The following are news announcements made during the past week:
PRESS RELEASE:
STMicroelectronics’ Water-Resistant Pressure Sensor Used in Samsung Wearables
STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, has taken underwater accuracy to new heights with its latest miniature pressure sensor, which is featured in the new Samsung Gear Fit 2 Pro.
As smart watches and wearable fitness trackers permeate the fabric of everyday life, owners want to go further with their devices and track performance across extra activities like swimming. Samsung’s Gear Fit 2 Pro, the next generation of sports band, supports these trends with features like built-in GPS, continuous heart rate monitoring, and larger on-board memory to do more even when not connected to a smartphone. ST’s new waterproof pressure sensor, the LPS33HW, is part of the mix: resistant to chemicals like chlorine, bromine, and salt water, it is ideal for pool or sea swimming, and will also resist soaps or detergents used when showering or cleaning.
Wearables are only just beginning to swim, and waterproofing pressure sensors creates challenges beyond just protecting the electronics. The LPS33HW is not only the most accurate, but also helps OEMs get their products to the store-shelves more quickly by recovering sooner after the stresses of manufacturing. Other sensors can require up to seven days to regain maximum accuracy after coming off the production line, but devices containing the LPS33HW are ready for action in less than half that time. This is due to the sensor’s high-performance built-in processor and the advanced formula of its water-resistant gel filling.
“Wearable trackers enhance smart living, and can now deliver an important extra boost with the go-anywhere ruggedness aided by our water-resistant LPS33HW sensor,” said Andrea Onetti, MEMS Sensor Division General Manager, STMicroelectronics. “Samsung takes advantage of the pressure sensor’s best-in-class performance for the new Gear Fit 2 Pro range and users will appreciate both its accuracy and toughness.”
In addition to smart consumer devices like wearables, other equipment including industrial sensors and utility meters can also benefit from the robustness and high measurement accuracy of the LPS33HW. The 10bar pressure sensor can withstand being submerged up to 90 meters, and the very low RMS pressure noise of 0.008mbar allows apps like an altimeter, depth gauge, or weather monitor to deliver consistent and stable results. The sensor accuracy drifts by less than ±1mbar per year.
When soldered to a circuit board during product manufacture, the accuracy is affected by less than ±2mbar, and returns to normal after less than 72 hours – significantly quicker than similar water-resistant pressure sensors. The LPS33HW is in production now, in a 3.3mm x 3.3mm x 2.9mm cylindrical metal package suitable for use with O-ring seals, priced from $4.50 for orders of 1000 pieces.
PRESS RELEASE:
Industrial Internet Consortium Publishes IIoT Analytics Framework Technical Report, Testbed Results
The Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC), the world’s leading organization transforming business and society by accelerating the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), has published the IIC Industrial IoT Analytics Framework Technical Report (IIAF). It is the first IoT-industry technical document to include a complete set of instructions that IIoT system architects and business leaders can use to deploy industrial analytics systems in their organizations.
IDC has predicted that by 2020 one tenth of the world’s data will be produced by machines. Yet without an analytics blueprint, that data could sit unused, never being analyzed and turned into useful insights. The IIAF is a first-of-its-kind blueprint for system architects and designers to map analytics to the IIoT applications they are supporting, to ensure that business leaders can realize the potential of analytics to enable more-informed decision making.
“Using analytics to provide insights is the holy grail of industrial IoT,” said Wael William Diab, IIC Industrial Analytics Task Group Chair, IIC Steering Committee Member and Senior Director at Huawei. “The IIC IIAF takes a holistic approach by developing the foundational principles of industrial analytics as well as looking at the complete picture from design considerations to creation of business value and functionality. This entire ecosystem approach is valuable to both business leaders as well as technologists, engineers and architects looking to deploy IIoT systems.”
The IIC IIAF is the first document to offer a broad scope of requirements and concerns for industrial analytics applied to IIoT systems. It shows IIoT system architects the steps involved in developing analytics for IIoT systems with state-of-the-art information, including definitions and information flows that shows how the technologies can be applied to the applications. Guidance is provided how and where to deploy industrial analytics based on the characteristics of the applications and outcome expectations. In addition, the IIAF looks at emerging technologies including artificial intelligence (AI) and big data, which are expected to play an increasingly important role in industrial analytics.
“Industrial Analytics is changing rapidly, from data lake to stream processing and machine learning. Our framework provides a common understanding and encourages interoperability across the IIoT ecosystem,” said K. Eric Harper, IIC Industrial Analytics Task Group Chair, IIC Steering Committee Member and Senior Principal Scientist at ABB. “With this foundation, it is more likely that applications will be able to adopt new technologies and techniques in the future without substantial rework.”
