by Gary Mintchell | Mar 10, 2021 | Operations Management, Wireless
Apple made such a large splash with its iPhone 12 announcement hyping the coming of 5G that many people bought one and started evaluating 5G—only to be disappointed that the delta between hype and reality was huge. In this world of marketing hype we’ve lived through for a hundred years, that disappointment should not have happened.
On the other hand, there is great potential for 5G cellular. But there is much work to do. Plenty of technologists point out the obstacles and drawbacks. Plenty of engineers exist who are ready to take up the challenge of overcoming those obstacles. This news points to efforts to secure private 5G networks. The specific instance is warehouse operations (not my specialty), but the applicability will be wide. Consider the possibilities…
Private network pioneer Federated Wireless announced that it has begun deployment of a Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS)-enabled private 5G wireless network for the U.S. Department of Defense, along with an all-U.S. team of partners including AWS, Cisco, JMA, Vectrus, Perspecta Labs and Capstone Partners. The trial is designed to modernize the Marine Corps Logistics Command warehouse operations in Albany, Ga. The new private enterprise 5G network supports a broad set of smart warehouse use cases, including warehouse robotics, barcode scanning and holographic, augmented and virtual reality applications.
This multi-year initiative will create a 5G Smart Warehouse reference design to increase the efficiency and dependability of Marine Corps Logistics Command warehouse operations, including improvements to receipt, storage, issuance, inventory control and auditability of material and supplies that directly support Marine Corps global operations.
5G Private Wireless Network Deployed at Scale
The end-to-end network will support industrial IoT using the latest open-source technology including Open RAN, virtualized Radio Access Network, virtualized 5G packet core and mobile edge compute. It leverages CBRS shared spectrum along with millimeter wave spectrum to create a robust 5G private wireless network.
The smart warehousing deployment uses Cisco’s Zero Trust Architecture that consists of virtualized 5G and 4G packet core servers, mobile edge processing and fronthaul and backhaul switching infrastructure.
Federated Wireless partner JMA is providing a full end-to-end RAN solution using XRAN – its revolutionary all software RAN platform – for both 4G and 5G networks, including advanced millimeter-wave radios. This solution gives the base’s network an unprecedented level of flexibility, enabling it to simply and cost-effectively evolve with software upgrades over time.
Partners Vectrus and Perspecta Labs are helping to ensure that security and risk management have been designed into the system. Vectrus, a DoD partner for logistics and warehouse modernization, is completing an end-end risk assessment of the system and Perspecta Labs is conducting an end-end security assessment.
Capstone Partners, a strategic advisory firm with expertise in 5G and Internet of Things applications has brought IKIN to the project. IKIN, an innovator in high-resolution 3-D visual technology, is deploying holographic capabilities for locating, identifying and retrieving materials without having to move or open packaging.
“This is one of the first of several forward-leaning projects that we and our partners are engaged in with the U.S. government, all designed to accelerate the nation’s 5G trajectory,” said Sal D’Itri, vice president and general manager of the federal business unit for Federated Wireless and chairman of the National Spectrum Consortium. “The DoD, often referred to as the first Enterprise, is leading the way for 5G innovation to help stimulate market growth, helping to realize the extensive promises of 5G private networks for work, education, recreation and communication.”
About Federated Wireless
Founded in 2012, Federated Wireless has long led the industry in development of shared spectrum CBRS capabilities. The company’s partner ecosystem includes more than 40 device manufacturers and edge partners, all of which are dedicated to collaboration to advance development and proliferation of CBRS services. Federated Wireless’ customer base includes companies spanning the telecommunications, energy, hospitality, education, retail, office space, municipal and residential verticals, with use cases ranging from network densification and mobile offload to Private 5G and Industrial IoT.
by Gary Mintchell | Mar 10, 2021 | Automation, Events, Motion Control, Robots, Technology
This announcement for Automate Forward, the conference and trade show of the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), popped into my inbox this morning. The conference part of pandemic-era events draws many excellent speakers. The technology has greatly improved over the years to at least not getting in the way, if not improving the experience. Networking and trade show visiting still lag, but I’ve seen strides in the booth visitation area.
A personal observation from an old guy. I remember past lives where each of the areas of this trade show were large events in themselves. Industry and technology consolidation have reduced the size, but the importance to manufacturing remains.
In the spring of 2021, the Robotic Industries Association (RIA), AIA – Advancing Vision + Imaging, Motion Control & Motor Association (MCMA), and A3 Mexico will become the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), the global advocate for the benefits of automating. A3 promotes automation technologies and ideas that transform the way business is done. Combined, these associations represent over 1,100 automation manufacturers, component suppliers, system integrators, end users, research groups and consulting firms from throughout the world that drive automation forward.
