By Syed Hosain, Aeris

The Start of a Tipping Point for IoT

The next year begins an exciting decade in which connected devices will further reshape transportation, logistics, manufacturing and healthcare. We expect module costs to reach tipping point prices, and a wide range of high and low bandwidth networks, including 5G and low-earth orbit (LEO) deployments, to unleash a deluge of new use cases across nearly every vertical segment.

Kicking this new decade off, 2020 will be a big year on its own. Here are just a few developments that we expect will drive IoT commercialization forward over the next twelve months:

First low-earth orbit (LEO) deployments. The cost of deploying very small low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites has dropped dramatically in the past few years. This enables receiving and transmitting data over the entire planet using a large number of LEO satellites.  Ten new entities are exploring the ability to deploy IoT data communications over these new satellite systems. In 2020, we expect one of these entities to transmit IoT data over these new networks.

First smart city V2X (Vehicle to Everything) deployment. The near-term deployment of more connected car applications, combined with the need for future autonomous vehicle update capability, will drive the adoption of V2X connected car services and spur more deployment of supporting infrastructure. In 2020, we predict that one city, somewhere in the world, will deploy sufficient V2X support for a vehicle application to receive information from urban infrastructure, even if only in a limited area of that city.

Consumers will start to value connected cars strides.  2020 will be the year that consumers start to truly engage with connected cars. After investing more than 10 years and millions of dollars on connected car infrastructure, auto manufactures are on the cusp of implementing services that consumers truly demand. From remote feature upgrades delivered over-the-air, to on-demand services like refueling and repairs, and car sharing, new user-centric innovations will increase user engagement, and therefore the volume of data that car companies can access, by a factor of five or more.

European eCall requirement will go global.  The European Union has mandated that all cars sold after April 2018 be equipped eCall technology, which automatically places an emergency call after vehicles experience impact. As vehicle OEMs, after-market solution providers, insurance companies and telcos respond to this requirement, CAN-triggered eCall regulations will go global. North America and the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) will be the first to follow in the EU's footsteps.

First commercial flying taxi service.  We expect flying taxi services be implemented this coming year, where people are transported from a location that is not a traditional airport (could be a helipad on a building) to another such location. Dubai and New York City are already experimenting with this type of service. Ultimately, these services will take shapes similar to Uber and Lyft, where, for example, customers can order cars for pick up on the top of certain buildings, and be dropped off at airport or the top of another building.

IoT's Future

As these developments take shape, government regulations and supporting infrastructure will of course need to catch up. But the question is just how quickly. Regardless of the surrounding ecosystem's pace, these developments will make marks that will be here to stay.

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About the Author

Mr. Hosain is responsible for the architecture and future direction of Aeris' networks and technology strategy. He joined Aeris in 1996 as Vice President, Engineering and is a member of the founding executive team of Aeris. Mr. Hosain has over 38 years' experience in the semiconductor, computer, and telecommunications industries, including product development, architecture design and technical management. Prior to joining Aeris, he held senior engineering and management positions at Analog Devices, Cypress Semiconductor, CAD National and ESS Technology. Mr. Hosain is Chairman of the International Forum on ANSI‐41 Standards Technology (IFAST) and Chairman Emeritus of the IoT M2M Council (IMC). He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.