Analytics have been applied to other many other fields such as finance and retail to improve the customer experience and increase corporate revenue. The major differentiation in industrial settings is the physicality of the systems. For example, if IIoT systems are not configured correctly, or if their maintenance schedule is wrong, the systems can cause physical harm. Analysis and improvement of operational maintenance across multiple systems must be performed with extreme diligence, and are as important to technology leaders as they are to business leaders looking to increase profits.
“Industrial analytics are the engine that takes data from industrial systems and creates value and insight to get business results,” said Will Sobel, IIC Industrial Analytics Task Group Chair and Chief Strategy Officer at VIMANA. “The sophistication of analytical methods in other domains, such as finance and media, have been evolving at a breakneck pace, but little has been done to apply these techniques to industrial systems. The IIAF provides the special considerations one needs to consider before one uses these technologies in an industrial system.”
When analytics are applied to machine and process data, they help optimize decision-making and enable intelligent operations. These new insights and intelligence can be applied across all levels of any enterprise in any industry if the appropriate data can be collected, curated and analytics are applied correctly.
“In transforming machine raw data into actionable information, industrial analytics plays a crucial role in the industrial Internet just like refineries that turns crude oil into high energy fuel. The actionable information from the analytics is the fuel that drives the optimization of industrial operations and production, the creation of new revenue streams and the enablement of new business models,” said Shi-wan Lin, IIC Technology Working Group Chair and CEO and Co-Founder, Thingswise, LLC.
The full IIC Industrial IoT Analytics Framework Technical Report and list of IIC members who contributed can be found on the IIC website (http://www.iiconsortium.org/industrial-analytics.htm).
In addition, the consortium has published the first results of its testbed program. A major focus and activity of the IIC and its members, testbeds provide platforms for IIC member organizations to think through innovations, test new applications, processes, products, services and business models to ascertain their usefulness and viability before taking them to market.
“IIC testbeds provide a feedback loop from concept to reality and back to innovation,” said Dr. Richard Soley, Executive Director, IIC. “They help uncover the technologies, techniques and opportunities that are essential to solving important problems that benefit business and society. This is the reason member companies agree to sponsor and own their testbeds but will also share progress reports.”
The following IIC testbeds have shared these important first results:
Track & Trace Testbed – Initially formed to trace process tools, the team deployed sensors that provided information about the location of tools and assets in use. It was expanded from tools to logistics equipment, specifically forklifts. Results: The testbed identified standardization opportunities in localization-technology interfaces, tightening-tool interfaces, enterprise-system interfaces, data models, data communications and device management. It also identified reusable interfaces that opened the solution to components from different vendors.
Time Sensitive Networking Testbed – Time-sensitive networking (TSN) enhances Ethernet to bring more deterministic capabilities to the network, including time synchronization, which schedules traffic flows and manages central automated system configuration. This testbed applies TSN technology in a manufacturing system with a wide range of automation and control vendors. Results: The testbed deployed early-phase IEEE 802.1 and IEEE 802 Ethernet standards. The testbed will improve upon those standards, making the use of TSN more prevalent in industries where it can improve efficiency, such as manufacturing and energy.
Manufacturing Quality Management Testbed –This testbed will improve manufacturing quality by retrofitting outdated factories using modern sensory networks and analytic technologies. The initial success was shown using the welding section of the air conditioner production line in a factory. Prior to the process, the quality control was based on the noise detection by an experienced examiner. Results: In March 2017, an optimized noise detection analytic engine was proven to help reduce the false detection rate by 45%. In June 2017, the analytic engine for noise detection was integrated into the production line and the accuracy of pass/fail detection was dramatically improved.
Communication and Control for Microgrid Applications Testbed – A microgrid combines generation and storage into a local power system. It allows more reliable use of renewable sources like solar or wind power in conjunction with, or even isolated from, the rest of the power grid. Near-term uses are for limited areas, such as a campus, corporation, hospital, factory or residential area. Someday, the microgrid architecture will enable deeper use of renewables throughout the main grid. Results: This testbed proves the viability of a real-time, securely distributed control architecture for real-world microgrid applications. It leverages an Industrial Internet Reference Architecture (IIRA) pattern called the “layered databus” that federates multiple connectivity domains into a larger system. The testbed implemented the pattern with the Data Distribution Service (DDS) standard as explained in the Industrial Internet Connectivity Framework (IICF) guidance. The testbed thus validated both the pattern and its implementation, showing both efficacy and acceleration. This testbed is also contributing to the Open Field Message Bus (OpenFMB) design, now a power industry standard.