A3 hosts a number of industry-leading events, including the new virtual Automate Forward (March 22-26, 2021) and the Automate Show & Conference (June 6-9, 2022, in Detroit, MI).
More than 80 global experts will speak at Automate Forward, the world’s premier virtual automation trade show and conference set for March 22-26, 2021. The event also features more than 250 leading companies in an expanded exhibit area, enhanced networking opportunities, and a look at innovative automation startups.
Speakers include senior executives from companies such as 3M, General Motors, Intel, Microsoft, UPS, IBM, GE, FedEx, Siemens, and Proctor & Gamble.
“With the adoption of automation accelerating, and the impossibility of holding large in-person shows in the US at the moment, Automate Forward will play a critical role in educating companies about how robotics, AI, machine vision, motion control, and related automation technologies can immediately help improve product quality, productivity, competitiveness, and worker safety,” said Jeff Burnstein, President of the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), the event’s host.
Automate Forward will include a robust virtual exhibit hall and networking center where attendees can connect directly with companies and experts to solve their automation solutions and get immediate answers. The trade show will be open daily from 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM ET for attendees to learn about products and systems that can help with unique challenges.
A3 will share a sneak peek of the association’s new brand identity at 9:30 am ET on Monday, March 22 exclusively for Automate Forward attendees. Join live to learn about how its four current brands – RIA, AIA, MCMA, and A3 Mexico – are combing to create the new A3 representing over 1100 global companies and organizations active in automation.
Automate Forward Keynote Sessions
Monday, March 22
10 AM ET PANEL: The New Industries Driving The Growth of Automation and Robotics
Robert Little, CEO, ATI Industrial Automation
Mark Lewandowski, Director – Robotics Innovation, Procter & Gamble
John Dulchinos, Vice President, Jabil
Ted Dengel, Managing Director, Operations Technology and Innovation, FedEx Ground
John Bubnikovich, Chief Regional Officer – North America, KUKA Robotics
11 AM ET: The Competitive Advantage is Here and It’s All About Digital
Raj Batra, President, Digital Industries, Siemens
1:30 PM ET: Moving Automation Forward: What is required?
Greg Brown, Vice President of Strategy and R&D, UPS
Tuesday, March 23
10 AM ET PANEL: The 2021 State of the Automation Industry Executive Roundtable
Mike Cicco, President & CEO, FANUC AMERICA
Patrick McDermott, President North America, B&R Automation
Dr. Thomas Evans, CTO Robotics, Honeywell Intelligrated
Christine Boles, Vice President, Internet of Things Group – General Manager, Industrial Solutions Division, Intel
Sebastien Schmitt, North American Robotics Division Manager, Stäubli
11 AM ET: Human Aware Robot Software and Tools for Delivering it
Rodney Brooks, Co-Founder and CTO, Robust.AI
1:30 PM ET: 3M’s Automation Journey: Driving Growth & Productivity
Debarati Sen, Vice President & General Manager Abrasive Systems Division Safety & Industrial Business Group, 3M
Wednesday, March 24
10 AM ET PANEL: The Rise of Smart Automation
Rashmi Misra, GM AI Platforms, Business Development, Microsoft
Jorge Ramirez, Global Director Automation and Chief Mfg. Cybersecurity Officer, General Motors
Rishi Vaish, CTO and VP, IBM AI Applications, IBM
John Lizzi, Executive Leader – Robotics, GE
Tom Panzarella, Senior Director of Perception, Seegrid
11 AM ET: Using Deep Learning and Simulation to Teach Robots Manipulation in Complex Environments
Dieter Fox, Senior Director of Robotics Research, NVIDIA
1:30 PM ET: Automation and the Future of Manufacturing
Indranil Sircar, CTO, Manufacturing Industry, Microsoft
Thursday, March 25
10 AM ET PANEL: How Collaborative Automation is Driving Productivity
Co-sponsored by the International Federation of Robotics
Milton Guerry, President, Schunk USA
Joe Gemma, Global Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Calvary Robotics
Greg Smith, President of the Industrial Automation Group at Teredyne
David Robers, Robotics Sales Manager – Americas, Denso Robotics
11 AM ET: Value Chain Integration and Optimization Through Robotics in Consumer segments and Retail
Marc Segura, Executive Global Business Line Leader – Consumer Segment Service Robotics, ABB Robotics and Machine Automation
Friday, March 26
10 AM ET PANEL: Autonomous Mobile Robots: How to Get Started
Karen Leavitt, Chief Marketing Officer, Locus Robotics
Søren E. Nielsen, President, Mobile Industrial Robots
Matt Rendall, CEO and Co-Founder, OTTO Motors
Rob Sullivan, President, AutoGuide Mobile Robots
Melonee Wise, CEO and Founder, Fetch Robotics
11 AM ET: Using an End-to-End Workflow to Build, Iterate, and Operationalize Deep Learning-Powered Visual Inspection Projects
Andrew Ng, CEO & Founder, Landing AI
by Gary Mintchell | Mar 9, 2021 | Business, News
By not investing enough time and resource into the SME market, CSPs are discounting an estimated $433 billion worth of 5G revenue, a significant missed opportunity for B2B 5G growth in 2021 and beyond
In further small-to-medium-sized (SME) business news, here is a report of research done for the 5G market and communication service providers (CSP) evidently ignoring a sizable market opportunity.
