• After years of success with Telit’s IoT Portal and 3G modules, Pelephone, a leading MNO in Israel, upgrades to the ME910 module and Telit OneEdge to remotely monitor electricity usage and metering

• Upgrade highlights the benefits of 4G LTE Cat-M, and how OneEdge simplifies device management for large-scale IoT deployments

Telit, a global enabler of the Internet of Things (IoT), today announced that Pelephone, a leading mobile network operator in Israel, is utilizing the Telit ME910 module family and Telit OneEdge to manage, monitor and collect data from cell tower sites.

Pelephone is able to remotely monitor electricity meters at each location and sends usage data to their system to ensure accurate billing. The deployment highlights how mobile operators and IoT service providers worldwide continue to rely on Telit for modules and services that take advantage of the latest technologies, including LTE Cat-M.

Pelephone, with a local Telit hardware partner, GateTel, moved to the ME910 module with OneEdge for enhanced device management features, enabling a wider range of monitoring and management of Pelephone’s nationwide LTE Cat-M network towers. Pelephone recognizes the superior security features and capabilities of the connection between their back-office systems and Telit OneEdge, enabling a secure end-to-end cellular connection.

The ME910 enables enterprises to take advantage of the latest low-power wide-area (LPWA) technologies such as LTE Cat M1 and Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT). The module also supports features such as Power Saving Mode and extended Discontinuous Reception, making it ideal for indoor, underground and battery-powered IoT applications, such as smart metering and remote sensors. The ME910 is part of Telit’s flagship xE910 industrial-grade module family, featuring a common form factor, electrical interfaces and programming interfaces. This heritage gives developers a smooth migration path to 4G for their xE910-based legacy products that use 2G and 3G Telit modems.

The OneEdge software embedded in Telit modules, such as the ME910, eliminates the cost, complexity and lead time of connecting IoT devices to back-office systems, providing modem-to-cloud, high-end advanced security – thereby solving long-standing challenges related to IoT integration, security, scalability, management and costs.

Yaniv Shabat, Head of IoT, Pelephone, said:

“We were looking for a solution for reading and monitoring the electricity metering on our cell sites, in order to detect anomalies in electricity usage, that can suggest problems in air condition and electricity theft, and in this way reduce the annual electricity expenses.”

“We are very pleased with the solution provided. The integration between Telit and Pelephone went smoothly, it leveraged our offering and increased our IoT services and market share.”

“Smart metering is one of the most demanding IoT applications, with unique requirements for connectivity, reliability, battery life and module longevity,” said Martin Krona, Senior Vice President EMEA Sales, Telit.

“The Telit ME910 and OneEdge enable Pelephone to exceed those requirements and to take advantage of LTE Cat-M’s advanced capabilities. We’re honored that Pelephone has extended its relationship with Telit.”

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HERE Technologies, a location data and technology platform, and Actility, the global leader in IoT connectivity, are partnering to provide a new, cutting-edge IoT tracking service for mapping and location data management based on LoRaWAN® networks.

On large industrial, warehousing sites, items can get lost or stolen. Furthermore, in cases where inventories rely on manual input, assets aren’t always stored efficiently. Finding an asset in a warehouse and optimizing stock is difficult enough; tracking it across the world is another matter entirely. These are challenges that HERE Tracking and ThingPark – the Actility IoT network management platform can address, offering an end-to-end, customizable solution to track assets and optimize the supply chain of any industrial facility. The focus of this solution is on critical assets for customers’ operations such as Returnable Shipping Assets (RSAs) or Returnable Industrial Packaging (RIPs) including racks, pallets, crates, tubs, bins, containers, forklifts, industrial tools and heavy mobile machinery.

The HERE Tracking asset management solution is based on LoRaWAN®, a low power, wireless protocol for wide area networks. With LoRaWAN, devices can communicate with IoT applications over long-range wireless connections. It also allows for devices’ batteries to last longer, significantly lowering the Total Cost of Ownership.

Actility already powers more than 50 telecoms operators with LoRaWan connectivity across the globe. Its enterprise-grade LoRaWAN network server, ThingPark Enterprise, operates over 35000 network base stations worldwide. This partnership also benefits from its Abeeway tracking devices that work both indoors and outdoors via a multi-technology geolocation system, which integrates GPS, Abeeway’s patented low-power GPS, WiFi Sniffing and Bluetooth Low Energy.

HERE Tracking takes Abeeway trackers’ indoor positioning capabilities one step further with HERE Venue Maps and the HERE radio mapping application. HERE Venue Maps can be used to map the inside and outside of any industrial facility accurately, be it a warehouse or a factory. The HERE Indoor Radio Mapper application allows for the development of a custom radio map of any given site for both Wi-Fi and BLE technologies. With HERE Tracking, assets can not only be tracked on public roads, railway tracks or ships globally but also on warehouse floors and within private yards with improved accuracy.

