Practical Smart Device Design and Construction: Understanding Smart Technologies and How to Build Them Yourself

With the rapid development of the Internet of Things, a gap has emerged in skills versus knowledge in an industry typically segmented into hardware versus software. Practitioners are now expected to possess capabilities across the spectrum of hardware and software skills to create these smart devices.

This book explores these skill sets in an instructive way, beginning at the foundations of what makes “smart” technology smart, addressing the basics of hardware and hardware design, software, user experiences, and culminating in the considerations and means of building a fully formed smart device, capable of being used in a commercial capacity, versus a DIY project.

Practical Smart Device Design and Construction includes a set of starter projects designed to encourage the novice to build and learn from doing. Each project also includes a summary guiding you where to go next, and how to tie the practical, hands-on experience together with what they have learned to take the next step on their own.

What You'll Learn

• Practical smart device design and construction considerations such as size, power consumption, wiring needs, analog vs digital, and sensor types and uses
• Methods and tools for creating their own designs such as circuit board designs; and wiring and prototyping tools
• Hands-on guidance through their own prototype projects and building it alongside the projects in this book
• Software considerations for speed versus ease, security, and basics of programming and data analytics for smart devices

Who This Book Is For

Those with some technical skills, or at least a familiarity with technical topics, who are looking for the means and skills to start experimenting with combined hardware and software projects in order to gain familiarity and comfort with the smart device space.

About the Author

Chris Harrold is a 25 year veteran of IT, starting from help-desk and tech support through to leading technology organizations and departments. Throughout that career he has been privileged to witness one of the most exciting times in technology as the rapid pace of innovation and growth has driven technology from the realm of the corporation into the hands of the consumer. This has also spawned a rise in the creation of smart devices – devices that extend our own abilities and reach through the application of technology.

As a maker and creator, this ability to build things that can do tasks is innately exciting to Chris, and so he has stayed close to the smart device space, and has learned and built numerous things in that time. It is that process of building my skills in hardware, engineering, and product design that prompted Chris to write this book. While there is no way to convey a career of learning and study in a single book, his aim in writing this is to help others like Chris get started in the smart device space, by giving them the basic background, context, tools, and guidance to build on as they take their own projects to the next level.