The problem is a familiar one to every Internet user: the more devices are connected to the Wi-Fi, the slower the data transfer becomes. This is due to the fact that routers are only able to communicate with one device at a time.

If several devices are connected to the WLAN simultaneously, each participant must first wait their turn for data to be transferred. If the volume of transferred data increases on top of this, for instance due to multimedia content like 3D videos or augmented-reality applications, wireless systems can only satisfy the needs of demanding users with the help of smart antennas.

Such smart antennas comprise multiple transmitting and receiving antennas, in addition to the associated signal-processing capability. They make it possible to transfer data at ever higher rates and thus represent one of the key technologies for current and future wireless communication systems alike.

What is MIMO?

As soon as obstacles obstruct this connection, the signals are scattered and dissipated. This causes the connection to become disrupted or even break down entirely. However, visual contact is extremely hard to establish for most wireless applications. MIMO, on the other hand, utilises the scattering of the signals and achieves a better system capacity and better data throughput rates with the various routes that the signals take, in addition to their staggered arrival at the end device. MIMO has been well known for some time already due to its use in WLAN networks and is explicitly defined in high-speed WLAN standard IEEE802.11ac.

The multi-user (MU)-MIMO introduced with IEEE802.11ac Wave 2 makes it possible for a Wi-Fi router to communicate with multiple devices simultaneously. With MU-MIMO, entire departments in a company can simultaneously hold video conferences, download large e-mail attachments and media content, align large files on local file servers or cloud storage services, or stream presentations – all without lagging or buffering.

MIMO technology is also used in mobile-communication networks, where it was introduced with LTE. While LTE usually combines a maximum of eight antenna elements, the future 5G standard will require considerably more power: in the case of the millimetre waves used here, several hundred antennas are frequently used in one transmitting or receiving station.

This optimised multi-antenna technology – called “Massive MIMO” – increases the capacity of the mobile-phone network several times over. Nonetheless, Massive MIMO requires one additional technology in order to exploit the benefits of millimetre waves’ large bandwidth:

Less interference thanks to wireless signals

Signals are emitted evenly in all directions from conventional antennas. If the signals clash with those from other transmitters, interference can occur, and the signal transmission can be seriously disrupted. In combination with beam-forming, the multi-antenna technology of Massive MIMO solves this problem.

By staggering the transmission of the same signal with multiple antennas, the transmitter triangulates the client’s approximate location and directs its transmission accordingly to shape a signal beam – a process referred to as “beamforming”. As a result, a beamforming transmitter can send dedicated signals in different directions to individual receivers. This increases the range, guarantees a more stable connection and higher transmission rates, and also reduces unwanted radio interference.

Reducing power consumption

The MIMO antenna elements require D/A circuits, which convert digital signals into analogue ones so that they can be transmitted by the antenna. However, if digital beamforming is used in the millimetre-wave range, whereby every antenna element features a D/A circuit, multiple high-speed D/A circuits are required. This will result in higher power consumption.

One solution to this problem is so-called “hybrid beamforming”, for which a portion of the signal processing is conducted in the analogue antenna element. Multiple antenna elements can consequently be connected to one single D/A circuit. Power consumption is reduced by doing so because fewer D/A circuits are needed. Using a hybrid beamforming system of this kind results in an economisation in terms of hardware, an improvement in the energy footprint and a reduction of calculation effort.

400 gigabits per second will be transmitted in the future

By implementing these technologies, the future 5G mobile telephony standard promises an enormous power increase in wireless communication, with rates of up to ten gigabits per second. Yet even now, it is already apparent that existing frequency ranges will not be sufficient to cater to the growing demand for stable wireless communication in the future. This is exactly why researchers are already working on the mobile communication standard which will succeed 5G.

The goal is to facilitate a network connection that breaks into a terahertz frequency range; one so stable that it can transport data wirelessly at speeds as high as 400 gigabits per second.

The post Massive MIMO & Beamforming – What is it? appeared first on Future Markets Magazine.

What is WirelessHART?

A high level of flexibility and productivity are the main requirements for modern industrial manufacturing.

Wireless communication systems are therefore incredibly important, because they allow mobile elements in production – forklifts, robots, mobile workstations – to receive control data and supply status information.

They can also be used to noticeably reduce cabling and installation work – an increasingly important factor in flexible, modularly designed factories in which more and more devices are networked.

Machine networking with mobile communication

Wireless technologies that people know from their daily lives can certainly be used for this purpose – mobile communication, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth have been used in industrial applications for a long time now.

One example is remote maintenance on equipment. For example, the sewing machine specialist Dürkopp Adler offers its customers the option to access the sewing machines remotely for the purposes of maintenance work.

The machines are equipped with mobile communication modems and are connected to a cloud-based platform run by the German telecommunications provider Deutsche Telekom.

This allows them to send machine operating parameters via the mobile-communication network, and to receive control commands. Mobile-communication can also be an interesting proposition for communicating with the machine operator.

Phoenix Contact, a manufacturer of components for electrical technology and automation, offers a mobile communication module which a machine tool can use to send status messages to its operator via text message.

This means the operator is informed of a malfunction immediately, even while they are on a break or in a different area of the factory.

