Forem: Akash Soni

A Simplified Insight Into How IoT Works

Akash Soni — Fri, 31 May 2019 05:47:40 +0000

The Advantages of IoT
To explain simply, IoT Integration helps one in planning, directing, controlling and execution of business operations, the daily commute of one's ward and even care for an ailing loved one and more! Additional advantages of IoT are mentioned below:

Digitizes industrial operations
Simplifies management
Boosts quality control
Enhances offline safety and security
Monitors production flow
Optimizes packaging, logistics and supply chain management
Promotes shorter feedback loops and responsive services
Decodes customer behavior

Source

Harness the Power of IoT in Transportation Industry

Akash Soni — Tue, 30 Apr 2019 06:06:07 +0000

The contribution of the transportation connectivity to the entire world is simply matchless. Be it shipping products overseas, travelling across the globe, booking of everyday public transport, simplifying fleet industry operations or more, the transportation industry has evidently advanced the comfort levels of human life in noteworthy ways. Through the impactful IoT solutions, every challenge that used to disturb the operations of the transportation industry can now be dealt with strong work strategies. Making decisions for revising transportation processes based on the humidity & temperature, average speed, freight monitoring status, operating data, pressure and more has now become uncomplicated with IoT intelligence.

In IoT, the connectivity of a large number of devices effortlessly design perfect strategies for the transportation industry that successfully deal with any changes in the volatile environment. The fitting IoT solution for this industry is the one which sends customized alerts & notifications to the operators, automates regular tasks & advantageous device monitoring, makes the industry related architecture modular, flexible, scalable & standardized and channelizes artificial intelligence in favor of the goals set by the transportation service providers. Thus, tapping onto the capabilities of IoT to unclog the pathways for the transportation sector is just a wise decision away!

IoT Solution for Transportation

6 IoT Business Solutions for Oil and Gas {Infographics}

Akash Soni — Fri, 19 Apr 2019 10:27:00 +0000

Irrespective of upstream, midstream or downstream, the challenges of oil & gas industry are rising with each passing day. These challenges are all regarding productivity, safety and transparency of their operations. Reducing these challenges will eventually increase their profit and enhance their operations to the max. The topmost challenge business faces is how to execute IoT for increasing revenues.
For reducing the aforementioned challenges, oil & gas industry must unleash the full potential of present-day technology, IoT in its operations. This info graphic will help oil & gas industry to enhance their operations effectively.

IoT Solutions for Oil & Gas industry

How IoT became a one stop solution for Transportation industry?

Akash Soni — Fri, 19 Apr 2019 09:49:20 +0000

Internet of Things has been increasingly used in almost every industry and Transportation is no more an exception. Because people have been through a lot of problems and challenges while they travel from one place to another, a complete integrated solution was always a necessity. Many organizations developed the products to eradicate the problems but they did not come up as a sustainable solution.

It is important to realize that people do not buy any product or technology for their problem, they buy a solution to a problem. And so what IoT holds.

IoT is not a silver bullet or another way of making money. It should be considered as another tool or solution in the cutting edge technologies thus providing more value to customers. IoT should be considered in a way that the more focus should be on solving customer problems.

Let’s see how IoT has given a solution to the problems faced by consumers:

1. The traditional transportation system reduced the operational efficiency of the trucks-

The trucking industry forms a major portion of the global economy. According to the American Trucking Association, more than 70% of the freight tonnage is carried throughout the United States by trucks trailers taking goods from manufacturing plants to warehouses to retail stores. In fact, in some areas, the number is even higher. China transports 75% of its freight with the help of trucks and nearly 3/4th of all freight transportation is done via trucks in European Union Countries. With so much dependency on trucks and trailers, it is very much important that a company manages the fleet very efficiently such that low cost and high productivity is encountered. In the US, for example, it is reported that supply chain it a great demand but the increasing challenges and complexities are turning the pressure even higher. The traditional trucking system required different fluids to run properly but the leakage problem brought many issues like loss of air conditioning, overheated engine and many more which later on decreased the operational efficiency of the vehicles.

