California highway sign. Image: melissamn/Shutterstock
This week in IoT, an Irish fleet management company gets €1m in funding, while California aims to make its traffic system much more efficient.
Within the internet of things (IoT) this week, the Irish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revealed it is rolling out 38 new air quality sensors across the country as it calls for stricter pollutant guidelines.
The stations will provide real-time information to the public and researchers on Ireland’s current pollution status, as well as significantly more accurate modelling and forecasting capabilities under the new national Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Programme.
ProVision gets €1m from Suir Valley Ventures
Staying within Ireland, Dublin-based IoT fleet management system provider ProVision has secured €1m in funding from Suir Valley Ventures and private investors.
ProVision’s CameraMatics product provides remotely accessible IoT solutions to manage and reduce fleet risk, enhance driver safety, increase fleet efficiencies, and help operators to comply with growing governance and compliance regulations.
ProVision has already installed its systems into hundreds of fleets across the UK and Ireland, comprising thousands of vehicles, and plans to accelerate the roll-out through its partnerships with large fleet operators.
Suir Valley Ventures managing partner Barry Downes said: “This seed funding will enable ProVision, with its proven technology, to modernise an even greater number of fleets, resulting in increased road safety, compliance with regulations and shielding them from fraudulent claims against drivers.”
California to deploy IoT traffic management system
California’s department of transportation has revealed plans to install an IoT traffic management system in an effort to resolve the state’s ongoing issues with massive urban congestion.
According to Smart Cities World Forums, 91 different intersections on California’s Pacific Coast Highway will benefit from a more integrated system where signal timings can change to cater to events or incidents, such as a crash.
While not going into specifics, the plan is also to use the IoT platform to broadcast recommended routes and travel-time predictions to those on the road.
The technology will be built on the Sensys Networks IoT platform, with CEO Amine Haoui saying: “This particular implementation leverages the full capabilities of our IoT and data analytics platform, and is an excellent example of how our systems are enabling smart city solutions to deliver measurable benefits to the travelling public.”
Industrial IoT adoption has the wrong focus, study finds
Within IoT, industrial IoT (IIoT) is set to be a lucrative sector in its own right as major manufacturing centres turn to real-time analytics to boost efficiencies and production.
However, a new report conducted by Bsquare into the current IoT adoption progress of business buyers in manufacturing, transportation, and oil and gas has shown that while adoption is fast, its biggest benefits are often being overlooked.
According to the study, 86pc of industrial organisations are currently adopting IoT solutions and 84pc believe those solutions are very or extremely effective.
The study also shows that most IIoT investments are focused on connectivity (78pc) and data visualisation (83pc), but only 48pc are doing advanced analytics on that data. Furthermore, only a small number (28pc) are automating the application of insights derived from analytics.
“These later stages of IIoT maturity – analytics, orchestration and true edge computing – tend to be where most of the return on investment is realised,” said Kevin Walsh, vice-president of marketing at Bsquare.
“This is especially important because, according to our study, the number one reason cited for IIoT adoption is cost reduction.”
Intel and Ericsson achieve 1Gbps speeds in connected car trial
Autonomous cars of the future will need to master the ability to send and receive large amounts of data in real time, and now a consortium has achieved a major step towards its realisation.
According to ZDNet, the consortium of NTT DoCoMo, Intel, Ericsson, Denso and Toyota successfully trialled 1Gbps speeds transmitting 4K video to a connected vehicle travelling at a speed of 30kph.
Achieved during a trial in Tokyo, the Toyota car was able to receive the signal from the Intel-built antenna on top of the car.
In a joint statement, the companies said: “This accomplishment marks the first 5G multi-vendor interoperability trial involving a device connected to a base station in an automotive environment.”
The individual companies in the consortium have already begun – or plan to – trial various 5G technologies, with Ericsson testing 5G connected cars in the US with telecoms provider Verizon.
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