HERE Professional Services can customize any tracking solution to fulfill the requirements of a specific client, product or industry including the development of tailored applications. HERE Tracking can be connected to ERPs and Transport Management Systems to enable extended features and custom business dashboards can be created to deliver adequate Key Performance Indicators. As a result, users get a comprehensive framework from which to build their asset tracking and management applications. With Actility enabling multi-country geolocation solutions with its LoRaWAN roaming hub and HERE transforminglocation information into actionable business insights, the management of industrial assets has never been easier.

“With HERE Tracking as a foundation, we can now offer our customers one single interface to manage all their devices. This will dramatically improve their Life Cycle Management as all costs related to lost item replacement or search for misplaced items are now becoming obsolete. Together, HERE and Actility are offering indoor and outdoor asset tracking, seamlessly,” said Olivier Hersent, CEO of Actility.

Ajatshatru Kotwal, Director for Product Management at HERE Technologies, said:

“In teaming up with Actility, we have found a trusted partner with whom we can offer a full end-to-end tracking solution that can also be customized to fit specific customers’ needs. We are proud to be offering this solution with a leader in the LoRaWAN space and look forward to helping customers gain enhanced visibility of their supply chains.”

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Extends record of leadership in innovation and compliance with IoT industry standards supporting the global container supply chain.

ORBCOMM Inc., a global provider of Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, today announced that it has expanded its industry-leading portfolio of on-board vessel IoT systems to include LoRa WAN™ (LoRa) technology.

Through a partnership with Net Feasa, a global IoT service provider based in Dingle, Ireland and Sunnyvale, CA, ORBCOMM has deployed the first commercially available solution using LoRa technology to monitor containers on board vessels for a large global shipping line.

The solution combines VesselConnect, ORBCOMM’s industry-leading refrigerated container management application with Net Feasa’s EvenKeel IoT device connectivity, management and services platform. Refrigerated containers communicate in real time through LoRa gateways mounted in strategic locations on the vessel.

Key container data, including temperature, humidity and alarms, is collected in EvenKeel and updated in ORBCOMM’s VesselConnect. The VesselConnect application communicates over satellite back to ORBCOMM’s land-based platform, enabling customers to see the location of all vessels as well the status of each container on board from a single, comprehensive command and control center.

ORBCOMM’s fully integrated system supports two-way commands, allowing users on the vessel or at land-based operations to change the container’s temperature set points and other parameters. ORBCOMM’s on-board vessel IoT solution is designed primarily to eliminate the “black hole” of refrigerated container visibility at sea. In addition, ORBCOMM’s solution helps customers enhance crew efficiency and safety by eliminating the need for manual inspections of the containers and improve operational efficiency through remote pre-trip inspections along with actionable data on maintenance and repair status.

ORBCOMM’s new LoRa-based system is compliant with the Digital Container Shipping Association’s (DCSA) new IoT connectivity standards created to make the shipping container supply chain more transparent, reliable and secure. As one of the DCSA-approved technologies for on-vessel operations, LoRa offers an alternative to cellular and other communication technologies in use today. ORBCOMM’s VesselConnect is unique in offering multiple choices for on-board vessel network connectivity so that customers can utilize the technology that best suits their use case.

“ORBCOMM’s new LoRa-based on-board vessel IoT solution complements our best-in-class portfolio of refrigerated container management solutions and further demonstrates our commitment to continued innovation supporting the global supply chain,” said Christian Allred, ORBCOMM’s Senior Vice President and General Manager of Global Sales.

“Together with Net Feasa, we’re helping shipping companies drive digital transformation, while achieving measurable savings.”

“As global concerns for cargo quality and security as well as traceability increase, the real-time tracking and monitoring of refrigerated containers is becoming the industry norm,” said Mike Fitzgerald, Net Feasa’s Chairman.

“We’re pleased to partner with ORBCOMM to bring our expertise in global IoT networks together with their leadership in innovation and compliance with IoT industry standards to the global container marketplace.”

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Mitigates the environmental impact of farming throughout Latin America, while reducing costs and preserving water.

ORBCOMM Inc., a global provider of Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, today announced that Ponce, an Argentinian IoT company specializing in agricultural efficiency, is helping farmers throughout Latin America gain substantial cost savings and preserve water through its irrigation solutions that utilize ORBCOMM’s satellite IoT technology.

Ponce’s solution is powered by ORBCOMM’s reliable, global satellite connectivity and connected to an ORBCOMM modem for real-time monitoring and management of irrigation equipment located in remote regions where cellular coverage is unavailable or unreliable. Ponce’s advanced system combines early detection of machine failure with accurate crop irrigation data to help farmers automate manual processes to inspect equipment, detect faulty machinery and conduct maintenance. The device reports machine position, water pressure, abnormalities and other critical parameters such as hours of use, water usage, water flow and rainfall measurement. The information is transmitted via satellite to Ponce’s data cloud, which sends alerts and reports to farmers’ mobile devices in real time, enabling faster, more informed business decisions about optimal irrigation schedules, maintenance activities as well as the movement and position of irrigation equipment.