BearingPoint//Beyond, in collaboration with Omdia, released a report highlighting the potential of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as a major source of future 5G revenue for communications service providers (CSPs). The study, commissioned by BearingPoint//Beyond and conducted by Omdia, reveals that, despite SMEs representing 99% of the world’s businesses – a SME services market estimated to be worth $433 billion by 2025 – the market segment remains vast and untapped with the majority of CSPs focusing 70% of their resources on the 1% enterprise market. Despite this revelation, not enough CSPs are recognizing SMEs as a major source of B2B revenue, especially on 5G. Yet SMEs, many of which already see value in 5G, perceive CSPs as their trusted 5G go-to partner with 42% prioritizing them to execute their 5G strategies.
Currently CSPs identify large multinational enterprises as the segment that will drive 5G revenues, but the large enterprises surveyed do not regard CSPs as their primary 5G provider. In fact, the report finds that 72% of enterprises will prefer to work with a service provider that is not a CSP. Findings show that 31% of large multinational enterprises will choose cloud service providers to execute their 5G strategies and 34% even favor taking a D.I.Y. approach.
“CSPs are still trying to approach 5G the same way they approached 4G, with a clear focus on consumer and enterprise. However, 5G opens new opportunities for CSPs and one of them is the SME segment. Digitalization and COVID-19 have transformed the needs of SMEs and their awareness of the impact that new technologies such as 5G, IoT, and AI can have on their business to enhance productivity and efficiency, and boost sales. In fact, our previous research highlighted that on average 73% of global SMEs see 5G as important to their business. However, it’s clear that it’s not 5G technology that they’re after, instead SMEs understand that 5G is one part of a broader technology solution that they need. In fact, 93% of SMEs told us that it’s more important for CSPs to collaborate with an ecosystem of partners to build solutions that better fit their needs than to simply provision 5G services,” said Angus Ward, CEO, BearingPoint//Beyond.
The report emphasizes that CSPs should not squander the opportunity to support SMEs in realizing their 5G ambitions, as SMEs digitalized their business amidst the deeply transformational impact of COVID-19. CSPs are encouraged to consider the business needs of SMEs and assess how 5G can improve productivity and efficiency or enable them to grow their business. Yet today, most 5G offers for SMEs are “Consumer Up”, re-sleeved consumer offers. 5G’s real value for this lucrative market lies in the creation of partner ecosystems to aid them in achieving significant strategic shifts to sell more services and reach larger audiences.
“We’re looking at a new type of SME, one that is seeking a partner that will orchestrate comprehensive partner ecosystems to co-create solutions to provide them with a better service. For CSPs, this is a unique opportunity, especially considering SMEs see them as a strong candidate to fulfil this role. However, to realize this opportunity, CSPs will have to address the different types of SMEs out there, their unique needs and the vertical context. This will mean gradually developing a growing number of solutions with an increasing number of technology partners and vertical specialists. Using a digital marketplace will enable the orchestration of these multi-partner solutions, while also simplifying the complexity for the SME user. This marketplace needs to allow CSPs the speed and the scale to grow from selling a few SME solutions, to selling multiple solutions as more partners and customers come on board,” continues Ward.
CSPs orchestrating the right partner ecosystems appears to be the way forward as 5G alone will not be the ultimate differentiator. Rather, the ability for those CSPs to create a more complex value proposition across vertical industries will be key in today’s competitive environment.
