by Gary Mintchell | Dec 19, 2014 | Automation, Networking, Operations Management, Technology, Wireless
Wireless sensor network pioneer, Emerson Process Management, also recognizes the need for customers to manage the growing proliferation of wireless networks within a facility.
It has introduced the Smart Wireless Navigator, a new software platform that enables users with large wireless deployments to maximize the power of their wireless networks. The Navigator brings together Smart Wireless tools for planning, managing, and maintaining networks. Valuable wireless network and device diagnostics and data are organized in an intuitive interface, along with the wireless tools, to streamline the Smart Wireless experience.
“Wireless technology is as scalable as it is powerful,” commented Bob Karschnia, vice president of wireless at Emerson. “As users’ facilities grow, they are expanding to installations of multiple wireless networks managed by different groups.”
The Smart Wireless Navigator helps users effortlessly manage their expanding wireless infrastructure and get the most value from their networks. A single software platform design makes it easier for users with large deployments of wireless to manage their networks across functional groups, delivering actionable information to the people who need it.
“To maximize value, facilities also needed a central platform to plan and deploy new networks and to organize the influx of new data and diagnostics,” wireless continued Karschnia. “In answer, we developed a single window interface that brings together several Smart Wireless tools on a specially designed appliance to maximize visibility, efficiency and value.”
An intuitive design organizes large amounts of wireless diagnostic information and data, and existing infrastructure is illustrated and easily understood.
“The Smart Wireless Navigator is a comprehensive tool that helps users realize the value of wireless across the range of reliability, safety, environmental accountability and process performance,” summarized Karschnia, “it delivers value throughout the cycle of engineering, installation, operation and maintenance.”
by Gary Mintchell | Dec 19, 2014 | Automation, Commentary, Internet of Things, News, Operations Management, Technology, Wireless
Just like there is a difference between industrial and consumer Internet of Things, there is a difference between connected wearable devices for industrial and consumer use.
Honeywell Process has shown the media examples of various geo-location wearable devices for several years to assist responders during an incident. Personnel have been wearing a variety of communication devices for years.
Consumer applications will, of course, continue to capture the most interest. People involved in manufacturing do tend to take these consumer ideas and often turn them into useful applications for manufacturing.
According to a new report from the research firm Berg Insight, shipments of connected wearables reached 19.0 million in 2014, up from 5.9 million devices in the previous year. Growing at a compound annual growth rate of 54.7 percent, total shipments of smartwatches, smart glasses, fitness & activity trackers, people monitoring & safety devices and medical devices as well as other wearable devices are forecasted to reach 168.2 million units in 2019. Bluetooth will remain the primary connectivity option in the coming years, but nonetheless, a total of 16.6 million of the wearables shipments in 2019 are forecasted to incorporate embedded cellular connectivity, mainly in the smartwatch and people monitoring & safety categories.
Fitness & activity trackers is the largest device category and shipments reached 13.0 million units in 2014. The market leading vendors Fitbit, Jawbone and Garmin have in the past year been joined by an abundance of companies including major players from the smartphone industry such as LG, Huawei, Microsoft, Samsung, Sony and Xiaomi which have released fitness & activity trackers. “This product category is now facing fierce competition from smartwatches that have activity tracking features. Decreasing prices and new form factors will still enable dedicated fitness & activity trackers to reach shipments of 42.0 million units in 2019,” said Johan Svanberg, Senior Analyst, Berg Insight.
A new breed of smartwatches became available in 2014 when high profile Android Wear smartwatches from Sony, LG, Motorola and Asus entered the market to compete with existing offerings from Pebble and Samsung. “Smartwatches are already the second largest category of connected wearables and sales will pick up considerably in 2015. The Apple Watch will enter the market and other major smartphone vendors will launch next generation Android Wear devices”, comments Mr. Svanberg. Traditional watch vendors will also enter the market in the coming years, both with smartwatches capable of running third party applications as well as traditionally styled watches with basic smartphone notification features. Improved devices available in different price segments will drive adoption in the next five years and smartwatches is predicted to become the largest device category by the end of the forecast period.
Shipments of smart glasses have so far been very modest, but promising use cases in specific markets such as enterprise and medical as well as in niche segments of the consumer market will enable smart glasses to become the third largest category of connected wearables in the next five years.
“The opportunities are plentiful – improved imaging capability together with hands-free operation, real-time communication and augmented reality functionality would for example make smart glasses a serious contender on the action camera market”, said Mr. Svanberg.
Connected wearables such as cardiac rhythm management devices, ECG monitors, mobile Personal Emergency Response Systems (mPERS) and wearable computers are already common in the medical, people monitoring and enterprise segments.
Furthermore, miniaturised electronics, low power wireless connectivity and cloud services have inspired a wide range of new connected wearables such as authentication and gestures wristbands, notification rings, smart motorcycle helmets and smart gloves. “Most of these products are still experimental, but in a few years’ time there will be many examples of new successful devices on the market”, concluded Mr. Svanberg.
Download report brochure: Connected Wearables
Berg Insight is a dedicated M2M/IoT market research firm based in Sweden. It has been specializing in all major M2M/IoT verticals such as fleet management, car telematics, smart metering, smart homes, mHealth and industrial M2M since 2004.
by Gary Mintchell | Dec 18, 2014 | Automation, News, Technology
What happens when we teach a computer how to learn? Technologist Jeremy Howard shares some surprising new developments in the fast-moving field of deep learning, a technique that can give computers the ability to learn Chinese, or to recognize objects in photos, or to help think through a medical diagnosis. (One deep learning tool, after watching hours of YouTube, taught itself the concept of “cats.”) Get caught up on a field that will change the way the computers around you behave … sooner than you probably think.
