Microchip are hosting a series of FREE live ‘IoT Made Easy’ webinars in September to guide you through IoT system design and challenges, from the sensor all the way to the cloud. The webinars will be held from Monday 14th September to Thursday 17th September with live Q&A with 6 Microchip experts so you can explore any obstacles that you may be facing.
Webinar 1
Monday 14th Sept: Designing Power Efficient Solutions for Your IoT Sensor
IoT demands a lot from sensors; Engineers need to add more functionality from data security to sensing of additional environmental characteristics. Artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) is also increasing and must be supported. This increases the demand for power which means sensor battery life needs to be extended.
Find out how to optimise the design of your sensors to minimise power consumption right down to the last µA.
Webinar 2
Tuesday 15th Sept: Connectivity Made Easy for Your IoT Sensor
Communication is one of the biggest challenges in sensor design. Make the wrong decision and you might have problems navigating the many dynamic regulations in the world; fighting lack of scalability and agility of the technology you chose; exceeding power budgets or space limitations; failing to ensure communications security or building-in costs that make your product uncompetitive.
Learn the right way to pick the best communications technology for your IoT sensors.
Webinar 3
Wednesday 16th Sept: Security
Cyber Security is not a choice! New regulations like EN 303-645 are making security essential around the world. There are many myths on how best to secure your data.
Keep up to date on the latest regulations and the best way to approach Cyber Security in a low power design from sensor to the Cloud.
Webinar 4
Thursday 17th Sept: IoT Design Quick Start with No Compromises
This webinar explains how to start developing complex IoT designs quickly and easily. The session considers the benefits of starting with a Single Board Computer (SBC) such as the Raspberry PI or Arduino as a Proof of Concept (PoC), and compares this approach to using simple development solutions that are design to scale to an industrialized product without compromise.
The demand for new innovative wireless sensors and actuators is increasing every year; a vast range of sensors have been developed to detect temperature, light, movement, vibration, pollution for applications (such as energy monitoring), asset utilisation, tracking, security, preventative maintenance etc., enabling businesses to save costs and improve efficiencies with these devices. The ability to instantly turn a device off remotely to prevent costly damage to machinery, if left unmonitored, could be invaluable.
If you are looking for a new wireless technology to integrate into your next sensor design, LoRaWAN technology from Microchip has been developed to address all these increasing demands on your next sensor project for volume deployment.
Microchip’s LoRa technology solution is ready-to-run and out-of-the-box, and with the complete LoRaWAN protocol and certifications in place, it reduces time to market and saves development costs.
The LoRaWAN protocol is a Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) specification intended for wireless battery-operated devices in regional, national or global networks.
LoRaWAN protocol targets key requirements of the Internet of Things (IoT) such as:
Secure bi-directional communication
Mobility
Localisation services
The LoRaWAN protocol standard will provide seamless interoperability among Smart ‘things’ without the need for complex local installations, further enabling IoT.
The LoRa® Mote (DM164138) is a demonstration board that showcases the Microchip Low-Power Long Range LoRa® Technology Transceiver Module (RN2483). The LoRa® Mote provides access to the module through a convenient USB-to-UART bridge chip and supports connection points to all GPIO-controlled module pins.
To enable long range testing, the high-frequency (868/915 MHz band) RF signal is transmitted through the RFH (J3) SMA connector, which can be used with a number of different types of external LoRa antennas depending on the end application, i.e. articulated stub antennas to external antennas which are designed to be mounted externally on buildings.
Depending on the use case, a selection of antennas is also available from Solid States Supplies. Examples by Antenova (Latona series), Pulse (W1063), 2J-Antennas (2JW0515-868 series) and EAD-Ltd (WMO86916 high gain outdoor omni antenna).
RN2483 (DM164138) and ATSAMR34 (DM320111) LoRaWAN evaluation kits from Microchip and range of antennaes from Solid State Supplies
The on-board PIC18LF45K50 MCU is programmable via ICSP™. In addition, the PIC18LF45K50 MCU application program is capable of being updated via the bootloader utility. The Mote board will power-on automatically when a USB cable is connected. When powered by AAA batteries, power-on/off is controlled using the (S3) switch.
The LoRaWAN protocol implements several layers of encryption to ensure the highest security for the whole infrastructure.
Unique Network session key ensures security on Network Server/Network level
Unique Application session key ensures security on the Application Server/Application level
Application key specific for the end-device
Microchip also offers the SAM R34/R35 in a highly-integrated LoRa® System-in-Package (SiP) family in a 6x6mm BGA package which includes an ultra-low power, high-performance 32-bit ARM Cortex M0+ MCU, upto 256KB flash for application code and software stack, LoRa transceiver and software stack. With certified reference designs, and proven interoperability with major LoRaWAN™ gateway and network providers, the SAM R34/35 SiPs significantly reduce time to market for Internet of Things (IoT) designs.
