LPWA is an abbreviation for Low-Power Wide-Area. It is also referred to as Low-Power Wide-Area Network (LPWAN). LPWA is wireless communication technology that features low power consumption and wide-area and long-distance communication.

What Is Low-Power Wide-Area (LPWA) Wireless Communication?

<h2 dir="ltr" id="isPasted">Getting Started with Matter</h2><p dir="ltr" id="isPasted">This episode focuses on Matter, a universal smart home standard, and delves into various aspects crucial for engineers and companies looking to adopt this technology. <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/the-tech-between-us-podcast-exploring-the-matter-protocol-for-a-smarter-home/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Listen to the first part here.&nbsp;</a></p><p dir="ltr">A significant part of the discussion revolves around the practical steps for engineers and companies to begin working with Matter. Chris LaPré emphasizes the accessibility of the Matter Software Development Kit (SDK), available on GitHub. He notes that this tool makes it easier to build simpler devices like light bulbs and smart plugs. Additionally, the CSA team is developing videos and documentation to assist engineers in creating more complex devices, highlighting the supportive resources available.</p><h3 dir="ltr">Understanding the Matter Specification</h3><p dir="ltr">An interesting point Chris makes is that while Matter uses the ZigBee cluster library for its device data model, in-depth knowledge of ZigBee isn’t a prerequisite for designing Matter-compatible devices. This aspect significantly lowers the barrier to entry for engineers and developers looking to implement Matter in their designs.</p><p>The conversation also covers technical aspects, like the OSI model layers, explaining that Matter operates above UDP and relies on transport protocols such as Wi-Fi and Thread. This technical discussion provides listeners with a deeper understanding of how Matter fits into the broader context of network communication.</p><p><a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/matter-the-future-of-smart-home-connectivity-and-its-impact-on-product-development" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Explore more on Matter here. </a></p><h3>CSA Working Groups: From ZigBee to Data Privacy</h3><p>Raymond and Chris highlight the different working groups within the CSA, including those focused on ZigBee, the data model group, product security, and data privacy. These groups play a pivotal role in the ongoing development and refinement of Matter and related standards.</p><p>One of the episode's key takeaways is the CSA's commitment to developing a robust product security standard, informed by external standards, and a data privacy framework. These initiatives aim to offer clearer comparisons and transparency regarding how companies handle user data. The ultimate goal, as Chris elucidates, is to bolster consumer confidence in IoT devices by ensuring interoperability, robust product security, and stringent data privacy measures.</p><p>Overall, this episode of "The Tech Between Us" provides valuable insights into the evolving world of smart home technology, particularly focusing on the Matter standard. It offers a blend of practical advice for professionals in the field and a deeper understanding of the technological underpinnings for enthusiasts and consumers interested in the future of IoT and smart home devices.</p>

In a fascinating follow-up episode of "The Tech Between Us," host Raymond Yin continues his engaging conversation with Chris LaPré, Chief Technical Officer at the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA). 

The Tech Between Us Podcast: Exploring the Matter Protocol for a Smarter Home. Part II

<p><strong id="isPasted">Photovoltaic systems in combination with battery storage enable more independence in energy supply.&nbsp;Researchers from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and their partners have investigated how great the potential is for a completely self-sufficient energy supply for residential buildings.&nbsp;In the trade magazine&nbsp;<em>Joule</em> they show that 53 percent of single-family homes in Europe could already become technically energy self-sufficient.&nbsp;By 2050, more than two million buildings could leave the network through additional investments of 50 percent.&nbsp;(DOI:&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2023.09.012" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2023.09.012</a> )</strong></p><p id="isPasted">Electricity prices in Europe have been rising for years - after Russia's attack on Ukraine, they have now reached a record level, according to Eurostat calculations.&nbsp;At the same time, photovoltaics and battery storage are making it increasingly easier to become less dependent on energy suppliers.&nbsp;“By investing in local energy supply systems, a large part of one's own electricity consumption can be covered by oneself and thus the dependence on high electricity prices can be reduced,” says lead author Max Kleinebrahm, group leader at the Institute for Industrial Management and Industrial Production (IIP) at KIT.&nbsp;In Europe, building owners are increasingly opting for more independence: “In addition to economic efficiency, non-monetary aspects such as a high proportion of renewable energies, the rejection of the use of nuclear and fossil energies and a high degree of self-sufficiency also play a role in the decision increasingly important role.” A team from KIT, together with researchers from Forschungszentrum Jülich, ETH Zurich and the Paul Scherrer Institute, calculated how big the step would be from partially self-sufficient to complete self-sufficiency with electricity and heat.</p><h2><strong>How much does energy independence cost in your own home?</strong></h2><p>The basis for their calculations is a database in which geographically high-resolution information on the European building stock and the households living in them was combined with local climatic and economic conditions.&nbsp;By using novel methods to reduce complexity on high-performance computers, cost-optimized, energy-autonomous supply systems were initially configured for 4,000 representative single-family homes.&nbsp;In a further step, neural networks were then used to transfer the results to the 41 million single-family homes examined.&nbsp;“Under today’s conditions, 53 percent of the 41 million buildings are technically capable of powering themselves through the use of local rooftop solar radiation alone, independent of external infrastructure, and this share could rise to 75 percent by 2050 due to improved technologies,” says Professor Russell McKenna from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich) and head of the Laboratory for Energy Systems Analysis at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland.&nbsp;“If you now assume that building owners would be willing to invest up to 50 percent more than would be necessary for a comparable energy system with a grid connection, then up to two million single-family homes could leave the power grid by 2050.”</p><p>The researchers see significant potential for energy self-sufficient residential buildings, especially in regions with low seasonal weather fluctuations, such as in Spain, or with high electricity prices, such as in Germany.&nbsp;The specific design of the cost-optimized energy systems has also been determined: “Our results show that a successful, cost-optimal and self-sufficient energy supply system for buildings in Central Europe will consist of photovoltaics to generate electricity as well as a combination of short-term battery storage and a long-term, seasonal hydrogen storage system,” says Dr.&nbsp;Jann Weinand, head of department at the Research Center Jülich.</p><h2><strong>More stability for the energy system</strong></h2><p>In further work, the researchers want to analyze in more detail what effects a possible large-scale spread of self-sufficient energy supply systems would have on the European energy system, but they suspect a positive effect.&nbsp;“Semi-autonomous residential buildings could help to stabilize the overall energy system in the future.&nbsp;A less pronounced demand profile from households could dampen demand for peak-load power plants,” says Elias Naber from KIT’s IIP.&nbsp;“However, it would then have to be prevented that building owners become completely disconnected from the grid – for example by rewarding them with special electricity tariffs for grid-friendly behavior.”</p><p><strong>Original publication</strong><br><em>Max Kleinebrahm, Jann Michael Weinand, Elias Naber, Russell McKenna, Armin Ardone, Wolf Fichtner: Two million European single-family homes could abandon the grid by 2050. (2023)<br><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2023.09.012" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule .2023.09.012</a></em></p>

Ahead with solar power: Over half of European single-family homes could become energy independent. (Photo: Markus Breig, KIT)

According to calculations by KIT researchers, more than half of European single-family homes could be completely self-sufficient in energy

