Field notes from building connected products.
Practical essays on firmware, connectivity, edge AI, security, and the cloud platforms that hold IoT fleets together. Written by engineers, not marketing.
Latest essays
- Embedded Apr 22, 2026
ESP32 vs STM32: When to Pick Each for Your IoT Product
A side-by-side look at when ESP32 wins, when STM32 wins, and the small set of cases where neither is the right answer.
ESP32STM32MicrocontrollersRead more - Embedded Apr 15, 2026
Designing OTA Firmware Updates That Don't Brick Devices
The patterns we use to ship firmware over the air to devices in the field — A/B partitions, rollback, signed images, staged rollouts, and the failure modes that bite if you skip them.
OTAFirmwareSecurityRead more - Edge AI Apr 8, 2026
Edge AI on Microcontrollers: TinyML in 2026
What works, what is still painful, and how to decide whether your IoT product should run a model on the device or in the cloud.
TinyMLEdge AIESP32Read more - Security Apr 1, 2026
Securing IoT: Threat Models, Secure Boot, and TLS in Constrained Devices
A practical security baseline for connected products — what to do, in what order, and what can wait until v2.
SecuritySecure BootTLSRead more - Hardware Mar 25, 2026
From Prototype to Production: Scaling IoT Hardware Beyond 100 Units
The transition from a working bench prototype to a manufacturable product is where most IoT companies stall. Here is the playbook that gets you to 1,000 units without surprises.
HardwareManufacturingDFMRead more - Cloud Mar 18, 2026
Time-Series Data Architectures for IoT Telemetry
The patterns we use to ingest, store, and query high-volume IoT telemetry — and the failure modes that bite when you try to use a generic database for it.
Time-seriesTimescaleDBInfluxDBRead more - Protocols Mar 11, 2026
MQTT vs CoAP vs HTTP: Picking the Right IoT Protocol
When to use each protocol, what they actually cost in bandwidth and complexity, and the corner cases that decide projects.
MQTTCoAPHTTPRead more - Smart Home Mar 4, 2026
Smart Home IoT: Privacy, Security, and Local-First Design
Why the smart-home category is moving back toward local-first architectures, and what that means for engineering teams building consumer connected products.
Smart HomePrivacyLocal-firstRead more - Industrial Feb 26, 2026
Industrial IoT: Predictive Maintenance with Vibration Sensors
How to design a predictive maintenance program that actually catches failures before they happen — sensors, edge processing, baselines, and the operational practices that make it stick.
Industrial IoTPredictive MaintenanceVibrationRead more - Energy Feb 19, 2026
Solar Plant Monitoring: From Inverter Telemetry to ROI
What it actually takes to monitor a fleet of solar installations — the data architecture, the alert filtering that prevents alarm fatigue, and how to surface the metrics owners actually care about.
SolarEnergyMonitoringRead more - EV & Mobility Feb 12, 2026
EV Charging Networks and OCPP 2.0.1: A Practical Guide
What OCPP 2.0.1 changes for charge point operators, what to keep an eye on during integration, and how to architect a network that supports multiple charger brands without a fork per vendor.
EV ChargingOCPPMobilityRead more - AgriTech Feb 5, 2026
AgriTech IoT: Field Sensor Networks That Survive Real Farms
What it takes to ship sensor networks that work on actual farms — power, weatherproofing, network design, and the operational realities city engineers underestimate.
AgriTechIoTLoRaWANRead more - Healthcare Jan 29, 2026
Healthcare Wearables: Compliance, Battery, and Skin Adhesion
The trifecta that decides whether a healthcare wearable ships on time, on budget, and stays on the patient. Compliance, battery life, and the often-overlooked third pillar.
HealthcareWearablesHIPAARead more - Smart Buildings Jan 22, 2026
Smart Building Management Systems: Beyond the Dashboard Hype
What a useful BMS actually looks like in 2026 — sensors that pay back, automation that earns its keep, and the integrations that turn a dashboard into operational savings.
BMSSmart BuildingsHVACRead more - Cloud Jan 15, 2026
The True Cost of an IoT Cloud Backend
Where the cloud bill actually goes on an IoT product, and the levers that reduce it 10x without touching feature scope.
CloudFinOpsIoTRead more - Mobile Jan 8, 2026
Designing Mobile Companion Apps for IoT Hardware
Why most IoT companion apps disappoint, the patterns that make them feel native, and the engineering decisions that decide whether your hardware ever gets recommended.
MobileBLECompanion AppRead more - Connectivity Jan 1, 2026
LoRaWAN in 2026: When It's Still the Right Call
After years of 'cellular IoT will replace LoRa,' the protocol still wins specific deployments. Here is when it makes sense and when newer alternatives win.
LoRaWANConnectivityIoTRead more - Edge AI Dec 18, 2025
AI on the Edge vs AI in the Cloud: Where to Run the Model
A practical decision framework for whether your IoT product's AI feature should run on the device or in the cloud, and the hybrid pattern that often wins.
Edge AICloud AIMLRead more - Provisioning Dec 11, 2025
IoT Provisioning: Onboarding Devices Without a Support Ticket
Why device onboarding is the highest-leverage UX problem in IoT, and the patterns that reduce setup time from minutes to seconds.
ProvisioningOnboardingBLERead more - Embedded Dec 4, 2025
Calculating BLE Battery Life: A Practical Worked Example
A step-by-step walkthrough of how to calculate battery life for a Bluetooth Low Energy device — the parameters that matter, the ones that surprise, and a worked example you can adapt.
BLEBatteryPowerRead more - Smart Home Nov 27, 2025
Matter and Thread in 2026: Where the Smart-Home Standard Actually Stands
A practical assessment of Matter and Thread for product teams — what works, what is still rough, and when it is the right call for your connected device.
MatterThreadSmart HomeRead more - Operations Nov 20, 2025
IoT Fleet Observability: What to Measure Before Something Breaks
The metrics, logs, and traces that turn a fleet of devices from a black box into a system you can operate. What to instrument from day one, and what to add later.
ObservabilityOperationsIoTRead more
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