May 03, 2018The following are news announcements made during the past week by the following organizations:
Weir Oil & Gas;
SmartMetric, Grupo Datco;
Global Market Insights;
Future Market Insights;
IBM, Cisco;
STMicroelectronics, Jorjin Technologies, Sigfox;
Penske Corp., and Hitachi.
Weir Oil & Gas Intros RFID Fleet-Maintenance System, Mobile App
Weir Oil & Gas, an upstream provider of pressure-pumping and pressure-control equipment and services, has introduced its second-generation SPM RFID technology and RFID Mobile App. The RFID enhancements enable iron fleet maintenance in the field, including in remote locations plagued with low Internet or cellular connections.
Maintaining an iron fleet has traditionally been a time-intensive, labor-intensive and error-prone process, the company reports, that relies on manual data collection and physically storing printed certificates. This approach results in millions of dollars lost due to the inability to produce required certificates for uninterrupted operation. For a 900-piece fleet of iron, Weir notes, it typically takes three employees three days to account for all iron in the field, whereas Weir's RFID AMP technology allows that amount of iron to be tagged and accounted for within less than 60 minutes. The system utilizes optical character recognition technology, and operators can upload certificates into a storage location in the cloud for immediate retrieval.
Features include the ability to scan certificates offline for uninterrupted workflow, regardless of Internet or cellular signal strength; to use asset details to view the status of items operators wish to edit on Weir's mobile app; and to write new tags for items, even if operators are away from a connected network.
The RFID Mobile App, available for iPhone and Android devices, supports and speeds up testing and inspection processes by identifying assets by serial number. This allows personnel to perform an inventory of parts, instantly recall last certificates filed and organize the iron in the database, based on its assigned unit. Operators can track every piece of iron anywhere in the world at any moment, the company claims.
SmartMetric, Grupo Datco Sign Dealership Agreement for RFID Security Cards
SmartMetric, a maker of biometric-activated and -protected multifunction cyber-access, building-access and identity-security cards, has entered into a sales and marketing agreement with Grupo Datco, a company in the security infrastructure industry in South America.
The cyber-access card can be used with standard desktop smart-card readers that also have built-in RFID MiFare functionality, allowing the same card to be used for doorway and building access. The card stores the holder's fingerprint and will only grant cyber-access, and/or building or doorway access, upon a positive fingerprint match with that individual.
The RFID MiFare and smart-card chip are FIPS-approved. The card has a fingerprint scanner built inside, which the company says is as thin as a credit card. This allows the card to be used with standard smart-card readers for cyber-network access, as well as for physical doorway and building access.
In addition to logical and physical access control, the card acts as an identity card that can be used to validate a holder without being inserted into a reader. If an individual is the legitimate holder, then the LED will illuminate green. Otherwise, it will illuminate red. Having an internal rechargeable battery allows this instant ID verification to take place anywhere on a business or government grounds, the company reports.
Global Market Insights Says IoT Health-Care Market Will Surpass $10 Billion by 2024
According to a new research report by market research and strategy consulting firm Global Market Insights the Internet of Things (IoT) health-care market will be worth more than $10 billion by 2024. The market is primarily driven by the implementation of digital solutions across the sector. The integration of such technology in the health-care infrastructure is expected to streamline operations, improve patient interactions and enhance process efficiency, the firm reports. Increasing penetration of smartphones, coupled with improved Internet connectivity worldwide, is expected to fuel growth.
An increasing aging population in Japan and several European countries, such as Italy and Germany, coupled with the rising number of chronic diseases, will drive IoT health-care market growth throughout the forecast timeline, the research indicates. Advancements in the sector to provide accessible and inexpensive patient-care solutions will widen the scope for the adoption of such systems.
A lack of interoperability may hamper growth. Interoperable systems enable the sharing and retention of data automatically, eliminating the possibility of re-entering data each time. Issues such as difficulty in integrating devices from different manufacturers, and their inability to operate on other operating systems, poses challenges to the mass consumerization of IoT solutions. Other factors, such as the high cost of infrastructure development, followed by data privacy and security issues, are predicted to curb demand.
Rising deployment of smart sensor technology in various systems enhances the capability of devices to collect more data associated with a patient's health, the firm reports. The gathered data is used to enhance the patient-monitoring process, and to analyze it to discover new treatments for various diseases. These technological solutions, therefore, help to bridge the gap between the physical and the digital worlds.
Benefits such as fast scalability in meeting customer demands, followed by upgrades to privacy and security, are expected to drive telemedicine growth. The application allows the exchange of data related to patient health via a telecommunication network. Telemedicine solutions are specially meant for areas inaccessible to doctors where devices combined with satellite communications enable easy access.
The U.S. market is anticipated to hold the majority of revenue share, owing to the presence of advanced health-care infrastructure, coupled with the early adoption of sophisticated technologies. Mobile-based applications offered by technology providers have made it easier for facilities to share data with patients, while increased spending on digital technologies by regional governments further contributes to growth.
Future Market Insights Predicts RFID Printer Market Will Expand in Coming Years
RFID labels are being widely used, especially in the retail sector, according to a new report from Future Market Insights. This growth is a result of an increase in the rate of adoption of RFID printing technology.
The global market for RFID printers is expected to prosper in the next few years, the report indicates, with a rise in dependency for various end-use sectors. The report is titled "RFID Printers Market: Global Market Analysis (2013-2017) and Opportunity Assessment (2018-2028)."
The global RFID printer market is expected to rise at a robust rate, the firm reports, due to a growing dependency on RFID tags. An increasing demand for the adoption of RFID tags has been witnessed across several industries, such as in banking and health care, for tracking finances and products. According to the research, the retail industry is expected to hold a maximum value share in the global RFID market and is expected to proliferate during the coming years. The market is anticipated to have better prospects and grow at a higher rate in China, compared to other regions around the world.