“SMEs are aware of the benefits 5G can bring to their businesses and already view CSPs as their trusted 5G partners. It’s therefore critical that CSPs enable 5G to triage SMEs’ business context and industry solutions with outcome-based value propositions, to reap the rewards of this customer base. In some cases, global CSPs have launched programs that are capitalizing on the SME opportunity. Vodafone Spain offers an all-inclusive value proposition providing SMEs with compelling mobile-first productivity tools. SK Telecom is partnering with the Korea Smart Factory Data Association and software developer, BISTel, to offer a 5G-based big data analysis service to manufacturing SMEs. These types of collaborative approaches demonstrate how CSPs can marry 5G capabilities and other assets with ecosystem players to deliver profound value to SMEs,” said Camille Mendler, Chief Analyst, Enterprise Services, Service Provider & Communication, Omdia.
by Gary Mintchell | Mar 9, 2021 | Automation, Embedded Control
I have accumulated some embedded systems news. I didn’t virtually attend the Embedded Systems Conference this year. There were a few relevant announcements. I had to overcome a severe memory lapse when I saw BlackBerry in the news, until I was reminded of the QNX acquisition. Here are some advancements for you Hypervisor geeks.
BlackBerry Limited announced the release of QNX Hypervisor 2.2, the latest edition of the company’s real-time embedded hypervisor product.
With QNX Hypervisor 2.2, manufacturers and other embedded system suppliers are empowered with ultimate design flexibility and scalability to consolidate multiple systems with mixed criticality and different operating environments onto a single hardware platform, reducing both the initial development and long-term costs of ownership for a wide variety of embedded systems – from rail and robotics controllers to vehicle digital cockpits and battery management ECUs.
Based on the QNX Neutrino Real-time Operating System (RTOS) 7.1, QNX Hypervisor 2.2 supports the latest silicon enhancements for interrupt control, scalable vector extensions (SVE), cryptography and enhanced security, and offers features such as fast booting of critical system services before guest launch and priority-based sharing of hardware resources and devices. QNX Hypervisor 2.2 also adds to the extensive VIRTIO shared device support offered by previous QNX Hypervisor releases, including adding sources of entropy.
QNX Hypervisor 2.2 provides development teams with a robust and reliable hypervisor domain on which they can run Android and Linux distributions. QNX Hypervisor 2.2 can be scaled so that system architects can choose to run software in a virtual machine or alongside the virtual machine in the host domain. This flexibility allows developers to add Android and Linux to an SoC without compromising on features and performance while at the same time reducing system complexity. Mission-critical applications can share host domain services (backends) with Android based on priority scheduling and therefore precisely control the guest’s behavior. As with all BlackBerry QNX Hypervisor product releases, system architects also have full control over separation and isolation of guests and devices as well as deep insight into Hypervisor operations through the QNX Momentics Tool Suite.
“BlackBerry QNX has decades of experience powering mission-critical embedded systems across a wide range of industries. With the release of QNX Hypervisor 2.2, embedded software architects and developers can continue to rely on our secure and reliable foundational hypervisor software to enable their system consolidation knowing that we continue to work in lockstep with advances in silicon and shared device standards such as VIRTIO,” said Grant Courville, Vice President, Products and Strategy at BlackBerry QNX.
BlackBerry QNX has a broad portfolio of embedded system software designed for mission-critical implementations, including the QNX Hypervisor, QNX Neutrino Real-time Operating System, in addition to middleware and development tools. Safety-certified variants of the hypervisor – QNX Hypervisor for Safety and the OS – QNX OS for Safety, are also available. BlackBerry’s pedigree in safety, security, and continued innovation has led to its QNX technology being used in hundreds of millions of critical systems for medical devices, industrial controls, automotive, commercial trucking, rail and robotics systems worldwide.
by Gary Mintchell | Mar 9, 2021 | Asset Performance Management, Internet of Things, Operations Management
Companies are sprinkling their press releases and Websites with Artificial Intelligence (AI) like sugar on your cornflakes. Now we even have Artificial Intelligence of Internet of Things—AioT. One of my favorite series of questions these days runs something like: what do you mean by AI; how is it used; what do operators see; what does it do—really?
One outgrowth of a series of meetings from the recent ARC Advisory Group Industry Forum was an interview with serial entrepreneur Mike Brooks. Most recently he was President and COO of Mtelligence (Mtell) when it was acquired by AspenTech a bit over four years ago.
He clued me into a number of Aspen products based on the Mtell technology. More on those below. First, some insights from someone who has witnessed a lot in the industry.
Talking about machine learning, Brooks told me that it’s not just AI on its own that gives value. Look for a combination of AI plus domain knowledge. This gives you causation, not just correlation. It is also important to build AI from first principles (I’m betting many miss that one). Mostly, AI is a tool for providing event analytics for front line workers.
