The Internet’s next frontier: Smart, connected devices for the home

TAIPEI - With 43 percent (3.2 billion) of the world’s 7.2 billion people now connected to the Internet, global tech giants and governments are scrambling to hook the remaining half to the wired world. As resources are mobilized to realize this vision, a new frontier is fast shaping up in the horizon: smart connected objects.

The focus is shifting from connecting people to connecting things. A new network is emerging - physical objects embedded with sensors that can interact with people and machines or the Internet of Things (IoT).

The latest report from Juniper Research reveals that the number of IoT connected devices will reach 38.5 billion in 2020, up from 13.4 billion this year or an increase of over 285 percent. 

Juniper’s report, “The Internet of Things: Consumer, Industrial & Public Services 2015-2020,” found that the number of connected devices already exceeds the number of humans on the planet today by over two times.

Concepts like smart homes, smart cities, connected vehicles, machine-to-machine communications, smart agriculture, digital healthcare, and intelligent retail are all made possible by IoT. Not surprisingly, industrialized countries are leading the charge. 

In Asia, Taiwan is making a bid to be an important hub for IoT. The country’s top technology companies see the natural evolution of traditional device manufacturing to creating intelligent, interconnected objects.

One of the companies pioneering the move to IoT is MediaTek, the world’s third largest fabless semiconductor company (behind Qualcomm and Broadcom) that develops cutting-edge systems on a chip (SOC) for wireless communications (smartphones, tablets, wearables, GPS, game stations), HDTV, DVD and Blu-ray.

David Ku, Chief Financial Officer, MediaTek, says that every year, the company powers than 1.5 billion devices for over a billion consumer electronics every year for the world’s leading brands.

“Going forward, there is a very strong growth opportunity. Every single device will be connected,” he said, citing a Morgan Stanley research in 2013 that projects IoT devices to reach tens of billions of units through 2030.

Positioning itself as a solution partner for IoT, the company has developed the MediaTek LinkIt ONE development platform that enables developers to design and prototype wearables and  IoT devices. The platform is based around the world’s smallest commercial SOC for wearables, MediaTek MT2502 (Aster).  

One such prototype developed by MediaTek Lab is the MT7620 Smart Home IoT Gateway, which detects when an intruder attempts to open a door. Unauthorised intrusion triggers the embedded sensor and activates the IP camera to record the incident. It then stores the video into a cloud master and sends a warning to the home owner’s smartphone, who can view the video instantly.

JC Hsu, GM, New Business Development, said that by 2025, the typical home could contain more than 500 such smart devices. These could include smart TVs, smart lighting, connected home appliances, smoke detection, temperature control, power saving devices, smart devices for pet care and video entertainment.

“Behind these things are different kinds of services, which increases device utilization and efficiencies,” he said. “It is happening in every vertical, every domain. But the smart home is a huge addressable market.”

Smart homes, smarter life

One interesting product on demo at the MediaTek headquarters at the Hsinchu Science Park is the Alchema Smart Brewer, an ordinary looking small kitchen appliance that enable users to easily brew fruit vinegar and fruit wine at home.

The brewer is fitted with barometric pressure and temperature sensor, PH meter, CO2 sensor and ultraviolet LED for equipment sterilisation. It is paired with a mobile app that  monitors and control the brewing process, using MediaTek Linkit One board.

The prototype was said to be created by students at National Jiao-Tung University in Hsinchu City, Taiwan and won the Grand Prize, Wearable & IoT category at ITRI Mobileheroes 2014.

Also on demo at the center is a video camera on a laptop that can detect a person’s heart rate monitor. By taking a series of shots on a person’s face, the IP camera calculates the heart rate. The idea is that as the heart pumps blood that circulate in the body, there are very tiny changes in skin color that the naked eye can’t see. The IP camera can recognise these changes, record them and make corresponding calculations in the heart rate.

For homemakers, what can be more interesting than a smart kid shoe with embedded Global Positioning System (GPS) and WiFi at the sole that can monitor the child’s location via smartphones or laptops. Also powered by MediaTek MT2501, the 361 Smart Kid Shoe comes with a wireless charging pad, which can replenish the power when the child comes home.

Another Taiwanese company based at the Hsinchu Science Park is Holux, a GPS products provider engaged in the design, manufacture and marketing of GPS products such as car navigation and Digital Video Recording (DVR) devices, but is now dabbling in wearables and smart homes products.

Executives at Holux said temperature monitoring is very important for health and wellbeing. Thus, the need for continuous monitoring of room air for temperature, humidity and ventilation. The company’s Smart Home_IoLiving series include devices for monitoring room air, automated temperature monitoring for food safety to ensure the quality of meals, and group motion tracking for monitoring family members, or elderly people.

The IoLiving T catcher module, for example,  is attached to object/location to be monitored. The module stores continuously temperature readings to its memory. When a phone or tablet is in proximity the temperature data will be automatically uploaded to the web. Any web browser can be used to view the temperature data.

Holux said the technology is useful not just for homes but for restaurants and the food service industry as well, which need to closely monitor temperature in rooms, water, and fridges and freezers.

Meanwhile, Taiwan’s kitchen appliance manufacturer Sakura, which produces gas water heater, gas stove, built-in hob, kitchen range hood, dish dryer and water purifier, is likewise setting its own path to IoT, focusing on the smart connected home appliances, capitalizing on its 60.2 percent household penetration rate for its products in the local market and a growing footprint in the global market.

Some of its interesting products include the wireless digital gas water heater that features remote temperature modulation, and a full range of smart kitchen solutions including intelligent range hoods, gas stoves, dish dryers, water purifiers.

A study released by ABI Research in April shows that global revenues from smart home automation systems will grow at a 21 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2015 and 2020. 

“Smart home automation system revenue was primarily driven by mass consumer adoption of smart home security systems, but the market is also witnessing strong revenue growth from the adoption of smart plugs and smoke and air quality monitors,” said Senior Analyst Adarsh Krishnan, in a media release.

 While the ABI study shows that North America will account for the lion’s  share of the smart home automation system revenues in 2020, contributing close to 46 percent globally, Europe and Asia-Pacific are also strong contenders.

Taiwanese firms MediaTek, Holux and Sakura are global companies with huge footprints in North America and Europe as well, in addition to its local customer base in Asia. They are Taiwan Excellence firms, which epitomise Taiwan’s highest quality products for the world. 

The country’s IoT roadmap may be just beginning, but as technologies mature, connected devices for the home may become mainstream in a few years although the market is still evolving and has room for more market inflection.