From the Swiss Alps to Whistler, Canada, in the Northern Hemisphere and from&nbsp;Las Le&ntilde;as, Argentina, to The Remarkables in New Zealand in the Southern Hemisphere, devotees of winter sports with deep enough pockets can forever circumnavigate the planet chasing the endless winter.More than a third of the world&rsquo;s countries offer outdoor skiing and snowboarding facilities, and around 400 million people visit a ski resort yearly. It&rsquo;s a multi-billion dollar industry employing hundreds of thousands of people, and like any other big business, technology has an increasing role to play in its success.For example, climate change, lack of snowfall, and glacial retreat has brought advanced snowmaking technology to the fore. Saudi Arabia is building a $500 million ski resort in the desert, and last year&rsquo;s Beijing Olympic Games was the first Winter Games in history to rely on 100 percent human-made snow. For the ski industry, climate change is a hot-button topic. So too, is safety.<h2>Safely does it on the slopes</h2>According to research, skiing, and snowboarding accidents account for around 600,000 injuries each year. It may sound a lot, but skiing is safer than you think, and loss of life is extremely rare. Nobody is getting complacent, though, and technology is not only bringing snow to our slopes but safety too.For example, ski navigation devices using Bluetooth LE wireless connectivity to relay data to smartphone apps to provide turn-by-turn audio navigation, start-and-end point navigation, and tailored routes based on ability are becoming increasingly available. The same apps allow friends and family to keep track of each other on the mountain, identify meet-up spots, and avoid over-crowded runs. It&rsquo;s a step change from the &lsquo;technology&rsquo; that dominated in the preceding 100 years &ndash; a map, a compass, and an altimeter.<h2>IoT networking for ski schools</h2><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1685714188547-FLAIK.webp" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Cellular IoT wireless technology is also being embraced on the snowfields to promote safety and management tools for ski resort operators. Last year, snow sports product company flaik upgraded its <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/News/2022/11/The-flaik-tag-employs-Nordic-nRF9160-SiP?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ski school workforce management solution</a> to include IoT network capabilities to further enhance the visibility of thousands of guests and instructors anywhere on the mountain in near real-time.The platform comprises a wearable device integrating Nordic&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/products/nrf9160?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">nRF9160</a> SiP and a web-based dashboard. The nRF9160 provides the GNSS positioning and cellular IoT connectivity, allowing the skier&#39;s location data to be relayed from the tag to a smartphone or tablet via the Cloud. The nRF9160 combines the LTE-M cellular network location data with the GNSS trilateration for precise position monitoring of the device and the skier.The positions of ski school guests and instructors are continually relayed to the flaik servers, allowing ski schools and resorts to access live and historical GNSS data to comprehensively understand what is happening on the ski fields. From the Cloud, all the flaik tag location information can then be viewed through the web-based dashboard.For example, ski management personnel can connect late students to classes in minutes or track any classes late to return at the end of the day. At the biggest resort at which it is deployed in Whistler, flaik can scan and associate up to 3,500 devices to guests and instructors in a 30-60 minute window.<h2>Winter wearables bring the fun</h2>Of course, above all else, skiing and snowboarding are meant to be fun, and wireless technology is also employed in winter sports for play and work. The industry is now awash with wearable devices that can help skiers improve, using a raft of sensors and Bluetooth LE connectivity to provide continuous in-ear feedback to a skier as well as tips and suggestions for improvement via a smartphone app, for example, on how to fine-tune your body position and edge control.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1685714215182-MOTIONM-1_WEB.webp" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Key are the sensors that can provide data on every metric a skier could want&mdash;speed, turns, pace, vertical, mileage, and G-force&mdash;and a powerful processor to supervise them and run their complex algorithms. For example, MotionMetrics&rsquo; <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/News/2020/03/MotionMetrics-Carv-Bluetooth-LE-sensor-based-ski-training-solution-helps-skiers-improve-technique?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Carv</a> wearable comprises two ultra-thin footbeds with MEMS accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers, and capacitive pressure sensors that fit underneath the linings of any ski boots.The built-in sensors track the skier&#39;s motion and pressure distribution during every turn throughout each ski run, providing a comprehensive data set across four key skiing categories&mdash;balance, edging, rotation, and pressure&mdash;based on 35 metrics. Nordic&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/nRF52832?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">nRF52832</a> SoC powers the device, its 64 MHz Arm Cortex M4 processor supports the application&rsquo;s Floating Point and Digital Signal Processing computations, while the Bluetooth LE connectivity relays this to the user&rsquo;s smartphone to offer live in-ear feedback from the sensors on how to improve. For example, &quot;keep your weight forward&quot; or &quot;apply more pressure to your outside ski.&quot;As well as making skiing a safer and more enjoyable activity, this technology is also opening the sport up to more people, with the cost of wearable devices a fraction of the price of expensive private skiing lessons. This will help grow and democratize an industry already quickly bouncing back from pandemic shutdowns.<hr>This article was first published on Nordic&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.nordicsemi.com/getconnected" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" id="isPasted"></a><a href="https://blog.nordicsemi.com/getconnected?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Get Connected Blog</a>. &nbsp;

Ski navigation devices using Bluetooth LE wireless connectivity to relay data to smartphone apps to provide turn-by-turn audio navigation, start-and-end point navigation, and tailored routes based on ability are becoming increasingly available.

