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Learn more - Join the world's largest professional organization devoted to engineering and applied sciences and get access to all of Spectrum's articles, archives, PDF downloads, and other benefits. Learn more - CREATE AN ACCOUNTSIGN IN JOIN IEEESIGN IN Close Enjoy more free content and benefits by creating an account Create an account to access more content and features on IEEE Spectrum, including the ability to save articles to read later, download Spectrum Collections, and participate in conversations with readers and editors. For more exclusive content and features, consider Joining IEEE. CREATE AN ACCOUNTSIGN IN The Institute Topic Type Article Sensors Why IoT Sensors Need Standards They could improve performance and spur development of new applications Sri Chandrasekaran Ravi Subramaniam 11 Jan 2022 3 min read A photo of white gloved hands holding a circuit board. Standards will ensure radar sensor main circuit boards, such as the one above made at the Continental automated driving technology factory in Ingolstadt, Germany, will consider rules of the road and their regional and temporal dependencies. Alex Kraus/Bloomberg/Getty Images IEEE Standards Association IoT iot sensor sensor standardization adas iot devices ieee products services Sensors traditionally have been used for camera imaging, as well as communicating information about humidity, temperature, motion, speed, proximity, and other aspects of the environment. The devices have become key enablers for a host of new technologies essential to business and to everyday life, from turning on a light switch to managing one's health. Several factors are fueling sensors' growth, including miniaturization, increased functionality, and higher levels of integration into electronic circuitry. There are also greater levels of automation being incorporated into products and systems, such as with Internet of Things and Industrial Internet of Things applications. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Prominent users of sensors include the defense, energy, health care, and transportation industries. The global sensor market is large and growing fast. By one estimate, it is projected to reach US $346 billion in sales by 2028, up from $167 billion in 2019. SAFE AND RELIABLE APPLICATIONS As the sensor industry races to take advantage of market opportunities, the need to ensure the devices will operate safely and reliably is a growing concern. In the energy industry, for example, drill rigs for oil and gas exploration are now equipped with sensors to achieve optimal, safe performance at the lowest cost possible. The sensors must operate under harsh environmental conditions. Their failure could result in a rig being taken out of service, leading to significant, costly downtime. In industrial applications, worker safety would be compromised if gas sensors fail to detect the presence of toxic fumes. If the light detection and ranging remote-sensing system lidar fails in semiautonomous vehicles, they will be unable to function properly. Lidar is fundamental to advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS). Because there are now thousands of sensor products on the market, adherence to standards that could improve their performance or accelerate development of new applications has grown in importance, as has the need for independent conformity and certification protocols. It has become challenging to effectively deploy sensors in complex IoT and IIoT applications given the interoperability issues that can arise when attempting to integrate systems from multiple vendors. Hardware compatibility, wired and wireless connectivity, security, software development, and cloud computing are key interoperability considerations as well as major issues in their own right. STANDARDS FOR IOT SENSORS For many years, the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE SA) has provided an open platform for users, those in academia, and technical experts from sensor manufacturers to come together to develop standards. Here are a few examples of IEEE standards and projects that have come from the collaboration. * IEEE 2700-2017: IEEE Standard for Sensor Performance Parameter Definitions. A common framework for performance specification terminology, units, conditions, and limits for eight common sensor types. * IEEE P1451.99: IEEE Standard for Harmonization of Internet of Things Devices and Systems. Current implementations of IoT devices and systems do not provide a way to share data or for an owner of such devices to authorize who has the right to control them or access the devices' data. This standard will define a metadata bridge to facilitate IoT protocol transport for sensors, actuators, and other devices. It will address issues of security, scalability, and interoperability for cost savings and reduced complexity. The standard will offer a data-sharing approach that leverages current instrumentation and devices used in industry. * IEEE P2020: Standard for Automotive System Image Quality. Most automotive camera systems have been developed independently, with no standardized reference point for calibration or measurement of image