APPLYING INTERNET OF THINGS (IOT) SMARTLY

Smart is a buzzword that has lost its meaning” claims Charles Sellers, Managing Director at Vantage Point Technologies. It’s a statement he has every right to make. Vantage Point’s real time remote monitoring platform, developed for the emerging Internet of Things (IoT) industry, is currently the only one of its kind in the world.

IoT (an integrated fabric of sensors, devices, data, connections, processes, and people) provides powerful opportunities to improve operational performance, asset lifecycle management and delivery of products and services. However, up to 90% of all data generated by devices such as sensors on manufacturing equipment, smart phones, tablets, connected vehicles and appliances are never analysed or acted on. Even new smart sensor systems with embedded intelligence rarely provide an informative output to external users on one platform.

VantagePoint changes that. Its innovative end-to-end technology platform provides real time remote condition and measuring monitoring that can derive deep business insight from the IoT, allowing customers to collect and monitor data from any switch or sensor, as well as recording service visits in any number of locations. This highly-configurable, ready to use and centralised platform has implications for a range of sectors including Manufacturing, Facilities Management and Energy. If Vantage Point is to achieve its potential, however, Charles urges more clarity around what is and isn’t “smart,” to help businesses leverage IoT opportunities:

“Machine learning isn’t new; the technology has been available for over 20 years, but during that time the capability of sensor technology has advanced, enabling an increase in more detailed data collection. This innovation leap, however, has coincided with the appearance of various zeitgeist phrases and acronyms like IoT and IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things), Industry 4.0 and cyber-physical systems, that attempt to define the systemic changes occurring. While these terms are fine, they tend to create confusion for those seeking information about how and which technologies can benefit them.”

To gain insight into the technology surrounding IoT you must first, Charles tells us, grasp the difference between control, monitoring and automation. Control, he explains, refers to those machines or components which rely on human intervention. This could be something as simple as a light switch, or an app which enables you to turn on your heating at home — where activation of the machine’s function is decided by a prior controlling intervention. Monitoring is in three formats and refers to condition monitoring (with a growing emphasis and demand for condition monitoring of electro-mechanical equipment) as well as measuring and tracking. The promise of “smart” IoT technology, however, is automation, powered by the intelligence derived from analysis of real time remote monitoring data. Charles calls this “intelligent equipment” and he uses the example of a commercial building to emphasise the possibilities:

“An intelligent building will automatically switch the heating on in the rooms where there is a presence and adjust the levels depending on how many people are in the room whilst compensating for outside temperature. This is the technology we need to exploit in conjunction with Artificial Intelligence (AI) because its capability will lead to genuine improvements in infrastructure, the environment and the individual. Turning on your heating at home using a phone isn’t smart anymore because you’re controlling it. Only automation, by today’s standards, should be referred to as smart. Or, as I prefer to say, intelligent.” 

Charles is on a mission to communicate his reasoning to technology decision makers enticed by the panacea of IoT, but to sell the benefits of Vantage Point’s unique platform he admits he also needs to imbue a better understanding of the difference between Smart Data and Big Data. Global data generation is exponential and ‘Big Data’ (the gathering and leveraging of which) is another vague concept bandied around most modern board rooms. Within the context of IoT, he explains, there is a great deal of hype around Big Data, but very little understanding as to where data originates, what form it takes, or how best to use it. This focus on Big Data also undermines the emerging IoT marketplace, and can lead to businesses investing in the wrong (and often costly) equipment:

“In the commercial world, companies that would benefit from IoT technologies don’t know who to approach to get the right kind of advice. And many of those selling ‘Big Data’ capture solutions like sensors or cloud storage platforms are only interested in data quantity. Poor understanding of the market also allows them to charge what they like, for equipment and services offering varying degrees of accuracy and reliability.”

Charles is interested in quality, not quantity and ergo promotes and is happy to give advice via the recently formed IoT Cluster North East to companies seeking sensors and other data capture solutions that provide a high degree of accuracy. Once accuracy is guaranteed, to deliver value, he highlights, the next step is to provide powerful data insights through real time data monitoring. That’s where Vantage Point comes in.

Vantage Point’s technology was conceived as a cost saving solution for companies that invest in commercial lifts. Firms in this market usually sell assets at a reduced cost and make their profits from lucrative maintenance and engineering contracts, which are sold as add-ons. Maintenance and inspection of lifts, escalators, travellators, etc. is supposed to take place once per month but research has shown that, on average, it only occurs eight times per year despite firms paying for twelve. It’s a $6 billion global market ripe for disruption as Charles explains: “Firms assume inspections take place because they’re paying for them. Real time condition monitoring changes the dynamic of these arrangements because it will highlight when a lift needs maintenance — the lift’s sensors will identify the specific issue that needs addressing and record when, and for how long, a technical call out took place.”

