Scaling creates its own set of operational challenges that weren’t visible during initial deployments. What starts as manageable manual processes becomes overwhelming. The same team that efficiently managed hundreds of devices now faces an exponentially more complex operational reality. 

Common Scaling Fleet Management Challenges 

If you’re reading this, you’re likely experiencing a critical inflection point in your business. This is the scale challenge, and it’s more common than you might think. Every successful equipment manufacturer faces this moment. Here are the five scaling challenges that probably keep you awake at night:

1. Device Configuration & Update Management

With 10,000 devices spread across different time zones, network conditions, and customer environments, you can no longer update your fleet manually over a weekend.  

Manual update and configuration processes leave devices offline for extended periods, increase error rates, and can leave portions of the fleet running outdated configurations. 

That’s assuming nothing goes wrong mid-update when you discover that your devices don’t automatically roll back and you have to retrieve and manually update each one.

2. Monitoring & Diagnostics

Your monitoring dashboard that provided visibility into your fleet’s health is now a wall of alerts, metrics, and noise. With 10,000 devices generating telemetry data 24/7, you’re collecting more information than your team can process.  

This influx of data means critical alerts are buried in routine notifications, causing your field engineers to struggle to prioritize. Your actionable insights become an endless stream of data that nobody has time to analyze. 

3. Network & Connectivity Management

How hard can it be to connect your devices to the cloud using a modem and SIM? At scale, your DIY approach means connection timeouts are becoming frequent, cellular data bills skyrocket, and you’re regularly hitting network traffic limitations.  

Without intelligent load balancing, traffic shaping, and connection management designed for scale, you face frequent connectivity issues, increased latency, and higher infrastructure costs.

4. Security and Access Control

Every connected device is a potential entry point for security threats, and you now have 10,000 of them deployed across customer environments you don’t control. Certificate management, access control policies, and security monitoring that worked for smaller deployments become unmanageable.  

The reality is that a security incident in your fleet could potentially impact thousands of devices across hundreds of locations. The blast radius of any security issue has grown exponentially, and your tools for managing that risk need to scale too. 

5. Operational Overhead & Human Resources 

The math doesn’t lie; a 1% failure rate means 10 problematic devices at 1,000-unit scale, but 100 problematic devices at 10,000-unit scale. Your support team went from handling occasional issues to managing continuous problems. 

Perhaps most frustrating of all, your engineers, the ones who should be working on your next-generation products are instead buried in operational firefighting. The hidden operational costs of managing 10,000+ devices without proper tooling threaten the ROI of your entire IoT initiative.  

Reframe These Challenges as Opportunities 

This might all sound daunting, but large-scale deployments generate unprecedented amounts of operational data, creating opportunities for insights that don’t exist in smaller systems. Take a moment to celebrate your success and consider the opportunity you now have to optimize your business, leaving competitors behind. Patterns emerge across thousands of devices that can reveal optimization opportunities, predict maintenance needs, and identify configuration improvements. 

Intelligent fleet management transforms this volume of data from operational overhead into a competitive advantage. Automated categorization systems can instantly group devices based on performance characteristics, environmental conditions, or usage patterns. Real-time anomaly detection identifies optimization opportunities and prevents issues before they impact customers. 

Introducing Batch Jobs, Smart Fleets, and Fleets to Exclude 

Blues products have been built from day one with enterprise-scale fleets in mind. Customers have been leveraging comprehensive fleet management capabilities like automated OTA firmware updates that work seamlessly across entire deployments, intelligent data routing that can filter and multicast events to multiple cloud platforms, and configurable alerts with watchdog events that automatically monitor device health without requiring constant human oversight.  

The platform’s security model eliminates certificate management challenges through factory-provisioned security and environment variables that cascade from project to fleet to device levels, while role-based team management and programmatic API access ensure your growing operations team can manage exponentially larger fleets without linear increases in operational overhead.  

Whether you’re routing encrypted data to an external cloud or managing firmware across mixed cellular, WiFi, and satellite connectivity, Blues products have been architected to handle the complexity that emerges when successful IoT deployments hit true enterprise scale. 

If you thought this list was exhaustive, it’s not; we’re constantly upgrading our fleet management capabilities to transform how you manage connected devices at scale. Here are three new features, Batch Jobs, Smart Fleets, and Fleets to Exclude, and how you can use them: 

Scale Action Management 

Remember that weekend firmware update that now takes your entire team weeks to coordinate across 10,000 devices? Batch Jobs eliminate this by turning complex, multi-device operations into repeatable, automated workflows. 

Instead of manually coordinating updates across hundreds of customer sites, you can prepare large-scale operations in advance and execute them systematically across your entire fleet. Whether you’re provisioning new devices, updating configurations, or deploying critical security patches, Batch Jobs handle the coordination for you. 

And, you get detailed reports on job success or failure without having to oversee the entire process manually. That critical security patch you were dreading to deploy is now a controlled, reportable operation that runs while your team focuses on building your next product generation. 

Automated Device Categorization 

That overwhelming wall of alerts and metrics drowning your monitoring dashboard? Smart Fleets transform data into intelligence by automatically organizing your devices based on what matters to your business. 

Instead of your team watching endless streams of telemetry data looking for patterns, Smart Fleets continuously evaluates incoming device data against configurable rules you define. Devices can automatically be grouped according to performance metrics, environmental conditions, connectivity status, or any combination of factors relevant to your operation. 

Here’s where it gets powerful: Smart Fleets excel at anomaly detection, automatically identifying devices exhibiting unusual behavior. Those temperature sensors reporting readings above threshold levels? They can automatically be grouped for modified operating procedures. Devices showing connectivity issues? They’re flagged for proactive maintenance before they become customer complaints. 

With Smart Fleets, your field team can focus on addressing real issues. Your engineering team stops drowning in data and starts seeing clear patterns. The mountain of telemetry data becomes a strategic advantage instead of an operational burden. 

Data Quality Optimization 

Fleets to Exclude provides essential data quality control by allowing admins to filter out information from problematic devices before it reaches downstream systems. When devices are experiencing known issues like sensor malfunctions or connectivity problems, this capability prevents their corrupted data from interfering with analytics, alerting, and diagnostics processes. This ensures business decisions are based on clean, reliable data from properly functioning devices. 

When devices are experiencing sensor malfunctions, connectivity problems, or other known issues, this capability prevents their corrupted data from interfering with your analytics, alerting, and diagnostics processes. Your business decisions are based on clean, reliable data from properly functioning devices, and your executives can trust the insights coming from your connected products. 

Once You’ve Mastered Operations at Scale…Keep Scaling Confidently 

These efficiency gains compound over time. Faster issue identification improves customer experiences. Proactive maintenance reduces warranty claims and field service costs. Data-driven insights enable product improvements and new service offerings. Your operations team evolves from a cost center to a revenue enabler. 

The economic benefits extend beyond cost savings. Companies demonstrating sophisticated operational capabilities and security guarantees can pursue larger contracts with confidence, expand into new markets without operational overhead increases, and invest saved costs in product innovation and customer experience improvements. 

Build Future-Ready Fleet Management 

The challenges you experience at scale aren’t a barrier to overcome; they’re an opportunity to implement operational excellence that creates lasting competitive advantages. The companies that thrive are those that prepare to scale and choose infrastructure technology designed to support their growth. 

Batch Jobs, Smart Fleets, and Fleets to Exclude represent the next evolution in IoT device management, enabling fleet owners to harness the power of scale rather than just manage the complexity. These fleet management capabilities transform scaling from an operational challenge into a strategic advantage, making it possible to manage tens or hundreds of thousands of connected devices efficiently. 

Are you ready to level up your fleet management capabilities? Get in touch with our team to learn more about how Blues can support your business’s growth. 

Additional Resources: 

• Learn how to implement Smart Fleets in your Notehub account 
• Learn how to use Batch Jobs to provision devices and generate reports 
• The Smart Manufacturing Revolution: Moving from Reactive to Predictive Maintenance 

The post Fleet Management at Scale: When Your 1,000-Device Deployment Becomes 10,000 appeared first on Blues.

