Having explored very high level architectures for both the vehicle and cloud  I will begin to review on this blog some currently available (or soon to be available) products that may fit somewhat into the structure I have outlined.  I don’t expect an exact fit, but this will help me to narrow my choices about what technologies I should test first.

The first is a forthcoming product from Kynetx  named Fuse   Kynetx claims that “Fuse combines a sensor, a mobile app and the Cloud to create a new experience around owning and using a car.” The system includes three basic parts:

1. A device that plugs into the OBD II port on your car, has a GPS and cellular connection, and constantly stream data from your car.
2. A mobile app for interacting with the data.
3. A personal cloud platform, under the car owner’s control, where the data is stored and processed.

Phil Windley, founder and CEO of Kynetx and well-known author and innovator, posted an interesting article on his blog yesterday: “Fuse is a Telemetrics Platform for Your Car: Trips on Your Calendar.”

I particularly like three things about the Fuse approach:

1. The ODB II monitoring device has both cellular and GPS connections, allowing it to monitor the vehicle while the driver is not in it.  Other devices I have seen require the driver’s smartphone to provide connectivity beyond the vehicle.
2. The Personal Cloud Platform from Kynetx is an innovative approach to providing a repository and programmable functionality in a highly personalized, privacy-protected manner.  While this approach is quite different than the enterprise-centric architecture proposed by Oracle, it may be better suited for my Yellow Jeep Journey objectives.
3. Fuse will have a published event-driven API to access and manipulate functionality.

I don’t know if it will allow other inputs from the vehicle that are not available through the ODB II port interface.  Sensors like GPS, accelerometers, magnetometers, etc., may require a separate interface.

I pre-ordered a couple of the Fuse devices during its Kickstarter campaign a couple of months ago.  I anxiously await delivery, which should be in about 2 months.

As a starting point to explore how to implement the YJJ Architecture, let’s take a look at the Oracle Internet of Things platform. The following diagram highlights what parts of the Oracle reference architecture would be installed in the Jeep and which would be in the Yellow Jeep Cloud.

The Oracle architecture is built end-to-end on Java.  At the device and gateway end, Oracle Java ME Embedded can e leveraged in the sensor devices. Oracle Java SE Embedded would be used in the Gateway device that ties multiple sensor subsystems together and communicates wirelessly to the Yellow Jeep Cloud in a data center.

In the Yellow Jeep Cloud, a variety of Oracle middleware and application products, also implemented in Java, can be leveraged, based on the specific application. 

In future posts, I will drive to a deeper level of detail on both the Jeep and cloud sides of the architecture to examine how this reference architecture can be applied to equip my Yellow Jeep for its journey.

What instrumentation do you think I should install in my Yellow Jeep for its long journey?

Here are some of the sensors that I have considered:

• Engine monitoring – via On Board Diagnostic (OBD) port
• tire pressure
• location – GPS coordinates
• internal temperature
• external temperature
• light intensity
• video – forward, reverse, left, right, driver, passenger, roaming camera
• audio – multiple microphones
• driver ID
• passenger ID(s)
• velocity
• acceleration
• yaw, pitch, roll
• altitude
• air pressure
• humidity

Some human input that may be appropriate in the Jeep includes

• audio/video/text comments
• ongoing journal
• still/video camera, independent of vehicle

A friend suggested that fingerprint sensors should be added for identification of the driver and passengers.

What suggestions might you have?

Roll on Yellow Jeep Journey!

I recently launched a personal web site and blog, Yellow Jeep Journey,  to provide a personal canvas where I can document my efforts to reach an aggressive weight loss goal, and more importantly, share my experiences in finding personal freedom, light, power and joy along the way.

But the Yellow Jeep Journey and Discovering Identity blogs are now coming together in an exciting way.  I am exploring how to more effectively integrate my professional pursuits into my quest for personal improvement.  I will cross-post my ideas about this pursuit on both blogs. I hope to garner the insight and support of my professional colleagues and associates as I move forward on this exciting endeavor.

So, here we go …

If you were to take the journey of your lifetime in a Yellow Jeep, how would you customize the Jeep for the journey?  Tires? Lift? Engine? Lights?  Yep – an integral part of the Jeep Mystique is modifying your own vehicle to suite your individual taste.

However, crazy engineer that I am, I have been thinking deeply about equipping my Yellow Jeep in a different way.  Of course, the tires and lift will be there, but I can envision more.  Suppose I could make my Yellow Jeep into a rolling laboratory of sorts, to test, play with and demonstrate the convergence of some of the most important technology trends in the world today? 

I have been heavily involved for the last decade in Identity and Access Management technology.  It has been a great ride, but I want to explore how to apply that technology in new and different ways.  Our world is experiencing great growth and innovation in the areas of cloud computing, mobile technology, social media and the most exciting to me – the Internet of Things. What if my Yellow Jeep could go beyond the traditional Jeep configuration and be equipped with the latest computing equipment and electronics that leverage and even break new ground in these converging forces?

Over the next several weeks, I will use this blog to record and refine my thoughts about how to leverage these technology trends to make my Yellow Jeep a powerful and exciting example of how these trends can all be leveraged together to enrich and enlighten our lives like never before.

Hope you will come along for the ride!

