Hardware Issues

When it comes to developing embedded IoT devices, the hardware design is viewed as a
critical component for the success of the IoT product. In order to ensure the embedded IoT
product meets the required function, consumes low power and is secure and reliable, a lot of
challenges are faced by the embedded IoT device manufacturers during the hardware
designing phase of these devices.

IoT Hardware includes a wide range of devices such as devices for routing, bridges, sensors
etc. These IoT devices manage key tasks and functions such as system activation, security,
action specifications, communication, and detection of support-specific goals and actions.

Four big issues of faced by the IoT technology are power management, connectivity,
integration and most importantly the hardware.

Power Management: An IoT Research Challenge

The creation of battery-powered sensors and controllers has fueled much of the growth
in IoT, but there’s more research to be done around ways to better address demanding power
budgets while achieving the desired battery size, form factor, life, and cost. Battery life in
particular can be a big cost driver, especially in non-consumer IoT devices, due to the cost
associated with changing out batteries or taking devices out of service for battery charging.

Integration

Aside from IoT considerations related to device and system design, integrating IoT solutions
is equally challenging. One must implement processes to monitor the data from connected
devices and respond appropriately. A temperature sensor that monitors a refrigerator storing
expensive medications is only useful if someone is monitoring it—and is responsible for
addressing the problem when an alert occurs.
IoT Connectivity Challenges

In order to have an “Internet of Things,” the things must be able to connect to a server that
can capture and process the data. IoT technology, for the most part, operates wirelessly.

The typical go-to for IoT connectivity is WiFi. It works well for the consumer market but
takes on more complexity in business use cases, since every device must be programmed
with the WiFi credentials. In addition, many IT departments will not allow third-party
devices on their networks due to security concerns.

Cellular is another popular choice; the downside is the recurring monthly charge for data use,
which varies depending on the a

Bluetooth technology, widely used for wireless connections for consumer devices, is also
finding use in business applications as a solution for IoT connectivity. AirFinder leverages
existing Bluetooth technology to connect devices in an isolated network to protect computer
networks from security risks.  

IoT Hardware Challenges

For basic use cases, many off-the-shelf devices or components are available but for a specific
product one need to design well defined architecture keeping in view the constraints of the
design, PCB, connectors, components, enclosures, power supply etc. All these factors along
with how the people interact with the device makes the development cycle more complicated,
expensive, and time-consuming process.

The software that runs the new device generally requires one or more revisions. Bugs must be
worked out and sometimes changes need to be made to align with the way people actually use
the device.

Common PCB Issues

Printed circuit boards are integral components in all electronics from medical devices and
wearables to satellites and airplanes. And with component malfunction, they might as well be
considered the headache of circuit board repair. This is why understanding the causes of PCB
and component failure and how to avoid them are critical.

1. Physical Damage
This is the most common cause of PCB failure. This is due to the physical pressure or shock.
The device in question might have been dropped from a great distance. Perhaps it was
smacked or hit forcibly by another object? There’s also the possibility that the device was
disassembled for whatever reason, and damage happened directly to the board.

2. Component Failure
Apart from physical damage, faulty components are the other most common cause of printed
circuit board failures. In fact there is no physical damage but a device has failed to operate or
power on, one can almost guarantee it has to do with one of the components connected to the
board.

The component could be anything from a capacitor to a diode or microprocessor. If the

component is the issue and has died or failed to work, it may need to be replaced entirely.
However, it’s not always the actual component that’s the problem. Sometimes due to aging,
overheating and voltage sags the trace circuit may have deteriorated to a point where it’s no
longer conductive. It’s also possible that a component—or several—have dislodged entirely
from the board and need to be reseated.

3. Trace Damage
Traces on a circuit board are the conductive pathways comprised of silver or copper. If a
trace suffers damage, whether through regular use or physical damage then it can cause
significant issues with the printed circuit boards conductivity, components and the device in
question. Some of the more common reasons for trace damage include lightning strikes,
severe power surges or shorts, metallic dust contamination, overheating and normal wear.

4. Poor Design
Sometimes the design of the PCB and selection of the components may be a cause for the
failure of the electronic system. For example, width of the trace for signal and power supply
may be interchanged, poor area plan for placement of a component etc.

5. Power Failure
In most cases, a power failure is remarkably similar to a component failure. The ultimate
issue stems from the fact that there was a major power failure to all or part of the board. One
of the components could have been exposed to higher voltages than normal, causing it to
overheat and explode. Or maybe there was a trace failure causing a short somewhere?
Whatever the case, a power meter can be used to test each individual component and the
general conductivity of the board.

6. Burnt Printed Circuit Board

It is common for PCB’s components to burn due to the high temperatures they undergo,
especially if there is insufficient space around the component. Each component only has a
certain amount of heat that it can absorb which is dependent on size and structure.