Are concerns about the impact on your workforce holding you back from transitioning to a smart factory?  

Your maintenance team’s expertise has always been the backbone of your manufacturing equipment’s upkeep and longevity. But right now, many of them are watching artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) transform their workplace and wondering where that leaves them. We get it, a recent surveys show 30% of workers fear technology might eliminate their roles within three years, while 39% worry they won’t get the training they need to keep up with all this change.  

First, it’s important to acknowledge the truth: Automation will reshape and eliminate some maintenance roles, just as technology has throughout history. However, history shows that it will also create new jobs and opportunities for teams eager to embrace digital transformation. Rather than resist this transformation, forward-thinking organizations are focusing on how to evolve their workforce alongside these technologies. 

Embedded intelligence and IIoT: Bringing power to the people 

For some maintenance professionals, the initial fear about smart factory transformation is about maintaining their sense of value and professional identity. While automation will eliminate many routine tasks, technology is transforming traditional “soft skills” like communication and teamwork into “power skills”, making these distinctly human capabilities more crucial in an AI-driven workplace. 

These skills include strategic thinking to prevent problems before they occur, ethical judgment to make tough calls about safety and resources, and the ability to communicate complex technical information clearly across teams.  

To thrive in IIoT-integrated manufacturing, maintenance professionals need to develop key technical capabilities that complement their power skills. These are skills like data literacy to interpret sensor readings and maintenance predictions, foundational knowledge of predictive machinery to understand when to trust or question automated recommendations, practical experience with digital twin technology for remote diagnostics and training, and a solid understanding of IoT systems to ensure reliable connectivity and accurate data collection. 

This upskilling requires commitment from both leadership and employees. Reports show that companies are planning to invest 9% of their collective reskilling efforts specifically in big data capabilities.  

Professionals need training that goes beyond just learning new software, they need opportunities to develop and practice their power skills. Let’s explore what’s possible when maintenance professionals develop their skills to operate on a smart factory floor.  

They become strategic decision-makers 

Remember when your maintenance team spent hours logging temperature readings and jotting down equipment data? Manual data entry used to consume maintenance professionals’ time, but in a smart factory, automation can handle those routine tasks. With IIoT integrated systems, IoT devices handle the manual work, streaming real-time data straight to your team’s dashboard. When IIoT devices collect better data more efficiently, your maintenance team can flex their expertise in entirely new ways. 

Picture this: your team gets an alert flagging temperature patterns outside the normal range in several motors. Instead of rushing to check each one manually, they’re now analyzing this data alongside vibration readings and power consumption trends. They’re applying their years of experience to decide which alerts need immediate attention and which ones they can monitor. 

This is where technical knowledge meets critical thinking skills in a way that intelligent machines alone can’t match. This powerful blend of technical insight and human judgment helps them make smarter decisions about when to schedule maintenance or simply adjust operations to extend equipment life. 

Their workplace becomes safer 

Making smarter decisions is important, but making safe decisions is essential. That’s where digital twin technology adds another powerful layer to your maintenance team’s capabilities. A digital twin is a virtual replica of a physical system, such as a machine, a process or even an entire factory. Using real-time sensor data, these digital replicas accurately mirror the current state, behavior and performance of their physical counterparts.  

Take the example of a chemical processing plant. When troubleshooting a problem with a high-temperature processing unit, instead of immediately suiting up to investigate an issue, maintenance professionals can now examine a detailed virtual replica of the equipment from every angle, analyze thermal sensor data, and pinpoint potential problems from a safe distance. When physical inspection is required, they’re empowered by precise data about what they’ll find and AI-validated predictions about equipment status. 

They grow their skills  

The educational potential of digital twin technology extends far beyond basic safety improvements. New technicians can now practice complex maintenance procedures in a virtual environment before touching physical equipment.  

For example, they might simulate the replacement of a critical pump component, using the digital twin to visualize internal parts and practice the procedure while receiving real-time feedback on their technique. This requires both technical proficiency with simulation software and problem-solving skills to handle unexpected scenarios that arise during training. 

Maintenance professionals can also use these tools to transfer their knowledge more effectively. For example, an experienced technician can use a digital twin to show new team members how equipment sounds indicate problems, using acoustic sensor data to visualize these subtle changes. This knowledge transfer helps newer team members develop both technical understanding and intuitive recognition of potential issues. 

They maximize the value of their work 

With predictive maintenance, your team are strategic partners in resource management. When an organization utilizes predictive maintenance, technicians combine real-time sensor data with their understanding of the equipment to make decisions about which equipment needs attention.  

While the system automatically checks inventory and can trigger parts orders, it’s your maintenance professionals who make the difference. They’re using their critical thinking skills to validate these automated decisions, considering things algorithms might miss, like that upcoming scheduled maintenance window or those equipment upgrades you’re planning next quarter.  

A traditional maintenance approach based on time-based service intervals might flag a bearing for replacement based purely on age, but your team’s analysis of the sensor data provided by intelligent devices shows it’s still performing perfectly. That’s saving unnecessary maintenance costs and shows how human expertise can work together with smart factories to keep your operation reliable and efficient. 

Empowering tomorrow’s maintenance team today 

As intelligent machines work in the background to automate routine tasks, they create new opportunities for skilled professionals who can combine their hands-on experience with data-driven insights to make better decisions about equipment health and maintenance timing.  

Digital transformation is about embracing a new mindset where human expertise and IIoT capabilities enhance each other. By achieving this vision, your maintenance team are industry leading. Connect with our team to begin your digital transformation journey. 

Additional Resources 

• Find out how Blues transformed American Crane’s operations 
• Download our guide to the sign’s your industrial equipment is ready for digital transformation 
• Get access to your devices data and fuel your factories AI processes 

The post IIoT Integration: How Digital Transformation Empowers Maintenance Professionals appeared first on Blues.

The ESP32 has become a go-to platform for engineers, makers, and businesses building connected devices. Its compelling combination of dual-core performance, integrated WiFi and Bluetooth, affordable price point, and rich GPIO options makes it ideal for rapid prototyping. However, for many teams, what begins as a promising proof of concept quickly encounters a familiar roadblock: reliable connectivity in real-world deployments. 

Cellular networks are global, reliable, and increasingly efficient data transmission. For ESP32 solutions venturing beyond controlled environments, cellular should be the natural evolution. Yet for many organizations, integrating cellular connectivity has historically been more trouble than it’s worth. 

Why does cellular integration have to be so complex? And what would seamless ESP32 cellular connectivity actually look like? 

Why ESP32 + Cellular is a Winning Combination 

The popularity of the ESP32 isn’t hard to understand. It balances power, cost, and flexibility, with dual-core performance, integrated radios, and support for familiar development frameworks like Arduino and ESP-IDF. Making the ESP32 the top choice for everything from custom hardware startups to Fortune 500 R&D teams. 

However, WiFi and Bluetooth Low Energy excel primarily in controlled environments. Once you move beyond the lab, their limitations become apparent. Many IoT deployments require connectivity in challenging locations: agricultural fields, oil rigs, power stations, cargo trucks, and remote monitoring sites. These environments rarely offer reliable local networks or consistent power infrastructure. 

Cellular connectivity directly addresses these challenges. It provides: 

• Global coverage: Operate across countries and continents without infrastructure dependencies 
• Carrier-grade reliability: Benefit from decades of telecommunications infrastructure investment 
• Rural and urban reach: Access data in locations where WiFi simply isn’t available 
• Predictable performance: Leverage standardized protocols and service level agreements 

Pairing of ESP32 with cellular connectivity offers an ideal solution: an affordable, low-power compute platform with always-on global data access. In practice, however, this is where complexity traditionally begins. 

What’s Historically Made Cellular So Difficult? 

While cellular may solve the connectivity challenge, it often creates new ones. For product and engineering teams, integrating cellular can come with unexpected delays, hidden costs, and architectural complexity that slows down even the most agile development cycles. 

