back to article Make Adama proud: Connect your Things wisely, cadet

Last time I explored the concept of geofencing, and how low-power technologies are used both to create "virtual walls" and to create beacons. This time, I’m going to take a look at the individual technologies that Internet of Things (IoT) devices will use to communicate for the next several years. Infrared Infrared beacons …

  1. Yag

    Funny that you start and end with similar concepts (mostly a matter of wavelenght after all...)

  2. djack

    Z-Wave?

    You missed Z-Wave, but to be honest it has pretty much the same properties and problems as ZigBee.

    This sort of thing could be done more securely but the big problem is that most if not all of the controller or stand-alone systems are managed via someone else's server on the Internet (I'm refusing to say the 'C' word). My security and privacy should be solely under my control, not mine and someone else's.

    I'm currently playing with openhab - a bit rough around the edges but looks like it could be moulded into something pretty good.

  3. AlanLevy

    What's already out there

    Let's not forget narrowband radio for linking large numbers of low data rate sensors and controllers (e.g. streetlight control and monitoring over Ultra Narrowband radio links which is already widely deployed in the UK). This doesn't fit with the purist version of IoT in which every device has its own IP protocol stack and connects directly to the Internet but that doesn't mean it's not a valid way to do IoT for devices that have modest data needs and limited available bandwidth.

  4. Anonymous Coward/2.0
    Mushroom

    We need a scale of uselessness

    We need a proper numeric scale of uselessness here - following on from the article can I suggest the "Admiral Adama Index"

    AAI10 = truly and utterly and completely useless

    AAI 5 = really useless

    AAI 1 = almost not quite useless but you are never getting any of these things in my home thanks all the same

    1. stucs201

      Re: We need a scale of uselessness

      Even on that scale some things will manage to score at least 11.

  5. Captain Hogwash

    Admiral Adama

    A quick search has turned up the result that this is a character from something called Battlestar Galactica. Would someone mind explaining his relevance here to someone who doesn't watch TV space opera shows?

    1. djack

      Re: Admiral Adama

      Adama was the commander of the only remaining Battlestar warship. It was used in a previous war with the 'Cylons' (a robot like race) and Galactica was due to be moth-balled as a museum piece. As such it was not retro-fitted with up to date kit that was networked together and with a central mainframe for efficiency. Adama, as a veteran himself distrusted such intercommunication between devices. His distrust was dismissed as being anachronistic and paranoid.

      Sure enough, the Cylons returned, compromised the mainframe and pretty much instantly disabled/destroyed the entire defence system apart from Galactica.

      1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

        Re: Admiral Adama

        And as usual, a lady in red was involved in the compromise.

      2. Captain Hogwash

        Re: Admiral Adama

        Thanks for the explanation djack.

        1. Captain Hogwash
          Pint

          Re: Admiral Adama

          And thanks for the down votes all those people who think everyone should watch the same TV shows as them.

          1. Vic

            Re: Admiral Adama

            And thanks for the down votes all those people who think everyone should watch the same TV shows as them.

            Actually, you probably should watch that one. The ending was a bit weak, but much of it was really quite good.

            Vic.

            1. Captain Hogwash

              Re: you probably should watch that one

              Sadly I can't suspend disbelief for long enough to watch any TV series of a fictional narrative nature. I can just about manage a standalone film but if I have to either come back next week for the next bit or binge on an entire series at once then there's no chance. That's for everything - not just space opera. But others are free to enjoy whatever shows they like without condemnation from me.

          2. Mark 85

            Re: Admiral Adama

            I gave you an upvote as I didn't get the reference either. The only BG I ever watched was the first series way back when and at some point said "meh" and ignored it.

            I guess we need to turn in our nerd credentials.

            1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

              Re: Admiral Adama

              I turned on my TV one Saturday afternoon a few years ago, to see 5 women doing roller-disco in silver miniskirts to some sort of synthesiser bebop. Before it cut to Starbuck (or Face out of the A-Team depending on your age) winning another hand of space-poker.

