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Uppkopplad Medtech 🩺

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Smartare, säkrare och mer effektiv blodanalysutrustning

För en av våra kunder inom medicinteknik utvecklade vi en avancerad edge-lösning som kopplar befintlig blodanalysutrustning direkt till molnet. Lösningen gör det möjligt att övervaka, underhålla och uppdatera utrustningen på distans, vilket säkerställer maximal tillgänglighet med högsta möjliga säkerhet.

Vårt uppdrag:

  • Säker fjärrhantering och användarkontroll
  • Over-the-air mjukvaruuppdateringar
  • Realtidsövervakning av analysdata
  • Robust säkerhet

Teknologier och verktyg:

  • Embedded Linux
  • Azure IoT Hub
  • Websockets/JSON
  • TLS implementation med hårdvaruskyddade kryptonycklar

Test och kvalitetssäkring:

  • Google Test
  • NUnit
  • Selenium

Genom att kombinera IoT, molnteknologi och cybersäkerhet hjälpte vi vår kund att implementera en framtidssäker lösning som lyfter medicinteknik till nästa nivå.

Vill du veta hur vi kan hjälpa dig att ta nästa steg?
Kontakta oss redan idag! 📩

Cybersecurity, with support from MSB

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Did you know that we at Scionova is doing our part in strengthening cybersecurity capabilities within Sweden and consequently supporting EU cybersecurity efforts? 

Scionova is proud to be among the 20% applications nationwide selected and funded by MSB (Swedish Civil Contingency Agency) to enhance cybersecurity capabilities by focusing on Vulnerability Management (VM) and boosting cybersecurity competence within our organization. The result was the development of a comprehensive training program with real case scenarios and knowledge assessment that was presented to Scionovas employees. 

The content of the course covers mainly the following topics:  

  • the critical role of VM as part of the business strategy 
  • the VM lifecycle from identification and prioritization to remediation 
  • testing and continuous monitoring 
  • VM responsibility & ownership 
  • “Secure by Design”-principles 

According to a ServiceNow survey, around 60% of breaches are caused by unpatched vulnerabilities. The course aims to highlight the importance of having a robust VM program and underline its critical role in cybersecurity and product development.  

We are empowering our teams with the skills and awareness needed to integrate security principles throughout the development lifecycle. This not only promotes secure digital behaviours but also fosters a robust cybersecurity culture within our organization. 

Digital Key – med mobilen som bilnyckel 📱

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Tänk dig att kunna låsa upp, starta och dela tillgång till din bil – allt via mobilen. För en av våra kunder inom automotive utvecklade vi en Digital Key-lösning, där vi ansvarade för arkitektur, mjukvara och test för att skapa en säker och smidig användarupplevelse.

Vårt uppdrag:

✅ Utveckling av Digital Key med Bluetooth & Cloud-integration
✅ Teknologiutvärdering och prototyping
✅ SDK för kundapplikationer
✅ CAN/LIN-baserad fordonskommunikation
✅ Säker fjärruppdatering av mjukvara

Teknologier vi använde:
🔹 Linux, Yocto
🔹 Bluetooth LE, Cloud connection
🔹 C/C++, Python

Test och kvalitetssäkring:
✔ Google Test/Mock
✔ Python-baserad testautomation

Genom att kombinera trådlös kommunikation, molnintegration och säkerhetslösningar hjälpte vi kunden att ta fram en pålitlig och framtidssäkrad Digital Key-lösning.

Hör av dig om du vill ha hjälp med något liknande! 

Android Auto vs Android Automotive

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The use of smartphones has been observed to be on a constant rise among the car and truck drivers. A recent survey conducted by Zendrive revealed that 88% of the three million drivers under study used their phones for at least three and half minutes every hour¹. It reveals the potential rise in the popularity and connectivity of in-vehicle infotainment (IVI).

The current trend is the augmentation of third party applications with IVI, which will pave ways for the collection and sharing of data on vehicle sensors and events with third party applications. To make this possible, Google has been working on the amalgamation of standard IVI operating systems with their Android Automotive system, which is specifically designed to run on such vehicular IVI platforms.

In contrast to Android Auto, which only facilitate the integration of display of a few applications from smartphones on the vehicular IVI, the Android Automotive is designed to have access to the in-vehicle network (IVN) making possible the gain of diverse vehicular data (Pese et al., 2020)². The differences between Android Auto and Android Automotive from the user’s perspective are summarized here with respect to their applicability and adoption.