It usually starts with the modem. Most cellular modules require working directly with AT commands, a decades-old interface language that’s unintuitive, inconsistent across vendors, and painful to debug. Writing and maintaining firmware to handle modem state, retries, error handling, and power management can quickly consume weeks of engineering time. 

Next, you need to provision your fleet. Carrier contracts, SIM management, region-specific data plans, and compliance requirements vary widely depending on where you plan to deploy. Testing in one geography doesn’t guarantee performance in another which makes managing fleets of devices across carriers a logistical headache. 

Power consumption is another common concern for devices that are deployed remotely. Cellular radios draw significantly more power than WiFi or BLE modules. For battery-powered products, a poorly integrated modem can cut device life from months to days. 

And finally, there’s the cloud platform where you gain access to your data. Piping data from device to cloud requires a reliable and secure data flow. You’ll need to manage encryption, message queuing, device identity, and remote updates, all before you ever see a byte of data. 

For teams working on time-sensitive roadmaps or operating with lean technical resources, this traditional approach is often a non-starter. 

A Smarter Path to Cellular-Enabled ESP32 Deployments 

What if cellular integration didn’t require navigating modem commands, carrier relationships, and custom firmware development? 

This is where Blues transforms the equation. Our plug-and-play cellular solution is purpose-built for platforms like the ESP32, handling everything from SIM provisioning to cloud data routing. This allows your team to focus on delivering product value rather than building connectivity infrastructure. 

Modern cellular integration for ESP32 should provide: 

• Seamless Development Integration: Drop-in compatibility with Arduino IDE and familiar APIs that abstract cellular complexity while maintaining control over device behavior. 
• Global Connectivity Out-of-the-Box: Built-in SIM and worldwide data plans that eliminate carrier negotiations and regional deployment complications. 
• Intelligent Power Management: Hardware and software designed for battery-powered applications, with automatic sleep/wake cycles that extend device life without compromising connectivity. 
• Secure Cloud Routing: Encrypted data transmission to your preferred cloud platform without requiring additional networking stack development. 
• Fleet Management Capabilities: Over-the-air updates, remote configuration, and device monitoring that scales from prototype to production deployment. 

For product managers and engineering leaders, the business value of using a ready-made cellular solution is clear: faster time to market, reduced development risk, and predictable deployment costs.  

With Blues there are no AT commands, no vendor lock-in, just a straightforward path from prototype to production. 

It’s Time to Rethink Cellular for ESP32 

If you’re building connected devices on the ESP32 and plan to deploy beyond controlled environments, cellular should be a strategic priority. But that doesn’t mean you need to accept the pain that traditionally comes with it. 

Modern cellular solutions designed for embedded systems are changing the development landscape. By abstracting complexity and offering predictable performance, Blues allows your team to focus on what matters: delivering value, moving fast, and scaling with confidence. 

Whether you’re launching a new product or evolving an existing one, choosing the right connectivity path can mean the difference between a stalled prototype and a deployed solution. Ready to transform your ESP32 products from WiFi limited to globally connected? Contact our team to see how Blues can accelerate your product development. 

Additional Resources 

• Get started with Blues development kits 
• Explore technical documentation for getting started with Blues
• Download our guide: Build or Buy: The True Cost of Developing Wireless Connected Devices 

The post From WiFi Limitations to Global Connectivity: How Blues Simplifies Cellular IoT for Your ESP32 Products appeared first on Blues.

Understanding Location Technologies for IoT

When it comes to knowing “where in the world” your devices are, manufacturers aren’t settling for just one answer to the question. Here are three options for determining device location:

• GPS/GNSS: Provides global coverage with high accuracy in outdoor environments
• Cell Tower Triangulation: Works by measuring signals from multiple cellular towers
• WiFi Triangulation: Uses nearby WiFi access points to calculate position

Each approach has distinct advantages and limitations that make them better suited for different use cases and environments.

GPS/GNSS: Global Satellite Positioning

GPS (Global Positioning System) and other GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems) determine location by measuring the time it takes for signals to travel from multiple satellites to the receiver:

• The device receives signals from four or more orbiting satellites
• Each satellite transmits its precise location and the exact time the signal was sent
• The receiver calculates the distance to each satellite based on signal travel time
• The device’s position is determined by triangulating these distances

This approach provides global coverage and works without relying on local infrastructure, making it ideal for outdoor tracking applications, despite limitations requiring line of site to satellites.

Cell Tower Triangulation: Leveraging Cellular Networks

Cell tower triangulation uses data from multiple cellular towers to pinpoint a device’s location:

• The device connects to or detects signals from nearby cell towers
• Signal strength and tower location data are collected
• Algorithms process this information to calculate the device’s position
• The estimated location is derived from the intersection points of coverage areas

While a single tower connection can provide rough location data that can be accurate within several hundred meters, connecting to multiple towers significantly improves accuracy, offering the potential to estimate device location within tens of meters.

WiFi Triangulation: Precision for Indoor Environments

WiFi triangulation is similar to cell tower triangulation but works by leveraging WiFi access points:

• The device scans for nearby WiFi access points
• Information about visible access points (SSID, MAC address, signal strength) is collected
• This data is cross-referenced against databases of known WiFi locations
• A precise location estimate is calculated based on this information

WiFi triangulation often delivers superior accuracy in urban and indoor environments and can easily achieve accuracy within a few meters. This makes it particularly valuable for indoor asset tracking.

The Business Value of Multi-Technology Asset Tracking

Why settle for just one tracking technology? Modern IoT deployments benefit from having multiple location-determining technologies available. Implementing a flexible location tracking approach offers several advantages:

• Improved Reliability – By combining multiple location technologies, devices can be located from open outdoor spaces to building interiors and urban canyons, ensuring continuous visibility.
• Optimized Power Management – Different location technologies can be selected based on power availability and accuracy requirements:
• GPS for high-precision outdoor tracking when power is available
• WiFi triangulation for indoor tracking with minimal power consumption
• Cell tower triangulation as a reliable backup when other methods aren’t available
• Extended Device Lifespan – Selecting location technology based on environment and power constraints can significantly extend battery life and reducing maintenance costs.

Blues Notecard: Simplifying Location Tracking

Blues Notecard is designed to make wireless connectivity for embedded devices as simple as plug-and-play. Cellular Notecards come with GPS tracking as standard and, depending on which connectivity solution you choose for your device, offers a combination of triangulation technologies.

Notecard Cell+WiFi gives you a seamless way to do all three, GPS tracking, WiFi triangulation, and cell-tower triangulation, in a highly customizable way. And Notecard’s backing cloud service, Notehub, intelligently selects the “best” location from all available options; making it easy to keep track of where your devices are at all times. Whether your assets move through dense urban centers or remote areas with spotty coverage, this hybrid technology ensures continuous location visibility across all deployment scenarios.

Real-World Location Tracking Applications

Wondering how you could use location tracking to enhance your operation? Here are a few of the ways you could utilize Notecards’ built-in features:

Supply Chain & Logistics

Track shipments through warehouses, distribution centers, and retail locations where GPS signals are unavailable. With triangulation, companies gain end-to-end visibility into their supply chains, including indoor locations traditionally considered “blind spots.”

Industrial Equipment Monitoring

Monitor the location and usage of valuable equipment inside factories and warehouses without installing dedicated positioning infrastructure. The low-power requirements make tracking assets for years without battery replacement possible.

Smart Cities & Urban Monitoring

Deploy sensors throughout urban environments to monitor air quality, noise levels, traffic patterns, and more, all with precise location data even in challenging signal environments between tall buildings.

Healthcare Asset Management

Track critical medical equipment throughout healthcare facilities, ensuring that life-saving devices can be quickly located while reducing equipment loss.

The future of Location Tracking

As IoT deployments expand into increasingly challenging environments, having multiple location technologies available ensures continuous device visibility across all scenarios. By leveraging GPS, cellular, and WiFi triangulation as complementary technologies, solutions like the Blues Notecard enable comprehensive asset tracking with optimal power consumption and accuracy for each environment.

