CLOUD 101 FOR EMBEDDED DESIGNERS

Presented at the 2013 Design West conference in San Jose, CA, by Mark Benson.

ABSTRACT: In the last decade the race has been on to find the next peripheral to enable better embedded systems designs. In 2000, it was LCD integration, USB, and CF; in 2005, it was touchscreen integration, hardware acceleration, and SD; and in 2010, it was cellular radios, WiFi, and security. The next peripheral on the horizon is The Cloud. This presentation gives embedded designers a view of what The Cloud can do for their designs and how to think about it in both technical and business dimensions. To make this relevant, a real-world example is given on how to internet-enable a CNC lathe with off-the-shelf products, treating a broad range of topics such as embedded radio modules, short-range RF protocols, network aggregators, cellular gateways, mobile (virtual) network operators, and application enablement platforms (AEPs).