Overview

In Industrial IoT Markets and Security, students will learn about markets (Transportation, Agriculture and more), platforms (IBM Watson Cloud services for example), software and services, networking basics, wireless communications protocols and a thorough introduction to computer security. Developing tomorrow's industrial infrastructure is a significant challenge. This course goes beyond the hype of consumer IoT to emphasize broader application areas such as Advanced Manufacturing and Building Automation. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), is also known as Industry 4.0. Cisco’s CEO stated: “IoT overall is a $19 Trillion market. IIoT is a significant subset including digital oilfield, advanced manufacturing, power grid automation, and smart cities”. This is part 1 of the specialization. The primary objective of this specialization is to closely examine emerging markets, technology trends, applications and skills required by engineering students, or working engineers, exploring career opportunities in the IIoT space. The structure of the course is intentionally wide and shallow: We will cover many topics, but will not go extremely deep into any one topic area, thereby providing a broad overview of the immense landscape of IIoT. There is one exception: We will study security in some depth as this is the most important topic for all "Internet of Things" product development. In this course students will learn : * What Industry 4.0 is and what factors have enabled the IIoT. * Key skills to develop to be employed in the IIoT space. * What platforms are, and also market information on Software and Services. * What the top application areas are (examples include Manufacturing and Oil & Gas). * What the top operating systems are that are used in IIoT deployments. * About networking and wireless communication protocols used in IIoT deployments. * About computer security; encryption techniques and secure methods for insuring data integrity and authentication. This course can be taken for academic credit as part of CU Boulder’s Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (MS-EE) degree offered on the Coursera platform. The degree offers targeted courses, short 8-week sessions, and pay-as-you-go tuition. Admission is based on performance in three preliminary courses, not academic history. CU degrees on Coursera are ideal for recent graduates or working professionals. Learn more: MS in Electrical Engineering: https://www.coursera.org/degrees/msee-boulder

Syllabus

Specialization Overview, Writing Resumes

In this module, you will see a specialization overview of all 3 courses, an overview of this course, and a lesson on writing resumes and interviewing for a job.

Market Overview, Platforms, Software and Services

In this module, you will see an overview of the 5 Industrial IoT (IIoT) Markets covered in this course, and learn the key skills necessary to work in the IIoT space. Additionally, you will learn about the enabling factors that made it possible for the IIoT to come into existence, what a platform is, and the leading suppliers of platforms. I'll give you a quick look at an example building automation deployment and how a platform creates the "glue" that ties the entire system together. We will also take a look at the software and services markets.

Top 5 IIoT Markets, Realtime Operating Systems

In this module, you will learn about the top 5 IIoT market application areas. Additionally, we will look at the considerations involved in selecting a real-time operating system (RTOS) for an IIoT end node (Think: A single board computer with sensors and actuators, controlling a manufacturing machine like a lathe or a drill).

Networking and Wireless Communication Protocols

In this module, we look at networking concepts and two important technologies: Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Software Defined Networks (SDN). We then move on to a survey of long-range and short-range wireless protocols used in IIoT deployments.

Security

This is the most important module in the entire specialization and this course. With billions of devices connected to the internet, security is of paramount importance. I will share with you the bulk of my experience in developing security solutions for end-node type devices. In my career, the products I worked on were satellite TV decoder chips, hard drives and solid state drives (storage devices). The security principles that work for these chips and storage devices apply equally well to IIoT devices.