Internet of Things Education and Industry Trend

— Embedded Systems Beijing Forum 16th Seminar Held in Beijing

Through many years of government support and guidance, with the joint efforts of practitioners, the Internet of Things (IoT) industry is constantly being improved and developed In recent years: numerous international IT enterprises have been investing in IoT the core technology has gradually matured; the integration of IoT,  traditional industry and IT technology has been in process; new industry and new applications has arised. Industrial application of IoT and industrial 4.0 will deepen the application of IoT, while innovation and public entrepreneurship will advance the development of new IoT industry, one great example is smart hardware.

Although the outlook is good, the reality is still troubling. China’s Internet of things industry is lack of scale and killer application, and the core technology is still in the hands of a few large foreign companies.

The need of the industry also inspired the universities to set up Internet of Things major. At present, the country has more than 100 schools that open IoT major. It has been three years since the first IoT major students graduated, universities, enterprises and students are voicing different opinion on teaching and career of IoT major.

Embedded Systems Beijing Forum 16th discussion was themed “Internet of Things Education and Industry Trend”. The forum invited to a number of experts and scholars who gave wonderful speeches. The meeting attracted more than 40 people from universities, research institutes, enterprises and technology press into the discussion.

The first speaker was Dr. Jiaxing Sun, member of the forum, and researcher in Datang Telecom Group integrated circuit Innovation Center. His speech topic was “My Understanding of the Internet of Things”. Dr. Sun reviewed the history of the development of IT technology, and analyzed the important role of the integrated circuit. He thinks that in the trend of transforming from desktop Internet to mobile Internet, the core technical factor shifted from single ship to IP core, and typical chip product changed from ASIC to integrated SOC. The most important change in the development of the industry, is that the value of stand-alone hardware and software has gradually reduced, while the value of service has increased. Dr. Sun predicted that in the new era of Internet of Things, with embedded processor + IP connectivity leading the technology trend, the interoperability between different devices is the first problem to be solved. Thus, companies that center in services will enjoy greater boost in business. Dr. Sun also predict that there may be an IP company competing with ARM in the field of low density computing. Internet of Things will be a major industry reshuffle. Some of the industry will disappear; China’s enterprises will be in the lead of a major innovation in Internet of Things.

Dr. Jiaxing Sun Speaking

Next, Zhilei Chai, associate professor of the College of Internet of Things of Jiangnan University, introduced his experience of the construction of a remote laboratory of Internet of Things. Prof. Chai mentioned that MOOC has increasingly become an important means of network teaching. But MOOC lacks support of online experiment platform; virtual simulation cannot help students so much on understanding real hardware platform, and is unable to be connected to the real working environment. Therefore, networking teaching and practice requires a platform that can meet the diverse communication need of software and hardware. Jiangnan University uses FPGA in multiple related courses. By connecting FPGA board to end user, the user can experience development as if the board is present. Professor Chai talked about three key technology that enable remote access to hardware, and their own FPGA Operating System (RELAX). Using these techniques, the user module does not need to reboot Linux system, so as to make remote access possible. He also presented a demo of FPGA IoT computer based on Zynq.

Zhilei Chai Speaking

ARM Asia Pacific University program manager Dr. Wei Chen introduced the latest development of IoT ARM curriculum. Dr. Chen mentioned that the focus of the ARM university program is personnel training, providing a complete set of solution to universities, from embedded system to operating system, from server to the cloud computing. The main innovation of ARM curriculum is the integration of hardware, software and teaching materials, and cooperation with chip manufacturers. Chip manufacturers are based on the ARM chip to make the development board, the two cooperation to create integrated curriculum, so that teachers can provide more choices, can choose different hardware platform. At present, the IoT program has been developed based on the nRF51822 Nordic chip, and the course is also being developed with ST company. For these materials, ARM university plans to put them all in video with localization, and create video learning experience with domestic colleges.

Dr. Wei Chen Speaking

Beijing Microtec Research Chairman, Beihang University School of Software lecturer  Xiaoqing He shared his fresh experience of IoT teaching, gained from visiting US universities. Harvard University opens the Internet of things course for undergraduate students, with course practice that focuses on data mining, machine learning, information security, wearable systems and other contents. The course of the Internet of things in University of Berkeley is a seminar. The course offered in the department of Electronic Engineering at Columbia University is closer to China’s curriculum, covering embedded system and communication (WiFi, Bluetooth and ZigBee), cloud platform and smart city application. He shared his IoT major graduate course – Wearable System and Implementation. The course is project-oriented,  with focus on MCU, sensor and Bluetooth, to help clarify the relationships between MCU interface with sensors and Bluetooth module, as well as the correlation of Bluetooth and phone-app data transitive. The engineering practice project lasts two month, requiring students to complete a small Internet of Things applications. He chooses Nucleos STM32 platform, with Nucleos sensor, Bluetooth expansion board and software. In this way, students can quickly start a wearable device development work.

Allan He Speaking

In the free discussion session, Zhanglong Chen, Forum member and Professor of Shanghai Fudan University,  Professor Beibei Shao of Tsinghua University, Professor Jinlong Long of Peking University, Associate Professor Zhongmei Ma of Beijing Institute of Technology, and Microcontroller and Embedded Systems Journal Chief Editor Professor Limin He attended the meeting. Professor Zhanglong Chen said: the current development of things is still in the bubble phase, the new business model is still in the process of maturing, China should advance the development of Internet of Things on solid ground. Professor He Limin said: the Internet of Things, big data and cloud computing are very large technology and applications disciplines , embedded system professionals should grasp their own characteristics, to do their things they thrive in. Professor Beibei Shao addressed the importance of basic knowledge education in the Internet of Things and Embedded System. Kai Weng of Zhejiang University, Shanfeng Chen, former researcher of Nokia Research Center, China etc. all shared their insights of IoT and Embedded Education, in order to help attendees to clear their minds and to start contributing to the new development and innovation of IoT in China.

Presentations and Keynotes Download

TopicSpeaker
Understanding of the Internet of ThingsDr. Sun Jiaxing, Datang Telecom Group IC Innovation Center
IoT Remote MOOC Teaching Laboratory BuildingProf. Chai Zhilei, Associate Professor of IoT Engineering School, Jiangnan University
IoT Course with ARM: Development ReportWei Chen, Manager of University Relation, ARM Asia-Pacific
IoT Teaching: Observation and ExperienceAllan He, Beijing Microtec Research / Beihang University – School of Software

About the Forum

Time: July 10th, 2015 13:30-16:30
Location: Beihang University new main building A849
Organizer: Embedded Systems Beijing Forum
Partner: Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics Press