The concept of the Internet of Things (IoT) touches upon every sector and almost every engineering discipline. It is clear that the IET should have a presence in this area, so the development of a new IoT Technical and Professional Network (TPN) has begun.
A scoping event late last year identified a number of opportunities for the IET to support the sector. These include providing a forum for developers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), spreading awareness and adoption, creating a working group and developing partnerships.
“There are a great many initiatives and organisations already underway producing excellent guidance, standardisation and technology. We have a clear guiding principle that we will not attempt to be ‘me too’ and duplicate these efforts,” says IoT TPN volunteer Phil Derbyshire.
“A core strength of the IET is its multidisciplinary membership. We believe that the IET is therefore best placed to evaluate the intersections of industries and technologies to produce new insights and help drive wider adoption. Additionally we will seek to produce independent and practical guidance to help members and SMEs get started within IoT.”
“The IoT TPN is unique due to the rich background of its members,” agrees Dr Ronaldo Ronaldo, a member of the IET Communities Resourcing Committee and Past Chairman of the IET Manufacturing Network. “This will provide an excellent networking forum that will encourage crossfertilisation and further innovation.”
Initially the TPN will focus on cyber security, manufacturing, healthcare and sensors. “IoT covers such a wide range of fields that it’s not possible for the TPN to cover every aspect. Therefore for 2017 it will concentrate on selected topics which reflect the expertise of its members and the interests of the IoT society,” says TPN volunteer Jiafeng Zhou.
An online community has now been launched for the TPN. Volunteers are working on increasing its online presence and membership numbers, as well as building up an executive committee and establishing affiliate committee members from other TPNs.
“Our TPN is somewhat unique in that its relevance and enabling technologies are already well covered within existing TPNs such as Manufacturing, Healthcare and Multimedia Communications. To make sure we are complementary to interested groups, we would like to establish affiliate committee members from each of the TPNs to provide a direct channel of communication and collaboration,” Phil says.
Volunteers recognise that due to the geographical spread of members, face-to face meetings won’t always be possible. “To facilitate regular contact and coordination we have been using tools such as Slack, Trello and Skype,” says Phil. “For documenting and publishing work Engineering Communities is our default platform.”
Those interested can join the IoT conversations online and drive this new TPN.
“I would encourage engineers to join the TPN,” says volunteer Simon Screrri Taylor. “The rewards and experiences gained will benefit both the engineer personally and the wider engineering community.”
Originally published in the April edition of Member News