Energy Turnaround: Energy Self-sufficiency in Single-Family Homes

<p id="isPasted">Lighting illuminates indoor and outdoor spaces. The use of IoT is also advancing in lighting, which is indispensable for our daily lives.</p><p>Smart lighting for home use is becoming more commonplace, and lighting fixtures equipped with Bluetooth and wireless LAN can be linked to smart speakers, enabling lighting to be turned on and off and light intensity to be adjusted via voice commands or through a smartphone or tablet. However, this is only the beginning of IoT lighting features. In this installment, let’s take a look at evolving IoT lighting features and applications.</p><p>First of all, lighting tends to be installed in high places, such as on ceilings and telephone poles. Because of this, it is expected that combining IoT, artificial intelligence (AI), and lighting will make it possible to establish networks and new services that make use of this “advantageous position.”</p><p>Watching over the elderly, for example. By leveraging the advantageous position of being able to monitor people’s movements from the ceiling, motion sensors can be incorporated into IoT lighting to regularly check the movements of elderly people. Notification of movements to a remote family member’s smartphone can be used to ensure safety, including survival confirmation and crime prevention. At the same time, it is also an important function from the viewpoint of energy conservation, as it can be used to prevent lights from being left on, for example, by automatically turning them off after a certain period of time. In addition, a service has started that automatically adjusts the brightness, temperature, and bed inclination angle according to the sleep state by linking IoT lighting with sensor-equipped beds and air conditioners.</p><p>Cameras can be mounted on IoT lighting for monitoring, but the advantage of using sensors to detect movement in a “lax” manner is that they can be used without feeling the eyes of others watching. On the other hand, IoT lighting integrated with cameras is progressing in factories and warehouses. Integrated lighting and cameras ensure brightness and provide a clearer picture of people’s movements. Services have been commercialized that use AI to analyze big data collected in a cloud environment via a network and issue warnings if people are about to collide with each other at a corner, or to efficiently position people and equipment by analyzing the flow of people.</p><p><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 768px;"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1698686505817-advanced-iot-lighting-01.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-inner">IoT lighting also plays an important role in smart cities that control power consumption across the city.</span></span></span></p><h2 id="isPasted">Making Effective Use of IoT Lighting for Energy Saving and Failure Prediction</h2><p>The Japan Lighting Manufacturers Association (JLMA), of which major Japanese lighting manufacturers are members, has defined smart lighting and other value-added lighting as Connected Smart Lighting and Human Centric Lighting (CSL &amp; HCL), and began publishing their proportion of shipments in April 2020.&nbsp;</p><p>In fiscal 2020, such high-performance lighting accounted for 14% of all shipments, but in fiscal 2021 (April to October), the proportion increased to 18%, and exceeded 20% for home use. In addition, environmental sensors are being installed on streetlights throughout cities to acquire various data such as temperature, humidity, air pressure, and wind speed, and the analyzed information obtained from this data is provided to residents, thereby improving the appeal of the municipality.</p><p>The adoption of IoT lighting is accelerating around the world. Since IoT lighting is also essential for the realization of smart cities, proof-of-concept demonstrations are being carried out in European countries such as Germany and Spain, as well as in Cambodia in Southeast Asia. IoT lighting will create environments leading to improved services for residents by centrally managing IoT streetlights, ensuring appropriate illumination level in each area, and saving energy, as well as knowing when to replace lights and predicting failures.</p><p>Lighting accounts for a big part of the energy consumed by households and businesses. With growing environmental awareness due to the SDGs and the rising focus on carbon neutrality, it is increasingly important not only to save energy by switching to LED lighting, but also to control lighting more efficiently using IoT and AI. Given this trend, IoT lighting is sure to evolve further.</p><hr id="isPasted"><p><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1698686530059-1698686530059.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></p><p>If you have any questions based on this article that you would like to discuss with an expert at Murata, don't hesitate to reach out. There's an entire team ready to support you with your question.</p><p><a href="https://www.murata.com/en-eu/contactform?&Detail=Wevolver%20request" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" class="button-main-action">GET IN TOUCH</a></p>

Lighting illuminates indoor and outdoor spaces. The use of IoT is also advancing in lighting, which is indispensable for our daily lives.