Wireless tech transforms skiing

Single Board Computers are radically improving indoor agriculture by optimizing environmental conditions, enabling IoT applications, and integrating AI for sustainable, efficient farming.


Applying Single Board Computers (SBCs) in Indoor Agriculture Applications

As part of TechBlick series on additive and printed electronics, Michael LeFebvre draws upon his four decades of industry experience to highlight 3 recent technical and application innovations impacting transparent 5G antennas, ADAS, and wearable therapy all based on printed & additive electronics

Printed Electronics: The Future is Thin, Flat, and Flexible

The automotive industry undergoes a profound transformation through the IoT's power. Vehicle connectivity and autonomous driving redefine transportation, offering innovative opportunities. Embracing IoT's potential, our daily lives are poised for a significant shift in the automotive sector.

Driving Innovation: Harnessing IoT Potential in the Automotive Sector

The realization of carbon neutrality that balances the amount of greenhouse gases emitted and absorbed; the use of solar power, wind power, and other renewable energies; various energy-saving measures&mdash;starting with the global movement to curb climate change, energy issues are being solved at a bewildering speed. These days, with the advance of digital transformation using AI, IoT, and other technologies regarding energy measures, it is no exaggeration to say that a paradigm shift is underway regarding the resolution of energy and environmental problems.A technology called &quot;energy harvesting&quot; is newly attracting attention in this energy field. Harvesting is just that. It refers to a technology that &quot;harvests&quot; tiny amounts of energy from the surrounding environment and then converts it into electric power using voltage materials, modules, and sensors. It is also referred to as &quot;environmental power generation.&quot; This technology has two main advantages. The first, of course, is that it produces electric power from sunlight, vibrations, and other elements, which means that it is environmentally friendly. The second is proximity to energy source.&nbsp;For example, let&#39;s say you want to install an IoT device to detect landslide disasters deep in the mountains and operate it continuously. It would be difficult to install electric power cables and other wiring due to the location. Furthermore, maintenance and costs would be an issue if you used batteries. However, by using energy harvesting to harvest energy from the surrounding environment, the device itself can produce electric power in places where wiring is difficult, allowing for operation of the IoT device semi-permanently.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjg1NDM4NjkyODMzLWVuZXJneS1oYXJ2ZXN0LTAxLmpwZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Energy harvesting is expected to be widely used in IoT devices necessary for continuous operation, such as in predictive maintenance for infrastructure equipment.&nbsp;<h2 id="isPasted">Converting Various Types of Energy in the Environment into Electric Power</h2>Let&#39;s look at some of leading examples of how energy is harvested from the environment in energy harvesting.<h3>Vibrations</h3>Energy is extracted from the movement of objects such as vibrations or impacts. Specific examples include vibrations in roads on which cars drive and rails on which trains run. A familiar example is automatic faucets used in restroom wash areas and kitchens. It is possible to produce electric power by using the flow of water.<h3>Living Things</h3>Living things are also a source of energy. An electronic components company has started developing technology to generate power from sap. This is a mechanism whereby tiny amounts of electric power created by the reaction between water (xylem sap) passing through the plant conduit and electrodes is stored. Moreover, efforts are also progressing to convert into electric power tiny amounts of electrons emitted when microbes living in rice fields decompose the organic matter of feed.<h3>Heat</h3>It is also possible to produce electric power using heat. This includes heat emitted from motors, engines, and other parts of machines and automobiles; heat generated when draining water from buildings and factories; and heat from hot springs.<h3>Human Body</h3>Technological development is underway to generate power from sweat and the heartbeat in addition to forms of exercise such as running and cycling. One issue with energy harvesting is that the amount of power generated is not that large, as only minute amounts of energy are collected. Nevertheless, considerable attention is being given to environment-derived energy, and it is expected to be applied to various fields.For instance, electric vehicles that run on the power that they generate are expected to be developed for the mobility field. This will be achieved by converting into electric power the energy of heat, vibrations, and other elements of motors while traveling. That energy will then be charged to the battery. There is also demand for this technology in the area of IoT devices connected to security systems that need to be operated 24 hours a day and in the area of medical and nursing care facilities, where the continuous operation of equipment such as artificial respirators needs to be ensured even during a power outage.How will energy harvesting permeate society in the future? What impact will it have on global climate change countermeasures? We will continue to keep an eye on the evolution of energy harvesting.<hr id="isPasted"><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjg1MDg2NjcyNTM4LTE2ODUwODY2NzI1MzgucG5nIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" class="fr-fic fr-dii">If you have any questions based on this article that you would like to discuss with an expert at Murata, don&#39;t hesitate to reach out. There&#39;s an entire team ready to support you with your question.<a class="button-main-action" href="https://www.murata.com/en-eu/contactform?&Detail=Wevolver%20request" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">GET IN TOUCH</a><hr>

