Tag: Internet of Things

How to Self-Quantify a Network Using Internet of Things (IoT)

Original article — “How to Self-Quantify a Network Using Internet of Things (IoT)” at IoT World Blog.

Recently, I have posted the concept of Shadow Network that intelligently sense and adapts its network characteristics to its surroundings. I began to realise that this concept is quite similar to the Quantified-Self whereby sensors are being used to collect data regarding the individual and track his health, productivity, social life and habits. With the information gathered via these Quantified-Self tools, the person will know a lot better about himself and thus can change his lifestyle habit to be healthier and productive.

It’s quite similar to the Shadow Network; it will use the surrounding sensors i.e. smartphones or dedicated sensors to collect data and later make a decision by itself how best to serve the users connected to it.

That’s why I termed Shadow Network as a “Self-Quantified Network“

Now, imagine a network is just like a “human” trying to make himself more “healthy”, “Sociable”, “good mood”, “more productive”, “enjoy hobbies”, “enjoy the travels” — And what if the network is also capable of improving itself by having “better coverage”, “providing good QoS’, “give better capacity”, “understand the situation”, etc?

The question is — where does it learn from? Previously, network learns from its network traffic condition which either collects its “throughput”, “latency”, “error-rate”, etc. But with the era of Internet of Things (IOT), sensors are now available everywhere. What if these sensors provide that extra information to the network? The context information can be in many forms, such as:-

  1. Spatial — Location, Speed, Orientation
  2. Temporal — Time and Duration
  3. Environmental — Temperature, Light, Noise Level
  4. User Characterisation — Mobility Pattern, Social interactions
  5. Device Resource Availability — Battery Power, Computational, Storage, etc.

And now — just imagine if you can harness the data and turn into knowledge that will allow the network to be re-configurable (we termed as Self-Reconfigurable Network). It will transform the network to be more intelligent and adapts to its surroundings and give a better service to the users attached to it.

We called this — Shadow Network.

“Sensing-as-a-Service” — New IoT Cloud Service is in Town

Original article published — “Sensing-as-a-Service” — New IoT Cloud Service is in Town” at IoT World.

As we moved our sensor data to the IOT Cloud, we can manipulate the data for useful applications. But many people are sceptical about storing their data in the Cloud. Before we go further in arguing on the topic of privacy, let’s take a look at the four main categories of sensor data ownership:

  1. Personal and Households — These are all personal items, such as mobile phones, wrist watches, spectacles, laptops, soft drinks, food items and household items, such as televisions, cameras, microwaves, washing machines, etc
  2. Private — Business organisation, has the right to take the decision whether to publish the sensors attached to those items to the cloud or not.
  3. Public — Infrastructure such as bridges, roads, parks, etc. All the sensors deployed by the government will be published in the cloud depending on government policies.
  4. Commercial Sensor Data Providers — Business entities who use and manage sensors by themselves by keeping ownership. They earn by publishing the sensors and sensor data they own through sensor publishers.

Once we can categorise the ownership of the data, we will be able to use them to become “IOT-as-a-Service” or “sensing-as-a-service” (check the concept in the Slideshare here) meaning that we can provide a free or chargeable service to any person who wishes to view or manipulate the data

The benefits of “IOT-as-a-Service” are as follows:

  1. Harnessing the creativity of application developers
  2. Built-in cloud computing — “Pay-per-Use.”
  3. Participatory sensing — Rapid deployment via “crowd-sensing” method
  4. Sharing and reusing — “free and paid.”
  5. Reduction of data acquisition cost — “sustainable business model
  6. Collect data previously unavailable — “Assist the scientific community or survey activities.”

It’s also possible to combine different multiple sensor data sources and create many innovative applications such as combining between parking sensor data and public transport data, between environmental data and flood detection data, between river quality data and fertility of soil data. An IOT service provider can provide such services and thus, it will certainly open up many opportunities to generate new ways of monitoring and managing our valuable assets. You might want to continue the M2M and IOT Communication LinkedIn Group discussion that I have posted here — “Are there any IOT Cloud Service Providers?” and “What do you think about the idea of “Sensing-as-a-Service”?”