Whether you’re tracking assets through supply chains, monitoring equipment in industrial facilities, or deploying smart city sensors, the flexibility to choose the right location technology for each situation provides the reliability and accuracy your IoT applications demand, in any environment.

Are you ready to implement intelligent location tracking in your IoT solution? Notecard offers a plug-and-play approach that simplifies development while providing the security, reliability, and power efficiency required for real-world IoT deployments. Get in touch to hear more.

Additional Resources

• Get started with a Cell+WiFi Dev Kit 
• Download the guide to learn more about industrial equipment monitoring 
• Try an example app for continuous asset tracking 

The post Beyond GPS: Leveraging Cell + WiFi Triangulation for Precise IoT Location Tracking appeared first on Blues.

On your marks, get set—not so fast.  

To even get to the starting line, you need data and an intelligent machine to collect and transmit your data securely. Let us show you how Blues Notecard and Notehub are enabling companies to supercharge their business operations by gaining access to data through remote, wireless communication between device and cloud. 

Embedded Intelligence: Your Data Insight Engine 

Digital transformation is all about reimagining how we work, connect, and create by merging innovative technology with everyday operations, making life easier and businesses smarter. As companies look to integrate AI solutions, a major roadblock they hit is deciding how to collect and transmit data into a usable form—you can’t apply insights if your systems can’t capture and share them with you. Let’s pop the hood and take a look at how Notecard and Notehub can fuel AI innovation. 

Efficient Data Collection 

Think of data collection as your engine’s intake system, pulling inputs from your sensors needed to fuel the system. Notecards are plug-and-play modules that offer your systems low-power, secure connectivity through cellular, WiFi, satellite, and LoRa networks. Notecard devices feature: 

• Ultra-low power consumption (~8-18µA when idle) – This extremely low power usage is critical for embedded AI applications that need to run for months or years on battery power. It enables remote deployments and reduces costs while maintaining continuous data collection. 

• Energy Management – Notecard can adapt its behavior in response to your device’s energy source and levels. Suppose your device’s power is running low, it’s nighttime, and the device is solar charged; Notecard will wait to connect and transmit the data until the device has a greater energy reserve, keeping it alive and functioning for longer. 

• Flexible interfaces – The ability to connect with virtually any type of sensor allows you to collect the exact data you need for your machine learning applications.  

This foundation of efficient data collection ensures you’re gathering high-quality data optimized for AI applications while minimizing power consumption and deployment complexity. 

Seamless Data Transmission  

Data transmission in AI embedded systems is like a car’s fuel delivery system— precisely delivering fuel (data) to the engine (AI model). A device infrastructure built with Notecard provides: 

• Global connectivity with automatic failover – Notecards have redundancy to ensure your embedded AI applications stay connected even if the main network fails. By automatically switching between radio access technologies, your devices stay online and keep collecting data. 

• Pre-provisioned cellular service – Pre-configured cellular connectivity eliminates complex carrier negotiations and the need for SIM cards, simplifying global deployment. When equipped with Notecards, your embedded AI systems can be installed almost anywhere with cellular coverage and start working immediately, dramatically reducing time-to-value. Too remote for cellular coverage? Our satellite Notecards are a great option for those hard-to-reach places. 

• Edge-to-cloud synchronization – Efficient data synchronization between edge devices and the cloud ensures all critical data reaches Notehub. Notecards deliver smart, efficient data handling and cost-effective communication while preserving data integrity for applications like machine learning models. 

A strong data transmission infrastructure keeps your devices reliably connected and provides real-time data access. It also supports remote management at scale. 

Scalable Data Management  

Scaling is like upgrading from a single-car garage to managing an entire fleet. Just as maintaining a fleet requires efficient systems for fueling, monitoring, and servicing each vehicle, scaling devices demands streamlined processes for connectivity, data management, and system updates to ensure everything runs smoothly. Here’s how the combined power of Notecard and Notehub ensures scalability: 

• Cloud orchestration – Notehub securely manages data flow from any number of Notecard devices, enabling large-scale AI deployments while maintaining performance and reliability.  

• Centralized device management – Notehub makes comprehensive fleet management possible. It includes remote configuration updates, over-the-air firmware updates, and device monitoring through a single interface. This enables efficient management of large deployments with minimal operational overhead. 

• Flexible cloud routing – Notehub natively supports routing data to AWS, Azure, GCP, Snowflake, and other major cloud platforms, often with no-code implementation. This allows you to leverage your preferred database and analytics tools while avoiding vendor lock-in. And because Notecard devices transmit data in JSON format, Notehub can transform and route appropriately using templates. This ensures your AI systems receive properly formatted data without requiring additional processing or development time.  

This powerful system helps your embedded AI projects grow from pilots to full-scale deployments quickly, all while staying efficient and reliable. 

Secure Data Handling 

Just as a car needs security systems to protect its valuable components, embedded AI applications require comprehensive security to protect sensitive data and maintain data integrity. Notecard and Notehub provide industry-leading security through multiple layers of protection: 

• Hardware-Based Security – The Notecard integrates an STSAFE Secure Element containing symmetric keys manufactured directly into the chip. These keys use ECC with the NIST P-384 curve and ECDSA-with-SHA384 signature algorithm, providing robust protection against physical attacks and secure storage of cryptographic keys. This hardware-based approach means neither manufacturers nor end users need to handle sensitive key material. 

• End-to-End Encryption – Data remains encrypted throughout its journey from device to cloud. The Notecard’s secure element handles encryption at the device level, maintains security during transmission to Notehub, and ensures secure routing to your cloud application. Your AI system’s sensitive data is secured at every step. 

• “Off-the-Internet” Communications – Unlike traditional IoT devices that connect directly to the public internet, Notecards communicate through encrypted “off-the-internet” channels. When connecting to Notehub, the connection between the cellular network and Notehub is made over a VPN using internal DNS servers, with the connection itself encrypted using TLS. This architecture dramatically reduces the attack surface and simplifies security management. 

Comprehensive security ensures both your intellectual property and your customers’ data are protected, while meeting regulatory requirements. 

Revving Up AI Innovation 

Now that you have the critical components of your data engine, your embedded AI system can perform like a well-tuned machine. Here are just some of the ways Embedded Intelligence devices are powering growth, efficiency, and profitability: 

• Predictive Maintenance: Unplanned downtime costs industrial businesses an average of $125,000 per hour, with over two-thirds of businesses experiencing unplanned outages at least once a month. A report by LeewayHertz found that embedding AI in predictive maintenance systems can reduce inspection costs by 25% and annual maintenance fees by up to 10%. 

• Quality Control and Inspection: By combining computer vision with embedded AI, organizations can perform automated visual inspections at scale, detecting defects and inconsistencies that might escape human observation. Research by McKinsey found that gen AI may cut QA expenses by more than 50%, enhance agent efficiency by 25-30%, and drive customer satisfaction up by 5-10%. 

• Asset tracking and optimization: AI-powered tracking systems can predict optimal routes, detect unusual patterns, and provide actionable insights. AI-enabled supply chain management has led to improved inventory costs of 35% and logistics costs of 15% for early adopters. 

Get Your AI Engine in Gear 

With Notecard and Notehub, you get powerful data intake, secure and reliable data transmission, and device management tools for keeping your embedded AI solutions running smoothly. Whether you’re collecting high-quality data, ensuring reliable connectivity, or managing a growing network of devices, these tools give you access to your data and ways to use it. 

Are you ready to tune up your embedded AI product and smooth out access to your data? Drop us a line and see how Blues can transform your business. 

Additional Resources 

• Learn how digital transformation with Blues saved American Crane 10x of their upfront costs 

• Discover how Embedded Intelligence is revolutionizing the HVAC and Heat Pump Industry 

• Get started with Blues today, check out our quick start guides 

The post Fueling the Future of AI with Optimized Data Streams appeared first on Blues.

For manufacturers of IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) devices, network sunsets can be costly. When cellular carriers phase out older networks, manufacturers can find themselves facing expensive hardware redesigns to maintain compatibility. Today, we’re exploring how to harmonize your product development with evolving network technologies to protect your engineering investment and deliver seamless experiences for your customers. 

