<p><em>This is the first article of a&nbsp;</em><a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/building-electronic-products-with-resilience" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>6-part series</em></a><em>&nbsp;looking at innovation in the electronics industry.&nbsp;</em></p><p id="isPasted">Technology companies are caught between two extremes.&nbsp;</p><p>On one side is almost limitless innovation, with technological breakthroughs revolutionising entire industries. But on the other is a global supply chain under unprecedented pressure.&nbsp;</p><style type="text/css" id="isPasted">
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</style><p>Enabling continued innovation while dealing with the constraints of supply chain uncertainty will be one of the most challenging tasks for the industry in the coming years, and being able to design &lsquo;around&rsquo; these constraints will be key. &nbsp;</p><h2>Era of innovation</h2><p>From edge computing to artificial intelligence, synthetic biology, and all the tech which combines to form industry 4.0 - we live in an era of innovation like no other. The speed and scale of that innovation have only been amplified by the pandemic. Covid provided fresh impetus to innovation for two reasons.&nbsp;</p><p>Firstly, science has been seen to be humanity&rsquo;s principal weapon against the virus, while the need for rapid progress in finding treatments and vaccines led to barriers in cooperation being broken down. This resulted in a new age of global cooperation between academic institutions, governments, and companies to find solutions to problems &ndash; and find them fast.&nbsp;</p><p>As the pandemic unfolded, many companies were also forced to undertake a period of technological innovation in order to survive. Being able to let staff work from home, as well as devising new ways to deal directly with customers, helped boost a fresh reliance on, and appetite for, technology. According to research by Mckinsey, companies&rsquo; overall adoption of digital technologies sped up by three to seven years in just a matter of months. <sup>[1]</sup></p><p>In the aftermath of the pandemic as countries slowly reopened, the need to innovate has not been lost &ndash; with many governments making technological advancements a cornerstone of their economic recovery plans. In the UK, the British government recently announced <sup>[2]</sup> a new &pound;39.8 billion R&amp;D budget from 20022-25, the country&rsquo;s largest-ever &ndash; which it plans to distribute with partner organisations.&nbsp;</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/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjUzOTAyNzg5OTA0LXZlbnRpYWxvdC5wbmciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 788px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-inner" spellcheck="false">The Covid-19 pandemic spurred innovations such as low-cost ventilators. Image credit: &nbsp;Nicola Pitaro/ETH Zurich.</span></span></span></p><h2>Supply chain challenges</h2><p>Despite the growing appetite for innovation and technology to fuel the development of new products, industry faces huge challenges due to unprecedented pressures on the global supply chain.&nbsp;</p><p>The seeds of the crisis were sown even before Covid. China had established itself as a manufacturing giant, producing many of the components used by industry in bulk and at affordable rates.</p><p>But power and labour shortages, coupled with tariffs imposed by the former US administration, impacted China&rsquo;s ability to build and export those components and the rates it previously had. Gartner&rsquo;s 2020 survey<sup>[3]&nbsp;</sup>of 260 supply chain leaders revealed 33% had moved sourcing and manufacturing activities out of China or planned to do so in the next two to three years.</p><h3>Covid demand rebounds&nbsp;</h3><p>Covid and its resulting fallout had a double impact on supply chains. Lockdowns caused disruption to manufacturing itself. For example, the Chinese Port of Ningbo - the world&rsquo;s third busiest - was shut down last August due to a single case of COVID-19. The second way it impacted supply chains was by temporarily reducing consumer demand while countries were in lockdown. When those lockdowns lifted, consumer demand rebounded and supply chains could not cope.</p><h3>Impact of Brexit&nbsp;</h3><p>The United Kingdom and, to a lesser extent, the European Union, have also had to contend with the impact of Brexit on supply chains. This has resulted in additional tariffs and delays at ports. The UK Office for National Statistics<sup>[4]</sup> found that 5% of companies in the UK had changed their supply chains due to Brexit.&nbsp;</p><h3>War in Ukraine&nbsp;</h3><p>The ongoing conflict in Ukraine has also had an impact on supply chains. A report by <a href="https://www.dnb.co.uk/perspectives/russia-ukraine-impacts-global-supply-chain.html" target="_blank">Dun &amp; Bradstreet</a> showed that more than 600,000 companies around the world rely on Ukrainian and Russian suppliers. Both countries are also big sources of neon and hexafluorobutadiene gases which are essential for the manufacture of semiconductor chips.</p><h2>Design constraints</h2><p>Designing within constraints is not a new challenge for industries. Even before the current supply chain crisis hit, innovators had to contend with a multitude of other issues.&nbsp;</p><p>These could include budget, staffing, available tools, time and other factors such as trends in wider society, the views of the consumer and public, as well as government legislation. In order to deal with these constraints, tech companies had to do what they do best - innovate.&nbsp;</p><p>By designing and constructing components and products that make allowances for constraints, they are able to build resilience into their products. The challenge posed by supply chain issues is no different. Perhaps the greatest design constraint in the world today - the ability to source products at quantity and in an acceptable timeframe - means manufacturers must factors this into how they design and produce their products.&nbsp;</p><h3>Solutions</h3><p>In order to tackle the supply chain crisis head one while still continuing to innovate, electronic product OEMs must be able to design within the current supply chain constraints.&nbsp;</p><p>There are number of ways they can do this. These include:</p><ul><li>Work with what is available. It may sound obvious, but companies can adapt their designs to make use of the components which are readily available. Even if adapting those designs requires short-term costs, it will be beneficial in the longer term.&nbsp;</li><li>Auxiliary components. Products can be designed with auxiliary microcarrier cards. Although this can impact on cost, it can be beneficial if the original components are not available.&nbsp;</li><li>Creating a dual footprint design.PCBs can be created which accommodate multiple footprints. This may require some flexibility in terms of how firmware is added but can provide additional supply chain resilience.&nbsp;</li><li>Substituting secondary components. Products can be designed so parts such as memory chips can be replaced with substitutes. The adaptability of drivers will be a factor here. &nbsp;</li><li>Understand the supply chain limitations. Parts may take time to produce and deliver under the current circumstances, so engaging a supply network that is reliable and can quantify what it is able to deliver &ndash; and when &ndash; is vital.</li></ul><p>To enable all of this, innovators must find reliable suppliers which have extensive details on stock and are able to provide visibility of supply issues in the short and medium-term. This enables OEMs to know with near certainty that they can source the components they need. If they are unable to source those components, they are at least able to make quick decisions about alternative designs and pivot if necessary.&nbsp;</p><p>Being able to understand which components are available and how this impacts manufacturing times will be crucial for companies that hope to stay one step ahead.&nbsp;</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/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjUzOTAyNDYxMTcyLXNodXR0ZXJzdG9ja18xOTE4ODU0ODMzLmpwZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width: 788px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-inner" spellcheck="false">To design with resistance, OEMs to know with near certainty that they can source the components.&nbsp;</span></span></span></p><h2>Innovation in uncertain times</h2><p>We live in uncertain times, but uncertainty has never been barrier to innovation. Indeed, many of history&rsquo;s greatest innovations have come about during hard times, embodying the phrase &lsquo;necessity is the mother of invention&rsquo;.</p><p>That being said, in order for companies to compete they have to have as much certainty as possible in their supply chain and production lifecycles if they are not only to remain competitive but outshine the competition.</p><p>Being able to innovate in a world where this is increasingly important, while also tackling unknowns such as the supply chain crisis, will require companies to adapt.&nbsp;</p><p>Firstly, they will have to design &lsquo;around&rsquo; the constraints of supply chain problems by developing products with components that can be more easily sourced, or which can be replaced with alternatives if the need arises.</p><p>To do this successfully, they will need suppliers that can provide reliable information on things such as component details, quantities, and delivery times. By doing so, they can continue to innovate regardless of ongoing supply chain problems. &nbsp;</p><h2>Building for Resilience with OKdo</h2><p>Suppliers such as British-based <a href="https://www.okdo.com/industrial/?utm_source=Wevolver&utm_campaign=prospecting&utm_medium=display&utm_content=thoughtleadership_b2b" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OKdo</a> can support engineers to make the kind of smart, data-based design decisions that enable them to focus on innovation in the face of these supply chain challenges. Okdo assists engineers by delivering a unique combination of software, development support, and manufacturing services. they work with partnerships large and small to make the best products available. OKdo goes beyond just supply and assisting innovators through support and expertise in part selection, prototyping, customization, and large-scale manufacturing. Learn more about how they can help you to build IoT products with resilience at <a href="https://www.okdo.com/industrial/?utm_source=Wevolver&utm_campaign=prospecting&utm_medium=display&utm_content=thoughtleadership_b2b" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">their site.</a></p><p id="isPasted">This is the third article of a 6-part series:</p><p><a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/building-electronic-products-with-resilience" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Article 1</a> looked at supply chain resilience.</p><p><a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/the-future-of-sustainable-electronics" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Article 2</a> examined the future of sustainable electronics.</p><p><a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/bringing-the-smart-home-to-the-smart-office-how-engineers-can-empower-users-with-iot-enabled-products-in-the-workplace" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Article 3</a> surveys current smart office trends.</p><p><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjUzOTAyOTc5OTAwLW9rIGRvIGJvdHRvbSBiYW5uZXIuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"></p><h2><strong>References</strong></h2><style type="text/css" id="isPasted">
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</style><p>1. The new digital edge: Rethinking strategy for the postpandemic era:<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/the-new-digital-edge-rethinking-strategy-for-the-postpandemic-era"></a><br><a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/the-new-digital-edge-rethinking-strategy-for-the-postpandemic-era" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/the-new-digital-edge-rethinking-strategy-for-the-postpandemic-era</a>&nbsp;</p><p>2. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-announces-plans-for-largest-ever-rd-budget" id="isPasted" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-announces-plans-for-largest-ever-rd-budget</a></p><p>3. <a data-remove-tab-index="true" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-stringify-link="https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2020-06-24-gartner-survey-reveals-33-percent-of-supply-chain-leaders-moved-business-out-of-china-or-plan-to-by-2023" href="https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2020-06-24-gartner-survey-reveals-33-percent-of-supply-chain-leaders-moved-business-out-of-china-or-plan-to-by-2023" rel="noopener noreferrer" tabindex="-1" target="_blank">https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2020-06-24-gartner-survey-reveals[&hellip;]-chain-leaders-moved-business-out-of-china-or-plan-to-by-2023</a></p><p>4. Early insights into the impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and EU exit on business supply chains in the UK: February 2021 to February 2022:<br><a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/internationaltrade/articles/earlyinsightsintotheimpactsofthecoronaviruspandemicandeuexitonbusinesssupplychainsintheuk/february2021tofebruary2022" id="isPasted" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/internationaltrade/articles/earlyinsightsintotheimpactsofthecoronaviruspandemicandeuexitonbusinesssupplychainsintheuk/february2021tofebruary2022</a></p>

Article #1 Electronics Innovation Series. Enabling continued innovation while dealing with the constraints of supply chain uncertainty is a task for both designers and suppliers. 

Building Electronic Products with Resilience

Platform Integrity must be an essential design priority to ensure data protection.