Other features on the R34/R35 are 5 serial comms ports, each can be configurable as a USART, SPI, LIN or I2C ports are available. A Full Speed USB option is available on the SAM R35. Also, 8 channels of 12bit ADC’s and 2 analog comparators enables a variety of sensor inputs to be interfaced to the device.
The radio frequency range operates between 862MHz to 1020MHz with a link budget of 168dBm (20dBm max TX power and -148dBm RX sensitivity).
Supported by certified SAM R34 Xplained Pro Evaluation Kit (DM320111), Atmel Studio and a detailed chip-down design package, these devices highly simplify the development and accelerate the time to market for LoRa end-nodes.
To get started with software development, download and install Atmel Studio 7. For software examples, update to ASF 3.44 and above in Atmel Studio
For further information on the LoRaWAN technology in this article, please speak to one of our teams.
We recently announced our latest partnership with LORIOT: a global IoT company providing long-range (LoRa) infrastructure for the Internet of Things (IoT). As both a software provider and network provider, LORIOT’s positioning in the LoRa® ecosystem enables them to provide one of the most powerful and complete solutions in the market.
Their core product is a software for scalable, distributed, resilient and secure operation of LoRaWAN® networks and end-to-end applications that dramatically reduces time to market for clients. They offer the network infrastructure to set up, operate and maintain a radio network, integrate sensors and communicate with them over a secure and reliable network.
Already operating in over 140 countries, LORIOT is one of the leading LoRaWAN® network solution providers worldwide.
LoRaWAN Network Server
The Network Server is at the core of an Internet of Things solution; secure, scalable, carrier-grade network connectivity for your valuable IoT data.
The LORIOT Network Server has built-in penetration tested security to safeguard your valuable IoT data.
Enterprise-grade network infrastructure enables the operation and management of IoT networks while providing proven reliability and scaling. Secure connectivity for thousands of gateways, millions of devices and the routing of critical data.
Top Features
Security
IoT security at every stage of your product life-cycle with enhanced, resilient end-to-end encrypted bidirectional data and device protection. Including LoRaWAN® AES 128 encryption combined with high-grade TLSv1.2 communication, LORIOT build battle-tested security into the network server to safeguard your IoT data and assets.
Scalability
A server architecture designed to grow with the network, from local deployments to national coverage, our network infrastructure and server distribution provides robust availability of all data. Carrier-grade redundancy, high-availability and minimal maintenance guarantees the handling of thousands of gateways and millions of devices.
Integrations
Flexible access to data, LORIOT network applications integrate with virtually any IoT application. They enable easy interoperability with IoT platforms, user and billing systems or device provisioning at the application server. Standard APIs such as MQTT, HTTPs and WebSocket are supported, and fully backend integrated platforms such as AWS IoT, Azure IoT, IBM Bluemix are available.
Management
A complete network infrastructure and software suite; enables the efficient management of your IoT network. A user-friendly web browser interface removes the complexity of scaling, managing devices and processing data so that you can focus on building the network. User management, roles and multi-tenancy streamline the server for efficient network and user organisation.
Operator
A wide feature-list of operator systems for effective IoT network deployments; monitoring, logs, alerts, and powerful tools such as remote gateway management and multiple application outputs provide data regulation and valuable status information. Plus, filtering and search tools to rapidly analyse the network and find anomalies.
Independence
LORIOT hosted or on-premise, our network server deployment is designed to meet your use-case and give you complete control. When security and control are critical, their flexible network server deployments offer complete independence to manage your data. LORIOT hands over full control of your server and are always ready to support when required.
Speak to one of our experts to see how Solid State Supplies and LORIOT can mean for your business.
Global long-range specialist IoT company, Loriot AG (‘LORIOT’), and franchised distributor, Solid State Supplies Ltd (‘Solid State Supplies’), have announced their newly agreed partnership to provide IoT solutions to their customers.
LORIOT is a revolutionary software and network provider based on the LoRa infrastructure; providing powerful IoT solutions by setting up, maintaining and operating secure networks tailored to a business’ needs.
‘Solid State Supplies Ltd understands the needs of customers, with a realistic focus on ensuring the successful delivery of IoT projects and provides the highest standards. Their expertise with hardware, electronic design and integrating the IoT stack combined our LoRaWAN Network Server will ensure best-in-class services at every stage.’ Added, Julian Studer, CEO at LORIOT.
Solid State Supplies is a franchised distributor of electronic components; they have a team of experts who specialise in the design and delivery of complete IoT solutions, utilising their strategic partnerships with different companies across the IoT spectrum to apply their ‘5 Stage IoT Framework’.