Where We Are Now in the Evolution of Lighting - IoT

<p id="isPasted">Wireless technology saves lives every day, sometimes in extraordinary ways. After spotting flames rising from a residence in Scotts Valley, California, a passing jogger rang the doorbell in an effort to notify the homeowners. The owner wasn’t home, but the wireless doorbell was connected to a smart home hub that alerted her to the jogger’s attempt to make contact. In an instant she provided him with the security code, enabling him to run into the house to rescue her pets from the fire.</p><p>Texan Joey Lowe was equally fortunate when he passed out on his porch on a very hot summer’s day. His wife and son were out of town but received a motion alert from their smart home doorbell app when he collapsed, and were able to contact a neighbor who called 911 to transport Joey to hospital to treat the cardiac episode.</p><p>Not every instance of technology keeping us safe is so dramatic, but as the ‘Internet of Everything’ delivers ubiquitous connectivity at home, at work and at play, wireless devices are keeping a watchful eye on us as never before.</p><h2>Safety begins with a smart home</h2><p>The smart home is still viewed with caution by some observers as interoperability, cost, and ease-of-operation concerns in particular have cooled consumer interest. We are all aware of the tech—from smart lights and energy management, to devices designed purely for convenience—but how many of us actually use it? According to analysts, around 16 percent of homes currently employ some form of smart technology, but the numbers are trending upwards rapidly as the industry addresses standardization concerns.</p><p>Unifying connectivity standard <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Matter" target="_blank">Matter</a> will deliver consumers greater simplicity, ensuring, for example, any Amazon Echo device can control any third party smart home security product, or any other Matter smart home device. This interoperability should act as an accelerant for smart home tech where security above convenience is also driving renewed interest from consumers. As fun as it might be to remotely and wirelessly control our lights, air conditioning or blinds, keeping our castle safe from uninvited intruders is a more pressing concern.</p><p>As such the market has been flooded with simple, user-friendly, easy-to-set-up wireless security systems, fully controlled and programmed via a smartphone app. These systems enable remote, wireless locking and unlocking, and the ability to issue temporary access to tradespeople or babysitters without handing over precious keys or lock combinations. An owner can also be notified if a lock is being tampered with, even if they are on the other side of the world.</p><p>And not every threat to our safety at home comes in human form. Wireless smart smoke and carbon monoxide detectors can alert smart home owners via a smartphone app in the event of an issue – whether they are at home or not. They can detect steam from smoke, can be disabled from the app in the event of a false alarm, and tell you when the batteries are running low, without the device ‘chirping’ at you in the middle of the night.</p><h2><strong>Transforming workplace safety with wireless technology</strong></h2><p>The pandemic may have spawned the work-from-home movement, but not all of us are fortunate enough to be able to earn a living from our living room. For those people—first responders, construction laborers, and farmers for example—who need to venture past their front door for their employment, wireless tech is also transforming workplace safety.</p><p>People working alone are at particular risk of workplace accidents, where the ability to trigger warnings may not be an option if someone becomes incapacitated. Wearable, wirelessly-connected devices employing a raft of sensors that can automatically trigger an alert to an employer or first responders are increasingly commonplace, particularly in potentially hazardous work environments like mines, farms and heavy industry.</p><p>For example, using explosives in mining operations to break mineral-bearing rocks can result in toxic fumes lingering for hours. In-situ or wearable environmental sensors can ensure downtime is minimized and that workers don't re-enter the blast site until it is safe. Similarly, exhaust fumes emitted from underground excavating equipment and drilling machines can be kept within limits by monitoring with gas detectors and particle sensors.</p><p>On farms, checking there is enough grain to feed livestock is traditionally a manual exercise. Aside from the risks of falling, inhaling dust emissions or the aspiration of silage gas can be extremely harmful, and like mines, explosion and fire are also real threats. Wireless connectivity allows tanks in remote agricultural locations to report level sensor data so the farmer can monitor feed, fuel, water, or fertilizer levels through a Cloud platform, using their smartphone, tablet, or computer.</p><h2><strong>The power of cellular IoT wireless technology</strong></h2><p>The catalyst for many of these remote monitoring solutions is the capabilities of mature <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Low-power-cellular-IoT" rel="noopener" target="_blank">cellular IoT</a> technology and the increasing ease with which it can be integrated into new solutions and application areas.</p><p>Mines and farms are often isolated, but cellular IoT network infrastructure is ever expanding and is increasingly available even in remote locations. The technology can either power a gateway to pass data from a group of Bluetooth LE IoT devices to the Cloud or power sensors with end-to-end IP connectivity. Base stations can support tens of thousands of cellular IoT connections, and the communications are fully bidirectional, robust, reliable, and secure. Moreover, NB-IoT can penetrate further below ground than other wireless IoT technologies.</p><h2><strong>Playing it safe with wireless technology</strong></h2><p>Outside of our homes and our places of work, wireless technology is also keeping us safe in other ways. In the last five years wearable devices that double as safety devices have proliferated. Today’s ultra miniaturized <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Bluetooth-Low-Energy" target="_blank">SoCs</a> and SiPs enable designers to embed wireless connectivity in imaginative form factors such as bracelets or necklaces that double as panic buttons.</p><p>For these personal safety device applications, Nordic’s <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/nRF9160" rel="noopener" target="_blank">nRF9160</a> low power SiP with integrated LTE-M/NB-IoT modem and GNSS can provide cellular IoT wireless connectivity between the device and the Cloud, eliminating the need for a smartphone or gateway. The nRF9160 SiP combines LTE-M cellular network location data with GNSS trilateration for precise position monitoring, while the nRF9160’s assisted and predictive GNSS also saves power by speeding up time-to-first-fix (TTFF) on the satellites.</p><p>And while wireless wearables have long been synonymous with keeping fit and urging us to increase our daily activity, they are now by design trying to keep us safe in the process. For example, cycling while a hugely popular pastime around the world, is also frequently hazardous. In 2020, The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported nearly 426,000 emergency department-treated injuries associated with bicycles.</p><p>Using Bluetooth LE-powered sensors and GPS, cycling helmets can now be transformed into a live GPS tracker, crash detector and safety beacon. Cycling equipment leader, <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Nordic-news/2019/02/ANGi-sensor-based-device-transforms-cycling-helmet-using-nRF52832" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Specialized launched one such device</a> that uses a built-in accelerometer and gyroscope to detect any potentially dangerous incident by the measurement of linear and rotational forces to the cyclist’s head that typically occur during a bicycle crash. When it detects the possibility of a serious accident, it launches a countdown alert on the partner smartphone app. If the rider is uninjured they can then manually cancel the countdown. However, if the rider is injured and unable to cancel the countdown, the app sends a text alert notifying the user’s emergency contacts of a possible accident. In addition, the rider’s location—established by the device’s most recently uploaded GPS coordinates—is immediately sent to all contacts.</p><p>It is one example among many of wireless technology making everyday life simpler, safer, and healthier for billions of us.</p><hr><p>This article was first published on Nordic'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" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Get Connected Blog</a>. &nbsp;</p>

Wireless technology saves lives every day, sometimes in extraordinary ways. After spotting flames rising from a residence in Scotts Valley, California, a passing jogger rang the doorbell in an effort to notify the homeowners. The owner wasn’t home, but the wireless doorbell was connected to a smart home hub that alerted her to the jogger’s attempt to make contact.

Wireless technology keeps us safe at home, work and play

<p id="isPasted">Smart lighting is a key component of smart commercial buildings and the connected home. Based on LEDs—which use at least 75 percent less energy, and last up to 25 times longer than traditional incandescent lighting, according to the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE)—combined with Bluetooth LE SoCs like Nordic’s nRF52, nRF53, and the forthcoming <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/nRF54H20" rel="noopener" target="_blank">nRF54 Series</a>, smart lighting brings illumination into the modern age.</p><p>Not only can intelligent lighting minimize energy usage, by, for example, dimming when ambient light conditions brighten or switching off when people are not present, but it can also form a platform for other sensors such as proximity monitors and air quality sensors.</p><p>The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) was quick to promote Bluetooth LE as a good connectivity option for smart lighting by highlighting the economies of scale that only the most widely deployed wireless radio standard in the world can provide. A further advantage is that Bluetooth LE is interoperability with almost every smartphone on the market, enabling the mobile to become a convenient interface for commissioning and controlling smart lighting.</p><p>But some tricky engineering challenges have threatened to stall smart lighting adoption. The good news is that first Bluetooth Mesh, and now the Bluetooth SIG’s recently announced Bluetooth NLC (Network Lighting Control) are providing solutions. &nbsp;</p><h2><strong>Adding mesh networking to Bluetooth</strong></h2><p>Bluetooth LE started life as a low power-consumption extension to Classic Bluetooth. In the early days it was designed for consumer type applications - for example wireless keyboards and mice or connecting peripherals such as fitness wearables to smartphones. Such applications require relatively simple peer-to-peer or star network topologies. In contrast, applications such as smart lighting—which features dense installations of wireless nodes—are best served by mesh networking.</p><p>In a mesh network, every node can talk to every other node rather than being restricted to communicating with just a central master node. That brings advantages such as built-in redundancy: if a node fails, messages can simply be rerouted through alternative paths.</p><p>To make Bluetooth LE more suitable for smart lighting, the Bluetooth SIG introduced Bluetooth Mesh. Making its debut in 2017, the tech offers features and options to create large-scale device networks. Without Bluetooth Mesh, individual lights are controlled from a central hub, restricting the position of each because it needs to remain in range of that hub. But with Bluetooth Mesh, a command rapidly propagates through the network with no position restriction on the lights - provided individual nodes are close enough together to communicate. It is also very easy to add or remove lights to or from the network.</p><h2><strong>Bringing greater interoperability to smart lighting</strong></h2><p>Bluetooth Mesh helped resolve some smart lighting engineering challenges but not all. The optional nature of Bluetooth Mesh’s features meant vendors had to choose a subset for their product segments. Challenges arose if vendors operating in the same product segments choose a set of options that didn’t work well with products from another vendor. For example, that made it frustrating for a consumer when features chosen for LED drivers from one maker were not compatible with features selected for light switches from another. Such problems undermined interoperability and consumer adoption.</p><p>Ensuring complete interoperability requires standardization across radio-, communication-, and device-layer of a wireless lighting control solution. Interoperability was ensured at the radio layer by using the Bluetooth LE protocol, and the communication layer through Bluetooth Mesh. But until now there was no solution for the device layer.&nbsp;To address this challenge, the Bluetooth SIG has developed a class of specifications called Bluetooth Mesh Device Profiles. These profiles define which options and features of the Bluetooth Mesh specification are mandatory for a certain kind of end-product – thus ensuring interoperability between different manufacturers’ versions of that type of device.</p><p>The first suite of mesh device profiles is collectively referred to as NLC profiles. According to the Bluetooth SIG, these profiles build on Bluetooth Mesh to form Bluetooth NLC, “the world’s first full-stack, multi-vendor interoperable wireless standard for wireless lighting control”.</p><h2><strong>Taking advantage of Bluetooth NLC with nRF Connect SDK</strong></h2><p>Nordic is the leading Bluetooth LE company in the world and is an enthusiastic supporter of Bluetooth Mesh and now Bluetooth NLC. That’s why we’ve immediately made it easier for developers to get started with the technology by including NLC profiles in the nRF Connect SDK.</p><p>The <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Bluetooth-mesh/Development-software?lang=en#infotabs" rel="noopener" target="_blank">NLC profiles</a> in the software development kit can be used to implement interoperable network controlled lighting setups, including ambient light and occupancy sensors, light controller, energy monitoring, scene selectors, and dimmer controls. Each of the profiles specifies a set of models and a set of performance parameters. The nRF Connect SDK provides a demonstration of how to implement each of these profiles as part of the Bluetooth samples contained in the kit.</p><h2><strong>A bright future for wireless smart lighting</strong></h2><p>The shift from wired to wireless lighting control solutions is being driven by three main advantages: greater design flexibility, lower cost of deployment, and future extensibility.</p><p>Wireless systems allow for optimal placement of switches, lights, and other equipment, including places where it would be impractical for wired systems. Without the need for control wires, wireless lighting controls offer lower deployment costs. Decreased labor and material expense, minimum disruption during installation, and reduced maintenance costs also bring substantial savings. Finally, once deployed, wireless systems are easier to extend and it is simple to add advanced controls.</p><p>These advantages mean that wireless lighting is set to boom. The U.S. DoE, for example, forecasts that 28 percent of commercial lighting deployments will be wirelessly connected by 2035. With the interoperability Bluetooth NLC now brings to the device layer of wireless control systems, Bluetooth smart lighting will play a major role. The Bluetooth SIG says that Bluetooth NLC device shipments will grow at a CAGR of 115 percent between now and 2027. The future for smart lighting is very bright.</p><hr><p>This article was first published on Nordic'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" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Get Connected Blog</a>. &nbsp;</p>

