Businesses today need to plan their journey when it comes to implementing mission-critical IoT systems.

FREMONT, CA: Organizations across the verticals are using the Internet of things (IoT)-based applications. Areas such as supply chain or businesses that design predictive models, all require aggregated data from thousands of sensors to add to the collective intelligence of the centralized system. With so much to offer, IoT technology is increasingly becoming a critical aspect of the mission-critical systems.

IoT products that were once considered as luxury items will evolve with longer battery life and various functionalities to become a part of the current mission-critical systems. The major challenge for the businesses will be to plan their journey toward mission-critical systems. Here are some of the crucial aspects that the organizations must consider before planning to accommodate a mission-critical system within their environment:

Knowing the Requirements

It's often that mission-critical networks and products to require special environments according to the industry where they are operating. The requirements can center on a wide range of variables such as reliability, security, or robust performance. For instance, a failure in a network connection that sends a critical alert from a medical wearable to a healthcare professional or a failure in a pacemaker can result in a patient's death.

Some of the relatively less-critical requirements can arise from an IoT product which is required to operate in a remote location. Long battery life is essential in this scenario. However, the more the battery life required, the more time and effort will be needed to optimize the product’s power utilization. Moreover, signal coverage is another challenge since if the coverage is too low, the battery will deplete faster.

Design Considerations

Designing a product becomes difficult in case of a mission-critical project. Here’s why:

• In areas such as hospitals or manufacturing facilities, which employ a large number of products close to each other, electromagnetic interference can be an issue.

• Mission-critical IoT products are often required to perform in the presence of multiple users with various wireless technologies existing within the same spectrum. It is essential to ensure that individual products can handle the load.

• With different mission-critical products operating within the same ecosystem, it is necessary to consider whether the products will contribute to the overall system with a peaceful co-existence.

• Almost 50 percent of the IoT products are from companies that have less than three years of market experience. Not all the products are being thoroughly tested. Such products can malfunction and can even allow malicious agents to enter a network. Thus the organizations must ensure that their systems are robust enough to handle erratic products and security concerns.

Building a Strong Test Foundation

Appropriate tests and measurements are necessary to ensure that a business will be able to successfully deploy the mission-critical IoT equipment, which will operate as expected in the real world. Network operators and service providers must understand the specific requirements of various IoT products and prepare test cases accordingly. Such practices will dramatically increase manufacturing throughput while offsetting the cost of the test. It will also enable the businesses to produce long-lasting systems with higher reliability factor.