Developers can take advantage of the performance and security capabilities in Rust to create software for IoT devices and other embedded systems that may be the target of botnets and other malware.

The move by tech giant Microsoft, which introduced the idea back in June 2022, coincides with Google’s decision that it will support third-party Rust libraries in its open-source Chronium project. Like Microsoft, Google highlighted the security features in the programming language.

“Rust and Azure Sphere are a good match – a programming language that can improve safety of code with strict compile time safety checks alongside Azure Sphere’s secure identity, update, and end-to-end encrypted communication services for internet-connected devices should provide greater security to the customer applications,”

Akshatha Udayashankar, an embedded software engineer at Microsoft, wrote in a blog post.

Azure Sphere includes built-in security features for Internet-connected devices and consists of hardware built on chips from MediaTek and a Linux-based operating system. It also includes cloud-based Azure Sphere Security Services (AS3), which creates a secure connection between devices and the Internet or cloud.

AS3 provides secure boot, device identity authentication, software trust, and device certification that works with trusted code. Thanks to it, Microsoft can securely download updates to the Azure Sphere operating system and apps to devices.

The Microsoft blog explains that Rust strives to make code safe and code fast. Zero-cost abstractions ensure that higher-level features are compiled into low-level code as quickly as code is written by hand. Checks performed by the Rust compiler ensure stability by adding features and refactoring. This contrasts with legacy code in languages without these checks, which is riskier and requires more careful attention, review, and testing.

Like other Azure Sphere applications, those now built in Rust are expected to be fully functional in 2031, regardless of security patches, fixes, and new features added to Azure Sphere OS by then. Rust can be very efficient, but by including many dependencies in the application itself, in some cases it may be necessary to evaluate how a Rust implementation uses memory compared to a C-language application.

Developers can choose from a large number of MCUs, programming languages, and real-time operating systems (RTOS), and can even make updates to “native” applications without code from Blues and without an RTOS.

These Blues capabilities ease the way for IoT developers, making cloud-connected cellular products truly accessible to any developer, regardless of their skill level.

The ability to update firmware over-the-air is table stakes in IoT, enabling remote delivery of bug fixes and security updates to devices well after they’ve been deployed to customers. To-date, implementing firmware updates is a complex and highly risky endeavor, requiring code that safely “swaps itself” in-place – reverting to “last known good” versions upon failure. This tricky code is generally placed within the application itself, or within its RTOS, requiring a special ‘bootloader’ and firmware layout.

The Blues Wireless Notecard acts as a “secure co-processor” designed to offload cellular communication burdens from the application, including that of downloading and verifying firmware updates from the cloud.

Now, by giving the Notecard control over the MCU’s “strapping pins”, the Notecard’s new Outboard Firmware Update capability enables it to reset and lay-down new firmware and data into the MCU’s storage “from the outside”, requiring no cooperation with the application or RTOS running within that target.

The Notecard can install new firmware regardless of whether the MCU is hung, running rogue firmware, or just in need of new features and functions.

The creation of Notecard and Notehub is to remove the cost and complexity of IoT development and enable secure and cost-effective operations at scale.

Increasing focus on end-to-end supply chain visibility, higher demand for monitoring and control of internal container conditions and increasing adoption of IoT devices by shipping companies are among the key factors expected to drive the growth of the smart container market in the next five years. The higher demand from the food and beverages industry is expected to increase smart container adoption globally.

By offering, hardware segment to lead market during the forecast period

Among all the hardware components, sensors are the most used electronic components in smart containers. As the number of hardware components installed in a container is large, in addition to the high cost of these devices, the hardware segment is estimated to have the largest market share.

By technology, BLE segment to register second-highest growth rate during the forecast period

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is one of the most widely applicable low-power connectivity standards. As smart container involves the deployment of many IoT devices, BLE technology becomes essential for communication and connectivity between IoT devices, resulting in a high growth rate of the BLE technology segment.