IoT Platform Security Basics and Essentials

<p id="isPasted"><em>This is the final article in a four-part series based on the whitepaper by&nbsp;</em><a href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/intrinsic.id" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Intrinsic ID</em></a><em>&nbsp;that presents an in-depth study of low-cost IoT network attacks and the practical security approaches against them. The </em><a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/understanding-low-cost-iot-attacks" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>first</em></a><em>&nbsp;of these articles explores the categories of IoT attacks and their origins. The </em><a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/security-assurance-of-iot-systems" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>second </em></a><em>goes into the detail of attack surfaces and the mechanisms used to secure the system. The </em><a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/iot-platform-security-basics-and-essentials" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>third</em></a><em> describes the importance of IoT platform integrity, the components that makeup IoT platforms and highlights the functions of security subsystems at different levels to ensure platform integrity.&nbsp;</em></p><style type="text/css" id="isPasted">
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</style><p>Security is vital in the modern industrial and consumer landscape. Not only is it necessary to protect companies from loss of revenue and reputation, but it is crucial if public confidence is to be retained in the future of technology such as IoT.&nbsp;</p><p>But while security can be deployed to protect systems once they are up and running, the nature of the technology now being used in the IoT landscape means that even the smallest and most trivial component can be weaponized by a malicious actor before it has even been integrated into a system.&nbsp;</p><p>From stealing data to planting malicious code, an attacker can use an integrated circuit (IC) as a Trojan horse, gaining access and putting everything in place while it is still being put together. This is the reason the IC manufacturing lifecycle has become such a crucial battleground between the security gatekeepers and the attackers.&nbsp;</p><h2>The lifecycle explained&nbsp;</h2><p>The IC lifecycle consists of four distinct phases; production, manufacturing, in-field, and beyond in-field.&nbsp;</p><h3>Life cycle stages</h3><p>The first phase of the lifecycle is IC production, at which point it undergoes testing and is embedded into its package. Depending on what it will eventually be used for, this is the stage at which a decision is made about whether to load sensitive or non-sensitive data onto the IC.&nbsp;</p><p>System manufacturing is phase two. Known as open or virgin mode, it is at this point that additional programming, debugging and configuration are carried out. Data such as keys and firmware may be supplied by the IC manufacturer which the system manufacturer can now load.</p><p>Phase three sees the IC leave the manufacturing plant and it is at this point where the lifecycle moves from &lsquo;open&rsquo; to &lsquo;in-field&rsquo;. The IC is now being used for its intended purpose in industry and any data which was previously provided can now be used. This is an important juncture from a security standpoint because it is where the credentials and keys which have now been loaded on the IC are put into use.&nbsp;</p><p>During this phase of the lifecycle, there are various instances where this sensitive data may be used. These are:</p><ul><li><strong>Updates:</strong> Updates are critical to device security in-field and ensuring they can be installed successfully is vital. To that end, cryptographic keys are used to enable authentication and encryption for updates. This prevents bad actors from intercepting transmitted updates or installing malicious updates.&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Setup &amp; Pairing:</strong> This is where keypairs are used to obtain device certificates. These certificates enable devices to be authenticated to the cloud or on other devices.&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Operation</strong>: This is where data that has been generated can be encrypted before it is then transmitted to the cloud or other devices. Sensitive data on a device can also be encrypted at this stage.&nbsp;</li></ul><p>Phase four is where the IC moves beyond in field. In certain circumstances, the device can leave the in-field phase of the lifecycle and return to the open lifecycle or enter a failure analysis phase. These circumstances depend on the product and manufacturer. At this point, firmware data, configuration, and security assets will need to have been erased. &nbsp;</p><p>If the IC is entering a failure analysis stage because it is malfunctioning, there are a number of options. It may be rendered useless due to its functionality being disabled. This helps inhibit the ability of an attacker to reconfigure the device. After the sensitive data has been stripped away, the IC can be reloaded with new data which refurbishes it for future use.&nbsp;</p><p>Once the hardware is at the end of its working life, all the important data has to be removed. This is once again to prevent an attacker from reconfiguring it.&nbsp;</p><h3>Life cycle threats&nbsp;</h3><p>Each of the IC lifecycle&rsquo;s four phases provides opportunities for attackers to strike at ICs and IoT devices.</p><p>During the first phase, sensitive data may be loaded onto the IC which can be accessed, stolen, or repurposed by an attacker before it is even shipped off to a manufacturer. &nbsp;</p><p>Once it arrives at the system manufacturer for phase two and is in open mode, this also presents an opportunity for an attacker, because it is at this stage that the IC accepts requests for programming, debugging, and configuration.</p><p>The in-field third phase presents a myriad of opportunities for security threats. IoT devices are extremely vulnerable when they are in the field because malicious actors can more easily gain access to them. IoT devices can be anywhere, so by their very nature, it becomes much simpler for them to fall into the hands of attackers or be accessed by them. It is therefore vital that security is of the highest standard before IoT devices are used in-field.&nbsp;</p><p>In phase four, some IC may not function correctly and will be refurbished or decommissioned. But at this point, it may still hold sensitive data which can be exploited by an attacker. Just because it is broken does not mean it no longer has any value to an attacker.&nbsp;</p><h2>Protecting from attacks during the IC lifecycle</h2><p>There are multiple effective ways of protecting sensitive data such as keys, firmware, and configuration. This includes providing a security subsystem at the initial IC manufacturing phase of the lifecycle.&nbsp;</p><p>Deploying hardened security subsystems is also an effective countermeasure against certain hardware attacks. &nbsp;Filling the gap to enable system-level protection that is beyond the confines of software or external components.&nbsp;</p><p>Central to effective IoT going forward, hardened security subsystems are embedded in general-purpose microcontrollers and processors. And as part of a wider suite of security precautions, they can protect and manage cryptographic assets, while also providing secure boot and security policy enforcement.&nbsp;</p><h2>Providing security assurance</h2><p>Confidence is key if smart technology is to be adopted by industry and society. One survey found that almost a third of consumers were deterred from buying a smart device due to security concerns. Almost two-thirds also said connected devices were &lsquo;creepy&rsquo; in the way they collected data.&nbsp;</p><p>If confidence is to be established, central to that task is security assurance. This provides a mark of quality that says the organization has adhered to specific security protocols which enables the end-user to have confidence.</p><p>This security assurance is usually provided through external, independent third-party certification. Common Criteria (CC) have traditionally been used to provide security assurances but can be complex and expensive. But newer schemes such as PSA or SESIP are regarded as easier to adopt. They also provide the possibility of composite certification.&nbsp;</p><p>Put simply, this means a customer can build on the certification on the components which have already been achieved by the relative suppliers. A mark of quality on top of another mark of quality.&nbsp;</p><p>These new ways of doing things not only maximize confidence but reduce time and cost compared to previous methods of providing security assurance.&nbsp;</p><h2>Conclusion</h2><p>IoT and smart technology are transforming society but security concerns - both real and imagined &ndash; could provide a real barrier to continued growth.</p><p>Central to establishing confidence in the industry and among consumers is the adoption of good security practices during each stage of the IC lifecycle. Measures must be put in place to ensure attackers can not gain control of data or repurpose devices before they have even left the factory for their intended industry.&nbsp;</p><p>One method of protecting against these types of attacks is by putting hardened security subsystems in place. Over the last decade, these types of integrated security subsystems have become more widely adopted and are seen as an effective countermeasure to low-cost hardware as well as software attacks. &nbsp;But it is not enough to simply put these measures in place. There must be third-party verification that these security measures reach the required standards if that trust is to be retained and maintained.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Learn more about how to protect your IoT devices from low-cost attacks.&nbsp;</strong></p><p>This article is based on the whitepaper titled, <a href="https://www.intrinsic-id.com/resources/white-papers/landing-page-white-paper-preventing-a-500-attack-wevolver/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Preventing a $500 Attack Destroying Your IoT Devices</a>. Download the paper here and learn more about the risks of low-cost attacks and how to ensure your devices are safe, secure, and protected.</p><p><a class="button-main-action" href="https://www.intrinsic-id.com/resources/white-papers/landing-page-white-paper-preventing-a-500-attack-wevolver/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Download the free whitepaper here</a></p><h2><strong><em>About the sponsor: Intrinsic ID</em></strong></h2><p><a href="https://www.intrinsic-id.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Intrinsic ID&nbsp;</em></a><em>is among the world&rsquo;s leading providers of security IP for embedded systems based on physical unclonable function or <a href="https://www.intrinsic-id.com/physical-unclonable-function/" target="_blank">PUF technology</a>. The technology provides an additional level of hardware security utilizing the inherent uniqueness in each and every silicon chip. The IP can be delivered in hardware or software and can be applied easily to almost any chip &ndash; from tiny microcontrollers to high-performance FPGAs &ndash; and at any stage of a product&rsquo;s lifecycle. It is used as a<a href="https://www.intrinsic-id.com/sram-puf/iot-security-it-starts-with-a-strong-root-of-trust/" target="_blank">&nbsp;hardware root of trust</a> to validate payment systems, secure connectivity, authenticate sensors, and protect sensitive government and military data and systems. Intrinsic ID security has been deployed and proven in millions of devices certified by EMVCo, Visa, CC EAL6+, PSA, ioXt, and governments across the globe.</em></p><p><em><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjUxODU5NzA5NzI0LWxvZ28gYm90dG9tIGJhbm5lciBpbnRyaW5zaWMuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"></em></p><h2 id="isPasted">References</h2><p>1.The Trust Opportunity: Exploring Consumer Attitudes to the Internet of Things:<br><a href="https://www.internetsociety.org/resources/doc/2019/trust-opportunity-exploring-consumer-attitudes-to-iot/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.internetsociety.org/resources/doc/2019/trust-opportunity-exploring-consumer-attitudes-to-iot/</a></p>

The IC manufacturing lifecycle is the foundation of IoT security. 

Integrated Circuit Lifecycles and Impact on Security

<h2 dir="ltr" id="isPasted">Introduction</h2><p dir="ltr">The fourth industrial revolution, also known as the industry 4.0, is all about intelligent automation. The world around us is digitally evolving, with more and more tasks getting intelligently automated by machines. New data collection, analysis, and communication methods have enabled machines to talk to each other, making many processes more independent and efficient than ever. This marks the beginning of the next industrial revolution that we are all a part of.&nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr">In this article, we present a thought-provoking discussion on the possible outcomes of the fourth industrial revolution. We share the consequences of optimistic and pessimistic scenarios of the event and come up with a few imperatives that can help us as a society, prepare for the future.</p><h3 dir="ltr">History of Industrial Revolutions</h3><p dir="ltr">The first industrial revolution started around 1760 and was centered around the improved use of materials and the development of steam-powered machines. The next one took place around the 1870s and was led by electrical engineering. Strengthening of the railway network, better material processing capabilities, and new machines were some of the notable improvements made possible by electrification during this period.&nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr">The third industrial revolution began in 1947 with the development of digital electronics and information technology. Computers, the internet, smartphones, and many products we use today are a result of this digital revolution.</p><p dir="ltr">The fourth industrial revolution is the development we are experiencing with the introduction of new cyber-physical systems, the internet of things devices, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, blockchain, additive manufacturing, nanotechnology, and tons of other cutting-edge technologies.&nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr">These innovations have the potential to completely change the way we live. But how exactly things turn out, depends on the choices we make today.</p><h2 dir="ltr">The optimistic scenario</h2><p dir="ltr">Industrial revolutions in the past have brought fundamental and long-lasting transformations in societies. The automation of manufacturing and production processes led to the loss of jobs of people employed in this sector. But at the same time, it created new opportunities for the skilled.</p><p dir="ltr">Many economists believe that this time is going to be no different. They believe history will repeat itself, and the fourth industrial revolution will lead to the creation of more jobs than it displaces while improving the quality of life and productivity.</p><p dir="ltr">Economists proposing the optimistic scenarios are confident that the time it takes to automate a process would be enough to reskill the workforce so that society is ready for the jobs of the future.</p><h2 dir="ltr">The pessimistic scenario</h2><p dir="ltr">Believers in the pessimistic scenario consider the recent developments in automation systems unprecedented. Unlike the past improvements which were largely limited to making more powerful electronic and mechanical systems, this time, the control logic gets intelligence, an ability that no machine possessed ever before.</p><p dir="ltr">The pace of technological innovations in this domain is constantly accelerating and has reached a point where we are hardly left with any time to retrain the workforce to catch up to it. The changes that happened over a couple of decades in the past, are now happening within a few years.</p><p dir="ltr">Experts have reasons to believe machine intelligence will keep getting better to overtake humans in many day-to-day tasks like driving, working at retail outlets, content creation, and more. Ultimately, our society will reach a point where humans will no longer be able to compete with machines.</p><p dir="ltr">Without any doubt, the industrial revolution will still create new and better jobs to maintain and upgrade machines. However, they will be far less in number than what the revolution destroys.</p><p dir="ltr">To understand the viewpoint, one can consider how automobiles replaced horses as a means of transport. The population of horses in the US declined from 20 million to 4.5 million between the mid-1910s and late 1950s. At present, horse riding is a leisure activity that people just do for fun. In a similar way, the roles of humans may get redundant as intelligent machines take over.</p><p dir="ltr">These were just some of the reasons why a large section of society believes the fourth industrial revolution will be different and not in a good way.</p><h2 dir="ltr">Getting ready for both</h2><p dir="ltr">While we strongly hope for the optimistic scenario to come true, we must also prepare for the pessimistic one. By looking at historic and ongoing developments in an objective way, some imperatives can be defined and worked upon to keep progress sustainable.</p><p dir="ltr"><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dii" style="width: 757px;"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1651750499071-1651750499071.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"><span class="fr-inner" spellcheck="false">Fig. 1: The future with intelligent automation: imperatives for sustained advancements</span></span></span></p><h3 dir="ltr">Imperative 1: Evolving skills</h3><p dir="ltr">Governments and private institutions must plan ahead and take proactive steps to instill adaptability in the workforce. Learning what to learn and how to learn are the two important skills to acquire in this age of rapid advancements. Understanding technology is important; however, it is also expected that future jobs might require knowing &lsquo;what&rsquo; to do instead of &lsquo;how&rsquo; to do it.</p><h3 dir="ltr">Imperative 2: Wealth sharing</h3><p dir="ltr">A direct consequence of digitalization is an increase in productivity and the creation of value. However, these gains are not equally shared. This further widens the gap between the rich and the poor. To reduce financial inequalities in society, something such as a universal basic income can be considered. Irrespective of the wealth and employment status of an individual, governments can ensure basic needs such as food, shelter, warmth, rest, and safety are met.</p><h3 dir="ltr">Imperative 3: Rethinking work</h3><p dir="ltr">Every other person experiences burn-out at work. Poor office culture and high workload are the two factors that contribute most to it. To deal with this challenge, intelligent automation can be leveraged as a means to reduce the burden on the workforce. The activities that can be automated must be automated so that people can spend their time working on meaningful tasks. This would let them spare more time for leisure activities and improve their quality of life.</p><h3 dir="ltr">Imperative 4: Reinventing education</h3><p dir="ltr">Society is obsessed with education and work. Creativity takes a backseat as we confuse our personality and status with work. Instead of being focused on grades, jobs, and incomes, the emphasis must be on the fundamental values of humanity. Value-based education must be imparted to help people find a purpose in their lives.</p><h3 dir="ltr">Imperative 5: Building a new society</h3><p dir="ltr">Following the four imperatives explained above can help prepare for the next industrial revolution. By redefining education and work, our society can embrace a new culture that focuses on humanity, the environment, and other things that really matter in life.</p><h2 dir="ltr">Conclusion</h2><p dir="ltr">Machines have always been great at carrying out repeating tasks tirelessly. With the advent of highly connected and intelligent technologies, they are getting faster, smarter, and better. The value derived from the improvements brought in by the next industrial revolution can help in advancing humanity only if shared equally amongst all.&nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr">The fourth industrial revolution could be a foundation of a society that encourages creating time for activities that fulfill us and make us more human.&nbsp;</p><h2 dir="ltr">References</h2><p dir="ltr">[1] Bornet, P. et al. (2020). &ldquo;Intelligent Automation: Welcome to the world of Hyperautomation&rdquo;, World Scientific, ISBN: 9789811235849, 9811235848.</p><p dir="ltr">[2] Bornet et al., 2017. &ldquo;Intelligent automation is about creating synergies between RPA, cognitive, chatbots and AI&rdquo;. <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/from-robotic-process-automation-rpa-artificialai-journey-bornet/" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/from-robotic-process-automation-rpa-artificialai-journey-bornet/</a></p><p dir="ltr">[3] &quot;IEEE Guide for Terms and Concepts in Intelligent Process Automation,&quot; in IEEE Std 2755-2017, vol., no., pp.1-16, 28 Sept. 2017, DOI: 10.1109/IEEESTD.2017.8070671.IEEE Std. 2755-2017, IEEE Guide for Terms and Concepts in Intelligent Process Automation.</p>

The fourth industrial revolution has the potential to fundamentally transform the way humans and machines work today. Will it lead to an improvement in the quality of life? Or will it be a cause of widespread job losses and unrest?

