Applications

The global market for connected devices (IoT) across all application segments is currently around 2 billion devices/year growing to 4-5 billion devices/year by 2020. Core Semiconductor's products target a range of key IoT segments including:

Example Use Cases

Connected Cars - Connected cars provide a multitude of functions including infotainment, navigation services, lane keeping, collision avoidance, automatic payment negotiation for toll and parking, as well as V2V platooning and communication to traffic systems to reduce braking and fuel consumption. Core Semiconductor’s secure device technology addresses the obvious security concern with connected cars due to the safety risks. Beyond this, the blockchain network’s smart contract and microtransaction capabilities are ideal for realizing new applications such as pay-per-km road pricing (being introduced in many countries), and pay-per-km auto insurance. Dynamic insurance based on GPS location or driving habits have also been proposed, but consumer acceptance would be greater if the application did not send this data to the insurance company and instead simply calculated the commensurate premiums from the data. This can be enabled by use of open source software and smart contracts which are auditable, publicly verifiable and attested to on the blockchain network for this function. Core Semiconductor’s GPS technology can also be integrated into solutions for this use case.

Smart Infrastructure - Smart devices provide near real-time automated metering of electricity, gas & water consumption, time-of-use billing, theft detection amongst other functions. Utilities are also introducing more advanced functionality that helps to optimize efficiency, reliability and safety. For example, electric smartmeters can provide power quality data to help utilities plan for higher levels of rooftop solar generation and gas meters in earthquake-prone Japan have seismic sensors to shut off the gas supply in case of seismic motion and this fine-grained data can be used to improve shutoff area accuracy and aid emergency response teams.

However, smartmeters have often been met with significant public resistance due to privacy concerns as advanced analytics can reveal when a person is at home, what appliances they are using, how many microwave meals they eat, even what TV channel they are watching. Core Semiconductor’s secure device technology can not only provide the requisite data security and privacy, but the public could be assured that potentially revealing data is anonymized before it is used for advanced analytics, by the use of open source software which is auditable, publicly verifiable and attested to on the CORE IoT ecosystem.

Healthcare - The healthcare segment is rapidly growing due to the rising demand for healthcare from aging populations and increase in chronic disease rates especially in developed countries. Typical applications in this segment include wearable sensors (for ECG, blood pressure, blood glucose, sleep patterns, etc.), implantables like pacemakers, connected in-home diagnostic devices, fall and motion sensors for the elderly living alone, and GPS location devices for vulnerable persons such as those with Alzheimer’s. These provide continuous real-time patient monitoring with alerts if required, improving patient care and reducing visits. Other major applications include in-hospital mobile devices (eg., tablets) for data collection and improving workflow, or tracking the location and status of beds or equipment. Core Semiconductor’s secure device technology addresses the obvious privacy and security concerns with the handling of personal medical data. Core Semiconductor’s GPS and high- resolution analog sensor technology can also be integrated into solutions for this use case.

Renewable Energy - Renewable energy, especially solar and wind has been growing exponentially. In 2002, the best projections indicated 1 gigawatt of solar generation could be installed per year by 2010. Actually it was exceeded in 2010 by 17 times, in 2015 by 51 times and in 2017 by 98 times. Electric vehicles & charging stations are also poised for a similar growth curve. In the typical case, solar electricity systems sell generated energy to the utility, and electric vehicles buy electricity for charging from the utility. However, P2P energy trading business models as well as provision of a gamut of energy services from solar power systems, electric vehicles & charging stations are now being experimented with. P2P energy trading allows you to directly sell power to or buy power from your neighbor. Energy services are essential and value-added services (called ancillary services by the utility industry), such as spinning reserve, regulation, and demand response.

3D Printing - 3D printing allows anyone, anywhere to manufacture components ranging from aircraft parts to toys to artificial human organs. Core Semiconductor’s secure device technology will allow design files to be securely transferred from designers to consumers while enforcing protection of intellectual property. Designers can be assured that the encrypted design file is only usable by an authenticated secure printer, and that the printer only prints as many copies as their license permits. The blockchain network facilitates the entire transaction including contract management, reporting, and payment.

Connected Home - Connected home or smart home devices include smart lighting, smart locks, security cameras & sensors, smart thermostats, appliances, smart speakers, smoke/water leak detectors, smart plugs and irrigation systems. Security and privacy concerns are cited as the leading barrier to adoption. Core Semiconductor’s secure device technology with extensive customization capability is ideally suited to address the specific needs of applications in this segment.

Cloud Data Geolocation - Data sovereignty is an increasing concern in more and more countries as more and more services and commercial activities use and store sensitive personal data. Strict data protection and privacy regulations have been passed into law in the EU, China, Brazil, Russia, Singapore, Japan, South Korea and California, and is pending in India. Many of these regulations prohibit or restrict the transfer and storage of data of its citizens outside the country. Organizations including CSPs (Cloud Service Providers) need to provide proof that data resides in the country in order to comply. Trusted location and trusted time capability is necessary for computer server equipment to provide this proof. Core Semiconductor’s GPS receiver and PTP (Precision Time Protocol) capable EMAC IP cores combined with attestation capabilities of the Trusted Compute Engine provides servers with trusted location and time capability to address the specific needs of this application.