Category: Environmental Monitoring

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LPWAN and Environmental Monitoring: 5 Use Cases for Industry 4.0

LPWAN and Environmental Monitoring

BehrTech Blog

LPWAN and Environmental Monitoring: 5 Use Cases in Industry 4.0

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When talking about the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) or Industry 4.0, it’s not uncommon for manufacturers to interpret its value through the lens of factory automation. For many, a smart factory is a next-gen automation facility with advanced robotic equipment and enhanced real-time production control. High-bandwidth automation networks will have their place in the next industrial revolution, however they aren’t the only value creator. What’s most disruptive about IIoT is the ability to tap into unprecedented insights on the factory floor to optimize processes and boost productivity. And, a large part of these insights come from granular environmental wireless sensors.

Until recently, monitoring environmental conditions across industrial campuses had been prohibitive due to the costs and complexities of legacy wireless solutions. Environmental data is minimal in size, but the number of sensors needed to cover an entire facility is vast. Cellular and short-range solutions are too power-hungry and expensive for this type of low-bandwidth communications and therefore fail to scale with the required amount of end points.

Today, the advent of Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN) introduces reliable and cost-effective connectivity for environmental monitoring. The technical design minimizes complexity and power footprint on the transceiver to lower device costs while enabling long battery life. Long range and a star topology additionally simplify deployment in large-scale, geographically dispersed facilities.

Environmental data delivers a whole new level of visibility into daily operations. By correlating contextual information with machine outputs and parameters, manufacturers can attain a holistic view of their production, identify bottlenecks and understand what is causing inefficiencies. Below are 5 examples of how LPWAN and environmental monitoring can help improve productivity and safety on the shop floor.

1. Quality Control

Ambient conditions have a significant influence on many industrial processes. For example, optimal air humidity and quality are essential for uniform coloring and painting tasks, alongside stable drying cycles and chemical reactions. Similarly, maintaining favorable room temperatures ensures precise fluid injections and optimal quality of 3D-printed components in industries like auto manufacturing. Having an environmental sensor network in place, manufacturers can oversee important ambient variables that impact production and respond timely to undesirable changes.

2. Worker Safety

Industrial workers are often exposed to a myriad of dangers. According to the International Labor Organization, work-related illnesses and diseases are estimated to incur USD$3 trillion of global economic losses each year. Monitoring workplace surroundings like air quality, combustible gases, heat, noise and radiation, can help better safeguard industrial workers. In conjunction with data from worker wearables, analysis of environmental data allows for identifying prolonged exposure to adverse conditions, out-of-tolerance incidents and potential workplace hazards. This enables managers to take counteractive measures accordingly to ensure worker’s health, safety and productivity.

3. Equipment Maintenance

A wide range of industrial and electronics equipment is subject to damage caused by unfavorable ambient conditions. Typically, excessive indoor humidity is conducive to condensation and corrosion of machinery, while too arid atmosphere leads to friction and electrostatic charge. Likewise, constant monitoring of the room temperature is vital to avoid equipment overheating that shortens its lifetime while presenting fire threats. Leveraging IoT sensors, businesses can have 24/7 insights into these critical environmental factors for effective regulation of heating and cooling devices.

4. Regulatory Compliance

In industries with treacherous extractive processes like mining, quarrying and oil and gas, rigorous environmental monitoring is integral in daily operations to minimize negative ecological implications. In this context, wireless sensors help automate monitoring tasks and deliver round-the-clock visibility to guarantee regulatory compliance. Specifically, they can report on underground water quality for early identification of acid drainage and prevention of widespread contamination. As another example, they can measure ground vibration, air quality and pressure during and after blasting to evaluate its impact on nearby residences and improve the future design.

5. Energy Management

Energy costs lie among the top operational expenses of industrial and commercial facilities. Despite the high overhead, statistics have shown that as much as 30 percent of the energy use is wasted. As companies constantly look to lower energy costs, granular IoT sensors offer an affordable approach to upgrade HVAC systems for higher efficiency. Instead of having a centralized and uniform HVAC setting, facility managers can leverage micro-zoned indoor climate data from IoT sensors to adjust heating and cooling on demand. Such a system helps circumvent the problem of HVAC overuse while optimizing occupancy comfort.

The power of IIoT goes far beyond what factory automation depicts. With ambient conditions having a significant impact on operational efficiency, safety and sustainability, IIoT is set to unlock this insight and open numerous opportunities to improve your business.

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IoT and Sustainability: 7 Applications for a Greener Planet

IoT and Sustainability

BehrTech Blog

IoT and Sustainability: 7 Applications for a Greener Planet

Traditionally, advancements in technology and environmental sustainability have seemed mutually exclusive. We often think of technological advancements as having a negative impact on sustainability. Since the first Industrial Revolution in the mid 18th century, technological innovations allowed humans to exert a greater influence over natural resources. This combined with the ever-growing population resulted in a heavier usage of raw materials and an increased amount of production, leading to a significant resource depletion and rise in CO2 emissions.

Until now, the factors that propel digital innovation and sustainability have been disconnected. One is motivated by extensive technological change led by IoT, AI and robotics, all promising to transform industrial and commercial processes. The other is driven by climate and environmental deterioration as well as geopolitical instability, all of which demand a new approach that prioritizes resource conservation and environmental governance — and in particular intensifies efforts to de-carbonize the atmosphere.

However, with today’s advancements in IoT sensor technologies and wireless connectivity, the two concepts of digital innovation and sustainability have become mutually reinforcing. Companies must embrace digital transformation and its business-critical insights in order to pivot to more energy-efficient practices, use resources more responsibly and organize processes in ways that reduce waste.

Here are 7 impactful ways companies can use IoT for sustainability:

IoT and Sustainability

1. Smart Energy Management

While reduced costs and user comfort has been paramount in the design of HVAC and lighting systems since their inception, customers and communities have placed an increasing emphasis on sustainable technology. Energy consumption accounts for more than 40% of a commercial building’s total energy use. It’s no wonder so many facility managers (FMs) are finding ways to optimize this system’s efficiency.

Until recently, HVAC equipment has often been regulated in a uniform, predefined fashion, causing wasteful problems like overheating or under-heating across the property. In this context, real-time, granular IoT sensor data enables on-demand, micro-zoned equipment control to achieve higher energy efficiency. What’s more, leveraging occupancy data can also unveil important trends in HVAC and lighting needs to optimize equipment schedules. For example, if HVAC and lighting systems are set to operate until 8pm, but data reveals tenants don’t stay later than 7pm, facility managers can cut one hour of daily energy use to greatly reduce their carbon footprint.

When it comes to usage monitoring, wireless utility submeters help deliver consumption data at discrete building areas or even on individual assets – especially energy-intensive ones. Having these insights at their fingertips, facility operators can swiftly identify and locate bottlenecks for counteractive measures.

2. Air Pollution Monitoring

Most of the rising global attention to air pollution focuses on the impacts that ozone, particulate matter and other pollutants have on human health. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that air pollution inside and outside the home is responsible for about 7 million premature deaths worldwide. The majority of these deaths—4.2 million—are associated with outdoor pollution. It is a leading environmental risk factor affecting urban and rural populations around the world.