Understanding Network Sunsets 

Network sunsets occur when cellular carriers shut down older network technologies. This frees up spectrum for newer, more efficient networks. Common reasons include: 

• Advancing technology (e.g. 5G replacing 4G) 

• Reallocating spectrum to increase network capacity 

• Reducing costs of maintaining legacy networks 

As cellular carriers phase out older networks to make way for new technologies, manufacturers must redesign their hardware to support newer protocols—a process that can take months of engineering time and significant capital investment. 

The sunset of 2G and 3G systems continues to send aftershocks. A few European cellular carriers stopped supporting these connections in 2021 with U.S. carriers following suit in 2022, and the majority of European carriers plan to decommission 2G and 3G connections in 2025. If not addressed, mission-critical systems will lose their connection, leaving your business to foot the bill to replace or upgrade your IIoT hardware.  

The Product Design Challenge 

For device manufacturers, there’s a fundamental mismatch between product design cycles and network evolution. Your team designs industrial equipment for long-term operation, while cellular networks change approximately every decade. 

For example, when developing products for industries like agriculture, where equipment typically operates for 10-15 years, manufacturers must consider how to maintain connectivity as networks evolve. Traditional approaches often require complete hardware redesigns to support new protocols—a costly and time-consuming process. 

Future-Proofing Your IIoT Devices  

Advances in network technology don’t have to mean costly upgrades to your equipment’s hardware. At Blues, we’re leading the industry in developing wireless connectivity for smart manufacturing. When American Crane & Equipment Corporation wanted to future-proof its IIoT equipment, it turned to Blues to ensure consistent network connectivity.  

“We expect a 10X factor in cost savings for our smart crane system,” said Karen Norheim, ACECO President and CEO. “Through innovation in transmitting data, using the Blues system will provide lower up-front and ongoing costs than a traditional system.” 

Solutions for Every Connectivity Challenge 

At Blues, we understand the engineering and cost implications of network sunsets. That’s why we’ve developed flexible solutions that help manufacturers future-proof their products while minimizing redesign costs. 

Challenge: Your IIoT devices rely on a single connectivity source 

Solution: Your IIoT equipment is vulnerable to a network sunset if it only supports one connectivity option. Blues Notecards feature interchangeable radio access technologies that combine prepaid cellular connectivity, low-power design, and secure “off-the-internet” communications in one System-on-Module. These devices support multiple connectivity options including cellular, WiFi, LoRa, and Satellite connections. If one system becomes obsolete in the future, you have the flexibility to switch with minimal changes to your equipment’s hardware or software. 

Challenge: Upgrading IIoT Hardware is Expensive and Time-Consuming 

Solution: Notecard is designed with upgrade features that can be executed in the field, saving your organization time and resources. They’re also designed to be swapped out without redesigning host hardware. Blues also offers OTA updates for Notecards and host firmware, meaning you’re able to adapt your network tech without replacing entire devices.  

Challenge: Your IIoT systems rely on different connectivity sources. 

Solution: At Blues, we’re pioneering wireless harmonization. We empower our customers to seamlessly apply a single connectivity solution to multiple technologies with minimal design or software changes. Our products use a consistent API across all connectivity types, simplifying development and maintenance of your infrastructure as you adapt to network changes.  

Challenge: Your systems are tied to specific carriers and your coverage is inconsistent globally.  

Solution: With Notecard’s embedded Sim, you get global cellular connectivity coverage in over 135 countries worldwide. For areas without coverage, you are able to use an external sim alongside the Notecard to ensure global coverage, giving you flexibility to choose the best available network as the wireless landscape shifts. 

Challenge: Your organization needs long-term cost and operational stability 

Solution: Cellular carriers continue to evolve their networks faster than the lifespan of most IIoT devices, creating a heavy and unpredictable burden for businesses. We provide our customers with 10 years of service and use a pre-paid data model that eliminates ongoing costs. Plus, our global coverage solutions give peace of mind against short-term network changes disrupting your devices. 

Building for Tomorrow’s Networks Today  

Network sunsets don’t have to pose a threat to your business. Blues offers flexible, upgradable products and features to harmonize your industrial IoT infrastructure including:   

• Interchangeable connectivity options 

• Easy field upgrades 

• Consistent development experience 

• Carrier-agnostic global coverage 

• Long-term connectivity assurance 

• Extended device lifespans 

Ready to learn how Blues can help future-proof the IIoT technology your business relies on? Contact us today to get started. 

Additional Resources 

• How American Crane & Equipment Corporation is Cutting Cost by 10x for Their Smart Crane Technology 

• Blues: Fueling IIoT Innovation with the Micro-PLC and Wireless Connectivity 

• Using IIoT to Navigate the Next Industrial Revolution with Sento and Blues 

The post Navigating Network Sunsets: Future-Proofing Your IIoT Devices with Blues appeared first on Blues.

Today, a divergent approach to connected product development has mired the IoT industry. This divergent approach has led to a cumbersome product development experience where the choice of radio access technology (RAT) has to be made upfront, cloud orchestration platforms are only aligned around a single RAT, and hardware device designs are highly differentiated amongst RATs. 

Blues set out to clear the divergent obstacle stifling IoT innovation through an innovative approach called wireless harmonization.  

So, what is wireless harmonization? Here’s how we define it: 

Wireless harmonization is an architectural approach that abstracts the complexity of connected product development by allowing developers to seamlessly transition between connectivity technologies at any point in the product lifecycle, whether prototype or deployment, based on the wireless connectivity available at the point of deployment.  

To put it another way, through wireless harmonization, we’ve consolidated the many disparate, messy pieces of IoT into a single, unified experience: 

• Rather than a specific hardware and software design for each RAT, we created a single unified hardware design and a standardized software interface that accommodates every RAT. 

• Instead of routing IoT data through multiple RAT-specific cloud orchestration platforms, we built a single cloud orchestration platform capable of routing data received from any RAT to the cloud.  

• Rather than sorting through numerous location data points captured from multiple sources, we analyze multi-source location data to automatically determine a device’s best location, giving you a single location to focus on. 

Thanks to this architectural breakthrough, developers can now move freely between RATs such as cellular, LoRa, and Wi-Fi with minimal design changes. This approach enables developers to focus on developing ground-breaking applications and then decide which RAT to leverage, leading to better products in less time. 

Now that we’ve defined wireless harmonization let’s outline the critical issue hampering IoT innovation and connected product development— the problem of wireless divergence. 

 Convergent Suppliers, Divergent Development  

In the past few years, the IoT wireless connectivity market consolidated, giving rise to a market narrative around wireless convergence. Semtech acquired Sierra Wireless, UnaBiz acquired Sigfox, Telit acquired Thales Cinterion’s IoT business, and many more. 

These acquisitions created suites of solutions under a single roof, allowing customers to source multiple IoT connectivity needs from a single supplier. The industry reduced procurement complexity by removing the need to procure connectivity solutions from multiple suppliers, achieved greater economies of scale, and put downward pressure on bill of materials (BOM) cost.  

The industry should celebrate the supply-side efficiency improvements brought on by this consolidation; however, this strategy entirely neglects the product development experience, does nothing to solve the problem of wireless divergence, and certainly hasn’t achieved wireless convergence. 

Wireless convergence is the idea that assumes these disparate and highly differentiated technologies like cellular, Wi-Fi, LoRa, and satellite can converge into a single, homogenized, blended approach. However, the reality is wireless convergence is not possible —at least in the foreseeable future — given how vastly different RATs are. 

Rather than fixating on wireless convergence, Blues took a distinctive approach by addressing the challenge of wireless divergence. Recognizing the substantial variations among RATs (Radio Access Technologies), Blues crafted a sophisticated ecosystem that gracefully navigates and mitigates the intricacies inherent in these diverse technologies. 