quality. This standard will address the fundamental attributes that contribute to image quality for ADAS applications; identify existing metrics and other useful information relating to the attributes; define a standardized suite of objective and subjective test methods; and specify tools and test methods to facilitate standards-based communication and comparison among system integrators and component vendors. * IEEE P2520: Standard for Testing Machine Olfaction Devices and Systems. This standard aims to establish a collection of performance measurement methods and conformity assessment processes for e-nose devices that simulate human chemosensory responses with greater accuracy and precision. * IEEE P2846: Assumptions for Models in Safety-Related Automated Vehicle Behavior. This standard will describe the minimum set of reasonable assumptions used in the development of safety-related models that are part of automotive ADAS. P2846 will consider rules of the road and their regional and temporal dependencies, which involve the impact of previous behavior. REGISTRY AND CERTIFICATION IEEE SA offers the IEEE Sensors Registry. The global Web-based service for manufacturers allows them to enter their sensors' certifications, the standards they adhere to, and product data sheets so that buyers can find the right product. IEEE conducts an audit process on the submitted information to ensure its accuracy. WEBINARS AND ROUNDTABLE These free on-demand and upcoming webinars are available: * Exploring the Importance of Sensors and Their Real-Life Applications in Life-Saving Wearable Devices. * Path to Sensors Interoperability. The first in a series of new webinars, Are Sensors the Weakest Link to Cyber Attacks?, is scheduled for 2 February at 1 p.m. Eastern Time. IEEE SA plans to host an industry roundtable during the first quarter this year. It will focus on the creation of a comprehensive plan and timeline to address interoperability and cybersecurity issues for IoT sensor networks. Participants will include technology leaders from industry, government, and academia. Contact sensors-rt@ieee.org for more information. From Your Site Articles * IEEE Standards Association Launches a Platform for Open Source ... > * The U.S. Government Finally Gets Serious About IoT Security - IEEE ... > Related Articles Around the Web * IEEE Standards Activities in the Internet of Things (IoT) Overview ... > IEEE Standards Association IoT iot sensor sensor standardization adas iot devices ieee products services Sri Chandrasekaran Sri Chandrasekaran is lead of the IEEE SA Foundational Technologies Practice group. and Ravi Subramaniam Ravi Subramaniam is director of the IEEE SA Conformity Assessment Program. The Conversation (0) A tan car with a Hyundai logo. Overlayed is a rendering of lithium-air batteries with a call-out showing a rendering of a molecular compound Computing Topic News Type Energy How Quantum Computers Can Make Batteries Better 58m 3 min read A plane, a 5G cell tower, and electrical wires are seen in silhouette against a cloudy sky Topic Type Telecommunications Explainer What You Need to Know About the FAA 5G Kerfuffle 2h 4 min read A bright orange four legged robotic dog stands on a grave patch at the top of a mountain with Swiss countryside in the background Robotics Topic Type Interview Legged Robots Learn to Hike Harsh Terrain 3h 5 min read More from The Institute The Institute Topic Artificial Intelligence Article Type A First: AI System Named Inventor The Institute Topic News Type Learn About the Candidates Running for 2023 President-Elect The Institute Topic Type Careers Profile Building Better Qubits The Institute Topic Type News Careers IEEE WIE Conference Will Explore the Future of Work The Institute Topic Artificial Intelligence Type Article Deep Learning Can't Be Trusted, Brain Modeling Pioneer Says Get unlimited IEEE Spectrum access Become an IEEE member and get exclusive access to more stories and resources, including our vast article archive and full PDF downloads JOIN IEEESIGN IN Get access to unlimited IEEE Spectrum content Network with other technology professionals Establish a professional profile Create a group to share and collaborate on projects Discover IEEE events and activities Join and participate in discussions History of Technology Topic Type Feature The Lies that Powered the Invention of Pong A fake contract masked a design exercise-and started an industry Tekla S. Perry 15 Jan 2022 4 min read Vertical Pong arcade game in yellow cabinet containing black and white TV display, two knobs are labeled Player 1 and Player 2, Atari logo visible. Roger Garfield/Alamy In 1971 video games were played in computer science laboratories when the professors were not looking--and in very few other places. In 1973 millions of people in the United States and millions of others around the world had seen at least one video game in action. That game was Pong. Two electrical engineers were responsible for putting this game in the hands of the public--Nolan Bushnell and Allan Alcorn, both of whom, with Ted Dabney, started Atari Inc. in Sunnyvale, Calif. Mr. Bushnell told Mr. Alcorn that Atari had a contract from General Electric Co. to design a