Transport jobs over WLAN

In contrast, Wi-Fi has become widely used in intralogistics in particular. That being said, the use of WLAN in industrial environments repeatedly poses challenges to system integrators, as demonstrated by German brewery Badische Staatsbrauerei Rothaus.

The stored liquids – in this case beer – require that the WLAN frequency of the stacker control system be tuned to work with the resonant frequency of the tank or bottle contents. Otherwise, the wireless connection would be too severely disrupted and operating the stacker would either be restricted or not possible at all.

In cases like these, the industrial truck manufacturer Linde offers the option to use different wireless systems on the stackers. This means that data can be transferred by means of GPRS (SIM card), Bluetooth or WLAN.

If there is no WLAN in the outdoor area, then a mobile connection can be used on the vehicle deployed there to send information to the database.

Furthermore, if the building has areas where there is poor WLAN reception, the stacker can automatically retrieve data via Bluetooth as soon as it nears a permanently installed Bluetooth access point.

However, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth also reach their limits if a production plant has hundreds of sensors, actuators and additional systems which all need to be networked together.

With upwards of 15 devices, this can lead to problems in practice as the devices can interfere with each other.

Additionally, there are noticeable connection problems with wireless LAN in terms of walls, interference signals, machines and metal objects, which can result in unreliable communication.

Stable sensor networks for condition monitoring

The IEEE 802.15.4 wireless standard was specifically developed for industrial sensor networks and is characterised by extremely low power consumption, low data rates and wireless ranges of up to approximately 200 metres.

The cost-effective hardware and the use of royalty-free ISM bands both set the wireless standard apart. This standard is the basis of different wireless technologies including ZigBee, 6LoWPAN and WirelessHART.

Comprehensive sensor networks can be realised using these systems, with one example being condition monitoring – the monitoring of machines and facilities.

The ball bearing specialist SKF, for example, has developed a smart sensor which combines data acquisition and a wireless device into a single battery-powered device which can record both vibration as well as temperature data.

The sensor uses the WirelessHART communication protocol, which can network up to 250 participants in the form of a mesh network. In this arrangement, every connected device simultaneously serves as a router.

If a data path for signal transmission fails, the signal searches for an alternative path. Messages which do not arrive or arrive incomplete are re-sent to the same participant.

This creates a very robust network, such as is required for industrial applications. The possibilities of a mesh network are also offered by other systems such as ZigBee 3.0 or the relatively new Bluetooth Mesh.

Industry 4.0 needs new solutions

However, in many cases, the existing wireless solutions are not enough for future applications in Industry 4.0, the requirements of which with regard to latency, reliability, range, failure tolerance, security and localisation options are often too high.

This is at least what the German Association for Electrical, Electronic and Information Technologies (VDE) cautioned in its German position paper “Funktechnologien für Industrie 4.0” (Wireless Technologies for Industry 4.0).

Among other things, the association calls for the development of new wireless systems based on open, globally recognised standards.

Not only should these offer the required performance and reliability for Industry 4.0 applications, but also the simplest possible installation, operation and maintenance.

The spectrum of industrial wireless communication systems could thus become even broader in the future.

The post On the way to Industry 4.0 with WirelessHART appeared first on Future Markets Magazine.

What is Thread?

Whether controlling lighting and heating via smartphone, operating household appliances with voice commands or turning your house into a fortress with the help of smart monitoring sensors: smart-home applications are very much in vogue.

“We are currently witnessing the breakthrough of the smart home,” says BITKOM President Achim Berg. “The smart home is not just about technical fads. It’s much more about changes in society; changes which might enable people to live independently at home in their old age just as much as they might facilitate a decentralised power supply that conserves resources.”

Effective, efficient interoperability has never been as important as it is today because so many different manufacturers are launching ever more IoT devices for home automation onto the market. Many of today’s commercial protocols are still proprietary, however, meaning that only devices from one single supplier are able to work together.

For example, wireless devices from Busch-Jaeger, a leading company in the field of electrical installation technology, communicate via a proprietary wireless protocol in the 2.4 GHz frequency band.

The French firm Somfy, on the other hand, has developed its own dedicated standard: RTS (Radio Technology Somfy), which operates in a frequency band of 868.6625 MHz.

Today, the company is betting on io-homecontrol, a cross-manufacturer, two-way wireless technology for residential buildings that is integrated into a broad spectrum of home-technology products from various brands. Yet only seven brand-name manufacturers are using this standard so far.

Open wireless standards enhance benefits

In this context, it is primarily the combination of different areas of application that creates real added value when it comes to increasing convenience and safety at home.

With the help of a smart door lock connected to an external camera, it is possible to open the front door for the children while you’re at work or ask the postman to leave a package in the hallway, to name two obvious examples. Such openness and freedom in networking different home-automation devices or appliances is offered by common wireless standards.

Alongside Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, ZigBee, Z-Wave and Thread are currently the main players for smart-home applications.

“We chose to increase our commitment to Thread because it solves commercial building spaces’ biggest challenge: technology silos plagued with minimal interoperation,” explains Klaus Waechter, Standardization Manager at Siemens Building Technologies, referring to his company’s commitment to a common wireless standard.