Reinventing Society with Intelligent Automation: Preparing for the Outcomes of the Next Industrial Revolution

<p dir="ltr" id="isPasted"><strong>Cellular IoT is gaining momentum. The technologies LTE-M and NB-IoT are widely available as of today. 110 operators claim to have LTE-M and/or NB-IoT networks available and at least a dozen others are preparing their rollout as we speak. Over the past 14 years, LTE Cat 1 has proven itself as a good candidate for many IoT applications and led to the release of a new version of this category to make it better suitable for IoT application called: LTE Cat 1bis.</strong></p><p dir="ltr">While LTE-M, NB-IoT and LTE Cat 1(bis) technologies are growing in popularity, we see operators preparing the sunset of their 2G and 3G networks to reduce operational expenses and free up spectrum. In addition, public unlicensed networks don&#39;t seem to live up to their promise, looking at <a href="https://iot.eetimes.com/sigfox-files-for-bankruptcy-protection-to-survive-the-pandemic/" target="_blank">Sigfox filing for bankruptcy protection</a> and Bouygues Telecom <a href="https://objenious.com/blogpost/33947/" target="_blank">announcing</a> to shut down their public LoRaWAN network and focus on their cellular LPWAN technologies LTE-M and NB-IoT.&nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr">When considering to start using cellular LPWAN (Low Power Wide Area Network), 2022 might be the perfect year. <strong>The technology has proven itself, networks are ready to use and hardware is widely available</strong>.</p><h2 dir="ltr">What do we mean with Cellular IoT?</h2><p dir="ltr"><strong>A brief history of LTE</strong><br>There is no such thing as an LTE standard. Instead there is a multitude of technologies that fall under the LTE umbrella. These technologies can be roughly classified into 2 groups: <strong>MBB</strong> (Mobile Broadband) and <strong>MTC</strong> (Machine Type Communication). With MBB technologies such as LTE Cat 4 and Cat 6 focussing on high data throughput and low latency, MTC aims at cutting down costs, improving link budget and reducing power consumption.&nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr"><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjUxNTE5NDgwODIzLXdpcmVsZXNzIGV2b2x1dGlvbi5wbmciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"></p><p dir="ltr" id="isPasted">Cellular IoT refers to MTC and allows sensors and actuators to be connected to the Internet. IoT devices require <strong>long-range connectivity</strong> (due to a large link-budget) as many devices are installed in remote and often hard to reach locations, <strong>low power consumption</strong> as most devices run on batteries for years and <strong>low cost</strong> as IoT deployments often come in large volumes.</p><p dir="ltr">Cellular technologies designed for IoT devices are LTE Cat 1 (including Cat 1bis), LTE-M (also referred to as LTE Cat-M1 or eMTC) and NB-IoT (also called LTE Cat-NB). As of today, we see these technologies being used in <strong>smart city</strong> applications such as smart street lighting and payment terminals or points of sales. In <strong>agriculture</strong> to track livestock or precision agriculture and in the <strong>logistics</strong> industry to track valuable assets or optimize warehouse management.&nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr">As shown in the coverage map below, large parts of Europe, North America and Oceania are already covered by LTE-M and NB-IoT technology, as well as several countries in Asia and South America. This makes asset tracking particularly interesting now that networks are widely available and goods can be tracked cross-border. In order to support LTE-M and NB-IoT, existing LTE cell towers require a software upgrade. LTE Cat 1(bis) however, is supported by all LTE infrastructure, making it a truly global standard as of today.</p><p dir="ltr"><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 768px;"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjUxNTE5MzA5OTY0LUNvdmVyYWdlIG1hcCAyLnBuZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-inner">LTE-M and/or NB-IoT coverage.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gsma.com/iot/deployment-map/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Source GSMA</a><a href="https://www.gsma.com/iot/deployment-map/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a></span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" id="isPasted"><strong>Getting started with cellular IoT</strong></p><p dir="ltr">Monogoto allows developers to kickstart their cellular IoT journey. <em>The Monogoto Developer program</em> comprising multiple virtual training sessions, covers the ins-and-outs of cellular IoT and supports developers in building their next IoT project with LTE-M technology.</p><p dir="ltr">Topics covered</p><ul><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Fundamentals of cellular IoT</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">AT Commands</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Power optimization using eDRX &amp; PSM</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Integrating and acting on sensor data</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Working with Monogoto&rsquo;s API</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Breaking down real-life IoT use cases</p></li></ul><p dir="ltr"><a href="https://lp.monogoto.io/developers-program-workshop-recording" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Learn more</strong></a></p>

The technologies LTE-M, NB-IoT and LTE Cat 1bis are widely available as of today. 2022 might be the perfect year to kickstart your cellular IoT journey.

Cellular IoT is gaining momentum

<p dir="ltr" id="isPasted"><em>This is the final article in a 2-part series about choosing cellular or Wi-Fi.&nbsp;</em><a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/cellular-vs-wifi-for-iot-how-to-choose-the-right-one-foundations" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Read article one&nbsp;</em><em>here.</em><em>&nbsp;</em></a></p><p dir="ltr">There&rsquo;s no one &ldquo;best&rdquo; choice for every single IoT project. Choosing cellular vs. WiFi comes with tradeoffs that have to be understood and managed to find the best option for your deployment. Here are a few things to consider as you decide which technology would be best for your IoT project.</p><h2 dir="ltr">Device Location and Movability</h2><p dir="ltr">The first question that you should ask yourself is where your device is going to live and whether it&#39;s movable. For example, any device that&#39;s moving even a few-hundred feet, won&rsquo;t work on WiFi because it&#39;s not going to have access to the same WiFi network across those different places where it needs to operate. If the device is movable, then cellular connectivity would be your best bet. Key examples here would be IoT-connected light electric vehicles, whether they&rsquo;re part of a rideshare, privately owned, or used for last-mile delivery.</p><p dir="ltr">If the device is going to be part of a mostly stationary asset that will have constant access to a reliable WiFi network, then WiFi can be a good choice as well.</p><h2 dir="ltr">Number of Devices</h2><p dir="ltr">A high concentration of connected devices may lend themselves to more to cellular connectivity. This is because the more devices connected to a single WiFi network, the more the signal degrades, potentially leading to lost connectivity. If you have a high concentration of devices in one location, cellular connectivity might be your best bet.</p><h2 dir="ltr" id="isPasted">The Desired End-User Experience</h2><p dir="ltr">If you want to provide a seamless onboarding experience for your customer, you want the device to be instantly connected to the Internet anywhere in the world, cellular would be your top choice.</p><p dir="ltr">WiFi requires the end user to set up the network and ensure the device can connect to it. This isn&rsquo;t a problem if someone with the required technical expertise to do this is present, but can be difficult for those without.</p><p dir="ltr">The ongoing <a href="https://www.particle.io/iot-guides-and-resources/what-to-know-about-3g-sunsetting/" target="_blank">3G sunsetting</a> and introduction of 5G and other advanced technologies is bringing down the cost of cellular connectivity and widening the network coverage. More and more, IoT deployments that were previously impossible to run on cellular due to no coverage or high cost are becoming technically and financially feasible. Cellular will get increasingly more valuable relative to WiFi with the benefits of 5G and technology innovation.</p><h2 dir="ltr">Security Needs</h2><p dir="ltr">Protecting your devices from bad actors is critical, especially if downtime or improper usage can lead to injury or equipment failure. In general, cellular networks offer considerable security advantages. They are encrypted by default, while encryption on WiFi connections must be enabled manually by the network owner. Additionally, security upgrades for cellular-connected devices happen automatically, while security patches must be installed manually for WiFi. If your devices are going to be connected to a public WiFi network, or if they&rsquo;ll be connected to a private network that may not be adequately protected by the owner, cellular would be a safer choice.</p><h2 dir="ltr">Cellular or WiFi? Why not use both with Particle.</h2><p dir="ltr">Particle, an integrated IoT Platform provides an opportunity for the best of both WiFi and cellular connection by working on the same Device OS operating system. Device OS offers an easy-to-use programming framework that makes it simple to write IoT applications that can connect via cellular or WiFi. It gives you the same interface no matter how you choose to connect to the Internet. &quot;Whether you build your specific logic for a hot tub, a scooter, or a water monitoring solution, all of that&#39;s built on the same software interface called Device OS, regardless of its WiFi or tracker or site. That makes it really useful for customers who have what we call heterogeneous fleets,&quot; &nbsp;Calvin Jepson, senior manager of solutions architecture at Particle explains.</p><p dir="ltr">&ldquo;Heterogeneous fleets&rdquo; have multiple device types. If you&rsquo;re using Particle devices, you&rsquo;d be using a mix of the following:</p><ul><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><a href="https://docs.particle.io/argon/" target="_blank">Argon</a> - a powerful Wi-Fi development kit</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><a href="https://docs.particle.io/boron/" target="_blank">Boron</a> - a powerful cellular enabled kit</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><a href="https://docs.particle.io/datasheets/asset-tracking/tracker-one/" target="_blank">Tracker/TrackerOne</a> - a ready-to-go tracker SoM (system on a module) carrier board with optional weatherproof enclosure.</p></li></ul><p dir="ltr">A heterogeneous fleet reduces technical debt associated with managing various projects and allows for switching between device/connectivity types for different stages of development.</p><p dir="ltr">In some cases, people start by buying Argons since there&rsquo;s no subscription fee and you can develop firmware and conduct tests easily. Once it&#39;s time for them to start building the devices, they can switch from Argon to Boron and use the same code, which is a unique proposition that Particle can offer.</p><p dir="ltr">&quot;Imagine you&#39;re a novice at squash, and you&#39;re a right-hand dominator. To get started quickly, you want to use your right hand. But once you join the major leagues, you have to use your left hand to be competitive,&quot; suggests Calvin. &quot;It&rsquo;s the same with IoT. You might be great at using cellular or WiFi during prototyping or at a small scale. But when you <a href="https://www.particle.io/iot-guides-and-resources/iot-scalability/" target="_blank">scale an IoT deployment</a>, you might need to use completely different technologies, redesign a lot of stuff, and redo a lot of the work that you already did to build a scalable solution to be market-ready.&rdquo;</p><h2 dir="ltr">Conclusion</h2><p dir="ltr">By understanding the pros and cons of cellular and WiFi technologies you will be able to make the right choice for your IoT device. IoT platforms, such as Particle are enabling innovation by providing easier routes to creating prototypes that can then easily scale at the appropriate time.&nbsp;</p><h2 dir="ltr"><em>About the sponsor: Particle</em></h2><p dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.particle.io/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Particle&nbsp;</em></a><em>provides an integrated IoT Platform-as-a-Service that helps businesses connect, manage, and deploy software applications to connected devices, from edge to cloud and back. Over 240k developers, and 160+ Enterprise customers are building on Particle, from fast-growing startups to Fortune 100 companies.&nbsp;</em></p><p dir="ltr"><em>Our expertise goes beyond world-class technology, enabling next-generation business intelligence, insights, and expert customer support to make sure IoT projects succeed. So you can build the business of tomorrow, today.</em></p><p><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1652969762255-particle+bottom.jpg" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"></p><p><br></p>

Choosing Cellular or WiFi Article #2: Learn how you can determine the best choice for your IoT deployment.


