clear opportunities in 2013 and beyond for embedded component, system and software suppliers. Those suppliers that already are participating in Digital Signage or Digital Security and Surveillance markets will have an advantage but new or innovative technology can easily disrupt the incumbents so complacency is not an option.

That TV You are Viewing Might be Looking at You

This blog related to a Verizon patent application is a follow-up to a previous VDC embedded hardware blog talked about the embedded computing capability being added to signage. The Verizon patent application is for similar applications/technology related to set-top boxes.

If the Verizon technology described in the patent is deployed, that same type of technology mentioned in the previous blog on signage might one day apply in your living room.  The Verizon technology would monitor the TV viewing area using microphones, cameras and or sensors. These sensors could be located in the set-top box, TV, and/or mobile device. Verizon’s overall goal would be to gain situational awareness of the TV viewers to allow targeted advertising.  

Deploying this type of situational awareness technology will have to be done very carefully to avoid offending customers. The deployment will also need to be extremely securely to avoid any risk that the system would be hacked and expose customers to remote eavesdroppers/peepers. The risk that law enforcement would want to leverage such as system for court approved wiretaps can also not be discounted. To be clear, Verizon has only applied for the patent, there is no indication that this is close to an actual product at this point.

Verizon certainly would not be the first company with home intrusive-technology. If you have ever played Xbox360 Kinnect, you have seen that it snaps pictures of game participants. In addition to showing them on-screen after the game action finishes as entertainment, the Xbox 360 transmits some of these back to Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform where the data is stripped of identifying elements but is often used by game developers as a part of a feedback process.

Embedded processors and situational intelligence will have an increasing presence in our home lives and certainly some of this is likely to be a bit creepy. In tomorrow’s blog, we will examine how this technology can be deployed for excellent non controversial causes such reducing the number and severity of tragedies like Sandy Hook and the Aurora Theatre.