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Kickstarter Bets On 'Wired' Arduino-Compatible IoT Platform
L-One-L-One writes: Most IoT home projects today are based on Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, and friends. But this is not always the ideal solution: you end up swapping batteries frequently, which becomes annoying quite quickly. You also have to deal with signal strength issues and interferences. To address this problem, a new Kickstarter campaign called NoCAN is proposing an Arduino-compatible internet-of-things platform based on wired connections that combine networking and power in one cable. The platform uses a set of cheap Arduino-compatible nodes controlled through a Raspberry Pi. The network uses CAN-bus and offers a publish/subscribe mechanism like MQTT and over-the-network firmware updates. It can also be controlled by a smartphone or tablet. Even with such features, can it succeed in going against the all-wireless trend? We'll know in a few weeks.
Some Kickstarter campaign marketing company!
question: why is this company seeking funding based exclusively round a *patented* interface? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Use ethernet or you could go with a wireless standard like Wi-Fi for high bandwidth or Bluetooth for low power local
dont give these fools any money...
STM32F0 and SAMD21... so it's not cheap and can't be.
Is the connector standardized for CAN? Otherwise they could have picked one that's easy to install by crimping, like RJ11. We've already been there with the Dallas one-wire networks: either use RJ11 to have power, power ground, signal and signal ground, or RJ45 because those connectors are more readily available and some extra pins are there just in case. Or maybe use an audio connector, for convenience and robustness, although those are more trouble to make up your own cables.
But there are other standards for a reliable low-speed low-wire-count low-compute-power network. But differential signaling is a must, and higher voltages help to make it more robust too.
A worthwhile next step would be to get an open core design for one of these incorporated into a next-gen Risc-V based microcontroller. Then all the makers could get behind it, just to support the open-IP ecosystem.
Remember when RepRaps used RS485 between components? (e.g. https://reprap.org/wiki/Extrud...) And there have been smart stepper motors. I kindof thought that idea was going to take off, early on, but most seem to have decided it's cheaper to centralize the logic and the stepper drivers on one board. But that doesn't scale to larger machines. If CAN has an advantage over RS485 for that, it might make some sense; but I still think one micro ought to be enough to implement it; and if it's not, then CAN is probably the wrong choice.
Wireless is popular, but every device needs power so nothing can really be disconnected for the long term, unless it runs from solar power. (Batteries either have to be plugged in to recharge, or else they are environmentally unsustainable. Or both.) And there is the ongoing suspicion that RF exposure might cause health problems too. Whenever that risk finally hits the majority's radar, which technology is going to be in position to be the next contender? LiFi could be fairly easy I think.
I had an idea years ago to incorporate optical fiber into every power cable and every power outlet (simply standardize the position on the plug, relative to the other 3 prongs, assuming a choice of fiber technology such that precise alignment isn't necessary), so that when you plug anything in, you get networking at the same time. But that's a chicken-egg problem.
Alternatively, find a way to make one of the powerline networking standards cheaper. We can't get away from in-wall wiring to power stuff; so, one way or another, the network and the power wiring ought to be combined, IMO.
Hard wired and behind a firewall is the ONLY way to use any device that interfaces to my real life.
Call me a luddite all you wish, but you can't fuck with my locks, lights, freezer or whatever else I might care to control.
The main advantage of a wired connection is the lack of batteries and a consistent connection. Would you ever consider installing RFID door latches in an office that were dependent on batteries? How about a security camera that could be trivially disabled, from outside camera range, with a $10 signal jammer.
They chose to use the SAMD21 as the main processor for Arduino compatibility - it's the same processor that is used in the Arduino M0. But it doesn't support CAN, so they put in a cheap STM processor to act as a dedicated CAN controller. It's rather like how the Arduino Uno uses a second ATMega chip as a USB controller - because it's cheaper than the FTDI chip that they used in previous Arduino products.