Charting the Connected Future at Embedded World 2023

In preparation for his keynote, Daniel consulted with many experts and primary research material and came away with several key takeaways around what IoT needs to reach its full potential, including:

• IoT connectivity is everywhere and the connection points are only growing in the connected future. The next step for IoT growth is unifying embedded and the cloud.
• Once you add more connectivity and processing, products become more valuable, taking an entirely new life of their own. Information Technology built around people is turning to Operational Technology built around connected devices.
• If we can accelerate software, secure products, connect product and cloud teams, get more involved in the regulatory process, and empower data governance, we’re on the right path to charting the connected future. 

Check out Daniel’s full keynote here. After Daniel’s keynote, the action moved to the exhibition floor.

MG24 Smart Lock Demo at the SensiML booth with SVP and GM, Industrial and Commercial IoT, Ross Sabolcik

Amazon Sidewalk On Air with Senior Business Development Engineer Jake Wood

Jake joined the AWS IoT Builders Livestream to talk about Amazon Sidewalk and how developers can start building Amazon Sidewalk devices with the Silicon Labs Pro Kit for Amazon Sidewalk. Watch the livestream here. 

Day 2 Learn How to Build a Matter over Thread Device with Applications Training Manager, Martin Looker

The class split up into four groups using the MG24 to run a smart lighting Matter over Thread demo. We’re proud to say everyone got it working!

Features and Benefits of Bluetooth Mesh 1.1 for Wireless Mesh Networking with Marketing Director, Mikko Savolainen

Mikko touched on Bluetooth Mesh 1.1, the latest edition of the Bluetooth SIG's mesh networking standard, and how it introduces a plethora of new features addressing the needs and challenges of large commercial networks. Here’s what he had to say about device firmware updates: “Our customers shared that usually people need to come, stay an hour, and see from the smartphone about updates which gets expensive. With the distributor feature, they can leave and check firmware updates remotely.”

How to Design Smart City Applications with Wi-SUN with Staff Product Marketing Manager, Edward Pawlak

This was a metering-focused Wi-SUN session looking to understand the capabilities of Wi-SUN and how it relates to other standards currently in the smart city space. Ed went into specific Wi-SUN applications and said, “Wi-SUN really is for any kind of industry that requires high node count. We’re seeing it in parking, especially high vehicle EV charging. To get the coverage, Sub-GHz and Wi-SUN work well.”

Create Smart City Infrastructure with Mioty with Product Manager, András Gnandt

Target applications for mioty are ultra-low-power applications using sensor devices such as battery-operated smart metering, environmental/industrial monitoring, and agriculture. Andras discussed how LPWAN will enable energy harvesting, low-power applications, and more. 

TinyML Applications - How Machine Learning can enhance the user experience and security in Smart home products with Tamas Daranyi, Senior Product Manager, IOT - AI/ML Wireless

Tamas talked about using machine learning to recognize signatures such as fingerprint detection/reading for door locks or security hubs/panels combined with universal communication protocols for an enhanced user experience and home security and safety. 

Tamas’s key takeaway: The TinyML space is rapidly growing and there is an increasing need for smart solutions on the market – considering efficiency, compactness, and costs for IoT communication and sensor nodes. A wireless SoC with proper hardware and software, integrating radio communication, machine learning applications, and business applications will help device makers go to market fast. 

Disposable Medical Devices – Design Principles for Power Management, Bluetooth Low Energy, and Silicon-level Cryptography with Staff Solutions Architect, Nicola Wrachien

This session discussed the Bluetooth Low Energy system-on-chip (SoC) technologies and silicon-level cryptography that can finally make disposable medical devices viable for global mass production. On security and hardware acceleration of disposable medical devices, Nicola noted, “Security shouldn’t be taken advantage of in disposable medical devices. Data must be encrypted and firmware must be authenticated. Hardware accelerator is a must.”

Embedded Award Winner: AITAD and Silicon Labs

AITAD GmbH and our MG24 SoC were recognized by Embedded World in the AI category for our infrared shower monitoring solution. We're proud to have partnered with AITAD GmbH for this safe wireless solution for person detection and you can hear more about this partnership in an upcoming Talking IoT.

Our SiWx917 Bluetooth LE and Wi-Fi 6 combo SoC was also a finalist for an Embedded Award. While we’re on the topic of awards, we’re proud to have won two Embedded Computing Design Awards! One for the Silicon Labs Pro Kit for Amazon Sidewalk and another for the SiWx917.

Day 3

IO-Link Wireless – the Key to Faster and More Flexible Machines with CoreTigo and Senior Systems Engineer, Roland Gémesi

Roland and Gabi Daniely, Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer at CoreTigo discussed the applications for IO-Link Wireless and how silicon enables IO-Link Wireless to meet the harsh requirements for reliability, latency, and scalability.

Roland’s key takeaway: Wireless closed-loop motion control applications are made feasible by the IO-Link Wireless communication standard.

Securing Resource-Constrained Devices Against Novel Attack Vectors Exposed by New Long-Range and Roaming Network Technologies with Senior Business Development Engineer, Jake Wood

Jake talked about growing prevalence of long-range, roaming IoT networks, the impact to security of devices on those networks, and how the technology on EFRs can mitigate those risks. On long-range, roaming networks, Jake said, “Amazon Sidewalk, Wi-SUN, Z-Wave Long Range are being widely adopted, opening up new opportunities and with that, more risks.” 

Matter Security - How to Build a Robust Device Level Security Solution to Complement Thread and Wi-Fi Protocol Security with IoT Security Product Manager, Rohit Ravichandran 

In this session, Rohit describes the eight components of a robust device security solution, including trusted key injection, secure key management, secure boot, trusted execution environment (TEE), software security hardening, secure debugging, anti-tamper, and physically unclonable function (PUF). His key takeaway is, “By following the eight components of security solutions, you will be able to meet the most critical security requirements as part of Matter spec 1.0, thereby ensuring a secure smart home environment.” 

Best Practices to Deliver Interoperable and Secure Smart Home Connectivity with Arm, Tuya, and Senior Systems Engineer, Josh Norem

Reunited with partners Arm and Tuya, together, they discussed best practices in detail and demonstrate the simplicity of connecting Matter certified device, and how security attacks can be detected and mitigated in Matter deployment. Tuya, Silicon Labs and Arm have been collaborating to implement an end-to-end PSA (Platform Security Architecture) Certified Matter stack, leveraging Arm’s hardware root of trust, Silicon Labs Secure Vault technology as well as Tuya IoT PaaS with data protection at its core create a complete device-to-cloud security system. 

Going to 10 different sessions, the keynote, partner booths across the halls – phew! There was so much to see and learn about at Embedded World 2023. Hopefully you got a glimpse into what I saw and exactly how diverse Silicon Labs’ expertise is. We’ll see you next year, Embedded World – and at home, in Austin in October 2024!