INTRODUCING IOT CONCEPTS TO INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING STUDENTS

Holon Institute of Technology (HIT) offers a B.Sc. program in Technology Management. This program prepares students for positions as industrial engineers, information system managers and data analysts with an emphasis on the technology management aspects faced by industrial and business organizations. Therefore, the content must be updated to cover ubiquitous technologies, e.g. Internet of things, embedded systems and cybernetics. In addition, the positions that students hold when completing their degree require close interaction and cooperation with electrical and software engineers as well as the ability to manage these engineers. It is important to note that the students in the program have, generally, little or no background in electrical and software engineering, thus, they must receive the appropriate qualification during the program that will allow them to speak a common language with the other engineers. As the department progresses to offering a B.Sc. degree in Industrial Engineering and Technology Management, one of the first of its kind, the updated study programs include revised as well as new courses that put a strong emphasis on the technologies mentioned above. In this framework, the B.Sc. program includes a track in information systems which offers a course, Introduction to Internet of Things (IoT), introduce recently.

Prerequisites to the IoT course are: Introduction to Programming, Database Analysis and Design and Computer Integrated Manufacturing. The course is relatively practical, consisting of theoretical topics interlaced with hands-on training. The theory is taught in frontal lectures and presentations.

The following projects present IoT applications from an industrial engineer’s point of view. They are examples of undergraduate students’ projects during their bachelor’s degree.

– Smart parking system design - Design of a network of cameras and motion sensors that collect data about parking lots throughout the city. All devices are powered by solar energy and are connected wirelessly to a local Raspberry pi. The Raspberry pi uses cellular communication and transmits the data to Amazon servers. The purposes of the system are: to bill drivers for legal parking around the city and to send out fines for illegal parking; as well as monitor available parking spots for the benefit of drivers.

– Smart baby monitor - A design and implementation of a monitor that is embedded with a microphone and camera that are connected to a Raspberry pi. The monitor detects noise in the room and sends a short video of the baby to parents through Amazon SNS (Simple Notification Service).

– Smart garbage can collector - A system design of weight sensors that are attached to garbage cans. The sensors weigh the can and, using a connected Raspberry pi and cellular connectivity, report remaining garbage can capacity (or lack thereof) to the local municipality.

The presentation proposed for the conference will describe the main experience acquired at HIT with this course, and the related projects, in terms of challenges, achievements and future plans of this Work in Progress which we can share with academics facing similar challenges.