How the Internet of Things can improve operational services

Today’s service operation units, such as production environments, airports, smart cities, smart healthcare providers, etc. using the Internet of Things (IoT) to improve their services and increase efficiency to expand their business. IoT technology is giving those organizations the ability to collect and analyze a wide range of different data sources such as sensors, real-time connectivity, analytics, machines learning, and AI cameras to achieve their targets.

In this posting, I’ll explain how Motorola, a customer of IQP Corporation, developed an airport security application using the IQP code-free application development environment to improve an airport operational process. The IQP-Motorola airport security app enables airports to easily install and maintain sophisticated connected technology for security and passenger services, from sensors and devices to AI cameras, robots, and more. Motorola presented the application at Critical Communications World 2016 in Amsterdam.

In particular, airports are under increasing pressure to improve their services for customers and at the same time boost their efficiency. According to the 2016 Airport IT Trends Survey, airports are placing a higher priority on IT investments for passenger and airport security, with 50% rating it a high priority, up from 37% last year. This statistic comes from an extensive annual study of IT trends within the global airport industry co-sponsored by SITA, an multinational information technology company, and Airports Council International (ACI), in association with Airline Business.

As IoT matures, airports will need to keep adding and upgrading new technology to increase the level of services for customers. In the SITA survey, nearly every airport worldwide (90%) is also undertaking either a major program or a trial project related to mobile services and 74% trialing or piloting context-aware and location-based technology in the next five years.

It’s an understatement to say that these are busy days for airport IT departments…and the workload is only going to increase!  Ongoing application development is needed to control and monitor IoT-related technology plus maintain increasingly complex security solutions. 

From our perspective at IQP Corporation, it is possible for airports to have it all – offering their customers greater services and security, while keeping IT maintenance and costs under control. When we co-developed the airport security application with Motorola, the project enabled us to develop insights into challenges and solutions for building a flexible IoT foundation for airports.

How much is your app development costing you?

When we talk with IT management and system integrators, we’re often surprised at how much time their IoT application development takes. Apps can take months to develop.  As more sensors, cameras or a new OS are installed, an existing app needs to be modified, and this creates a bottleneck. Time is money and we don’t think that adopting IoT doesn’t mean that you have to endure runaway costs and deployment nightmares. 

Our solution is to enable programmers and even people with no IT skills to create IoT applications by using our ready-made, code-free design templates. Companies are using the IQP code free application development environment to quickly build complex IoT apps in a few hours or days, not weeks. Apps can be modified with a few clicks. IQP apps are cross-platform and optimized to run on PCs, tablets and portables.

The complex airport security application that we created for Motorola includes 4 Micro Apps combined into 1 system. It was developed and ready to go in just 5 days. The app features these functions:

 (1) IQP SECURITY MONITORING AND CONTROL

• Control room app
• Interactive maps with interactive markers
• Live device Monitoring and Control
• Synced with Mobile app
• Ability to monitor multiple cameras

(2) IQP PATROL

• Mobile Patrol App
• Location map
• Interactive map
• Live device Monitoring and Control
• Synced with Control room app
• Ability to monitor different cameras
• Ability to send video for viewing in the control room app or other instances of the Mobile Patrol App

(3) IQP SECURE CAM

• Optimized to run on a separate phone or PC
• Used to simulate a Security Camera for the other apps

(4) Smart Watch

• Emergency panic button

The app also has these functions: - Control (send command) - Monitor (with option for real-time monitoring) - Human interaction (user input data from the End App - like form/reports/take picture/upload excel...) - Live stream (we are using WebRTC, it’s possible to add more protocols) - Events (each user can define his own events) - Role base access control (data and UI) - App design is optimized for a different view on PC/mobile/tablet. - Duplicate apps or transfer apps between tenant/sites in just 1-click.

What about ROI?

In the push for greater connectivity, a key challenge for CTOs is how to identify and justify ROI. It’s clear that IoT can provide better services for airport customers and enhanced security features. But obviously there are significant operational costs to maintain a safe airport filled with satisfied customers. We think one key to ROI is to have a development process in place that makes it super-easy to develop applications and micro-apps to drive your IoT initiative. 

The long development and deployment cycle associated with traditional programming isn’t going to work with IoT. You need a development solution that is agile, easy to use and with the ability to rapidly customize and change applications. If you can dramatically cut the time needed to deploy new sensors, build a location-tracking app, or set up an indoor mapping app, that’s demonstrable ROI.

For example, the IQP Code-Free App Builder, which was used to design the Motorola solution, built a number of Micro Apps that could be modified, added or customized in several days or in some cases, a few hours. Time is money and the project demonstrated clear savings in both time and manpower.

To view the IQP-Motorola airport security application on our tutorial site and receive more information about this project, please contact us at [email protected]