Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) encompasses a wide range of products, and many of the most common and useful are in the low tech category, such as the humble hard hat or face mask. Such products are low cost and effective. However technology based solutions are supplementing simple physical protection to an increasing degree. 

The Artificial Intelligence revolution is well underway. We actively use AI via services like ChatGPT, DeepL natural language translation services and the “Assistants” in the latest phones, smart speakers and photo editing services. We are also  passive users when we interact with many entities via phone or online services, with AI being used at least to control and filter the first stage of interactions.

Keys are an invention so ancient that we don’t even think of them as a technology. The earliest lock and key mechanisms date back to ancient Egyptian times, with the ancient Romans introducing metal keys like the mortise locks of today. Nevertheless, key technology has continued to evolve, and there has been an increasing trend towards digital key technologies over recent years.

Bluetooth Low Energy has established itself as one of the most successful communication technologies over the 15 years of its existence. Arguably it was the technology that launched the IOT revolution. However, whilst its success in the domain of low power data transfer is undisputed, attempts to use it as a locating technology have had a mixed record. The new Bluetooth Channel Sounding specification promises to deliver more precise locating technology than the existing Bluetooth beacon and Bluetooth Angle of Arrival technologies.

Wearable devices generate unique challenges for radio communications. Radio solutions are designed for the “default case” of the RF component sitting on a PCB, mounted in a plastic box, with an air gap around the PCB, and an optimised keep out zone and ground plane. This is logical for an all-purpose design, but not for the typical wearable case, where the RF component is near the body, a strong absorber of microwave radiation, and space is at a premium. This article examines the challenges of RF wearable design and how to overcome them. 

Home and professional lighting systems have traditionally been two different worlds. Homes were wired using simple cable and switching, whereas larger buildings might have more sophisticated electronic controls, using customer or open protocols such as DALI. In both cases, they tended to be based on wired systems, either with simple switched mains power routed to lights, or using controller units with separate power and control cabling.

The “Smart City” sounds like a science fiction vision of the future. In reality, we already live in Smart Cities, at least to a degree. We travel – whether by car, foot or public transport – with the aid of mapping software. We pay for tickets or parking with our phones. The numbers of people moving through a particular area may be discretely being counted, to understand the behaviours of crowds throughout the day. In this article we look at wireless technologies that are being deployed and why different approaches suit different use-cases.

(First Published in IOT Insider)

We all know what WiFi is for – fast wireless connections between computers/phones or other devices and the internet. And what we expect from a WiFi upgrade is more of the same – faster speed. This is what the progression from WiFi 3 to 4 to 5, has offered – speed upgrades around an order of magnitude.

For those of you with a long memory the genesis of the Smart Home was born in the late 80s or early 90s when the jargon word was “domotics”. At that time none of the current low power wireless standards had been invented. So progress with home automation was very slow and extremely fragmented in terms of the wired and wireless protocols used.

Bluetooth Low Energy is arguably the technology that “launched” the Internet of Things. The issue with “classic” Bluetooth was that it needed a continuous connection, which in turn meant it had rather limited battery life, and thus battery powered devices required frequent recharging. It also limited the use cases for which it could be easily deployed.