These days, with the advance of digital transformation using AI, IoT, and other technologies regarding energy measures, it is no exaggeration to say that a paradigm shift is underway regarding the resolution of energy and environmental problems.

Future of Electric Power Realized by Energy Harvesting

As more and more resource-constrained IoT devices are being deployed, firmware updates over the air (FOTA) are becoming increasingly important. As physical access is often expensive, or even impossible to realize when operating large deployments in remote, hard-to-reach locations, FOTA provides a way to fix bugs, patch security vulnerabilities, or add functionality throughout the lifespan of a connected device.Lightweight M2M (LwM2M) defines the process for remote firmware updates in detail. When following the standardized guidelines provided by the protocol, updating the firmware of resource-constrained devices remotely can be accomplished effortlessly, regardless of the device or platform used.<h2 dir="ltr">The LwM2M way of updating firmware&nbsp;</h2>Every platform or device vendor can develop a custom FOTA mechanism, also known as FUOTA (Firmware Update OTA) or DFU (Device Firmware Upgrade). As there is no globally unified method to update device firmware, many different implementations can be found on the market.Embedded developers can simply get one of the available libraries from their specific hardware vendor or cloud service provider to manage the update process. However, these implementations are specific to the vendor or platform and cannot be easily ported to other systems. Adopting a new platform usually means redesigning the FOTA process from scratch.The problem of vendor compatibility can be resolved by adopting the LwM2M standard, which is hardware agnostic and can be implemented on any hardware platform. The standard provides clear guidelines on how devices should report their data, how remote configuration can be performed using server commands, and how firmware updates can be executed, regardless of the device manufacturer, firmware version, or hardware platform used.<h3>Firmware update process</h3>Generally speaking, the LwM2M firmware update process consists of four steps:<ol><li dir="ltr">The IoT device (referred to as the LwM2M Client) is triggered to initiate the firmware update process.</li><li dir="ltr">The LwM2M Client downloads the firmware and reports to the LwM2M Server when the download is finished.</li><li dir="ltr">The LwM2M Client performs the firmware update after validating the integrity and authenticity of the new firmware which is done through a process called secure boot.</li><li dir="ltr">The Client attempts to run the new firmware and reports the status to the Server. If succeeded, the device starts running the new firmware, if an error is encountered the device performs a rollback to the earlier firmware version.</li></ol>This procedure is defined in detail in the LwM2M specifications (see <a href="https://www.openmobilealliance.org/release/LightweightM2M/V1_1_1-20190617-A/HTML-Version/OMA-TS-LightweightM2M_Core-V1_1_1-20190617-A.html#13-6-1-0-E61-Firmware-Update-State-Machine" target="_blank" title="LwM2M specification">LwM2M specifications</a>). To add firmware update capabilities to a device, the <a href="https://devtoolkit.openmobilealliance.org/OEditor/Legal?back=LWMOView" target="_blank" title="firmware update object">Firmware Update Object /5</a> needs to be implemented containing all essential functionalities for conducting the update and reporting the status. Several LwM2M Clients natively support this Firmware Update Object, including AVSystem&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.avsystem.com/products/anjay/" target="_blank" title="Anjay IoT SDK">Anjay</a>.<img alt="upgrading firmware example " height="" width="1396" src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjg1MDIzMjI3MTk4LTE2ODUwMjMyMjcxOTgucG5nIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" class="fr-fic fr-dii">Updating a device&rsquo;s firmware using AVSystem&rsquo;s LwM2M Server called&nbsp;<a href="https://www.avsystem.com/products/coiote-iot-device-management-platform/" id="isPasted" target="_blank">Coiote IoT Device Management</a><h3>Downloading new firmware</h3>Timing is critical when it comes to firmware updates. If the radio signal quality is poor, transferring data can take a lot of time due to low throughput caused by lost data packets that need to get retransmitted. Since the device&rsquo;s radio module must be in the connected state for a long time, downloading the file in such circumstances results in a faster battery drain.The LwM2M standard defines two methods to perform a firmware update, allowing either the Server or the Client to decide on the best moment to initiate the firmware download process.