 

Android Auto

This system enables the user to use the features of his smartphone and integrate its display on his car’s infotainment screen allowing access and control to a range of infotainment features. To use it, a phone with Android 10 and a compatible vehicle is required. For phones with lower versions of Android, a specific application requires to be installed.

Android Auto is easy to use by just plugging in the phone and running the auto app, and is supported by a range of vehicle companies. The most prominent vehicle companies that support Android Auto include Toyota, Honda, Fiat, Ford, Citroen, Hyundai, Lamborghini, Ferrari and Koenigsegg³.

Android Auto when integrated with the vehicle, allows user to access various music oriented, navigation, podcasts, streaming and communication apps with hands free features with very simple usage just like phone.

 

Android Automotive

In this system, the infotainment system of the vehicle is fitted out with the Android Automotive, which is a totally specific version of Android developed dedicatedly for this purpose and hence no phone is required for it².

This system was introduced by Google in 2018 in partnership with a collaboration of Car manufacturers including Renault, Mitsubishi and Nissan. The Android Automotive was planned to be incorporated into millions of cars by these manufacturers in 2021². However, this is not entirely new because the Land Rover and Jaguar are already employing a BlackBerry based system.

The Android Automotive is a codebase operating system that enable the manufacturers of developing a dedicated operating system for their vehicles. Its additional difference from Android Auto is that it will not only facilitate the user with music, navigation and messages features, but will also enable him to control the vehicle centered functions like air conditioning, heating, speed control and steering, seat control and audio functioning.

The future of Android Automotive is complex as the car manufacturers are having their reservations over car and user’s data security. There is also a threat to users as the car can be entirely hijacked. However, Google has been focusing on augmenting the safety and security features and car manufacturers have agreed on data sharing and collaboration².

However, the future holds many possibilities for users based on the Android Automotive including economy and safety oriented driving control, home and garage based charging management system and insurance premium management system based on the driving data obtained through sensors. Moreover, information about driving behavior like speeding, maneuvering and braking can be obtained and controlled or customized.

 

Written by Sahil Lakhe

Engineer Sahil Lakhe writes about the differences regarding android auto and android automotive

 

References
1. Mandal, A. K., Panarotto, F., Cortesi, A., Ferrara, P. & Spoto, F. 2019. Static
analysis of Android Auto infotainment and on-board diagnostics II apps. Software:
Practice and Experience, 49, 1131-1161.

2. Pese, M., Shin, K., Bruner, J. & Chu, A. 2020. Security Analysis of Android Automotive.
SAE Int. J. Adv. & Curr. Prac. in Mobility, 2, 2337-2346

3. Mandal, A. K., Cortesi, A., Ferrara, P., Panarotto, F. & Spoto, F. 2018.
Vulnerability analysis of Android auto infotainment apps. Proceedings of the 15th ACM
International Conference on Computing Frontiers. Ischia, Italy: Association for
Computing Machinery.

IoT interview series P.3 – Daniel Andersson

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At Scionova, we strive to make the world a little bit better. But what does that mean in practice? To give you an insight into our daily work, we have performed an interview series asking our consultants about their experiences within IoT.

What does cloud developer Daniel Andersson work with in his current assignment? Continue your read and find out!

–

Daniel, tell us about your current role and what tasks you work with.

– I’m currently in an assignment where I work with IT solutions for different vehicle companies (OEMs), in order to connect their vehicles to the cloud or other wireless communication. The project I’m working with now, is to create a service where the cars’ devices and software are being updated automatically through the cloud. As it is now, the vehicles have to go to the workshop for software updates, which demands a lot of time and resources.  

You could call my role “DevOps”. I work a lot with quality, testing for solutions, and also development for the service itself. 

.

What language and platform do you work in?

– Our main language is Java, but we also write some things in JavaScript. The platform we build in is AWS (Amazon Web Services), where a completely Serverless approach is taken. That allows us to write code and upload it, and it basically takes care of itself as AWS is maintaining all the underlying servers.

 

What value is created through your work, and for whom?

– For my client’s customers, the biggest value is that they save both time and resources on eliminating the need to update the vehicles on site. This also benefits the end user, who is the one driving the vehicle, not having to go to the workshop. But it also ensures that they always have the newest and most secure software.

 

What is the overall problem that engineers try to solve within this field?

