Video: Experts Weigh In On ‘Weightless’ – Part IV

Last month, TechWeekEurope editor Peter Judge chaired a roundtable dedicated to ‘Weightless’ – a new communication standard developed specifically for machine-to-machine (M2M) networks, often referred to as ‘the Internet of things’.

In exploration of the topic, he was aided by three experts: professor William Webb, CTO of Neul, Gary Atkinson, director of emerging technologies at ARM and Matthew Bailey, VP of marketing and product development at Argon Design. All three also hold various positions in the Weightless SIG (Special Interest Group) – an organisation that coordinates and enables all the activities needed to deliver the new standard.

Below you can watch the fourth and final part in our video series, looking at the development of technology that could transform our daily life.

You can find the previous parts of the series in our video channel.

Peace of mind

White space broadband relies on portions of spectrum designated for television broadcasting but not engaged in a particular location, due to the pattern of TV transmitters.

Weightless uses this unclaimed spectrum to enable various sensors and computers to talk to each other. The standard is managed by the Weightless SIG – a small group of mostly UK-based companies that banded together to bring their vision of M2M communication to life. It was set up on the same terms as the Bluetooth SIG, and follows a similar set of rules.

The existence of the SIG ensures every stakeholder signs a royalty-free licensing agreement, keeping the technology accessible for all.

The video below looks at some of the security provisions built into the Weightless standard, and discusses Neul’s silicon design.

According to Webb, Weightless is at least as secure as mobile networks, since its terminals don’t run any operating system, don’t download applications and encrypt all data, so any type of malware attack is highly unlikely.

If you want to hear a more thorough introduction to Weightless, watch the first video produced by the Weightless SIG.

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