The rising adoption of RFID printing and advancements in printed electronics is helping RFID developers to create thin and flexible tags. These can be integrated with printed sensors, thin-film photovoltaic solar cells and other technologies. Moreover, the rising usage of electronic printing and ink technologies is aiding RFID vendors in printing their own chip-less RFID tags on site. Several players in the global market are working on 3D printing technologies for enterprises to directly print RFID tags on or in products.
The advent of technology will reportedly result in the introduction of RFID laser printing in the near future. Companies have been focusing on offering cost-effective solutions via RFID printers; more such efforts have been resulting in the introduction of RFID laser printing to offer an enhanced print output to end users. Besides quality, the technology boosts printing speed, increases product life, and lowers the printer's overall operational and maintenance cost.
IBM, Cisco Collaborate on Intelligent IoT Platform
A year ago, IBM and Cisco announced a global collaboration to bring business insights to the edge of the network with the Internet of Things (IoT). Since then, the companies have been working to enable businesses to leverage IBM Watson IoT in the cloud, in conjunction with Cisco's Kinetic IoT data-management platform, to derive value from IoT data, no matter where it resides.
The companies have now completed the integration process. IBM's Global Services group and Cisco's IoT group have been focused on helping customers create new sources of value and drive efficiencies via digital transformation. The resultant platform enables businesses to extract, compute and move data, whether at the edge, on premises or in the cloud. The system enables customers to analyze business performance at the point of data collection, so they can monitor and control how their environment, assets and personnel perform.
The Port of Rotterdam, Europe's largest port by cargo tonnage, is leveraging the IoT and advanced analytics to transform its operational environment and improve efficiencies. IBM and Cisco have been working to enable the port's goal of hosting autonomous ships by 2030. The port processes more than 140,000 ships annually, and coordinating the berthing of each vessel is a complex task that involves multiple parties and thousands of data points. Collecting data about weather and water conditions like wind, visibility, height of tide and tidal stream enables the port to determine optimal conditions and timing for a safe berth and passage of a ship.
Additional value is provided by helping them to calculate clearance heights for ships. Increasing the capacity of ships based on clearance heights can increase the revenue generated by each ship entering the port. That same data can be used in the future to give ships advice regarding the most environmentally friendly conditions in which to enter the port. The system offers secure authentication and management of Cisco gateways; the application of intelligence at the point of data generation to enable decisions at the edge; automated connectivity, deployment and management of sensors; streamlined extraction, processing and delivery of data; and cloud analytics, data visualization and insights.
STMicroelectronics, Jorjin Offer Sigfox IoT Modules With Dual RF Connectivity
STMicroelectronics, a semiconductor company, and Jorjin Technologies Inc., a Taiwan-based company that designs and supplies modules, have announced the certification of the dual-radio modules that combine Sigfox wireless-network technology with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). Jorjin's WS211x Sigfox/BLE modules contain ST's BlueNRG-1 BLE System-on-Chip (SoC) and S2-LP sub-1GHz RF transceiver. This enables the modules to provide high connectivity and a long battery lifetime, targeting coin-cell-operated or energy-harvesting IoT applications.
Fully programmable, Jorjin's new Sigfox modules exploit Arm's Cortex-M0 technology embedded in ST's BLE SoC to act as independent IoT connectivity nodes. The combination of BLE with Sigfox's low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) provides several benefits to IoT systems, such as over-the-air firmware updates.
"We are excited to achieve certification for our first Sigfox-compatible modules," said Tom Liang, Jorjin Technologies' chairman, in a prepared statement. "STMicroelectronics and Sigfox teams' support has been very helpful and we are looking forward to keeping expanding our collaboration with both partners."
"The successful certification marks a significant milestone in our cooperation with Jorjin, delivering high-performance, ultra-low-power dual-radio Sigfox modules," said Maria Rosa Borghi, ST's low-power RF BU senior director for analog, MEMS and sensors, in the prepared statement. "Designers now get a cutting-edge solution for building high-mobility products with versatile connectivity and low power budget across all IoT segments."
The evaluation board for the WS211x modules uses the Arduino interface to ease customer development, and is compatible with ST's Arduino shield boards featuring MEMS motion sensors, environmental sensors or time-of-flight (ToF) ranging sensors. An SDK is available from Jorjin, enabling customers to develop applications using WS211x modules with ST's sensor shield boards, as well as an AT command list facilitating customer testing of the modules' BLE and Sigfox functions.
Penske Corp., Hitachi Partner to Improve Vehicle Performance via IoT
Hitachi has announced that it has started a collaborative creation process with Penske Corp. for Penske's next-generation data solution. The goal of the collaboration is to improve vehicle performance while leveraging Hitachi's digital and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies.
Hitachi and Penske began their partnership in 2012. Since 2017, the companies have been working to utilize Penske's vehicle data to improve performance. "This announcement signifies Hitachi's commitment to Social Innovation Business with specific focus on the transportation industry," said Toshiaki Higashihara, Hitachi's president and CEO, in a prepared statement. "Our opportunity to collaborate with Penske, leveraging their extensive knowledge in transportation and logistics, and data coupled with Hitachi's operational technology and information technology expertise, is aimed at creating dramatic innovations in the fleet management field."
"We are very pleased with the progress and continued strong collaboration with our valued partners at Hitachi," said Roger Penske, Penske's founder and chairman, in the prepared statement. "Hitachi's solutions have shown great promise as we strive to better leverage our vehicle data in new and innovative ways that helps meet the needs of customers across our businesses now and into the future. This is a natural progression from the technical work we've accomplished together in the motorsports realm, which has helped our INDYCAR program earn 38 wins and three championships since 2012."