– The important part when working with cars, is to ensure that you have the right code when updating their computers. That’s where a lot of the problems lie, it has to be safe. If something would go wrong with the software, people could get hurt. Both in- and outside the car.

 

What could happen if a car receives a faulty software, and how do you prevent that?

– In this case, computers control the vehicle entirely. It steers the wheels, the engine and so on. A typical problem is therefore the fear of the car steering in a way you haven’t told it to, which creates insecurities since it could cause disasters. We ensure that this doesn’t happen by always using secure communications, which includes making sure that we’re talking to the right server, and that all communication and storage are encrypted. Another important measure is to ensure a high code quality by thoroughly testing the solution. 

Working within this field, you have to think about all possible aspects regarding safety. Safety is important generally when working with computers, but especially when it comes to vehicles.  

–

Have you missed part 1 or 2 of this series? Click here and here to get to them!

Want to know more about the work of our consultants? Stay tuned for coming posts in the interview series! Follow us on social media to get notified.

Bluetooth Low Energy Audio

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In this blogpost I will give a brief overview of the new Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Audio features enabled by the recently released Bluetooth 5.2 Core Specification.

Previous BLE blog posts

We have previously written two blogposts containing information about BLE and the use cases enabled by it. Go read them to get the background of BLE and the state of it up until Bluetooth 5.1.

Adding audio to Bluetooth LE

By adding the functionality to stream audio using the Bluetooth Low Energy radio the Bluetooth SIG allows audio streaming for less power consuming devices with hearing aids as the main focus. Some hearing aids have since before been running Bluetooth but in those cases often using external hardware or proprietary protocols and profiles. Now the interoperability and ease of implementing has been greatly improved.

Other than improving Bluetooth audio in hearing aids there are multiple other use cases for the new LE Audio:

  • Better support for “True Wireless” allowing separate streams to each device (e.g. right and left ear). Previously this required proprietary solutions or only one of the earbuds being connected to the audio source (phone) which in turn would relay the audio packages to other earbud.
  • Allowing more Bluetooth sinks (headphones) to be connected to one source at once, e.g. letting you share the music you listen to with a friend.
  • Expanding the already existing broadcasting functionality (see Erik’s post about BLE) with also being able to broadcast audio streams. This could be used for traffic announcements in a train station, guiding tours at museums and a lot of other use cases!

LE Isochronous Channels

The new features described above are solved largely by a new addition to the Core Specification called Isochronous Channels. The way these channels are specified allows for multiple time synchronized Isochronous (audio) Streams within what is called an Isochronous Group. This makes sure that e.g. the correct audio packets are rendered at the correct times and discards packets which are no longer valid.

Connected Isochronous Streams

Variants for both Connected and Broadcasted Isochronous Streams/Groups have been added to the specification, to allow for all the new kinds of functionality for LE Audio. In the image above the arrows visualizing data directions are bi-directional between the master and the slaves, which is true only for Connected Isochronous Stream. Compare to the uni-directional arrows in the image for Broadcast Isochronous Group/Streams below:

Broadcast Isochronous Streams

For implementation details of the Isochronous Streams and Groups, refer to the Core Specification linked to at the bottom of this post.

New audio codec: LC3

Bluetooth LE Audio will use a new codec called LC3 (Low Complexity Communication Codec). According to tests performed by Bluetooth SIG, the new codec perform better audio quality at lower data rates than the current standard audio codec for Bluetooth BR/EDR called SBC. The promising test results would allow for using a lower bitrate while keeping the audio quality. A lower bitrate means less data sent and received using the radio enabling a lower power consumption.

See graph below for comparison in audio quality between LC3 and SBC from the study done by Bluetooth SIG. The rating is based on ITU-R BS.1116-3. The vertical numbers indicate the perceived difference in audio quality compared to the original source:

  • 5: “Imperceptible”
  • 4: “Perceptible, but not annoying”
  • 3: “Slightly annoying”
  • 2: “Annoying”
  • 1: “Very annoying”

Bluetooth Codec Comparison

See Chapter 4: Test Method in the test methods document ITU-R BS.1116-3 for more details regarding how the tests have been performed.

Diving deeper

If you are interested to learn more about the new features in Bluetooth 5.2 (including Isochronous Channels), see Bluetooth 5.2 Feature Overview. To get even more into the details, the complete Core Specification is there for you.

 

// Johannes Jansson, Software Developer