Itransition delivered an IoT system architecture, algorithms for developing custom components, a ready-to-implement product roadmap, hardware architecture specifications and working prototypes of custom devices for Summer Infant.
Since 1985, Summer Infant has been producing high-quality, safe feeding, bedding, bath, and travel gears for parents and their babies. Committed to improvement and innovation, the company continuously evolves its product line, adopting the emerging trends and technologies.
With the new opportunities that the internet of things offered, the company fostered the idea of augmenting their products with smart connectivity and tracking features. The project goal was to create an autonomous baby care ecosystem that links up baby products with embedded sensors, local monitors, smartphones, PCs, and analytical software for better awareness of babies’ health through triggered notifications and real-time biometrics tracking.
Correspondingly, the project scope comprised:
Because of its complexity, this IoT project involved four geographically distributed vendors, each one assigned with a particular task. Following the positive reference from one of our industry partners, who had cooperated with us on a smart baby monitor with Itransition, the customer selected us for the research, development, and further technological guidance on the project.
Spanning the hardware, firmware, middleware, and software, the Summer Infant ecosystem included four essential layers:
Itransition’s team took up the end-to-end IoT development, including software and hardware design, elaboration of interaction scenarios, technology roadmapping, scope definition, and project planning.
From an array of existing IoT platforms, Itransition had to choose the most suitable one or design a custom solution that would seamlessly connect miscellaneous endpoints while providing a solid ground for solving the following challenges:
Our team investigated and compared device management, integration and security aspects of existing connectivity solutions.
Besides, we outlined the pros and cons of two data transfer options: direct communication of all devices with a cloud-based backend or communication via specific transmitters.
Besides, we outlined the pros and cons of two data transfer options: direct communication of all devices with a cloud-based backend or communication via specific transmitters.
While cooperating with an Israeli firmware developer and a Chinese hardware manufacturer, we engineered two operational prototypes of smart infant products managed through an Android application. While the offshore partners produced the physical prototypes, Itransition’s experts developed the control panel for managing smart components via the mobile app
Smart Changing Pad | Smart Bottle Maker |
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With embedded load cells, the Changing Pads device measures the baby’s weight and height while a diaper is changed, helping parents track real-time metrics on their smartphones. |
An unparalleled gadget for preparing baby formula, Smart Bottle Maker consists of a water pump, a warmer, 6 bottles and an electric motor that activates the system according to the pre-defined schedule. |
Besides the all-round advisory assistance, Itransition was involved in the backend development based on AngularJS, as well in the code review of a video streaming application for the custom Android-based tablet called Dedicated Display. Coupled with a connected camera, Dedicated Display was produced by a Taiwanese team for real-time baby monitoring.
While providing strategic guidance on the project, Itransition cooperated with software and hardware manufacturing vendors located in different parts of the world. We applied agile practices within the distributed Scrum framework, which allowed all teams to be on the same page with no ambiguity, share the common infrastructure, and arrange processes efficiently without any downtimes.
iOS | Android | Backend | |
---|---|---|---|
HTTP Communication |
AFNetworking |
Retrofit and OkHttp |
OData; .NET MVC |
Message Queues |
RabbitMQ-c/MQTT-Client Framework |
RabbitMQ Client/Android-MQTT |
RabbitMQ broker |
Languages |
Swift, ObjC |
Java |
JavaScript; C# |
Charts Visualization |
Daniel Gindin Charts |
MPAndroidChart |
|
Database |
Realm |
Realm |
Microsoft SQL Server |
We selected a decentralized mesh network as an optimal solution to enable custom sensor-powered and handheld devices to communicate wirelessly so that they wouldn’t depend on the PCs or hub services in use.
For high availability and protection against failing, Itransition offered an algorithm for the network self-healing and self-organizing through an automated access point (AP) created for every infrastructure component. In case a node breaks down or the connection gets unreliable, the system builds another AP to transmit the message to the destination.
Addressing first-time setup and connectivity challenge, we generated in-depth connectivity flow that highlights two possible scenarios: new device entry and configuration or earlier enabled device connection.
Addressing the setup and connectivity challenges, we generated a connectivity flow that covers two possible scenarios:
To provide safe access to the infrastructure for all the participants, we implemented the OAuth protocol for all mobile clients and embedded devices to receive authentication credentials via JSON Web Tokens from the CloudApp.
Besides, Itransition offered several connection flows using custom BLE, Wi-Fi, and BLE + Wi-Fi profiles.
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