“We are systematically digitalizing our core business to increase the benefits for our customers. Going forward, we aim turn the sale of every digital product into services-based revenue as well.”

To achieve this goal, Bosch is focusing on the connection of IoT with AI – in other words, it is linking the internet of things (IoT) with artificial intelligence (AI). This creates a virtuous circle in which connected products deliver information that, in turn, is processed by means of AI and incorporated into software updates for these products.

At the core of this approach is the benefit for customers, since it allows users to be an integral part of the development process and enables solutions to be tailored precisely to their needs. Furthermore, neither development nor value creation ends with the sale of the products. Rückert added:

“We see the combination of AI and IoT as holding the key to leveraging the most user benefit from both of these technologies. Besides enabling us to develop new business models, this approach helps us offer better products and solutions that deliver real added value for individuals and society as a whole.”

Bosch laid the foundation for this long ago. As of the new year, all electronics product classes will be connectable. Sales of connected power tools, household appliances, and heating systems alone have grown by 50 percent within one year – from four million units in 2020 to more than six million in 2021. With the Bosch Center for Artificial Intelligence (BCAI), the company has established a strong unit in the field of AI that has already contributed some 300 million euros to the result.

In addition, the company invests a total of more than four billion euros every year in its software expertise, around three billion of which goes to the mobility business. To shape the software-defined future of mobility, Bosch will also be pooling development activities for application-independent software in one unit as of mid-2022.

In the future, under the umbrella of its subsidiary ETAS GmbH, the company will develop and sell basic vehicle software, middleware, cloud services, and development tools for universal application. Bosch is also rapidly advancing connected and automated driving.

Over the past five years, Bosch has generated some nine billion euros in sales just with driver assistance systems and the associated sensors. Bosch Tech Compass: a survey conducted in five countries around the world

The Bosch Tech Compass – a representative survey conducted in five countries and presented for the first time at CES – shows what people across the globe expect from new technologies. According to the survey, the majority of respondents (72 percent) are convinced that technological progress is making the world a better place, for instance as a key to fighting climate change (76 percent). At the same time, four out of five people think technology should be more focused on tackling the great challenges of our time rather than serving individual needs. Tanja Rückert says:

“We at Bosch also believe that technology offers a broad range of benefits. When we talk about high-tech, we’re not talking only about pushing the envelope on what’s possible. We use technology as a means to improve people’s lives wherever they are.”

One example of the benefit of AI and connectivity is the SoundSee sensor system. Since late 2019, it has been traveling through space to identify unusual sounds on the ISS, using AI algorithms to analyze and indicate when maintenance is required.

Now, in collaboration with the non-profit healthcare company Highmark in Pittsburgh (USA), Bosch is pursuing a completely down-to-earth application of this technology: investigating how audio AI can be used as a diagnostic tool in pediatric medicine. Specifically, Bosch and Highmark are working to adapt the sensors in a way that will enable them to detect pulmonary conditions such as asthma at an early stage just by listening to children’s breathing patterns. Mike Mansuetti, president of Bosch in North America says:

“Using innovative technology to improve children’s health – that’s exactly what we mean with high tech.”

SoundSee’s use in medicine also illustrates Bosch’s understanding of its “Invented for life” strategic imperative.”

Bosch’s new gas sensor – the first on the market to contain AI – serves to protect both humans and nature. Part of Dryad’s Silvanet Wildfire Sensor, it is essentially a digital nose that helps detect forest fires early on. Dryad’s sensors are attached to trees, where they continuously monitor the local microclimate to detect incipient fires – and to wirelessly notify the local authorities, long before camera- or satellite-based systems can. Not only can this protect against devastation by fire, it can also reduce global carbon emissions from forest fires.

A new, lighthearted Bosch campaign shows the solutions the company has developed to improve the little things in people’s everyday lives. Called “High tech #LikeABosch – with many connected, intelligent, and sustainable solutions,” its protagonist takes viewers on a tour through her daily routine and uses several Bosch solutions, from smart glasses to a connected e-bike to a digital access pass for work.

