A Survey of IoT in Thailand

Prof. Dr. Srisakdi Charmonman

Father of Thai IoT, Asian Computer Man
Father of Thai Internet, Father of Thai eLearning
Fellow of the Royal Institution of Great Britain
Senior Chairman of the Interdisciplinary Network Foundation
Charmonman@gmail.com, www.charm.SiamTechU.net

Pornphisud Mongkhonvanit
President of Siam Technology College
President of Thailand Chapter of the IEEE Computer Society
President of Thailand Chapter of Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
President of Thailand Chapter of the Internet Society (ISOC)
Pornphisud@gmail.com, www.SiamTechU.net

Abstract - Machina Research stated that the billion in its IoT business unit, 2) AT&T
IoT market was about 900 million US$ in announced adding a record 1.6
the year 2014 and will increase to about 4.3 million connected device, including 1 million
trillion US$ in 2024. IBM invested 3 billion IoT-enabled cars in the third quarter of 2015,
US$ in its IoT business unit. Samsung and 3) Earlier in the year, Samsung declared
declared its commitment to having its commitment to connecting everything it
everything it sells connected to IoT by the sells by 2020, and 4) General Motors shared
year 2020. Over 200 global universities and that its OnStar 4G capabilities would
colleges are now offering IoT academic generate US$350 million in profit over the
programs. Therefore, Thailand has to join next three years.
IoT to be competitive. This paper will
discuss six sets of examples of IoT activitiesThe document “Over 200 Global
Universities and Colleges Now Offer the PTC
in Thailand. The first set of examples is at
Internet of Things Academic Program” [2]
universities and colleges. The second set of
examples is at IoT companies. The third setstated that there over 200 universities and
of examples is from groups of persons colleges offering IoT academic program using
interested in IoT. The fourth set of “ThingWorx loT Platform” [3]. There are a lot
examples is IoT by organizers of seminars of other IoT Platform such as those mentioned
and conferences. The fifth set of examples in the document “Top 10 IoT Platforms” [4],
such as Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web
is learned societies which have activities on
IoT. The sixth set of examples is at Service, IBM Watson, Cisco IoT Cloud,
Government agencies. Salesforce IoT Cloud, Carriots IoT, Oracle
Integrated Cloud, General Electric’s Predix,
Keywords - IoT in Thailand, IoT Education, etc. Therefore, Thailand has to join IoT to be
IoT Companies, IoT Special Interest able to compete with other countries.
Groups, IoT Seminars, IoT Learned
Societies, IoT in Government The senior author of this paper has his
“Internet IT with Srisakdi Charmonman” radio
I. INTRODUCTION program on Radio Thailand about one hour per
week, his “Internet IT with Srisakdi
The document “5 predictions for the Charmonman” TV program on DLF TV
Internet of Things in 2016” [1], stated 4 Station about one hour per week, his
interesting points: 1) IBM invested US$3 newspaper column on Telecom Journal, his

The Track on Internet of Things of INRIT 2016, Impact Forum, Sapphire 118, Bangkok Thailand, 6 July 2016
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 A Survey of IoT in Thailand

