Emerging Technologies: How organizations are using Internet of Things

There is no single way to describe the Internet of Things (IoT)—it varies by industry, both in types of systems and in use cases. IoT in one sector is different from IoT in another. Here are a few examples of how organizations are using IoT. 

Rolls-Royce uses IoT to cut down on engine faults and fuel costs

Rolls-Royce is using Azure Stream Analytics and Power BI to link up sensor data from its engines with more contextual information like air traffic control, route data, weather and fuel usage to get a fuller picture of the health of its aircraft engines.

Using Microsoft’s Azure IoT Suite to collect data, and Cortana Intelligence Suite to derive insights, Rolls-Royce will now go beyond predictive maintenance and into metrics that it can pass onto operations teams at airlines as a value added service. These insights are aimed at helping airlines to be more efficient when it comes to maintenance, aircraft choice and route selection.

A typical Rolls-Royce Trent engine - which can be found on the latest Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircrafts - will be fitted with 25 sensors, tracking everything from fuel flow, pressure and temperature to the aircraft's altitude, speed and the air temperature.

ABB amplifies the power of robots using IoT

Robots are no longer the product of science fiction stories. The world is moving rapidly toward the automation of industrial processes, and new industries are entering the robotics market at unprecedented rates. Advancement in technologies and communication make today’s industrial robots more powerful and at the same time user friendly than ever before. ABB is a leading supplier of industrial robots and modular manufacturing systems. The company has installed more than 250,000 robots worldwide serving a variety of industries including automotive, plastics, metal fabrication, foundry, electronics, machine tools, pharmaceutical, and food and beverage. 

“Proactive service means enhanced reliability and higher productivity,” according to ABB Robotics Division. “If we have precise and reliable information about what’s going on with a robot, our customers will benefit from less downtime and higher productivity.” 

The greatest benefit of the Cisco Jasper platform for ABB is the ability to manage and automate its interconnected devices on a global scale while maintaining the company’s high service reliability and increasing demand for services. “Previously, we were reacting when customers would call us, and it was difficult to get information to understand precisely what was happening at the device level,” explains ABB. “With Control Center automation, we have real-time monitoring data across our remote devices and can automate responses before incidents occur.” 

Autonomous vehicles integrated with the Internet of Things

Automated driving is expected to increase safety, provide more comfort and create many new business opportunities for mobility services. That’s why autonomous vehicles are in the center of interests of experts and general public and their market share is expected to grow over the next couple of decades. The forecasts say that the number of automated vehicles will climb from about 4% of the global light-duty vehicle market in 2025, to roughly 41% in 2030 and 75% by 2035, which means about 95.4 million units annually by then.

To use the full potential of the autonomous vehicles, the Autopilot project (coordinated by Ertico and co-funded by the European Union) combines this concept with the Internet of Things (IoT) that enables connections between objects or "things" anytime and anyplace, using any service over any network. The project kicked off in January 2017 and the work is foreseen until the end of 2019.

Within the project, the European automotive industry is investing in connected and automated driving with cars becoming moving “objects” in an IoT ecosystem eventually participating in Big Data for Mobility. Autopilot brings IoT into the automotive world to transform connected vehicles into highly and fully automated vehicle.

Thanks to the project, the IoT ecosystem will involve vehicles, road infrastructure and surrounding objects, with a particular attention to safety critical aspects of automated driving. Autopilot will also develop new services, like autonomous car sharing, automated parking, or enhanced digital dynamic maps to allow fully autonomous driving.

Smart City projects and IoT applications

Smart cities use Internet of Things (IoT) devices such as connected sensors, lights, and meters to collect and analyze data. The cities then use this data to improve infrastructure, public utilities and services. You can find a few examples below.

Amsterdam has been experimenting with offering home energy storage units and solar panels for households that are interconnected to the city's smart grid. These batteries help lower stress on the grid at peak hours by allowing residents to store energy during off-peak hours. The solar panels also let residents sell spare energy from the panels back to the grid.

The Amsterdam example is just one of many, particularly in Europe, which is leading the world in smart city development. The EU has been proactive in encouraging its member nations to develop smart cities, and the European Commission has allocated 365 million euros for this purpose.

And the efforts have already started to bear fruit. Paris debuted an electric car sharing program called Autolib in 2011, and has since grown the fleet of vehicles to 3,000. The connected vehicles can be tracked via GPS, and drivers can use the car's dashboard to reserve parking spaces in advance.

London announced earlier this year that it would begin tests on a smart parking project that would allow drivers to quickly locate parking spaces and remove the need for lengthy searches for an open spot. This, in turn, would alleviate urban traffic congestion. The U.K. capital also plans test electric car and bike-sharing programs.

Meanwhile, Copenhagen has started using sensors to monitor the city's bike traffic in real time, which provides valuable data on improving bike routes in the city. This is crucial, as more than 40% of the city's residents commute by bike each day.

North America has lagged behind even though it is the most urbanized region in the world, with more than 80% of its population in urban centers. Still, there are plenty of smart city projects up and running in these nations, specifically with regard to public safety and traffic.

New York City has tested gunshot detection technology in police precincts in Brooklyn and the Bronx, and the mayor wants to expand this testing around the city. Camden, New Jersey has implemented similar tech. New York City also piloted a connected car program in 2015 with the goal of learning where drivers make frequent hard brakes or sharp turns because of traffic. Officials could then use this data to improve road conditions and alleviate traffic.

Finally, San Diego has started using cameras built into connected streetlights to monitor pedestrian traffic and reroute cars during peak hours to avoid pedestrian accidents and alleviate congestion.

About Errol van Engelen

I am an author, speaker and advisor in Digital Transformation and Emerging Technologies. I can help organizations to transform from a traditional business to a digital leader by using Digital Transformation Planning  methodology. Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn. 

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