“Siemens supports Thread’s effort to unify the fragmented connected device industry and unlock new markets.” Thread seems to be onto something: Apple, Google subsidiary Nest, Osram, Bosch and Samsung are among fellow members of the Thread Group alongside Siemens.

Furthermore, the group is cooperating with other standard organisations to create an interoperable foundation for the Internet of Things. Similar efforts can also be observed for other wireless standards such as EnOcean, ZigBee or Z-Wave.

Platforms join different systems together

Nonetheless, there will definitely cease to just be the one universal wireless standard for home automation in the foreseeable future. Platform solutions exist as a fall-back solution in order to remain as free as possible in combining different smart-home appliances and devices in spite of this fact.

They enable applications to interoperate in different smart-home systems via one common data exchange. Qivicon – the brainchild of various industrial companies – is an example of this type of platform.

Here, the Qivicon Home Base comprises the core of the networked home. Via this central base unit, the user can control all connected devices or appliances in their home.

The individual devices or appliances communicate with the Home Base via wireless standards featuring cutting-edge security functions.

The supported wireless standards include ZigBee, HomeMatic, Homematic IP, DECT ULE and IP. In doing so, the platform combines the smart-home solutions of power companies, various manufacturers of appliances for the household, home and garden, not to mention those of telecommunications companies and suppliers of security solutions.

This type of “interdisciplinary” networking enables ingenious combinations: along those lines, lamps in the living room can provide a visual signal to the home’s occupants and start their favourite playlist once the washing machine in the basement has completed its cycle.

Smart living in practice

It’s already possible to experience how a smart home of this kind looks in reality, too. In Karlsfeld, near Munich, there are 29 detached homes and around 60 owner-occupied flats which are all furnished with a package of smart-home features.

IP-enabled components are integrated into every home environment that continuously “think” and adapt to the individual requirements of the respective building’s occupants.

“Whether the heating, lights, blinds, music or access control – every room and almost every controllable appliance can be governed independently and conveniently through the iHaus app,” according to Robert Klug, CEO of iHaus AG.

The software firm developed the iHaus app to control and link Internet-enabled devices and appliances, while the smart housing project was realised in collaboration with project developer Isaria Wohnbau.

“Thanks to smart ‘If-Then’ connections – so-called ‘triggers’ – the systems connected to iHaus are even capable of learning. What’s more, they can analyse information from the Internet and put this to good use.”

For example, this allows the room temperatures to be ideally adjusted to match the appropriate situation based on online weather forecasts.

The post A better life in a Smart Home appeared first on Future Markets Magazine.

What is Zigbee?

Light creates atmosphere: this is equally true regardless of whether in the home, in the office or in the local store. When combined with modern LEDs especially, smart lighting systems offer a wealth of possibilities for saving and retrieving even complex lighting scenes as well as changing the ambience.

In the past, however, the switch to traditional, wired light-management systems often meant intensive construction work and high installation costs.

This problem is solved by lamps and luminaires, which are connected by means of wireless technology and use different communication solutions.

One example in this context is the ZigBee wireless protocol, which has become a widely disseminated standard. According to Sunil Kumar Singh, a lead analyst at Technavio specialising in research on semiconductor equipment:

LED luminaires with wireless module

Philips, for example, chose ZigBee as the communications technology for its smart, connected LED lighting system “Hue”.

The system consists of special LED luminaires fitted with ZigBee communication modules, which are controlled via a gateway, or bridge as it is known, by means of a smartphone or also using digital assistants like Amazon Alexa or Apple Siri.

The system makes it easy to select different light colours and create different moods. Thanks to ZigBee, not only can the Hue lamps communicate with each other, but potentially also with other ZigBee-based devices such as motion sensors or thermostats for example.

At the same time, they offer a wide range of signals and consume significantly less energy than traditional WLAN systems.

New lighting system without the need for recabling

EnOcean is another technology that is very popular in the area of building services: the switches and sensors developed by the manufacturer of the same name independently generate the electricity needed to transmit the signals, either by means of photoelectric cells or by converting kinetic energy to electricity when the switch is pressed.

This flexibility was also the reason why EnOcean wireless technology was used in the Anderson Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum: in this case, the legacy lighting solution was to be replaced with a modern lighting-control system that would allow the lamps to be switched on and off conveniently.

Recabling the museum would have been too expensive, however, owing to the large halls and high ceilings required to house the exhibits.

Moreover, the lighting controls were to be upgraded in the event areas of the museum. This, too, posed a challenge as the infrastructure required for installing remote sensors and control elements simply did not exist.

The wireless EnOcean lighting control systems provided the ideal solution for both problems.

Batteryless wall switches based on the EnOcean wireless standard were successfully installed where needed throughout the entire museum and, thanks to their excellent signal range of more than 90 metres, were able to bridge the large distances in the halls.

A control system was fitted additionally via the wireless interface, which made it easy to program the automatic lighting system for the exhibition.

Historic church with modern lighting

The 500-year-old church “Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza” in Farasdués, a small village in the Pyrenees, was also given a new lease of life thanks to a wireless lighting solution from the independent lighting consultant Dr Octavio Perez.

Until recently, the lighting for the church was provided in the form of 500-watt halogen lamps. The aim was to reduce the energy consumption by converting to LED lighting.