&nbsp;The two methods are PULL and PUSH.<ol><li dir="ltr">PULL method:A device receives the location of the file that is to be downloaded and pulls the file from it.</li><li dir="ltr">PUSH method: A LwM2M Server pushes the firmware file to the device.</li></ol>PULL method In the PULL scenario, the LwM2M Server provides the device with the address of the server containing the firmware file known as the package URI. The device subsequently downloads the firmware from the so-called firmware repository at the earliest available opportunity.PUSH method In the PUSH scenario, the LwM2M Server determines the moment to initiate the firmware download, ideally based on the connectivity conditions. The device must have access to information such as Radio Signal Strength and Link Quality to support such server-side decision-making these resources are available in the LwM2M Connectivity Monitoring Object /4.&nbsp;<h3 dir="ltr">Firmware Delivery Methods</h3><img alt="firmware delivery methods" height="" width="1396" src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjg1MDIzMjI2NjIyLTE2ODUwMjMyMjY2MjIucG5nIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" class="fr-fic fr-dii"><h2>Firmware Update Object</h2>The FOTA process is defined in the Firmware Update Object /5. This Object defines the update process using four states&nbsp;(defined by Resource/5/*/3), as well as multiple update results&nbsp;(defined by Resource/5/*/5) representing the most common outcomes of the firmware update process.Learn more about the Firmware Update Object on the <a href="https://devtoolkit.openmobilealliance.org/OEditor/Legal?back=LWMOView" target="_blank">OMA LwM2M Object and Resource Registry.</a><img alt="firmware update" width="1396" src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjg1MDIzMjI2Nzk4LTE2ODUwMjMyMjY3OTgucG5nIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" class="fr-fic fr-dii">Firmware Update Process<table border="1"><tbody><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>The four states of the Firmware Update Object:<h3>State 0: Idle</h3>Before downloading and after successfully updating the firmware, the device reports its state as idle.<h3>State 1: Downloading</h3>The new firmware is on the way from the firmware repository to the Client. Possible Update Results Errors:URI resolution failed due to: Unsupported package type (result 6) Invalid URI (result 7) Unsupported protocol (result 9) Download failed due to: Insufficient flash memory (result 2) Insufficient RAM (result 3) Connection loss (result 4) Integrity check failed (result 5)<h3>State 2: Downloaded</h3>The firmware download is completed and all packets are received successfully.<h3>State 3: Updating</h3>When the update resource is triggered, the LwM2M Client starts updating its firmware. If the update was performed successfully, the state changes back to&nbsp;Idle (state 0). Possible Update Results: Firmware update failed (result 8) Integrity check failed (result 5) Firmware updated successfully (result 1)<h3>State 0: Idle</h3>After successfully updating the firmware, the device reports its state as idle and its Update Result as Firmware Updated Successfully<img alt="firmware update success" width="600" src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjg1MDIzMjI3MDQ0LTE2ODUwMjMyMjcwNDQucG5nIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table>Conclusion&nbsp;Remote IoT device updates are essential for the long-term success of IoT applications. Software bugs and security vulnerabilities will be found when deploying devices in the field which should be operational for years. As physical access to devices is often impossible to realize, FOTA is required for each, if not all IoT deployments.&nbsp;Updating firmware remotely poses some serious challenges. Devices are constrained in terms of (flash) memory, battery capacity, and available bandwidth, and often use unstable connections to the cloud. The LwM2M standard proposes a method to update the firmware of resource-constrained IoT devices. Through a structured approach with standardized states and error codes, developers can be assured that new firmware images can be safely sent to their fleet of devices in the field, regardless of the hardware vendor or cloud platform used.________________________________________________________ If you want to receive more tips as those presented in this guide, subscribe to AVSystem&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.avsystem.com/products/coiote-iot-device-management-platform/iot-newsletter/" target="_blank">IoT newsletter here.</a>

