Tag Archives: devices
Internet of Things for Home Automation
As the Internet of Things continues to gain traction and several new devices come in market, home automation has taken the spotlight. The concept of smart home has been there since a long time but some social issues are now being considered too. Smart homes are much more than the simple ability to remotely lock and unlock your front door. Instead it is expected to use actionable situation intelligence in order to detect your entry inside a building, turn on the lights to your pre-set preferences, preheat your stove and put on your favorite music.
Developer working on the IoT projects focus on finding compatibility between home deployment tools and the verticals attachable with them. Home automation requires 5 components to function:
– Sensor: measures temperature, light or motion detection
– Interface: human to machine or/and machine to machine
– Controller: a general purpose computer
– Bus: wired or wireless for transmitting instructions
– Actuator: motorized valves, light switches and motors
These components can be assembled in any manner through a central hub. As developers build systems that manage devices and sensor data, the opportunities are open when mastering the connectivity based on temperature, lighting, video, security, appliances and entertainment.
Many categories of device and services lie under the IoT umbrella. Devices have a certain selection criteria, based on the following characteristics:
– Customer Oriented: These devices are marketed and sent to end users who need not have any technical expertise in using them.
– Always on: Designed to remain on and connected to the Net permanently.
– Useful for real-world impact: It contains the capability to interact with the environment.
Mobile Application Interface
Direct communication between mobile applications and a device makes it easier for users to control events. Security measures need to be followed, like checking whether all sensitive data sent between device and mobile applications are encrypted. Without adequate protection, sensitive data can be monitored by attackers by observing local network traffic. Also, test whether mobile applications employ TSL/SSL certificates.
Security and Privacy Concerns
As Developers continue to build out amazing applications and hardware for homes, security and privacy measures need to be followed as well. Privacy and Security are always at the forefront of design. Few key recommendations while developing a device include:
– Build security into devices at the outset, rather than as an afterthought
– Train employees about the importance security
– Monitor connected devices throughout their expected life cycle, and where possible, provide security patches to cover known risks
The future
Developers obviously have the best vantage point on how the future will shape out since they are the creators of the application. Every new invention comes from imagination. Through a series of universal standards, every device would add value to a persons persona. Developers need to realize that next generation platforms need to be able to abstract devices so that on boarding is made simpler.
The Rising Trends in Medical Devices for Superior Care Quality
Emerging Healthcare Trends
Intense competition in the healthcare industry has forced healthcare providers to look for new ways to offer superior care quality. Since traditional methods of healthcare service have proven to be inadequate, the healthcare industry today is embracing new and innovative technology in order to better patient health and well-being:
Healthcare Apps: Medical apps are revolutionizing the healthcare landscape by seamlessly connecting patients and doctors with medical information. A majority of healthcare apps are being developed with varied capabilities like real time monitoring and high-resolution imaging that can be used to monitor and improve patient health. Today, healthcare apps allow people to receive care anytime and from anywhere in the world, making healthcare more accessible to patients.
Medical Sensors: Another technical trend that is picking up pace is the implementation of medical sensors. Rising healthcare costs have compelled healthcare providers to gather medical data from real-time sensors in order to improve the decision making process. Creating top-notch algorithms and a visually appealing interface for these sensors has become a priority for medical device solution providers.
Health-specific Social Networks: The rising success and popularity of social networks can be leveraged to deliver quality health-care services to patients. By collaborating with people suffering from similar health conditions, patients and practitioners can connect with each other on social networks and form relations, and ask questions, thereby empowering patients to play an active role in their personal wellbeing.
The Need for Modern Technology
The healthcare industry consists of a varied assortment of professionals who directly or indirectly provide healthcare: from doctors and clinicians to pharmaceutics, administrators, managers, marketers, lab assistants, and more. With so many people part of the chain, there is also the challenge of dealing with enormous amounts of unstructured and cluttered data; data that is related to patients medical history, diagnosis, clinical-trials, treatments, and medicines, in addition to clerical, and research & administrative data. Moreover, this critical data resides in numerous places like physicians notes, lab reports, PCs, enterprise systems etc. Collecting and making sense of this data is not only time consuming but also fruitless. This mandates the need for modern technology that can be leveraged to make better-quality decisions which in turn lead to superior healthcare. Medical device solution companies also need to cater to a wide range of business needs such as interoperability between various stakeholders, a distributed network, mobile customers, healthcare standards, and legal guidelines.
Medical Device Solutions
Several medical device players have been in business, embracing trends around miniaturization, portability, connectivity, consistency and affordability of medical devices. Companies with hands-on engineering experience in FDA Class 2 and Class 3 devices help in monitoring, diagnostics, analysis, imaging, wearable health and telemedicine for medical applications. HIPAA compliant engineering solutions, and process expertise in IEC 60601-1/2/6, IEC 62304, 510K and ISO 1348 enable these companies to develop medical products through the lifecycle: from concept and architecture definition to prototyping, field trials, certification and sustenance engineering. Whats more, medical device and clinical software solutions for mobility enablement that are integrated with cloud infrastructure for remote diagnosis and ease of access is helping medical institutions offer superior quality care from anywhere and at any time. Some of the major services that software companies are offering in the medical space include:
Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) management and sustenance
Web, cloud and mobility enablement with EMR integration
Medical imaging algorithm implementation on GPU and DSP platforms
Wireless integration with Bluetooth, ZigBee, Wi-Fi, NFC, and 2G/3G/4G technologies
Medical device miniaturization, localization, re-engineering and obsolescence management
Mechanical and enclosure design with CAD/CAM modeling
Low-power design for wearable health devices
FDA/FCC/CE/UL certification support
Better Quality Care
With modern healthcare facilities at their fingertips, healthcare institutes can now offer better-quality care and improve the overall well-being of patients. Medical apps, mobile solutions, wireless integration, device miniaturization and wearable healthcare devices are gradually being embraced, leading to comprehensive and efficient patient healthcare.