Roll on Yellow Jeep Journey!

In the flurry of news surrounding Google’s acquisition of Nest on Monday, I was particularly intrigued by the following graph from Business Insider   Specifically, the combination of 8 billion Internet of Things devices and 6 billion mobile devices (smart phones and tablets) projected for 2018 gave me pause.

I believe the real value of these expanding markets comes from the combination of the IoT and Mobile segments.  IoT technology progressively enables us to instrument and automate many areas in our daily lives; Tablets and Smartphones provide our primary windows into that instrumented and automated world.  The possibilities are limitless.

Kuppinger Cole just released an insightful Advisory Note: “Information Security Predictions and Recommendations 2014.”  The introduction stated:

Information Security is in constant flux. With the changing threat landscape, as well as a steary stream of new innovations, demand for Information Security solutions is both growing and re-focusing.

I like both the predictions and recommendations in this report.  Here are a few excerpts from my favorite recommendations:

Cloud IAM (Identity and Access Management)

Define an IAM strategy for dealing with all types of users, devices, and deployment models that integrates new Cloud IAM solutions and existing on-premise IAM seamlessly.

API Economy

Before entering this brave, new world of the API “Economy”, define your security concept first and invest in API Security solutions. Security can’t be an afterthought in this critical area.

IoEE (Internet of Everything and Everyone)

Before starting with IoEE, start with IoEE security. IoEE requires new security concepts, beyond traditional and limited approaches.

Ubiquitous Encryption

Encryption only helps when it is done consistently, without leaving severe gaps.

The whole paper is well worth reading.  Hopefully, this post whetted your appetite a little bit.

What is the most accurate acronym? I had just about made up my mind that I preferred Cisco’s IoE – the “Internet of Everything” more than the more universal IoT – the “Internet of Things.”

Then yesterday, I learned of two new acronyms: IoY and IoEE.

I read a short Popular Science article which referred to a “wearable network of gadgets, an Internet of You.”  I like that emphasis – of a person closely integrated with a broad array of sensors and gadgets.

Then I read a paper by Martin Kuppinger, where he referred to the “IoEE (Internet of Everything and Everyone).”

The IoEE – sometimes also referred to as IoT (Internet of Things) – is about connecting users and devices of all kinds.

I like that emphasis even more – recognizing that it is the integration of things and people that most effectively describes this rapidly emerging new wave of technology.  It isn’t just the explosive proliferation of connected sensors and actuators that matters.  It is the convergence of connected things, mobile technology, social networks, big data and people to provide innovative ways to enhance our lives.

So, which acronym should I use?  IoT seems to be winning in the popular vernacular.  But on a purely descriptive basis, I think IoEE is best.  It will be interesting to see which term comes out ahead.

Much has been said about the rapidly expanding influence of small, connected sensors in the Internet of Things.  In the book “Age of Context: Mobile, Sensors, Data and the Future of Privacy,” that I blogged about recently, “sensors” are named as one of five major forces in the “perfect storm,” the “Age of Context”.

While recognizing the importance of sensors, I also am intrigued by unique actuators, which actually do something useful in response to conditions sensed.  I learned of an interesting new application of actuators this morning in the article, “Save on utilities: just heat or cool yourself.“

Wristify … a new thermoelectric bracelet out of MIT, monitors air and skin temperature, then sends tailored pulses of hot or cold waves to the wrist to help you maintain comfortable temps. 

This experimental device helps the body adjust to accommodate temperature changes by applying hot or cold temperatures to the body through a wrist band:

If I put something cold directly on your body at a constant temperature, the body acclimates and no longer perceives it as cold. … Think of what happens when you jump in a lake. At first, it’s bracingly cold, but after a while, you get used to it. By continually introducing that sudden jolt of cold, Shames discovered, you could essentially trick the body into feeling cold. Wristify basically makes you feel like you’re continually jumping into the lake — or submerging into a hot bath.

This seems like a great use of sensors teamed with actuators, transforming contextual knowledge (ambient temperature) into useful response (thermal comfort).

Will we soon see a wearable device to help us endure to or cold temperatures? I don’t know, but this could be really useful. Apple or Google, could you please build this into a smart watch?

After all the hype I heard this week about the Internet of Things, perhaps this Dilbert strip from mid August puts things into perspective – a use case for Supervisory Control enabled by the Internet of Things.

In his keynote speech at Oracle Open World today, Dr. Thomas Kiessling, Chief Product and Innovation Officer of Deutsche Telekom reviewed his company’s emerging business in M2M.  One use case he described has been referred to in some circles as the “Connected Cow.” Current technology allows dairy cows to be electronically tagged for identification and equipped with temperature sensors to detect the optimum time for breeding. This can help big dairies be more efficient and productive.

When I grew up on a small dairy farm in Idaho, we weren’t nearly so high tech! But now, as we grapple with the challenges of how to administer the expanding universe of people and devices in the Internet of Things, we should also think about how to connect cows and other animals to the Internet!  After milk cows, what will be next?  Dogs and cats?  Pet hamsters?

We have quite a few milk cows in the US (about 9 million), but we have about 78 million pet dogs and 86 million cats   If we connect all them to the Internet, just think of what we could do!

But I wonder how we would establish identity trust relationships with all these connected creatures!