Smart lighting is a key component of smart commercial buildings and the connected home. Based on LEDs—which use at least 75 percent less energy, and last up to 25 times longer than traditional incandescent lighting, according to the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE)—combined with Bluetooth LE SoCs like Nordic’s nRF52, nRF53, and the forthcoming nRF54 Series, smart lighting brings illumination into the modern age.

Smart lighting control brightens the future of Bluetooth illumination

<p id="isPasted">Near ubiquitous wireless tech is making everyday life simpler, safer, and healthier for billions. And as ambitious developers take advantage of evolving technologies, connected devices with smaller form factors will do even more using even less power. But this brave new world hasn&rsquo;t happened overnight.</p><p>A pivotable moment in the remarkable rise of wireless innovation can be traced back a quarter of a century to the emergence of Bluetooth &ndash; an interoperable protocol that became a standard, accompanied by an open specification for both hardware and software. In its various forms, Bluetooth has powered a significant segment of the connected world ever since.</p><h2><strong>Changing the game with Bluetooth LE</strong></h2><p>The release of the original Bluetooth Classic standard drove impressive growth. Still, the introduction in 2010 of a low-energy version, Bluetooth Low Energy&nbsp;(<a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Bluetooth-Low-Energy?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bluetooth LE</a>), dramatically expanded the technology&rsquo;s range of applications. The development of Bluetooth LE was pushed along by partners, including Nordic Semiconductor &ndash; at the time, a company already renowned as a pioneer in ultra-low power, high-performance wireless connectivity.</p><p>Bluetooth LE was a game changer because its ultra-low power consumption meant data could be gathered from sensors without requiring frequent battery recharge or replacement. And because handset makers were familiar with the original Bluetooth tech, they rapidly adopted support for the low-power version in their new mobiles.</p><p>This was the catalyst for a huge market in &ldquo;appcessories&rdquo;, wirelessly linked peripheral devices such as fitness bands that were able to leverage the smartphone&rsquo;s computational horsepower. Today&rsquo;s highly-advanced wearables represent just the latest chapter in that story.</p><h2><strong>Planet Bluetooth expands</strong></h2><p>The expansion of &lsquo;Planet Bluetooth&rsquo; has been due to both constant enhancements to the Bluetooth Core Specification&mdash;the technical name for the document that details how to build Bluetooth devices&mdash;and the powerful Bluetooth SoCs with their associated application software that power increasingly sophisticated applications.</p><p>For example, the introduction of Bluetooth 5 in mid-2016 added some key capabilities to Bluetooth tech&mdash;notably increased range or higher data throughput&mdash;which helped improve functionality across a gamut of wireless applications from smart watches to smart agriculture.</p><p>The July 2017 release of the Bluetooth mesh 1.0 specification&mdash;as the name suggests, a mesh networking technology&mdash;provided vital functionality for applications in smart lighting, predictive maintenance, asset tracking, and locationing, among others.</p><p>In 2019, a further update to the Bluetooth Specification, Bluetooth 5.1, brought another powerful application of the technology to the fore &ndash; Direction Finding, a feature that opens up new possibilities for accurate indoor positioning of both assets and people.</p><p>In the lucrative audio market, LE Audio is described as the &lsquo;future of wireless sound&rsquo; and now allows engineers to enhance both the sound quality and power consumption of wireless audio products. The Bluetooth SIG says that in 2022, 1.36 billion Bluetooth audio streaming devices&mdash;including headsets, headphones, speakers, and earbuds &ndash; were shipped globally. An even more recent development, Auracast broadcast radio, is set to reshape audio sharing.</p><h2>Bluetooth cements its place in the smart home</h2><p>Bluetooth is also the wireless tech of choice for commissioning smart home devices. While smart home device manufacturers can select from several low-power wireless protocols, Bluetooth&#39;s unique advantage is its interoperability with smartphones and tablets. And with its inclusion in Matter, Bluetooth tech&#39;s place in the smart home is now cemented.</p><p>Thanks to these applications and many others, Bluetooth chips are used in their billions. And further growth is forecast. According to the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), 2023 will see the shipment of 5.4 billion Bluetooth devices &ndash; a figure expected to climb to 7.6 billion by 2027.</p><h2><strong>Pioneer becomes leader</strong></h2><p>Nordic&rsquo;s decision to back the Bluetooth LE open standard&mdash;just as it has with <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Low-power-cellular-IoT?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">cellular IoT</a>, <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/DECT-NR?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">DECT NR+</a>, and <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/WiFi?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Wi-Fi</a> in more recent times&mdash;meant ceding much of its hard-won intellectual property (IP) to others. But such a decision proved a masterstroke; Nordic&#39;s chip shipments made it the global market leader when the low-power wireless segment exploded.</p><p>Today, Nordic&rsquo;s award-winning, high-performance, yet easy to design-in Bluetooth LE solutions are used by the world&rsquo;s leading brands in myriad products from sports and fitness to industrial automation and education.</p><p>According to Bluetooth SIG data compiled by DNB Markets, Nordic had a market share of 39 percent of new design certifications in the Bluetooth LE market in 2021. And a total of more than 1,100 new designs were certified in 2022, of which 446 had Nordic inside.</p><p>Through successive product introductions, Nordic&#39;s chips have continually evolved in performance&mdash;primarily based on the use of more advanced semiconductor manufacturing tech, more generous memory, greater processing power, and highly-refined software. Each new generation has allowed developers to push the boundaries of innovation without making major sacrifices in power consumption.</p><h2><strong>Applications once unimagined</strong></h2><p>Like the capability of its products, the performance of applications enabled by Nordic&#39;s low-power wireless tech continues to improve. Two prominent examples include a high-end health monitoring wearable launched by U.S.-based human performance company <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/News/2022/07/The-WHOOP-4-uses-Nordics-nRF52840-SoC?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WHOOP</a> and China-based OctoNet&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/News/2023/05/OctoNet-Bluetooth-positioning-gateway-employs-nRF52840-and-nRF52833-SoCs?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bluetooth positioning gateway</a>, which uses the <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/products/nrf52833?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">nRF52833</a> SoC&rsquo;s direction-finding capabilities to keep track of high-value hospital equipment and the whereabouts of staff in hospitals.</p><p>The list of similarly advanced applications employing Nordic-enabled Bluetooth LE wireless connectivity is extensive. And as Bluetooth continues to spread and evolve, engineers using the omnipresent tech will keep coming up with applications once unimagined. The most recent update is Bluetooth 5.4, which includes enhancements that enable connectionless, bidirectional, secure communication with thousands of very low-power end nodes in a star topology network. Such a topology suits applications such as electronic shelf labels.</p><p>Bluetooth LE technology has become synonymous with the connected lifestyle across the globe. Whether a dedicated athlete, an intrepid adventurer, a patient with an acute medical condition, or simply a typical consumer in the developed world, we&rsquo;re all citizens of Planet Bluetooth.</p><hr><p>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" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Get Connected Blog</a>. &nbsp;</p>