Firmware Over The Air (FOTA) demystified using LwM2M

Remote Firmware Updates for IoT Devices

Sustainable manufacturing is essential to preserving the finite natural resources of the planet. While the term has become something of a mantra in recent years, it&rsquo;s now also forming a central pillar of business and economic activity.<h2>Investing in sustainable wireless tech</h2>The IoT will form a key platform for many sustainable initiatives. And although its implementation will have a significant upfront energy cost, the long-term savings will quickly compensate for this. A Transforma Insights and 6GWorld report, Sustainability in New and Emerging Technologies In 2030, found that IoT technology will generate enough savings to pay back the energy cost of its manufacture and deployment and save around eight times the energy it consumes.The benefits of the data it gathers will also more than justify the IoT&rsquo;s environmental footprint. When combined effectively with, for example, Machine Learning (ML) applications, the IoT will gather large amounts of information to help people and organizations better understand their energy costs and make informed environmental decisions, or even automate them using technology such as smart energy distribution.<h2>Managing e-waste the sustainable way</h2>The heart of the IoT is its digital network. This relies on electronics that, since the 1980s, have expanded more rapidly than most other industries, and this growth rate is showing no signs of slowing down. According to analyst Fortune Business Insights, the silicon chip sector alone will expand from $527 billion in 2021 to $1.3 trillion in 2029.This rapid growth makes managing electronic waste (&ldquo;e-waste&rdquo;) one of the most important environmental issues. However, things are moving in the right direction; according to the UN, 20 percent of e-waste is successfully recycled today. The UN has also announced a plan to substantially reduce any waste occurring in the first place through reduction, repair, and recycling.<h2>Developing sustainable solutions</h2>Nordic Semiconductor is helping developers do their bit to create IoT solutions that cut down on the use of finite resources. For example, the Smarter Sustainable World Challenge with Nordic Semiconductor competition&mdash;launched in conjunction with hardware education community hackster.io (an Avnet company)&mdash;encouraged participants to plan, design, and prototype cutting-edge solutions to reduce humanity&rsquo;s ecological footprint using sensors and wireless connectivity. Participants were provided with the <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Development-hardware/Nordic-Thingy-53?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Nordic Thingy:53</a> multiprotocol prototyping platform to help them fulfill their innovative ideas.The overall winner, Elijah Maluleke from South Africa, created a smart water tap leakage controller that automatically closes a valve whenever there is an abnormal flow of water through the water tap. When multiplied by millions of water sources, the volume of water saved by this device would have a huge impact. Another entrant, Mateusz Pająk from Poland, used the IoT technology to create a vertical soilless farm built to fight the food storage crisis and achieve maximum yield.We&#39;re excited to announce our latest competition, the Connect for Good: Low Power Sustainability Challenge, in collaboration with Wevolver and contest sponsors Mouser Electronics, Soracom, and Crowd Supply. This competition is now accepting entries until October 12, 2023. We encourage all participants to join and showcase their talents, using the nRF9160 DK.<a class="button-main-action" href="https://blog.nordicsemi.com/cs/c/?cta_guid=11eac991-b2da-4da8-ab8a-9d5925d70263&signature=AAH58kE4we_86bp-XSwP4X2_En36-Rwspg&pageId=114801033248&placement_guid=61092daa-b1bc-4914-a543-c9e11245cec7&click=77d5601e-9f1b-44b5-9f4b-062b98acca5d&hsutk=5d0ae30d5ae177596e5660b413b00e7f&canon=https%3A%2F%2Fblog.nordicsemi.com%2Fgetconnected%2Fhow-the-iot-can-help-create-a-more-sustainable-future&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fblog.nordicsemi.com%2Fgetconnected%3Futm_campaign%3D2021+wevolver&portal_id=1961165&redirect_url=APefjpEaJKPUPPxROPwYtS92diTaSpEsgU3yUEdyONqss4hQnZI1xauqSlO8Dn1ivUfj3Lce83eijg_ty3AOIwCxp5t4CjXVw_zS6mUXY7zF6TrHOQ7VmagjMpIXZGgGOlcYw7TzQKBZnpPQz8_dS4k8qvbRRMNMpGUA54RguQMag1UIPa9RZKN9D52HGL2xoDUllImvuPojA5b0MuV9GPD27x4Cg8RXDdVuJqErtM5OiZ3HLdr0Q_TcS7mNDeQZ4Cgbq6mdMShISbFOD5TRppI6R8DwnBlqsE0tElLRq0rfYarddiu97FX6zKBDb_d3CfdET3h3CjucRDY1uijyiyCtFIGNeur3-MUUQ4xiT2K4uEjB2I4GIT0&__hstc=8439722.5d0ae30d5ae177596e5660b413b00e7f.1681711728655.1684404070741.1685018960669.6&__hssc=8439722.2.1685018960669&__hsfp=438247065&contentType=blog-post" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Submit a competition project Connect for Good ">Submit a competition project</a><h2>Monitoring key resources</h2>Nordic&rsquo;s customers are also developing innovative commercial solutions to help other businesses and communities work towards a greener future. One example is China-based <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/News/2022/10/MOKO-Smarts-MK117NB-Smart-Plug-uses-nRF52833-and-nRF9160?