Adopting cutting edges digital technologies like IoT smart transportation, fleet management and many more can unlock seamless opportunities and productivity gains. In the past recent years, IoT has eradicated all the issues and improved the entire process with real-time information of the vehicle, driver behavior, and trailer information. By implementing IoT in Transportation, poor operational efficiency is no more a challenge. Whenever there is a fuel leakage or pilferage, an alert is sent to the respective manager. IoT sensors allow monitoring the vehicle performance by analyzing data, thus increasing the operational efficiency. Internet of Things has changed the face of the transportation industry, thereby adding bringing a dramatic change in the day to day operations.

2. The consumption of energy was increasing and congestion problems start arising-

Every year the United States uses 28% of its total energy to move goods and people from one place to another. The transportation sector includes many ways of transportation like personal vehicles to trucks to public transportation. The traditional transportation system used to consume a lot of energy for efficient routing management. But with the help of the Internet of Things, an optimized and efficient route can be decided thus consuming energy and saving time. Not only this, an approx. of 175 grams of carbon emission produced by the vehicles was eliminated. Traditional GPS technology involved tracking time and physical location, thus consuming more energy and not giving the desired outputs. IoT devices monitor real-time driver behavior such as which route drives take, driver’s braking habits etc. The traditional transportation system consumed a lot of energy during the route management but adoption of IoT into the traditional transportation system eradicated these problems. IoT sensors do not involve manual monitoring anymore thus reducing the consumption of energy. With time and modifications, manual monitoring became tough. IoT enabled temperature, pressure, heat and humidity sensors utilized energy in a very efficient way and adding great value to the business.

3. Tracking public transportation became difficult-

One of the major challenges of public transit was to get the real-time location about the vehicle and to know when it will arrive at a particular stop. Internet of Things allows tracking the real-time location of the vehicle. Districts install the GPS system on their vehicles (connected by the internet). This GPS data is sent further central command center. Once the data is received by the central command center, the data and information are sent further to the passenger’s internet enabled device. Hence, passengers can know the real-time information of the vehicle.

Not only this, many unforeseen/unexpected events such as climatic conditions, road closures, traffic jam etc. disrupt the public transportation system. Internet of Things has a unique feature which eradicates this problem. The implementation of IoT in Public Transit enables to re-route or find an optimized route, thus helping passengers to make alternate arrangements. Passengers receive real-time alerts notifying about the next stop or any other route taken. IoT has enabled the better transit systems thus developing a sustainable plan for the unforeseen circumstances.

Almost everybody loves to feel special. Personal information about passengers like where the person is, which route the passenger frequently takes, person’s travel habits etc. have been taken care of with the help of IoT. Internet of Things has enabled to send personalized travel information to passengers.

4. Increase in infrastructure cost and more damage-

The traditional transportation system, especially the overloaded ones used to put a lot of strain on the road thus impacting the infrastructure cost very much. So, a complete check on the vehicle's information like weight, size, goods being transported, type of vehicle etc. was a major necessity. Through IoT and smart devices, a check on the weight of the vehicles during loading and unloading became a reality. Overloaded vehicles would then be identified and thereby damage to roads and infrastructure got reduced. Real-time alerts after analyzing the massive amount of data can be received thus decisions can be taken well before in advance and greater efficiency too.

Governments have transformed their roads by using integrated IoT solution and using advanced analytics for better optimization of road management. As road management has leveraged IoT at its best, cities have become smarter now. Thereby giving a better and healthy life to the citizens. In fact, better road management has been treated as a science which provides critical data and providing efficient improvement across the cities.