[Article originally published at LinkedIn — “Six (6) Benefits of IOT-as-a-Service“]

___________________________________________________________

  1. Internet of Things — Will It Fly?
  2. Sensing-as-a-Service — An IOT Cloud Service
  3. 4 Reasons Why Internet of Things (IOT) Adoption Will Not be as Slow as IPv6?
  4. Using Smartphone as the “Sensing Device” for Crowdsourcing Applications
  5. Internet of Things (IOT) Target market — Consumer (B2C) or Enterprise (B2B)?
  6. 4 Main Challenges to Become an IOT Service Provider
  7. How to Self Quantify A Network Using Internet of Things (IoT)?
  8. The Early Adopters of Internet of Things (IoT)
  9. How to Create Knowledge from Raw Data Using Internet of Things (IoT)
  10. Commercial IOT Sensor Provider
  11. Can IOT Answer These Questions?
  12. Avoiding Malaysian Floods Using IOT
  13. The Importance of IOT Data Sets in Malaysia
  14. Five (5) Reasons Why “Things” (IoT) Require Their Own Facebook
  15. Will IoT Make You Lazy?
  16. Four (4) Compelling Reasons to Adopt IoT

About the Author

Dr. Mazlan is the co-founder and CEO of FAVORIOT Sdn Bhd. He is ranked among Top 20 Global Thought Leaders on the Internet of Things (February 2019) by Thinkers360, Top 50 Most Impactful Smart Cities Leaders by World CSR Congress 2017, ranked Top 10 in IoT Top 100 Influencers by Postscapes 2017 & 2018, ranked №20th Thought Leader in IOT by 2014 Onalytics Report — “The Internet of Things — Top 100 Thought Leaders” and UTM Alumni Industry Personality 2016. He is currently one of Global Vision Board Member (2017). Before Favoriot, he spent 2.5 years as CEO of REDtone IOT and 8 years in MIMOS Berhad as Senior Director Wireless Communications Cluster. He also spent 13 years in CELCOM (mobile operator), handling many senior management positions. Prior to Celcom, he spent 10 years as an Assoc. Professor at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. He is currently the Adjunct Professor at Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) and Universiti Malaysia (UniMY). He was also the Adjunct Professor for UTM from 2008 to 2013 and UTHM (2004–2005, 2013–2016). Dr.Mazlan is a frequent speaker at many major & established IOT, Smart Cities and telco conferences locally and globally. He sits in Industry Advisory Panel (IAP) for several local universities. He graduated from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia with a BEE (1984), University of Essex (UK) with MSc. in Telematics (1986) and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia with a Ph.D. in Telecommunications (1993). He also received an Honorary Doctorate in Electrical Engineering from UTHM (2017).

You can reach him on LinkedIn or Twitter. Check all his presentation slides HERE.

You can download Dr. Mazlan’s photo from HERE.

Who Are The Early Adopters of Internet of Things (IoT)?

Original article — “Who Are The Early Adopters of Internet of Things (IoT)?” published at IoT World

If you noticed that most IoT companies came from startups such as the ones that introduced their early products through Kickstarter crowdfunding. Only recently, we can see bigger companies like Apple, Samsung, Google are developing IoT solutions. But who are their customers? I believed the customers are the early adopters.

But who are these early adopters? Early adopters are a larger group at 13.5 percent of the population. Early adopters are well-known opinion leaders. Because of their leadership, early adopters command attention and respect, and they function as cross-pollinators. Like bees fertilize flowers by bringing pollen from one flower to another, early adopters spread new ideas from innovators to others. IoT requires these opinion leaders to spur the industry.

IoT startups are the innovators — they are the evangelists and the believers. They will take whatever risks to be the leaders in this new business. The more reasons we can also see the early customers are also the ones that wanted to be the first industry mover that adopts such solutions even though they know the IoT solutions might not be 100% perfect. They are willing to take the risk of an 80% matured product. That’s the price if one wants to become an early adopter.

Begin by bringing on board the opinion leaders — the adventurous innovators who spearhead new practices — and the early adopters, who are not far behind. Encourage the opinion leaders to mobilize the majority of staff — the early and late majorities — to understand and adopt the new practice or set of practices.

