IoT news of the week for June 23, 2023

Qualcomm launches two satellite-enabled chips for the IoT: Qualcomm has released two new chipsets that include satellite-capable modems for use in asset tracking or remote monitoring. Both chips include cellular and satellite capabilities. The chips support Qualcomm’s new Qualcomm Aware cloud platform, but they can also be used absent the platform. However, Qualcomm has launched its cloud platform as a way to help customers get started with IoT faster. The chip designed for fixed remote monitoring cuts costs by eliminating GNSS location capabilities, which also saves on power costs. This means the chipset could also be used in low-power mode, enabling it to operate using energy harvesting, such as solar power. The other chipset, designed for asset tracking, has GNSS location capabilities. (Qualcomm)

This isn’t a consumer-friendly way to implement connected monitoring: When I first started covering companies connecting their products to the internet, one of the biggest use cases was monitoring performance of the connected device to alert users before it failed. Another one was to remotely monitor a device to make diagnosing and repairing any problems easier. But apparently Western Digital has simply decided to monitor its hard drives and alert users after a specific amount of time has passed. Customers are complaining that after three years of use, Western Digital is sending them a warning alert indicating their hard drives have been running more than the recommended number of hours and they should consider replacing them. However, there are no other signs of failure other than the age of the drives. Cautious customers might replace those drives before necessary, which is good for Western Digital, but may not be helpful for those customers. Unfortunately, this is where I knew we’d end up. Once a company can see how long something has been used or how often it’s used, what’s to stop them from deciding that the useful life of said product is done and then trying to get the customer to buy a new version? Age can be an indication of potential failure, but connectivity and data analytics were supposed to give us better metrics. Otherwise, what’s the point of having connected monitoring? (Ars Technica)

Telefonica and Nokia team up for private Latin American IoT networks: Movistar Empresas, a Telefonica-owned business, will use Nokia gear to create private 5G networks for industrial IoT in several industries, including mining and ports. Movistar Empresas currently has 5.3 million IoT connections in Peru, Mexico, Chili, Colombia, and Ecuador, and plans to expand further into building and consulting on private networks. Viva private 5G! (Developing Telecoms)

What can we learn from indigenous communities’ efforts to control their data? This is a fascinating article about how indigenous communities are taking control of their own data by keeping it out of the cloud, creating granular levels of permissions, or establishing local networks that don’t connect to the broader internet. Their concerns about data colonialism, where their data and histories are gathered by researchers and then disseminated without the tribes’ or communities’ consent, are not so different from my own concerns about personal data getting used to build algorithms that may ultimately work against me. None of the tactics seem especially novel, but the compromises that these people are making to keep their data close offer lessons for the rest of us. (Scientific American)

Move over tractors, farmers of the future need a drone: When thinking of farm equipment, you probably have a tractor, a truck, and maybe a combine pictured in your head. Now you can add a unmanned drone to that image. A company called Guardian Agriculture, which develops large drones designed to precisely deliver fertilizer where needed, has raised $20 million to build its electric unmanned aircraft. Each drone can carry 200-pound payloads and spray 40 acres per hour. The idea is that the drones are cheaper and more precise when compared to traditional spraying or flying crop dusters. They could also interface with existing precision ag tools to cover areas where on-the-ground equipment has tracked problems. Farming is already high tech, so this doesn’t surprise me, and if it can help place fertilizer on fields, and less of it, I’m down. (AgFunderNews)

IoT connections are growing, but they’re not using cellular: Ericsson’s latest mobility report is out, and unsurprisingly, it found that the total number of IoT device connections will continue to rise, reaching 28.7 billion connections by 2028. That’s a jump of 162 percent. But most of those connections will be using unlicensed technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 802.15.4 radios. Cellular IoT will go from having 26 percent of the total IoT connections in 2022 to 19 percent in 2028. The overall connections will still rise from 2.7 billion in 2022 to 5.4 billion in five years, but that’s probably cold comfort for the telcos hoping to see a big boost from the IoT. (Ericsson)

Owlet will launch a prescription sock to track oxygen for babies: Owlet, which makes a smart sock to track babies’ vital signs, has received FDA approval for a new, prescription sock that will monitor a baby’s blood oxygen level in real time. The company was ordered to pull an earlier version of its sock from the market after the FDA determined the device should be classified as a medical device and required FDA approval. The FDA was concerned that the real-time heart and oxygen data coming off the Owlet sock was better interpreted by a doctor and also required testing. After that, Owlet released new software for the older product and issued a new sock that also provided averaged data for new parents. Now it has FDA approval for an approved medical device called BabySat that will deliver the real-time data, but this product will require a prescription. Reading between the lines, this could be a useful test case for showing the utility of wellness products as opposed to actual medical products. Both are sold to new parents with the promise of helping keep their kids safe. But are both as useful? (Owlet)

Energy harvesting is becoming a viable option for connected devices: I’ve been paying close attention to any technology that helps eliminate batteries from the IoT. Energy harvesting technology is necessary for environmental, cost, and maintenance reasons. This article says we’re hitting a tipping point and goes into some of the complexities to consider when evaluating and thinking about energy harvesting for products. (EETimes)

Novelda launches a low power UWB radar device: This week at the Sensors Converge conference chip maker Novelda showed off a low power ultrawideband radar. The sensor consumes less than 100 microwatts of power, meaning it can operate on a few AA batteries. UWB sensors are used to detect presence and location, and Novelda says this sensor can detect breathing rates at up to 10 feet. Novelda says the chip will be available in mid-2024. (Novelda)

Nordic Semiconductor releases two combo cellular and DECT NR+ modems: Nordic Semiconductor, which is known for low power Bluetooth, cellular and Wi-Fi chips is adding new modems that cover the nascent DECT NR+ standard for massive IoT. I’ve covered the DECT NR+ standard before, including in an interview with Nordic’s CTO earlier this year. Basically, it uses the spectrum formerly used for old, cordless landline phones for a low-power, low data-rate mesh network for devices. With these new chips, Nordic has made a bet on the standard and enabled customers to try it out. (Nordic Semiconductor)