by Gary Mintchell | May 26, 2017 | Internet of Things
Dell EMS Internet of Things (IoT) group assembled a mini supply chain as its booth at the user conference Dell EMS World in Las Vegas in May. At the October Dell EMS World in Austin, these were put together as an ice cream factory and distribution, and the booth featured an ice cream machine. I sure could have used an ice cream by the time I got through all the exhibits.
The Dell IoT Gateway was the common denominator of the exhibit tying everything together.
The first station features construction. Here are a couple of guys trying out the DAQRI augmented reality helmets. I had the opportunity to try these in Hannover. A really cool application of AR.
They are looking at a combination of the construction (see the red “steel” framework) and drawings that show the layout of electrical conduit, HVAC ducting, and other details. As a construction worker, they can get a feel of where things go, as well as spot interferences the designer missed.
This station showed product on its way to market through sensing and communication from Nokia.
Below is a layout of the Emerson process manufacturing system.
They brought actual pipe, pump, motor, instruments, wirelessHART communication. No, it didn’t make ice cream.
This station featured IMS Evolve–an application that brings sensor data into the cloud and provides track and trace, as well as other analytics, assuring the safety of the food product through the supply chain from the point of view of proper temperature.
Don’t forget security! Here is a photo of a physical security video system from V5.
The Dell Gateway is an edge device capable of accumulating data from the disparate sources, performing storage and analysis at the edge then sending information to the cloud for further analysis. It seems that everywhere I go, the “edge” is the place where innovation is centered right now. This simple demo showed the power of the edge.
by Gary Mintchell | Feb 27, 2017 | Automation, Networking, Wireless
The “Wireless Wars” are long over. We just don’t hear much about wireless sensor networks anymore. They work. People use them. However, one of the dreams of these included the thought of spreading low-cost sensors around the plant so that managers, operators, and engineers could have more knowledge of the status of the plant.
Dave Smith (CEO) and Chuck Micallef (CMO), a couple of gentlemen I’ve known for years, stopped me at the ARC Forum a few weeks ago to tell me about a new, lower cost wireless sensor system.
Wireless Industrial Networks (WIN) announced a cost-effective wireless process sensing and condition-based monitoring solution. The wireless products include a Gateway, Universal Transmitter and selection of measurement sensors. WIN’s wireless solutions are designed to change the way the industry thinks about industrial wireless.
The products are simple to select, easy to use and have a significantly lower price than most other alternatives. Wireless applications are easier to justify and faster to start-up than wired. The communication transmission is industry standard 900 MHz, is license free, and has a range of 5,280 feet. The self-configuring communication network is “plug & play” and will be working in minutes rather than hours and requires no prior wireless experience. The complete price for a single measurement starts at just $1,300.00!
“Our products are designed to address the general purpose, condition-based monitoring applications which make up a large percentage of all automation applications,” says Smith, CEO and Owner of WIN. “Our cost-effective wireless solutions give you everything you need and nothing that you don’t! Not all applications require expensive explosion-proof devices so why pay for what you don’t need? Our customers want simple, easy-to-use, cost-effective wireless measurement solutions to address the ever-increasing need for additional measurement without the high engineering and wiring cost.”
The WIN wireless solution consist of 4 items:
- Wireless Gateway – a small, lightweight, 900 MHz communication gateway with standard Ethernet output and supports 200+ transmitters located 5,280 feet away.
- Universal Wireless Transmitter – battery (replaceable) powered transmitter accepts up to 3 universal sensor inputs, mix of any sensor measurement types, 900 MHz, IEEE 802.15.4 standard radio, frequency-hopping, auto configure and AES 128-bit industry standard encryption in a small light-weight NEMA 4x enclosure.
- Sensors – a complete line of measurement sensors using our V-Bus patented technology uniquely characterizes each sensor with a pre-programing calibration curve eliminating the need for on-site calibration, Sensors include temperature, pressure, 4-20 mA, current voltage, humidity/temperature, dual temperature, vibration, discrete, proximity and more.
- DataManager and Web Dashboard – these PC-based software applications are included with the gateway and provide a clear, simple to understand status of all network sensors and is an intuitive navigation tool used to access sensor details and measurement history. Features include: scaled engineering unit, alarm settings, bright easy-to-see measurement status indicators, measurement groups, email/text message for alerts and more.
