Lamps that are switched on and off via an app, garbage cans that signal when it is time to be emptied and children who are tracked via watches. These are all examples of smart units gaining more ground in our everyday lives. Participants in the SNITS lunch on 6 November learned more about the Internet of Things and the technology behind it.
The Internet of Things refers to devices that are not traditionally networked, such as watches, toys and machines. Today, new radio technology means that such devices can also be connected in order to collect and exchange data.
"There is an enormously diverse range of smart units both in the industry and for consumers. Last year it was calculated that there are 8.5 billion units, and this number increases the whole time," says Ola Lundqvist, senior software architect at Tieto.
"This is an exciting area, with lots of potential for further development," he suggested to students.
There are many radio technologies and which one is used is determined by the range a device needs to operate in. Short ranges like Bluetooth are usually sufficient for units in the home, while GSM is one of the alternatives more suitable if the sending and receiving units are further apart.
Long Term Evolution for Machine
During the lunch, Ola Lundqvist presented different radio technologies and types of retransmissions. He described LTE-M, Long Term Evolution for Machines, in more detail. This new radio technology was introduced in 2016 and he has been working with it for two years.
"LTE-M has many advantages, and the aim is to replace GSM that really is 20-year-old technology. LTE-M has better coverage and uses cheaper terminals than GSM, but it is harder to manage because it involves an extension of the standard. With more users, more conflicts arise when terminals have to use the same, limited bandwidth. Repetitions make it even more complicated."
About Tieto
Tieto is one of Northern Europe’s a leading IT service companies and offers IT and product development services. Around 500 people are employed by Tieto to do research and development work on 4G and 5G. The company also develops its own products in the Internet of Things and the areas of 2/3/4/5G. The headquarters are in Helsinki, Finland, and the company employs more than 13 000 people in around 20 countries.
About SNITS
SNITS (Samverkan Näringsliv och IT-studenter): SNITS is a network group for IT students at Karlstad University that organises study visits, guest lectures, lunch meetings, mentor activities, practical placements and degree project placements.
The group comprises representatives from Altran, Redpill Linpro, CGI, Elvenite, Askås, Prevas, Sogeti, Stamford, Tieto, ÅF and Compare. Karlstad University is represented by Information Systems and Computer Science as well as a number of IT students.
The next SNITS lunch is hosted by Sogeti on 4 December.