consumer product. Mr. Bushnell suggested a Ping-Pong game with a ball, two paddles, and a score, that could be played on a television. "There was no big contract," Mr. Alcorn said recently. "Nolan just wanted to motivate me to do a good job. It was really a design exercise; he was giving me the simplest game he could think of to get me to play with the technology." The key piece of technology he had to toy with, he explained, was a motion circuit designed by Mr. Bushnell a year earlier as an employee of Nutting Associates. Mr. Bushnell first used the circuit in an arcade game called Computer Space, which he produced after forming Atari. It sold 2000 units but was never a hit. This article was first published as "Pong: an exercise that started an industry." It appeared in the December 1982 issue of IEEE Spectrum as part of a special report, "Video games: The electronic big bang." A PDF version is available on IEEE Xplore. In the 1960s Mr. Bushnell had worked at an amusement park and had also played space games on a PDP-10 at college. He divided the cost of a computer by the amount of money an average arcade game made and promptly dropped the idea, because the economics did not make sense. Then in 1971 he saw a Data General computer advertised for $5000 and determined that a computer game played on six terminals hooked up to that computer could be profitable. He began designing a space game to run on such a timeshared system, but because game action occurs in real time, the computer was too slow. Mr. Bushnell began trying to take the load off the central computer by making the terminals smarter, adding a sync generator in each, then circuits to display a star field, until the computer did nothing but keep track of where the player was. Then, Mr. Bushnell said, he realized he did not need the central computer at all--the terminals could stand alone. "He actually had the order for the computers completed, but his wife forgot to mail it," Mr. Alcorn said, adding, "We would have been bankrupt if she had." Mr. Bushnell said, "The economics were not longer a $6000 computer plus all the hardware in the monitors; they became a $400 computer hooked up to a $100 monitor and put in a $100 cabinet. The ice water thawed in my veins." The ball in Pong is square. Considering the amount of circuitry a round ball would require, "who is going to pay an extra quarter for a round ball?" Computer Space appealed only to sophisticated game players--those who were familiar with space games on mainframe computers, or those who frequent the arcades today. It was well before its time. Pong, on the other hand, was too simple for an EE like Mr. Bushnell to consider designing it as a real game--and that is why it was a success. Mr. Bushnell had developed the motion circuit in his attempt to make the Computer Space terminals smarter, but Mr. Alcorn could not read his schematics and had to redesign it. Mr. Alcorn was trying to get the price down into the range of an average consumer product, which took a lot of ingenuity and some tradeoffs. "There was no real bulk memory available in 1972," he said. "We were faced with having a ball move into any of the spots in a 200-by-200 array without being able to store a move. We did it with about 10 off-the-shelf TTL parts by making sync generators that were set one or two lines per frame off register." Thus, the ball would move in relation to the screen, both vertically and horizontally, just as a misadjusted television picture may roll. Mr. Alcorn recalled that he originally used a chip from Fairchild to generate the display for the score, but it cost $5, and he could do the same thing for $3 using TTL parts, though the score was cruder. The ball in Pong is square--another tradeoff. Considering the amount of circuitry a round ball would require, Mr. Alcorn asked, "who is going to pay an extra quarter for a round ball?" Sound was also a point of contention at Atari. Mr. Bushnell wanted the roar of approval of a crowd of thousands; Mr. Dabney wanted the crowd booing. "How do you do that with digital stuff?" Mr. Alcorn asked. "I told them I didn't have enough parts to do that, so I just poked around inside the vertical sync generator for the appropriate tones and made the cheapest sound possible." The hardware design of Pong took three months, and Mr. Alcorn's finished prototype had 73 ICs, which, at 50 cents a chip, added up to $30 to $40 worth of parts. "That's a long way from a consumer product, not including the package, and I was depressed, but Noland said 'Yeah, well, not bad.'" They set the Pong 2 prototype up in a bar and got a call the next day to take it out because it was not working. When they arrived, the problem was obvious: the coin box was jammed full of quarters. From Your Site Articles * Silicon Valley's Secret Involves Proximity, Stolen Parts, and the ... > * Atari Alumni Talk About the Tall Tales They Told to Launch an ... > * Al Alcorn, Creator of Pong, Explains How Early Home Computers ... > Related Articles Around the Web * Atari & Chuck E. Cheese's: Nolan Bushnell : How I Built This with ... > * Alcorn, Al (Allan) oral history | 102658257 | Computer History Museum > * Pong - Wikipedia > Keep Reading | Show less