7. Poorly Manufactured Components

There is always a possibility of acquiring a poorly manufactured PCB. Some signs and
symptoms include loose components, connection issues, even a bad solder or left over flux.
One example of a bad solder job is a cold solder. This symptom occurs when the soldering
technician fails to properly heat the solder at a through hole or surface mount connection
joint. This causes a bad connection and has the potential to lead to burnt components and
power issues. Left over flux, a substance used to aid in the soldering process, can also do
harm to your component as it can cause corrosion on a PCB.
PCB Component Failure

8. Environmental Factors
Exposure to heat, dust and moisture, accidental impact (drops and falls), and power
overloads/surges can be causes of circuit board failure. However, the most damaging cause of
premature circuit board failure is electrostatic discharge (ESD) at the assembly stage.
Temperature change could be the cause of a PCB’s malfunction. This phenomenon is
commonly seen in Pool and Spa equipment due to their component’s high electrical currents.
With temperature change, expansion and contraction of the PCB is possible, potentially
risking a warped board and damaged soldering joints.

Environmental Damaged to a PCB

Moisture is also a PCB’s enemy as it can cause rusting, oxidation, and corrosion. This is also
common in Pool and Spa equipment due to their outside location which may allow rain water
or condensation easy access.
A third environmental issue that can cause problems with a PCB is the buildup of debris such
as dust, dirt, and even insects. These pesky items can get into equipment, causing it to clog
and/ or overheat; this is common in most electronics.

9. Age
Finally, with age comes component failure. A failing capacitor will generate intermittent
power issues. The same goes with other PCB parts. Old parts can be changed out for new
ones.

Old PCB Components

Of course with damage comes the fear of high pricing on a completely new circuit board.
Fortunately, most PCB issues can be fixed for a fraction of the price of a newly manufactured
PCB. Some of the previously mentioned issues, such as a burnt component, can be diagnosed
through visual inspection; however, deep rooted issues need to be diagnosed by a trained
technician. 

10 Component Design Failure: Incorrect placement of components, power failure, and

overheating due to lack of space on the PCB, are just a few examples of things that can
go wrong at the design and manufacturing stage. Related Issues:
 Soldering Issues
 Chemical (Fluid) Leakage
 Component Barrier Breakage
 Bad Component Placement
 Burned Components
11. Poor Quality Components: Closely placed traces and pathways, bad soldering to cold
joints, poor connectivity between circuit boards, insufficient board thickness, and use of
counterfeit components are common examples of inferior PCB quality.

Common Issues with Sensors

Sensors are devices that detect external information, replacing it with a signal that humans
and machines can distinguish. Sensors play an important role in creating solutions using IoT.
Sensors made it possible to collect data in most any situation and are now used in various
fields - medical care, nursing care, industrial, logistics, transportation, agriculture, disaster
prevention, tourism, regional businesses and many more.

Failures in a sensor can be caused by excess temperature, excess current or voltage, ionizing
radiation, mechanical shock, stress or impact, and many other causes. In
semiconductor devices, problems in the device package may cause failures due to
contamination, mechanical stress of the device, or open or short circuits.
Abnormal measurements, sudden shifts appearing in the measuring channel, faultiness of
measuring devices, changes in statistical characteristics of noises of an object or of
measurements, malfunctions in the computer, and also a sharp change in the trajectory of a
monitoring process, etc. should be enumerated among these changes.

1. Catastrophic failure

The sensor does not give any measurement or the measurement values received are
completely out of range. This could be due to sensor failure or due to a short or open circuit
in the sensor or the wiring.

2. Offset error

The measurements obtained from the sensor are stable, but readings are slightly above or
below the expected value. Thus there is an offset error in the measurement. This may be due
to poor wiring connections, formation of ground loops or solution contamination on sensor or
wire.

3. Unstable readings

The reading obtained are erratic at times. This could be over of under temperature, ingress of
foreign particle on the sensor, low or unstable voltage at the sensor, external or non-
representative interference or due to formation of ground loops.

Issues in Network Cables

Network cabling is one of those things that seems easy on paper but ends
up being hard once you apply it in the real world. Most people tend to
ignore it but do not realize how much it will cost them in the long run.

https://www.controldesign.com/articles/2012/fusaro-five-common-problems-with-wiring-
connection/
(1) Vibration/Loose Wiring
Loose connections, sometimes caused by the very machinery to which they're attached, are
among a host of wiring and connection problems that can bring to a halt the most carefully
developed and hardworking networks.

The electronics devices used may have alteast one power cable and multiple interfacing
signal cable for various input and output signals to the system. These cables may be either
directly soldered to the PCB Connectors or they may be properly terminated in mating
connectors. Vibration in industrial applications can cause terminated wires to loosen,
resulting in broken or intermittent connections.