invited papers a few times a month, and etc. Warning, 2) Design and Development of
Since IoT is one of the most talk-about topics, Hazardous Material Truck System, 3) City
he has to search Google every day to keep up- Decision Support and Management System, 4)
to-date on IoT. This paper will present six sets Lane Control Management System, and 5)
of examples of IoT activities in Thailand. The Traffic State Estimation System.
first set of examples is at universities and
colleges. The second set of examples is at IoT The third example is Southeast Asia
companies. The third set of examples is from University which registered with Microsoft
groups of persons interested in IoT; The fourth Lab of Things to establish an IoT Lab and
set of examples is IoT by organizers of offer a Bachelor’s degree program of
seminars and conferences. The fifth set of Computer Engineering (Internet of Things)
examples is learned societies which have [6].
activities on IoT. The sixth set of examples is
at Government agencies. III. IOT ACTIVITIES BY
IOT COMPANIES
II. IOT ACTIVITIES AT UNIVERSITIES
AND COLLEGES As of the year 2016, the number of loT
companies in Thailand is still small but more
Several universities and colleges in and more companies will branch into IoT.
Thailand have started or are planning to start Three examples will be given in this Section of
IoT activities. The first example is Siam the paper.
Technology College (STC) which has declared
to be “Smart Campus”. A group of faculty The first example is CAT
members have been taking online IoT courses Telecommunications Co., Ltd or CAT which
from the US. An IoT laboratory is being has joined with the National Innovation
established. STC is the seat of Thailand Agency (Public Organization) or NIA which is
Chapter of several international learned under the Ministry of Science and Technology,
societies such as Thailand Chapter the Institute and Thai Embedded Systems Association or
of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), TESA, to establish "IOT City Innovation
Thailand Chapter of the Association of Center"[7]. This Center “aims to develop the
Computing Machinery (ACM), and Thailand innovative ecosystem-based, Internet of Thing
Chapter of the Internet Society (ISOC), and so (IOT), by encouraging the promotion of
faculty and staff members as well as students innovation and driving the business innovation
have been encouraged to participate in IoT for entrepreneurs in the field of information
activities of those organizations. and communications technology to be able to
develop products and solutions for intelligent
The second example is King Mongkut's city management with the quality level
Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL). conforming to the international standards”.
As a matter of fact, KMITL, KMUTT (King
Mongkut’s University of Technology The second example is a Thai company by
Thonburi, and KMUTNB (King Mongkut's the name of “FutureLifestyle” [8] which is
University of Technology North Bangkok) authorized dealer for FIBARO selling IoT
used to be three campuses of King Mongkut’s devices.
but they are now independent and are actively
involved with IoT. However, due to limited The third example is a company in Thailand
time available for the presentation of this named Gravitech which designed and built
paper, KMITL will be discussed as an LAMBDA Board for IoT at low cost [9].
example. KMITL has established Smart City
The fourth example is True Corporation
Research Center (SCRC) [5] and announced
which announced cooperation with Jasper to
several IoT research projects such as: 1)
provide IoT services in Thailand [10, 11].
Design and Development of Automatic Speed
Sample services are Connected Cars, Fleet

The Track on Internet of Things of INRIT 2016, Impact Forum, Sapphire 118, Bangkok Thailand, 6 July 2016
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Prof. Dr. Srisakdi Charmonman and Pornphisud Mongkhonvanit

Management, and Smart Cities. Knowledge-Based Society with a Track on

IV. IOT ACTIVITIES AT SPECIAL
INTEREST GROUP
As IoT is getting more and more popular,
IoT special interest groups are organized all
over the world. In Thailand as of the year
2016, there is one group which is quite active.
It is “Thailand IoT Consortium” which is a
group of about 30-40 persons. Once every
month or two, the Consortium organize: 1) a
meeting of members, 2) a lecture by an expert,
3) a MakeAthon or Maker Holic, and 4) a
HackAthon or Hacker Holic [12]. Mr. Panutat
Tejasen, the President of the Thailand IoT
Consortium said “Given the country's
resources of highly technically skilled
engineers and industrial manufacturing bases,
the advent of the IoT will undoubtedly shake
up things in a number of industries” and that
“smart home automation or the connected
home market was expected to enjoy mass
adoption next year, driven mainly by a greater
variety of wearable devices, more affordable
embedded system programming and high-
speed wireless broadband internet”.
V. IOT BY ORGANIZERS OF SEMINARS
AND CONFERENCES
In Thailand, there are IoT-related seminars
and conferences. For examples, there are 5
events from May to December 2016. They are:
1) 26-27 May 2016, IoT Thailand
organized by Asia IoT Business Platforum.
2) 6 July 2016, IoT Seminar by the Office
of the Royal Society of Thailand and several
Learned Societies.
3) 27-28 August 2016, Bangkok
International Conference on Internet of Things IoT activities is “ISOC or the Internet Society”
(BkkIoT2016)
4) 8-9 October 2016, the 11th International which mentioned ISOC document submitted to
Conference on eBussiness (iNCEB2016) with “Russian Internet Forum (RIF)” organised by
the Track on IoT in eBusiness.
th Communications (RAEC) with support of
5) 16-17 December 2016, the 13
International Conference on E-Learning for
IoT in E-Learning.
VI. IOT ACTIVITIES AT LEARNED
SOCIETIES
Similar to the cases of other countries, there
are a lot of Learned Societies in Thailand.
Three examples will be given in this paper.
The first example of learned society with
IoT activities is “IEEE or The Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers” which
has a group of members interested in IoT
called “IoT.IEEE.org” [13] which has IoT-
related activities, such as 1) Along with the
IEEE Internet Initiative, had the opportunity to
comment on the National Telecommunication
and Information Administration's role in
promoting and regulating the IoT, and 2)
explore the convergence of IoT and the related
technologies that will create the beginnings of
a sentient and interactive physical
environment.
The second example of learned society with
IoT activities is “ACM or the Association for
Computing Machinery” [14]. The ACM U.S.
Public Policy Council submitted comments to
the National Telecommunications and
Information Administration (NTIA) on the
potential benefits and challenges of the
Internet of Things and what role the U.S.
Government should play in this area. Sample
highlights from USACM’s comments on the
Internet of Things are: 1) Defining IoT, 2)
Cybersecurity Concerns Raised Specifically by
IoT, 3) Privacy Concerns about IoT and
Related Technical Considerations, and 4)
Factors to Consider in International
Engagement.
The third example of learned society with
which carries out IoT activities such as in the
document “Internet of Things (IoT)” [15]
the Russian Association of Electronic
other Russian Internet organizations. The