Choosing Cellular or WiFi for your IoT Project

<p dir="ltr" id="isPasted">Cellular and WiFi are the two most popular connectivity methods for IoT technology. Though many early IoT projects relied on WiFi, cellular technology has grown in popularity as it became better equipped to handle more use cases. Against the backdrop of continuous innovations in the wireless industry, choosing the best radio access technology for your IoT project has become challenging. In this first half of a two-part article, we&#39;ll examine the key differences between cellular and WiFi, show example use cases for each one, and explain how you can choose the right technology for your project.</p><h2 dir="ltr">Cellular VS. WiFi for IoT - A quick comparison</h2><p dir="ltr">There are several criteria you can use to compare cellular vs. WiFi, such as:</p><ul><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Cost</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Reliability and security</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Location detection</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Coverage</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Data throughput</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Device provisioning</p></li></ul><p dir="ltr">Let&rsquo;s dig into the details of each one to understand how cellular and WiFi are meaningfully different (or in some cases, similar).</p><h2 dir="ltr">Cost</h2><p dir="ltr">Cellular data plans are generally more costly than comparable WiFi plans on a per-byte basis. If your project requires recurring big data transfers, WiFi networks would be your best choice. However, when doing a cost comparison, you should factor in ongoing cost of maintaining your WiFi network as well as the cost of provisioning many devices across different WiFi networks that you as the IoT fleet operator may not control.</p><p dir="ltr">Cellular is generally more expensive on a per device basis than WiFi but you should also take into account the cost of maintaining and managing the WiFi network as a part of the per-device cost when comparing the two.&nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr">When comparing one-time hardware costs, cellular modems are more expensive than WiFi modems. That said, it&rsquo;s important to understand how either type of connectivity will influence the total cost of ownership of your IoT deployment.</p><h2 dir="ltr">Reliability and Security</h2><p dir="ltr">Part of what you&rsquo;re paying for in your cellular plans is world-class security and reliability. While it is possible to create comparable security and reliability over WiFi, you&#39;re relying on WiFi network owners &amp; building management teams to do that work on an ongoing basis. In contrast, cellular security is backed by knowledgeable cybersecurity specialists.</p><p dir="ltr">When you&#39;re buying cellular, part of the costs is for the expert network management from the provider. However, when buying WiFi, network management is managed by yourself. Your own WiFi network generally provides a less stable network than the cellular solution does.</p><h2 dir="ltr">Location Detection</h2><p dir="ltr">There is not much difference between getting accurate location information via WiFi and cellular. However, in some circumstances where your device is out of range of WiFi, cellular networks will perform better, being able to mark your devices&rsquo; approximate location. In either case, getting location from WiFi SSIDs or cellular towers requires integrations with 3rd party providers which give location estimates based on a geographical database of network IDs.</p><p dir="ltr"><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 553px;"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjUxMzE1MTQ0OTgzLWltYWdlMy5wbmciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 551px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-inner"><em>Image 1: In some circumstances where your device is out of range of WiFi, cellular networks will perform better.</em></span></span></span></p><h2 dir="ltr" id="isPasted">Coverage</h2><p dir="ltr">WiFi is a great access technology when your deployed environment has WiFi coverage. This tends to be the case for devices deployed in homes or buildings, or in places where cellular networks are known to not have coverage such as oil rigs and mines. If you&rsquo;re planning to track things that are mobile, such as vehicles, or deployed in remote locations, then cellular is better.</p><p dir="ltr">Although this is covered below, it bears repeating that cellular is often a great choice for stationary assets in urban and office environments because of the relative ease of onboarding a device to the cellular network compared to a WiFi network where you have to know passwords and get through network-specific security measures.</p><h2 dir="ltr">Data throughput</h2><p dir="ltr">Traditionally, WiFi performs faster than cellular networks. But with the development of 4G and 5G, the data throughput of cellular networks can be relatively on par with WiFi. Both cellular and WiFi networks are sufficient for most IoT projects.</p><h2 dir="ltr">Device Provisioning &amp; Setup</h2><p dir="ltr">It&rsquo;s much easier to deploy fleets of cellular devices when compared to WiFi. Installing a cellular fleet can be as simple as turning on the power to the device. Assuming that connected device has cellular coverage, it will automatically connect to the network.</p><p dir="ltr">In contrast, with a WiFi device you may need to first set up your network or otherwise manage access to that network with usernames &amp; passwords for each device. This can be a deal breaker for many use cases where the WiFi network is heavily protected by the owner.</p><h2 dir="ltr">Benefits and drawbacks of cellular for IoT</h2><h2 dir="ltr">Pros:</h2><ul><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Cellular has more robust privacy and security with automatic encryption.</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Cellular service has more comprehensive coverage with no set range since you don&#39;t need a router. This is important for remote assets like oil rigs.</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Obstacles do not as easily block deeper coverage with cellular signals.</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Often better for use cases that need low power consumption</p></li></ul><h2 dir="ltr">Cons</h2><ul><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Data plans can be expensive if your use case requires you to send large amounts of complex data.</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Bundling SIM cards from different providers can force you to get your entire IoT deployment recertified. Be sure to understand what goes into <a href="https://www.particle.io/iot-guides-and-resources/iot-fcc-certifications/" target="_blank">FCC certifications for IoT</a>.</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Devices can lose coverage in locations where cellular service is spotty.</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Not always accurate when determining device location.</p></li></ul><h2 dir="ltr">Benefits and drawbacks of WiFi for IoT</h2><h2 dir="ltr">Pros:</h2><ul><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Private WiFi connections are secure and enable fast access to connecting multiple devices.</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Suitable for data-heavy transfers since there is no cost limitation on the amount of data transferred. A note here is that with the development of 5G, the advantages of WiFi relative to cellular might be eroded.</p></li></ul><h2 dir="ltr">Cons:</h2><ul><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Public WiFi may not be secure.</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Reliant on end user&#39;s WiFi. If they change their password or get disconnected, the device may go down.</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">The devices need to have access to a WiFi router. The limited range can be a barrier for remote assets.</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Too many devices connecting to one router may degrade the signal.</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">WiFi configuration may require technical expertise.</p></li></ul><h2 dir="ltr">Best use cases for Cellular</h2><p dir="ltr">The use cases for cellular IoT are extensive. In this section, we&rsquo;ll share a few examples of where it&rsquo;s effective.</p><h2 dir="ltr">Deploying Continuous Emissions Monitoring</h2><p dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.qubeiot.com/" target="_blank">Qube</a> was an early mover in response to emissions-cutting pledges that gained widespread attention following 2021&rsquo;s COP26 conference. Qube offers <a href="https://www.particle.io/iot-guides-and-resources/energy-production-continuous-emissions-monitoring-solution/" target="_blank">continuous emissions monitoring</a> solutions by combining proprietary algorithms that can detect greenhouse gas emissions and pinpoint their type and location with IoT sensors that provide a continuous data feed.</p><p dir="ltr">Qube was looking for an affordable platform that could scale across the world while offering low power consumption. The team knew that cellular connectivity would be the right choice as many of their devices would be deployed in remote locations where WiFi wouldn&rsquo;t be available.</p><p dir="ltr"><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 555px;"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjUxMzE1NTE2NTQzLWltYWdlMS5wbmciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 553px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-inner">Image 2: By connecting monitoring devises via cellular networks, Qube created a continuous emissions detection system that detects sources of emissions and gives real-time insights on leak sources, quantity, and type. Image credit: Qube</span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" id="isPasted">Qube built its solution using IoT platform, Particle&rsquo;s, EtherSIM solution, a SIM card powered by over 350 carriers worldwide. No matter where Qube&rsquo;s devices are deployed, they will automatically connect to the best cellular network available.</p><blockquote><p dir="ltr">&ldquo;We rely on Particle&rsquo;s devices to get continuous data, which is streamed to our servers on a minute-by-minute or second-by-second basis. We then use that continuous data in our machine learning algorithms to infer what is actually happening in terms of leak quantity, leak size, and leak type,&rdquo; Cube COO Eric Wen said.</p></blockquote><h2 dir="ltr">Managing Remote Industrial Assets</h2><p dir="ltr">While the emissions monitoring sector is benefiting from global connectivity, those with <a href="https://blog.particle.io/the-top-5-applications-for-industrial-iot/" target="_blank">industrial IoT applications</a> are also finding key benefits from cellular connectivity.</p><p dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.networkinv.com/solution/fieldintell-iiot-automation-tracking/" target="_blank">FieldIntell</a>, a cloud platform serving customers mainly in oil &amp; gas, agriculture, and mining, is also seeing a promising future of stable global-wise cellular connection.</p><p dir="ltr">Particle provides global connectivity with hundreds of carriers worldwide, which saves FieldIntell&rsquo;s time spent on negotiating with carriers across multiple countries. FieldIntell&rsquo;s customers push Over-the-Air updates and remotely control complex assets with connectivity that&rsquo;s integrated with both the devices and cloud.</p><h2 dir="ltr">Best use cases of WiFi for IoT</h2><p dir="ltr">Cellular isn&#39;t always the best everywhere. If your devices mostly live in a facility with cement and metal all around it, signals from a cell tower aren&#39;t going to reach them. There are other use cases, like oil rigs in the middle of the ocean, where there&#39;s no cellular coverage. Under those circumstances, WiFi can be a superior choice. For example, remote oil rigs or mining operations generally have a satellite uplink and a local WiFi network. The same applies to industries like mining, which are usually based in remote locations where cellular networks haven&#39;t invested in putting a cellular tower.</p><h2 dir="ltr">Combatting the COVID-19 pandemic</h2><p dir="ltr"><a href="https://auraair.io/" target="_blank">Aura Air</a> built a data-driven air quality monitoring system with a WiFi-connected IoT product that was designed to disinfect 99.9% of viruses, bacteria, mold, and VOCs from indoor air. Aura Air&rsquo;s devices can help combat the threat of COVID-19. With the help of IoT technology, the product can detect influenza and COVID-19 viruses and sterilize the air to reduce spread. By harnessing Particle&rsquo;s WiFi module P1 SKU, the Aura Air devices can be connected through local WiFi networks of 2.4 GHz that do not have a firewall enabled. Users can view and update real-time air quality data through their phones or central dashboards.&nbsp;</p><h2 dir="ltr">Conclusion</h2><p dir="ltr">As the IoT and the wireless industry continue to innovate, selecting the right radio access technology for your IoT project is increasingly challenging. However, by understanding the pros and cons of each technology and examining similar use cases the decision can become clearer. In the second half of this article, we&rsquo;ll dive deeper into the strengths and weaknesses of each one and how you can determine the best choice for your IoT deployment.</p><h2 dir="ltr"><strong><em>About the sponsor: Particle</em></strong></h2><p dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.particle.io/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Particle</em></a><em>&nbsp;provides an integrated IoT Platform-as-a-Service that helps businesses connect, manage, and deploy software applications to connected devices, from edge to cloud and back. Over 240k developers, and 160+ Enterprise customers are building on Particle, from fast-growing startups to Fortune 100 companies.</em></p><p dir="ltr"><em>Our expertise goes beyond world-class technology, enabling next-generation business intelligence, insights, and expert customer support to make sure IoT projects succeed. So you can build the business of tomorrow, today.</em></p><p dir="ltr"><em><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1652969804194-particle+bottom.jpg" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"></em><br></p>

Choosing Cellular or WiFi Article #1:Cellular and WiFi connectivity have their own distinct benefits for IoT. Learn about the strengths and weaknesses and application examples of each one. 


Cellular VS. WiFi for IoT How to Choose the Right One: Foundations

<h2 dir="ltr" id="isPasted">What is (and isn&#39;t) a microcontroller?</h2><p dir="ltr">A microcontroller unit (MCU) is a small, self-contained computer that is housed on a single integrated circuit, or microchip. They differ from your desktop computer in that they are typically dedicated to a single function, and are most often embedded in other devices (e.g. cellphones; household electronics).</p><h2 dir="ltr">What&#39;s the difference between a microcontroller and a microprocessor (MCU vs MPU)?</h2><p dir="ltr">Microcontrollers also differ from microprocessors. Microprocessors contain only a CPU, and therefore require added peripherals to perform tasks. MCUs, on the other hand, contain RAM, ROM, and similar peripherals, which allow them to perform (simple) tasks independently.</p><p dir="ltr">Ultimately, despite similar names and appearances, microcontrollers and microprocessors differ widely in their applications. Microprocessors are more powerful, but must be employed as single components in larger systems to function.&nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr">Microcontrollers, meanwhile, are limited in power and functionality, but can perform simple functions independently. Your Apple TV, for example, requires a microprocessor to handle all the varied and demanding tasks it performs. A connected coffeemaker, on the other hand, only needs to perform simple routines and tasks, and therefore employs a microcontroller.</p><h2 dir="ltr">What is the difference between a microcontroller (MCU) and a system-on-a-chip (MCU vs SoC)?</h2><p dir="ltr">The other term one hears often in this discussion is System on a Chip (SoC). The distinction between an MCU and an SoC is much less clear, and the two terms are often used interchangeably. However, in common usage, the term SoC typically refers to MCUs with a greater number of onboard peripherals and functionality. For the purposes of this outline, we won&rsquo;t make a distinction between MCUs and SoCs.</p><h2 dir="ltr">Why use an MCU for IoT</h2><ul><li dir="ltr"><strong>Simplicity</strong>: In most IoT use-cases, the relative simplicity of an MCU is an advantage rather than a disadvantage. MCUs don&rsquo;t require operating systems to function, and are easy to interface with external devices such as sensors and motors. Their lack of external dependencies also makes them easy to set up. You can simply turn them on, upload firmware, and they work. Additionally, the coding required to program an MCU is minimal.</li><li dir="ltr"><strong>Security</strong>: By virtue of their relative simplicity, MCUs also offer fewer avenues of attack. As a rule, each open port and available protocol is also a potential vulnerability. Code on MCUs runs &ldquo;bare metal&rdquo;, meaning it includes no intermediary operating system to execute instructions. This results in limited potential attack vectors and increased inherent security.</li><li dir="ltr"><strong>Cost</strong>: In most contemporary IoT applications, an MCU can deliver all the processing power and functionality one needs. As a result, MCUs are most often the best, most economic hardware choice for IoT applications. Overall, they offer simple, secure, functionality for little cost.</li></ul><p><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 557px;"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjUxMjU3Nzk1MjI1LXNodXR0ZXJzdG9ja181Nzg2MjY0NzcgKDEpLmpwZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width: 555px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-inner"><em>Image 1: Security, cost, and simplicity are key factors in choosing an MCU for your IoT project.</em></span></span></span></p><h2 dir="ltr" id="isPasted">Which MCU is right for you?</h2><ul><li dir="ltr"><strong>Tech Specs</strong>: Which technical specifications your MCU should have will depend entirely upon its intended application. The relative importance of specs such as processing speed and memory capacity will be different from use-case to use-case. For example, An IoT device meant to perform more demanding tasks will necessitate an MCU with a higher clock speed. Less processing-intensive tasks, however, may not necessitate such high-performance hardware. That&rsquo;s why it is imperative that you clearly determine your technical needs before deciding upon a specific piece of technology. Overall, primary spec considerations include: memory, speed, power use, security features, and connectivity type (Bluetooth/Wi-Fi/Cellular).</li><li dir="ltr"><strong>Cost</strong>: All these technical specifications will be invariably weighed against their cost. Although the cost of MCUs is rapidly decreasing, added power, memory, and other specs will generally result in increased costs. While the costs of hardware may not seem daunting initially, increases in scale can quickly amplify even minute differences in hardware price. At the same time, selecting an MCU with only the bare minimum specs required to function may leave you unable to implement updates, new features, and other improvements in the future.</li><li dir="ltr"><strong>Support</strong>: When selecting an MCU, it&rsquo;s also important to consider the community surrounding it. MCUs with limited adoption will have fewer resources available to aid you in development.</li><li dir="ltr">Devices like the Photon from Particle, have a large community of users and developers, which makes it much easier to find information and support when needed. With a community of over 100,000 developers and engineers, the Particle platform has a wealth of resources available, including sample projects, demos, and development tools.&nbsp;</li><li dir="ltr">By selecting a more widely adopted MCU, you will ensure that integrating your IoT device with existing cloud services will be easy.</li></ul><h2 dir="ltr">Looking beyond the MCU</h2><p dir="ltr">Your IoT product is a system, not a component. So, when planning any element of your design, it&rsquo;s important to take into consideration the full stack of hardware, software, and infrastructure. Obviously, your product needs to connect to the Internet to qualify as IoT.</p><p dir="ltr">How it does so, and how that data is managed, should be central considerations in your IoT development process. In the past, developing, hosting, and managing one&rsquo;s own cloud infrastructure was a necessary part of IoT implementation. Now, platform providers such as Particle are offering cloud-connected hardware and comprehensive IoT platforms that lower the total cost of ownership of an IoT project, as well as reduce the time to market.</p><h2 dir="ltr">Begin your IoT undertaking with Particle</h2><p dir="ltr">A piece of IoT hardware is only as good as the platform it lives on. As an integrated IoT platform-as-a-service Particle provides everything you need to connect your device to the web. Pre-configured modules like the Electron are ready to connect to the internet right out of the box, and are already FCC/CE/PTCRB certified. These integrated platforms are allowing entrepreneurs to focus on their products, rather than the complications of connectivity. Particle offers a variety of low-cost, Wi-Fi and Cellular MCU dev kits that are easy to set up, and simple to integrate with your organization&rsquo;s existing infrastructure.</p><p><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1652969871830-particle+bottom.jpg" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"></p>

