EDN Network: Smart IoT mining device wins IPSO CHALLENGE

December 21, 2015

by  -December 04, 2015

Before we had the term “IoT,” the IPSO (Internet Protocol for Smart Objects) Alliance was invested in the IoT. This week at the Designers of Things (DoT) conference, IPSO showed off 10 finalists from its annual IPSO Challenge that embraced the promise of an IoT connected world.

IPSO, a global forum that serves as a resource center for industries seeking to establish the Internet Protocol as the basis for IoT and M2M applications, each year challenges entrepreneurs, makers, students, and professionals to show the value of using the Internet Protocol for the networking of smart objects in their designs.

Gold and silver sponsors Google and Atmel, as well as development sponsors ARM, Freescale, Micrium, Sigma Designs, STMicroelectronics, and Texas Instruments, contributed dev kits as well as mentors to work with the finalists.

First place and the grand prize of $10,000 was awarded to The Smart Rockbolt developed byLuleå University of Technology (LTU) and Eistec AB.

The Smart Rockbolt is a low-power IoT device for industrial and mining applications that aims to provide a safer working environment for people working in mines than a standard rock bolt used to stabilize rock excavations through online, real-time monitoring. In short, Smart Rockbolt is a standard rock bolt with embedded electronics capable of a multi-year battery lifetime. Hazardous levels of seismicity or load will automatically generate optical alarms using multi-colored high power LEDs, as well as wireless alarms in mine control systems.

The design team employed 6LoWPAN for IP-based wireless communication, IPv6 and IPsec for secure communication, NTP for time synchronization, CoAP for data transfer, OMA LWM2M for device management and metadata, and IPSO Smart Objects as the object model for sensors and actuators, among other technologies.

“This recognition is a tremendous honor and will support development of our next generation prototype as we work to transform a traditional and global industry,” said Jens Eliasson of LTU. “The Challenge showcases the value of IP and interoperability, and how IP allows products and services from different vendors to be interconnected over different application domains and underlying technologies.”

Eliasson noted that although the Smart Rockbolt is targeted at the mining industry, it could be applied to “any that uses rebar – bridges, tunnels, quake infrastructure,” basically anything that could benefit from vibration or load measurements. He said the winning funds will be applied to a start-up for the Smart Rockbolt.

Joining Smart Rockbolt in the winner’s circle were second place winner Intelligent Thermostatic Radiator Valve, a smart heating regulation system; third place winner MicroPnP, a zero-configuration IoT platform; and People’s Choice winner HeadsUp!, a smart object equipped with an accelerometer to monitor the position of a recovering patient’s head post pneumatic retinopexy surgery.

Scroll through the full list of finalists here.