A pivotable moment in the remarkable rise of wireless innovation can be traced back a quarter of a century to the emergence of Bluetooth – an interoperable protocol that became a standard, accompanied by an open specification for both hardware and software. In its various forms, Bluetooth has powered a significant segment of the connected world ever since.

The rise and rise of Bluetooth

<p id="isPasted">In the 20th century, rapid advances in household equipment and consumer electronics products made more comfortable living spaces possible while freeing us from the drudgery of many household chores. This gave rise to more free time that could be devoted to peaceful contemplation, self-improvement, and exploring favorite pursuits. In the 21st century and beyond, expectations for living spaces will continue to change in major ways, reflecting changes in lifestyle and the social environment.</p><p>Throughout most of the developed world, the number of dual-income households is increasing due to more diverse work styles and lifestyle changes. At the same time, the trend toward a declining birth rate and a growing proportion of elderly people continues, with an ever-increasing number of elderly people living alone. As a result, there is an increasing need not only for more efficient ways to deal with household chores and the like, but also for homes to incorporate functionality for ensuring safety and peace of mind, for watching over children and the elderly, and for managing the health of the family. Furthermore, the effects of accelerating efforts worldwide to achieve decarbonization have reached the home as well, as increasing attention is being paid to reducing energy consumption and ensuring effective utilization of resources in our everyday lives. The age of pursuing an affluent lifestyle based on mass consumption of energy and resources is coming to an end, and a new age focused on achieving a sustainable living environment is emerging.</p><p>In response to this need, efforts aimed at making use of the latest technologies such as IoT and artificial intelligence (AI) to achieve a sustainable and affluent living environment are becoming ever more active. Here we describe a movement known as &ldquo;Home Tech&rdquo; that encourages these efforts through the development of technology for use in the living spaces of the near future (Figure 1).</p><p><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 768px;"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjkyMDI1MDU3NjYxLXZhcmlvdXMtdGVjaC01LTEuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-inner">Figure 1 Achieving a sustainable and affluent lifestyle through Home Tech</span></span></span></p><h2 id="isPasted">Linking household equipment and consumer electronics devices that worked individually via a network to enable them to work together</h2><p>The term &ldquo;Home Tech&rdquo; is a neologism coined from the words &ldquo;home&rdquo; and &ldquo;technology.&rdquo; It refers to the use of technology to realize a living environment that is more comfortable and convenient while also being sustainable in terms of affordability, health, and the global environment. A home incorporating Home Tech is called a &ldquo;smart home.&rdquo; Also, the term &ldquo;home automation&rdquo; is sometimes used to refer to technology for automating tasks within living spaces that traditionally were performed by persons, such as household chores.</p><p>Up to now, most household equipment and consumer electronics products such as refrigerators and air conditioners have functioned independently of other devices. It is necessary to manage and operate each one individually, and this sometimes results in wasteful situations such as lighting fixtures brightly illuminating unoccupied rooms. It is of course possible for people to reduce waste by operating appliances and the like with great care, but this means that minimizing waste can be very time-consuming because every device in the home needs to be operated individually. As a result, much of the time we simply overlook the waste taking place.</p><p>By contrast, with Home Tech, if the equipment and devices are connected to a home network, they can interoperate with devices or computers. This means, for example, that sensors placed throughout the home can detect the status of the various rooms and residents, making it possible to turn off the lights in rooms where no one is present or to monitor the comfort level of residents and adjust the temperature accordingly. When a device detects that it is likely to fail, it could send out a request for maintenance on its own. In a more sophisticated example, a washing machine could detect when the stock of detergent is running low and automatically order more from an online shopping site (Figure 2).</p><p><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 768px;"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjkyMDI1MDc2MTY1LXZhcmlvdXMtdGVjaC01LTJfZW4ucG5nIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-inner">Figure 2 New functions of consumer electronics products made possible by Home Tech</span></span></span></p><h2 id="isPasted">Gathering data about people&rsquo;s lifestyles and interests, including the layout of their homes</h2><p>An important aspect of Home Tech is whether it can accurately track the status of people and their homes in real time and use this data to control equipment and consumer electronics in a way that is both efficient and sophisticated. The starting point of it all is data gathered by sensors. Three advanced examples of Home Tech that show what kinds of data can be gathered and how it can be put to use are presented below: smart meters, smart speakers, and robot vacuum cleaners (Figure 3).</p><p><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 768px;"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjkyMDI1MTA1MDA0LXZhcmlvdXMtdGVjaC01LTNfZW4ucG5nIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-inner">Figure 3 Gathering of data on status and movements of persons and their home environment</span></span></span></p><p id="isPasted">Smart meters are meters for utilities such as electric power, gas, or water that are connected to a network so that the usage data can be read remotely. Since the measured data is strongly related to the lifestyle and activities of the occupants of the home, it constitutes a valuable information source for putting Home Tech into practice. Systems using trends gleaned from power meters to monitor the well-being of elderly persons have already been implemented. In addition, arrangements for sharing power between homes based on power consumption data measured by smart meters and home storage battery charge level data have been instituted in Europe and America. Measures such as storing power late at night, when costs are lower, for use during the day are providing real cost benefits.</p><p>Smart speakers send natural language commands from users to the cloud, where they are recognized and interpreted by AI. This enables users to use their voice to do things like requesting a weather forecast or operating consumer electronics devices connected to the network. Search engines that people use on devices such as smartphones are powered by AI technology that learns the search terms users input and discerns their interests and preferences, enabling them to provide more relevant search results. Similarly, smart speakers collect data useful for the implementation of Home Tech by listening to the conversations of household members in their actual living environment. These capabilities have advanced to the stage where it is possible to read a person&rsquo;s mood or psychological state based on the characteristics of the speaker&rsquo;s voice or to discern the mood in a room in which a large number of people have gathered and are conversing with each other.</p><p>Robot vacuum cleaners are already familiar to many consumers as a convenient means of escaping the drudgery of household chores and maintaining a clean and tidy living space. Today&rsquo;s robot vacuum cleaners are equipped with clever functions that use sensors to recognize the room layout, location of furniture, and so on. They then create a digital map that enables them to efficiently clean even complex room layouts without missing anything. Such data on conditions within the home is useful in implementing effective Home Tech solutions.</p><p>As these examples show, it is now possible to collect multifaceted data on households and homes, ranging from information on lifestyle, preferences, and interests to the layout of the rooms in the home. Recent advances in information processing technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) enable the above data to be analyzed by a home server or in the cloud to facilitate more convenient and waste-free utilization of household equipment and consumer electronics devices.</p><h2>Using APIs to link devices from different manufacturers</h2><p>Technologies for connecting household equipment and consumer electronics products to a network include both wired standards such as Ethernet and an array of wireless technologies with various features, such as Wi-Fi&reg;, Bluetooth&reg;, ZigBee, and Z-Wave, the latter two providing enhanced power efficiency. In addition to these technologies, a means to enable interoperation among products from different manufacturers is becoming necessary.</p><p>Devices such as smart speakers or smartphones are widely used as direct interfaces between the members of the household and the home. To enable devices from different manufacturers to interoperate, IT companies that provide virtual assistants that allow users to operate product or communicate via voice or gestures are working together to develop industry-standard communication protocols. In Japan, a number of companies are participating in a consortium promoting the adoption of such a protocol, known as ECHONET Lite.</p><p>The public release of &ldquo;API links&rdquo; has proliferated in recent years as a way to increase the availability of voice-operated equipment and consumer electronics that can be controlled using smart speakers or smartphones (Figure 4). API stands for &ldquo;application programming interface,&rdquo; and APIs provide a way to share software functionality. A manufacturer selling a device intended to interoperate with other devices will release an API that can be integrated into software applications that manage or control aspects of the home environment. This makes interoperation between the first device and devices running the software applications possible. By using APIs, any device that can connect to the internet can interoperate with other devices.</p><p>As the number of categories of household equipment and consumer electronics products capable of interoperation grows, the scope of possible applications for Home Tech will broaden and adoption will accelerate. Home Tech is a foundation on which to build a comfortable living environment and an affluent lifestyle, and by making this possible in an efficient and sustainable way, it brings important benefits both for consumers and for the global environment.</p><p><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 768px;"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjkyMDI1MTI4MjM5LXZhcmlvdXMtdGVjaC01LTRfZW4ucG5nIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-inner">Figure 4 Use of API to link devices</span></span></span></p><p><br></p><hr id="isPasted"><p><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1693213227595-1693213227595.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></p><p>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.</p><p><a href="https://www.murata.com/en-eu/contactform?&Detail=Wevolver%20request" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" class="button-main-action">GET IN TOUCH</a></p>