Outside of the devastating impact on health, air pollution also has significant ramifications on climate, water, weather, renewable energy, food and vegetation. Recent innovation in low-cost pollution sensors has enabled a new generation of air quality monitoring that provides actionable high-resolution data at a fraction of the cost of traditional monitoring systems. Companies now have real-time snapshots of where air pollution is coming from and traveling to, and who and what is most affected.

For example, methane, the primary component of natural gas, is a potent greenhouse gas accounting for 20% of global emissions. The largest source of industrial emissions is the oil and gas industry, which loses $30 billion worth of methane each year from operations. In this context, an air quality monitoring solution enabled by a low-power wide area network (LPWAN), can provide operators real-time insight into previously undetectable leaks in far flung, remote locations, as well as the ability to remotely control valves to prevent further methane leakage.

3. Smart Waste Management

As cities grow, so does the amount of garbage we produce. By 2050, the United Nations estimate that 68% of world population will live in urban areas and the World Bank that solid waste will increase by 70%. The inadequacy and inefficiencies of existing trash containers and landfills may lead to the accumulation of garbage on city streets and to illegal dumping, with serious consequences for public health. At the same time, more frequent waste collection means more air and noise pollution, traffic, and higher public costs.

Smart waste management has often been discussed in the municipality context, but its benefits and applicability for enterprises are just as far-reaching. It helps to tackle the persistent challenge of emptying schedules that aren’t aligned with actual demand. With waste production rates varying from one day to another at industrial and commercial facilities, pickup trucks often arrive just to offload half-full dumpsters. Needless to say, this introduces increased costs and wasted resources, not to mention the amount of carbon emission resulted from redundant truck trips. In other cases, waste containers may already be overfilled before the collection schedule, causing unhygienic conditions and the potential for more hazardous emissions.

Wireless IoT sensors can combat these issues by delivering various real-time data on trash receptacles at facility managers’ fingertips. Knowing the current fill level of each container, they can better foresee when one needs to be emptied, as well as understand how much and how quickly each type of waste is being disposed on a daily and seasonal basis. On top of that, temperature and humidity data reveal useful insights into undergoing microbial activities inside individual dumpsters. Having all this information at hand, businesses can optimize the pickup schedule of each waste type for higher efficiency, as well as lower transport costs and environmental footprint. At the same time, they can make informed decisions about the container capacity and location to adapt to the actual demand and avoid unwanted overfills.

4. Fleet Management

There’s an increasing focus on the environmental impact of different fuel types, particularly the affect diesel engines have on air quality. When combined with the ongoing drive to reduce CO2 levels across the board, fleet operators are under more pressure than ever before to make sure their fleet related decisions take environmental factors into consideration.

Location, fuel consumption, idle time, driver behaviour and vehicle health all play a role in the total emissions produced by a fleet. IoT sensors powered by low-power wide area networks provide critical insight into these metrics to better optimize routes, improve driving behaviours and ensure timely vehicle maintenance.

For example, real-time location data allows for more accurate and responsive route planning. This reduces the amount of time vehicles spend idling in traffic, producing harmful emissions. Likewise, IoT sensors can be configured to identify and track sudden acceleration or braking, speeding, high-speed turning, frequent stopping, and slow driving – all of which result in wasted fuel.

5. Smart Water Management

According to MIT Researchers, more than 50% of the world’s population will be living in water-stressed regions by 2050. It’s therefore vital that individuals, companies and municipalities find ways to reduce the amount of water wasted annually. On average 85% of properties waste 35% of their water consumption by means of leaks. At the municipal level, pipe leaks can account for 20-30% of total drinking water. In addition, when factoring in the flood mitigation system, one to two tonnes of material waste per square meter is produced from demolition due to floods. This also makes mitigating water loss essential to reducing the waste that goes into landfill as a result of floods. 

Advances in IoT sensors and wireless connectivity have dramatically lowered the cost of gathering, storing and analyzing data from specific equipment, like pumps or valves, or entire processes like water treatment or irrigation. Sensors can monitor fill levels, control the quality water and be used to detect leaks. For example, by installing leak detection sensors in high-risk areas throughout a building or plant, facility managers can be alerted upon the very first sign of a leak allowing them to take remedial action. Taken a step further, hooking this data into a building management system enables automated responses like shutting off the supply valve or HVAC equipment.

6. Smart Farming

Faced with tough challenges of exploding world population, dwindling arable lands and natural resources, alongside growing extreme climate events, the agriculture sector is under undue pressure. According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), worldwide food production will need to increase by 50 percent by 2050 to feed an expected population of nearly 10 billion.

Optimizing farming efficiencies opens the door to a sustainable food production system that can cater to global demand while reducing resource usage and environmental footprint. Powered by granular wireless sensors, smart farming systems deliver real-time data of soil conditions and various external factors that play into crop growth. An analytics platform then processes this data for demand-based, targeted execution of various farming practices like seeding, irrigation, fertilization and fumigation. Having enough reliable data at hand, predictive models can even be developed to help identify and prevent conditions unfavourable to crop health. With IoT technologies, farmers can also monitor their cattle’s well-being and get immediate alerts on the first signs of illness, from anywhere.

Besides reducing inefficient and error-prone human intervention, smart agriculture boosts yields while minimizing chemical, water and other resource utilization. This, in turn, translates into higher production rates at a lower environmental footprint.

7. Cold Chain Monitoring

Roughly one-third of the food produced globally is wasted, with much of that loss occurring along the global supply chain. Overall, that translates to 1.6 billion tons of food, worth about $1.2 trillion, down the chute.

Temperature is considered the most important factor affecting the quality of foods. Improper temperature control and settings in the food cold chain can accelerate the deterioration of food quality, which can increase the generation of food losses and food waste.

Traditionally, personnel along the supply chain have manually read and recorded the temperature of goods to ensure optimal conditions. While this pencil scribble method is highly prone to errors, there also arises the challenge of goods moving through multiple parties (loader, carrier, shipper, and receiver) all of which have a different record-keeping system. This process significantly increases the risk of spoiled products in the event that a log is recorded incorrectly, not on time or unchecked altogether.

Smart cold chains provide end-to-end visibility of the supply chain from production and pallets to cargo and retailers. Wireless IoT sensors can track ambient conditions like temperature, humidity, air quality, light intensity and other environmental factors in any location, from anywhere, 24/7. When a threshold is breached, alerts are triggered in real-time to prompt immediate mitigation and avoid any compromise to the product’s integrity.

While technology has plagued environmental sustainability efforts in the past, it has now become an ally to building a greener planet. The advancements in IoT sensors and wireless connectivity are enabling individuals, companies and government to move to energy-efficient practices, use resources more responsibly and organize processes in ways that reduce or reuse waste.

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IoT for Data Center Infrastructure Management: 5 Critical Applications

IoT for Data Center Infrastructure Management: 5 Critical Applications

BehrTech Blog

IoT for Data Center Infrastructure Management: 5 Critical Applications

Data centers have become an indispensable part of modern computing infrastructures; housing business-critical applications and information. As they evolve from centralized on-premises facilities to edge deployments to public cloud services, it’s important to think long-term about how to maintain their reliability and security.

