Thingsee One: the omnipotent Internet of Things from Former Nokia Engineers
Wired has a curious article about the young Finnish company Haltian, which employs people from Nokia. They introduced the universal gadget Thingsee One on Kickstarter . This multifunctional IoT module, nested by a bunch of sensors, combines the functions of an ambient space tracker, such as Quirky's Spotter UNIQ, and advanced GPS beacon with the ability to transmit data over mobile networks.
Thingsee One looks, in truth, not very presentable. Its angular, brutal forms immediately suggest an idea of ​​extreme sports and multi-kilometer crossings. By the way, the creators of the advertising campaign are built in the same spirit. The lion's part of the presentation video is occupied by colorful sketches from the life of the Finnish hinterland and talking heads in woolen hats. However, the local flavor only emphasizes the originality of the device.
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So what is a gadget? Firstly, this is a shock-resistant case 110 x 67 mm with moisture protection class IP67, equipped with a monochrome OLED display with a diagonal of 1.54 inches and a resolution of 128 by 24 points. Inside is a 32-bit ARM-based Cortex M3 processor and a mass of various sensors: a 3-axis accelerometer, a temperature and humidity sensor, a pressure sensor, a gyroscope, a magnetometer and a light sensor. There is also a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) module that supports GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and Beidou.
The prototype Thingsee One, made in an even more brutal design
The abundance of sensors and high-precision positioning system are complemented by advanced communication capabilities. In addition to the standard wireless modules Wi-Fi 802.11 b / g and Bluetooth LE 4.1, providing a connection over short distances, the Finns have provided their offspring with a GPRS module and slot for a micro-sim card, allowing data to be sent over mobile networks. Due to the low power consumption of the 2G transmitter and all the included sensors, the battery life of the Thingsee One with full battery charge reaches one year. At least, so say the creators. The battery itself has a capacity of 1900 mAh.
According to one of the co-founders of Haltian, Ville Ylläsjärvi (Ville Ylläsjärvi), Thingsee One was not conceived as a separate device, but as a whole platform for developers of IoT systems. The main problem faced by the current creators of the Internet of Things is the need to create a certain hardware for each new project from scratch, spending a lot of money and time on it. “Instead,” says Ville, “startups could use Thingsee One as a platform for their development. This is an ideal option for testing various IoT networks, relatively cheap and representing a complete carte blanche for programmers who can use both our Thingsee Backend SDK environment and traditional software platforms like NodeJS, Ruby, Rails and PHP. ”
However, the device is focused not only on developers, but also on ordinary consumers. Using the application for Android and iOS, anyone can use Thingsee One to solve all sorts of everyday tasks. The project on the Kicksterter contains the story of a simple country guy who adapted the gadget to track his non-electronic correspondence. He placed the gadget right in a metal letterbox located at some distance from his house and set it up so that each time the light sensor was triggered, an incoming message was notified to his mobile phone. So to say, a symbiosis of tradition and new technologies.
Or another touching story of some Anna, who every morning sends her six-year-old daughter to school, carefully putting her universal gadget into her satchel.Little Red Riding Hood girl is forced to get to school on rough terrain and, often, all alone. Mom is afraid that the usual GPS tracker may suddenly have batteries, and the child will disappear without a trace in the cold Finnish forests. Therefore, she trusts the safety of the baby only Thingsee One.
If we abstract away from these anecdotes, which embodied the specific humor of Finnish creatives, and temporarily forget that the application for both mobile platforms is still under development, it is necessary to recognize that the gadget does have a certain potential. Such a conclusion suggests itself not at all under the impression of the device itself (in truth, it is still quite raw) and not under the influence of extravagant promotion.
