We're going to focus here on embedded systems and more particularly on embedded systems in the world 1
of the Internet of Things. 2
We usually classify embedded systems according to four characteristics, which are the power consumption, 3
their computing power, their size, and finally, the price. 4
So, if you try to classify the embedded systems with these four branches diagram, we notice that in terms 5
of consumption, we have something that has rather low values, and that's mainly because all these systems 6
are battery operated and we'd like to avoid charging them too often. 7
And because of this low power consumption, combined with the fact that we need a relatively high autonomy, 8
then these devices need to reduce their performances. 9
So the computing power is rather low as well. For the size, they are supposed to be small because in most situation 10
they will be slipped into the pocket or they will be discreetly placed on a room. 11
And then as we're dealing with object produced in thousands. 12
So they are relatively inexpensive. 13
And when we get closer to the world of the Internet of Things, we see that these four characteristics 14
tend to be even smaller. 15
So, we will have something which will consume even less, which will probably have even lower computing 16
power with potentially smaller size, and finally, probably something cheap. 17
So let's go and see what this embedded system looks like. 18
And for that, we're going to go on the Lora Alliance website where any member can register the LORAWAN 19
Certified device they designed. That can be really important to have a certified product, because when 20
you deploy your network, you really want to be sure of the interoperability between the device and the 21
server side. 22
So here we can, for example, look for a simple temperature sensor and for example, choose this one 23
from Adeunis. 24
You can then find a lot of information on this product and eventually download the documentation 25
or the User Guide. 26
That could be interesting to have a look on that one, so I would open it. 27
And we can see that it has features that are very representative of what we can expect for an IoT device 28
with a LoRaWAN transmission. 29
Why? 30
Because if we look at what is written in terms of autonomy, so battery life, then we can expect 31
an autonomy of over ten years with a transfer every 10 minutes. 32
There are also many features on technical specification that we will need to understand here, and that 33
we will explain later in this course. 34
For example, we'll speak about the spreading factor, the Downlink capability, the class of the end device 35
A or C, ABP or OTAA activation mode, transmit power or sensitivity. 36
So no worries. 37
We'll explain that later. 38
But it was just to let you know that after the next chapter, you should feel more comfortable with 39
these parameters.