INFINITE Testbed – The INternational Future INdustrial Internet TEstbed (INFINITE) uses software-defined networking to create virtual domains so that multiple virtual domains can run securely on a single physical network. Results: This testbed enabled intelligent route planning for ambulances to improve response times, leading to better pre-hospital emergency care experiences and outcomes for patients. It also led to the improved safety and effectiveness of first responders in emergency situations, especially in harsh environments. A third use case enabled the detection of anomalies or fraudulent behavior within the power grid through machine learning algorithms, which can also be applied to other types of Operation Technology (OT).
Condition Monitoring and Predictive Maintenance Testbed – This testbed provides insight into the health of critical assets. It leverages advanced sensors that automatically predict equipment failure and notifies a person or system so that pro-active steps can be taken to avoid equipment damage and unscheduled downtime. Results: This testbed demonstrated how to make older assets smart, collecting asset health data from four pump/motor skids used to pump chilled water from an HVAC system.
Smart Factory Web Testbed – This testbed networks a web of smart factories to improve order fulfillment by aligning capacity across production sites. Results: Factories and their assets can be registered and searched for in the Smart Factory Web (SFW) portal. IEC standards OPC UA and AutomationML are used to achieve semantic interoperability and are applied to exchange information between engineering tools.
The IIC reviews testbed proposals to identify goals, value, potential partners and commercial viability of each testbed.
The testbeds must offer a solid business case for global economic impact; have relevance to IIC IIoT frameworks to help members develop IIoT systems more rapidly; pass a security review to ensure a secure industrial Internet; and provide tangible deliverables such as technologies or best practices requirements for standards. There are currently 26 approved IIC testbeds.
The full report, “Why We Build Testbeds: First Results” is available on the IIC website (http://www.iiconsortium.org/pdf/Why_we_build_testbeds-first_results_091917.pdf).
PRESS RELEASE:
Altizon Wins Frost & Sullivan IoT Award
Altizon, a global industrial IoT (IIoT) platform company creating connected intelligence for enterprises, has announced it has won the Frost & Sullivan 2017 India IoT Energy Monitoring New Product Innovation Leadership Award. Altizon received the award for its technology innovation using its Datonis Industrial IoT (IIoT) platform to develop a real-time electricity monitoring solution that helps ensure quality of power generation and best practices.
A vast majority of rural areas around the world have inconsistent electric supplies, resulting in frequent interruptions, load shedding/blackouts, and voltage fluctuations that negatively impact daily life. Using its Datonis IIoT platform, Altizon worked closely with Prayas Energy Group, an India NGO that works on governance, regulation and electricity and energy sector policy, to build WatchYourPower.org. Altizon’s platform enabled the Prayas team to rapidly develop its solution in less than 3.5 months, which now efficiently monitors the availability and quality of electricity across hundreds of villages and towns in India and in several other Asian and African countries.
Altizon’s Datonis supports hundreds of global projects across the industrial landscape using sophisticated cloud computing, big data analytics and machine learning. Datonis enables industrial enterprise clients to ramp up and reap immediate benefits from IIoT including significant time and cost savings. The technology has been deployed in several smart city projects to monitor energy and water meters in India, Australia, New Zealand and the United States.
“Projects like watchyourpower.org are a powerful example of how Altizon and our Datonis IIoT platform are helping companies and governments monitor the quality and consistency of their power generation and energy consumption as well as support their energy advocacy efforts,” said Yogesh Kulkarni, COO, Altizon. “We are truly honored to receive this prestigious award as we continue to make new inroads in helping our customers quickly realize the benefits of IIoT.”
The Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards is a global program that recognizes outstanding industry achievements by companies worldwide. The award recipients are selected through an extensive process including a deep dive research and analysis conducted by Frost & Sullivan industry experts, which is then presented to an independent panel of judges representing the top companies in India. This year’s jury includes senior executives from renowned organizations like Mahindra & Mahindra, Ashok Leyland, Kotak India Bank, Morgan & Stanley & MENASA, the mobility practice of F&S.
PRESS RELEASE:
Opto 22 Enhances Industrial Edge Appliance With Drivers for Allen-Bradley, Siemens PLCs
Industrial automation manufacturer and Industrial Internet of Things tools developer Opto 22 has announced a new version of groov, embedding key IIoT technologies MQTT and OPC-UA drivers directly into its industrial edge appliance. Added to the groov View software for web and mobile visualization, and the open-source Node-RED development environment, the newrelease offers engineers, technicians, and developers a comprehensive set of tools for edge deployment in industrial environments.