Major outages, data interruptions, and downtimes are expensive. According to Gartner, data center downtime costs $5,600 per minute on average. This results in average costs between $140,000 and $540,00 per hour depending on the organization. Good asset intelligence combined with preventive and predictive maintenance boosts equipment reliability and system availability.

While the sheer volume, velocity and structure of IoT data is creating challenges in terms of security, storage management, servers and the network, IoT has also created new opportunities to optimize data center infrastructure management (DCIF). IoT sensors and wireless IoT connectivity are being used to ensure optimal performance of critical data center equipment to maximize uptime, increase energy efficiency, lower operating costs and above all else, protect the data it is housing. Here are 5 critical IoT applications for data center infrastructure management.

IoT for Data Center Infrastructure Management

1. Temperature & Humidity Monitoring

Data center facilities operate 24/7, consuming vast amounts of energy and generating huge quantities of heat. Temperature control within the data center is essential in order to avoid equipment overheating, to regulate equipment cooling, and to measure overall efficiency.

Temperature sensors located in IT closets, data center racks, and key “hotspots” around the company’s facilities such as air conditioning intake and discharge vents can monitor heat generation and output for decentralized, granular control of the HVAC system and computer room air conditioning (CRAC) unit.

This is also a critical function for reducing energy costs which represent the largest operational expense in data centers. Data centers have a tendency to overcool their facilities by several degrees just to err on the side of caution. According to Gartner, environmental sensors can save up to four percent in energy costs for every degree of upward change in the baseline temperature. This is because temperature sensors at the rack inlet provide far more accurate, real-time view of data center temperatures compared to CRAC readings alone. This information can be used to make the cooling system more efficient, for example shutdown CRAC units as needed.

In addition to temperature, humidity control is essential to avoid damage to critical equipment. High humidity may result in equipment corrosion while low humidity may result in a build-up of static electricity. Environmental sensors provide real-time insights to ensure optimal humidity levels across the facility.

2. Indoor Air Quality Monitoring

Indoor air quality is another environmental hazard impacting data centers. Maintenance operations, infrastructure upgrades, and equipment changes as well as outdoor air used for ventilation, pressurization and/or cooling can introduce airborne contaminants into the facility. An indoor air quality monitoring solution can proactively alert teams to pollutants and particulates that affect electronic equipment, corrode contacts and reduce capabilities to failure point, which can result in costly data center outages.

3. Leak Detection

Water leaks are one of the biggest threats to a data center. Whether it is a leaking air conditioner, water cooled server rack, condensation, groundwater or local plumbing, water damage can have considerable costly consequences.

Leak detection sensors notify teams at the very first sign of a leak allowing them to take remedial action. For example, rope sensors can be placed in hard-to-reach locations such as around each CRAC system, cooling distribution units, under raised floors, and any other leak source (such as pipes). Spot leak sensors can be used to monitor fluid overflows in drip pans, monitoring in smaller rooms, closets or any low spots.

4. Remote Power Monitoring

While environmental monitoring is critical to ensuring proactive intervention and response to potential catastrophes, so is remote monitoring of batteries and uninterruptible power supply (UPS). Having the ability to detect potential problems early and rapidly respond to defects or degradation maximizes the reliability of UPS battery systems and gives organizations the adaptability needed in today’s dynamic data centers.

5. Security & Access Control

A data centre physical security breach might result in the loss of equipment, but the real danger has to do with data exposure. With companies collecting personally identifiable information in many different forms, consumers are becoming increasingly concerned with how well that data is being protected. Any sort of threat to a company’s data, can have a significant impact on reputation and business and result in a large financial loss.

While the likelihood of stealing an entire server is low, an asset tracking solution helps companies manage and track any asset, big or small, in real-time. It can also send out alerts the moment an asset is moved or tampered with, allowing personnel to respond quickly to any threat.

When it comes to monitoring and restricting access to the data center itself, wireless sensors can be used for presence detection and people counting in restricted areas as well as suspicious movements such as opening and closing of doors or windows. Likewise, IoT-enabled locks, card readers and keypads can further monitor and control personnel entering and exiting for a multi-layered approach to security.

Whether it’s an enterprise, managed services, cloud or colocation data center, ensuring the efficient performance of this critical environment is becoming increasingly important. IoT for data center infrastructure management provides a holistic view of current environment conditions, resource usage and security to maximize uptime, increase energy efficiency, lower operating costs and prevent data loss and exposure.

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CO2 Monitoring: The Corner Stone of Indoor Air Quality

CO2 Monitoring

CO2 Monitoring: The Corner Stone of Indoor Air Quality

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There are numerous factors that contribute to a healthy and comfortable indoor environment; lighting, sound, humidity, cleanliness and temperature, but since the pandemic, air quality as taken a priority position. On average, people spend approximately 90 percent of their time indoors, where the concentrations of some pollutants are often 2 to 5 times higher than typical outdoor concentrations. Carbon dioxide is one of the greatest contributors to poor air quality. As the number, size and activity levels of the people present in a building increase, so do CO₂ levels, opening the door for widespread airborne contaminants.

The Impact of CO₂ on Health

In poorly ventilated rooms, CO₂ concentration increases rapidly, which crowds out oxygen. Carbon dioxide is considered a simple asphyxiant because it reduces the amount of oxygen available for each breath. For example, a 4 m2 space occupied by only one person, increases CO₂ levels from 500 ppm to more than 1,000 ppm, in just 45 minutes. Now consider the impact a crowded office, classroom or conference centre has on indoor air quality. Excess carbon dioxide concentrations of 1000 ppm-2500 ppm can lead to fatigue, lack of concentration and can contribute to the symptoms of Sick Building Syndrome such as headaches, eye, nose and throat irritation, itchy skin and nausea.

Indoor carbon dioxide can also impact our decision-making and problem-solving skills. A Harvard led study shows cognitive function scores of office workers were 50% lower when CO₂ concentrations reached 1400 ppm. The connection between indoor CO₂ and cognitive functioning is also important for parents. A study done in Texas revealed that most schools had carbon dioxide levels above 1000 ppm, and one in five had levels exceeding 3000 ppm. This level of CO₂ can inhibit a child’s school performance and overall health and wellness.

Amidst the pandemic, CO₂ levels are under much further scrutiny with mounting attention on its impact for transmitting respiratory infectious diseases. If there is a high amount of exhaled CO₂ in the air, there is also a high number of aerosols. If pathogen-containing aerosols and CO₂ are co-exhaled by those infected with COVID, this can significantly increase the risk of infection for everyone else in the room.

Enter Wireless CO₂ Monitoring

The combination IoT sensor technologies and wireless connectivity have become an intrinsic part of indoor environmental quality strategies. Wireless air quality monitoring sensors provide granular real-time insight into not just CO₂ levels, but also other harmful contaminants like particulates, pollutants and noxious gases that can drastically impact the health and safety of occupants. When CO₂ levels reach unsafe thresholds, triggers can be sent to building automation systems to activate ventilation and HVAC filtration. Likewise, when low or no CO₂ levels are detected in specific rooms or spaces, these systems can be turned off to ensure optimal energy efficiency. With real-time notifications, wireless CO₂ monitoring can also prompt manual efforts to improve airflow such as opening windows and doors.