Beyond lifts, and because Vantage Point’s platform is a “one size fits all model,” the possibilities are endless. Instead of scheduling HVAC (Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) equipment for annual service, for example, the sensors embedded or retrofitted will issue an alert on any monitored condition that needs addressing, resulting in a huge cost reduction for clients. Outsourced facilities management companies and building management systems could also be enhanced with the Vantage Point platform, providing real time readings and driving efficiencies and cost savings. For firms with thousands of facilities and big energy bills, the prospect is mouth-watering. The Vantage Point system is effective and affordable; from ￡1,000 it eclipses building management system prices which can vary from anything between ￡8,000 and ￡100,000 plus.

Yes, Charles would like to see thousands of Vantage Point platforms sold but his motivation, he stresses, is not only driven by commercial gain but rather by the possibilities the technology offers to make things better. A recent collaboration with The Water Hub involving the Environment Agency, Durham County Council, Durham University and Northumbrian Water is indicative of this aspect of his work. Water scarcity is a major concern for Governments all over the world and finding ways of monitoring, assessing and reducing consumption is far more important than turning a profit. Charles also highlighted a project at a UK university where researchers are investigating water analysis technologies in toxicity and Nano particles for potential use in counter terrorism. Fears ISIS may attempt to contaminate water supplies means real time notifications could save countless lives if such a scenario ever materialised.

Perhaps a more poignant example, given the recent announcement of plans to phase out diesel and petrol cars by 2040, is Vantage Point’s current R&D programme focused on Transport for London (TfL) enabling London bus companies to monitor and reduce Nitrous Oxide emissions. By connecting its platform to engine management systems, Vantage Point will record speed, average fuel consumption and Nitrous Oxide emissions of vehicles in real time. Ultilising sensors attached to exhausts and providing real-time data transmission, it will replicate the exhaust testing stations and enable operators to identify and replace the most excessive polluters, as well as those busses in need of repairs, before they exceed the limit. “Diesel is having a long-term effect on people’s health, but we can’t expect to remove 37.5 million fossil fuelled vehicles from UK roads overnight. With Oxford Street in London being the most polluted street in the world for Nitrous Oxide, it seems like a good place to start reducing levels.”

There’s lot of exciting and innovative local IoT projects, Charles explains, which suffers due to a lack of regional and national coordination. He believes the North East can become the UK’s IoT Centre for Excellence if it gets more joined up. Vantage Point’s collaboration with Lugano Property Group is aimed at achieving exactly that. Lugano’s vision to establish an exemplar garden village in Dissington which incorporates circa 80,000sqft of innovation space will be infused with sensors and populated by leading IoT innovators and researchers. The Dissington Garden Village, Charles argues, will be the innovation cluster the North-East needs to promote its burgeoning IoT industry and encourage anyone from anywhere with IoT solutions to work, visit and connect with experts in the region.

Vantage Point will install technology across the garden village in homes, buildings and streets, etc. and collect anonymised data of every aspect of village life, analyse it together with Newcastle University’s Urban Observatory, the National Innovation Center for Data (NICD), and The National Centre for Ageing Science and Innovation (NASI) and seek ways to improve the quality of the life of the community and the environment ? comparing, for example, energy usage of people of similar age or family size, air quality and water usage. Cyber resilience will also be of paramount importance. The site will be built over an eight to ten-year period, and data insight will also enable technology developers to future-proof their innovations within given areas of the village as new solutions emerge. Ultimately, though, the garden village will provide an innovative ground for technologists, who can also discover new uses and markets for their products.

“I’m privileged to be part of a fantastic group of people who want to build an exemplary garden village, invest in developing innovative technology and create a legacy in the region. Cyber-resilience, Smart Cities, Building Technologies and Advanced Manufacturing are the sectors most in need of sensor and IoT technology and through combining living, learning and working in one community ? and connecting it with London, Europe and USA ? this initiative could bring more and better jobs to the North East, encouraging people to move here instead of vice versa.”

To learn more about Vantage Point Technologies visit: www.vptl.co.uk 

Information about the Dissington Garden Village can be found at the following sites:

www.dissingtonestate.co.uk/dissington-garden-village

www.luganogroup.co.uk/properties/dissington-estate