And with success too: the new LED lighting reduced the energy consumption from 9000 watts for the old halogen system to just 600 watts, with the new luminaires also offering a long lifetime without the need for maintenance.

But Dr Perez didn’t stop there: the lighting-control solution from the Finnish company Casambi allows the priest to now control the light wirelessly from a smartphone or tablet, meaning he no longer has to continually go to the back room to flick the light switch.

The lighting control is based on Bluetooth Low Energy and is therefore compatible with practically every smartphone, tablet and even every smart watch.

The Casambi app, which is installed on an iOS or Android device, can be used to communicate directly with the luminaires and dimmers, without the need for a gateway device or Wi-Fi network.

The luminaires form a self-organising, self-repairing, robust and flexible mesh network. The system offers the church numerous lighting options, according to Perez:

In addition, the wireless technology allowed the system to be installed without additional cabling and without adversely impacting the historic building structure.

“If it wasn’t for a wireless control system like Casambi, it would simply have been ‘impossible’ to implement this project,” says Perez. “A new installation is really difficult in historical buildings since the laying of new cables is not usually permitted.”

The post What is ZigBee? appeared first on Future Markets Magazine.

Smart meters are an obvious answer when it comes to reducing energy consumption and incorporating renewable energies. These meters act as the basis for smart grids, which optimise consumption and allow regenerative energies to be meaningfully integrated.

The EU Commission is calling for the installation of remotely readable meters so that consumers can regularly check their consumption levels and therefore reduce their energy consumption.

Electricity, gas, water or heat ­meters can be read remotely thanks to wireless technologies. Not only does this make it easier to take ­readings, but consumers can monitor their consumption levels themselves at all times.

Walk-by meter reading

Remotely readable electricity, gas, heat or water meters not only offer the advantage of consumers being able to independently check their consumption levels at any time via a smartphone app, for example.

Power companies can also benefit directly, since the meter reader can check the consumption data wirelessly in a “walk-by” process, effectively eliminating the need to access the tenant’s home.

An open, interoperable standard

An interoperable data-transfer standard is required so that the meter-reading service can read the data from different meter manufacturers. Meter manufacturer Zenner therefore uses the wireless M-Bus based on the OMS -standard for its remote reading system.

OMS stands for Open Metering System and enables interoperability between different meters of different manufacturers.

“The OMS specification for communication between utility meters in all energy sectors is not only attracting significant interest in Europe,” says Dr Werner Domschke, Board Spokesman for the OMS Group. “OMS devices are currently also being sold in the Middle East and Latin America.”

The standard uses M-Bus and wireless M-Bus as its communications technology: developed more than 20 years ago, M-Bus is recognised today as a robust Fieldbus system for wired and wireless meter communication.

Its use offers certainty of investment, viability for the future and energy savings: the battery life of the Zenner communication system is up to 15 years, for example.

Interface between meter and utility

Consumption data is no longer read directly from each meter in the case of larger buildings where the number of electricity, water or heat meters installed can quickly reach into the hundreds.

Instead, the data is sent initially to a central data collection and communication unit, termed a smart meter, which then transfers the data onward to the power company or meter-reading service provider. The smart meter systems open up completely new possibilities for customers:

“At present, we read our power consumption directly from the meter once a year, whereas in future,the smart-meter gateway will allow us to use an app to conveniently find out how much electricity is being consumed by the refrigerator or washing machine at any time, for example,” says Paul-Vincent Abs, Managing Director at E.ON Metering.

E-ON has already commenced installation and ordered some 16,000 of these smart meters at the beginning of 2018 from Mannheim-based Power Plus Communications. The devices use the LTE mobile-communication network to connect to the wide area network (WAN).

4th generation LTE (Long-Term Evolution) is ideally suited to data transfer in the smart-meter system thanks to its high transmission rates and can be used for time-critical control commands, for example. If eSIM (embedded SIM) technologies are also incorporated into smart-metering solutions, their initial set-up is particularly economical.

Using these solutions, the provider can be switched remotely and wirelessly without physical changes to the device itself. This reduces costs for the technical field service and subscription management.

Due to the fact that the profiles of multiple network operators can be saved on one device with eSIM, it is also possible to quickly toggle between different mobile communication networks if the network coverage is insufficient, for example.

Controlling the smart grid via 5G

The wealth of possibilities is expected to multiply with 5G – the future mobile-communication standard could have a significant impact on the energy sector.

Or at least that is the conclusion reached by distribution-grid -operator Stromnetz Berlin, Deutsche Telekom and Ericsson. The partner companies examined application cases for the new 5G technology in the power grid as part of the 5Grid project at Adlershof in Berlin – one of the largest technology parks in Europe.

According to Dr Erik Landeck, Managing Director at Stromnetz Berlin:

LOW-POWER solutions for flexible data transfer

Low-power wireless networks are a low-cost alternative to mobile communications in cases where a low bandwidth suffices and a high latency is acceptable, as with the simple reading of measured data from smart meters.

Indian meter manufacturer Hanbit has integrated the LoRa technology into its smart metering solutions, to name one example. LoRaWAN stands for Long-Range Wide Area Network and is an international open LPWAN transmission standard designed to wirelessly connect battery-powered “things”.