Ponce works with some of the leading agricultural growers in Latin America, which report that the irrigation solution has helped them address critical challenges to their farming operations. One of Ponce’s customers, La Guía, which has over 2,000 hectares of land supported by 19 irrigation machines, saves an estimated 90 hours of water waste per year, a considerable environmental and cost savings. By implementing Ponce’s solution, La Guía’s team receives notifications of abnormalities that require further inspection immediately on their phone, decreasing field visits, reducing working hours allocated to inspections and minimizing human error in the operation of the equipment, leading to an average of 50% fuel savings and much less vehicle wear and tear and carbon emissions in the environment.

Christian Allred, ORBCOMM’s Executive Vice President and General Manager of Global Sales, said:

“ORBCOMM’s reliable satellite connectivity is critical to the success of Ponce’s sophisticated solution, which has revolutionized irrigation operations for farmers, while helping reduce the environmental impact of farming and preserve water, both of which are integral to our corporate social responsibility mission.”

“We’re pleased to help Ponce enable farmers throughout Latin America achieve substantial savings in production costs, driven by improved equipment uptime, limited crop destruction and lower operational costs.”

“Thanks to Ponce’s solution, we have achieved significant efficiency in water usage and equipment failure responsiveness,” said Francisco Lodos, La Guía’s General Manager. “In the past, when a machine failed, we might not find out for hours, but now, Ponce’s system informs us immediately. Even better, if we don’t respond to the notification right away, we get a phone call to follow up and ensure the failure is resolved quickly, saving us substantial costs and helping protect our most crucial resource, which is water.”

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By completely eliminating the need for battery replacement, the tracker is said to also eliminate the single biggest cost factor in large-scale IoT tracking installations and so supports high volume, low cost cellular IoT tracking applications.

Nordic Semiconductor today announces that Dutch engineering and design specialist, SODAQ, is using a Nordic multi-mode NB-IoT/LTE-M nRF9160 System-in-Package (SiP) in the world’s first solar-powered, perpetual operation cellular IoT asset tracker.

The miniaturized 80 x 80 x 11.5 mm SODAQ TRACK SOLAR device forms parts of the SODAQ TRACK asset tracking range (which includes an additional two more battery-powered variants targeting theft detection and parcel tracking and monitoring) and weighs just 100g. In low duty cycle applications comprising up to eight pings a day, SODAQ says the asset tracker will operate perpetually on harvested solar energy alone. This is said to make the tracker ideal for a wide range of logistics, offshore, site management, and general asset tracking applications.

The tracker integrates a light sensor, accelerometer, temperature sensor, and status LEDs, and is powered from a 0.5W solar panel. It also offers a positional accuracy of 5-20m for GPS, 10-50m for Wi-Fi, and 100m+ for cellular.

SODAQ CEO, Jan Willem Smeenk, who in a former commercial life was also the Co-Founder of pioneering on-line travel website, Booking.com, comments:

“As the IoT moves into having hundreds of billions of devices installed worldwide, batteries suddenly become an important issue.”

Smeenk continues: “First there is the cost issue of having to check and replace batteries which in large IoT installations quickly become the single biggest cost factor over an IoT product or sensor’s lifetime. And this cost factor will become even more significant as the data subscription costs for cellular continue to fall to what I predict will be around $1 a year before long.”

“Second there is the environmental impact of having billions of battery waste a year. To me, therefore, the future of IoT really does need to be batteryless and therefore self-powered wherever possible. And so the SODAQ TRACK SOLAR is a firm a step in that direction for cellular IoT.”

Smeenk says the SODAQ TRACK SOLAR is able to operate without a battery by using the available hardware and software in the best possible way: “This includes the low power characteristics of the Nordic nRF9160 SiP itself, and obeying the three golden rules of low power IoT design: Sleep as often as you can, work or go active for as short a period as possible, and communicate as briefly as possible when on-air.”

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Vodafone and Ericsson have successfully tested safe sky corridors for drones using intelligent aspects of the mobile network.

The technological breakthrough will allow professional drone operators, critical national infrastructure providers and emergency services to deliver medical, commercial and industrial supplies safe in the knowledge that they will arrive at the correct destination on time whilst remaining connected to the mobile network.

In a proof of concept trial conducted this month at Vodafone’s 5G Mobility Lab in Aldenhoven, Germany, the companies used intelligence from the network to produce coverage maps, which enabled the drone to stay in areas with a good signal up in the air. They also collated anonymised mobile user information so the drone could avoid heavily crowded areas down on the ground. They did this using information obtained via Vodafone’s ‘Network Exposure Layer’, which makes network data easy to utilise, whilst keeping it secure.

Vodafone can provide these two key pieces of information to trusted third parties via Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to enable users to quickly and easily plot a pre-determined path for the drone, ensuring constant contact with the control centre, even when out of sight. In this scenario, Vodafone could offer a hospital access, via an API, to non-sensitive network information to send a drone to a scene of an accident.