Before we dive deeper into wireless harmonization, let’s examine the critical shortcomings associated with a divergent wireless ecosystem: 

• Developers are still forced to commit to a RAT at the beginning of the development lifecycle, even before they fully understand the product’s requirements. 

• Cloud orchestration and data routing platforms are still RAT-specific, causing enterprises to execute multiple redundant implementations and incur greater costs while introducing greater operational complexity.  

• Each RAT is supported by a distinctively designed hardware device featuring a unique form factor and specific software architecture. 

The impact of this engineering oversight is tremendous. Enterprises are developing siloed, disparate IoT solutions, product development cycles are lengthy and resource-intensive, and teams must commit to a RAT at product inception, even before they fully understand their customers’ requirements and real-world demands. 

Failure to solve the problem of wireless divergence is one of the core reasons the IoT space has consistently underperformed expectations and struggled to achieve its full potential. Simply put, the product development experience has been neglected, and there is too much complexity standing between developers and their ideal product. 

At Blues, we set out to solve this problem by developing a wireless ecosystem that abstracts the distinct complexities of each RAT to create a unified and simplified IoT experience.  

Understanding Wireless Harmonization  

Let’s take a deep dive into how we put wireless harmonization into practice and what it means for developers building with our products.  

Since our ecosystem is harmonized, our hardware (the Notecard) is interchangeable, and our connectivity is portable. This allows developers to build a connected product that utilizes multiple RATs while leveraging the same software and hardware design. In essence, you can develop your product and then decide which RAT(s) to leverage afterward. 

Our framework is comprised of 3 core pillars: Harmonization of Radio Access Technologies, Harmonization of Location, and Harmonization of Data Flow. We’ll get to those shortly, but first, here’s a real-world example highlighting the profound impact of a harmonized wireless architecture:  

An enterprise has built and shipped a solution that leverages the Notecard Cellular, but after meeting with some of your end users, you discover there’s demand for this solution in rural, cell-signal-challenged areas that require LoRa connectivity. 

An enterprise has built and shipped a solution that leverages the Notecard Cellular, but after meeting with some of its end users, they discover there’s demand for their solution in rural, cell-signal-challenged areas. The current solution doesn’t need a low-latency network connection, so LoRaWAN connectivity is ideal. 

But since they built with Blues, all they need to do is take the Notecard LoRa and plug it into the same M.2 edge connector that the Notecard Cellular was using, and they’re done.  

It’s that easy. 

There’s no hardware re-design, additional software development, lengthy time-to-market, or additional resource allocation. This pioneering approach dramatically streamlines product development and brings the world of IIoT into a new era. 

However, there are certain constraints developers need to be cognizant of; primarily, their host firmware application should only target the Notehub core APIs that are supported across all Notecards. For example, Notecard Cellular features like GPS tracking aren’t supported because they are unavailable on the Notecard WiFi. 

The 3 Pillars of Wireless Harmonization 

Harmonization of Radio Access Technologies: Connecting the Unconnected 

The cornerstone of our harmonization of radio access technologies (RATs) is the Notecard. The Notecard is a low-power, secure System-on-Module that seamlessly supports a spectrum of RATs like cellular, Wi-Fi, and LoRa — and in the case of the Notecard Cell+WiFi, it dynamically supports multiple RATs. 

Since the Notecard is harmonized across RATs, developers have the freedom to prototype with, for example, Wi-Fi and then deploy with LoRa or cellular. All our Notecards can be integrated into your product through an M.2 edge connector and hardware communication interfaces like Serial and I2C that are compatible with just about any microcontroller. 

Here’s a quick overview of each Notecard Blues currently offers:  

• Notecard Cell+WiFi: features global connectivity options for both wideband (LTE Cat-1) and narrowband (LTE-M, NB-IoT & GSM) while supporting precise asset tracking through GPS/GNSS, Cell tower or Wi-Fi triangulation. 

• Notecard LoRa: Achieve ultra-low power, long-range communication, and industry-leading security with the Notecard LoRa. These features make it ideal for battery-powered device clusters and rural and remote IIoT applications. 

• Notecard Cellular: Combines prepaid cellular connectivity, low-power design, and secure “off-the-internet” communications in one System-on-Module. 

• Notecard WiFi: Built the next generation of line-powered device clusters with a high sampling rate by leveraging our secure, low-power Notecard WiFi. 

• Notecard WiFi Chips Edition: Designed to be easily integrated into mass-produced products, Blues packages ultra-low-power architecture, market-leading security, core firmware, and Wi-Fi connectivity into a single compact device. 

• Notecard LoRa Chips Edition: Transform even the most cost-sensitive, space-constrained products into data-driven intelligent products with the mass-production ready Notecard LoRa Chips Edition. 

Harmonization of Location: Finding the Unfindable 

GPS/GNSS changed the world profoundly. The advent of real-time location tracking allowed humanity to create powerful applications and connect people in ways we’ve never thought possible. 

However, like all technologies, it has its limitations. Here are 3 limiting factors of GPS/GNSS: 

• Satellite Communication is Power-Hungry: The time and energy needed to track multiple satellite signals continuously or almost continuously consumes much power. Furthermore, devices often track different satellite constellations that operate at slightly different frequencies, meaning their antenna must be configured to receive all these, increasing power consumption even more. 

• Time-Consuming Computation: Communicating with multiple satellites to triangulate a device’s location is time-consuming due to the distance signals have to cover and the involvement of multiple satellites. 

• Unreliable Indoors or in Dense Urban Environments: GPS/GNSS cannot locate devices indoors as the long-range frequencies cannot get through walls and roofs. Additionally, if the device is located in a dense urban area like New York City, it will not deliver an accurate location due to multi-path errors. 

At Blues, we’ve overcome the limitations of single source location tracking by layer in location data from multiple sources such as cell towers, and Wi-Fi, in addition to GPS/GNSS, and analyzing that data in Notehub to calculate the “best location” of a device automatically. 

Notehub automatically evaluates how granular that data is, when it was sent, and a variety of other factors to provide you with the single, most accurate location of your device. Notehub takes the numerous data points from multiple sources and compiles them into a single location. 

This harmonized approach abstracts the complexity of multi-source device tracking by making it as easy as single-source tracking, which is imperative for enterprises tracking fleets of devices constantly moving. 

Harmonization of Dataflow: Explaining the Unexplained 

Data is the reason we’re here.  

It’s the cornerstone of business applications and AI models. The success of most business applications and AI models hinges on the ability to relay mountains of valuable data in real-time. 

By integrating connectivity into a physical product, enterprises gain access to previously untapped datasets that provide unprecedented insight into their products and customers. 

But all too often, wireless connectivity providers have made it difficult for developers to capture this data and route it where it needs to go. 

At Blues, we engineered and developed Notehub, a cloud orchestration layer for seamless data routing, easy provisioning at scale, and remote asset management. 

The primary goal of Notehub is to easily route your valuable data to where it needs to go. It natively supports secure routing to AWS, Azure, GCP, Snowflake, and numerous other cloud platforms — often in a “no-code” manner. 

While this is a tremendous improvement from most other cloud orchestration layers, Notehub’s critical innovation is that it is a single platform capable of seamlessly managing and routing data captured from multiple RATs to the cloud. It is a single platform for all your IoT data, regardless of RAT. 

Currently, most other cloud orchestration layers are RAT-specific, so connected product developers leveraging multiple RATs must route their data through several disparate platforms and then onto a single cloud destination where the data can be digested and utilized. 

By removing the need for multiple redundant, unnecessary cloud orchestration platforms, Notehub dramatically reduces implementation complexity, expenses, and operational maintenance. 

Notehub’s cloud-agnostic and omni-RAT architecture, coupled with its elegant but powerful JSON interface, empowers enterprises to build game-changing business applications faster than ever.  

Embracing Change: Don’t Dread Network Sunsets

Network sunsets are a natural part of technological evolution, especially in the Cellular world. 

Despite the predictability of sunset events, history is rife with manufacturers who have overlooked the importance of creating contingency plans to address them. 