5. No advance alerts and unavailability of parking slots-

Whether you drive into the city by your personal vehicle or by using public transportation, finding a roadside or public parking spot was always a challenge. Unfortunately, with the ever-increasing population and vehicles, the issue became serious. One of the recent studies says that U.S. motorists spend 17 hours on an average and about $97 per year searching for places to park. Internet of Things eradicated this issue and developed a cost-effective smart parking solution. IoT integrated system has not only made the parking hassle free but also reduced pollution.

The smart transportation system tells about the real-time information of the vehicle as well as the driver. The system works in a way that it tells about the potential dangers on the road well before in advance by sending the alerts. IoT Transportation has put a major impact on the parking systems as the real-time parking system got well managed. Additionally, the multi-level parking system reduces operating and maintenance cost. IoT sensors help in knowing the real-time data thus, increasing safety, efficiency, comfort in driving and parking.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

What does this mean?
Ultimately, the goal is to understand the consumer's problems and create a product that can give them a solution. So start by understanding the needs of the consumer and provide them with the solution rather than a technology.

Understanding the Risks of IoT Technology in Transportation Manufacturing

Akash Soni — Fri, 19 Apr 2019 08:50:04 +0000

Connected technology has been transforming the transportation industry at a brisk speed. Micro-sensors on board trains capture trip data to drive operational efficiency, self-driving cars have shifted from science fiction to city streets, and navigation systems featuring real-time traffic data inform our routes.

Internet of Things (IoT) transportation applications can lead to improved convenience, safety and quality of life, if the devices and communication mechanisms function properly. In the event that the technology fails or even goes temporarily offline, it could lead to property damage and to serious injuries for passengers and bystanders. IoT manufacturers and software companies could be held liable.

Every firm throughout the IoT ecosystem should be aware of the ways they could find themselves liable and take actions to minimize those risks. Here are four key risk categories that technology-centric companies should understand as they develop IoT applications for the transportation industry.

Property Damage. If an IoT device has a defect or fails to function as intended, it could lead to property damage. These risks can include a loss of use of, or physical damage to, personal property, such as a laptop, or real property, such as an office space. For example, an IoT sensor designed to capture data from a locomotive to inform predictive maintenance could fail to accurately read the locomotive’s performance. That could lead to the vehicle going without timely maintenance, resulting in potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars of preventable damage if the failed maintenance causes the locomotive to collide with other property. The device maker could be sued for its device sending inaccurate information.
Bodily Injury. If a device fails at any time to function as advertised, a device developer could be held liable for any injuries that result. IoT manufacturers and software companies could face bodily injury risks that could render them liable in the event of a malfunction. For example, a self-driving truck produced as a joint venture between an autonomous vehicle manufacturer and an IoT software development firm could have a software bug. If that bug results in an accident with oncoming traffic, then the injured drivers and passengers could sue the software developer for the resulting medical expenses.
Cyber Risk. Cyber risks can be the result of a cyber criminal’s attack, ineffective cloud security policy, IT security software failure, or damage from disgruntled employees. If data is improperly secured within information systems, it can lead to potential financial loss, reputational damage or identity theft. Companies are responsible for making sure that their IoT storage and communications functions follow sound data practices, but software device manufacturers may still be held liable if their devices fail to work as advertised. For example, if cyber thieves intercept unsecured machine-to-machine (M2M) communications between a logistics firm’s sensor and cloud, the thieves could then sell the data to a competitor. The device maker could be sued for failure to secure M2M communication.

Minimizing IoT Risks

Consider appropriate quality and risk management systems to help ensure that products consistently meet requirements and specifications.
Build cyber security into the devices, including physical security for server rooms and data centers and 24/7 monitoring for cloud data stores.
Evaluate company contract practices and explore contractual risk transfer and defense/indemnification provisions, which can shift risk to other parties.

It can also be helpful to discuss relevant insurance coverage with an agent or broker. Property, auto liability, auto physical damage, general liability, technology errors and omissions (E&O) liability, and cyber-related first-party coverages can help protect against potential liability.