As part of a separate test simulation, Vodafone in Spain recently flew a lightweight defibrillator to the scene of a cardiac arrest patient using a drone controlled by 5G.

Vodafone Group’s Chief Technology Officer Johan Wibergh said: “The mobile network is a data-rich asset that can be responsibly and securely utilised to aid society. We are evolving our software-driven, intelligent network into a powerful platform that can deliver new digital services. The responsible use of drones is just one such example but there will be many more.”

“APIs will speed up the adoption of drones for commercial and public sector use, bringing many benefits such as being able to assess fires, deliver medical supplies, and help businesses survey hazardous conditions like construction sites, power lines and our own mobile masts, quicker and more safely.”

Erik Ekudden, Senior Vice President, CTO and Head of Group Function Technology of Ericsson, added: “Drones are immensely powerful tools for many businesses and we are only scratching the surface of the possibilities they open up, which makes our collaboration with Vodafone all the more exciting.”

“Smarter network capabilities on our reliable mobile network will enable key industries such as healthcare, construction, and agriculture to accelerate site deployment, reduce health and safety hazards, and help save lives. With this technology, service providers can expand their cellular IoT services for enterprises and confidently meet regulatory guidelines. This is another milestone Ericsson’s partnership with Vodafone, as we continue to evolve our network and meet the diverse needs of fundamental industries.”

Telco as a Service (TaaS)

Cellular-connected drones form part of Vodafone’s multi-year journey to redefine its technology architecture on a ‘Telco as a Service’ (‘TaaS’) model, based on platforms that deliver new software, video and data applications at scale (see page 8 of the Vodafone Group half-year results release here). By extracting intelligence from its converged pan-European and African networks, combined with the use of open source software components, Vodafone can offer developers and businesses a cost-effective and quick way of automating services for millions of customers.

Video tuning

As part of the trial, Vodafone and Ericsson also explored ways to use the network to control key features of the drone such as being able to improve the definition of the video instantly without impacting other services. This is particularly useful in situations where the video is not required for the entire mission, like being able to inspect a suspension bridge or check on the condition of a mountaineer.

This trial builds on work carried out by Vodafone and Ericsson in 2018, in which they worked to mitigate possible interference from the drone when it received signals from multiple mobile sites.

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Customized LoRaWAN® Networks and Battery-Powered IoT Sensors Transmit Data Over Long Distances and Deep Inside Buildings.

Kerlink, a specialist in solutions dedicated to the Internet of Things (IoT), and SmartMakers, a leading provider of IoT solutions that help industrial companies to improve their business processes, announced today their LoRaWAN® geolocation asset-tracking system.

It gives companies real-time location and status of their products and production systems. The solutions work indoor outdoor and in transit, which enables a great variety of application areas.

Combining Kerlink’s Wirnet™ iFemtoCell LoRaWAN indoor gateway and its robust Wirnet™ iStation outdoor LoRaWAN gateway with SmartMakers’ LoRaWAN-based GPS trackers and thingsHub Platform, IoT Asset Tracking continuously monitors the location, condition and status of assets like load carriers, shipments, containers, tools and equipment.

The system generates real-time information, which simplifies the work of logistics managers and operational teams. In large industrial facilities, IoT Asset Tracking also wirelessly provides energy data from equipment and pump and motor states, and monitors condition values and levels. In these customized LoRaWAN networks, battery powered IoT sensors transmit these values for several years over long distances and deep inside buildings, freeing company personnel from time-consuming status checks, and allowing automated processes which previously were impossible. The data generated in this way forms the basis for future changes in value and enables the operating team to generate a forecast from the retrospective for more delivery performance and competitiveness.

Security and scalability of the LoRaWAN technology are provided by Kerlink’s Wanesy™ Management Center, a carrier-grade LoRaWAN Network Server and network management layer that ensures reliable implementation and operation of private IoT networks with fewer gateways, as well as nationwide rollouts with hundreds of gateways.

Business processes and entire supply chains can be improved by fast applicable IoT solution implementation and the thingsHub IoT Asset Tracking, which allows scaling up from a local site to a global rollout.

The system can eliminate costs of manual inventory checking or barcode scanning and reduce delays in work processes due to missing parts or equipment by up to 80 percent. It also enables companies to increase utilization of logistical assets and equipment by up to 30 percent.

“IoT Asset Tracking, which is designed for both internal and external supply-chain processes, combines SmartMakers and Kerlink IoT technology to update asset-tracking technologies,” said SmartMakers CEO & co-founder, Sebastian Stute.

“In addition to streamlining essential onsite business processes, at the order-fulfillment level it enables customers to know asset locations even between checkpoints and eliminates the need for personnel to update status through barcode scans and manual entries.”

“Kerlink gateways and Wanesy Management Center provide a secure and future-proof solution to develop smart applications, such as IoT Asset Tracking,” said Kerlink Account Manager, Etienne Ghidossi. “Our partnership with SmartMakers offers businesses of all sizes a state-of-the-art solution that boosts operational efficiency, improves customer service and accelerates their return on investment.”