              Through my laughter I reflected that nothing dates as fast as peoples' ideas of the future.

              I suspect if I went back and watched it now, the original Battlestar Galactica would look really crap. I loved it when I was a kid, but then I still remember the disappointment of getting a DVD of Blakes 7, ten years ago.

              In my opinion, the first series of the BSG remake is absolutely brilliant TV. Really well made, well written and just well done in general. But once they go into series 2 I thought it started to go downhill, and I stopped watching sometime in early series 3. Other opinions are of course available, but I'd rate that first series alongside anything else I've seen, sci-fi or otherwise.

              1. Midnight

                Re: Admiral Adama

                The first season was really a re-make of the original. Every episode has some kind of connection to part of the original series, either by borrowing characters, scenes or entire plotlines.

                Season two is when they couldn't believe that they hadn't been cancelled yet and needed to start writing their own stories. It didn't go so well.

    2. Midnight

      Re: Admiral Adama

      I think that he can explain in his own words.

      "Let me explain something to you. Many good men and women lost their lives aboard this ship because someone wanted a faster computer to make life easier. I'm sorry that I'm inconveniencing you or the teachers, but I will not allow a networked computerized system to be placed on this ship while I'm in command. Is that clear?"

      -- Admiral Adama, "Battlestar Galactica (2003)".

  6. Graham Marsden
    Terminator

    By...

    ... your command!

  7. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

    You forgot: sound

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Joke

      Yeah, but didn't El Reg cover Google Buzz (or whatever its called) last week. Isn't that why my monitor walked off of the table?

  8. Synonymous Howard

    What about good ol' wifi though?

    With wifi SoC devices like ESP8266 and Ti's CC3100 putting together battery powered IoT service seems easier than ever and the advantage of easier 'home network' integration.

    I'm using both ESP and Bluetooth modules with Arduinos at the moment but could easily see the ESP taking over all the Arduino work for most remote sensing/activation requirements.

    1. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

      Re: What about good ol' wifi though?

      IoT is (mostly) about ultra low power. WiFi gobbles the power. WiFi is also comparatively long range to most other IoT protocols. It's pretty much it's own thing, in it's own category.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    No wide area?

    Is this the Internet of static things? Relatively static, I realise these are wireless techs

    1. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

      Re: No wide area?

      Mostly. Or they are non-static but remarkably short range. (Think geofencing). Most IoT stuff is ultra low power and very short range.

  10. Vic

    Zigbee...

    there are people selling Zigbee gear that think it would be a good idea to have Zigbee home security systems

    Such home security systems already exist - I used to work for a company that developed them.

    Mesh networking is not the problem you believe it to be - just because your items form into a meshed PAN, that doesn't mean that anyone else's can join in too. There is authentication and encryption within the protocol...

    Vic.

  11. Trigonoceps occipitalis

    THE FORCE

    Don’t forget The Force, as manifested by a good, solid brick wall.

  12. Long John Brass

    > VLN has gotten up to 200Gbps

    > It will also be pretty much useless outside of that room

    Wasn't there a hack against various bits of networking kit that has LEDs connected directly to the TX/RX lines. If I remember correctly "attackers" were able to pull data from another building via a telescope & some electronic trickery.

    Anyone who tells you; Oh no don't worry, it's very short range should be treated with snide derision.

    Hint Telescopes and Antennas are effectively the same thing

    1. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

      Wasn't there a hack against various bits of networking kit that has LEDs connected directly to the TX/RX lines. If I remember correctly "attackers" were able to pull data from another building via a telescope & some electronic trickery.

      Perhaps more accurately, a group of researchers demonstrated that they were able to reproduce the data stream with good accuracy by observing a modem's Tx/Rx LEDs. (I think it was a late-generation async POTS modem, so probably V.34 or V.90 with V.42bis.) If memory serves, they did demonstrate that it could be done with some reliability through a window and over some distance. I can't find the paper now, though.

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