It is characterised by high ranges and excellent building penetration with low energy consumption on the part of the devices. “Our LoRa-based utility metering solutions enable maximum accuracy in utility management with real-time tracking,” says Phani Varanasi, CEO of Hanbit.

The post What is a Smart Grid? appeared first on Future Markets Magazine.

Wearables are increasingly becoming a part of daily life. ­Wireless technologies are not only used to transmit health and fitness data, but can even be used as electronic wallets.

According to market analyst Gartner, more than 310 million “wearables” were sold in 2017. Wearables are small electronic devices which are worn on or even inside the body, often in the form of small accessories such as wristbands, brooches or watches.

They do not offer the option to integrate a display or a keyboard, and often only have limited processing and storage capacities – without wireless technology they would therefore be inconceivable.

The most commonly sold wearables are Bluetooth headphones – around 150 million of these alone were sold in 2017, and the numbers are expected to increase over the comingyears. The reason for this, according to Angela McIntyre, Research Director at Gartner, is this:

Payments with wearables

Most people associate the term wearable with fitness trackers. At least 44 million units of these smart wristbands were sold in 2017, however the market is weakening.

This could be the result of the increasing functional scope of smart watches, which make an additional fitness tracker unnecessary.

Fitbit, one of the leading providers of these smart wristbands recognised this as well, and thus brought out its own version of a smart watch, the Fitbit Versa.

It has expanded health and fitness functions and can also transfer music to headphones via Bluetooth. Even contactless payment is possible with the watch as it has an integrated NFC chip.

“NFC” stands for “near-field communication” and has become widely used as a technology for contactless payment. To make a payment, users only need to briefly hold a device with an NFC chip in front of the reading device of a correspondingly equipped point-of-sale terminal.

In order to be able to use this service, you must first download a corresponding wallet app, in which a payment type (credit or debit card) is stored.

When your shirt talks to your smartphone

The wearables market is generally moving away from wristbands and smart watches – at least according to a study from Juniper Research, which identifies smart clothing as the fastest-growing sector in the wearables market. Juniper estimates that – due to the development of conductive textiles and intelligent sports clothing by companies such as Sensoria, Lumo and Under Armour – nearly 30 million pieces of smart clothing will be sold in 2022.

By comparison, only 7 million pieces are expected to be sold in 2020. An example of such a networked piece of clothing is iimo by Teiimo, which has integrated the electronics into the textiles in such a way that they are imperceptible by the wearer.

The system measures heart-rate and movement data, and stores and analyses this data. iinMotion, for example, recognises whether the body is balanced during running, or whether one leg is doing more work than the other.

The data is wirelessly transferred live, for example to a mobile phone or a smartwatch. The training data is then analysed in detail in an online portal.

Reducing stress through play

Wearables are not only helpful during training. They are becoming increasingly important in the health sector as well. “Healthcare usage has long been the goal of many wearables manufacturers,” remarks James Moar of Juniper Research.

“However, more research needs to be done on activity tracking in order to make typical wearables data clinically meaningful to healthcare professionals.”

Nevertheless, various health-oriented applications already exist today. The SimyBall, for example, is aimed at people who wish to relieve stress and to train themselves mentally in an entertaining way.

The ball produced by SimyLife, is essentially a games console which is connected via Bluetooth LE to a tablet, for example.

The ball is then used as a controller for various games, using which the user can train things such as relaxation and breathing techniques.

Smartphone-compatible heart monitor

Wearables are not only used on the body, but also inside it; wireless technologies are making it possible to communicate with implants without needing to pass a communication interface through the skin.

The small, implantable Confirm Rx heart monitors from Abbott have been used in clinical settings for several years, to name one example.

What is new, however, is that the heart-rate data collected by the monitoring devices can now be transferred via Bluetooth Low Energy to the patient’s smartphone.

They can then share the ECG recordings of the heart monitor and also communicate using their doctor at the same time using an interactive app on the mobile phone. The new generation of heart monitors allows patients not only to record their symptoms on their own smartphone, but also to describe certain occurrences in more detail. Thanks to an automatic sharing function, they also save time and money.

“If we want to determine the causes for unexplained heart attacks or stroke events, we rely on the support of our patients,” explains Dr Georg Nölker. He heads the catheterisation laboratory for electrophysiology at the Heart and Diabetes Center North Rhine-Westphalia in Bad Oeynhausen, Germany, where patients were given the networked heart monitor for the first time.

“Smartphones are always available and easy to use. We hope that this will provide us with more detailed information about rare occurrences which appear for a limited amount of time. This should help patients in the future with fast diagnosis and treatment.”

The post What is Near Field communication? appeared first on Future Markets Magazine.

Modern aircraft come with highly complex communication systems, which transmit commands to different operating systems and are used to network numerous sensors, for example to monitor the engines or the undercarriage.

However, these traditional communication systems require complex electrical cabling and a complex harness assembly; this is not only expensive, but also greatly increases the total weight.

30 per cent fewer cables thanks to wireless systems in aircrafts

The idea is obvious – replace at least some of these cables with wireless technologies. This is something that aircraft manufacturers and scientists are actually working on.