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The global installed base of active remote tank monitoring (RTM) solutions reached 3.6 million units at the end of 2019, according to a new research report from the IoT analyst firm Berg Insight.

Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 35.1 percent, the active installed base is estimated to reach 16.3 million units worldwide in 2024.

Berg Insight estimates that the European market accounted for more than 0.9 million active RTM systems at the end of 2019. The North American market is estimated to be larger than the European at around 1.2 million active units. The Asia-Pacific market is moreover estimated to represent an installed base of about 1.0 million RTM systems at the end of 2019. South America and Middle East & Africa are smaller markets having installed bases of 181,000 units and 326,000 units respectively.

There are more than 100 RTM solution vendors active on the market worldwide and this report covers 60 companies. Berg Insight ranks Anova as the leading RTM solution provider in terms of the active installed base worldwide with an installed base of about 570,000 RTM units at the end of 2019. Anova has done a string of acquisitions including Independent Technologies, Wikon, ISA, iTank (Sierra Wireless) and Silicon Controls to become the largest RTM solution vendor with more than 1,600 customers in 70 countries. Otodata and SkyBitz (Ametek) were in second and third place having achieved installed bases of about 500,000 units and 150,000 units respectively. Otodata is based in Canada and primarily focuses on the fuel reseller segment in North America, whereas SkyBitz is based in the US and most of its tanks under management can be found in North America and a few in Mexico and other countries. Polish AIUT and Sensile Technologies from Switzerland shared fourth place and had each an installed base of 100,000 tank monitoring systems. WACnGO, Varec, ATEK Access Technologies, Kingspan, Angus Energy and Tank Utility are also ranked among the largest providers with 50,000–60,000 units each. Other RTM solution providers with installed bases of 15,000–45,000 RTM systems in active use at the end of 2019 include Dunraven Systems, FreeWave, Powelectrics, SilentSoft, Insite Platform Partners, LIV-T, FarmChem, Schmitt Industries and Banner Engineering.

Merger and acquisition activity on this market is just about to commence at the same time as new innovative companies enter the market. “Anova is the most ambitious consolidator on the market and has become the largest RTM solution vendor worldwide as the result of 5 major acquisitions in the past three years”, said Johan Fagerberg, Principal Analyst, Berg Insight. Mr. Fagerberg anticipates that the market consolidation of the remote tank monitoring industry will accelerate in the next five years.

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Collaboration integrates Semtech’s LoRa devices with Ripl Networks’ IP mesh, 3D location tracking software to help secure naval ports.

Semtech Corporation announced Ripl Networks, the leader in IP networking for low power devices, has been selected by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to deploy an IP mesh, 3D tracking solution for foreign guest and fleet assets at naval ports.

Semtech’s LoRa® devices provide the long range, low-bandwidth connectivity for Ripl’s IP over low power devices messaging system called MLMesh™. Ripl’s software enables Tiny Edge computing where low cost, machine learning emitters can live inside the Enterprise IP network. The combined technology enables low power devices to talk Internet Protocol (IP) at long distances while accurately tracking 3D locations without GPS or cellular towers.

“Ripl lets Tiny-Edge computers talk IP creating a long distance, wire-free extension of the IP WAN”, said Kerry Shih, CEO of Ripl Networks. “LoRa devices’ proven distance and low power enables Ripl to offer an IP fabric up to 20km from node to node with a battery life up to 10 years.”

The DoD was searching for 3D tracking of assets in a private, IP network that would support low power sensors. “After what we’ve seen demonstrated around the Port of Hueneme, I trust we’ll continue to see investment in progressive technologies like Tiny Edge computing and Ripl MLMesh,” said Alan Jaeger, Director of NavalX Ventura TechBridge at the Department of Navy.

“Ripl and LoRa combine to secure this new class of networked computers using IP infrastructure versus creating a second data network just for IoT.”

The Port of Hueneme, the only deep-water harbor between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area, will be the first DoD deployment of the asset tracking solution. Port of Hueneme CEO & Port Director Kristin Decas said:
“We are proud of our long history of vigilance when it comes to security on the port. Ripl will help further that mission with real-time, 3D location tracking of assets for which we are responsible.”

Ripl Networks will act as the systems integrator with other key technologies, including Avnet’s IoT Connect platform, which will serve as the backend system for data storage and monitoring.

“Semtech’s LoRa platform enables the rapid and scalable deployment of military-grade applications, such as Ripl Networks’ asset tracking solution,” said Marc Pegulu, Vice President of IoT Product Marketing for Semtech’s Wireless and Sensing Products Group. “We are pleased to assist the U.S. Department of Defense in its efforts to monitor and secure critical American assets.”

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Series of significant government contracts worth over $1B position the company for rapid growth.