That is the description of this TEDx Talk on the hubris of a technologist, er, I mean, the science fiction possibilities of technology run amok.
As much as we look back and see how much technology has aided humans, there are still those who look ahead through a darkened glass. Here is yet another technologist who believes that soon we’ll all be out of work and will just be lazy, good-for-nothing slaves to technology.
Time after time we’ve seen how technology has greatly improved the lives of humans. People have been removed from dirty, dangerous, demeaning work. Yet, there remain many other places to tackle that same problem—I can think of mining for an example. How many miners do we need to lose to cave-ins or black lung?
The main problem I see with Howard’s analysis is the old “linear extrapolation” trap. He says in effect that this technology can never stop growing exponentially. That, of course, is false. Nothing in nature continues to grow forever linearly. It will either level off or be asymptotic to some axis.
On the other hand, he does have some fascinating examples of technology helping humans.
http://www.ted.com/talks/jeremy_howard_the_wonderful_and_terrifying_implications_of_computers_that_can_learn
by Gary Mintchell | Dec 17, 2014 | News
News from the US Federal Reserve. Manufacturing remains a positive for the US economy.
Report
Industrial production increased 1.3 percent in November after edging up in October; output is now reported to have risen at a faster pace over the period from June through October than previously published. In November, manufacturing output increased 1.1 percent, with widespread gains among industries. The rise in factory output was well above its average monthly pace of 0.3 percent over the previous five months and was its largest gain since February. In November, the output of utilities jumped 5.1 percent, as weather that was colder than usual for the month boosted demand for heating. The index for mining decreased 0.1 percent. At 106.7 percent of its 2007 average, total industrial production in November was 5.2 percent above its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector increased 0.8 percentage point in November to 80.1 percent, a rate equal to its long-run (1972–2013) average.
Market Groups
In November, the indexes for all of the major market groups advanced. The gain of 2.5 percent in consumer goods was its largest since August 1998. The production of all major durable and nondurable categories of consumer goods rose, with the largest increases registered by consumer energy products and automotive products. The output of business equipment moved up 1.2 percent because of sizable gains for transit equipment and for industrial and other equipment. The index for business supplies rose 1.2 percent, its second strong increase in the past three months. The production of materials advanced 0.8 percent, with substantial gains in the indexes for all of its major categories.
Industry Groups
Manufacturing output rose 1.1 percent in November, and the rates of change for prior months are stronger than reported previously. Factory output is now estimated to have been above its late-2007 pre-recession peak in both October and November. In November, the indexes for both durables and nondurables increased more than 1 percent, and the output of every major industry group increased or remained unchanged. Among durable goods industries, the output of motor vehicles and parts jumped 5.1 percent as a result of an increase of 900,000 units at an annual rate in total motor vehicle assemblies. Miscellaneous manufacturing, wood products, and machinery each recorded gains exceeding 1 percent. Among nondurable goods industries, output advances of more than 2 percent were registered by petroleum and coal products and by apparel and leather. The indexes for food, beverage, and tobacco products and for plastics and rubber products both increased 1.4 percent.
The capacity utilization rate for manufacturing moved up 0.8 percentage point in November to 78.4 percent, a rate 0.3 percentage point below its long-run average. The operating rates for nondurable goods and durables goods increased, and the rate for other manufacturing (non-NAICS) remained unchanged. The utilization rate for mines fell 0.8 percentage point to 87.9 percent, while the rate for utilities increased 3.9 percentage points to 82.4 percent.
by Gary Mintchell | Dec 17, 2014 | Commentary, News, Operations Management
Steven Nadel, Executive Director of the ACEEE: The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy sent an update about the work of the recent Congress relative to energy efficiency from his blog. Below is his report.
Over the weekend the 113th Congress largely wrapped up its work. It looks like this Congress will pass just over 200 bills, the lowest number since World War II. However, before leaving home for the holidays, Congress took action on several bills that will affect energy efficiency:
- Congress appropriated money for the rest of the 2015 fiscal year for most federal departments. Included was $1.93 billion for the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, an increase of nearly $25 million from the previous year. The advanced manufacturing office and weatherization assistance programs received increases of 11% and 9%, respectively, while the buildings, vehicles, and federal energy management programs received small cuts.
- Energy efficiency tax incentives will be extended for another year. The tax extenders package includes provisions on energy-efficient commercial buildings, new homes, and various residential energy-efficiency retrofits (e.g. heating, cooling and water heating systems, insulation, and windows). These provisions all expired in Dec. 31, 2013 and the provision extends through Dec. 31, 2014, allowing these credits to be claimed in 2014. The Senate proposed updating some of the qualification levels, but the House decided to keep the current qualification levels. The Senate is expected to accept the House bill. Information about these credits can be found at energytaxincentives.org. The new Congress will have to decide whether to extend these again to cover 2015.
- The Energy Efficiency Improvement Act of 2014 came close but was not enacted. This bill was introduced by Representatives Welch (D-VT) and McKinley (R-WV) and passed the House of Representatives earlier this year. The Senate version was sponsored by Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Rob Portman (R-OH) and includes four provisions from their more comprehensive energy efficiency bill. The Senate sought unanimous consent to enact the bill but a few conservative senators objected and thus the bill will need to be reintroduced next year. The bill promotes energy efficiency in rental property, promotes commercial building energy-use benchmarking and disclosure, adjusts efficiency standards for “grid-connected” water heaters, and promotes energy efficiency in federal data centers. ACEEE led work on the benchmarking and disclosure provision and played a substantial role in several of the other provisions.
Overall, a disappointing two years for Congress. Hopefully, the 114th Congress that convenes in January can accomplish much more.
Wireless sensor network pioneer, Emerson Process Management, also recognizes the need for customers to manage the growing proliferation of wireless networks within a facility.