For example, during the 2015 World Radio Conference, a 200 MHz-wide spectrum from 4.2 to 4.4 GHz was released globally for secondary use by sensor networks in aircraft.

This is the so-called Wireless Avionics Intra-Communications (WAIC). WAIC consists of short-range wireless communication covering a range of under 100 metres, and is used to network components on or in the aircraft.

Possible applications include sensors for smoke detection or for monitoring cabin air pressure, the fuel-tank fill level, humidity and corrosion. The aim is not to completely replace existing cable connections, but rather supplement them.

After all, many systems within aircraft are designed with multiple redundancies; for example if one cable connection to a sensor fails, a second or even a third one will be on standby to take its place.

With WAIC, at least one of these redundant cables could be replaced by a wireless connection. In contrast, non-critical systems such as lighting or temperature regulation could also be entirely controlled using the wireless system.

Aircraft manufacturers hope that wireless technologies will be able to reduce cabling within aircraft by 30 per cent, which will make the aircraft much more efficient.

Another advantage for the aircraft operator is flexibility: whenever it becomes necessary to refurbish the cabin or other installations, reconfiguration is noticeably easier with wireless systems.

That being said, the security of these types of WAIC systems is an issue. For one thing, they could be hacked from outside the aircraft.

Additionally, they could build interference with other systems that work within the radio frequency or disturb radar systems – or be disturbed by them.

Data transmission by means of light in the cabin and cockpit

As a result, European aircraft manufacturer Airbus is also investigating the extent to which LiFi could be implemented in an aircraft.

With LiFi, data is transmitted at high rates by modulating “normal” lighting LEDs (refer also to the interview from page 6 onwards). For example, every reading light in an aircraft cabin could be equipped with LiFi technology and turned into a hotspot with no issues.

Passengers could then also have a sufficient data volume for video streaming or Internet browsing. Development engineers at Airbus are currently working on solutions for integrating this technology on board. The aircraft manufacturer is also investigating solutions for implementing LiFi in the cockpit.

Unlike other wireless technologies, LiFi does not penetrate walls, which means data transfer in the cockpit over LiFi could not be influenced or hacked from the outside.

Moreover, LiFi would allow separate data networks to be easily created, e.g. for pilots, cabin crew and passengers, which would be secure within each designated area, such as the cockpit.

The European Commission has launched a project, which is currently running, intended to confirm the suitability of implementing LiFi in aircraft.

To add to this, French company Factem is developing different LiFi devices – for example a pilot’s headset and tablets – which are intended to prove that LiFi technology can be just as efficient and reliable as a wired network. Completion of initial prototypes is scheduled for January 2019.

The post Wireless in aircrafts – 30% fewer cables appeared first on Future Markets Magazine.

Where and how we listen to music is changing. People want to enjoy music quickly, easily and in high quality in any place – be it at home, at the office or while exercising. With streaming services such as Spotify and smartphones acting as constantly available music centres, the CD is being replaced as the “classic” sound-storage medium.

Users increasingly want to play music through devices which they can take with them anywhere, all day long – be it a pair of wireless earphones or a portable speaker.

Definition Bluetooth

Bluetooth technology in demand

According to market research firm GfK, Bluetooth technology is especially in demand in Western Europe.

About 15 per cent of headphones and stereo wireless headsets sold in the first half of 2017 had Bluetooth capabilities – meaning that the Bluetooth share of the market was almost double the previous year.

Likewise, true wireless devices are also becoming increasingly popular. With this technology, headphones such as the ”BH406” by ACME neither need a cable to connect to the music source nor to connect the right earbud to the left.

Only the left earbud is connected to the smartphone via Bluetooth as a primary speaker while the right speaker is connected automatically via “True Wireless Stereo”. “True Wireless Stereo Plus”, whereby both earbuds are connected directly to the mobile device via Bluetooth, goes one step further.

Each earbud only receives the audio content that is relevant for it. This increases the audio transmission’s robustness and results in equal electricity consumption for both earbuds.

The prevention of latency between the two buds also increases sound quality.

An even more intense live concert experience

Improved sound quality is also what the PEEX rX wearable by Powerchord is all about – although not for listening to recorded music, but rather live concerts. In fact, it’s actually an entire system for enhancing a concert experience.

The technology behind the product was developed in cooperation with RTX A/S. The concert-goer wears the PEEX rX device which connects to their smartphone via Bluetooth Low Energy.

The wearable in turn receives different audio channels such as vocals, bass, drums or guitar transmitted across the venue from previously agreed feeds from the artist.

These channels are transmitted over commercial Wi-Fi chipsets, whereby the Wi-Fi protocol was completely replaced with a proprietary protocol. This, along with other patented technology, ensures that the high quality- and latency-related demands of concert-goers are fulfilled.

The listener can then control the volume and mix their own sound using an app on their smartphone, for example bringing the vocals more into the foreground, or reducing the bass.

In doing so, the headphones maintain the live experience by not eliminating the ambient noise and harmonising the real (speaker) sound in real-time.

Networked across rooms

Although portable Bluetooth speakers have not yet achieved the sound of a live concert, their sound quality is nevertheless constantly improving.