Aevum, Inc., a provider of comprehensive space logistics and autonomous launch services for lightweight payloads, is rolling out its Ravn X Autonomous Launch Vehicle today, the world’s largest Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), by mass, designed to deliver satellites to space as fast as every 180 minutes.

Aevum’s customer and mission partner, The United States Space Force, will also take part in the Ravn X unveiling.

“Aevum is completely reimagining access to space. The current definition of rocket science doesn’t work for us. With Aevum, everyone will be able to say, ‘It is rocket science and I can do it.’ Aevum is pushing logistics to the next generation with software and automation technologies,” said Jay Skylus, founder and CEO of Aevum.

“U.S. leadership has identified the critical need for extremely fast access to low Earth orbit. We’re faster than anybody.”

“To me, space is merely a vantage point from which the next generation can commit global progress. Through our autonomous technologies, Aevum will shorten the lead time of launches from years to months, and when our customers demand it, minutes. This is necessary to improve lives on Earth. This is necessary to save lives.”

“I’m excited to see the bold innovation and responsiveness in development today by our small launch industry partners to support emerging warfighter needs,” said Lt. Col. Ryan Rose, Chief of the Space and Missile Systems Center’s Small Launch and Targets Division at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

“The U.S. Space Force is proactively partnering with industry to support U.S. space superiority objectives. Having a robust U.S. industry providing responsive launch capability is key to ensuring the U.S. Space Force can respond to future threats.”

Aevum has developed what is being credited as an entirely new paradigm for space access: Autonomous Launch. Autonomous Launch, unlike ground launch or air launch, involves a global, fully-autonomous, self-flying, self-managing, self-operating intelligent system of systems, called the autonomous launch architecture, working in concert to deliver payloads from any terrestrial origin to any space destination in low Earth orbit.

The autonomous launch architecture optimizes every launch, taking into account variables including weather conditions, air traffic, orbital destination, payload weight, ground crew schedules, and other complex logistics processes to provide an end-to-end seamless service, autonomously. Critical to the Autonomous Launch architecture is the autonomous launch vehicle (AuLV), which flies itself without a pilot and only requires a one-mile runway and an 8,000 sf hangar for operation. AuLV’s use jet fuel and work exactly like an airplane.

With its fleet of autonomous Ravn X vehicles, Aevum will offer on-demand scheduling of precision orbital deliveries, as fast as every 180 minutes, 24/7, with no risk to human life. Ravn X is the only small launch vehicle that has been built from the ground up as reusable – 70% reusable out of the gate, it will be up to 95% reusable in the near future. After making its delivery to low Earth orbit, the UAS simply returns to Earth, autonomously landing safely on a runway and parking itself in the hangar.

The autonomous launch paradigm dramatically lowers the barrier for space access, in time, cost, and customer experience, and accelerates improvements in billion-dollar industries such as logistics, intelligence, defense, e-commerce, advanced analytics, climate change and weather monitoring, agriculture, IoT and more.

Already profitable and generating revenue, Aevum is on track for first launch with the U.S. Space Force and its ASLON-45 mission.

Relevant Ravn X Facts Include:

• Ravn X is 80 ft. long, has a 60 ft. wingspan, is 18 ft. tall and has a gross takeoff weight of 55,000 lbs.
• Ravn X is the only small launch vehicle that has been designed and built from the ground up as reusable. 70% reusable out of the gate, it will be up to 95% reusable in the near future
• Virtually weather agnostic, Aevum offers 96% availability to space per year and minimal delays
• Aevum doesn’t need to build or maintain a launch site. Ravn X can launch from any 1-mile runway; the entire vehicle also uses the same jet fuel as an airplane, Jet A
• All of Aevum’s products and technologies are 100% designed and built in the U.S.A.

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• Vi CSR has deployed Nokia’s Worldwide IoT Network Grid (WING) solution to equip 50,000 farmers in India with precise and practical data to help them achieve better yields

• Deployment of the smart agriculture-as-a-service solution will include soil probes, weather stations, insect traps and crop cameras to help drive productivity of soy and cotton crops

Nokia and Vodafone India Foundation, the CSR arm of Vi, have today announced that they have deployed a Smart Agriculture solution that aims to improve the productivity of farmers in India.

The pilot project is being implemented in 100 locations in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra and will benefit over 50,000 farmers in the region by enhancing their productivity and income. The smart agriculture-as-a-service solution, which utilizes Nokia’s Worldwide IoT Network Grid (WING) solution, will ensure that precise and practical data is sent to farmers enabling them to enhance productivity. The unique CSR initiative will be showcased at Vi booth (Hall #3) at India Mobile Congress 2020 from 8-10 December.

Over 400 sensors have been deployed over 100,000 hectares of farmland to collect various data points which are then analysed by a cloud-based and localized Smart Agriculture app. The app provides local language support as well as weather forecast and irrigation management information. The sensors generate insights that helps to improve soy and cotton crop yields. Crop management through WING can include smart irrigation, smart pesticide control, proactive information sharing frameworks on crops and weather, as well as a platform for commodity exchange. The use case can also employ Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) technology or drones instead of traditional sensors for crop management.