Paired with innovative IoT connectivity like Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN), CO₂ sensors can ensure reliable and scalable data transmission in indoor environments and possess a battery life that span years to minimize maintenance overhead. This is particularly important when it comes to a campus-style deployments such as an office complex or retail centre where a vast number of distributed sensors are required.

As the economy slowly reopens, offices, restaurants, schools and beyond are faced with restoring trust and confidence in the built environment for every individual person. Today, state-of-the-art air quality sensors can be instrumental in minimizing harmful indoor contaminants and facilitating faster responses to acute health risks to deliver enhanced health and wellness and peace-of-mind to all occupants.   

Monitor building health with MYTHINGS-enabled CO₂ sensors from ioAirflow.

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5 Reasons Industrial Remote Monitoring Will Soar in 2021

Remote Monitoring

5 Reasons Industrial Remote Monitoring Will Soar in 2021

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In 2020, remote operations and management emerged as a business-critical activity across industry 4.0. While the digitization of operations is already recognized as a key driver to competitive differentiation, COVID-19 concerns have increased the pressure for new levels of efficiency, productivity and safety from a distance. Companies must innovate in order to stay resilient during these challenging times which makes process improvements, improved supply chain management, and investments in information technology and automation critical. Thanks to the advancements in IoT sensor technologies and wireless connectivity, industrial organizations can make a seamless transition to remote monitoring that ensures business continuity and peak performance 24/7. With access to rich real-time and historical data of processes, assets and plant personnel, organizations can better manage production, maintenance and improve safety across multiple sites.

Here are the 5 reasons remote monitoring will soar in 2021

1. Ensure Employee Health and Safety

The pandemic has urged most organizations to transition to a remote workforce, where possible. While many jobs across industry 4.0 still require onsite presence, environmental monitoring, asset management and predictive maintenance solutions allow more of the workforce to work remotely, while maintaining the integrity of the business. Sensor data collected from assets, machinery and facilities can be used to manage equipment performance and utilization, quality assurance, inventory levels and plant operations, 24/7 from anywhere. When a failure is imminent, the monitoring system can communicate directly with service teams, ensuring an expedient repair or service process and eliminating the need for employee intervention entirely.

On the other hand, IoT applications such as remote condition monitoring, provide real-time insights into the performance parameters of machinery and can prevent impending failures or hazards that could potentially threaten the safety of onsite employees. Likewise, applications such as occupancy and presence detection can ensure safe distancing practices are met onsite and janitorial services are deployed when necessary.

2. Reduce Operating Costs

One of the biggest factors driving remote monitoring is reduced operational expenses, especially with the increasing pressure to stay afloat during the pandemic. It is estimated that industrial manufacturers incur a $50 billion cost every year due to unplanned downtime, and maintenance expenses make up 15% to 40% of total production costs. Remote condition-monitoring predicts and prevents serious equipment failures ahead of time to maximize equipment uptime while reducing maintenance costs. Moreover, remote monitoring and automatic reordering of raw materials helps prevent costly production halts caused by low supply levels. It also helps avoid excess inventory which can cause freight-in, storage and insurance costs. Labor costs are also reduced as remote operations facilitates more effective multi-site monitoring which requires fewer personnel overall.  

3. Maximize Uptime

Any time equipment is not operating during business hours, production suffers, and significant costs are incurred. Remote monitoring plays a central role in predictive maintenance practices to avoid unplanned downtime and equipment failures. IoT sensors are used to track and analyze the status, performance and stresses of critical assets like motors, pumps, and conveyers. For example, monitoring equipment vibration reveals important insights that can indicate looming failures. An unwanted increase in vibration intensity produces detrimental forces to the components which jeopardize equipment lifetime and quality. Without timely intervention, asset failures and process shutdowns are inevitable. Remote monitoring alerts personnel of potential issues in real-time so they can immediately troubleshoot issues, modify an operating parameter or provide on-site workers with instructions as to how best fix a problem or improve performance. Even when issues cannot be prevented, remote monitoring can help rapidly resolve issues that do occur, accelerating mean time to repair and first-time fix rates to ensure maximum uptime.

4. Quality Control and Assurance

Beyond reactive, end-of-run quality inspection, remote monitoring enables a proactive quality control approach to diagnose and prevent defects much earlier in the process for peak production rates and repeatability alongside reduced costs and waste. Equipment-related issues and ambient conditions can significantly impact the quality of raw materials and end products, both during production and in storage. For instance, inadequate air pressure can cause dust infiltration which can significantly impact product quality and even damage machinery and production equipment. Similarly, temperature fluctuations in processing and storage facilities can impact quality assurance and safety, especially in the food and beverage industry. Remote monitoring provides a wide range of critical machine, process and environmental data in real-time so managers can quickly identify problems and root causes for quick and remedial action such as adjustments to equipment or the HVAC system.

5. Replicate Success

For larger manufacturers with multiple plant locations, remote monitoring offers a consolidated model of performance trends across all sites. From a central location, data can be compared to identify and replicate the successes of the highest performing plants. Detailed historical information can also be compared across facilities and analyzed to identify potential problems early and enable managers to implement changes to improve efficiency, cost-effectiveness and safety.

With the future of industrial operations uncertain, organizations must remain flexible and adaptable. Investing in IoT sensor technologies and scalable wireless IoT connectivity is essential to respond to changing customer needs, better manage production changes and drive operational excellence in any condition.

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5 Key Benefits of People Counting & Occupancy Detection

People Counting

5 Key Benefits of People Counting & Occupancy Detection

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According to new research, the People Counting Systems market is expected to grow from USD $818 million in 2020 to USD $1.3B by 2025. This is no surprise, as concerns continue to rise for  safety and security at public places from retail and offices to sports venues and hospitality. Advanced people counting and occupancy detection solutions provide instrumental data on the foot traffic entering and exiting buildings as well as density and dwell time in common areas like line ups, elevators, waiting rooms and bathrooms. With this information, business and building owners can detect hot spots and control environmental conditions to provide a safer and more comfortable experience for tenants, visitors and employees.

5 Key Benefits of People Counting & Occupancy Detection

1. Ensure Social Distancing Practices

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses are required to enforce new restrictions on the number of visitors in their space to ensure compliance with government social distancing regulations. People counting systems can help track the number of people entering or exiting any given space in real-time and alert owners when their capacity threshold has been met.

2. Streamline Janitorial Services

With health and wellness top of mind, maintaining a regular disinfection and cleaning routine is paramount. People counting data combined with presence detection data can pinpoint areas that are frequently used and those that are not. Janitorial staff can then use this information to work more efficiently and ensure cleaning practices are carried out when needed.   

3. Improve Energy Efficiency & Comfort

Understanding the occupancy levels and traffic patterns of each space can also help improve energy efficiency. Owners might want to turn down the temperature in an area when capacity is full to maximize occupant comfort. On the other hand, they can also use this data to optimize HVAC when spaces are not being occupied, helping reduce energy costs and improve sustainability.

