- Cybra, RMS Omega Sign Strategic RFID Partnership
- Semtech, SkyLab, HeNet Provide Multi-Band LoRa Gateways to Stena Line
- IIC Updates Networking Framework, Publishes Trustworthiness Insights
- Avnet Distributes LeddarTech LiDAR Sensors and Modules
- Research Shows $35.6 Billion Potential Opportunity in RFID Market
Presented here are recent news announcements in the radio frequency identification and Internet of Things industries.
Cybra, RMS Omega Sign Strategic RFID Partnership
Cybra, whose product offerings include its Edgefinity Internet of Things (IoT) tracking software, has partnered with RMS Omega, a provider of RFID, barcoding, data-collection, wireless and mobility technologies, to create RFID-centered solutions for inventory tracking and asset management. The Edgefinity IoT platform lets users rapidly build integrated applications for locating and protecting people, assets and vehicles using RFID, RTLS and other sensor technologies.
“Our relationship with RMS Omega has grown steadily this past year,” said Harold Brand, Cybra’s CEO, in a prepared statement. “We’re excited to formalize the new strategic partnership. Companies looking for an end-to-end RFID tracking solution are in luck. They can shop with confidence knowing that with RMS and Cybra, they are getting best-of-breed solutions and support. In addition to their expertise, RMS Omega’s industry focus is a perfect match with Cybra, which will extend our reach to new customers.”
Edgefinity IoT tracks assets, equipment, personnel and vehicles to provide facilities with situational awareness. Users can deploy tracking solutions such as work-in-process operations, real-time equipment location tracking, inventory threshold management, inbound and outbound shipment auditing, and safety protocol enforcement. According to the company, Edgefinity IoT is scalable and customizable. Organizations can start with a small number of tags and hardware, then scale as needed, to track large amounts of inventory, locate misplaced equipment, or ensure the safety of employees.
“Edgefinity IoT is a solid, scalable, and user-friendly platform for organizations needing enhanced visibility and data accuracy for their operations,” added Clayton Vigent, RMS Omega’s VP of sales, in the statement. “Our mission is to improve outcomes through strategic technology solutions, and the results we’ve seen with Cybra’s software applications have done just that. We are thrilled to partner with Cybra and offer our customers better options to strategically track and manage their data, inventory and assets. We look forward to a long and fruitful partnership.”
Semtech, SkyLab, HeNet Provide Multi-Band LoRa Gateways to Stena Line
Semtech, a supplier of analog and mixed-signal semiconductors and algorithms, has announced a collaboration with SkyLab (an independent supplier of wireless sensors, as well as GPS tracking and monitoring systems) and HeNet B.V. (which developed the LongAP Pro solution). The partners will provide a dual-band network using Semtech’s LoRa devices in the LongAP Pro gateway for Stena Line‘s RoRo/Passenger vessel MV Stena Hollandica.
The MV Stena Hollandica
Leveraging Semtech’s LoRa 2.4 GHz gateway reference design, the dual-band gateway is intended to complement sub-GHz LoRaWAN standard coverage with the support of the 2.4 GHz global industrial, scientific and medical band, to address global maritime logistics and sea condition monitoring use cases. When there is a need to continually track and trace across vessels and land carriers in different regions of the world, the companies explain, a gateway offering ubiquitous coverage utilizing the 2.4 GHz and the sub-GHz bands can simplify the roaming of trackers and sensors.
“Asset tracking and condition monitoring at sea is now easier than ever through our work with Semtech and its LoRa 2.4 GHz technology alongside HeNet B.V.’s LongAP Pro gateway,” said Remy Sr de Jong, SkyLab B.V.’s technical director, in a prepared statement. “As a result of the joint collaboration, we’re offering a unique dual-band network that is perfect for maritime companies, such as Stena Line, to assist with the approximately 28,000 departures yearly, while ensuring client and customer satisfaction, and safe tracking and monitoring of the millions of tons of cargo on the vessel.”