Electronic Technology Supporting the Evolution of “Next Tech”

"Home Tech" Creates Comfortable and Sustainable Living Spaces Based on Data

Article #2 of Spotlight on Innovations in Edge Computing and Machine Learning: Edge AI techniques such as Keyword Spotting can turn an ordinary device into a smart appliance.

Implementing Smart Voice Control in Appliances: A Comprehensive Guide

Understanding Matter's role in standardizing smart home communication, endorsed by industry leaders and aimed at transforming IoT product development by addressing device compatibility issues.


Matter: The Future of Smart Home Connectivity and Its Impact on Product Development

<p id="isPasted">The smart home network continues to expand. Homeowners are now using wireless technology to operate the lights, window shades and HVAC, as well as entertain, manage energy consumption and make sure the house is secure. And this is just the start.</p><p>Technologies such as <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Bluetooth-Low-Energy?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bluetooth LE</a> and <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Thread?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Thread</a> offer robust and reliable connectivity with decent range. Together with <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/WiFi?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Wi-Fi</a>, the wireless technologies form the foundation of <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Matter" target="_blank">Matter</a>, a standard which is bringing harmony to the previously fragmented connected home market.</p><p>But there are times when consumers want a little more from the domestic network. For example, consider the family pet with her Bluetooth LE tracking collar. All is well as she sniffs around in the yard for lost toys, but what if boredom sets in and the four-legged friend decides to leap the fence and explore the rest of the neighborhood? She&rsquo;ll soon be out of range of the domestic Bluetooth LE network and on her own.</p><h2><strong>A free-to-connect community network</strong></h2><p><a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Amazon-Sidewalk?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Amazon Sidewalk</a>, which has recently been launched in the U.S., offers an answer. By combining Bluetooth LE and sub-GHz radio technologies, Amazon Sidewalk offers a free-to-connect wireless infrastructure that significantly extends the range of the home network.</p><p>Amazon Sidewalk over Bluetooth LE suits applications in the home and promises to improve wireless device performance by making it easier to connect Bluetooth LE devices to AWS (Amazon&rsquo;s Cloud computing service) while ensuring data privacy and enhancing security. Bluetooth LE also enables consumers to add Amazon Sidewalk devices to their network using their smartphones.</p><p>For operation beyond the home, Amazon Sidewalk uses sub-GHz radio technology because it offers longer range than 2.4 GHz technologies. Which is very useful for tracking escaped pets and other missing items. The trade-off for longer range is lower throughout.</p><p>You can think of the longer range version of Amazon Sidewalk as a &lsquo;community&rsquo; network that sits between the Bluetooth LE/Wi-Fi home network and kilometer-plus range LPWANs such as <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Low-power-cellular-IoT?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">cellular IoT</a>. This community network provides greater neighborhood coverage than home Wi-Fi alone and connects all Amazon Sidewalk devices to AWS - without incurring the data costs associated with cellular connection.</p><h2><strong>Based on Echo and Ring</strong></h2><p>Amazon Sidewalk is based on devices such as the company&rsquo;s Echo smart speakers and Ring security cameras. And it brings extra value to the huge installed base of these products. According to tech publication <em>GeekWire</em>, over 20 million U.S. households own an Echo, while about 8 million U.S. households have multiple Google Home units. The company owns around 69 percent of the U.S. smart speaker market.</p><p>Because of this installed base of Amazon smart speakers and security cameras, Amazon Sidewalk is immediately available for use with compatible devices &ndash; there&rsquo;s no need to wait for the roll-out of additional infrastructure to support the new technology. The company has published a coverage map that shows the technology already extends to over 90 percent of the U.S. population.</p><h2><strong>The gateways to the network</strong></h2><p>Echo and Ring products act as &ldquo;Sidewalk Bridges&rdquo; to form the basis of Amazon Sidewalk networks. The devices share a small portion of their Internet bandwidth to operate as gateways &ndash; allowing any Amazon Sidewalk product&mdash;for example, a <a data-lf-fd-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/-/media/Publications/Wireless-Quarter-pdf/2021/WQ_Issue_3_2021.pdf?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">pet tracker</a>,&nbsp;a seniors wearable or a utility meter&mdash;to communicate with AWS to reveal information such as location.</p><p>Sidewalk Bridges also support applications such as smart outdoor lighting, environmental sensors, asset trackers, and domestic appliances such as washing machines&mdash;that are often kept in basements or garages&mdash;as well as healthcare and commercial devices.</p><p>You don&rsquo;t even have to own an Amazon smart speaker or security camera to take advantage of Amazon Sidewalk. Compatible devices can leverage the gateway services of neighbors&rsquo; Sidewalk Bridges (if they have opted-in to the network) to connect with AWS.</p><h2><strong>Nordic support for both versions of Amazon Sidewalk</strong></h2><p>Nordic has officially completed &ldquo;Works With Amazon Sidewalk&rdquo; qualification for the <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/nRF52840?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">nRF52840</a> Bluetooth LE SoC. In addition to leveraging Bluetooth LE to allow Amazon Sidewalk end devices to effortlessly access the cloud, the nRF52840&rsquo;s smartphone-interoperable connectivity allows consumers to use their mobiles for simple authentication of new devices onto the Amazon Sidewalk network.</p><p>The longer range Amazon Sidewalk variant will use the Nordic SoC&rsquo;s processor to supervise operation of the sub-GHz Semtech SX1262 LoRa and FSK transceiver. Nordic also has Works With Amazon Sidewalk qualification for the nRF52840 and Semtech SX1262 combination.</p><p>The use of the Semtech transceiver enables two further operational modes for the Amazon technology: Amazon Sidewalk over LoRa (LoRa is a type of LPWAN) and Amazon Sidewalk over FSK (using frequency shift keying modulation and offering higher throughput than LoRa but with shorter range).</p><h2><strong>Development made simple</strong></h2><p>The nRF52840 uses Nordic&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Development-software/nRF-Connect-SDK?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">nRF Connect SDK</a> for Amazon Sidewalk software development. The scalable, unified software development kit can be used by developers to immediately get started on Amazon Sidewalk projects. Future versions of the SDK will integrate the latest version of the Amazon Sidewalk software repository.</p><p>Amazon Sidewalk applications can be evaluated using the <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Development-hardware/nRF52840-DK?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">nRF52840 DK</a>. This is a versatile single board development kit for Bluetooth LE, Bluetooth mesh, and other low power 2.4 GHz protocol development on the nRF52840 SoC.</p><h2><strong>Complementary technology</strong></h2><p>Amazon Sidewalk is designed to complement<strong>&nbsp;</strong>other wireless technologies. For example, Amazon is a key supporter of Matter, which will sit alongside Amazon Sidewalk in the company&rsquo;s Echo smart speakers.</p><p>Where Amazon Sidewalk will really come into its own is beyond the home. An errant pet&rsquo;s Bluetooth LE tracker, for example, will connect to AWS using the local community&rsquo;s Sidewalk Bridges ensuring the dog&rsquo;s owner knows exactly where it has wandered. There are currently few other free-to-connect wireless technologies that can do that.</p><hr><p>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;</p>