These new embedded capabilities are made possible through forging close partnerships with technology providers InductiveAutomation and Cirrus Link Solutions, and are part of the Ignition Edge Onboard program.
“Partnering is vital to provide everything required for a given IIoT implementation,” said Benson Hougland, Opto 22 VP of Marketing andProduct Strategy. “With Inductive Automation and Cirrus Link, we’ve combined proven applications into a single, industrially hardened appliance to address today’s application needs. Visualization, data handling, security, and connectivity are all in one compact box.”
“We’re pleased that Opto 22’s groov is one of the first edge appliances to market with Ignition Edge embedded,” said Don Pearson, Chief Strategy Officer at Inductive Automation. “Opto 22’s reputation for reliable industrial hardware and their interest in the future direction of automation systems made the partnership a natural fit.”
“Working with Opto 22 on drivers and embedding MQTT with Sparkplug has been great,” said Arlen Nipper, President and CTO at Cirrus Link, and co-inventor of the MQTT protocol. “This partnership approach combines a trusted hardware platform with resilientcommunication architectures for automation and SCADA systems in an extremely efficient and flexible way.”
A typical use case for the new groov edge appliance is gathering data from plant floor devices or from remote plants. A customer placesgroov near a machine or process, uses the built-in drivers to connect to existing control systems, analyzes the data, and publishes theresults back to a central server or broker on premises or in the cloud. Applications like Ignition Enterprise or any MQTT/Sparkplug-compliant software can subscribe to the data.
This scenario eliminates complex networking architectures like VPNs, firewall configurations, and remote desktop software, because allcommunications to the broker use a secure outbound connection from control systems, whether publishing data or subscribing to it. Additionally, because groov is a complete computing appliance, a PC is not required.
Ignition Edge in the groov appliance includes both a built-in OPC UA server and MQTT module. The built-in OPC UA server includes drivers to popular PLC brands, including Rockwell Automation Allen-Bradley PLCs, Siemens S7 PLCs, and Modbus TCP devices. Other drivers are available at additional cost. Embedding these drivers and OPC UA at the edge eliminates the cost and complexity of commissioning and maintaining a Microsoft Windows-based computer for translating PLC and device data to OPC UA, the only method available until now.
MQTT is a bi-directional, lightweight event- and message-oriented transport protocol with a publish/subscribe architecture. This architecture decouples devices from applications, allowing users to reduce reliance on traditional IT networking resources. MQTT’s pub/subarchitecture also reduces network traffic, because data is published and sent only when it changes. Supported over the MQTT transport is Sparkplug, a freely available, MQTT-based payload definition for industrial applications, which greatly simplifies implementation by definingtopic namespaces and payload, and managing the state of devices in the field.
Ignition Edge embedded into the groov edge appliance also allows Inductive Automation customers to extend their Ignition platform to the edge with optional Panel and Edge Enterprise Administration licenses, available directly from Inductive Automation.
Originally launched in April 2013, the groov edge appliance is an industrially hardened computer appliance used for visualization, data handling, and connectivity. For visualization, groov View makes it easy to create secure, scalable operator interfaces for mobile devices andweb browsers on any computing platform.
For data handling, groov includes Node-RED, an IoT application builder that connects to data sources locally and in the cloud, manipulates that data, and publishes the data to anywhere. The groov edge appliance was designed for security from the ground up, with communications to the appliance over two independent Ethernet interfaces protected by TLS encryption and user authentication. All configuration of the appliance is securely managed by the included groov Admin utility.
Both the groov edge appliance (part number GROOV-AR1-BASE, $1295 list) and the groov Enterprise License with Ignition Edge (part number GROOV-LIC-ENT, $1595 list) are available immediately from a world-wide channel of distributors, partners, and system integrators. Customers with a GROOV-AR1 groov Box can purchase a groov Enterprise license to obtain the new features. Existing customers with agroov Enterprise License under current maintenance can request an Ignition Edge license at no additional charge. For more information,contact Opto 22 Pre-sales: 951-695-3000 or toll free, 800-321-6786. For more on groov, visit http://groov.com/.
PRESS RELEASE:
Inmarsat Research Indicates Internet of Things to Play Role in Helping Mining Industry to Improve Environmental Monitoring
The Internet of Things (IoT) has the potential to dramatically reduce the impact of mining operations on the environment, according to new research from Inmarsat (ISAT.L), which found that environmental monitoring is the number one driver of IoT in the sector. The research from the global mobile satellite company suggests that IoT will enable mining businesses to monitor their assets more accurately and react more quickly to any potential issues, minimising environmental damage.
