Tag: Hitseed

HitSeed Enables Intelligent Industrial Monitoring

Posted on Posted in Internet of ThingsTagged , , , ,

Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the trendy keywords and there is a huge variety of companies claiming to be “IoT-companies”. Maybe so but that fact is that very few really know what it is (what it is not). There are many who should know how *their* company should utilise IoT that are not aware of possibilities exiting already today

Here is a practical, real-life example of Industrial IoT. Since long time already, bigger industrial machines (pumps, valves, generators etc) are equipped with sensors and dashboards to know how the machine is behaving. As the cost has been a prohibitive factor, same sensoring and analytics has not been available for the large majority of the mass-market pumps and valves.

HitSeed, a deep-tech company based in Helsinki, is about to change this. It has created a coin-sized battery-powered device with sensors and computing power enabling it to be really smart. So smart that can be programmed to know how the device (such as the pump it is attached to) should behave. This is possible by analysing for example the vibration, sound, power consumption or other physical behaviours of the device. And if this device (it’s called SeedNode) learns that now something is or could be wrong with the device, it sends a message to the server. Also several SeedNodes can be act together to monitor something bigger.

This concept is called “Digital Twin“. What is so revolutionary with SeedNode is the fact that all this computing is actually done on-site. Unlike previous solutions, no wiring or other expensive solutions are needed. Cost level is just a fraction of the previous solutions yet this is much more powerful.

HitSeed’s SeedNode with the Digital Twin concept enables transformation of many industrial service companies to a new era. SeedNode sensors can be installed at every customer site and monitored with the cloud-based dashboard. This enables new business models based on monthly fees, for example. Early detection of any potential faulty device can be very valuable for many businesses as unnecessary business interruptions can be avoided.

When thinking of a complete solution to monitor, analyse and act based on the status, SeedNode is the critical component to make it actually intelligent. SeedNode can be connected to various existing gateway and data cloud solutions, hence making it ideal also for larger industrial companies.

White Paper: Seedling Platform for Internet of Things and Wearables

Posted on Posted in Internet of Things, WearablesTagged , , , , , , , ,

Wristol_BraunSeedling is a first of its kind solution and an optimized platform for wearables and Internet of Things (IoT) –devices developed by HitSeed. It enables launching connected hardware business with minimal custom effort from concept to a commercial product. The key differentiator for Seedling is the use of microcontrollers instead of microprocessors while still providing high performance, connectivity, full graphical user interface, and capacitive touch. Through the microcontroller, the other main components, and the lean and optimized software platform, Seedling offers a combination of cost efficiency, power optimization and platform flexibility that cannot be achieved with existing, computer-based derivatives like Android or Linux devices. The Seedling hardware solution can be dropped into a range of covers for industrial and home automation, smart watches, sports sensors and further.

Wristol SmartWatch is a reference product based on the HitSeed’s Seedling wearables and IoT –platform. The goal for Wristol is to demonstrate the capabilities of Seedling in wearables as well as to provide a generic reference design and end2end platform for HitSeed’s partners to enter the wearables business.

Seedling IoT platform is a microcontroller based platform, which intends to disrupt the microprocessor based IoT market from below. The latest microcontrollers have high enough performance to replace microprocessors for many use cases as their computing power is on the same level as mid-1990s PCs. For example, microcontrollers are able to drive small color displays with capacitive touch input, or pre-process sensor data needed e.g. in household appliances, sensors, and industrial controls. Therefore, in many cases Seedling based IoT platform could replace microprocessor based IoT solutions with similar performance, but significantly lower unit costs. In addition, low power consumption enables totally new use cases, because usage time with a battery is potentially several times longer than on microprocessor based solutions, leading potentially into a fully mobile, “fire-and-forget” type of device types not possible before.

Seedling platform consists of:

  • A hardware solution, including Seedling hardware board based on microcontrollers, a developer extension board to allow new sensors and other components to be prototyped, and a set of flex adapter boards for different displays
  • Software platform including FreeRTOS-based operating system and adaptation and device drivers to the Seedling hardware as well as corresponding system architecture and core user interface and communication mechanisms
  • Seedling reference applications for mobiles (IOS, Android), IoT communication gateways and cloud to provide Bluetooth-based companionship with mobile functionality and for cloud-based data processing e.g. for IoT sensors, and
  • Software development tools including GCC and Eclipse -based open source developer tool chain with on-board debugging, and Seedling platform libraries for application development.

Download the White Paper for Seedling Internet of Things (IoT) and Wearables Platform.