The smart home network continues to expand. Homeowners are now using wireless technology to operate the lights, window shades and HVAC, as well as entertain, manage energy consumption and make sure the house is secure. And this is just the start.

Using Amazon Sidewalk to improve wireless device performance indoors and beyond

Improving the lives of people all over the world without harming the planet is one of the biggest challenges facing humanity. 


Meeting the UN sustainable development goals with technology-driven smarter cities

<p id="isPasted">Humans invented agriculture some 10,000 years ago. And it was the practice that formed the cornerstone of civilization; because we could stay in one place instead of roaming for food, communities grew and there was more time to do many other constructive things. And yet, today there are some two billion people worldwide who are moderately or severely food insecure (according to <em>Our World in Data</em>, an online publication). The United Nations (UN) has set to combat this through a key sustainability goal of zero hunger by 2030.</p><p>However, there are several challenges before we can meet that goal. For a start, climate change has created temperature deviations that have affected plant growth patterns, while extreme weather events have disrupted production cycles through either too little or too much rain.</p><p>Additionally, one quarter of arable land is degraded to the point that it would require restoration before it could sustain crops (according to consulting firm McKinsey). And it&rsquo;s not just space that&rsquo;s short - agriculture accounts for 70 percent of freshwater used globally, says the World Bank. All this leads to a single conclusion &ndash; we must plant smarter, not more intensively.</p><h2><strong>Smart agriculture</strong></h2><p>The IoT has been a game-changer for large-scale agricultural food growth. Through precision farming&mdash;which uses connectivity, sensors, machines, drones and data analytics&mdash;farmers can create the ideal crop growing conditions and achieve the best yield-to-input ratio.</p><p>For instance, when irrigating plants, humidity sensors can be employed to ensure that crops are receiving the ideal amount of water. The effects have been dramatic, with McKinsey finding that, through increased connectivity, the agricultural sector could add $500 billion in value to the global GDP by 2030.</p><h2><strong>On the home front</strong></h2><p>And it&rsquo;s not just farms that can benefit from wireless tech. We can turn to&#39; micro&#39; solutions at home to help take some of the strain from the agricultural sector. By growing some basic plants, families and individuals could produce a small portion of their own food. But it&rsquo;s not easy; according to <em>Gardeningetc</em>, an Australian publication, beginner gardeners end up killing over half their plants.</p><p>So how can those with limited knowledge and even more limited resources get started? The answer comes from recent innovations in home gardening. And these solutions are particularly useful for those living in apartments or those who don&#39;t have access to a garden or outdoor area, as the solutions enable plant growth in low (or even no) natural light on a relatively small footprint.</p><h2><strong>Connectivity maximizes plant growth</strong></h2><p>Growgreen&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/News/2022/09/Growgreen---Smart-Grower?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">aspara<sup>&nbsp;</sup>Smart Grower</a> is an example of this new technology. The product uses a hydroponic design (for plant growth without the need for soil) and humidity sensors to provide the ideal level of moisture - reducing water waste by up to 90 percent, according to the company. The smart grower also includes a variety of other sensors to measure variables, including light intensity and nutrient levels, and create the optimum growth environment. The system is said to enable 50 percent faster growth than conventional planting in soil.</p><p>The product uses LED &quot;grow lights,&quot; which vary in intensity and the frequency (color) of the emitted light to stimulate plant development at different stages of growth. And aspara does this while only using the same amount of power as a lightbulb, minimizing energy usage while providing plants with sufficient illumination to accelerate growth.</p><p>To make things even easier for domestic food growers, and maximize plant yields, Nordic-powered <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Bluetooth-Low-Energy?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">wireless connectivity</a> allows the smart grower to connect to the &lsquo;aspara&rsquo; smartphone app. Via their mobile, users can be notified if the plants require additional nutrients or if the water tank needs to be refilled. (Lack of water and nutrients are key reasons why home growers have a poor record of crop success.) The app also stores records of planting data and offers tips to maximize plant growth.</p><h2><strong>Helping create a greener future</strong></h2><p>By increasing the amount of food grown at home&mdash;through products such as aspara&mdash;carbon emissions can also be reduced by decreasing the need for transportation. Such transportation is made more energy intensive by the need to keep food under controlled temperature and humidity conditions to ensure freshness. For example, even transporting a humble potato to market costs an average of 2.9 kg CO<sub>2</sub>e (carbon dioxide equivalent units) in emissions.</p><p>Moreover, growing food at home in a controlled environment can help combat seasonality issues, providing fresh produce when it is unavailable or significantly more expensive.</p><p>Of course, even with wireless tech, families and individuals probably won&rsquo;t be able to grow enough produce to become self-sufficient. But connected smart growers at least have the capacity to help take some of the strain off the current agricultural systems. And if many households worldwide were to implement such solutions, it would significantly impact building a sustainable future.</p><hr><p>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;</p>

The IoT has been a game-changer for large-scale agricultural food growth. Through precision farming—which uses connectivity, sensors, machines, drones and data analytics—farmers can create the ideal crop growing conditions and achieve the best yield-to-input ratio.