4. Enhance Indoor Air Quality

Good levels of indoor air quality (IAQ) can improve the health, comfort, and well-being of building occupants and reduce risks of developing respiratory illness. Coupling critical environmental index data like Co2 levels with traffic density information, business or building owners can configure ventilation requirements applicably to reduce the risk of airborne transmission, illness and sick leave.

5. Deliver Additional Security

Presence detection sensors can also provide real-time data on where people are in the event of an emergency such as a fire, intrusion or other safety threats to ensure timely help and rescue efforts.

Types of People Counting and Occupancy Sensors

1. Passive Infrared

The most common occupancy sensors are simple and inexpensive motion detection sensors that use passive infrared technology. The challenge with this solution is that unless the occupant generates a large movement, data does not capture the presence of the individual. For example, if someone is sitting at a desk working, these motion sensors will not know if the occupant is present or not unless they get up and start moving. This kind of sensor will also only indicate if a zone is occupied not how many people are in it.        

2. Microwave

Microwave sensors pulses and measures the reflections off of moving objects. They cover a larger area than infrared sensors but are much more expensive and vulnerable to electrical interference.

3. Ultrasonic

Another common occupancy sensor is an ultrasonic sensor, which emits high-frequency sound waves, outside of human hearing range, and use the doppler effect of returning sounds waves to detect people. The issue with these sensors is that they often pick up other microsounds like fans, refrigerator motors or even footsteps in the distance, which can cause can cause inaccurate readings.

4. Radar

Radar-based people counting sensors, count people by collecting “average body motion value” per person in a given zone (not just a doorway) based on pre-calibrated factor index. This kind of sensor does not use cameras, microphones or identification systems, ensuring individual privacy and security. It is also not impacted by lighting conditions, which allows detection in power outages or in case of a smoke from a fire. On the other hand, radar-based occupancy detection sensors monitor occupants’ respiration and heart beating micro-vibration patterns. With continuous scanning of human vital signs, true presence, vacancy and dwell time can be determined within seconds and with 99.9% accuracy.  

More and more businesses and organizations are growing increasingly conscious of building inefficiencies and wasted costs. With mounting concerns about energy consumption, health and wellness, and occupants’ user experience, incorporating people counting and presence detection solutions into facilities management can significantly improve the performance and utility of buildings across all industries.

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Indoor Environmental Quality: An Interview with ioAirflow

Indoor Environmental Quality

BehrTech Blog

Indoor Environmental Quality: Motivation, Challenges & Requirements

An interview with Matt Schaubroeck, Cofounder & CEO, ioAirflow

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Over the last decade, architects and engineers have been working to educate owners and developers on the wellness impacts of sustainable building design approaches in creating healthier and more productive lives for their occupants. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that these wellness considerations are no longer a mere value-add to a building, but rather a necessary element in allowing larger groups to safely reoccupy a space. In this blog, we interview Matt Schaubroeck, Cofounder and CEO of ioAirFlow, to discuss the role of indoor environmental quality monitoring in the era of “healthy buildings” and the key considerations for implementing a successful solution.

Tell us about ioAirflow. What are your products and vision, who are your customers?

ioAirFlow wants to make commercial buildings healthier, for both people and the environment. To achieve this, we are creating a digital audit platform that provides faster, cheaper, and more accurate energy reports for commercial buildings.

Our solution will be used by companies that are already offering energy audits, or by building managers interested in running quick diagnostics on their building’s health and efficiency performance.

We are not a permanent automation installation – we are a digital audit platform. Other companies using this type of technology focus on permanent installations and/or active building control regimes, which are often cost-prohibitive and difficult to maintain for the majority of building owners.

Traditional energy audits are manual, time-consuming and expensive. By using the MYTHINGS platform, we can reliably and securely collect data by placing sensors anywhere in a building. In combination with our machine learning model, we will be able to provide more accurate diagnostics than any manual audit.

How do you see the role of IoT today in the smart building industry? What are the key drivers behind it?

IoT is revolutionizing the way we interact with built environments. This will be a key tool in improving building performance and helping us meet global climate change targets.

This technology application is a game-changer for understanding how buildings really operate. There is a general frustration with the archaic manual building audit process, which is too labour-intensive and cost-prohibitive to serve a large portion of the building market. By creating a digital audit solution, ioAirFlow is able to reduce the cost of testing enough that a building audit becomes financially viable for what we call ‘Class C’ buildings – older stock with no onsite energy management technology.

Finally, IoT changes the way we collect data. Conventional building monitoring software needs to be plugged or wired into mechanical systems, which limits their placement and how much building data can be collected. Think of it as the difference between an X-ray and a MRI – an MRI might find a problem an X-ray can’t find, because it’s looking at the problem with different tools and a different lens.

What is the relationship between indoor environmental quality and sustainability? How will property owners and managers benefit from implementing an IEQ monitoring solution?

Buildings (including materials and construction) account for 39% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. According to the United Nations, the built environment’s energy intensity will have to improve by 30% by 2030 to meet the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. Improving the IEQ of buildings is a critical component to fighting climate change.

Most commercial buildings can increase their energy efficiency by up to 50% and save thousands of dollars monthly by investing in green building retrofits. But, most buildings owners are unaware of the problems that exist in their building. They can’t fix what they don’t know exists.

IEQ monitoring can identify many of these issues using big data analysis. Using MyThings sensors, ioAirFlow is able to test the effectiveness of a building’s HVAC system, envelope, controls systems, or a building’s overall comfort levels and efficiency. With this information, we’re more equipped to make actionable recommendations on how to solve those problems. That informed decision-making process helps building managers understand how they can increase their building’s health.

What constitutes “building health” and how does it impact the health and wellness of building occupants? How do you see this changing in the wake of Covid-19?

Building health can mean two separate things – how environmentally sustainable the building’s infrastructure is, and how healthy the environment is for the people living and working inside it. A healthier building is better for your bottom line, for the people in that building, and for the environment.

The IEQ of a building is directly related to the health, productivity and satisfaction of its occupants. Buildings with poor indoor environmental quality cost the global economy billions of dollars every year, due to illness and productivity loss. In addition, those buildings are consuming more energy, releasing more GHG emissions into the atmosphere.

COVID-19 has put an unprecedented spotlight on building health. As people adjust to the reality of the pandemic, IEQ and building health are becoming priorities for building owners and managers. That includes finding ways to make our indoor environments healthier including ensuring adequate ventilation, airflow, and mechanical systems.

What are the challenges or hesitations CRE companies have when implementing an IEQ solution?

The main barriers to implementing IEQ solutions are knowledge and cost.

Unless you have on-site expertise or management software, you likely don’t know all the ways your building is losing efficiency. Buildings are complex and deteriorate over time, experiencing a large number of efficiency problems – no building is immune from this efficiency degradation. If you don’t know what to look for, you won’t know how to start implementing solutions. Even permanent building management software won’t be able to pinpoint every problem that exists in a building.