Common applications include: motor temperature and current draw, pump vibration, bearing vibration or temperature monitoring, conveyor vibration monitoring, exhaust and cooling tower fan monitoring, filter monitoring and many more. The products are flexible and reliable.
by Gary Mintchell | Dec 9, 2016 | Automation, News, Technology, Wireless
Imagine what you could know about your plant or factory if you could get many more sensors around the area. This was the dream behind the development of robust wireless sensor networks for industrial and manufacturing applications.
Here is a new entrant bearing much promise. Swift Sensors Inc. debuted Dec. 8 as an Industrial IoT company providing a cloud-based wireless sensor system for industrial and commercial applications. The company fundamentally replaces a hodge-podge of manual processes and disparate sensors with a low-cost, unified sensor system delivering real-time actionable data — dramatically transforming business process efficiency and reliability. Swift Sensors technology monitors temperature, humidity, vibration, motion, activity, location, electric voltage and current.
“Businesses are frequently limited in their ability to efficiently monitor critical equipment and processes because of expensive, manual traditional systems. Swift Sensors extends the reach and efficiency of sensor monitoring, while offering new opportunities to enhance performance using analytics and optimization,” said Sam Cece, CEO of Swift Sensors. “Our low-cost, instant deployment allows businesses to rapidly adapt to regulatory compliance initiatives and commence predictive maintenance programs.”
Swift Sensors released its cloud wireless sensor system after 18 months of development and successful deployment with various customers, including Kraft Heinz, Sysco Foods, and McDonalds.
“We deployed hundreds of wireless sensors from Swift Sensors to upgrade our existing sensors and automate our manual monitoring processes. My team now focuses their time on important daily tasks rather than manually checking temperatures or equipment status. We’ve saved hundreds of hours in productivity during the past year and improved operations,” said William Thacker, Engineering Supervisor at the Kraft Heinz Company.
Swift Sensor’s next generation cloud wireless sensor system includes customizable real-time monitoring, alerts and analytics. The company’s mission is to improve business efficiency and reliability by making actionable data and analytics globally accessible; providing businesses a way to actively avoid disasters rather than passively waiting to remedy costly failures.
A variety of industrial, commercial and service businesses can now take advantage of Swift Sensors affordable, scalable sensor system, integrating their sensor data across multiple areas for maximum impact. Sample sectors include:
- Food chain (including FSMA compliance)
- Transportation
- Restaurants
- Industrial
- IT Data Centers
- Research & Development
- Power
Low Cost & Scalable, with Actionable Data
Swift Sensors gives companies a cost-effective way to accelerate a broad range of business goals:
- Companies place the Swift Sensors plug and play matchbook-size wireless sensors wherever they would like to capture data and insights from their physical environment.
- The sensors transmit the relevant data via either Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) or RF to a Swift Sensors Bridge, a small appliance that connects the sensors to the secure Swift Sensors Cloud using Wi-Fi, Ethernet, and/or cellular communication.
- Administrators then utilize the Swift Sensors web-based dashboard to configure the sensor system for data monitoring and analysis from any location.
Authorized company employees use the cloud-based dashboard to access sensor data and, based on their role, sophisticated analytics using their desktop and mobile devices. Businesses can create reports and send notifications via email/SMS/phone call based on customizable thresholds.
Pricing and Availability
The Swift Sensors Cloud Wireless Sensor System is available immediately. Individual sensor and bridge appliance pricing start at $79 and $349, respectively, with a low monthly cloud subscription fee for access to the Swift Sensors Dashboard with an unlimited number of users.
Swift Sensors Founding Team
Swift Sensors was founded in May 2015 and began development immediately. The three founders are Dean Drako – Executive Chairman, Sam Cece – CEO, and Dr. Kelly Jones – CTO.
Dean Drako has founded and run several successful companies. He is best known as former president and CEO of Barracuda Networks, which he founded to solve the spam and email security problem, growing the company from a concept to become a cloud and IT security industry leader with more than $200 million in annual sales, 1000 employees, and 150,000 customers.
Sam Cece was previously CEO of Virtual Bridges and CloudTools, acquired by Nimboxx and SolarWinds respectively. As CEO of StrongMail Systems, he expanded the company’s initial customer base to hundreds of business customers; StrongMail was named to the 2012 Forrester Wave Report shortlist.
Kelly Jones was Engineering VP for Virtual Bridges/Cloudtools. Previously, he was a Director at Dell, managing technology teams supporting the majority of Dell’s operational public cloud environment and accounted for 80% of Dell’s SaaS revenue. Jones was also: VP of technology for Message One, acquired by Dell, meeting all delivery dates and achieving 99.999% service availability; founder of PANACYA, acquired by Research in Motion; and Chief Security Scientist for Computer Associates Int’l.
