More than a decade of early-stage business research has brought the so-called ‘Internet of Things’ to a critical moment. Indeed, if the readiness of home-grown innovation is anything to go by, the age of machine-to-machine based connectivity could be nigh.
There has been plenty of conversation about the potential inter-operability of electronic devices at home, on our person and in the world around us. The development of the technologies necessary to support the 'Internet of Things' has therefore come a long way in the past year. A significant chunk of the innovation to date has been linked to car production. The ability to switch on home appliances from the car could soon be the norm. Such developments are about human-to-machine interaction whereas the exciting changes coming in 2014 involve more machine-to-machine interaction.
The potential of this new found machine-to-machine interconnectivity is almost endless. It could help to bring about intelligent crop monitoring systems that can automatically adjust nutrition or irrigation in order to optimise yields. It could also feed into the development of traffic congestion reduction solutions capable of altering road signals and street lighting according to information communicated directly from a car. This would then shorten a commute and save fuel. In other instances, intelligent monitoring systems could be developed to send alerts about a change in climatic conditions or trigger the need for building maintenance, as in the case of bridge stress monitoring.
The dynamics of everyday life could actually be transformed, as the inter-operability and communication of diverse machine-based components set out to make our lives better and more hassle-free. The ‘Internet of Things’ will come to represent a new intelligence network working behind the scenes in our everyday life, perhaps only occasionally coming to our attention when interacting with personal devices like mobile phones, tablets, wrist watches and heads-up displays.
If we know it can be done, why isn’t it happening already? It comes down to the right technology, which needs to allow communication between devices over several miles and on batteries lasting up to 10 years, and which above all, is cheap. At present, our widely-available Internet, mobile, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth technology is neither cheap in terms of silicon cost or energy use. WiFi and Bluetooth have very short ranges and are comparatively expensive in terms of energy, even taking into account the latest Bluetooth 4.1 ‘Internet of Things’ upgrade.
The solution, and the reason why 2014 is so significant, lies in two key developments. Firstly, the telecoms and communications watchdog, Ofcom, would like to implement the use of ‘white space’ - the gaps in the frequency bands that were used to broadcast terrestrial television - to support a range of wireless applications and devices. A six-month pilot to develop the white space is currently underway in the UK backed by a number of partners including Microsoft, BT and a wireless data service provider called Neul. Neul has also jointly developed a new wireless standard to support the introduction of a long-range, long lasting and cost effective wireless network with compatible devices, going under the moniker ‘weightless’. At the same time, the company is also developing patented technology that would allow this ‘weightless’ infrastructure to seamlessly interconnect with the internet, potentially offering rural and remote areas unparalleled levels of digital connectivity.
A recent report produced by ARM Holdings and The Economist, entitled ‘A quiet revolution gathers pace’ cites the rapid take up of mobile smartphone technology and the falling cost of some of the underlying technologies, such as RFID and MEMS, as another reason why the time is right to accelerate the way to the ‘Internet of Things’.
Cambridge-based ARM Holdings, a leading global chip designer, is pioneering the development of small, cheap and efficient microprocessors which will further enable interconnectivity at the right price and levels of longevity. These technologies will help to realise the ‘weightless’ standard and pave the way for some exciting applications. Part of this delivery includes the possibility of offering the ‘weightless’ standard free from royalty payments in some areas of the UK, helping to support and encourage take up and drive innovation in the process. This should help to reduce costs and encourage innovation to find new applications for the underlying technology.
With so much vision and investment behind it, it is important that the ‘Internet of Things’ is seen to be about much more than just consumer convenience. The commercial opportunities that exist for new machine-to-machine technologies are vast and could bring significant economic benefits for Britain at the same time as helping to build a better life for us all.
John-Paul Rooney is a partner at Withers & Rogers, one of the UK’s leading firms of patent and trade mark attorneys. John-Paul specialises in advising clients in the telecommunications and consumer electronics sectors.