One of the most important elements in the development of an Internet of Things (IoT) based product is hardware design. Designing hardware for embedded IoT devices must be planned very carefully and a roadmap should be drawn by the developers. The are various challenges during the design process and all of them should be carefully looked into.
Security Issues
Security is a huge concern in IoT devices for both the manufacturer and the customer. Most of these concerns can be fixed in software, but IoT devices are hardware-dependent and need to run securely in a real-time embedded environment. In order to achieve functional security requirements, embedded IoT systems must execute a variety of control functions that require security and must eliminate any unacceptable risks. Cryptographic algorithms should be used to secure the system’s design. It covers a variety of methods for securing all aspects of embedded systems, from prototype to production and the sale process.
Connectivity
There are many ways to connect the product to the internet such as Wi-Fi, Ethernet, cellular, LoRa, a Bluetooth bridge, and others. Each of them has different advantages and disadvantages along with different software principles that developers need to learn and understand to get the hardware working. This becomes a very difficult problem to solve when you factor in other software considerations on which protocols to use, such as TCP/IP and UDP, or whether to use multiple protocols at the same time.
Testing Problem
Developing a reliable product requires proper testing, verification, and validation, and this is a challenging process. Embedded system developers use hardware-based test tools for testing. Embedded hardware testing refers to system performance, consistency, and validation in accordance with the product requirements. Verification is ensuring that functional verification is implemented correctly. Validation refers to whether the product complies with the requirements and meets all quality standards.
Rapid Technological Changes
Every year more powerful systems emerge, new technologies are being developed, and existing ones make huge leaps. Concepts such as artificial intelligence are now used in IoT. Developers are beginning to discover that existing technologies are changing faster than they can learn. For this reason, an IoT embedded system developer needs to learn to update his skill set quickly.
These are some of the biggest challenges in the embedded system design for IoT devices, and they are faced by most IoT device manufacturers. In most cases, solutions are already available in various formats. These challenges are certainly not insurmountable if these solutions are well known. The trick is for developers and teams to get up to speed on problems, and adapt their skills accordingly.