First of all, the Haltian conceptual and technical core consists of former Nokia engineers who left the company after it became part of the Microsoft empire. It turns out that before the takeover, Nokia was actively exploring several new directions, including the new-fangled Internet of Things. At Microsoft, these studies were not in demand, and Finnish engineers from the relevant department were forced to continue to develop independently within the framework of Haltian. However, the guys do not lose heart, hoping that in the very near future their company will become one of the leaders of the emerging IoT industry. Given the good background of the team and a good start on Kickstarter, these dreams do not look so utopian.
Author: Andrey Gasilin
Source: Wired
Thingsee One looks, in truth, not very presentable. Its angular, brutal forms immediately suggest an idea of ​​extreme sports and multi-kilometer crossings. By the way, the creators of the advertising campaign are built in the same spirit. The lion's part of the presentation video is occupied by colorful sketches from the life of the Finnish hinterland and talking heads in woolen hats. However, the local flavor only emphasizes the originality of the device.
')
So what is a gadget? Firstly, this is a shock-resistant case 110 x 67 mm with moisture protection class IP67, equipped with a monochrome OLED display with a diagonal of 1.54 inches and a resolution of 128 by 24 points. Inside is a 32-bit ARM-based Cortex M3 processor and a mass of various sensors: a 3-axis accelerometer, a temperature and humidity sensor, a pressure sensor, a gyroscope, a magnetometer and a light sensor. There is also a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) module that supports GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and Beidou.
The prototype Thingsee One, made in an even more brutal design
The abundance of sensors and high-precision positioning system are complemented by advanced communication capabilities. In addition to the standard wireless modules Wi-Fi 802.11 b / g and Bluetooth LE 4.1, providing a connection over short distances, the Finns have provided their offspring with a GPRS module and slot for a micro-sim card, allowing data to be sent over mobile networks. Due to the low power consumption of the 2G transmitter and all the included sensors, the battery life of the Thingsee One with full battery charge reaches one year. At least, so say the creators. The battery itself has a capacity of 1900 mAh.
According to one of the co-founders of Haltian, Ville Ylläsjärvi (Ville Ylläsjärvi), Thingsee One was not conceived as a separate device, but as a whole platform for developers of IoT systems. The main problem faced by the current creators of the Internet of Things is the need to create a certain hardware for each new project from scratch, spending a lot of money and time on it. “Instead,” says Ville, “startups could use Thingsee One as a platform for their development. This is an ideal option for testing various IoT networks, relatively cheap and representing a complete carte blanche for programmers who can use both our Thingsee Backend SDK environment and traditional software platforms like NodeJS, Ruby, Rails and PHP. ”
However, the device is focused not only on developers, but also on ordinary consumers. Using the application for Android and iOS, anyone can use Thingsee One to solve all sorts of everyday tasks. The project on the Kicksterter contains the story of a simple country guy who adapted the gadget to track his non-electronic correspondence. He placed the gadget right in a metal letterbox located at some distance from his house and set it up so that each time the light sensor was triggered, an incoming message was notified to his mobile phone. So to say, a symbiosis of tradition and new technologies.
Or another touching story of some Anna, who every morning sends her six-year-old daughter to school, carefully putting her universal gadget into her satchel.
If we abstract away from these anecdotes, which embodied the specific humor of Finnish creatives, and temporarily forget that the application for both mobile platforms is still under development, it is necessary to recognize that the gadget does have a certain potential. Such a conclusion suggests itself not at all under the impression of the device itself (in truth, it is still quite raw) and not under the influence of extravagant promotion.
First of all, the Haltian conceptual and technical core consists of former Nokia engineers who left the company after it became part of the Microsoft empire. It turns out that before the takeover, Nokia was actively exploring several new directions, including the new-fangled Internet of Things. At Microsoft, these studies were not in demand, and Finnish engineers from the relevant department were forced to continue to develop independently within the framework of Haltian. However, the guys do not lose heart, hoping that in the very near future their company will become one of the leaders of the emerging IoT industry. Given the good background of the team and a good start on Kickstarter, these dreams do not look so utopian.
Author: Andrey Gasilin
Source: Wired
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/364059/
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