The ins and outs of microcontrollers, and an overview of the difference between MCU and microprocessors (MPU).


Selecting a microcontroller (MCU) for your IoT product

<p id="isPasted"><em>This is the second article in a <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/understanding-low-cost-iot-attacks" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">four-part series</a> based on a <a href="https://www.intrinsic-id.com/resources/white-papers/landing-page-white-paper-preventing-a-500-attack-wevolver/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">whitepaper</a> published by Intrinsic ID that explores the risk of low-cost IoT attacks and how to mitigate them. The series aims to dive into the origin and types of the low-cost attacks, security assurance methods, ensuring IoT platform security, IC lifecycle, and how it impacts IC&#39;s safety. This article explains various IoT attack surfaces and relevant security assurance techniques.</em></p><p>The world has seen a revolutionary shift to the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem, with workplaces, industries, homes, and cities integrating extensive networks of IoT devices. This massive adoption of IoT has created new opportunities for cyber attacks - many of which use low-cost methods to attack device and network weaknesses. Dedicated defense systems are essential for IoT to reach its full potential and agility. This article introduces the types of susceptible attack surfaces and&nbsp;examples of protection measures</p><h2>IoT Attack Surfaces</h2><p>An IoT system is susceptible to attacks from various attack surfaces. An IoT attack surface refers to all the potential security vulnerabilities in an IoT network, including the device infrastructure and associated software. Some of the most prominent of these are discussed here.</p><h3>Devices</h3><p>These are forefront attack surfaces through which cybersecurity breaches are attempted. The devices include sensors, actuators, and end devices with which the users are connected directly. The major components of a device are memory, firmware, web interface, physical interface, and network services. The attackers launch attacks by exploiting the vulnerability of any of these places.&nbsp;</p><h3>Communication Channels</h3><p>Another frequent attack surface is the communication channel used in the IoT infrastructure. Commonly used communication channels include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Attackers exploit network services through direct attacks (DoS, buffer overflow, and rep<ins cite="mailto:Vincent%20van%20der%20Leest" datetime="2022-03-21T10:16">l</ins>ay attacks) as well as passive breeches (surveillance of network traffic). They hinder the privacy, confidentiality, and integrity of exchanged data.</p><h3>Cloud Interfaces</h3><p>The next most common attack surface is the cloud&rsquo;s web interface. These are vulnerable to attacks using SQL injections.&nbsp;</p><p>Cloud interfaces are security-sensitive interfaces. Attacks on cloud interfaces aim to access user credentials and passwords, disrupt password recovery and two-factor authentication, and attempt cross-site forgery and scripting.</p><h3>Application Interfaces</h3><p>IoT attack surfaces also include the mobile/web interface. Attacks on these interfaces occur mainly because the device and the cloud implicitly trust mobile applications. As a result, they provide a potential security breach through misuse of password recovery, two-factor authentication, and a no-account lockout mechanism.</p><p>Application interfaces are attacked to&nbsp;access the data storage, log file information, and unencrypted traffic</p><h2><strong>Security measures against low-cost IoT attacks</strong></h2><p>Having discussed various attack surfaces in IoT networks, let&rsquo;s now explore the second part of the article, i.e., the methods of security assurance for the vulnerable attack surfaces in the following lines.</p><h3>Firmware integrity protection</h3><p>A common attack surface is replacing genuine device firmware with rogue firmware. A protective measure against this attack is to have all firmware in embedded ROM. However, this is not viable due to the need for security updates in the field. To allow in-field updating and upgrading of devices, including security patches, firmware upgrade mechanisms are required.</p><p>Mechanisms such as a robust cryptographic digital signature scheme can validate digitally signed images prior to the update allowing to boot from them, ensuring overall integrity.</p><h3>Runtime memory protection</h3><p>Runtime memory protection is a security service that can be used to check the integrity of application code and data at runtime. Memory integrity checks are triggered at regular intervals or by events. The service can be used to protect code and data from unauthorized changes, not only at trunk time but throughout the application runtime.</p><p>Runtime memory protection can be used to verify the integrity of critical application code or data. In general, runtime memory protection is useful for memory whose contents remain unchanged for long periods of time.</p><h3>Runtime integrity protection</h3><p>Integrity protection is a means of providing assurance that information has not been altered in an unauthorized manner since it was created, transmitted, or stored. Additional protection mechanisms may be required to maintain a safe state after trunk, i.e., during application execution, to ensure that code is not only read correctly from memory as in runtime memory protection but also executed correctly. Modern security subsystems may therefore have runtime integrity protection mechanisms, such as periodic verification that code execution is proceeding correctly to validate the integrity of the platform or, for baseline security, environmental security sensors to monitor IC.</p><h3>Isolation of processing environment / sandboxing</h3><p>Sandboxing refers to isolating an executable code block inside a safe environment. It runs untrusted software within an environment where it can observe and detect malicious components and activity to block malware from spreading within the network. IoT networks implement sandboxing by segmenting systems into smaller subsystems to isolate them from each other. This prevents malicious attacks from distributing within the network.&nbsp;</p><h3>Protection against side-channel attacks</h3><p>There is a wide range of countermeasures to combat side-channel attacks ranging from special hardware designs that balance power consumption to a selection of software countermeasures that often involve sophisticated mathematics. Because IoT devices are typically built with off-the-shelf hardware components, countermeasures for side-channel attacks focus on software methods. Essentially, all of these methods attempt to decouple the logical digital information (e.g., the key) from the physical bit representation it has.</p><h3>Protection against fault attacks</h3><p>The basic remedy against fault attacks is to add redundancy and resilience to the hardware and software at all levels. With IoT, we assume that most countermeasures will need to be added to the software, which means running critical code twice or performing important security checks multiple times. Often it&#39;s as simple as defining return values that are not just zeros or ones but two non-trivial bytes. This makes it harder for a glitch attack to produce the desired correct return value. It is also helpful to add measures that monitor whether certain critical blocks of code have been executed - and in the correct order. The countermeasures also depend on whether the error is temporary or quasi-permanent.</p><h3>Readout protection</h3><p>Firmware is not only critical for system integrity but also a valuable asset that requires confidentiality protection in addition to integrity and authenticity protection, e.g., to prevent it from being used in clones. In devices that store firmware in an on-chip flash area, the firmware must be protected from many non-invasive attacks as well as invasive attacks on the on-chip flash through readout protection. When using an external flash, the security subsystem may need to provide additional protections such as on-the-fly encryption/decryption and verification services to protect the integrity of the firmware stored in this non-volatile memory (NVM).</p><h2>Conclusion</h2><p>The adoption of IoT technology has been exponential during the last decade. Safeguarding it from substantially developing cyberattacks is still a challenge.</p><p>The security assurance of all potential attack surfaces, including devices, memory, cloud, and application interfaces, must be kept at the highest priority while installing IoT infrastructure.&nbsp;</p><p>IoT networks must ensure the inclusion of security measures like firmware integrity, memory protection, runtime integrity protection, sandboxing, and fault injection shielding to make the system resilient to security breaches maximally.&nbsp;</p><p>This article is based on the whitepaper titled &ldquo;Preventing a $500 Attack Destroying Your IoT Devices&rdquo;. Learn more about the risks of low-cost attacks and how to ensure your devices are safe, secure, and protected.</p><p>&nbsp;<a class="button-main-action" href="https://www.intrinsic-id.com/resources/white-papers/landing-page-white-paper-preventing-a-500-attack-wevolver/" id="isPasted" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Download the paper here.</a></p><h2 id="isPasted"><em>About the sponsor: Intrinsic ID</em></h2><p dir="ltr">Intrinsic ID is among the world&rsquo;s leading providers of security IP for embedded systems based on physical unclonable function or <a href="https://www.intrinsic-id.com/physical-unclonable-function/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">PUF technology</a>. The technology provides an additional level of hardware security utilizing the inherent uniqueness in each and every silicon chip. The IP can be delivered in hardware or software and can be applied easily to almost any chip &ndash; from tiny microcontrollers to high-performance FPGAs &ndash; and at any stage of a product&rsquo;s lifecycle. It is used as a<a href="https://www.intrinsic-id.com/sram-puf/iot-security-it-starts-with-a-strong-root-of-trust/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">&nbsp;hardware root of trust</a> to validate payment systems, secure connectivity, authenticate sensors, and protect sensitive government and military data and systems. Intrinsic ID security has been deployed and proven in millions of devices certified by EMVCo, Visa, CC EAL6+, PSA, ioXt, and governments across the globe.</p><p dir="ltr"><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjUwOTc4NjYxNzAwLWxvZ28gYm90dG9tIGJhbm5lciBpbnRyaW5zaWMuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"></p><h2>References&nbsp;</h2><p>1. Callum Cyrus, iotworldtoday.com. [Online] Available from <a href="https://www.iotworldtoday.com/2021/09/17/iot-cyberattacks-escalate-in-2021-according-to-kaspersky/" target="_blank">IoT Cyberattacks Escalate in 2021, According to Kaspersky (iotworldtoday.com)</a></p><p>2. Anand P, Singh Y, Selwal A, Singh PK, Felseghi RA, Raboaca MS. IoVT: internet of vulnerable things? Threat architecture, attack surfaces, and vulnerabilities in Internet of Things and Its Applications Towards Smart Grids. Energies. 2020 Jan;13(18):4813.</p><p>3. GrammaTech Whitepaper: A FOUR-STEP GUIDE TO SECURITY ASSURANCE FOR IoT DEVICES.</p><p>4. Qin Y, Liu J, Zhao S, Feng D, Feng W. RIPTE: runtime integrity protection based on trusted execution for IoT device. Security and Communication Networks. 2020 Sep 23;2020.</p><p>5. Intrinsic ID, intrinsic-id.com, [Online] Available From <a href="https://www.intrinsic-id.com/physical-unclonable-function/" target="_blank">Physical Unclonable Function &ndash; Intrinsic ID | Home of PUF Technology (intrinsic-id.com)</a></p><p>6. Geert-Jan Schrijen, design-reuse.com. [Online] Available from <a href="https://www.design-reuse.com/articles/47782/sram-puf-a-closer-look-at-the-most-reliable-and-most-secure-puf.html" target="_blank">SRAM PUF: A Closer Look at the Most Reliable and Most Secure PUF (design-reuse.com)</a></p><p><br></p>

IoT infrastructure has many weak spots which demand robust security assurance methods.