Speaker systems with multi-room capabilities – devices with which users can enjoy different music in different rooms – are particularly in demand. In these systems, several speakers within a home Wi-Fi network are connected to each other in order to achieve an impressive and striking listening experience across several rooms.

An example of this is the HomePod from Apple – iOS 11.4 allows the wireless speaker to be connected to another speaker and thus easily create a true stereo listening experience.

The system uses two HomePod speakers as a stereo pair to deliver a sound that fills the whole room, just like a commercial stereo pair – and all from a speaker that is just under 17 centimetres tall.

This is possible because the HomePod uses automatic room recognition to determine its position, and adjusts the sound automatically, regardless of where it is located, for the best-possible music experience.

A wireless peer-to-peer direct connection developed by Apple is used for perfect interplay between multiple speakers and fully synchronised music playback.

Additionally, the AirPlay 2-based multi-room audio system allows music to be played in one room from another, for music to be moved from one room to another or for the same song to be played throughout, with an iOS device, a HomePod, Apple TV or by Siri commands.

Wireless with Hi-Fi quality

Sound quality is an increasingly important aspect for wireless speakers. For example, the Onkyo P3 smart speaker transmits speech and music in Hi-Fi sound quality that fills the entire room.

The system is one of the first intelligent speakers supported by DTS Play-Fi technology, which allows music from every possible application or file to be streamed in pure, unadulterated quality over standard Wi-Fi, through one or multiple speakers and components with Play-Fi capabilities.

Play-Fi is supported by many of the largest brands in the world in the Hi-Fi sector, and the speaker all but takes the wireless experience to the extreme: Alexa, the virtual assistant, can be used to control not only music, but also other compatible smart devices.

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The extensive use of digital solutions can noticeably increase the quality of life in cities. In a “smart city”, daily commute times, crime rates and waste production are decreased, while air quality is improved. “Many large cities have the same problems: daily traffic jams, tight living spaces and increased pollution. Digital solutions can make an important contribution to solving these issues,” says Gernot Strube, Senior Partner at McKinsey in Munich.

However, this requires a comprehensive network. Wireless data transfer plays a very important role here because it enables the cost-efficient networking of a large number of devices, and can easily handle mobile applications. Wi-Fi hotspots allow residents to use the city’s services with smartphones or notebook computers, and 5G applications allow for the fast exchange of large data volumes, for example for video surveillance at critical transport junctions.

In addition, a large number of different sensors provides “background information” for smart city applications. These sensors only transmit low data volumes and do not transfer data continuously. In light of this low data rate, Wi-Fi is not necessary and too expensive for these applications.

Since the sensors are battery-operated, this excludes the use of a mobile-communication network as batteries often run out within a few days. This is why low-power wide area networks (LPWAN) are the technology of choice for many smart city applications.

Controlling street lights more intelligently

One such a low-power WAN is being provided in -Schimberg, Thuringia by Alpha-Omega Technology. The long-range wide area network (LoRaWAN) protocol being used for it offers the possibility of transferring measuring and -sensor data using little energy over very long distances – up to 15 kilometres in rural areas.

In this system, integrated sensors recognise defective lights and inform the operator by means of an app. For public festivals, for example, the operating time of the street lights can additionally be set differently to the usual operating hours.

“In addition to the service which we want to offer to our residents and visitors to events, security is of course a main focus for us, in order to avoid accidents,” says Gerhard Stitz, the local mayor.

The use of additional sensors has already been planned for the near future – the aim is to monitor the fill level of the public waste containers in the municipality.

Effective waste management

A waste management solution of the sort mentioned above is already in use in Dún Laoghaire in Ireland. The port city’s waste containers were filling up faster than they could be emptied, so in order to prevent waste disposal costs from increasing even further (e.g. through additional vehicles or more bins), the local authority decided to replace the 530 conventional waste containers with 420 smart waste stations from Bigbelly.

These containers have an integrated solar-powered compactor and a sensor which measures the fill level. As soon as the container needs to be emptied, the system sends information to cloud-based management software at the disposal company through a mobile-communication link.

The messages are evaluated there and, every morning, a pick-up list of the containers that need to be emptied is generated using this information.

More efficient maintenance for public toilets

For example, Sigfox devices were connected to local monitoring systems for public toilets, which allowed the local authority to open and close doors automatically, control lighting inside and outside, receive alarms for leaks, record water meter readings and keep an eye on the work of cleaning staff.

“The Sigfox coverage lays the foundations so that municipalities can be better maintained, more secure, more sustainable and more innovative. By implementing Internet of Things solutions, the municipalities can lower their costs and serve their communities better,” says Loic Barancourt, the CEO of Thinxtra, the operator of the Sigfox network in Australia.

Synchronised traffic lights for cyclists

However, large networks don’t always need to be installed in order to realise smart city applications. In Aarhus, Denmark, for example, RFID is used as a wireless technology in order to switch traffic lights for cyclists to green.

For this purpose, the bicycles are equipped with RFID tags from ID-advice, so that a sensor on the traffic lights can recognise an approaching bicycle and send a signal to the traffic controller in order to provide a green light for the cyclist.

The objective of the system is to achieve smooth-running bicycle traffic so that residents will be motivated to cycle. Having more bicycles and fewer cars improves the flow of traffic and the air quality in the city, whilst the CO2 impact and the particle emissions are reduced.