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">MOKO Smart</a>&rsquo;s MK117NB Smart Plug, a Nordic-powered <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Bluetooth-Low-Energy?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bluetooth LE</a>/<a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Low-power-cellular-IoT?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">cellular IoT</a> electricity plug that can monitor energy usage and reduce power consumption by remotely controlling load switches.Another example is Canadian technology firm <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/News/2022/01/AquaSensings-Leak-Sensor-10-employs-nRF52832-SoC?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">AquaSensing</a>&rsquo;s Leak Sensor 1.0, a battery-free, self-powered leak detection device that uses a sensor as both its power source and for detecting water leaks. The solution harvests energy from this fluid to power the Nordic nRF52832 SoC that wirelessly connects to a smartphone, where the user can receive alerts of any leaks.<h2>Building sustainable solutions&hellip;</h2>Nordic&rsquo;s customers can use the company&rsquo;s flexible IoT solutions by customizing the balance between the product&rsquo;s duty cycle, throughput, and battery life to suit the application&#39;s needs. In doing so, they can lower the energy consumption of their end-products. This is especially beneficial for the planet as Nordic products are used in millions of IoT applications ranging from energy, travel, transport, agriculture, manufacturing, waste handling, smart cities, and more.Nordic also builds its products to last for many years while ensuring new iterations are backward compatible with previous generations of its products. Software can be continuously upgraded to include new features through over-the-air software updates. These updates make it easy for customers to enhance the performance and lower the energy consumption of products in the field without the need to replace hardware.<h2>&hellip;and eliminating batteries</h2>Network equipment provider Cisco suggests that there could be more than 50 billion wireless and cellular IoT sensors in as little as a decade. Many of these will be powered by batteries. Aside from being difficult to replace every time they run out, there is the environmental impact of mining materials such as lithium for battery manufacture and transporting and eventually disposing of the cells.Nordic has continually lowered the power consumption of its wireless solutions without compromising performance. The modest power consumption of its latest generation of products means that, in certain applications, energy from harvested sources alone can power the product.Tomorrow&rsquo;s wireless solutions will be even more efficient, dramatically extending the range of applications that can harvest all their energy from the environment. And a new generation of <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Power-Management" rel="noopener" target="_blank">power management</a> ICs (PMICs), customized for energy harvesting devices, will stabilize the variability of harvested-energy sources and play a significant part in freeing IoT products from batteries.<h2>The future of sustainability</h2>Together with clever engineers and environmentally aware consumers, Nordic&rsquo;s IoT solutions can ensure sustainability becomes a part of everything we design, manufacture, use, and eventually sensitively discard. If we embrace wireless technology and all do our part to reduce energy consumption and waste, the future for the planet will be much brighter.<hr>This article was first published on Nordic&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.nordicsemi.com/getconnected" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" id="isPasted"></a><a href="https://blog.nordicsemi.com/getconnected?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Get Connected Blog</a>. &nbsp;