Security Assurance of IoT Systems

<h2>Defining acceptable risk</h2><style type="text/css" id="isPasted">
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</style><p>Functional safety is defined by the standard IEC 61508<sup>[1]</sup> as the absence of an unacceptable risk of bodily injury or harm to people&#39;s health as a result of damage to property or equipment, either directly or indirectly. It&#39;s part of the overall security that relies on the system or equipment responding correctly to commands. Functional safety is put in place when a potentially hazardous state is detected, to activate a protective or corrective device mechanism in order to prevent hazardous events from occurring or to offer mitigation to decrease the consequences of a hazardous event. The goal of functional safety is to limit damage to people, property, and the environment by minimizing risky conditions in systems or components.&nbsp;</p><p>A simple example of a functional safety system is your office coffee maker. Equipped with a sensor that detects the coffee temperature, the coffee maker will switch the heating element off if the sensor detects the temperature has exceeded a threshold. A more complex example would be an automated robot in a production line - if the system registers the presence of a human worker getting too close it would enable safe mode either stopping it or moving it to a safer position. Functional safety is an active part of a larger safety system that will react to predefined triggers and instruct the overall system to make an active change. This is opposed to passive safety functions such as fire doors or personal safety equipment.&nbsp;</p><p><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 506px;"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjQ5OTU5NjExNTMyLTIyMjIuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 762px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-inner"><em id="isPasted">Image 1: Collaborative robots are required to meet rigorous functional safety standards.&nbsp;</em></span></span></span></p><style type="text/css" id="isPasted">
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</style><h2><strong>Why functional safety is important</strong></h2><p>At its core, functional safety protects users of technology from harm. As industry becomes more automated and factories run 24/7, functional safety is increasingly important as we interact with more and more complex systems. From a purely business standpoint, ensuring functional safety allows manufacturers to operate confidently at maximum efficiency.&nbsp;</p><h2><strong>Standards</strong></h2><p>The basic international safety standard for electrical, electronic, and programmable electronic safety-related systems is IEC 61508. It sets out the requirements for ensuring that systems are designed, implemented, operated, and maintained to the required safety integrity level (SIL).</p><p>Since the first revision of IEC 61508. was published in 1998, further revisions have been developed to suit fields such as automotive (ISO 26262), process control (IEC61511), programmable logic controls (IEC61131-6), and machinery (IEC 62061), variable speed drives (IEC 61800-5-2), and many other areas.&nbsp;</p><p><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 553px;"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjUxNjExNjExMjY3LTA0LTAxLTAxICgxKS5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 551px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-inner">Figure 1: A sample of functional safety standards.</span></span></span></p><style type="text/css" id="isPasted">
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</style><h2><strong>&nbsp;Hardware Fault Tolerance (HFT).</strong></h2><p>&nbsp;Hardware Fault Tolerance (HFT) levels indicate a hardware system&rsquo;s ability to carry on operating when there is a problem with one or more of its components. In a typical system, if the Safety Integrity Level (SIL) is higher, it will require more HFT in order to continue performing its function. &nbsp;For example, hardware systems with a zero HFT (HFT 0) are not able to withstand a single dangerous failure. But a system with one level of HFT (HFT 1) can tolerate one. An example is a system with one built-in redundancy feature.</p><p>Levels HFT 2 and HFT 3 can also be found in some systems, but the greater the number of redundancies built in - the greater the risk of creating a more complex system. This can have cost and maintenance implications.</p><p><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 553px;"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjUxNjExNjg1MDcxLTA2LTAxICgxKS5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 551px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-inner" spellcheck="false">(*)SFF means how many safe failures exist in a system. IEC61508 defines detected failure can be considered as safe.<br>(**)So SFF can be considered nearly equal to DC (Diagnosis Coverage)</span></span></span></p><style type="text/css" id="isPasted">
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</style><h2><strong>Safety Integrity Level (SIL)</strong></h2><p>SIL stands for Safety Integrity Level. A SIL is a measure of safety system performance, in terms of probability of failure on demand (PFD) as it is easier to express the probability of failure rather than that of proper performance (e.g. 1 in 100,000 vs 99,999 in 100,000).</p><p>There are four integrity levels associated with SIL: SIL 1, SIL 2, SIL 3, and SIL 4. The higher the SIL level, the higher the associated safety level, and the lower probability that a system will fail to perform properly. As the SIL level increases, the complexity of a system, its maintenance, and its cost typically increase too.&nbsp;</p><p><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 555px;"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjUxNjExNzg4NTg1LTA1LTAxICgxKS5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 553px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-inner">Figure 2: S<em id="isPasted">IL Level is a function of hazard frequency and hazard consequence.</em></span></span></span></p><style type="text/css" id="isPasted">
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</style><h2><strong>Assigning SIL levels</strong></h2><p>In most circumstances, a risk analysis is used to determine the requirement for a security system and allocate the SIL. The IEC 61508 standard outlines quantitative procedures for doing this analysis and calculating an installation&#39;s risk level. There is also a qualitative method for doing risk evaluations and assigning SIL levels.</p><p>This qualitative technique is based on determining the degree of damage that can be caused by each of the risks that occur in the facility, the duration of risk exposure, the options for removing the risk, and the frequency/probability with which they occur. The necessary SIL for the installation&#39;s security system is assigned based on the level of danger (measured quantitatively or estimated qualitatively). The higher the risk in an installation, the higher the SIL security level that the safety instrumented system must meet in order to minimize the risk to an acceptable level.</p><p>Getting a product certified for functional safety is a process that should ideally involve your developers, your assembly teams, and your functional safety certifying organization, and should start in the early development stages. This allows you to build robust development plans in which the assessment process will follow through the product development lifecycle.</p><h2><strong>Implementing functional safety</strong></h2><p>Ensuring compliance with functional safety standards calls for a dual approach that involves both hardware and software.</p><p>From a hardware standpoint, manufacturers are increasingly producing sensors and processing devices that already have functional safety elements built-in. The result is a generation of industrial equipment that is able to monitor its own adherence to safety standards.</p><p>From a software perspective, the IEC 61508 standard requires safety-related software components to adhere to a stringent development process, with analysis, structured design, testing, and validation of all requirements. &nbsp;</p><h2><strong>Functional Safety Trends and Challenges</strong></h2><p>One of the biggest trends &ndash; and toughest challenges &ndash; revolves around size. Miniaturization of complex semiconductors enables them to be produced in a way that keeps both sizes and cost down, but that also presents challenges in terms of the resulting complexity of wider functional safety systems.&nbsp;</p><p>Increased integration density and relatively short innovation cycles which enable these smaller systems can open the door to the possibility of more faults, meaning they must be designed and manufactured to the highest quality.&nbsp;</p><p>User documentation that accompanies them must also be beyond reproach.</p><p><a href="https://www.renesas.com/?utm_campaign=mcu_ra_ecosystem&utm_source=wevolver&utm_medium=article&utm_content=fusa_foundations" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Renesas Electronics</a> has a bundle of solutions provided to support those challenges from a semiconductor supplier&#39;s point of view. Which is, the scalable general-purpose MCU to control safety systems and comes with TUV certified software to run on top. This means the manufacturing companies will be able to minimize or skip the safety SW development and certification on those controllers.</p><p><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HhHo_O-BpnI?&wmode=opaque&rel=0&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-gtm-yt-inspected-11="true" id="290070930"></iframe></span><br></p><h2><strong>Conclusion</strong></h2><p>Functional safety is becoming increasingly important as we move into an era of high automation. As we hand over more of our trust and indeed, even our lives, to automated devices, safety regulations will need to be relied upon to help guide the manufacturers and software developers that will enable this automation ecosystem.</p><p>Not only is adherence to these standards essential to protect people from death and injury, but also to preserve trust in automation by the public, while protecting the reputations and balance sheets of companies.</p><p>Renesas could be on your list to consider your safer system.</p><h2 dir="ltr" id="isPasted"><em>About the sponsor: Renesas</em></h2><p><em>At&nbsp;</em><a href="https://www.renesas.com/?utm_campaign=mcu_ra_ecosystem&utm_source=wevolver&utm_medium=article&utm_content=fusa_foundations" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Renesas</em></a><em>&nbsp;we continuously strive to drive innovation with a comprehensive portfolio of microcontrollers, analog and power devices. Our mission is to develop a safer, healthier, greener, and smarter world by providing intelligence to our four focus growth segments: Automotive, Industrial, Infrastructure, and IoT that are all vital to our daily lives, meaning our products and solutions are embedded everywhere.&nbsp;</em></p><p><em><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjUxNTI0Nzg3MjAwLVVudGl0bGVkIGRlc2lnbi01LnBuZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width: 400px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"></em><br></p><h2>References and further reading</h2><p>1. <a href="https://webstore.iec.ch/publication/5515" id="isPasted" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://webstore.iec.ch/publication/5515</a></p><p>2. Renesas, 2022.Functional Safety for Industrial Automation. Available online with complimentary evaluation software to try :&nbsp;<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.renesas.com/application/industrial/factory-automation/safety/functional-safety-industrial-automation?utm_campaign%3Dmcu_ra_ecosystem%26utm_source%3Dwevolver%26utm_medium%3Darticle%26utm_content%3Dfusa_foundations&source=gmail&ust=1652324060927000&usg=AOvVaw381XfMj-1W4TBtGicv9dTZ" href="https://www.renesas.com/application/industrial/factory-automation/safety/functional-safety-industrial-automation?utm_campaign=mcu_ra_ecosystem&utm_source=wevolver&utm_medium=article&utm_content=fusa_foundations" id="isPasted" target="_blank">https://www.renesas.com/<wbr>application/industrial/<wbr>factory-automation/safety/<wbr>functional-safety-industrial-<wbr>automation?utm_campaign=mcu_<wbr>ra_ecosystem&amp;utm_source=<wbr>wevolver&amp;utm_medium=article&amp;<wbr>utm_content=fusa_foundations</a>&nbsp;</p><p>3. Perforce software, 2022. A GUIDE TO COMPLIANCE IN SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT. What Is Functional Safety? Available online:&nbsp;<br><a href="https://www.perforce.com/resources/qac/what-is-functional-safety#why-is-functional-safety-important" target="_blank">https://www.perforce.com/resources/qac/what-is-functional-safety#why-is-functional-safety-important</a></p><p>4. Leah Narodetsky, 2021. What Is IEC 61508? Your Comprehensive Guide to this Functional Safety Standard. Available online:&nbsp;<br><a href="https://content.intland.com/blog/what-is-iec-61508" target="_blank">https://content.intland.com/blog/what-is-iec-61508</a></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

Understanding the basics of functional safety. 


Functional Safety Foundations

<p id="isPasted">Smart packaging refers to any packaging that goes beyond a box or cover to protect the goods inside and enables tracking of certain parameters crucial to the shipped items. Part of the ever-growing IoT, smart packaging leverages technology to improve the quality and historic data of the transit of goods and commerce at both consumer and commercial levels. &nbsp;This article covers the development and scale-up of a smart packaging solution by Renesas.&nbsp;</p><h2>Making waves at CES&nbsp;</h2><p>When the Dialog Semiconductor team started thinking about what to demonstrate for CES in 2020, like the rest of the world, they did not know that would be the last larger exhibition most of us would attend in person for a while. Earlier that year, the team was introduced to a printed battery manufacturer headquartered in Berkeley, California. Their signature product is a credit card-sized, less than 1mm in height, flexible, disposable battery. Inspired by this, the team set a goal to&nbsp;create a small, thin, and low-cost Bluetooth<sup>&reg;</sup> Low Energy (LE) label and beacon-findable logger which can be disposed of through the regular household trash.</p><p>Two working prototypes were quickly built based on Bluetooth&reg; LE SoC <a href="https://www.dialog-semiconductor.com/products/bluetooth-low-energy/da14530-and-da14531" target="_blank">DA14531</a> which were exhibited at CES and received very positive feedback. These two labels, connected to a gateway that determined the RF signal strength to estimate the distance and identify the individual labels, were demonstrated. This first demonstrator did not contain any additional features such as sensors.</p><p>Promising customer feedback motivated a rethink of what a Bluetooth&reg; LE connected label could be used for, which inspired a new generation label. A third-party manufacturing house was contracted to design a small flex-foil PCB with integrated Bluetooth&reg; LE <a href="https://www.dialog-semiconductor.com/products/bluetooth-low-energy/da14530-and-da14531" target="_blank">DA14531</a> SoC, an 8-Mbit Flash, and several sensors (e.g., humidity and temperature, ambient light, 3-axis accelerometer), while making it easily connectable to the aforementioned printed battery.</p><h2>The Many Applications of the Smart Asset Tracking Label PoC</h2><p>This proof of concept (PoC) is available today and can be used in various scenarios. Some of the most beneficial include:</p><ul><li>Data logging and reporting<ul><li>e.g., for food, pharmaceutical, and other sensitive goods using an environmentally friendly, battery-powered, standard RF-radio-equipped label/tag</li></ul></li><li>Inventory control<ul><li>e.g., scan thousands of items in a mid-sized warehouse or on a pallet using just a smartphone or tablet</li></ul></li><li>Tamper detection<ul><li>e.g., record events of light exposure, tamper contacts, or acceleration</li></ul></li></ul><p>Renesas&rsquo; acquisition Dialog Semiconductor offered a unique opportunity to complement the Dialog Bluetooth&reg; LE ultra-low power Wi-Fi and Flash memory solutions with Renesas&rsquo; sensors, additional radios (such as LTE CAT-M1), or additional ULP MCUs. The result expands solutions into the broad industrial and consumer markets. The PoC is comprised of a Renesas <a href="https://www.renesas.com/HS3001" target="_blank">HS3001</a> humidity and temperature sensor, a <a href="https://www.dialog-semiconductor.com/products/bluetooth-low-energy/bluetooth-module-da14531-smartbond-tiny" target="_blank">DA14531</a> Bluetooth&reg; LE, and an <a href="https://www.dialog-semiconductor.com/products/memory/at25eu" target="_blank">AT25XE081D</a> 8-Mbit ultra-low leakage SPI Flash memory. An additional MC3635 3-axis accelerometer and a low-voltage ambient light sensor complement the system (as shown in Figure 1).Fig</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/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjQ4NDUzNTU3NDk4LXNtYXJ0LWFzc2V0LXRyYWNraW5nLWxhYmVsLXVzMjA3LXYzLnBuZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width: 788px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-inner focus-visible" data-focus-visible-added="" spellcheck="false">Figure 1: An MC3635 3-axis accelerometer and a low-voltage ambient light sensor complement the system. Image credit: Renesas&nbsp;</span></span></span></p><h2 id="isPasted">How the PoC Compares to Existing Technology</h2><p>Existing data logging labels or tags commonly use RF-ID for communication, since the batteries are too small to power active radios. Other existing tags or labels contain a ubiquitous active radio, such as Bluetooth&reg; LE , Wi-Fi, LoRa, &nbsp;and use large batteries, built for repeated use over long periods of time, meaning logistics for reuse and recycling are required. In stark contrast, the Renesas Bluetooth&reg; LE-equipped solution not only logs temperature and other environmental data, but also enables users access to the data in real-time so they can intervene before goods are damaged or lost.</p><p>Since the PoC uses Bluetooth&reg; LE for wireless communication, all that is required to take advantage of these options is a standard mobile phone or tablet. No special transceivers or infrastructure are required. Furthermore, the printed battery manufactured by <a href="https://www.imprintenergy.com/" target="_blank">Imprint Energy</a> can be disposed of through regular household waste since it does not contain any environmentally harmful components.</p><p><em><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/W4EaP4NOM78?&wmode=opaque&rel=0&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe></span></em><br></p><h2>Agile Design Methods Resulted in an Industry-tested PoC</h2><p>Interestingly, through specifying and designing the new demonstrator Renesas, in cooperation with the battery supplier and the third-party manufacturing house, already engaged with potential customers long before the first samples were physically available. Multiple software implementations, as well as label hardware, have been provided. Examples include a variety of customer requirements ranging from simple beacon functions and data logging to using smart inventory hub functions in combination with a generic Linux-OS-based hub.</p><p>In addition, Renesas has engaged with multiple customers for diverse applications, such as electronic shelf labels with e-ink display and multiple years of battery life from simple button cells. Bluetooth&reg; LE-based &quot;findables&quot; with primary and rechargeable batteries and many more solutions are also being investigated.</p><p>This PoC is an elevated development platform for customer-specific projects. However, depending on the customer requirements, other batteries, sensors, memory requirements, etc. may influence the actual product development. Customers who do not have the required engineering resources available may want to take advantage of the work already conducted with the third-party design and manufacturing house partners.</p><h2 dir="ltr" id="isPasted"><em>About the sponsor: Renesas</em></h2><p><em>At Renesas we continuously strive to drive innovation with a comprehensive portfolio of microcontrollers, analog and power devices. Our mission is to develop a safer, healthier, greener, and smarter world by providing intelligence to our four focus growth segments: Automotive, Industrial, Infrastructure, and IoT that are all vital to our daily lives, meaning our products and solutions are embedded everywhere.&nbsp;</em><em><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjQ4NTY3NDc1MDA3LXJlbmVzYXMgYm90dG9tIGJhbm5lci5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"></em><br></p><p>&nbsp;</p>