Here are just a few examples of how sunsets caused dramatic impacts on manufacturers: 

• In the wake of the 3G sunset, some Nissan vehicles were left with an obsolete 3G modem, which left drivers without the use of several internet-enabled features. This led to costly recalls and damaging class action lawsuits. 

• Sparking fears of ‘alarmaggedon,’ the 3G sunset prompted the Alarm Industry Communications Committee to raise concerns that roughly 2 million burglar intrusion systems, fire alarms, and personal emergency alerts would go offline. This caused providers like ADT to scramble for a fix amid the pandemic’s microchip crisis. 

As an integral element of our wireless harmonization framework, Blues places a strong emphasis on designing an architecture that makes network sunsets painless.  

We have streamlined the sunset experience with our swappable Notecard design. When the next sunset event arises, companies that have chosen Blues will effortlessly transition by simply unplugging the existing Notecard from its M.2 edge connector and plugging in the new one.  

Similar to transitioning between RATs, no hardware re-design or software implementation is needed. This approach allows companies to future-proof their products by avoiding product obsolescence and dramatically reducing sunset-related expenses and reputational risk. 

Futureproofing Your Connected Products with Blues 

Blues’ wireless harmonization approach offers a forward-thinking solution to the challenges connected product developers face today and into the future.  

Blues has given enterprises a massive head start on building the next generation of AI-powered products by harmonizing access to connectivity technologies, accurate device location data, and dataflow. 

Our revolutionary approach to network sunsets protects the products you worked so hard to build from obsolescence through our modular, swappable Notecard design that eliminates the need for costly hardware re-designs and software implementations. 

The end result of this hyper-focus on simplicity is an ecosystem elegantly designed to empower developers, foster innovation, and ultimately allow IIoT to achieve its full potential.  

It all boils down to a fundamental decision:  

Will you continue to grapple with unnecessary complexity and glaring architectural flaws at every stage of your connected product’s lifecycle? 

Or will you build your connected products around Blues’ simplified, flexible, forward-thinking, future-proof ecosystem that fosters innovation and offers a genuine competitive advantage? 

The choice is abundantly clear. So, if your mind is already made up, right this way.

The post Wireless Harmonization: A New Era for Connected Product Development appeared first on Blues.

If you’re making that choice now, this article is your go-to guide. We’ll delve into the important factors and provide you with the context you need to make an informed decision. Let’s get started!

What is a cellular module?

So you’ve compared connectivity options for your IoT project, decided on cellular, and now you need a cellular module – well done! But what exactly is a cellular module?

Essentially, it’s the hardware component that enables wireless communication between your device and the internet. The module includes a modem, RF antenna, chipset, and other supporting circuitry, and connects to a cellular network such as AT&T, T-Mobile, or Verizon. This provides the necessary bridge between your device and the cloud-based applications or other devices that it needs to communicate with.

Cellular System-on-Module from Blues

Entering the build vs buy debate

One of the earliest and biggest decisions you might face in your IoT project is whether to build your own cellular module or purchase a pre-built one from a vendor. Building your own module can provide greater control and customization, but it requires significant time, resources, and expertise, resulting in higher short-term costs. On the other hand, buying a pre-built module can offer faster time-to-market, lower development costs, and potentially better performance due to the vendor’s expertise and resources, but it may limit your customization options.

To make the best decision for your organization, you need to carefully evaluate factors such as project requirements, cost, time-to-market, technical expertise, and timeline. By considering these factors, you can make an informed decision that aligns with your unique circumstances and helps you achieve success in your IoT project.

What are the IoT project requirements for building a cellular module?

In general, building a cellular module can be a good option only if you have highly specific project requirements, as well as the budget, time, and access to required resources.

Some instances that might require a custom cellular module:

• highly customized device that cannot be supported by any off-the-shelf modules
• complete control over the firmware and software and need to code everything in-house
• ultra-low power consumption
• specific form factors 
• specific connectivity needs
• Specialized sensor packages

Do your research though, because you can often find many of these in pre-built modules.

How much would it cost to build a cellular module?

While building a cellular module offers complete control over the design and functionality, it is an extensive design project that requires a significant investment of time, effort, and money. The average costs associated with building a cellular module can vary widely, depending on the complexity of the project, the number of components required, and the level of customization needed. 

As laid out in this IoT For All article covering the topic, “designing a cellular module requires intense work on all four of these elements”:

1. Hardware Design: sourcing third-party modems, antennas, and microcontrollers, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars*.
2. Firmware Development: requiring expertise in modem drivers, encryption technologies, and data formats.
3. Cloud Development: requiring defining and integrating the back-end system for data storage and remote updates.
4. Carrier Certification: most carriers/telcos require hardware that is in their network to be certified. Not doing so can mean devices being booted off the network, and lack of support from the carrier.
5. Carrier Integration: deciding on a carrier and SIM – contract lock-ins and data rates can be cost-prohibitive.

* Not to mention the additional costs of integration, optimization, and certification for regulatory compliance.

In addition to the material costs of building the components, the time and effort of a highly specialized team required to execute these tasks adds a considerable expense to the project.  

Gartner projected that 75% of IoT projects will take about twice as long as initially planned and a great portion will fail at the pre-launch stage and a lot of this can be attributed to the unexpected complexity of building an IoT solution.

How many engineers does it take to build a cellular module?

That is not the beginning of a joke, building a cellular module is a complex undertaking that requires a team of specialists from different engineering fields. 

Depending on the scope and complexity of the project, the number of engineers needed can vary, but in general, you will want to have the following experts on your team:

• Electrical engineers, who design and develop the hardware of the module, including the circuitry, power supply, and antennas.
• Firmware engineers, who write and maintain the software that runs on the cellular module throughout its lifetime.
• Cloud engineers, who ensure that the IoT device and cellular module function seamlessly with cloud-based services, including data storage and analysis.
• Mechanical engineers, who design the physical enclosure and packaging for the module, ensuring that it meets your product’s aesthetic and functional requirements.

To manage the project and ensure that it stays on track, you will also need a project manager who can coordinate the efforts of the different teams and ensure that the project is completed on time and within budget. The size and composition of your team will depend on the complexity of your project and the level of expertise required to achieve your goals.

How long does it take to build and certify a cellular module?

Building a cellular module from scratch can take months or even years to complete. Much of that depends on the complexity of the module, the experience and resources of the engineering team, and the regulatory requirements of the target markets. However, it’s essential to ensure that the final product meets regulatory requirements and performs flawlessly prior to deployment.

It’s worth noting that testing and certification are still required, regardless of whether you build or buy a cellular module. These can add significant expense and time to the project. By working with a module supplier that has already completed some of the necessary certifications, such as PTCRB, carrier, or FCC (in the US), you can reduce your time to market and ensure regulatory compliance.

So when is it actually better to build a cellular module?

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer for deciding whether to build or buy a cellular module. If you’re looking for a highly customized IoT device that can’t be supported by any off-the-shelf module, then building your own cellular module might be the best option. With complete control over the firmware and software running on the device, you can create unique features and capabilities that are tailored to your specific needs.

But, building a cellular module is not for the faint-hearted – it’s a better option for businesses who have the scale and resources to justify the challenging process.

When is it better to buy a cellular module?

For the majority of use cases, buying a cellular module is the better option. By buying off-the-shelf modules, you can save time, reduce risk, and integrate easily with your project. For most businesses, partnering with an IoT module provider is a more cost-effective way of adding cellular connectivity to their IoT products.

Consider buying if: 

• Your project doesn’t require highly specialized functionality.
• You’re dealing with tight schedules or lack of expertise.
• You’re not willing to go through the expensive, complex, and time-consuming certification process.

Reliable, flexible, and cost-effective cellular modules with pre-provisioned network access, eSIMs, ultra-low power management firmware, and even prepaid connectivity through MVNOs are readily available. It’s just a matter of budget and needs.

How much does it cost to buy a cellular module?

When it comes to the actual cost, a basic economy cellular module can be relatively inexpensive, ranging from $10-30, with a more advanced and feature-rich module costing up to $100 or more.