“In a current time where global supply chains are under pressure to increase visibility and predictability, Semtech is continuing to solve these challenges with the expansion of our LoRa portfolio with multi-band capabilities,” added Marc Pégulu, the VP of IoT product marketing and strategy for Semtech’s Wireless and Sensing Products Group, in the statement. “Simplified and cost-efficient multi-band support is unlocking potential new uses in worldwide asset tracking, such as maritime logistics, through the all-in-one capabilities of LoRa.”
IIC Updates Networking Framework, Publishes Trustworthiness Insights
The Industry IoT Consortium (IIC) has published an update to its “Industrial Internet Networking Framework” (IINF), a guide to help Industrial IoT application developers design, deploy and operate networking solutions. The framework guides technologies at the Internet Protocol and lower layers and related capabilities, the IIC explains, such as management and security, and it underpins digital transformation across industries. The IINF update includes new guidance on deploying satellite communications tech in place of terrestrial networks, which can be technically and economically unfeasible. Developers can deploy satellites to connect IIoT devices spread over vast areas or for connectivity in remote, underpopulated land areas, or over the seas and oceans.
“The main advantage of satellites over terrestrial networks is their wide coverage on a regional and continental scale,” said Huawei’s David Lou, a co-chair of the IIC Networking Task Group, in a prepared statement. “Even though closing the link budget for IIoT devices is challenging, satellite technology can support IIoT devices as a direct radio access network. They can also serve as a backhaul technology for wireless or wired networks at any altitude.”
In addition, the IIC has published the newest edition of its Journal of Innovation (JoI), titled “Trustworthiness 2022.” This volume provides insights about trustworthiness and the role that software bill of materials (SBOMs), supply chain security, digital twins and the new ISO/IEC 5055 standard can play in obtaining trustworthy IoT systems. This information, the IIC explains, will be used to create an “IIC Trustworthiness Practitioner’s Guide,” which will build upon and extend the previously published “IIC Trustworthiness Framework Foundations” guide.
“Our first ‘JoI Trustworthiness’ edition was published in September 2018 and introduced trustworthiness concepts, and for those unfamiliar with trustworthiness, please read our first edition’s introduction,” added Frederick Hirsch, a co-chair of the IIC Trustworthiness Task Group, in the prepared statement. “We hope you find our latest ‘Trustworthiness’ 2022 edition informative and valuable.” The publication includes the following articles:
- “Trustworthiness in Industry IoT Systems: From Design to Operations”: This is a sequel to the author’s original JoI article, “Trustworthiness in Industrial IoT System Design,” from September 2018, extending the usage of trustworthiness from the design to the actual operation of industry IoT systems.
- “Achieving Trustworthiness Through Risk Management, System Theory, and Resilience”: This article offers perspectives on how risk management, system theory, and resilience can help organizations avoid losses and hazards.
- “Measuring the Trustworthiness of Software with ISO/IEC 5055”: This describes how the IIC’s five trustworthiness characteristics relate to the software quality model in the ISO 25000 series of standards, and how ISO 5055 provides measures that practitioners can use to assess software trustworthiness at the source-code level.
- “Leveraging a Tailorable Holistic Perspective of Supply Chain Risk to Deliver Trustworthy Systems”: This explores the impact of trustworthiness assurance on supply chain operations, addresses the challenge of delivering trustworthy IoT systems with supply chain risks, and offers a holistic approach to meeting the challenges.
- “Mind the Trust Gap! Strategies for Communicating Trustworthiness in Digital Twin Systems”: The author outlines an approach based on work from the IIC and Digital Twin Consortium to establish and communicate trustworthiness metrics that enable counter-parties to rely upon, and thus act on, trustworthiness data in complex and dynamic systems.
- “Using SBOMs to Secure Industrial IoT Devices”: This describes how SBOMs for devices differ from those for software, and it explains the primary challenges facing SBOMs for devices, while offering solutions for addressing such challenges.
