Remember that classic childhood string phone toy? Two cans and a string, a relic of simple communication technology. Yet, it perfectly illustrates the fundamental idea of transmitting sound through vibrations. This journey from string to signal highlights our ongoing quest to share information, a quest that continues to evolve rapidly. Modern telecommunications are profoundly changing how we build interconnected systems. This month’s Tech Feature article by Curtis Franklin dives into the topic of telecommunications development.
Delve even further into the complexities of communication with Pedro Bertoleti’s piece, “The Edge Computing Paradigm,” which explains this distributed computing approach that moves computation and data storage closer to the source of data, improving response times and saving bandwidth compared to solely relying on centralized cloud infrastructure. This local processing is crucial for applications requiring real-time responsiveness and can significantly reduce operational costs by minimizing data transfer to the cloud. Applying edge computing also allows end devices to operate independently, offering resilience even when disconnected.
Building on the concept of processing data closer to the source, Dhairya Parikh presents Part 3 of “Create an AI-Driven Smart Home Security System.” This final part of the series enhances a system built on a Raspberry Pi 5 with a Hailo AI Kit by adding face recognition to distinguish between known and unknown individuals, thereby reducing unnecessary alerts. Security is a critical consideration for any connected system, and following the discussion of a smart home security system, Steve Hanna discusses “Zero Trust Architecture for the Internet of Things.” This approach moves away from traditional perimeter defenses, asserting that nothing is blindly trusted, and everything must be verified before access is granted. This architecture makes attacks more difficult, allows devices and services to be located anywhere, secures all network traffic, and ensures parties only get access to which they are entitled.
Shifting gears slightly but remaining within the realm of interconnected systems and local control, Braden Trigg, Sebastien Robitaille, Kayleb Stetsko, and Eric Samer share their work on “Fish Sense,” a monitoring and control system for aquariums. Designed with modularity and expandability in mind, the system uses ESP32s as microcontrollers for individual devices, communicating over a CAN Bus network using standard Ethernet cables. A central base station, also an ESP32, connects to a web app via the MQTT protocol, allowing users to monitor parameters such as temperature, pH, and water levels, set alarms, and control AC outlets using a custom smart power bar device.
Our regular columnists offer their insights, including Jacob Beningo, explaining how using a meta-tool such as West can revolutionize development by managing complex projects across multiple repositories, enhancing portability and reusability, even if not using the Zephyr RTOS from which it originated. Bob Japenga provides his perspective as he wraps up his series on mobile app development by discussing the process of releasing Flutter apps. Stuart Ball revisits an earlier article to look at calibrating microcontroller clock crystals using GPS technology to improve timing accuracy.
Wrapping up this issue, Bill Li explores “The Future of Graphical User Interfaces,” discussing tools such as the Microchip Graphics Suite that streamline GUI development by bridging the gap between UI/UX designers and those implementing the interface on hardware, facilitating a more efficient workflow from design to deployment.
We hope the insights within vibrate clearly from these pages, as sound across a taut string.
Issue Table of Contents can be found here,
as articles are made available online they will be linked.
PUBLISHED IN CIRCUIT CELLAR MAGAZINE • June #419 – Get a PDF of the issue
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