The financial barrier mostly has to do with sticker shock on the up-front costs of some IEQ solutions. Many buildings operate in a way to maximize revenue above all else – so if it’s not broken, it doesn’t need to be fixed or improved. In those circumstances, paying for an efficiency retrofit can be a tough sell. That’s a mindset we have to change.

Healthy building is good for your bottom line. If you consume less energy, you’re paying reduced utility bills. There is a strong business case that your return on investment will improve with every IEQ solution you implement – what we need to create are solutions that are less capital-intensive.

That financial barrier is why ioAirFlow hasn’t developed a solution to be permanently installed onsite. You don’t necessarily need data being collected 24/7 to identify your IEQ gaps – our platform can figure it out in a matter of weeks. Because you don’t need to buy our sensors to have a test done, the cost of that test suddenly becomes much more affordable.

What does an IEQ monitoring architecture look like? What are the wireless connectivity requirements in this context?

The most common indoor environmental quality monitoring architecture in today’s market is building management or automation software. Those include smart thermostats, automated zone monitoring and control, and some other fascinating technologies. The problem with this architecture is its installation cost – nearly all building management architecture requires a constant power source. That might mean rewiring your entire building. That can be a non-starter from a financial perspective.

Wireless solutions do exist, but face serious problems in a commercial setting. Systems that use Wi-Fi or BLE solutions will either require a mesh network, or integration with the building’s existing IT infrastructure. These can both pose a security risk – as evidenced by the hacked HVAC system at Target in 2014.

These solutions are sometimes just not realistic for many buildings – particularly for Class C buildings who are often more limited on available cashflow. That’s where a scalable and affordable IoT platform like MYTHINGS can provide a solution. With reliable long-range signal strength, we’re able to easily place sensors in any built environment to collect the data we need to run our analysis.

What predictions do you have for the smart building market in the next 3-5 years?

Demand for smart and green building solutions is growing quickly. Cleantech is one of the fastest-growing tech industries today, with an expected market cap of $2.5 trillion USD by 2022. Alongside this, the global market for energy retrofit expenditures in commercial buildings is expected to reach $384.5 billion in 2020.

Smart buildings play a key role in helping buildings go greener. A smart building collects more data, allowing for more informed decision-making on how to reduce its energy consumption and carbon footprint in that space. COVID-19 will likely spur development in this space as we try to make our buildings safer and healthier.

The 2020 trend of working from home has had a crippling impact on global commercial real estate, and the industry has to look for novel solutions to attract back tenants. The best thing a building operator could do is to prove that their building is safe and healthy. A smart building is the best tool for identifying what steps need to be taken to achieve a building’s IEQ potential.

Indoor Environmental Quality - Matt Schaubroeck

Matt Schaubroeck

Co-founder and CEO, ioAirFlow

Matt Schaubroeck is co-founder and CEO of ioAirFlow, a Winnipeg-based environmental proptech startup. He has been working in the smart building sector since 2016, as part of a MBA research project that grew into the company he now leads. Matt has also served as the Director of Programming for the North Forge technology incubator in Winnipeg, with a focus on commercialization strategies for early-stage tech companies.

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How IoT Occupancy Sensors Elevate Tenant Wellbeing – An Interview with Xandar Kardian

Occupancy Sensors

BehrTech Blog

IoT Occupancy Sensors: How CRE Companies Can Elevate Tenant Wellbeing

An interview with Sam Yang, Managing Director, Xandar Kardian

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Even before the outbreak of COVID-19, the focus on tenant comfort and wellbeing had taken the spotlight in the commercial real estate (CRE) sector in recent years. Realizing that people are the greatest asset in the built environment, companies and owners have turned to IoT and smart building technology to enable a healthy, comfortable and productive environment. Now, the pandemic is rapidly expediting this trend on a global scale. This week on the blog we interview Sam Yang, Managing Director and Cofounder of Xandar Kardian, to share how CRE companies are leveraging IoT occupancy sensors to improve health and wellness. 

[bctt tweet=”From elevators and lobbies to individual desks and public bathrooms, IoT occupancy sensors are revolutionizing health and wellness in smart buildings.”]

1. Tell us about Xandar Kardian. What is your focus and vision in the smart building space?

Michelin 3-star dishes starts with incredibly fresh and high-quality ingredients before chefs start working up their magic with spices and sauces. In the same way, Xandar Kardian believes that all smart building “solutions” must start with the most accurate, reliable, and real-time data before analytics and conclusions are derived from it. That is our focus. Making sure that true presence detection is obtained via human vital sign rather than heat sources or large motions. Occupancy (people) counting is also done by body motion index rather than complicated computer vision processing that are limited to doorways and environmental factors.

2. How do see the changing commercial real estate (CRE) landscape in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic?

In the pre-COVID-19 era, true 99.9% human presence sensing may have been considered overkill by some. However, in recent months, we have seen a rise in demand for true occupancy as false vacancy can create increased disinfection costs. For example, most room or desk occupancy sensors still uses PIR motion technology to detect presence. The problem with these sensors is that they are triggered easily. They are not able to truly detect vacancy if the occupant does not make a large motion. Due to this limitation, 15 or 30-minute timers are placed to keep the space “occupied” with the assumption that the occupant will make a large motion at least once during that time. If however, someone enters a room (or desk) for two seconds (triggering the sensor) and leaves right away, lights and HVAC will start running for 30 minutes while an alert is sent to janitorial services to come and disinfect the area. With Xandar Kardian, vacancy is detected within seconds since it is continuously scanning for human vital signs in each space. This means that true detection, vacancy and dwell time are obtained.

This is just one example of how we are seeing CRE companies take another look at the accuracy of occupancy sensing – not just in detecting occupancy but also in detecting vacancy.

3. Tell us about the different IoT occupancy sensors Xandar Kardian offers.

Room / Open Space Presence Detection:  One sensor can cover up to 600 sq. ft of space. The sensor can be placed anywhere – walls, pillars, ceilings or even behind ceiling panels, making it 100% discrete. It continuously sends out safe low-RF signals to obtain vital signs (micro-vibrations) from human occupants, making it a 99.9% accurate occupancy and vacancy.

Desk Occupancy Sensor:  Small USB-C or battery driven sensors are placed underneath the desks. This sensor detects presence over a short range (4-6 feet) via breathing pattern detection from the occupant. This sensor can also be used on top of individual toilet stalls to get individual stall occupancy sensing within bathrooms.

In/Out Occupancy Foot Traffic Counting:  Installed over doorways, our In/Out counting solution is highly accurate (90+%) and is not affected by temperature, humidity or lighting conditions. This makes the system the most reliable system on the market and can be used in main entrance/exit doors of a building.

 IoT Occupancy Sensing-Foot Traffic Counting

Zone People Counting:  This is a unique, globally exclusive solution by Xandar Kardian. It scans an area (up to 600 sq.ft) continuously for body motion. Occupants can even be sitting down or standing still. This sensor can be installed anywhere – including on a side of a wall, which makes it ideal to be able to count occupancy in large shopping malls or airports where ceilings are very high. In meeting rooms or classroom settings, zone counting sensors can be combined with In/Out counting to get accurate counting but also to correct miss counts by scanning the entire zone. Miss counts can “lock up” rooms as even 1 miss count leaving the space can falsely claim the room is still occupied.