- “Accelerating Time-to-Market Using an Integrated High Assurance Software Stack”: Finally, this article presents a high-assurance software stack’s detail, use cases and performance. It highlights issues and challenges, and it proposes a cost-effective approach for accelerating the design and implementation of systems with a high-assurance stack.
Avnet Distributes LeddarTech LiDAR Sensors and Modules
Technology solutions provider Avnet has announced that it will distribute products from LeddarTech, which provides environmental sensing solutions for autonomous vehicles and driver-assistance systems. Effective immediately, Avnet will offer LeddarTech’s LiDAR (light detection and ranging) sensors and modules in the Americas. LiDAR is a method for determining ranges by targeting an object or a surface with a laser and measuring the time for the reflected light to return to the receiver.
LeddarTech’s 2D and 3D solid-state LiDAR modules and sensors support many markets, the company reports, including mobility, industrial intelligent traffic systems and drone unmanned vehicles. The product line, which consists of sensors with detection ranges from 50 to 150 meters, meets IP67 enclosure standards to enable operation in variable weather conditions, while offering shock and vibration resistance. Due to the solid-state design, the company explains, these LiDAR systems supersede mechanical LiDAR products with high a mean-time between failures. The portfolio includes 8- and 16-segment LiDAR modules that are lightweight and configurable, with high acquisition rates and low power consumption.
“I am very excited to enter into this franchise agreement with Avnet,” said Charles Boulanger, LeddarTech’s CEO, in a prepared statement. “Avnet is a leader in the distribution industry and their expertise in design, supply chain management, logistics and fulfillment makes them a perfect fit to represent LeddarTech. Our LiDAR modules and sensors designed for the mobility, intelligent traffic systems, robotaxi and drone markets further augment Avnet’s product offering to their customers with solutions that improve safety and the quality of life for travelers, commuters, workers and mobility industry professionals.”
Alex Iuorio, Avnet’s senior VP for global supplier development, added in the statement: “Avnet is excited to expand our sensor portfolio to include LiDAR modules and sensors from LeddarTech. Demand for LiDAR solutions continues to grow in the transportation space, but we’re seeing the opportunity expanding into other key segments as well. The LeddarTech partnership positions us to both support mainstay automotive applications and expand our support of those high-growth, non-automotive LiDAR solutions that our customers require.”
Research Shows $35.6 Billion Potential Opportunity in RFID Market
The radio frequency identification market is projected to reach $35.6 billion by 2030, up from $14.5 billion this year, according to new research from MarketsAndMarkets. The market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 11.9 rate during this span of time.
RFID technology is commercially used in aerospace, logistics, sports and other industries, the research indicates, and is widely used for inventory and asset tracking to reduce labor costs incurred due to manual asset management. With Walmart adopting RFID, MarketsAndMarkets explains, the technology has received widespread adoption in the retail industry, which has expanded to the ever-growing e-commerce and m-commerce segments for better inventory management.
An increasing demand for hybrid RFID solutions, the rising adoption if RFID tags for IoT and smart manufacturing, and developing regions are creating opportunities for RFID solutions, the research indicates. However, high initial costs associated with the installation of RFID systems, as well as concerns regarding data security and privacy, are the market’s major obstacles, with the threat of cyberattacks among the primary issues for organizations using RFID technology in their networks.
Real-time location tracking systems are revolutionizing industries in which efficient resource utilization is critical, according to the report. RFID provides the real-time locations of individuals and offers visibility to keep people safe, but it can also be used to monitor specific employees and can lead to a loss of privacy. In the United States, the amount of electronic data is doubling every three years, the research notes, driven by an increased use of the Internet, smartphones and social networks, along with the growth of machine-generated data, including data generated from RFID tags, sensors and surveillance cameras.
A patient’s personal medical and health data, protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, can be disclosed through credit card payments for regular physician visits to alternative medical practitioners, the research indicates. With the expansion of the digital world, public concern regarding privacy is increasing, MarketsAndMarkets claims. Thus, the company predicts that data breaches resulting from RFID use may restrain market growth.