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Forum took place on the outskirts of Moscow
on 13-15 April 2016 with. more than 7,000 IT
professionals and other Internet enthusiasts to
debate the hottest tech trends in Russia and to
network with their peers The ISOC document
[15] discusses security, privacy,
interoperability, standards, legal regulatory
and rights, emerging economy and
development issues.
VII. IOT ACTIVITIES BY THAI
GOVERNMENT AGENCIES
Several Thai Government agencies have
started IoT activities. The first example is the
Ministry of Science and Technology by the
National Innovation Agency (Public
Organization) or NIA [16], in cooperation with
CAT Telecommunications Co., Ltd or CAT
and Thai Embedded Systems Association or
TESA, held a press conference on the
cooperation and launching of "IOT City
Innovation Center", This center aims to
develop the innovative ecosystem-based,
Internet of Thing (IOT), by encouraging the
promotion of innovation and driving the
business innovation for entrepreneurs in the
field of information and communications
technology to be able to develop products and
solutions for intelligent city management with
the quality level conforming to the [1] Jahangir, M. “5 predictions for the
international standards.
The second example is the National
Electronics and Computer Technology Center
or NECTEC which plans to launch Net Pie, a
network platform to provide support for IoT
developers [17]. NECTEC announced that “To
capture the huge potential of IoT, the National
Electronics and Computer Technology Centre
(Nectec) will launch NETPIE, a network
platform for IoT. This platform aims to [3] PTC.com. “ThingWorx loT Platform”.
provide support for general IoT developers….
The developers just put the NETPIE library on
their device which then takes care of all the
connections…”. The third example includes
Smart Thailand, Smart Bangkok, Smart
Chiang Mai, Smart Phuket, and etc.
The Track on Internet of Things of INRIT 2016, Impact Forum, Sapphire 118, Bangkok Thailand, 6 July 2016
A Survey of IoT in Thailand
VIII. CONCLUDING REMARKS
Machina Research stated that the IoT
market was about 900 million US$ in the year
2014 and will increase to about 4.3 trillion
US$ in 2024. IBM invested 3 billion US$ in its
IoT business unit. Samsung declared its
commitment to having everything it sells
connected to IoT by the year 2020. Over 200
global universities and colleges are now
offering IoT academic programs. This paper
has shown that Thailand has been actively
using and plan to continue using IoT to be
competitive. Presented are examples of using
IoT in universities and colleges, in IoT
companies, in groups of persons, in organizing
seminars and conferences, in learned societies,
and in Government agencies. However, IoT is
progressing very rapidly and so all parties
concerned must search the Internet for up-to-
date information to study and decide how to
make applications for the benefits of
themselves, their organizations, and their
countries.
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Prof. Dr. Srisakdi Charmonman and Pornphisud Mongkhonvanit

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