(2) Electromagnetic Interface

Think that a data highway for the digital signal is running next to a cable tray with a 60 Hz ac
power supply and one is getting intermittent interference. The ac power lines and a data
signal had different enough frequencies that one wouldn't affect the other. But still the
workstations went blank. It turned out there was a variable-speed drive on that ac line that
was the cause of the problem.

Industrial equipment can generate strong electromagnetic fields that degrade analog and even
digital signal integrity.

The conductors carrying the signal are susceptible to outside interference from other
electrical components or wires running parallel to it. The electrical cabling near the
conductors could cause interference that could make the data on the network cable
unreadable. There could be lot of collisions on the network which will make the signals
distorted. To avoid the interference. the wires and cables used for interfacing must be
properly routed i.e. they must be as far from electromagnetic interfering sources or the cables
used may be even shielded or run the cables in conduits which grounded properly.

(3) Corrosion, Moisture

Moisture might be an occasional and unexpected problem in some industries, but it's a fact of
life in the food industry, where sanitizing washdowns are required at least daily. That kind of
environment is tough on electronics. Airborne chemicals, cleaning applications or salt spray
can result in corrosion of metal contact parts in terminal blocks. Consequently, this can affect
the integrity of the connection.

(4) Labeling and Identification

Different people use different wire orientations. Even with set practices, technicians in a
hurry may take shortcuts to get a system back up and running. You start troubleshooting a
problem and you might find a problem wire, but you have no idea where it goes. That can
waste a lot of time.

The solution was to standardize on marking all our wiring by destination, no matter where in
the plant the wire is found. It's not so important where the wire's at or where it's coming from,
but where it's going. It takes discipline to get people to adhere to this practice even when
they're in a hurry, but it will save us time the next time we deal with that wire or cable. Thus
labelling the terminal blocks above the termination point, and labelling wires based on
destination render easy troubleshooting and repairs.

(5) Flexibility/Stress  
If human joints and nerves can suffer from repetitive motions, imagine what thousands or
even millions of cycles can do to cable.

6) Failing to control atmospheric temperature. 

The environment in which you set up your cables makes a huge difference. If the cables heat
up too much, it could lead to the failure of the entire network. Likewise, moisture can also
lead to network failure and compromise the safety of nearby workers. You need a system in
place to keep all of your cables cool and dry. Cooling systems, air conditioning – whatever it
takes to get the job done: Do it.   

Issues with Power Connection

https://www.instructables.com/7-reasons-Your-Circuit-Isnt-Working/

1. Bad Connection Or No Connection

During assembling the circuit on a breadboard or on a general purpose PCB or while feeding
the circuit in a PCB designing software, some of the wires may remain open, or two or more
wires get short on soldering the wire. This may lead to wrong output of the circuit.

2. Wrong Connection
Electronics circuits use DC power supply. While making a power connection, positive
terminal of the circuit gets connected to negative terminal of the power supply and vice versa.
Once this connection is powered it will lead to failure of circuit or few of the components
which are polarity sensitive.

3. Noise In The Circuit Or Near It

Power Supply traces or wire fed power to all active devices on the PCB or System. Pulsating
outputs such as PWM signals cause severe interference to the power supply traces or wire.
Due to this the circuit under use may malfunction. Amplifiers and micro controllers are
especially sensitive. A really long input wire can act as an antenna and pick up noise.

4. Bad Power Supply

Make sure your power supply is providing power to the right places and is not being over
strained. If the power supply is inadequate to the task, it can drop in voltage and reset micro
controllers or make other components erratic. Batteries, under no load, can be measured and
have the proper voltage, but when connected to the circuit, the voltage can drop enough to
make the circuit useless. Measure battery voltage under the actual circuit load.

5. Bad Filter
A badly filtered power supply can also create noise and cause problems with sensitive
circuits. A large value capacitor 20- 200 uf near the power supply can reduce the voltage
ripple.

6. Floating Inputs
Inputs to logic circuits and micro controllers should either be grounded or connected to V+
through a 4.7 or 10K resistor. Leaving a floating input can render your circuit useless.
Floating inputs will act as an antenna and pick up spurious signals from house hold AC or
other sources.

7. Overheating
If the circuit is on and a transistor, resistor, or IC is too hot to touch and you cannot keep your
finger on it for several seconds, something is wrong. Such components can normally operate
somewhat warm--but not hot. You need a higher wattage resistor or you are overloading your
transistor or IC with too much current.

8. Wrong Design Assumptions

With experimental circuits we make a lot of assumptions. Sometime we can get away with it
sometimes not.

Designers often underestimated the current that small servos and motors require resulting in
power supplies overheating or shutting down.

If size is not an issue, allow more room than you think you need to fit the main components.
Packing too tight can make soldering difficult and slow and increase the chance of noise
problems between components. Design in connection points such as pins, sockets, or
temporary wires that give you access to measure current and voltage on the actual circuit.