The post Sigfox, LPWAN & LoRaWAN – Definitons and applications appeared first on Future Markets Magazine.

What is RFID?

The right product, in the right quality and right quantity, in the right place at the right time, with the right costs – this is the well-worn “6R rule” of logistics, which snappily outlines just how the goal of an effectively functioning supply chain needs to be.

Wireless and IoT technologies are increasingly being used for logistics purposes to monitor these goals and remain informed at all times as to where which goods are and what their status is.

Using such technologies ensures a considerably clearer overview of the status of the goods and the supply chain as a whole. If required, companies can then use this to track the location and status of the goods (e.g. temperature, air humidity and damage) in real time.

Through a networked supply chain of this kind, the processing and response times can be shortened, stock levels reduced, and just-in-time production processes improved. According to the DHL trend report “Internet of Things in Logistics”, the use of networked IoT technology can generate an extra EUR 1.77 billion for the global logistics industry by 2025.

“The supply-chain industry finds itself at a turning point. Due to new hardware technologies and information and analytical solutions, traditional systematics are being questioned like never before. Technology offers considerable opportunities to reduce costs and increase profitability,” explains José F. Nava, Chief Development Officer, DHL Supply Chain.

These days, asset tracking – i.e. the tracking and localisation of an object within a warehouse or somewhere along the supply chain – is already a commonplace application. Almost all available wireless technologies are used in the process.

Stock-taking in the blink of an eye with RFID

RFID technology is a classic when it comes to logistics applications – after all, the technology is almost 20 years old now.

It has proved its worth in a vast range of industrial applications over the years and is commonly found today in intralogistics solutions, i.e. logistics solutions within one single supply centre or warehouse.

Compared to classic identification systems such as barcodes or laser marking, transponder data can even be written and read with RFID when there isn’t actually any visual contact. Data can also be expanded, modified or replaced, which opens up entirely new applications.

In the same vein, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a system in which small drones that don’t pose a hazard to warehouse personnel are used as a relay between RFID tags and an RFID reader.

In turn, this allows the RFID reading range to be expanded considerably.
In this case, the flying robots are not only able to read RFID tags from dozens of metres away, but also use triangulation to simultaneously determine the locations of the tags and associated products to an accuracy of around 19 centimetres.

Even in a large warehouse, a method such as this means that stock can effectively be taken in the blink of an eye.

Transmitting additional status parameters

Current RFID developments can even supply more than just the basic identification and location information: combining RFID transponders with sensors enables a multitude of other parameters in the delivery process to be recorded, too.

RFID sensor transponders, such as those developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems (IPMS), integrate antenna, identification and sensor technology into one single chip.

“Our passive RFID sensor transponders measure physical parameters such as humidity, vibration or temperature before transmitting these wirelessly to a reader, which also provides the power,” explains Dr Andreas Weder, Team Leader at the Fraunhofer IPMS.

“They are compact, lightweight, maintenance-free and do not require their own power supply, which enables them to be easily integrated into a variety of loading aids.”

Consequently, sensor transponders from the Fraunhofer IPMS not only assist in the previously established identification and shipment tracking of goods at a certain point in time, but also provide information on what has happened to raw materials, semi-finished goods and end products during their progression along the supply chain.

Global asset tracking

Asset-tracking systems are increasingly being connected to the cloud to enable goods to be monitored along global supply chains as well. What’s more, the tracking information can be saved to the cloud and analysed in a more straightforward manner, which provides new insights into the various processes.

However, combining short-range technologies such as RFID, Bluetooth or Wi-Fi with the cloud makes things tricky when the tracked object is on the move and making its way from Europe to the USA, for example.

Relatively low-cost wireless modems with a long range are therefore an upcoming solution for mobile asset tracking. Technologies like LTE-M and narrow-band (NB) IoT use 4G mobile-communication networks that can easily accommodate IoT traffic: both of these are efficient enough to ensure that the life of the battery lasts several years.

These new technologies facilitate global asset tracking at a price that enables practically any package to be tracked anywhere in the world.

Less cargo at sea

A worldwide tracking system such as this is of particular interest for container logistics, too.

In the case of an international shipment, the number of interactions can quickly rise to 200, conducted by more than 25 agents – such as freight forwarders, port logistics, customs, shipping lines, receiving agents and many more. It stands to reason, then, that freight forwarders are so keen to keep a close eye on their containers all the way along the supply chain; seamlessly and with real-time updates.

After all, a lack of transparency reduces the agility of the supply chain and the level of service delivered to the end customers. To name one example, tyre manufacturer Michelin collaborated in the development of a real-time asset-tracking system for shipping containers based on the technology and global network of Sigfox.

This system is already in use for several of Michelin’s critical, intercontinental supply chains. It enables shipments to be continuously tracked all over the world due to the trackers’ ability to automatically detect local radio-frequency standards and adapt themselves accordingly.

“Our experiences from the pilot phase and further investigations have convinced us that – among other things – we can reduce the level of stock at sea by 10 per cent and increase the accuracy of estimated arrival times by 40 per cent thanks to real-time management,” says Pascal Zammit, Senior Vice President Global Supply Chain at Michelin.

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