I’ll combine Brooks and other sources to describe the more practical AspenTech solutions:
From a blog post by Adi Pendyala, Sr. Director, Market Strategy—Aspen AIoT Hub: The Cloud-Ready Infrastructure for Industrial AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) are two of the most prominent technological forces driving digital transformation for capital-intensive industries today. Collectively, they’re like the body and brain of industrial digital transformation: IIoT is the body, creating and transmitting data from a variety sources that is sometimes acted upon, while AI is the brain, turning data into intelligence for smarter decisions and enabling the digital future of industrial organizations.
The confluence of these technological forces gives rise to a new digital solution category – the Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) – that centers on unlocking the hidden business value in industrial data.
Impact of IT-OT Convergence: Sharp market volatility means that capital-intensive industries have to be more agile than ever before to survive and thrive in every cycle – an area that has thwarted the OT-side of industrial organizations in the past. Enterprises are looking to exploit the rapid convergence of IT and OT to significantly reduce the technological implementation risk and the time-to-market risk for introducing AI-rich, real-time applications to complex industrial operations. The rise of the digital executive, i.e. the CTO/CDO/CIO, in driving the digital transformation strategy of industrial organizations is a key influencer of this trend.
Unlock Industrial Data Value: There is a critical (and growing) need for access to industrial analytics and actionable insights in making business decisions – across all levels of the enterprise. Efforts to mine pools (silos) of data across the enterprise are often stalled by the challenges of data collection and integration, with promised business insights and agility never materializing. Organizations are switching their focus from mass data accumulation to strategic industrial data management, specifically homing in on data integration, data mobility and data accessibility across the organization – with the goal of using AI-enabled technologies to unlock the hidden value in these previously unoptimized and undiscovered sets of industrial data.
Lowering the Digitalization Barrier: Industrial organizations are increasing investment in lowering the barriers to AI adoption by deploying fit-for-purpose Industrial AI applications that combine data science and AI with software and domain expertise. This will be the key to overcome a lack of in-house skills and drastically reduce the need for an army of data scientists. To scale this effort, many enterprises are adopting new measures to reduce complexity in interoperability, overcome information silos and harmonize towards a cloud-ready infrastructure that bridges legacy systems with next-generation solutions.
The Aspen AIoT Hub – Cloud-Ready Industrial AI Infrastructure
The AIoT Hub provides the integrated data management, edge and cloud infrastructure and production-grade AI environment to build, deploy and host Industrial AI applications at enterprise speed and scale. It also serves as the foundational infrastructure to realize the transformative vision for the Self-Optimizing Plant. In fact, as part of our recent aspenONE V12 release, the AIoT Hub provides the underlying cloud-ready, enterprise-scale infrastructure that powers V12 Industrial AI applications such as Aspen AI Model Builder and Aspen Event Analytics.
Key Capabilities of the Aspen AIoT Hub
Data Integration & Mobility
On average, between 60% and 73% of all data within an enterprise goes unused. This challenge is further exacerbated by the lack of a scalable data infrastructure to power Industrial AI models from training to productization. Through the AIoT Hub, organizations will be able to access and leverage fully integrated data, from sensors to the edge and cloud, across the enterprise.
Cloud-Ready Infrastructure
Scaling AI requires providing the tools, infrastructure and workflows for powering Industrial AI across the solution lifecycle. It also requires the software, hardware and enterprise architecture needed to productize AI in industrial environments, including broader collaboration between development, data science and infrastructure capabilities such as CloudOps, DevOps, MLOps and others. This dimension is critical to helping organizations mature beyond sporadic AI proof-of-concepts to an enterprise-wide Industrial AI strategy.
Enterprise-wide Visualization
Industrial organizations are seeking to aggregate data from different sources across the enterprise, transforming it into analytics and visualizations to guide better decisions at every business level. The goal is to translate real-time data into faster, smarter, profitable business decisions to visualize deviations, sequences and trends automatically and identify risks and opportunities early. The AIoT Hub enables enterprise users’ access to real-time data and analytics to do all of this – improving collaboration, project efficiency and operations by tapping into the power of accelerated insights and enhanced visualizations.
Industrial AI Applications Ecosystem
Enterprises are looking for purpose-built, fully integrated AI environments for their data scientists to accelerate the transformation from raw data to productized AI/ML algorithms. The AIoT Hub provides an embedded workbench for feature engineering, training and rapidly productizing machine learning (ML) models, as well as supports versioning and collaboration. It empowers data scientists, at customers and partners, to collaborate and build their own data-rich AI apps.