The Internet of Things

In collaboration with Swisscom

Summary

This year’s iPOLE is carried out in collaboration with Swisscom. Participating educational institutions are the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland FHNW; Merz Akademie, Stuttgart; Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne and Southeast University, China. The course is lead by the Computer Science Department of FHNW. Approximately 30 students in six trans-disciplinary teams will work on the design and development of IoT concepts for future applications under the guidance and supervision of more than 10 faculty members.

Goal

The ongoing deployment of Low Power Networks (LPNs) enables a wide range of novel applications in the areas of M2M (machine-to-machine) and IoT (Internet of Things). The goal of this iPOLE project is to invent, prototype, explore, and demonstrate applications of sensors and machine-to-machine communication. The outcome will be a prototype IoT application using the LP network.

Initial Situation

To enable devices to communicate more efficiently with each other in the future, Swisscom is testing a network for the Internet of Things. This low-power network (LPN) is the first of its kind in Switzerland and connects devices that exchange only small amounts of data with each other and require only a minimal supply of power. It complements the existing M2M mobile network solutions.
Since April 2015, Swisscom started testing the LPN, initially as part of a pilot project in the regions of Zurich and Geneva. Together with the first customers and partners, Swisscom is working on potential applications and testing the LPN specifications.

This iPOLE Project aims at getting a broader view of this field regarding the following: will LPN‘s enable new business ideas in the IoT context in contrast to the IoT without LPN‘s? As we all know, many ideas circulating the IoT have already been discussed. So by which criteria should these ideas be evaluated on?

Process and results

After a virtual Kick-Off on video conference and a first research approach, the whole team met physically during the Kick-Off week in Windisch. In a team building process, six disciplinary and nationally mixed groups of around 6 students came together to set up the further planning: What goals have to be achieved? How to distribute the tasks? What do we expect from each other, what kind of problems might come up?
An Internet of Things hands-on workshop gave the students insights into the matter. The students also visited Swisscom in Zurich, where they gained further understanding of the requirements and task conditions.

When the teams left Switzerland to return to their home countries, the project would continue with regular virtual meetings. The teams would have to continue brainstorming and ideation, set up scenarios, design appropriate user interfaces for the task and create prototypes showcasing how it would all work together in the end.

Team Bell

Lisa Foerste (Interface Design, Merz Akademie, DE)
Christina Meyer (iCompetence, FHNW, CH)
Luke Medlock (Interactive Media Design, Northumbria University, UK)
Claire Fearon (Interactive Media Design, Northumbria University, UK)
Nan Xie (Engineering, Southeast University, CHN)

Coach:
Jun Tao (Southeast University, CHN)

Team Bourseul

Yuanyi Yang (Engineering, Southeast University, CHN)
Alex Robson (Interactive Media Design, Northumbria University, UK)
Laura Baldock (Interactive Media Design, Northumbria University, UK)
Claudia Haefeley (Applied Psychology, FHNW, CH)
Jürg Steudler (iCompetence, FHNW, CH)

Coaches:
Simon Schubiger
Stefan Arisona

Team Gray

Oliver Huber (iCompetence, FHNW, CH)
Guangli Dai (Engineering, Southeast University, CHN)
Maximilian Tolksdorf (Interface Design, Merz Akademie, DE)
Leonie Bühler (Applied Psychology, FHNW, CH)
Rebecca Lee (Interactive Media Design, Northumbria University, UK)

Coach:
Joost Bottema

Team Meucci

Martin Eberle (iCompetence, FHNW, CH)
Matthew Walsh (Interactive Media Design, Northumbria University, UK)
Florian Haefliger (iCompetence, FHNW, CH)
James Leigh (Interactive Media Design, Northumbria University, UK)

Coach:
Jamie Steane

Team Page

Kaixuan Wang (Engineering, Southeast University, CHN)
Rebecca Bisang (Applied Psychology, FHNW, CH)
Antonella Lovisi (iCompetence, FHNW, CH)
Nimesh Reghunandanan (Interactive Media Design, Northumbria University, UK)
Liam Dexter (Interactive Media Design, Northumbria University, UK)

Coach:
Wolfgang Weck

Team Reis

Shahab Jahanabadi (Computer Science, FHNW, CH)
Kathrin Koebel (iCompetence, FHNW, CH)
Bowei Feng (Engineering, Southeast University, CHN)
Léa Bazille (Interactive Media Design, Northumbria University, UK)
Cassandra Hegazy (Interface Design, Merz Akademie, DE)

Coaches:
Mario Doulis
Magdalena Mateescu

Project details

Industry partner

Lukas Theiler, Swisscom
Simon Prior, Swisscom

Project lead iPOLE

Doris Agotai, FHNW, School of Engineering, Computer Science Department

Partner Universities