4. What role can IoT occupancy sensors play in CRE companies’ initiatives to safeguard tenant health and comfort following business reopening?

Density management and controlled disinfection protocols are extremely important to safeguard tenant’s health and comfort. At the same time, these sensors need to be affordable enough to be used building wide.

Ground floor: Building entrances require In/Out counting to get real-time total building occupancy measurements. Many camera-based systems require physical maintenance and consume more operating costs. It is also affected by changing environmental and lighting conditions throughout the day. Our solutions are not affected by these conditions at all and is ideal for main entrance counting.

Elevators & Elevator lobbies:
Many CRE operators have voiced their concern over elevator and elevator lobby density control measures. Any type of cameras, including IR based ones simply cannot be used to count occupancy inside elevators. Elevators have glasses or stainless-steel walls to help ease claustrophobic conditions. These walls however cause havoc to camera (image) based systems due to image reflections. For elevator lobbies, since all cameras or IR based systems count occupancy via “doors” only, you would need multiple sensors as each elevator represents a door. Miss-counts can also occur which can start stacking occupancy counts throughout the day. With Xandar Kardian, you would only need to place 1 sensor per elevator or elevator lobby on each floor to get the full count. Continuous counting without any counting errors.

Public bathrooms:
Having a camera installed above bathroom doors will not be widely accepted by many tenants. Our sensors have no holes and is designed to look like a network hub. When combined with a zone counting solution, you will also get auto-correction for potential miss counts (in/out) and ensure vacancy status. Real-time bathroom occupancy,  including bathroom stalls, can be displayed outside via a wall-mounted display.

5. Do occupancy sensors help to improve other aspects of building operations as well? If so, how?

Prior to COVID-19, our solutions were being deployed into airports and banks for security purposes while shopping malls and office buildings were using it for space utilization and energy saving benefits. In fact, on energy savings, a pilot run on a 24,000 sq. ft office space in Toronto revealed savings of $14,000 per floor per year using Xandar Kardian solutions.

6. What are the key connectivity requirements for occupancy sensors in smart buildings?

Our solutions were originally running on POE / Wi-Fi connection while conducting various pilots around the world. However, for building-wide deployments, it was imperative that we work on secure LPWAN connection. Therefore we partnered with BehrTech to embed their MYTHINGS wireless connectivity solution into our sensors.

7. With so much data being harvested, how can we make sure tenants’ privacy is not compromised?

Xandar Kardian exclusively uses radar sensors only. With radar sensor, it is not possible to individually identify anyone. Many competitors use some sort of images – either 3D vision, mono-vision or IR thermal vision. To ensure tenant’s privacy, expensive base servers are required to conduct on-premise image processing before sending data to the cloud. We do not require this step as it does all processing on the edge using an MCU on board. This also means that Xandar Kardian solutions can be complete off-grid and only feed occupancy data via a closed loop network on premise. “Presence detection via vital sign” have raised questions about privacy concerns in the past. However, unless specifically requested by the tenant, we do not collect or record any vital sign data. It just gets “0” or “1” for occupancy and vacancy.

8. Beyond the current pandemic, what should companies consider in their smart building strategy moving forward?

“Health & Wellness” has become extremely important for everyone around the world. In fact, stress & fatigue monitoring of occupants can help automate fresh air intake, HVAC temperature control and lighting controls to promote a better, more efficient work environment. Xandar Kardian is currently pending FDA 510(k) clearance for its non-contact, continuous and automatic vital sign monitoring solution. Although this has been developed exclusively for hospitals and senior nursing homes, it can also be used in any work environments to obtain health and wellness conditions for the occupants.

Occupancy Sensors

Sam Yang

Managing Director & Cofounder, Xandar

Contact Xandar

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Smart Building Technology: Regaining Trust in a Post COVID-19 World

Smart Building Technology for COVID 19

BehrTech Blog

Smart Building Technology: Regaining Trust in a Post COVID-19 World

[addtoany]

The global pandemic has shaken up the entire world and fundamentally disrupted our daily work and life. Home offices have become the new normal as a radical measure to curb the spread of COVID 19. Yet, as office and retail buildings start to reopen following the lockdowns, property owners and corporate tenants are forced to rethink the way buildings are operated. Above all, delivering peace-of-mind and confidence to employees and visitors alike is a top priority. Thankfully, smart building technology is here to help.

[bctt tweet=”How CRE companies respond to the changing workplace and retail landscape is paramount to the future health and well-being of occupants.”]

The Changing Landscape of the Built Environment

Even before the outbreak of COVID-19, the focus on tenant comfort and wellbeing had taken the spotlight in the commercial real estate (CRE) sector in recent years. Realizing that people are the greatest asset in the built environment, companies and owners have turned to IoT and smart building technology to enable a healthy, comfortable and engaging environment. Now, the pandemic is rapidly expediting this trend on a global scale.

As firms increasingly embrace home office and other flexible work arrangements, many predict that the physical workplace will lose its relevance. This is hugely mistaken. The modern workplace will indeed need to be redesigned to keep pace with drastically changing tenant needs. Nevertheless, its presence and importance aren’t going to fizzle out any time soon. A recent survey by Gensler reveals that after a month of working from home, the majority of U.S. workers want to return to the office most days of the week. Collaboration and socialization top the reasons for this response, highlighting the irreplaceable role of physical connections and interaction.

Rebuilding Trust – A New Imperative for CRE

As much as people yearn to come back to their workplaces or start going shopping again, they are faced with the vast unknown of the current reality. Are building areas sanitized as frequently as needed? Is indoor air quality optimized? How can distancing be guaranteed? These are just a few out of numerous questions many are pondering. As companies begin to put in place reopening plans, they are tasked with a difficult mission – restoring trust and confidence in the built environment for every individual user.

Enter IoT and Smart Building Technology

A data-driven strategy for building operations is nothing unfamiliar to forward-thinking CRE companies who look to improve facility management and energy efficiency through digitalization. Today, it proves to be just as powerful in helping to navigate and tackle the unique challenges of a post-pandemic world. Smart building technology, especially IoT and wireless sensor solutions, are allowing owners and operators to effectively enforce new building guidelines and protocols, ensuring optimal ventilation, hygiene, distancing and tenants’ wellbeing.

To better illustrate, below are a few examples of how wireless IoT sensors can help answer the urgent need to augment safety and mitigate infection risks following reentry.

Anonymous presence detectors and people counting sensors can gauge occupancy density and dwell time in common areas, as well as foot traffic through each door. With this information, operators can detect existing hot spots or events like occupants tailgating at entrances/ exits and control access accordingly.

Applying space usage data, operators can execute on-demand janitorial services such as cleaning and consumables replenishment to maximize hygiene at high resource efficiency.

Coupling real-time data from indoor air quality sensors with traffic density information, ventilation requirements can be effectively determined to minimize airborne transmission risk.

Vital sign monitoring sensors help monitor employees’ physiological parameters, including respiration rate and resting heart rate to detect early signs of respiratory disorders.