Sustainable manufacturing is essential to preserving the finite natural resources of the planet. While the term has become something of a mantra in recent years, it’s now also forming a central pillar of business and economic activity.

How the IoT can help create a more sustainable future

Battery life and power management are two of the most important considerations when designing Internet of Things devices. Many nascent IoT use cases require equipment, machines, vehicles, and physical assets to be disconnected from the electrical grid because they&rsquo;re deployed in remote locations or are mobile.In cases where replacing batteries is difficult or expensive, your ability to balance power management with performance and usability can mean the difference between a successful connected product and a failure. Low power can&rsquo;t mean low performance.In this article, we&rsquo;ll look at:<ul><li>What &ldquo;low power&rdquo; means in IoT and why it&rsquo;s not as straightforward as you might think</li><li>Why power modes matter just as much&mdash;if not more&mdash;than the electronics themselves</li><li>Common use cases for low-power IoT</li><li>How you can find a solution to build low-power devices</li></ul><h1>What Does &lsquo;Low Power&rsquo; Mean in an IoT Context?</h1>The short answer is, &ldquo;it depends.&rdquo;&ldquo;Low power&rdquo; is a relative term, so there&rsquo;s no straightforward answer here. After all, low power for a Particle cellular device is very different from low power for an iPhone (another type of IoT device).To understand why low power is such a contextual descriptor for an Internet-connected device, let&rsquo;s look at two use cases: an iPhone 13 and a cellular IoT device from Particle that monitors an oil and gas asset.<h3>Putting Low Power Into Perspective</h3>When a Particle cellular device actively sends data to the cloud, it typically <a href="https://docs.particle.io/reference/datasheets/b-series/b404x-b404-b402-datasheet/#power-consumption" rel="noopener" target="_blank">consumes 66.3 mA</a>. Since that value&mdash;66.3 mA&mdash;doesn&rsquo;t mean much to most people, let&rsquo;s put it into perspective.According to <a href="https://www.phonearena.com/news/apple-iphone-13-series-battery-capacities-leaked_id132514" rel="noopener" target="_blank">this blog</a>, which analyzed various iPhone models across different usage modes for battery life, the iPhone 13 has a 3,227 mAh battery that can last approximately 14 hours while a user is doing basic web browsing.That&rsquo;s really impressive&hellip;&hellip;but 14 hours will not cut it if you&rsquo;re designing a solar-powered IoT system to remotely monitor oil and gas assets in far-flung Canadian oil fields in the dead of winter. This scenario may seem oddly specific, but it&rsquo;s a real-world IoT use case for Particle devices.If we were to take that same iPhone 13 battery (3,227 mAh) and use it to power a Particle B SoM while transmitting data and consuming 66.3 mA, we would expect the battery to last around 40 hours.That&rsquo;s better, but again, still likely not enough of a margin for issues that may arise in the oil and gas case described above. For example, if a storm rolls through and prevents the solar module from producing energy for a few days, the device won&rsquo;t have power and you won&rsquo;t be able to monitor your asset.Although the iPhone offers battery and power management capabilities that are superbly optimized for how a consumer uses a mobile phone, it isn&#39;t well suited for use as an oil and gas monitoring device.<h3>Why Modes Matter When Designing IoT Devices for Low Power</h3>Continuing with the previous example wherein the Particle B SoM is estimated to last ~40 hours, let&#39;s tweak our assumptions a bit.Imagine we discovered that this IoT device only needed to be on for half the day, and we could program it to turn off for the other half. That would get us about 80 hours of battery life.If that&rsquo;s still not enough of a power budget for this use case, we could adopt a mechanism for turning off the radio (one of the more power-hungry aspects of IoT devices) but not the application processor. This would allow the device to continue collecting and queuing/buffering data for later transmission. These optimizations could get us to ~160 hours of battery life&mdash;in other words, four times the original estimate.As you can see, the impact of using different operating modes is huge, which is something the best IoT product designers and engineers understand.Thus, designing &ldquo;low power&rdquo; IoT is not only about having the most power-efficient subsystems, such as computers, cellular modems, power delivery, and storage. It&rsquo;s just as much about controlling the modes your IoT device operates in.As visually demonstrated in the figure below, the modes you choose greatly impact your overall energy budget.<source srcset="https://images.ctfassets.net/ity165ek7v1z/6oEaryL3LlzvZap7QRY8pD/d22016ff8bbb87bb15b02bef4db74446/Power_Consumption_Modes.jpg?w=396&fm=webp 396w, https://images.ctfassets.net/ity165ek7v1z/6oEaryL3LlzvZap7QRY8pD/d22016ff8bbb87bb15b02bef4db74446/Power_Consumption_Modes.jpg?w=792&fm=webp 792w, https://images.ctfassets.net/ity165ek7v1z/6oEaryL3LlzvZap7QRY8pD/d22016ff8bbb87bb15b02bef4db74446/Power_Consumption_Modes.jpg?w=1584&fm=webp 1584w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" type="image/webp"><source srcset="https://images.ctfassets.net/ity165ek7v1z/6oEaryL3LlzvZap7QRY8pD/d22016ff8bbb87bb15b02bef4db74446/Power_Consumption_Modes.jpg?w=396 396w, https://images.ctfassets.net/ity165ek7v1z/6oEaryL3LlzvZap7QRY8pD/d22016ff8bbb87bb15b02bef4db74446/Power_Consumption_Modes.jpg?w=792 792w, https://images.ctfassets.net/ity165ek7v1z/6oEaryL3LlzvZap7QRY8pD/d22016ff8bbb87bb15b02bef4db74446/Power_Consumption_Modes.jpg?w=1584 1584w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px"><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1684743407337-Power_Consumption_Modes.webp" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">An example of how different modes can impact power consumption in a device.&nbsp;<h1 id="isPasted">Four Critical Use Cases for Low-Power IoT</h1>The need for low-power IoT isn&rsquo;t necessarily industry or vertical-specific, but rather use case-specific. Wherever you need to have a battery powering your electronics, you&rsquo;ll want to be intentionally efficient with how you use that battery&rsquo;s life.So, what are the use cases where you would need a battery?