The early adopters are known as the revolutionist, evangelist, futurist and visionary. Bring them to the IoT industry and we will see IoT become a reality. Nurture the startups because they are poised to shape the future of the Internet of Things.

Gartner predicts that by 2017, 50 percent of IoT solutions (typically a product combined with a service) will originate in startups that are less than three years old. — Source

About the Author

Dr. Mazlan is the co-founder and CEO of FAVORIOT Sdn Bhd. He is ranked among Top 20 Global Thought Leaders on the Internet of Things (February 2019) by Thinkers360, Top 50 Most Impactful Smart Cities Leaders by World CSR Congress 2017, ranked Top 10 in IoT Top 100 Influencers by Postscapes 2017 & 2018, ranked №20th Thought Leader in IOT by 2014 Onalytics Report — “The Internet of Things — Top 100 Thought Leaders” and UTM Alumni Industry Personality 2016. He is currently one of Global Vision Board Member (2017). Before Favoriot, he spent 2.5 years as CEO of REDtone IOT and 8 years in MIMOS Berhad as Senior Director Wireless Communications Cluster. He also spent 13 years in CELCOM (mobile operator), handling many senior management positions. Prior to Celcom, he spent 10 years as an Assoc. Professor at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. He is currently the Adjunct Professor at Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) and Universiti Malaysia (UniMY). He was also the Adjunct Professor for UTM from 2008 to 2013 and UTHM (2004–2005, 2013–2016). Dr.Mazlan is a frequent speaker at many major & established IOT, Smart Cities and telco conferences locally and globally. He sits in Industry Advisory Panel (IAP) for several local universities. He graduated from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia with a BEE (1984), University of Essex (UK) with MSc. in Telematics (1986) and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia with a Ph.D. in Telecommunications (1993). He also received an Honorary Doctorate in Electrical Engineering from UTHM (2017).

You can reach him on LinkedIn or Twitter. Check all his presentation slides HERE.

You can download Dr. Mazlan’s photo from HERE.

Smart Cities in 11th Malaysia Plan (2016–2020)

Last year, Malaysia has published the 11th Malaysia Plan. The information regarding “Smart Cities” described in the document is still at very high-level. As stated, most probably it will be discussed further in 11th Plan period.

“During the Eleventh Plan, a framework will be developed to prioritise areas of focus in the development of smart cities. A fundamental initiative to realise the migration to smart cities will be the development of smart communities.”

Our company is fortunate enough to have started our journey towards building smart solutions as shown in No. 16 & 18 (see Page 7–32 of 11th Malaysia Plan)

Interestingly, the majority of the smart city services are either to reduce costs or to increase operational efficiency. The city’s mission should not be really in “making more revenue” via smart city solutions but rather providing better services to the citizens.

However, there is must be a balance between reducing costs of operations and making new revenue streams so that cities can become more self-sustainable. The city should allocate smart city funds to pay for these solutions (just like in many other countries such as UK, India, USA, Australia, etc.) or use an OPEX-based (pay via savings) business model. In return, more people willing to stay and work in the cities which will further spur the economy in the long term.

I would recommend that cities or government budget funds for pilot trials too. Without trials, we will not be able to experience how complex is the process of developing smart cities. Frameworks are insufficient to move forward. Experiencing what’s happening on the ground is the best way to understand the pain points and finally will be able to resolve the levels bureaucracy, factors impacting decision-making process, governance, business models, etc.

We need governance mechanisms at local councils, city and national levels which decouple the political cycles from the technological ones, and thus facilitate a proper uptake of smartness. Due to the political cycles of every five years and if the timing is unfortunate, this can leave you with only a 20% sales window opportunity. Can smart city business thrive under these conditions?

We need governance mechanisms at local councils, city and national levels which decouple the political cycles from the technological ones, and thus facilitate a proper uptake of smartness.

Recently, on June 29, 2016, Selangor State joined the ranks of other Smart Cities initiatives in Malaysia such as Iskandar Malaysia, Cyberjaya, Malacca by launching their Smart Selangor Lab Phase 1.

The Lab discussed four different cores (domain) to generate pilot projects based on the Smart Selangor concept. The four domains were ‘Smart Governance’, ‘Smart Development’, ‘Smart Digital Infrastructure’ and ‘Smart Waste Management’.

