Tekmos' Blog

Tekmos looks forward to exhibiting at the Internet of Things Developer's Conference May 25-26 in Santa Clara, California and will feature Tekmos Unify, our solution to the IoT.

The Internet of Things (IoT) goes way beyond and interconnects virtually unlimited numbers of smart objects and changes the way we interact with our environment. To help rein in the vast IoT world, the IoT DevCon 2016 will focus on technologies ranging from the ultra-low power microcontrollers to the multicore-enabled aggregation hubs to the software and security infrastructure required for monitoring and management of the enormous bundles of data.

Stop by booth #11 to learn more about Tekmos' Unify, ASICs for the Internet of Things.

Tekmos Team members gathered together for the first time for what hopefully will be a twice annual camp out at Oxford Ranch Campground in Llano, Texas, in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. April in the Texas Hill Country means lots of wildflowers, including the state flower, the bluebonnet, and perfect spring temperatures with many options for hiking, visiting a Presidential home, or wine tasting.

The afternoon was spent playing card games, relaxing and visiting followed by an evening of great food and music. Tekmos resident chef/cook, Phil Buck prepared an enjoyable dinner consisting of the perfect camp food; hamburgers, hot dogs, barbecue chicken, green beans, caramelized carrots, French fries to rave about, macaroni and cheese followed by s'mores.The rest of the evening we were serenaded by engineer, Rick Holman's strum of the guitar and country/blue lyrics. After a good night sleep in the fresh Hill Country air and a tasty breakfast, some went for a hike to Enchanted Rock for a good stretch of the leg and commune with nature. Others ventured to Fredericksburg for great shopping and home to more than 15 vineyards and wineries.

Oxford Ranch Campground 160 acres is located approximately ten miles south of Llano off of State Hwy 16 in the Texas Hill Country. A working cattle ranch offers tent camping under oak trees, bath-house (with hot showers) and also have hiking, mountain biking and trail rides available. This camp is close to one of the starting points for the back roads to Click scenic route if you are interested in exploring the boondocks. RV sites are available and pets are ok if kept on a leash.

Enchanted Rock (16710 Ranch Rd 965, Fredericksburg TX) is an enormous pink granite pluton batholith located in the Llano Uplift approximately 17 miles (27 km) north of Fredericksburg, and 24 miles (39 km) south of Llano, Texas. Archaeologists discovered trace of human life back 11,000 years. Folklore of local Tonkawa, Apache and Comanche tribes ascribes magical and spiritual powers to the rock (hence the name 'Enchanted Rock').

"Hill Country" is a vernacular term applied to a region including all or part of twenty-five counties near the geographical center of Texas. It is bordered on the east and south by the Balcones Escarpment, on the west by the relatively un- dissected Edwards Plateau, and on the north by rolling plains and prairies. The elevations range from less than 1000 feet in the south and eastern areas of the Hill Country and generally rise toward the north and west to reach more than 2500 feet.

The excitement that IoT offers great new possibilities to all phases of our lives is beginning to be tempered by the realization that having standards is critical and that agreeing on them takes a herculean effort. Talk to someone who remembers trying to decide between buying a VHS and Betamax VCR. The two video recording/playback formats lived side by side for many years. While each had their own merits, they were not compatible. If you had one you could not use products designed for the other. Incompatible IoT devices is a much larger problem because of the very large number of types of products and companies involved. Virtually all types of consumer products, from home entertainment to home appliances and from automobiles to retail sales can have IoT aspects to them. All manufacturing, commerce, and infrastructure will have some connection to IoT issues.

For example, plumbing may seem a long way from any IoT concern, except perhaps in remotely controlling flood gates or remotely monitoring water flow in streams. Consider that a washing machine can detect its own stuck valve and, using IoT, have the water main valve to your home shut off. This may sound far-fetched until one considers that water damage from such occurrences are a major reason for homeowner insurance claims. Without standards, it is unlikely that devices in unusual pairings will be able to communicate with each other.

Each potential vendor in the IoT space has an interest in some aspect of the standard. Any standard will likely cause some winners and some losers. Should all communications between devices go through the cloud? It would be far too cumbersome to have everyone's in-home entertainment center communicate through the cloud to dim the lights when movies start. Would there be a master list of all lightbulb serial numbers to know which ones to dim? How will the maker of the light switch dimmer interact with the changes requested by the entertainment system? In this arena, it certainly appears that communications for these devices must be local. This can be contrasted with the wide area issues of coordinating energy sources and users on the power grid.