<h3>Mobile Assets</h3>The term &quot;mobile assets&quot; refers to devices, machines, vehicles, or equipment that move around based on user behavior. These devices need to be reliably connected to the Internet no matter where they are, so battery life is critical.Mobile assets need their energy supply built into them&mdash;for instance, in the form of batteries in IoT-connected micromobility vehicles or medical equipment that gets moved between different hospital units.Although these assets typically have business operations around them to refill their energy storage systems, those operations are expensive and usually require human intervention. In these cases, you&#39;ll want to reduce those &ldquo;top-up&rdquo; events, which you can do by&nbsp;making their energy systems more low-power and efficient.<h3>Remote Fixed Assets</h3>Here, &quot;remote fixed assets&quot; refer to stationary IoT devices that don&rsquo;t have access to the electric grid.RFAs also require a built-in energy supply, but since they&rsquo;re stationary, they can use solar charging to perenially &ldquo;top up&rdquo; their storage systems. In addition to the remote oil and gas site mentioned earlier, agricultural IoT, remote emissions monitoring, and even traffic monitoring systems would be illustrative examples here.Low and efficient power systems are still relevant for RFAs because they allow you to design with smaller solar cells, charger circuits, and battery banks, which will lower your bill for material costs.<h3>Critical Assets</h3>&quot;Critical assets&quot; refers to IoT devices that are tied to the electric grid but required to operate even&mdash;or especially&mdash;when the electric grid has an outage.For critical assets, adding a backup battery to be used if the power supply goes away is the optimal design decision. In examples such as medical IoT devices and IoT-enabled smart energy devices (EV chargers, smart meters, etc.),&nbsp;a power outage could lead to critical asset failure, resulting in damage, downtime, or even injury and death.<h3>Wearable Assets</h3>A &quot;wearable asset&quot; is any IoT device that a human would wear or interact closely with.Of course, higher-power and -voltage (&gt;30 Volts) systems have the&nbsp;potential of causing electric shock and even death in humans, so keeping your systems below that level of voltage will protect users and reduce your&nbsp;<a href="https://www.particle.io/iot-guides-and-resources/iot-fcc-certifications/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">certification</a>, liability, and reliability testing costs.<h3>Low Power Is Usually The Way to Go</h3>Outside of the asset categories we just explored (mobile, remote and fixed, critical, and wearable), devices typically don&rsquo;t require as much scrutiny when it comes to having low and efficient power.That said, there are typically cost and safety savings to be had when designing with lower-power electronics. While this may not always be feasible, it&rsquo;s worth designing for lower power when you can.<h1>Common Challenges in Designing Low-Power IoT Devices</h1>Designing low-power IoT devices requires teams to make tradeoffs and consider how the entirety of their design&mdash;from hardware to system design&mdash;impacts power consumption.<h3>Performance vs. Power</h3>Ultimately, the most important tradeoff you must be aware of is&nbsp;performance vs. power.CPU, memory, and data bandwidth are key enablers for IoT devices&#39; performance in their respective use cases. Any use case with strict requirements for high performance, such as Internet-connected cameras on autonomous vehicles, will have to make some compromises on low power.<h3>Making Hardware and System Design Work Together</h3>Beyond that, the core challenge of designing low-power devices is finding best-in-class hardware AND having an overall system design that uses different modes of operations to lower energy consumption.Here are some key questions you should be asking yourself or your IoT partner as you design your devices to ensure they have the low-power capabilities you need:<ul><li>How often can I put my device to sleep?</li><li>How much data do I need to send? Can I lower that usage in the future?</li><li>Should I do the data crunching/analysis on the edge or in the cloud?</li><li>Is there a latency requirement between when a certain event is recorded and when that event is transmitted to the cloud?</li><li>If my device is asleep, what triggers do I need to be able to wake it up?</li><li>What network problems will arise if my device is going to sleep too frequently?</li><li>What battery life do I need, what temperatures does this battery need to operate in, and which battery chemistry is right for my use case?</li></ul><h1>Finding an IoT Solution for Low-Power Applications and Use Cases</h1>Whether you design your own devices or use those of an IoT solutions vendor, it&#39;s important to determine whether the tech can support the low-power needs your use case demands.That means evaluating your potential solutions based on the electronics&#39; power-efficiency and your level of control over the power modes.<h3>Building for Low-Power Use Cases With Particle</h3>Particle&rsquo;s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.particle.io/devices/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">IoT hardware</a> and Particle Device OS&mdash;our&nbsp;<a href="https://www.particle.io/platform/device-os/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">embedded IoT operating system</a>&mdash;were built with these two levers in mind. As a result, our&nbsp;<a href="https://www.particle.io/platform/particle-iot-platform-as-a-service/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">IoT Platform-as-a-Service</a> delivers both an integrated set of power-efficient electronics AND a comprehensive and simple set of &ldquo;power mode&rdquo; APIs to control them.Device OS allows you to easily configure your device&rsquo;s power consumption with simple APIs built into the operating system that transition your application in and out of unified low-power and sleep.On the hardware side, Particle devices are standardized to be off-the-shelf ready to design low-power applications. That said, all of our devices are flexible, extensible, and fully configurable. You can use different variations of hardware components to build your finished connected product, including varying components for antenna, enclosure, power, battery, sensor, and actuator interfaces.

Building IoT devices to be as power efficient as possible can be the difference between an invaluable product and one that's unusable for its intended purpose. Learn the principles of building low-power IoT devices here.

An Introduction to Low Power IoT

The winner of the OKdo Engineering Challenge is Eric Schleicher from the company Constructive Realities, who are working on powerful, compact Time of Flight cameras. 