A rapid prototype inspired by novel technology has expanded into a robust proof of concept. 

The Future of Package Tracking: The BLE Smart Label

<p dir="ltr" id="isPasted"><em>This is the first article in a 4-part series based on a&nbsp;</em><a href="https://www.intrinsic-id.com/resources/white-papers/landing-page-white-paper-preventing-a-500-attack-wevolver/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>whitepaper</em></a><em>&nbsp;published by&nbsp;</em><a href="https://www.intrinsic-id.com/resources/white-papers/landing-page-white-paper-preventing-a-500-attack-wevolver/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Intrinsic ID</em></a><em>&nbsp;that dives deep into such low-cost IoT attacks. The series will cover the origin of the low-cost attacks, their types, preventions, security assurance, how to ensure IoT platform security, IC lifecycle, and how it impacts IC&#39;s safety. The first article will examine low-cost IoT attacks from their conceptual foundation.&nbsp;</em></p><p dir="ltr"><a class="button-main-action" href="https://www.intrinsic-id.com/resources/white-papers/landing-page-white-paper-preventing-a-500-attack-wevolver/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Download the free whitepaper</a></p><p dir="ltr">In 2018, Rafael Boix Carpi attacked a general-purpose microcontroller device, broke the AES encryption, and unveiled the messages being sent. He wasn&rsquo;t the first successful attacker to do so, but he&rsquo;d made a stunning discovery - he could hijack an IoT device with almost zero resources. The attack had cost less than $60. The table below shows the cost breakdown of Rafael&#39;s attack.<span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 766px;"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjQ3OTU2MjkwNzIzLTAxLTAxICgxKS5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 788px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-inner" spellcheck="false">&nbsp;Figure 1: The cost breakdown of Rafael Boix Carpi&rsquo;s 2018 infamous IoT attack.&nbsp;</span></span></span></p><h2 dir="ltr" id="isPasted">Vulnerable IoT and Low-Cost IoT Attacks</h2><p dir="ltr">By 2025, there will likely be more than 27 billion IoT connections across industries as broad as agriculture, manufacturing, transportation and logistics, healthcare, energy, smart homes, and smart cities. The global IoT market is expected to reach USD 1.39 Trillion by 2026.<sup>(1)</sup>&nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr">These devices enable an unprecedented era of rapid automation and data-driven insight and decision making. Simultaneously the advent of IoT presents new aspects of vulnerability to businesses and organizations. According to a cyber solutions company Kaspersky, an analysis of its telemetry from honeypots revealed that more than 1.5 billion IoT attacks were detected in 2021&ndash; up from 639 million during the first half of 2020.<sup>(2)</sup></p><h2 dir="ltr">Types of IoT Attackers</h2><p dir="ltr">The people performing attacks on IoT devices can be broadly organized into four main categories.&nbsp;</p><ol><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Governmental Attackers. Sophisticated IoT attacks against governments or large industries are very hard to defend against.</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Security Researchers. Security researchers such as Carpi dedicate time to search for hidden, easy-to-exploit vulnerabilities to raise awareness for the industry and expand IoT security knowledge.&nbsp;</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Script Gurus. Usually, these are groups of technically curious people who often have no malicious agenda. Companies may reward these types of investigations with bug bounties.&nbsp;</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Criminal attackers. Attacks are motivated by commercial gain, either through theft of information or holding an institution to ransom. In the case of the former, the attack can go unnoticed for years.&nbsp;</p></li></ol><p dir="ltr">In all these cases, the damage caused by the attacks can be extensive, expensive and create public distrust that can last for years. But the most troubling part is that many attacks can be performed at very low cost. While Governmental Attackers have virtually unlimited resources and Security Researchers might have expensive lab equipment, most attacks on IoT devices (like the one by Carpi) show that there often is no need for deep pockets when it comes to compromising IoT devices. The fact that many IoT attacks only require limited investment is the biggest threat to our connected world, because it allows anyone to be a potential attacker. That is why this series will be focusing on low-cost attacks and how they can be prevented. This first article describes the types of low-cost attacks known to be used on IoT devices.</p><h2 dir="ltr">Types of Low-Cost Attacks</h2><p>Low-cost physical attacks are inexpensive gateways to launch large-scale attacks, especially if all IoT devices have the same root/master key. One is attacked, all are brought down, bringing tremendous financial benefits for the attackers.</p><p dir="ltr">Low-cost IoT attacks belong to four main categories, indicated in the grid below:&nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr"><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjQ3OTU2MzM0OTU3LTAyLTAxICgxKS5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 788px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"></p><p dir="ltr" id="isPasted">The following paragraphs discuss these low-cost attacks in detail.</p><h3 dir="ltr">Local Physical Attacks</h3><p dir="ltr">In physical attacks, the attacker accesses operating embedded devices to gain insights into their specifications. These insights might include the device&#39;s firmware, power consumption, etc. These specs are then exploited to launch attacks.</p><p dir="ltr">Three types of local physical attacks gained popularity in recent years:</p><ol><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Side Channel Attack (SCA)</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Fault Injection Attack (FIA)&nbsp;</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Invasive Attacks</p></li></ol><h3 dir="ltr">Side-Channel Attack</h3><p dir="ltr">A general SCA attempts to obtain confidential data processed internally in a chip. The attacker analyzes the device&#39;s physical parameters, including supply current and physical emissions such as electromagnetic fields and execution time. This information is exploited to break cryptography to view the message before it is encrypted. These attacks pose a severe threat to modules that integrate cryptographic systems.<sup>(2)</sup>&nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr">Power Analysis SCA exploits the power consumed by the device to reveal the message sent by the device. A successful attack only requires a low-end oscilloscope, a connection to the device&#39;s power supply, and open-source software to attack the device.&nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr">In an Electromagnetic SCA, instead of power analysis, an attacker measures the electromagnetic emissions from the device and performs signal analysis on them.&nbsp;</p><h3 dir="ltr">Fault Injection Attack</h3><p dir="ltr">A Fault Injection Attack (FIA) injects a fault into an embedded system to change its intended behavior. FIAs are used to bypass secure boot mechanisms, extract a secret key, leak confidential data, push malicious data upstream or downstream, or disable SCA countermeasures.&nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr">Glitching Attacks (GA) are common FIAs. In Voltage Glitch Attack, sudden changes in the supply voltage are created, which are usually negative and induce transient faults. These faults disrupt the internal logic causing computational faults. The equipment needed is a configurable pulse generator that can drive low voltages, often available as integrated FPGAs for less than $500.&nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr">Electromagnetic Fault Injection (EMFI) uses small coils to inject highly localized electromagnetic fields, generated in either transient or harmonic configurations and directed towards a specific component into a device. Such fields manipulate the system power device clock and introduce localized thermal variations.&nbsp;</p><h3 dir="ltr">Invasive Attacks</h3><p dir="ltr">Invasive attacks such as delayering and modification of the circuit are tamper attacks that require direct access to the device&#39;s internal components. They usually demand a knowledgeable and well-equipped attacker to succeed. The attacker physically tampers with the metal wires using microprobes to alter the circuit behavior by overdriving the chip.<sup>(3)</sup></p><h3>Remote Physical Attacks</h3><p dir="ltr">The two most well-known remote physical attacks are Rowhammer and Plundervolt.</p><h3 dir="ltr">Rowhammer Attack</h3><p dir="ltr">The Rowhammer bug is a hardware reliability issue with new generation DRAM chips in which repeatedly and rapidly accessing (hammering) a row of memory can cause bit flips in adjacent rows, i.e., changing their bit values from 0 to 1 or 1 to 0.<sup>(5)</sup></p><p dir="ltr">By utilizing the Rowhammer bug, the attackers corrupt the chosen data. Researchers from Google accessed the kernel memory by using a memory massaging technique to trigger the Rowhammer bug and force the kernel out of memory error. In this instance, the attackers can scan the memory for specific data, bypass established security mechanisms, and execute the attack primitives in security-critical areas.</p><p><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 766px;"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjQ3OTU2MzY3MjA4LTAzLTAxICgxKS5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 788px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-inner" spellcheck="false">Figure 2: The Rowhammer attack approach researched by Google. Image credit: Google.&nbsp;</span></span></span></p><h3 dir="ltr" id="isPasted">Plundervolt Attack</h3><p dir="ltr">Plundervolt attack exploits the &quot;voltage regulator&quot; feature of new Intel chips, intended to improve their efficiency and performance. The attacker uses this mechanism to reduce the core chip voltage methodically until a fault occurs.</p><p dir="ltr">Using these induced faults, the attacker can breach the chip&#39;s built-in set of security-based instruction codes, known as Software Guard Extensions (SGX). SGX protects sensitive data housed on Intel CPUs by storing it in secure areas separate from other memory.</p><h3 dir="ltr">Local Logical Attacks</h3><p dir="ltr">The logical attacks aim to disrupt the logical flow of the device&rsquo;s operations either by physically accessing the device and then launching an attack or using the services and trafficking hacks.</p><p dir="ltr">Local logical attacks are typically launched by exploiting JTAG, serial, and USB interfaces. Accessing these interfaces creates many possibilities, such as a reach to the controller&#39;s internal memory, which can lead to:</p><ul><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Manipulation of the register values,</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Insertion of malicious data and code, and&nbsp;</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Extracting, patching, and re-flashing the modified vulnerable/malicious firmware back into the device.</p></li></ul><h3 dir="ltr">Remote Logical Attacks</h3><p dir="ltr">Attackers usually launch remote logical attacks by exploiting the device&rsquo;s operations via abundant requests or buffer overflows.</p><h3 dir="ltr">Buffer Overflow Attack</h3><p dir="ltr">Buffers are memory storage regions that temporarily hold data while transferred from one location to another. If the size of data exceeds the capacity of the memory buffer, it overflows, and the program overwrites adjacent memory locations.</p><p dir="ltr">Attackers exploit buffer overflow issues by overwriting the memory of an application. This changes the program&#39;s execution path, triggering a response that damages files or exposes private information.<sup>(6)</sup> The attacker may load the erroneous data or malicious code and malfunction or destroy the SoC.</p><h3 dir="ltr">Flooding/Denial of Service (DoS) Attack</h3><p dir="ltr">In these attacks, the targeted device is continuously bombarded with massive requests until it is overwhelmed and unable to respond to regular users. It eventually crashes, denying its services.</p><h2 dir="ltr">Conclusion</h2><p dir="ltr">The massive rise in IoT devices has revealed their insecurities to expert security researchers, script gurus, and cybercriminals. They have found such weaknesses in IoT infrastructure that are exploited to launch inexpensive IoT attacks. These low-cost attacks threaten the security, confidentiality, and authenticity of their owner&#39;s systems and processes. The considerable variation in such attacks requires a comprehensive and innovative security approach which will be addressed in future articles in this series.&nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr">If you don&rsquo;t want to wait for the next articles in this series to be published to learn more about these attacks and how to prevent them, you can download the full whitepaper Preventing A $500 Attack Destroying Your IoT Devices now. <a href="https://www.intrinsic-id.com/resources/white-papers/landing-page-white-paper-preventing-a-500-attack-wevolver/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Download the full paper here.</a></p><h2 id="isPasted">References</h2><ol><li>Hiter S. datamation.com. [Online].; 2021. Available from: https://www.datamation.com/trends/internet-of-things-iot-market/#:~:text=The%20IoT%20market%20reached%20%24761.4,2026%2C%20according%20to%20Mordor%20Intelligence.</li><li>Seals T. threatpost.com. [Online].; 2021. Available from: <a href="https://threatpost.com/iot-attacks-doubling/169224/#:~:text=According%20to%20a%20Kaspersky%20analysis,more%20than%20twice%20the%20volume" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://threatpost.com/iot-attacks-doubling/169224/#:~:text=According%20to%20a%20Kaspersky%20analysis,more%20than%20twice%20the%20volume</a>.</li><li>Press R. rambus.com. [Online].; 2021. Available from: https://www.rambus.com/blogs/side-channel-attacks/.</li><li>iotsecuritynews. iotsecuritynews.com. [Online].; 2018. Available from: <a href="https://iotsecuritynews.com/rampage-attack-explained-exploiting-rowhammer-on-android-again/" rel="noopener noreferrer noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://iotsecuritynews.com/rampage-attack-explained-exploiting-rowhammer-on-android-again/</a>.</li><li>Imperva. imperva.com. [Online]. Available from: https://www.imperva.com/learn/application-security/buffer-overflow/.</li></ol><h2><em>About the sponsor: Intrinsic ID</em></h2><p dir="ltr">Intrinsic ID is among the world&rsquo;s leading providers of security IP for embedded systems based on physical unclonable function or <a href="https://www.intrinsic-id.com/physical-unclonable-function/" target="_blank">PUF technology</a>. The technology provides an additional level of hardware security utilizing the inherent uniqueness in each and every silicon chip. The IP can be delivered in hardware or software and can be applied easily to almost any chip &ndash; from tiny microcontrollers to high-performance FPGAs &ndash; and at any stage of a product&rsquo;s lifecycle. It is used as a<a href="https://www.intrinsic-id.com/sram-puf/iot-security-it-starts-with-a-strong-root-of-trust/" target="_blank">&nbsp;hardware root of trust</a> to validate payment systems, secure connectivity, authenticate sensors, and protect sensitive government and military data and systems. Intrinsic ID security has been deployed and proven in millions of devices certified by EMVCo, Visa, CC EAL6+, PSA, ioXt, and governments across the globe.</p><p><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjQ3OTU3MjUwNjE3LWxvZ28gYm90dG9tIGJhbm5lciBpbnRyaW5zaWMuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"></p><p><br></p>