Besides these four domains, there will be eight additional domains to be discussed, making it a total of 12 domains.

These include ‘Smart Education’, ‘Smart Energy’, ‘Smart Water Management’, ‘Smart Agro’, ‘Smart Transport and Mobility’, ‘Smart Safety and Security’, ‘Smart Disaster Management’ and ‘Smart Healthcare’.

Just imagine — what if you know how much waste generated, how much crime has reduced, how much carbon footprint per square kilometer and what’s the happiness index of the city, etc

Personally, I felt “Smart Governance” is key to the development of any Smart Cities and the primary factor would be “transparency.” Without clear indication what is meant by transparency, many data regarding cities will not be able to exploit for further usage and will remain as “closed-data.” Of course, data will give insights that might be hard to swallow. To take a step forward, cities need to accept their weaknesses and shouldn’t be in the state of denial. Get the current City’s indicator before starting any new projects. This way, citizens, and cities will be able to track their performance in a transparent manner.

Just imagine — what if you know how much waste generated, how much crime has reduced, how much carbon footprint per square kilometer and what’s the happiness index of the city, etc. Display that in a big billboard in the middle of the city. Any takers?

Where Do I Begin My IoT Journey?

What’s your answer when people asked — “Where do I begin my IoT journey?” or “I want to do my PhD in IoT, please advice in which area should I focus” or “I want to implement IoT solution in our Company, could you please propose what applications” or “Please propose IoT solutions for our City”, etc

Many times, I have been asked mainly by two groups of people i.e. (1) Students who wanted to pursue either their Masters or PhD (2) Organizations who wanted to embark their IoT journey but don’t know where to start. The question is too broad that it’s quite impossible to give a very effective or accurate answer without defining the scenario or scope.

The starting point for an IoT journey is to pick an application scenario, understand the problem statement and redefine the scope.

  1. Application scenario — For example, if you want to embark on a Smart City project, you need to pick one of the application scenarios such as parking, transportation, environmental or security, etc. Sometimes, we wonder what ioT applications are considered under the category of “Smart City”? Is it anything which resides in a City (which can be almost all the IoT applications that you can be mentioned) or is it anything that interact between citizens and the government? Which application is more important for the city — is it for the convenience of the citizens or reducing costs of city operations or generating new revenue streams for the city?
  2. Define the Right Problem Statement — Once you have identified the application scenario, you need to ask the right set of questions. It’s critical because not only it will define the right sensors and network connectivity type but it will reduce the risk of gathering the wrong data and thus give wrong insights. The diagram below shows the Value Pyramid. People are willing to pay more if you can answer the question of “Why.”
  3. Redefine the Scope — Sometimes we can become overboard in trying to capture as many data either from sensors data or external data with the intention to have some form of correlation. If you are not a data scientist and not a domain expert, you might be collecting 90% of data which is garbage and unnecessary thus a wastage of storage. Physical sensors are not cheap, thus, placing at the right place and collecting data at the right time is important to ensure you good ROI.

For most businesses, they will use IoT solutions to help lower operating costs, increase productivity, and allow for expansion into new markets.

Where do companies focus their resources or investments when it comes to planning for IoT projects? Among the businesses surveyed by Business Insider that are using IoT solutions, these companies focused on:

  • 66% used IoT technologies for risk reduction. For instance, oil companies are starting to use drones to inspect oil rigs, which can be a dangerous task for humans to perform.
  • 63% used IoT solutions to optimize operations. For example, manufacturers can use sensors to gather data about machines on their assembly line to predict when they might fail, and fix them before experiencing any downtime.
  • 33% used the IoT to develop new or enhance existing products, such as car companies that are putting cellular data connections into their cars to gather data about them and provide Wi-Fi hotspots for passengers.
  • 21% leveraged IoT solutions to enhance customer targeting. A good example of this would be a retailer that uses in-store beacons to target customers with real-time offers sent to their smartphone based on their location in the store.

For most businesses, they will use IoT solutions to help lower operating costs, increase productivity, and allow for expansion into new markets.

Once you have answered the above questions, it will mark your first important steps in your IoT journey.

Please share your experience and what are the main challenges in starting your first step into the hottest topic in the industry — Internet of Things.

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