“Through AssetCare, tenants and occupants at Life Plaza will be able to breathe easy knowing they are in a connected building that defines the new industry benchmark for thermal comfort, air quality and sustainability.”

A combination of IoT-enabled 24/7 air quality monitoring and AI-driven connected air purification will drive indoor air quality capable of outperforming standard HEPA filtration by continuously eliminating up to 95% of harmful particulates and contaminants smaller than one micron in size. Mobile-scannable QR badges present throughout the building will allow building occupants to get live readings of the indoor air quality in their surroundings at any time.

In addition to improving indoor air quality, the AssetCare HVAC and IAQ solution employs AI to drive HVAC energy improvements of up to 25%, cost savings from optimized maintenance, and positive ESG outcomes from the elimination of building energy waste.

MachineFi’s main objective is to transition traditional IoT and machine verticals into MachineFi decentralized applications (Dapps) that will enable millions of users to participate in the machine economy with billions of smart devices.

The world has witnessed the boom of smart devices and automated machines, including smart home devices and smart cars. However, few have noticed inter-machine communication is significantly increasing. IoTeX CEO and Founder Dr. Raullen Chai, explains:

“Today, numerous machines have already started collaborating, producing, and distributing, and they consume information and resources collectively, forming a heterogeneous network of machines.” 

According to a McKinsey report, the Internet of Things (IoT) could unlock a global economic value of up to $12.6 trillion by 2030. Techjury estimates that over 125 billion devices will be connected to the Internet by the start of the next decade, powering that machine economy.

Dr. Chai explains that the convergence of artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing, edge computing, the Internet of things, 5G, computer vision, and augmented/virtual reality pushes human society through the next digital revolution wave.

In the past few years, China’s AI upstarts were sought after by investors all over the world. SenseTime racked up more than $2 billion in investment In 2018 alone. The company has raised $5.2 billion in funding through 12 rounds to date. Its biggest outside shareholders include SoftBank Vision Fund and Alibaba’s Taobao.

The “Smart Business” line is tailored to commercial space, residential property, and other enterprise needs. It makes up about 40% of its revenues in the first half of this year. The firm derived the rest of its revenues from the “Smart Life” unit, which supplies IoT devices, and “Smart Auto”. That applies perception intelligence to autonomous driving solutions.

The report also looked at developer involvement in 5G and IoT, specifically how programmers were taking advantage of new advances in technology in tools, apps and services.

JavaScript’s ongoing popularity in web and backend applications supported its position as the most popular programming language in Q3 2021.  SlashData found that upwards of 2.5 million developers had joined the JavaScript community and more than 16.4 million are using it  globally.

The popularity of Python is also impressive. According to SlashData, the language is now used by some 11.3 million coders, primarily within data science and machine learning, and IoT applications.

Python’s popularity has exploded in recent years, overtaking that of Java, which is currently used by 9.6m developers. Java remains a go-to for mobile and desktop apps, SlashData’s survey found.

According to SlashData, Python added 2.3m developers to its community in the past 12 months.

“That’s a 25% growth rate, one of the highest across all the large programming language communities of more than 7M users,” the report noted.

The top five most popular languages were C/C++ (7.5m developers), PHP (7.3m) and C# (7.1m). SlashData reported, PHP has grown the fastest over the past six months acquiring one million new developers. Like JavaScript, PHP remains popular for Web and backend applications.

Rust is another programming language that has been making waves in recent years. The open-source programming language is mostly used in embedded software and ‘bare metal’ development, although has also found a home in AR and VR game development.

SlashData’s report found that developers are increasingly getting involved in 5G projects, particularly those related to IoT (Internet of Things), AR (Augmented reality)/VR (Virtual Reality), consumer electronics, and machine learning/AI (Artificial intelligence).

China was found to be the epicentre of 5G developer activity.

Huang presented a range of new NVIDIA products and initiatives, spanning VR, enterprise AI, cybersecurity, quantum computing, advances in automotive, and much more. 

