Innovations in AI, AIoT, edge computing, and sensor fusion are driving the next generation of advances in smart cities and homes.
www.electronicproducts.com/, Jun. 02, 2025 –
Delivering the next generation of innovations in smart cities and homes is an ongoing process to deliver higher efficiency, security, and sustainability, as well as ease of use. This is thanks to improvements in underlying technologies including AI, AIoT, edge computing, and sensor fusion.
In the May/June issue, we look at how these technologies—AI, IoT, edge computing, multimodal sensing, and security—are advancing even more intelligence in smart homes and cities.
Advanced edge computing and AIoT technologies are essential for smart cities to unify fragmented urban systems into adaptive, responsive networks, according to Nexcom vice president Jay Liu and assistant vice president Lisa Chen. They also report that to build responsive and reliable systems, the data processing must happen closer to its creation and application. This is already underway thanks to advanced AI technologies, interconnected sensors, and edge computing platforms.
Nexcom reports on how tech innovations like these are changing how cities function and covers four critical areas where greater engineering focus is required to build safer, more efficient smart cities. These include defining key performance indicators, bridging the gap between legacy and modern infrastructure, security, and designing for sustainability.
John Weil, vice president and general manager at Synaptics Inc., said the next wave of innovation is focused on embedding intelligence directly into devices, enabling them to understand, adapt, and respond in real time. And this on-device intelligence will be driven by the deployment of small language models (SLMs) and multimodal interfaces that leverage advancements in efficient compute engines, he said.
Weil believes the most successful implementations will focus on solving real user problems, and with SLMs, multimodal interfaces, and efficient edge compute, they will deliver more intuitive devices in the home.
The real leap forward will be in not just connecting more devices but making them more intelligent, autonomous, and agentic, said Moshe Sheier, vice president of marketing at Ceva Inc., which will require a fundamental shift in moving intelligence from the cloud to the device level.
“With on-device AI, advanced sensing, and multi-protocol wireless connectivity, devices can now interpret their environment, make real-time decisions, and evolve with user preferences to become a truly virtual agent,” Sheier said.
As homes and buildings become more connected, they deliver big benefits to users, ranging from reduced energy consumption to higher levels of security. One of the biggest tools in the designer’s toolbox is development kits to help accelerate IoT design.
As these connected devices proliferate in these smart homes, buildings, and cities, IoT device designers need a way to simplify and accelerate their designs, contributing writer Stefano Lovati reports. “IoT development kits provided by chipmakers enable designers to more quickly evaluate the design-in of wireless system-on-chips, microcontrollers (MCUs), and other processors into their designs.”
At the same time, chipmakers and OEMs need to address security. One of the landmark moments for IoT security is the U.S. Cyber Trust mark, a cybersecurity labeling program for wireless consumer IoT products, reports Sharon Hagi, chief security officer at Silicon Labs.
This gives consumers access and insight into the cybersecurity used by the device in an easy-to-understand format, Hagi said. Led by the Federal Communications Commission in collaboration with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark program could introduce different security tiers to accommodate different device types, he added.
Hagi addresses several issues, from establishing clear security benchmarks for IoT devices and building security into the silicon to standardization and global alignment.
Avishay Shraga, senior director (CTO) and head of security technologies at Sony Semiconductor Israel, poses the question: “Has the time come for IoT security to prepare for quantum computers?”
Shraga covers the challenges of integrating encryption solutions today that can withstand the power of quantum computers, particularly for LPWA IoT devices, and looks at the different approaches that organizations are evaluating. He believes the best approach is developing products that are upgrade-ready and support cyber agility.
Also in this issue is a product roundup of MCUs and microprocessors (MPUs) launched at the annual embedded world Exhibition & Conference in Nuremberg, Germany. This year’s conference showcased the latest advances in MCUs and MPUs, addressing a range of applications from edge AI and embedded vision to smart devices and software-defined vehicles, with a combination of performance, features, and cost.
Don’t miss the top 10 circuit protection devices introduced over the past year. These component manufacturers continue to advance safety performance and miniaturization for a wide range of applications.