In May 2017 market research specialist Vanson Bourne interviewed respondents from 100 large mining companies across the globe for Inmarsat’s ‘The Future of IoT in Enterprise – 2017’ report, and found that 47 per cent of organisations identified monitoring environmental changes as their number one priority for their IoT deployments. In addition, 57% of respondents from the mining sector reported that the most exciting innovation that IoT will bring to the world is improved environmental monitoring.
Joe Carr, Director of Mining at Inmarsat Enterprise commented: “Improving environmental monitoring is an area where mining operators clearly see real value in IoT. The increasing pressure from strict government regulations focused on mining’s environmental impact is placing a heavy burden on businesses in the sector, so operators must embrace innovative technologies if they are to comply and continue to operate efficiently and sustainably.”
Mining businesses have a duty of care over the lifetime of a mine to ensure that they minimize their impact on the environment and rehabilitate the land to its natural state. When this is done by manually-operated processes, it can be expensive and prone to error, with sub-optimal data collection and analysis.
Inmarsat is currently working with several mining operators to achieve their corporate social responsibility (CSR) objectives and comply with government regulations by deploying innovative monitoring solutions made up of connected networks of sensors and devices.
These digital networks are able to deliver accurate, real-time insight and intelligence on a wide variety of data points to a cloud-based platform for analysis. For example, a network of sensors across a tailings dam can constantly gather data on the levels and integrity of the dam, avoiding the expense of sending a staff member out to gather a single data point and removing the possibility of human error, while enabling staff to react instantly if readings breach minimum or maximum safety levels.
Carr concluded: “Connectivity is critical for successful IoT deployments. The remote location of many mines means that terrestrial or cellular networks are often not available. Satellite communications not only offer better coverage and more reliable communication networks, crucial in the event of extreme weather or an emergency, but can provide connectivity in deep, open pit mines and even underground, using repeaters. With up to 99.9% uptime, Inmarsat’s L-band services are enabling IoT solutions in mines globally, even in the most remote and hostile environments.”
PRESS RELEASE:
Cloudponics Intros IoT-Supported, Autonomous, Self-Sustaining Hydroponics System
Cloudponics, the intelligent IoT-supported at-home hydroponics system, has announced that its second generation GroBox, is immediately available to consumers nationwide. The fully autonomous and self-sustaining hydroponics grow system for growing medicinal plants and vegetables indoors can be easily controlled from a smartphone. Here’s a link to a Livestream of the GroBox fully automated grow system.
The GroBox intelligently monitors and manages multiple variables such as air temperature, nutrients, humidity, water flow, airflow, light schedule and pH balance in order to create and sustain the optimal conditions for consistent, predictable, and repeatable yields. The GroBox can be paired with the Cloudponics app for 24/7/365 oversight and can run for up to 3 weeks before a water refill.
Whether for legal recreational or medicinal use, the GroBox is simple yet flexible enough that anyone from a beginner to an experienced grower can cultivate their own high-yielding, high quality cannabis plants in about three months’ time from the convenience, comfort and safety of their home. By becoming the first to market with GroBox units ready for immediate purchase, Cloudponics solidifies its leadership position in the indoor/home gardening sector.
The GroBox can be used to grow a variety of plants and produce, however the system’s current setup has been designed specifically for the unique needs of cannabis growers, with special features designed to ensure the security and discretion of your plants, such as an odor filter,app controlled door lock and lights specifically designed for growing cannabis.
“There’s a growing trend in the U.S. towards the legalization of cannabis, whether for recreational or medicinal purposes,” said Cloudponics founder, Pepijn van der Krogt. “It should come as no surprise then that both nutritional and medicinal gardens are blooming indoors whether growing arugula to bok choy, cilantro to cannabis clean fresh produce will be available to plant, pick and consume regularly with our GroBox system.”
Currently, there are 29 states, plus the District of Columbia, where cannabis is legal for medicinal use. During last year’s election, voters in California, Massachusetts, Nevada and Maine approved recreational marijuana, while Florida, North Dakota, Arkansas and Montana passed medical marijuana measures.
Cloudponics also has a professional grade GroPro controller that allows the user to control a grow room or grow tent to remotely monitor and automate hydroponic indoor grows with nutrient dosing, pH sensoring and climate controls.
“Gone are the days of constantly checking on your plants. With new ways to control your plants, a future-ready connected platform, and the most extensive range of autonomous features available today, Cloudponics’ GroBox will change the way you think about growing cannabis for the better,” concluded van der Krogt.