Smart Agriculture is a leading use case that India is exploring in the 5G era. The complete end-to-end solution from Nokia WING is supported by deep domain expertise and an agriculture partner eco-system. Combined, it will help Vi CSR improve agricultural practices by introducing IoT-based solutions.

P. Balaji, Chief Regulatory & Corporate Affairs Officer, Vodafone Idea Limited said:

“Vi CSR is committed to leveraging technology strengths to create social impact through sustainable solutions. Smart crop management using Smart IoT and AI based solutions is transforming the prevalent agricultural practices into more ‘intelligent’ ones enabling farmers with smart decision making and helping them improve production and crop quality through better utilization of resources.”

“Our SmartAgri project is unique as it brings an entire ecosystem of stakeholders such as Nokia for its innovative technology, Solidaridad for project management, and also green experts and researchers from University – all under one roof, to positively impact the lives of farmers in India.”

Ankur Bhan, Head of Nokia WING Business at Nokia, said :
“Our mission for WING is to shape the future of agriculture and other industries, to create a smarter and more connected world. Together with the Vodafone Foundation, our managed service offering will help an initial 50,000 farmers and their families, with the aim of rolling out the solution across India.”

Michele Mackenzie, Principal Analyst, IoT and M2M Services at Analysys Mason, said:
“We see a growing demand for new technologies that increase productivity and yields in the agricultural sector, while mitigating the impacts of climate change. Farmers and producers require end to end solutions and seek flexible business models so that they can focus on their core business. The cooperation between Nokia WING and Vodafone Idea is an innovative example for rebalancing the needs of the society and the environment by introducing sustainable farming practices in India.”

Nokia is committed to driving technology innovations that play a key role in achieving a more sustainable planet. Last year, they delivered zero-emission products to over 150 customers worldwide and committed to decreasing emissions from its operations by 41 percent by 2030. Nokia is also helping to Connect the Unconnected*. For example, in Brazil, Nokia is helping to bring connectivity to some of the 93 percent of Brazilian farmers who currently have no access to broadband services on their farms, while in Kenya, Nokia will upgrade the fiber network to provide higher capacity for expanded broadband services in East Africa.

The post Nokia and Vi CSR deploy SmartAgri solution to enhance farming practices of 50,000 farmers in India appeared first on IoT Business News.

Dual-mode connectivity provides expanded, reliable and cost-effective coverage for transportation solutions.

ORBCOMM Inc. today announced that it has launched a new satellite as an accessory offering, which adds two-way, global satellite connectivity to ORBCOMM’s cellular asset tracking and monitoring devices, including new installs and currently fielded units, to create dual-mode capability for its transportation solutions.

ORBCOMM’s satellite as an accessory features a satellite modem integrated with a state-of-the-art antenna to provide backup satellite connectivity where cellular networks are unavailable or unreliable, including areas with high network congestion. ORBCOMM’s low-profile peripheral can also be utilized with fielded devices impacted by the sunset of 3G cellular networks to extend the device’s lifecycle with satellite connectivity, ensure reliable communications and maximize the long-term return on investment. The unique, environmentally sealed product can be easily installed through a simple plug and play connection on mobile assets, such as refrigerated trailers, dry vans, light and heavy-duty commercial vehicles, and rail cars. The power-efficient accessory allows messages to be sent during temporary power loss to ensure continuous operations.

By connecting the peripheral to a new or existing ORBCOMM asset tracking and monitoring device, transportation customers can cost-effectively add dual-mode connectivity to their fleet management, trailer tracking and cold chain monitoring solutions for increased communication reliability and improved asset visibility and security. The device also includes a built-in navigation module that enables global reporting of location data to provide complete management of refrigerated and dry transportation assets. In addition, over-the-air satellite updates allow the peripheral to receive updated firmware versions without having to send a technician to the site, saving time and money to enable new features.

“ORBCOMM has vast experience developing satellite, cellular and dual-mode technologies to create powerful multi-mode products and services, which is a significant competitive advantage to the Company,” said Craig Malone, ORBCOMM’s Executive Vice President of Product Development.

“Through our satellite as an accessory offering, transportation customers can affordably deploy dual-mode solutions that ensure the reliability and longevity of their communications anywhere in the world. By this time next year, we expect nearly all of our product lines to have this unique capability, bringing dual-mode connectivity to a broader base of customers across multiple vertical markets.”

The post ORBCOMM Introduces New Satellite as an Accessory for Asset Tracking and Monitoring Devices appeared first on IoT Business News.

PassTime announces partnership with Polte to achieve universal asset visibility with their next generation of ultra-lightweight, power efficient Encore 2 vehicle trackers.

Today, PassTime GPS, a leading provider of automotive and IoT GPS solutions, announced a strategic partnership with Polte Corporation, the innovator of Cloud Location over Cellular (C-LoC) technology, to incorporate highly accurate Polte Mobile IoT location into PassTime’s line of Encore asset trackers.

