Latin America. The Internet of Things (IoT) is a phrase widely used in a variety of industries, but its concept, the networking of devices, monitoring and control sensors, has been part of the AV professional's work for the better part of two decades.
"I think it was back in 1997 that Crestron did our first development of Ethernet-connected control systems," says Dan Jackson, research and development manager at Crestron Electronics. "We linked our projectors into our control systems and managed to collect a lot of information from the projector, including lamp life, energy, condition, all the good stuff. We reported it to centralized management software that was able to provide the information to people so they could monitor their rooms."
The evolution of a variety of technologies has advanced from the relatively simple developments of the last century to something completely new. The continuous miniaturization of sensors and processors has driven a massive explosion in the number of devices employed around the world that can connect to the Internet or other networks and interact with other devices. Machine-to-machine communication has decreased the need for human intervention in routine operations, allowing more things to be carried out with less supervision. In addition, the ability to analyze data collected by countless networked sensors offers priceless metrics, which increase the benefits these technologies offer.
The combination of these features has created great opportunities for the AV industry.
"The AV industry was stuck in fixed workspaces. The evolution of technology allowed the IoT to really take root," says Gary Hall, CTS-D, CTS-I, Director of Technology for Federal Defense at Cisco Systems and President-elect of InfoComm International. "When you have a video camera or a microphone, you miniaturize it and put it on a sensor, then you have to connect it in turn to hundreds of other sensors, this gives you a totally new possibility that never existed before: the ability to do things better."
The IoT Building Blocks for AV
To take advantage of the capabilities offered by IoT, AV professionals must understand several core elements. Industry experts explain that mastery of supporting technologies is not essential, but AV professionals require a basic knowledge of networking and data concepts.
Mike Coburn, a designer at the Technology Design Studio at RTKL, says the emerging IPv6 standard, developed to replace the obsolete IPv4 and offer a virtually unlimited number of IP addresses (an essential aspect with millions and billions of new devices connecting to the Internet), is becoming increasingly important for IoT developments. Many state agencies require their AV deployments to be IPv6 enabled, a critical aspect for AV companies looking to do business with the public sector.
AV professionals should also be familiar with wireless networks, says Shane Long, director of Waveguide. "Today, the only thing everyone wants in their meetings is for there to be no wires," Long explains. "They want to walk around and do their presentations wirelessly."
For devices connected with copper cables, Power over Ethernet (PoE) offers another important feature. As devices and sensors proliferate, the ability to bring them power with the same patch cables becomes vital. PoE allows AV professionals to bring power to their IoT nodes, without needing to cast electrical wiring or rely on batteries.
Hall adds that AV professionals also need to understand industry capacity standards such as video transport, data compression and connectivity, which are key to the flow of information that powers the IoT. Moreover, AV professionals must enable data analytics on the network to take advantage of IoT machine-to-machine communications. When data is automatically analyzed on the sidelines, its value can be obtained in real time without sending unwanted data that takes up space in the cloud or in the organization's storage systems.
The Security Imperative
As the number of networked devices increases, so do the security threats faced by AV developments. AV professionals "need to get smarter in security, because IoT and AV share the fact that new threat vectors can be created to be exploited on the network, if they are not used properly," says Hall. "Those threats multiply when you put hundreds or thousands of sensors outside the margins of the network."
Safety hasn't always been a top concern in the AV industry, Jackson says, but it's become "completely prevalent." In previous years, AV systems had "air isolation", that is, they were not connected to public Internet networks, but this is not the case for the vast majority of IoT developments, which can be vulnerable to hackers if not properly protected. "Our devices are connected to the internet in one way or another," he says. "These must truly be strengthened and protected, because your network is only as good as its weakest link. These devices can't be."
As IoT projects increase the number of connected devices, AV professionals must employ encryption on all network traffic, experts say. AV systems must also be able to authenticate the identity of authorized users. Passwords for individual systems are insufficient to meet this need, Jackson says, adding that more effective authentication can be achieved by integrating AV systems with the organization's Active Directory or Lightweight Directory Access Protocol service.
The importance of meeting the security challenge is hard to overstate. "Security is one of the biggest impediments to the massive deployment of IoT technologies," says Hall. "Unlocking the value of IoT is something that depends entirely on mitigating the risks it poses."
How it works: AV use cases for IoT
For AV professionals who understand the essential disciplines of IoT and establish an effective security posture, the opportunities it offers are limited only by imagination.
The monitoring and command-and-control capability offered by the IoT make it a suitable tool for AV managed service providers, says Richard Blackwell, president of Linked2 Software. Service providers must keep a close eye on the condition of the equipment they provide to their customers, in order to maximize maintenance efficiency and support efforts. "Network-based hardware allows integrators to stay in constant contact with the team that is part of their service policies," Blackwell says.
AV hardware manufacturers, such as Crestron, have developed products that deliver advanced features via IoT. "One of the biggest areas we've been successful in is with programming devices," Jackson says. "We have a line of touch screens for programming that are installed outside a conference room. They will show you if the room is booked or available and allow you to book the room or another nearby room that is available."
Networked digital signage is another solution that takes advantage of the capabilities of the IoT. Monitor prices have decreased significantly in recent years, significantly increasing the feasibility of developing more signage more broadly. By networking with other devices, such as computers, sensors, cameras, and databases, AV professionals can dynamically adapt monitors to fit a variety of needs.
AV professionals are also integrating building systems, such as HVAC and lighting, to make them smarter. This gives the building the ability to automatically turn off lights and adjust temperature in empty rooms, improving efficiency and lowering energy costs.
On the horizon may be mobile collaborative teams that bring advanced video and communications hardware to users, rather than forcing them to visit a conference room. A user can call a mobile facility that offers video conferencing with camera and high definition screen, increasing the availability and usability of the technology. "When the technology itself is mobile, you don't have to dedicate it to every room," Coburn says. "You can put it in a port somewhere and when people need it, it will go where they are."
Other mobile platforms with IoT include drones. "Really, a drone is just a word for any mobile computing platform," Coburn says. He predicts that telepresence robots (wheeled connected mobile devices that carry teleconferencing technology, such as a tablet), can make communication easier for users in offices with long distances. "If I want to make a query with someone, instead of having to check their status with a webcam, I can easily log in and pilot a robot into their cubicle and say 'hello, do you have a moment?'" he explains.
Overcoming ioT challenges
As they implement IoT systems, AV professionals need to be aware of the various obstacles they may face. Privacy is a key consideration and one that raises concerns for different participants. The efficiency of smart buildings holds great promise, but some users may worry about knowing exactly what buildings know about them, such as what they're doing or where they're headed. They may want to gain control over how they are tracked or whether they can choose not to be monitored, Coburn says.
Organizations that want to implement AV systems with IoT must also ensure that data analytics capabilities are capable of fulfilling their function. "If you connect these devices to the network, but they don't give you the right information, then you're not getting the full value out of everything," Jackson says.
Text from InfoComm International