Multiple factors can affect the price of a module, including but not limited to:

• Brand: well-known brands can charge more.
• Cellular network: the technology the module is designed for, such as LTE-M, NB-IoT, or 3G/4G/5G.
• Certifications: pre-certified modules can be more expensive but save you time and money.
• Security: built-in features that make it harder for data to be stolen or corrupted.
• Quantity ordered: bulk purchases may offer discounts or special pricing.
• Technical support: some charge a premium for ongoing product support before and after deployment.

Before making a decision, it’s important to take a closer look at the capabilities of a cellular module vs. your needs, and compare pricing from different providers to ensure you get the best value and features for your project.

What else can you get with a module supplier?

On day one of your IoT project, you need to be thinking about deployment and scaling, so find a supplier who is capable of providing solutions at scale. Buying the right module not only makes building a device easier, but also the cloud integration, and commissioning. Some solutions to look for are hardware auto-provisions to the cell carrier, a software layer that offloads the data straight to the cloud, easy data egress (output) to the platform of your choice (either cloud, on-premise, or hybrid), and more.

Making the decision to buy or build a cellular module

While IoT engineers have the necessary expertise to design and align features with specific use cases, building every element from scratch isn’t always the best approach. The complexity of cellular connectivity and the modules that create these connections require extensive knowledge in hardware design, firmware development, cloud development, and MVNO carrier integration. 

The smarter choice for most use cases is to opt for a pre-built module. By partnering with a trusted IoT module provider, you can focus on enhancing user applications and device features that customers experience firsthand, rather than worrying about cellular connectivity and module design complexities.

Don’t let the complexities of cellular connectivity and module design hold you back. Contact our team of IoT experts to learn more about selecting the right cellular module for your project.

The post Building vs Buying Cellular Modules: Which Option is Right for Your IoT Project? appeared first on Blues.

Now let’s dive into the ways in which hidden fees can potentially sink an IoT project and how you can avoid them.

1. Carrier Billing Practices

Most carriers bill for data usage by rounding the data used in each communications session up to some number, commonly 1,024 bytes. Sounds shady? Definitely, but this is typically the default, unless there is a direct negotiation and guarantees of high volume.

When an entire communications session is byte-optimized and may only be a fraction of what you are billed for, your projections for actual data costs vs. budgets are wildly out of sync.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A SOLUTION: Byte-Optimized carrier billing of ‘wire’ data traffic

2. Data Volume

In some use cases, the volume of data being transmitted can be extremely high, especially over the lifetime of a device. Finding opportunities for data compression will stack up to some significant savings, but is generally implemented over time through costly data analysis and development work. This could be both compressing data on the IoT device to save on storage costs and compressing data that’s sent over the cellular network to reduce network traffic costs.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A SOLUTION: Data compression and byte-optimized protocols

3. Geolocation

Locating your device geographically is important in almost all solutions, from precise GPS location being streamed every few seconds, to knowing approximately where an indoor device might be located for customer support reasons. Geolocation can involve satellites, a single cell tower, triangulation of multiple cell towers, triangulation among multiple Wi-Fi access points, or the fusion of all these methods.

Whatever your use case, the conversion of cell tower IDs and Wi-Fi access point IDs to GPS location, and GPS location to ‘nearest city’, all involve complex cloud-based databases. Should you have to build this feature, you’re losing time and incurring development costs writing code that is not proprietary to your solution.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A SOLUTION: Integrated Geolocation

4. Data Formatting

Platform imposed data structures and standardizations have their place in some IoT deployments, but they can slow your time to market and increase your development costs due to their inflexibility. Some platforms establish very tight constraints on the types of data that can be transferred from device to cloud. This is expensive and unnecessarily burdensome when you are developing both the device and cloud sides of an application for your own purposes.

It’s most critical for productivity that developers have complete freedom in rapidly designing and iterating their own free-form data schemas in a forward and backward compatible manner. The programming language JSON was designed for this specific purpose.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A SOLUTION: Free-Form data formatting

5. Data Security

Network security is critical for every IoT deployment. Certain solutions where sensitive information and PII must be protected – such as remote patient monitoring devices – require an additional level of protection. It’s not just the device with the radio that needs to be secure, it’s also the communication of the data from device to cloud. That is something a lot of new IoT developers don’t know to consider.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A SOLUTION: End-to-End encryption of data

6. Data Flow Transparency

Do you know the source of your data by device or fleet? Can you pinpoint routing errors? For many IoT developers these are not easy questions to answer. But, it’s critical to building a robust, secure fleet of devices that don’t result in an unexpectedly high support costs. We believe that by viewing this data flow visually, operational costs can be greatly reduced and problems can be solved much more quickly.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A SOLUTION: Flexible viewing and analysis of routed events

Overcoming Hidden Data Costs

At Blues we are obsessed with removing the cost and complexity from cellular IoT. We are constantly optimizing our products for developers and to offer more business value. Here is a checklist of some of the cost-saving data features included with the Notecard and Notehub, and how it all works:

Byte-optimized carrier billing of ‘wire’ data traffic

At Blues, cellular traffic sent over the Notecard with the bundled carrier is counted by the byte with no rounding.

Queued data compression and Byte-optimized device <-> cloud ‘wire’ protocols

Notecard and Notehub work together to help you optimize the data that’s sent from your device to the cloud. With knowledge of the potential range of each and every data value being transmitted to the Notehub, a solution can give ‘hints’ to the Notecard and allows the developer to easily specify ‘templates’ for compressing data values. Common synchronization sessions are typically only a few hundred bytes total.

Integrated Geolocation and accurate global and local time

Notecard seamlessly delivers geolocation without any additional cost, and data flowing out of the Notehub is automatically tagged with location without any effort by developers. These tags enable the application to understand which type of geolocation was used, what time the location was recorded, and the quality of the detected location.

Through a combination of geolocation data and “time zone offset” functionality, you can schedule work (such as uploads or downloads) to be done at, say, 2AM ‘local time’.

Free-Form data formatting

Every message transferred by the Notecard and Notehub (referred to as a “note”) allows a full, unconstrained JSON object to be specified (referred to as its “body”) and also, optionally, an unconstrained binary object (referred to as its “payload”), for the greatest developer flexibility – free-form data formatting in JSON, in binary, or both. JSON is a language that is friendly to beginner developers, so you can often bypass the expense of high-skill IoT-specialized developers.

End-to-End encryption

The Notecard’s default behavior is to provide TLS encryption of ‘over the air’ data between Notecard and Notehub, aimed at protecting against rogue network operators while still allowing for robust AIOps on the Notehub.

For highly sensitive PII, the Notecard makes it extremely easy to integrate end-to-end message encryption. Once your public keys are configured using environment variables, data is automatically encrypted and decrypted by the Notecard with no additional code necessitated on your microcontroller.

Flexible viewing and analysis of routed events

The rolling log of Events in Notehub may be viewed on a project, fleet, or device basis, and devices can be referred to by the Serial Number of your own device that contains the Notecard.

It’s easy to see the location where Events are generated, the characteristics of the communications session when it was uploaded, as well as the data itself. It’s also apparent if there were any Routing errors for a given Event, and your operations personnel can automatically or manually retry failed routing attempts.

Project Success Starts with Removing Hidden Data Costs

There are a lot of factors that can make or break an IoT project, but cost and ROI are at the top of the list. Companies with successful IoT projects understand that it’s not just the glaringly obvious upfront costs that are critical to long-term project viability. Without understanding where hidden fees and high-skill development expenses can occur, your project could be one of the 58-75% of projects that fail.

Building the right IoT stack is imperative to reducing in-house development expenses. Connectivity can be incredibly complex and present budget-blowing technical challenges. Blues has made the investment to become a hyperscale cellular IoT solution provider capable of supporting you from POC to deployment of one device or thousands.

Why all of this investment in hyper-optimization? To make the best use of cellular data, and to make cellular IoT ‘actually’ possible for everyone. Learn how we just made data routing even easier.

The post How To Overcome 6 Hidden Data Costs in Cellular IoT appeared first on Blues.