The decision of the partnership was confirmed almost immediately after understanding each other’s mutual strategy and parallel industry relationships. By forming this partnership, both companies are able to offer customers a more integral solution, maximising customers’ IoT potential within cost parameters.
Scott A. Brenton, IoT Technology Director at Solid State Supplies said ‘as IoT is made up of many technologies, it is important that we can discuss all options with customers, to offer suitable solutions that are available – including LoRa. Some customers will need a LoRa network server, and with our new partnership with LORIOT, we can offer an end-to-end solution; whether that may be custom-built or ‘off-the-shelf’. The synergy between LORIOT’s service and our hardware made it the obvious choice to move forward with our partnership.’
For more information about LORIOT, please speak to Scott A. Brenton at Solid State Supplies.
A specialist IoT software company, IoThink Solutions (‘IoThink’), and franchised distributor, Solid State Supplies Ltd (‘Solid State Supplies’), have announced their new strategic partnership to strengthen their IoT solution offerings to their customers. IoThink will be a highly complementary service to the hardware and support that Solid State Supplies offers.
IoThink Solutions provides a complete suite of IoT software using the Kheiron IoT Suite. Customers can create and customise their own IoT platform quickly and easily, adapting to their specific needs. ‘Our partnership with Solid State Supplies Ltd is a real opportunity for us to expand in the UK, and among others within the electronics OEM community which is one of our core targets. We particularly appreciate the technical expertise of their teams and their outstanding customer service as well as their flexibility which allows us to address a plurality of markets.’
Solid State Supplies is a franchised distributor for some of the world’s leading electronic manufacturers – including communication devices, modules, and silicon – where traditionally, the primary business has been hardware design or integration. Today, these customers are now looking towards digital representation of their assets.
The IoT Technology Director, Scott A. Brenton, at Solid State Supplies said ‘we are very excited to be partnering with IoThink Solutions as we see them as the perfect fit for our IoT strategy. IoT project success is built on collaboration and utilising the expertise available. We are extremely proud of the support we can offer though our hardware suppliers, who we consider to be the best in the world. Complementing this with IoThink’s ability to help our customers monitor, analyse and control their equipment through their software (SaaS), we can extend further support and expertise to our customers to help them make a success of their IoT projects. Simply put, this makes Solid State Supplies the IoT distributor of choice for both hardware and software.’
In the last decade, the IoT evolution has seen an ever-increasing number of embedded systems – large and small being connecting to the internet – ranging from wearables, smart home devices, automotive, transportation, security, medical, industrial to smart city control systems.
Billions of devices are connected to the internet and a majority are being designed to be remotely managed or field-upgradable from the cloud. This presents a huge landscape for cyber-attacks; from malicious firmware uploads to corrupt the functionality of the device, IP theft within the device or to hijack the device to gain access to the wider network it happens to be connected to.
To counter such threats in your design, the embedded designer now has to consider all aspects in the design that are prone to these types of attack. Typically, a full understanding from the cloud layer down to the gateway, the protocols, types of embedded hardware and memory used is required. For those who are not security experts, this could be a daunting task.
Thankfully, technology companies have not stood still on this subject and have developed robust solutions to help embedded designers on this subject by offering embedded technologies with security built in.
Digi International provides a suite of products which all incorporate their Trustfence® security framework designed to run on the Digi range of embedded products. From the XBee3® wireless control modules, to high performance ConnectCore® CC6UL and CC8x NXP iMX based processor SoMs, Digi industrial cellular gateways.
In conjunction with Trustfence®, there is Digi Remote Manager® (DRM®): a cloud management layer that can be integrated to a variety of cloud platforms e.g. AWS, Azure, Google. By using DRM®, the end products can be deployed, remotely managed and upgraded with a high level of confidence that the network of edge devices remain secure. Preconfigured APIs are available for customers to tailor their DRM® solution for deployment, remote access and management of the assets. A mobile app is also available for DRM®.
For more information, please use the form below to get in touch.
Robustel is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of industrial quality solutions for the IoT and M2M market, and are recognised for their portfolio of wireless modems, routers and gateways in forms of IoT solutions. Part of what makes their portfolio successful is the Robustel Cloud Manager Service (RCMS). RCMS was designed to provide rapid device deployment and extensive management through clear user interface and on-boarding processes, making it a flexible, secure and cost-effective way to collect, store and distribute device data.
RCMS is available as a hosted Cloud service or as a locally installed (Stack) service.
Features
Management Dashboard Central dashboard provides a clear, visual overview of all your connected devices’ statuses in one place including device data usage, performance and cost.