It is difficult to get agreement on standards within a committee when each company participating has their own vested interest in standards favoring their approach. Perhaps worse than that, the number of standards committees is growing. Any major company will likely participate in competing standards committees to follow trends as well as to influence the standards being developed.

There seem to be two groups emerging to dominate the discussions: The Open Interconnect Consortium and the Allseen Alliance. Each want to be the single standard for IoT. Not surprisingly, the standards each is moving toward do not necessarily agree with each other. Much will need to happen before there is anything like a single standard. Meanwhile, products are being designed and manufactured which may not function well with designs produced after there is more agreement on standards.

As children, many people seem to have trouble eating their vegetables. I can still remember my own grandmother's disapproving look, as basically everything but the vegetables disappeared from my plate. Of course I would then make a valiant attempt at dessert, as my grandmother's cobbler, pie or chocolate anything was truly the stuff of legend. But she would have none of it. It was back to the vegetables for me, with dramatic slow, choking swallows, while simulating my best near death experience. In time, to her credit, creativity came to play a role. It was probably the peas, floating in gravy, nestled seductively in a puddle on top of my mash potatoes that started the change. "Ducks in a pond", she called it. Ok, so they weren't ducks, and it was not a pond. But the peas went down quickly, and the whole thing tasted pretty darn good. In time the green beans, carrots and honestly just about anything became fair game. I guess I can blame my grandmother, as today there doesn't seem to be anything that could possibly land on my plate that will not be eaten with great enjoyment. Maybe too much so, if the truth was told.

Doing something that may seem to be a problem, to have an eventual better overall outcome, is not just a technique for grandmothers. The rules of an organization, or laws of a land can also be viewed through such a lens. In Europe, for example, the large number of chemical substances being manufactured, and the unknown effect on human health and the environment became a concern. Regulations were created, such a Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals  (REACH), to register, evaluate, authorize and possibly restrict certain harmful chemical substances. Or the Restriction of Hazardous Waste in Electrical & Electronic Equipment (RoHS) directive, where components are tested for specific substances, such as Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Dc), Mercury (Hg) as well as a list of other materials to verify there is less than 0.01% of that substance by weight. While these regulations do require more work and verification, they also truly do help protect the environment and human health.

At Tekmos, we take these directives seriously. We take the extra effort needed to help ensure that potentially harmful substances are controlled throughout our industry and in our business practices. Tekmos REACH and RoHS Compliance Statements have been created, and are easy to view and download from our website. We view compliance with these directives as our responsibility and obligation, to our business partners, our employees, and all others who use and depend on the products we make. At Tekmos we take the effort to make our world a little safer. Oh, and we also don't mind eating our vegetables when the time comes either.

Tekmos once again is a corporate sponsor and exhibiting at the International Conference on High Temperature Electronics, May 10-12 in Albuquerque, New Mexico and will be exhibiting at the IoT Developers Conference in Santa Clara, California May 25-26.

HiTEC is a forum for presenting leading high temperature electronics research results and application requirements and the Iot Devcon is a conference and trade show specifically for the IoT product developer.

Tekmos has presented a paper, and maintained a display table at the July 6-8 2015, International Conference and Exhibition on High Temperature Electronics Network at Churchill College in Cambridge, England, at HiTEC 2014 in Albuquerque, and attended earlier conferences. This annual conference, alternates venues between the U.S. and England, is dedicated to high temperature electronics, ranging from the relatively cool 175ºC up to the 1200ºC range for Silicon Carbide. It also covers high temperature materials and passive components. 

Attending the presentations does a lot more than just give Tekmos an opportunity to present our research. Listening to the presentation of other papers has led to some consideration of additional techniques that Tekmos may pursue. It is important to know what others are doing. The question and answer period following each presentation gives more insight and understanding than can be obtained from reading the paper alone. 

One advantage of exhibiting at a conference is that it provides feedback about what customers really want to see in products.  It also shows what the competition is doing.  Together, that provides invaluable marketing guidance for our own efforts.