Leveraging IoT Sensor Data to Enhance Transparency and Tenants’ Peace-of-Mind

IoT data empowers owners and operators with a holistic facility view to optimize workflows and standard operating procedures for a safe and anti-virus indoor environment. Nevertheless, its value doesn’t simply end there. Safeguarding health is fundamental, but making sure employees and visitors feel comfortable enough for reentry is just as important. By democratizing sensor data and making it accessible to individual building users in an anonymous and non-intrusive way, companies can make great strides in regaining tenants’ trust.

Experience/ workplace apps have been around for some time as a communications channel with building occupants to boost engagement and retention. Now, their role and functionality are elevated with real-time insights and enhanced visibility brought by wireless IoT sensors. Having up-to-date information about building-wide occupancy levels, air quality and other important parameters at their fingertips, tenants can rest assured that their presence in the indoor space is being well protected. Through push notifications, they can also be instantly informed when traffic thresholds at certain common areas are surpassed and easily navigate themselves to less crowded zones. What’s more, with reservation systems integrated into these apps, employees can quickly locate and reserve workstations or meeting rooms that have already been disinfected and are available for use. Ultimately, all of these services are poised to foster transparency and tenants’ confidence in the built environment while further facilitating physical distancing enforcement.

Future Outlook

As the world cautiously restarts its business rhythm, it’s critical for CRE companies to not only ensure occupants’ health and wellbeing, but also make them feel safe when entering stores and offices again. Incorporating smart building technology into their reopening toolkits can help to do just that.

Having said that, the applicability of smart building solutions isn’t only limited to combatting the post-pandemic challenges. Beyond catering to today’s imminent needs, the same IoT sensor data can be used for other long-term business initiatives in improving space efficiency, risk management and employees’ productivity and satisfaction. In parallel, a future proof wireless IoT technology allows companies to ceaselessly expand the use case and value spectrum by adding new smart devices into the existing network infrastructure. After all, it boils down to a solid underlying strategy and selecting the right set of technologies.

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Where Do My IoT Sensors Live?

sub-GHz ISM bands

BehrTech Blog

Where Do My IoT Sensors Live?

An Overview of the Sub-GHz ISM Bands

We’ve heard the numbers; IoT devices will reach 50 billion by 2025 etc. Most of these devices will be wireless, but where will they reside on the radio spectrum? Within the radio frequency (RF) spectrum there are both licensed and unlicensed bands. While a few Low Power Wide Area Networking (LPWAN) solutions such as NB-IoT operate in the licensed portion of the spectrum, most other solutions such as MYTHINGS and LoRa operate in the sub-gigahertz (GHz), the one unlicensed portion of the spectrum reserved for industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) devices.

Operating in the unlicensed spectrum, sub-GHz ISM bands have some significant benefits for organizations such as reduced deployment cost as there is no need to pay for licensed bandwidth as well as the fact that the traffic resides in a completely different part of the spectrum from Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. However, there is still potential traffic from devices on the same LPWAN system, devices on different LPWAN networks, as well as traffic from other types of devices such as RFID tags and alarm systems. In this blog, we examine the history and characteristics of ISM bands.

Brief History of Radio Spectrum

Radio communication was invented towards the end of the 19th century. In its infancy, radio was mostly used for Morse communication largely for maritime and transoceanic communication. In those days, there was little-to-no regulation of radio traffic. The regulation of radio began in Europe in the early 20th century, however it wasn’t until the sinking of the Titanic, that the US adopted the Radio Act which legislated the requirement for radio station licenses.

The invention of AM radio and the ability to transmit voice led to the first commercial radio stations and with it, an explosion of amateur and commercial broadcasters. The invention of FM radio and its lower interference features made the radio spectrum much more dynamic. As the popularity of radio increased, the US government, in 1934 created the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to regulate the radio spectrum in the United States.

Introduction of the ISM Band and Regulations

In addition to the broadcasting of voice and music, new applications and technologies began to use the radio spectrum. Examples include microwaves for cooking food, industrial induction heating, as well as medical applications such as diathermy machines using radio waves to apply deep heating to the body. The International Telecommunication Union set aside a portion of the radio spectrum and established the Industrial Scientific and Medical (ISM) bands in 1947 to provide dedicated spectrum for non-telecommunication devices.

Initially, the ISM bands were limited to Industrial Scientific and Medical devices, and telecommunication usage was forbidden. However, over time, the explosive growth of microelectronics and computing along with the attractiveness of an unlicensed spectrum, several factors brought about the pressure to use these unlicensed bands for wireless communication. In 1985, the FCC in the United States decided to allow communications on the ISM bands. However, soon after, rules were put in place to require pre-certification of all new products using unlicensed bands. To enforce these new regulations, the European Telecommunications Standard Institute (ETSI) was created in 1988, and in 1989, new regulations were introduced within the FCC.

There are actually several bands within the radio spectrum set aside for ISM equipment. Some such as the 2.4 GHz band (used by Wi-Fi and Bluetooth) is of worldwide standards. Others are regional with specific ranges being governed by individual countries or regions.

As mentioned, LPWAN solutions operate in both the unlicensed or licensed bands. The unlicensed ISM bands used by LPWAN solutions operate below the 1 GHz level. The following figure displays the sub-GHz radio spectrum bands and the amounts of spectrum set aside by various regions around the world.

sub-GHz ISM bands

Other Uses of the Sub-GHz ISM Bands

In addition to LPWAN wireless solutions, many other technologies and devices operate within the same sub-GHz ISM bands. These types of devices include radio frequency identification (RFID) devices, garage door openers, cordless telephones, wireless drones, wireless microphones, baby monitors and alarm systems.

Regulations to Keep Usage Under Control

Because anyone can use the sub-GHz ISM bands, it becomes difficult to limit the number of devices operating within them. As such, regional and national regulatory bodies have created rules and regulations to control usage within these bands and prevent them from becoming saturated.

One common regulation is to establish a limit on the maximum transmission (Tx) power of the transmitting device. For example, in the US, the limit on Tx power is 24 decibels per milliwatt (dBm) which translates to 250 milliwatts. In Europe, the limit is more often 14 dBm (25 milliwatts).

A limit on transmission power may not be enough to protect bandwidth usage. If devices are allowed to take a very long time to transmit, and especially if there are many devices on the network, additional devices might be prevented from using the channel. To address this issue, some regions implement a duty cycle. A duty cycle represents a percentage of time that a device can be actively transmitting in the band. For example, a duty cycle of 1 percent means that a device can only actively transmit 1 percent of the time. In a given hour, a device could transmit no more than 36 seconds. Alternative and complementary policies can be used as well including “frequency hopping” which forces the radio technology to use different sub-channels within a band to prevent one channel from being saturated.

Still, even with limits on transmission power and duty cycles, there is the potential for a very large number of devices transmitting in a campus environment, such as a factory or a building. As such, you need to ensure that your LPWAN solution offers superior robustness and can scale as needed. MYTHINGS by BehrTech with its patented Telegram Splitting technology offers superior power efficiency, high distance, robustness, scalability and supports mobility of 120 km/h and beyond.

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This study will prove that MYTHINGS delivers significantly higher interference resilience than LoRa technology

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