TI Releases E-Book Guide to the IIoT

Before the Internet, getting up to snuff on a particular element of electronic design required obtaining and reading “the” book on the subject. Theory, as well as working designs, could be found in the pages of books like Don Lancaster’s “TTL Cookbook,” Intel’s “8-Bit Embedded Controller Handbook,” and the “GE Transistor Manual.” If you were working with Ni-Cad batteries, GE’s “Nickel Cadmium Battery Application Engineering Handbook” was required reading for assistance with designing battery-powered devices.

Looking to bring trend into the digital age, Texas Instruments has produced an e-book intended to give a comprehensive look at the Industrial Internet of Things from the TI point of view. TI wants its 45-page e-book,  “Understanding Wireless Connectivity in the Industrial IoT.” to be “the” book for IIoT.

The e-book also includes references and document links for all of the Texas Instruments IoT and IIoT products. The e-book, which includes references and document links for all of the Texas Instruments IoT and IIoT products, does not assume that you have any in-depth knowledge of IoT or IIoT, and its sections can be read in any order.

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An IIoT White Paper

The e-book begins with an informative white paper on sensor-based industrial networking. It is worth the read even if you have working knowledge of IoT concepts, and the information conveyed in this section of the e-book can also be applied to commercial IoT applications such as home automation and home security.

The white paper discusses proper sizing of an IIoT network and briefly describes how TI’s line of IIoT radio products fits into each size category. The document also includes a very nice table that describes how the currently available IIoT wireless networks differ in range, data throughput, and power consumption. Design considerations for network security, supplementing existing wired networks, and accessing cloud resources are also discussed.

The white paper presentation is followed by a collection of blog posts. This area of the e-book begins by describing the IoT in terms of industrial use. One particular post introduces TI’s SimpleLink IoT radio products. If you are unfamiliar with them, this post provides a very thorough introduction. All of the blog posts contain references to key terms and featured TI products in the form of links to supporting documentation. I think you will find the Bluetooth Smart post particularly interesting.

Reference Designs

The bulk of the e-book consists of industrial and commercial reference designs. The e-book’s reference design pages give you access to fully documented designs ranging from a temperature/humidity sensor with 10+ year battery life to a smart home and energy gateway. As with the blog posts, the e-book uses links to data sheets and supporting documentation as information force multipliers.

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Product Overviews

The final section of the e-book contains various TI IoT product overviews. The TI products included in this section support the gamut of IoT and IIoT protocols. This portion of the e-book describes the SimpleLink Ultra-Low Power Wireless Microcontroller Platform, which is capable of supporting Bluetooth Low Energy, 6LoWPAN, Sub 1GHz, and ZigBee. The SimpleLink WiFi family of devices is also covered here.

You can get your copy of the e-book: here

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Fred Eady is the owner of EDTP Electronics, which was established in 1988 following the publication of his first magazine article. Since the formation of EDTP Electronics, Fred has written thousands of magazine articles. He has written for all of the major electronic magazines, including Radio Electronics, Electronics Now, Nuts and Volts, Servo, MicroComputer Journal, and Circuit Cellar. To date, he has authored four books and contributed to a fifth. He currently works as a PIC microcontroller consultant and is a Microchip Authorized Design Partner. Fred also authors monthly columns in Nuts and Volts and Servo magazines. His customers include machine shops, specialty startup companies, medical machine manufacturers, coin-operated device businesses, and various other research and development companies. He has a very close working relationship with Microchip Technology, the manufacturer of PIC microcontrollers, and has taught Ethernet and WiFi classes at Microchip's annual Masters Conference.