Home-grown food production gets smart

Life in vans and tiny houses doesn’t rule out comfort and connectivity. What if you could use a simple solution like an SBC to turn them into a smart home?


How SBCs can turn vans and tiny houses into smart homes

<p id="isPasted">For the length of human history, technology has played an important role in preventing theft. Before car keys, Henry Ford had to chain his car to a lamppost to avoid anyone with the strength to turn a physical crank from stealing it. Anti-theft technology has moved on significantly since Ford&rsquo;s day, but so too have the criminals, and it&rsquo;s not just cars they have in their sights.</p><p>One unlikely crime wave currently in vogue with enterprising thieves is utility access cover theft. These cast iron utility access covers can weigh upwards of 130 kilograms, but are a relatively easy target for a well-organized gang and can fetch $30 each when sold for scrap. In Worcestershire, U.K, more than 200 drain covers were pinched within a few weeks last year. 250 km away in another English county, Essex, they go missing almost daily. It&#39;s not just a U.K. problem either. In India 10,000 utility access covers disappeared without a trace in Kolkata within a two-month period.</p><h2>The great drain robbery</h2><p>While it may not seem like the worst crime in the world, the problem is surprisingly serious. For starters, there are safety risks to cars, bicycles, and pedestrians, particularly at night. Secondly, while the covers may only fetch $30 when scrapped, they cost a lot more to replace, up to several hundred dollars in some instances.</p><p>Some cities have begun placing locks on their utility access covers to deter the scrap metal bandits. Others are trying to partner with scrap metal merchants to incentivize identifying the criminals. Unfortunately, locks are an inconvenience to thieves rather than a foolproof prevention method. There is always another scrap metal dealer willing to turn a blind eye to where certain goods have been acquired. Another potential solution is replacing cast iron utility access covers &nbsp;with ones made of composite materials, which are just as strong but have no scrap value. In time this will happen, but with an estimated 20 million utility access covers in the U.S. alone, that is a lot of infrastructure to replace.</p><h2>A wireless alternative</h2><p>Another solution to the problem of municipal hardware theft lies with wireless technology. Cellular IoT and Bluetooth LE solutions are already widely deployed to prevent theft of everything from bicycles and animals to goods in transit. Paired with sensors and global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), the technology can also be used to instantly detect if a utility access cover&nbsp;has been removed and to where. It can also provide meaningful data on water levels and temperature that utility companies can use to schedule and log service requirements and events.</p><p><span data-hs-drop="true"><a href="https://blog.nordicsemi.com/cs/c/?cta_guid=d7970a3e-6ba4-46ff-9bc1-02a8248e53ba&signature=AAH58kF3O69h3RCen-vwL3LyeCir_euOxA&pageId=85448622652&placement_guid=08ba5b84-e247-49ce-838a-2832dba894e3&click=e47b23ef-b0fe-4216-a516-7f8b21c98dc5&hsutk=63206dd4f6958be20ab12d3982aa434a&canon=https%3A%2F%2Fblog.nordicsemi.com%2Fgetconnected%2Fwireless-tech-keeps-criminals-in-check&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fblog.nordicsemi.com%2Fgetconnected%2Fwireless-tech-keeps-criminals-in-check&portal_id=1961165&redirect_url=APefjpHgUBsg17toply-CRLhDbOqOsQe6hzGlFIQeqrAqVNpwKaSC5tZG7-suZXPFVxs2W8qaVHLhwkJb3HAW2wrIkpuQ0wYiZlhEqdMqEVRMTInNPCsFNwMALsAibO6_0iAjXL-oVSgK2GGrI-eQm2uIAtvpcT7irVVxGCKcPCDm6DMCT7i7t7guymXMDK982bBHA8ZOmv4nhlrFHsedwMglwU0eJWK0tmZuilHl8Nv8TLZOVG4ugYupeJyV-Trt88SznYdY6VgVFU0A6w4_8JpMTfMh6VYp3Y42QEIA2yRJuRxzqKRLmWE1gvI9-rG1JOdKjB9QTgY&__hstc=8439722.63206dd4f6958be20ab12d3982aa434a.1639788356964.1664543468594.1665145393774.38&__hssc=8439722.3.1665145393774&__hsfp=2525672310&contentType=blog-post" rel="noopener" target="_blank" title="Click here for access to the nRF9160 Development Kit ">Click here for access to the nRF9160 Development Kit&nbsp;</a></span></p><p>Cellular IoT devices such as Nordic Semiconductor&rsquo;s now power SiP with integrated LTE-M/NB-IoT modem and GNSS can track and monitor the condition of assets across cities, countries, or even the globe by wirelessly connecting to existing infrastructure. Cellular IoT is also as reliable and secure as wireless tech gets and, depending on the application, multiyear battery life can be expected. Battery life is important for all smart city infrastructure and also the millions of utility access covers that can&rsquo;t realistically be regularly serviced for battery replacement.</p><h2>Dual connectivity benefits</h2><p>Cellular IoT offers NB-IoT and LTE-M versions. NB-IoT is recommended for static applications where modest throughput is an acceptable trade-off for battery life. It offers up to a 15 km range and has been purpose-designed to conserve bandwidth and energy. If your device needs to roam&mdash;which your utility access covers shouldn&rsquo;t or at least not far &ndash; then LTE-M provides a better solution. LTE-M is perfect for medium-throughput applications requiring low power, low latency, and/or mobility,</p><p>LTE-M- and NB-IoT-enabled devices can be easily teamed with Bluetooth LE transceivers and paired with relatively inexpensive Bluetooth LE-powered sensors. With the long- and short-range wireless protocols working together seamlessly, near real-time monitoring of smart city assets combined with movement, impact, orientation, and environmental data is entirely possible.</p><h2>Detecting missing utility access covers</h2><p>One firm taking the fight to would-be utility access cover&nbsp;thieves is Jian-IOT. The company recently launched a smart utility access cover that can detect when the cover has been opened or closed, records water level and temperature data, identifies any damage and includes an anti-theft system that tracks its current location.</p><p>The cover employs Nordic&rsquo;s nRF52832 SoC to provide Bluetooth LE wireless connectivity between the device and a smartphone app operated by service personnel. By including Bluetooth LE connectivity, the company can allow municipal authorities to keep track of multiple utility access covers and aid traceability. Future use of the technology promises to help keep track of other city assets.</p><h2>Tomorrow&rsquo;s world</h2><p>Smart utility access covers are one small (but heavy) solution that will make up tomorrow&rsquo;s smart city. By 2050, seven-out-of-ten people are expected to live in a city. If those cities are to be smart, we will rely on billions of wireless IoT devices to go about our daily lives, and we will need to deliver seamless connectivity at an unprecedented scale. The technology exists, the roll out is now the issue. When it happens, the new urban populations will unquestionably benefit from a higher quality of life.</p><hr><p>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;</p>

For the length of human history, technology has played an important role in preventing theft. Before car keys, Henry Ford had to chain his car to a lamppost to avoid anyone with the strength to turn a physical crank from stealing it.

Wireless tech keeps criminals in check

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smart home