Holo Skin is NVIDIA’s full-stack open platform for next-generation software to find instruments. He commented:

“Holo Skin applications can be deployed fully in instrument in the hospitals’ data centers, or a mixture of both. This allows companies to develop applications that require more computing than is in the device. Or to upgrade the installed base of devices, years after deployment. Holo Skin is a full-stack open platform for next-generation software to find instruments. Holo Skin is our third robotics platform.”

Besides Holo Skin, NVIDIA is also developing Mapping for autonomous driving. The CEO said:

“Mapping is a credible pillar of driving. It is the collective memory of the fleet and can be considered another sensor. A couple of months ago, we welcomed DeepMap to our company. DeepMap is an expert in mapping for autonomous driving.” 

He announced ReOpt – a software package combining local search heuristics algorithms and the so-called metaheuristics to optimize vehicle route planning and distribution. ReOpt taps algorithms, providing customers with road conditions, traffic, as well as route metrics to reduce fuel cost, carbon emissions, and miles. 

A variety of other topics were raised during today’s keynote. The conference is being hosted between 8-11 November. Topics, such as 3D Design, collaboration, and simulation, game development, Internet of Things (IoT), 5g, data science, and many more will be raised.

Arm Total Solutions for IoT is designed to simplify and modernise software development. Through what the company describes as a radical change in how systems are designed, it says it can accelerate time to market for developers, OEMs and service providers at all stages of the IoT value chain and a reduction in product design cycles by up to two years.

Arm Total Solutions for IoT is also designed around creating specific use-cases so that developers can focus on design and differentiation across diverse applications and devices. It is said to contain everything needed to simplify the design process and streamline product development, including hardware IP, software, machine learning models, advanced tools such as the new Virtual Hardware Targets, application-specific reference code and support from the world’s largest IoT ecosystem.

The first configuration of an Arm Total Solution for IoT is available now and addresses general-purpose compute and ML workload use-cases, including an ML-based keyword recognition example.

Built on the foundations of Arm Corstone – a validated and integrated subsystem that has reduced time to market for more than 150 designs from Arm silicon partners – Arm Total Solutions for IoT introduces Arm Virtual Hardware Targets for software developers, OEMs and service providers. The cloud-based offering delivers a virtual model of the Corstone subsystem to enable software development without the need for physical silicon.

It is said to bring modern, agile software development methodologies such as continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD), DevOps and MLOps to IoT and embedded platforms, without having to invest in complex hardware farms.

With accurate models of Arm-based SoCs providing mechanisms for simulating memory, peripherals and other core items, Arm says development and testing of software is now possible before silicon availability. This ultimately reduces a typical product design cycle from an average of five years to as little as three years, allowing silicon partners to gain customer feedback for chips before tape out while enabling the entire IoT value chain to easily develop and test code on the latest IP well ahead of silicon availability. Arm Virtual Hardware is available on AWS Marketplace and Arm partners are already using it.

To enable industry players to leverage the software and services they invest in across the widest possible range of platforms, Arm is also introducing Project Centauri, which aims to achieve for the Arm Cortex-M software ecosystem what Project Cassini does for the Cortex-A ecosystem, by delivering a set of device and platform standards, as well as reference implementations for device boot, security and cloud integration.

Project Centauri application programming interfaces (APIs) include support for PSA Certified and Open-CMSIS-CDI, a standard cloud-to-device specification that sets out to minimise the effort required to enable different cloud solutions and real-time operating systems. Arm says this will reduce engineering costs, accelerate time to market, enable IoT deployments at scale and improve security across the Cortex-M ecosystem. Mohamed Awad, vice-president of IoT and embedded at Arm, commented:

“Arm is uniquely positioned to fuel a new IoT economy that rivals the shape, speed and size of the smartphone industry’s app economy.”

According to Awad, Arm Total Solutions for IoT changes the way they are delivering key technology to the entire ecosystem and demonstrates their significant and ongoing investment in the software that will empower developers to innovate for global impact.