Zero-Touch Deployment Remotely deploy and manage your Robust devices through templates and profiles instantly without user intervention
Device Monitoring Understand your environment by identifying/preventing problems through historical/current data on individual/group devices. Get reports and alerts on network connectivity, signal quality, data usage, packet loss, and more.
SIM Card Integration Integrate with leading SIM providers to control and monitor your SIMs from a single interface through power API integrations
Remote Management Monitor, diagnose and fix remote devices through an online interface. You can also remotely configure and perform firmware updates on individual or bulk devices in seconds.
RobustVPN RCMS brings next generation hardware defined VPN solution to your fleet – RobustVPN makes creating and monitoring VPN connections simple and can integrate with popular protocols like OpenVPN.
In the ever-growing world of the Internet of Things (IoT), Solid State Supplies are continuously building relationships with new IoT experts to strengthen our offering of IoT solutions. We have now partnered with IQRF UK – for smarter, mesh networks.
A message from our Technical Director, Richard Bethell:
“IQRF’s Easy Radio Solutions from Solid State Supplies.
I was recently introduced to the ISM band transceiver module
range from IQRF as I’ve spent a great deal of my career in the RF Communications
module business. At first, I thought that was just a run of the mill style
module but after further investigation I was pleasantly surprised. IQRF have
done a really neat job with this module in terms of its format and usability.
Measuring 31.5mm x 14.9mm the TR72-DA on-board antenna version (also available
with U.FL connector for external antenna) the module has variants that slot
into a full size SIM holder or solder down onto the PCB, they also have a
vertical mounting version that’s very popular in the lighting industry.
Features include Spirit1 based 868/915 MHz RF Transceiver, receiver sensitivity
of -101dBm and transmit power of 10dBm (10mW) with integrated PIC MCU, offering
6 programmable I/O pins, versions with or without Ultra Low Power CMOS LDO, and
on-board status LED’s.
Operating current is low Deep Sleep 1.7uA, RF Ready 2.8mA,
TX current 8.3 to 25mA depending of the transmit level set.
Operating Voltage with on-board LDO is 3.1 to 5.3v with an
operating temperature range of -40 to 85degC.
These modules can operate in various modes, point to point,
point to multipoint or wireless mesh and all these modes support FOTA (firmware
over the air updates) or programming via their SPI port.
The module has a very complete development kit that comes in
two boxes; Box 1 includes 3 USB boards, one for programming and two rechargeable
battery powered boards as external nodes plus three TR72DA modules with
integrated antennas, a USB charger / programming cable and USB Key with
documentation. Box 2 includes I/O adaptor modules one with Potentiometer, LDR,
Temp sensor and the second relay adaptor module, both of these connect via a
strip of pins to the Box 1 RF modules. Box 2 also contains a 3rd rechargeable
battery powered remote node that can be used in a point to multipoint or mesh
configuration.
The Dev Kit is also supported by a very comprehensive IDE
with an easy to use GUI interface.
We have tested these modules with external antennas and
achieved a communication distance of 672m LOS with 10mW transmit power into two
Stealth Blade Antennas. They also worked extremely well around an old building
through multiple very thick brick walls.”
Target applications: Smart City, Building Management Systems, Street Lighting / Street Equipment, Smart Agriculture and many more.
If you would like to find out more about IQRF UK, please get in touch using the form below.
At Solid State Supplies, our team
always strives to deliver a very high level of service excellence to both our
customers and suppliers alike. Following the explosion in demand for the
Internet of Things (IoT), we have developed a new strategy to provide customers
with an end-to-end IoT solution. Forming new partnerships and strengthening
existing relationships with leading IoT experts, we are able to offer both
hardware and software IoT solutions to enable customers to deploy and return
their maximum IoT potential.
As part of this new IoT strategy, we have utilised the ‘Solid State Supplies 5 Stage IoT Framework’:
Thing
Connect
Collect
Learn
Do
In January 2020 this was recognised by
Robustel, as we received their award for ‘Outstanding Growth for the Year
2019’. Robustel has become a highly effective cornerstone for the ‘Connect’
element of our IoT Framework. The award was presented by David Evans, Robustel
Country Manager UK and Ireland, at Solid State Supplies’ head office in
Redditch, UK.
“Solid State Supplies have achieved
remarkable growth, despite financial uncertainty of Brexit. Their sales team
have been quick to grasp the “how-to-use” points and the innovation available
from the Robustel product line.”
Success has been derived from a number of different applications including, a significant win with a high street Retail chain for a large roll out of 4G routers, an automatic number plate recognition camera manufacturer, and an industrial automation giant in the Food and Beverage industry. Continued success will be driven from the strong pipeline for 2020 and beyond, led by our IoT Technology Director, Scott A Brenton.
If you would like to find out what IoT can mean for your business, please use the contact form below to get in touch.
