Jeff Lee

From automated excavators to self-measuring grain bins, these IoT projects are making farm life more efficient and less taxing IoT Excavators Greg Meandel is not your regular farmer — he loves to build and program IoT projects that remove the complexity from daily farm life. For instance, one of his many IoT projects is an excavator that can be started remotely. By using an Electron (cellular hardware that connects devices to the internet), he can remotely heat up the excavator’s block heater, which helps start up the engine...

According to a Cisco survey (2017), over 60% of respondents admitted that they substantially underestimated the complexities of managing their own IoT initiatives. Even more alarming, the same survey also found that 75% of self-initiated IoT projects were considered a failure. However, Cisco also found that most companies that consult IoT domain experts throughout the project’s lifecycle finish on time. Companies that go it alone often exceed their initial timelines and find that they lack the internal expertise to keep the project up and running...

Don’t know which IoT platform to choose? Here are some things to consider. Choosing the right IoT platform is a complex endeavor. Whether you’re a IoT hobbyist, experienced developer, or senior executive, the landscape is massive and confusing. This article aims to clear up some of the complexity and offer a quick and scannable guide of the IoT platform landscape. It also provides a criteria for how you should evaluate IoT platforms based off your needs. One way of illustrating an IoT platform...

A quick guide detailing the fundamentals and primary benefits of mesh networking for IoT In the past, building beyond a single-point connection required high-cost hardware solutions and software implementations to connect the in-between spaces needed for device to device communication. As IoT platforms have matured, they have started to embrace a low-power, low-cost alternative that can bridge the gaps between these devices: wireless mesh networks. What is a wireless mesh network? A wireless mesh...

Cellular IoT (Internet of Things) is strengthening ubiquitous connectivity at a rapid pace, with industry experts projecting the number of cellular-connected devices to grow to 1.8 billion by 2023. From a market of 0.5 billion cellular-connected devices in 2017, this growth is primarily fueled by the rise of small, computing cellular IoT hardware. Cellular IoT hardware (like IoT prototyping kits and development boards) are designed for low-power, low-cost, and long range applications. They are...

Learn how a commercial thread manufacturer is using IoT-driven data to improve efficiencies and reduce costs. On the manufacturing floor, even the smallest moving parts can cause intermittent disruption and performance degradation if they break. These unplanned events can not only cause catastrophic financial loss for manufacturers, but the parties they serve. What’s worse, the cause of these disruptions are hard to locate without allocating a significant amount of resources on machine inspections...

A comprehensive guide that explores the difference between IoT development kits, MPM kits, and mass production modules IoT development boards and modules are at the center of every connected product. As IoT has developed, the variety and technical capabilities of these boards has only become more complex. When building an IoT product, you’ll want to start with a simple prototyping kit, but as you progress through the hardware development and design process, you’ll need to invest in hardware boards that are designed for scaling and manufacturing...

Students at Lane Tech High School do not have your typical curriculum ― they are learning about embedded sensor technology, digital fabrication, design and problem solving, data analytics, teamwork, and acquiring hands-on experience with the Internet of Things (IoT). This past spring, students in Dan Law’s physical computing lab at Lane Tech worked with different electronics and tools to build remote controlled blinds, smart lamps, thermostat controllers, and other sensor experiments. These students...

The fundamentals for starting an IoT project that provides continuous, recurring value So you’re thinking about starting an IoT project. The question is, what do you build? How do you build it? Or, what is an IoT project? Let’s start with that last question, shall we: What is an IoT Project? An IoT project is the act of connecting any physical object to the Internet to collect and share data. How we use and share that data depends on the purpose of the IoT project. Whether you’re connecting windmills...

Take control of your writing process and hit your deadlines. Admit it, you can be a painfully slow writer And that’s okay, because most people are. Sometimes it is for good reasons, and sometimes it’s not. We all have good intentions and are probably a little too idealistic on what we can do in a given timeframe. You just want to be great and have your work seen by others. But damn, it’s hard sometimes, especially when it takes forever for the words to get out of your head and onto the page. When you write something down, it’s not nearly as good as you want it to be...