About the Training

Internet of Things (IoT) is a rapidly growing concept in technology that creates a framework in which day to day common objects (“things”) such as buildings, houses, cars, machines and environments, obtain a representation and a presence on the Internet. These objects are embedded with sensors, actuators and other applications that enable them to intelligently collect and transmit information between themselves and humans through network connectivity. This results to generation of massive data from these “things” which can be analysed to optimise products, services and operations. In addition, it also allows anytime, anywhere access for remote control of given sets of these objects.

Internet of Things creates a single technology bloc that combines concepts of artificial intelligence, embedded systems, cloud computing, software development for both web and mobile, machine learning and information security to achieve reliable, secure, efficient and robust data insights from big data. The term IoT is now getting to its 18th birthday but the technology stretches many years back as a solution that allowed machines to communicate with each other. In this era, IoT offers new applications and services that bridge the physical and digital worlds through Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication and Human Computer Interaction (HCI) through cloud storage and analytics.

In Module 1, students are introduced to the concept of IoT covering the entire IoT stack where they get to learn IoT architecture, building blocks of IoT, microcontroller devices (Arduino, Intel Edison and Raspberry Pi) and basic microcontroller programming skills. They are also exposed to fundamentals of IoT communication to have them grasp basic concepts of GSM, Ethernet and WiFi as well as LPWAN (Low Power Wide Area Networks). Students also get to connect sensors to the microcontrollers and develop programs that can fetch data from different environments/nodes.

In this Module (Module II), students get to have a continuation of the previous module. As opposed to module 1, this module is Cisco certified and apart from the IoT unit, there is an Entrepreneurship unit as well. In the IoT course, students get to use the Cisco graphical programming language to program the microcontrollers. This is done on the Cisco platform. A continuation of Arduino and Raspberry Pi microcontrollers introduced in Module I happens in this module. This module is strictly for students with a technical background such as Computer Science, Telecommunications, IT, Engineering (Electrical, Telecommunications, Electronics, and Mechatronics). Professionals in this field can sign up for the classes as well but their rate will be slightly higher than the student rate.

Hence, in this module, students will get to cover a deeper understanding of the following concepts:

• Entrepreneurship in IoT – Students will learn on developing business solutions enveloping IoT. They will learn the business value of IoT Architecture as well as how to monetize tech development in IoT. This unit will also cover business architecting of IoT and how to manage and operationalize your entrepreneurial idea.
• Microcontrollers & Sensor Networks – Here students are to learn deeper concepts of microcontrollers and sensors; two main microcontrollers to be used here include: Arduino and raspberry Pi. Students will learn on UART, I2C and SPI connections on these microcontrollers besides the analog and digital connections. WiFi, GSM and LoRA will also be covered as the main networks here.
• Microcontroller Programming –Graphical programming of Arduino and raspberry Pi will be covered here using Cisco platform where students have to focus on the logic of the program as opposed to hard code syntax. Prior to attending this class, a student might want to check node red as its basics will be described before diving into the Cisco graphical programming as the layout is slightly similar.
• Fundamentals of IoT communication – Concepts of communication networks such as GSM, Ethernet and Wi-Fi communication will be covered here to provide students with IoT networking knowledge. Students here will get to learn how data can be sent over different networks to the Internet from micro-devices as well as over cabled network as Arduino will be programmed over Raspberry Pi. How data can be reliably packaged for transmission over these networks is another concept to be covered here.

Program Pre-requisites

• Little knowledge in hardware and software programming.
• Knowledge in programming and communication networks will be an added advantage.
• Attendance to Module 1 will also be an added advantage but it is not necessary.
• A laptop running any operating system friendly to the student.

Program Format
The program combines both theory and practice. It is a highly practical course and is therefore run in a computer laboratory with a workstation (with required software tools installed) provided to each participant as well as a set of hardware equipment such as microcontrollers and sensors.

Venue
The training will be held at @iLabAfrica Research Centre, Strathmore University.

Value add to Participants

• Hands-on experience through practical sessions and entrepreneurial skills in IoT.
• Cisco IoT certification.

Program Duration
This is a 1 month evening course running from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm and starts on 10th April 2017 to 5th May 2017.

Program cost
KShs. 40,000 per participant. This covers the training fee, laboratory fees and certificates. An IoT kit with an MCU, a sensor and connectors will also be given to the participants at the end of the class.

Register for the program HERE

For Queries please contact: lmabele@strathmore.edu / Andrew.ruto@strathmore.edu