Show HN: I built this notifying device – electronics, code, design, marketing
notifon.net
notifon.net
Check out the 6lowpan standard, which is specifically designed for this kind of communication. Dust Networks (http://www.linear.com/products/smartmesh_ip) has a good implementation. The other alternative would be to go with some of the proprietary RF standards, I know this sounds prohibitive at first but will end up saving you money on your BoM in the long run. Check out Atmel's LightWeight Mesh (http://www.atmel.com/tools/lightweight_mesh.aspx) which is based on 802.15.4, the same as Zigbee and BT, so if you want you can even run ZigBee on the same hardware. Linx also makes a great proprietary RF module (https://www.linxtechnologies.com/en/home) which is extremely cheap even at low quantities.
If you are using Xbee (which it seems like you are) then you are likely not using a SoC, so designing in a different radio may still be relatively easy.
PM me if you have any questions, I've been working on this IoT stuff for a while now. Congrats on the crowd funding campaign and best of luck.
You'll probably find that most price-sensitive consumer devices that don't need to interface to a standard protocol like WiFi will use very basic RF communication with a homebrew protocol. It makes the engineering cost much higher than using more complex devices, but spread over hundreds of thousands or millions of units, that cost vanishes.
OTOH, industrial markets are a lot less price sensitive. Also, quantities sold will be much less, so the device's unit price has to be higher to make building it worthwhile.
However, I think we will see it fall out of favor in consumer markets unless thye drastically reduce the license fees.
That said, here's a problem from just watching the video - all the focus on the design of the device assumes that it should be on a display. That's the domain of the home automation market for passionate amateurs - "Look, look, I automated my door!" A proper installation is always discrete and does not clash with existing interior design of the space. It would be something that blends in easily and, ideally, paintable over. Definitely not a computer-mouse like puck that just screams "look at me!". Your whole point of this being "technology that is not worth hiding" is way off for practical applications. I realize that you probably trying to pull Nest here, but this is an utilitarian non-interactive device, it has no business being visible in my space. I would strongly suggest adding an "OEM" model that is just a flat white box.
I also recommend not repeating the words "notifying object" so often - right now my eyes might go from: "Notifon, the notifying object." (1st headline) to "Transform any object into a notifying object!" (2nd headline) to "Notifon / Transform any object into a notifying object" (video) to "Preorder now" to "Notifon is a wireless Internet-connected device that sends you instant notifications based on real life events." and I've learned little more than the 1st headline told me.
Thanks for sharing this and good luck with your crowdfunding campaign!
Those price points are hard to reach for retail pricing, but are pretty close to the "in bulk" pricing that I've got things down to (once you factor in labour, NRE for solid firmware, etc). If you want a cheap and unreliable setup, you could probably get the node price down to around $5 or $8, but I don't think I'd want to rely on it.
This can of course be far from the effective distance, but since the data being communicated is so small it should be possible to keep sending the data until you can acknowledge that it has been received.
Also, you could look into creating a mesh network between all Notifons, so you could extend their range.
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14136218/bluetooth-mesh-n...
It uses about 225mA @ 3.2V.
The connection/handshaking take about 5-7 seconds to talk to a local server, plus the time for whatever data you are sending.
When talking to an internet based server, the connection time can extend out to 20+ seconds.
So you can see wifi isn't the greatest choice for low power/battery operated environments.
(Now on something you don't mind recharging a few times a week, it is perfect.)
(Though it appears Karotz is a separate thing: http://store.karotz.com/en_US/)
There's also Electric Imp, but it's a bit more of a platform/DIY: https://electricimp.com/
With something like a garage door, knowing its state is very important, perhaps more important than knowing when the sensor has been triggered. When someone leaves the garage door open (kids), this is what we need to be notified about. Is the Notifon up to this task?
Also, range might be a real issue when the nodes are placed outside or in the letterbox.
One more thing, and this is just a personal preference in response to the idea that I "won't want to hide the device". I don't understand why people think white plastic is the best choice of color. So many cheap kitchen appliances are white plastic. If you have floorboards and warm living areas with warm tones everywhere, shiny white plastic objects are an eyesore. IMHO.
The magnetic switch in the video - I have used before, and they do not distinguish between "open" and "closed".
When someone opens the garage door, a notification is sent: "garage door open".
When someone CLOSES the garage door, a notification is sent: "garage door open".
Unless you can provide further explanation, the device only notifies of "activity", not specific activity such as open or closed. In which case, you're being a tad misleading.
The wireless chipsets for IoT are really limiting IoT because there are so many tradeoffs. Zigbee seems to have most of the technical challenges solved yet have such a high cost. Raw rf/radios require custom (error prone ) software stacks but are super cheap, wifi uses TONS of power and BLE is fairly limited in range even if it in theory can get better range... I think as soon as someone solves the chipset for the IoT, its going to be as simple as slapping I2C sensors/actuators and 3d printing mechanical parts for fast innovation.
Can you give a ball park figure for how much you invested, bringing this product from concept to market?
The only part that was done outside is the design of
the plastic enclosure. I found a good designer in china
I'm right now looking into building something similar but for industrial/agricultural applications in unattended machine monitoring. I'm planning to prototype using a similiar Digi device: the 900 series with 1 mile range.
I would never have thought of a consumer version. Fantastic idea.
"Sensors
Notifon is universal. You can use any sensor that has two states, such as a switch, a push button, a magnetic door switch, a relay... Notifon allows you to predefine a set of actions for each state."
Just put that (or a simplified form of it - a graphical illustration is helpful) somewhere quite visible on the actual product page?
Your video did a great job at presenting the product and explaining what it's good for.
Good luck with your crowdfunding.
Both of these mean I could never be your customer.