The risk of low-cost IoT attacks demands vigilance and innovation. 


Understanding Low-Cost IoT Attacks

<p id="isPasted">The Industrial IoT (IIoT) is the foundation of Industry 4.0. By sending sensor data to the cloud and using it to feed machine learning algorithms, manufacturers can detect process problems immediately, rather than at later stages when rework and field failures are much more expensive.</p><p>"Industry 4.0" is transforming factories through computing and automation. According to technology giant IBM, digital technologies are driving self-optimization of process improvements and levels of efficiencies and responsiveness not previously seen in the industrial sector.</p><p>So, it's perhaps no surprise that factory managers are rushing to implement Industry 4.0 principles. But the problem many faces is their facilities are equipped with wired sensor networks, which, although reliable, cost-effective, and secure, lack the capability to connect to the IIoT easily.</p><h2>From wired to wireless</h2><p>Now there's a solution; State College, PA-based TZero's <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/News/2021/10/TZeros-MachineMailbox-employs-nRF9160-SiP?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">MachineMailbox</a> is an IIoT gateway—based on Nordic's <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/nRF9160?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">nRF9160</a> low power System-in-Package (SiP) cellular IoT solution—that brings Cloud connectivity to wired sensor networks. The gateway connects to external sensors via a wired full-duplex RS485 data port. RS485 has a large installed footprint in industrial systems because it is balanced, inherently noise immune, and robust over long cable lengths.</p><p>MachineMailbox brings connectivity to critical systems where a large legacy installed equipment base represents a significant capital investment. Furthermore, it brings connectivity to locations where network access is challenging - such as manufacturing equipment, robotics, or chemical plant monitoring. The proprietary gateway solution connects IIoT systems to the cloud through LTE-M or NB-IoT cellular networks.</p><p><a href="https://www.tzerolabs.com/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">TZero</a> selected cellular IoT over other wireless protocols such as Wi-Fi because the industrial service must provide highly reliable wireless connectivity. Moreover, the company says cellular networking can deliver connectivity solutions out of the box, that are secure and easy to deploy.</p><p>In addition to providing the LTE-M/NB-IoT connectivity for MachineMailbox, the nRF9160 SiP's 64MHz Arm Cortex-M33 processor with 1MB Flash and 256kB RAM analyses and processes the raw sensor data to determine what needs forwarding to the cloud. This helps keep power consumption low, enhances security, and reduces data costs.</p><h2>An accurate picture</h2><p>By combining cellular connectivity and Cloud computing, TZero's IIoT gateway solution provides a quick and accurate picture of what's happening during an industrial process. In a brewery environment, for example, where timing and control are crucial, yet measurements are traditionally made manually, MachineMailbox can be deployed to automate fermentation monitoring. Data from a wired sensor network can then be aggregated and processed by TZero's gateway and sent to the cloud. Feedback from a Cloud server helps the brewer refine the process for the perfect end-product.</p><p>MachineMailbox can be added to an industrial network as a 'sink' to which sensors feed data, or it can query any attached peripheral. Once connected, the gateway can, for example, be configured as a Modbus device, exposing a large range of holding registers that an external controller can read from or write to. The contents of the registers can then be synchronized to a Cloud server. Once in the cloud, applications can access the registers allowing remote visibility. Through such a system, any programmable logic controller (PLC) or industrial controller can achieve Cloud connectivity virtually using familiar protocols or data models.</p><p>MachineMailbox transforms any product into a connected IIoT sensor/machine-based solution with "zero configuration," says TZero. This functionality not only helps industrial customers with process optimization but also equipment diagnostics and predictive maintenance.</p><p>Manufacturing companies with legacy wired factory systems don't have to wait for an expensive plant upgrade to enjoy the benefits of Industry 4.0. Instead, with the help of products like MachineMailbox, they can quickly and relatively inexpensively transform their assembly operations by connecting the factory floor to the cloud and leveraging the power of machine learning.</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" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Get Connected Blog</a>.</p>

The Industrial IoT (IIoT) is the foundation of Industry 4.0. By sending sensor data to the cloud and using it to feed machine learning algorithms, manufacturers can detect process problems immediately, rather than at later stages when rework and field failures are much more expensive.

Transforming wired industrial sensors into IoT devices

<h2 align="center" id="isPasted">Leading companies present intralogistics technology trends</h2><h3 align="center" id="isPasted">Future of Intralogistics Days 2022</h3><p align="center"><b id="isPasted"><strong>Concentrated logistics power without the waffle – at the virtual&nbsp;</strong></b><strong><a href="https://www.future-of-intralogistics.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Future of Intralogistics Days 2022</a> conference on March 9th and 10th, 18 famous companies will be presenting the latest intralogistics technologies and best practices. The free event is aimed at experienced intralogistics experts in the European B2B sector. The focus of the 20-minute sessions will be new and future trends and examples of applications for intralogistics processes in storage environments, e-commerce and production.</strong></p><p align="center"><strong><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjQ1NzA3NTk1OTUzLWFsbGVfbG9nb3MxLmpwZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" class="fr-fic fr-dib"></strong><br></p><p>Driverless transport systems, sensor technology and digital infrastructure – the first day of the event is defined by mobile robotics. Exciting application examples, technology presentations and live discussions will illustrate the results that can be achieved with mobile robots and the demands that implementation will bring. Everything is user-related and practical. The same is true of the second day. Here, it’s all about wearables, software and materials handling. There will be speakers from</p><ul><li>Siemens</li><li>SAFELOG</li><li>SICK&nbsp;</li><li>FlexQube&nbsp;</li><li>NIMMSTA&nbsp;</li><li>Picavi&nbsp;</li><li>cellumation&nbsp;</li><li>Phoenix Contact&nbsp;</li><li>REMIRA&nbsp;</li><li>Sherpa Mobile Robots&nbsp;</li><li>MHP - A Porsche Company<br>and <a href="https://future-of-intralogistics.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">more...</a></li></ul><p>Interested logistics experts will find the full program at <a href="https://future-of-intralogistics.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">www.future-of-intralogistics.com</a>. The event will be in English.</p><p><br></p>

Concentrated logistics power without the waffle – at the virtual Future of Intralogistics Days 2022 conference on March 9th and 10th, 18 famous companies will be presenting the latest intralogistics technologies. The free event is aimed at experienced intralogistics experts in the B2B sector. 

Future of Intralogistics - Days 2022

<p id="isPasted">Hardware and software engineers will be the lifeblood of tomorrow's connected world. Academia is working hard to ensure a steady supply, in part by adapting engineering education to train the next generation of IoT innovators.</p><p>Governments, industries, companies, and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics) educators alike face pressure to plan successfully for engineering work that doesn't yet exist. With this objective in mind, stakeholders are looking to ensure education programs prepare young people and graduates for a future that, while difficult to predict with certainty, indeed will revolve around technologies focused on big data, AI, ML, and edge computing under the umbrella of the IoT.</p><h2>Preparing for tomorrow's global challenges</h2><p>Society will need coders capable of leveraging advanced technologies to their full potential if innovation is to be relied upon to solve global challenges. To tackle climate change, aging populations, endemic diseases, and sustainability, we must build a pipeline for skilled engineering practitioners and make sure it flows continuously.</p><p>A 2020 study by the World Economic Forum (WEF) suggested the jobs of tomorrow will be based on seven key professional clusters that promise growth and prosperity in the future workforce. The study predicted data and AI, engineering, and Cloud computing—disciplines that generally demand strong expertise in digital technologies—will be amongst the fastest-growing professional clusters, with product development not far behind. For each of these clusters, skills described as 'tech disruptive' were found to be the most important, with 'tech baseline' skills also ranking highly.</p><p>The WEF study estimates the emerging employment areas in the professional clusters are set to deliver 6.1 million new jobs within just the next three years. And in the U.S., employment projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show 3.6 million computing-related job openings are expected by 2029.</p><h2>Filling digital and IoT skills shortages</h2><p>While there appears little doubt the technical roles and responsibilities will exist, will there be enough qualified people ready to fill them? Industry insiders suggest that to meet future demand, the quality of engineering education must continually keep pace with technology. With improved engineering curricula, institutions like schools and universities will be better armed to prepare students to resolve looming digital and IoT skills shortages.</p><p>Progress has been good, but challenges remain, according to a recent report by the Australian Council of Engineering Deans (ACED). It's based on a 2019 national survey of undergraduates and states that engineering students are less satisfied than students of all fields in engagement with skills development, teaching quality, student support, learning resources, and overall quality of the learning experience.</p><h2>Addressing a lack of diversity</h2><p>The unbalanced demographic of students is another factor that threatens to undermine the supply of engineers. This lack of diversity impacts skills and ideas, stifling technological innovation as well as future career prospects.</p><p>In 2017, women accounted for just 16 percent of engineers, according to the U.S.'s National Science Board. Meanwhile, women are significantly outnumbered in both school programs and the workforce. They receive only 21 percent of computer science bachelor's degrees and hold only 25 percent of computing roles, says the country's National Center for Women &amp; Information Technology (NCWIT).</p><p>To close the gender gap and other imbalances in the technology sector, not-for-profit organizations like NCWIT, Girls Who Code, and AnitaB.org are providing wireless tech-driven STEAM education resources to more women and girls and underprivileged communities.</p><h2>Providing opportunities for future coders</h2><p>IoT wireless technology providers have a vested interest in the education of tomorrow's engineers. And some are taking action. As the world's leading Bluetooth LE chipmaker, Nordic Semiconductor is committed to providing digital education opportunities for the coders of the future.</p><p>This commitment is demonstrated not least by Nordic's partnership with the Micro:bit Educational Foundation. The not-for-profit organization is behind the BBC <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/News/2020/10/Nordic-powered-next-generation-microbit-to-support-AI-and-machine-learning-applications" rel="noopener" target="_blank">micro:bit</a>, a Nordic-powered, pocket-sized computer and user-friendly educational resource for teaching students about coding and how software and hardware work in tandem.</p><p>Beyond Nordic, other companies use the tiny computer as the basis for educational solutions that encourage an interest in coding. One example is Strawbees, a firm that provides a complete STEAM building and coding education solution to help teachers deliver curriculum-aligned, class-ready lessons. The STEAM Classroom Kit with Micro:bit combines physical building, robotics, and electronics kits with web-based development tools.</p><p>Nordic also recently joined global ICT leader, Nokia, and fellow fabless semiconductor company, MediaTek, in <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/News/2021/11/Nordic-supports-professorship-in-SoC-tech-for-wireless-systems-at-University-of-Oulu-in-Finland" rel="noopener" target="_blank">establishing a new professorship</a> in SoC technologies for wireless systems at the University of Oulu, Finland. In sponsoring this professorship, Nordic further demonstrated its support for academia, education, and research across engineering fields, particularly concerning the advantages of low-power wireless IoT connectivity.</p><p>Initiatives like these, and others that see industry stakeholders working together for better digital education, offer the best chance for building a healthy cohort of coders ready to drive innovation in the decades ahead.</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" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Get Connected Blog</a>. </p>

Hardware and software engineers will be the lifeblood of tomorrow's connected world. Academia is working hard to ensure a steady supply, in part by adapting engineering education to train the next generation of IoT innovators.

IIoT

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