Together, PassTime and Polte will enable Buy Here Pay Here dealers, franchise dealers, powersports dealers, auto finance companies, plus a wide range of customers in other industries to securely locate vehicles and assets virtually anywhere that GPS becomes unavailable. This integration will allow Encore asset trackers to maintain the lowest power profile at the smallest size possible.

Polte’s multi-patented C-LoC technology produces the most accurate cellular location on the market, leveraging ubiquitous 4G & 5G cellular network signals and the Polte IoT Cloud (PIC) to deliver real-time insights as devices move indoors, outdoors, and everywhere in between. Polte’s disruptive approach eliminates the bulk and expense of additional hardware or infrastructure needed for positioning with traditional technologies, while saving battery by offloading computational complexity from the device to the cloud.

With completed commercial integration of Polte’s location technology, PassTime’s Encore line of asset trackers, expected to incorporate Polte’s location technology in early 2021, will fill in the gaps in intelligence left by competitors using solely GPS for positioning. This new partnership transforms the customer experience, allowing, for example, cars to be more quickly recovered or located if parked indoors or in parking garages. This streamlines operations and cost of capital, cutting down on the time required to search for missing assets. Polte brings greater speed to ROI and a simpler, more agile extension to PassTime’s location management. Instead of hybridizing with alternate options such as Wi-Fi or BLE, Polte’s integration eliminates the need for the significant overhead and hassle of access points or beacon deployments.

“Selecting Polte’s Mobile IoT location technology as an augmentation to our Encore product line was simple,” PassTime EVP and CTO Todd Goodnight said. “Taking advantage of Polte not only allows us to unlock precise location and indoor visibility where GPS falls short, but reinforces our value promise: providing long battery life trackers that are compact, easy to use and require no installation. Our customers will now have everything they need to safeguard vehicles and precious assets against loss or theft.”

“Powered by Polte” PassTime Encore trackers incorporate WNC’s 5G compatible LTE-M module containing a Sony Semiconductor Israel chipset, utilizing both Mobile IoT hardware partners to deliver massive scale, security and power savings for a variety of customers looking to connect their vehicles and protect their assets.

“We are excited to work with PassTime to offer unprecedented location intelligence to the automotive industry,” Polte CEO Ed Chao said. “Due to Polte’s use of cellular networks for positioning, the evolution of Encore will only become more powerful with the expansion of 5G. Together, we are setting the new standard for vehicle asset tracking.”

The post PassTime GPS Revolutionizes Encore Asset Tracking Solutions with Polte Mobile IoT Location Technology appeared first on IoT Business News.

Growing technological and network maturity opens the door to new addressable markets.

Asset tracking is one of the highest growth application segments for the Internet of Things (IoT).

According to a new report by global tech market advisory firm, ABI Research, asset tracking device shipments will see a 51% year-on-year device shipment growth rate through 2024.

Expanding LPWAN coverage, technological maturity, and the associated miniaturization of sophisticated devices are key to moving asset tracking from traditionally high-value markets to low-value high-volume markets, which will account for most of the tracker connection and shipment numbers.

“Hardware devices for the asset tracking market are primarily dominated by the need to balance power consumption, form factor, and device cost. Balance and compromise between these three must be achieved based on the use-case and are dictated by the business case and possible return on investment for the customer,” said Tancred Taylor, Research Analyst at ABI Research. “As these constraints are marginalized by greater volumes of adoption, by emerging technologies like eSIM or System-on-Chip, and by increasingly low-power components and connectivity, so too will the limitations on the business case.”

Expanding technological and network foundations drive the number of use-cases, and OEMs are responding by diversifying their hardware offerings. Some OEMs such as CoreKinect, Particle, Mobilogix, or Starcom Systems are innovating in this space by taking a reference-architecture or modular approach to device design for personalized solutions. Others are going to market with off-the-shelf or vertically-focused devices for quickly scalable deployments – such as BeWhere, Roambee, Sony, or FFLY4U.

Early adoption of asset tracking was in the fleet, container, and logistics industries to provide basic data on the location and condition of assets in transit. The total addressable market for these industries remains extensive, particularly as the solutions trickle down from the largest enterprises to small- and medium-sized companies. Increased device functionality combined with component miniaturization is key to driving the next generation of low-cost tracking devices. This will enable granular tracking at the pallet, package, or item level, and open new markets and device categories, such as disposable trackers. Emerson, Sensitech, CoreKinect, and Bayer are among companies driving innovation in this field.

Innovation among product offerings is accompanied by variations in business models and go-to-market approaches. Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are playing a significant role in driving adoption through increased verticalization, with Verizon, AT&T, and Orange among those offering subscription models for end-to-end solutions – comprising device, connectivity, software, and managed service offerings. This model is additionally gaining traction among OEMs, with Roambee an early adopter for a subscription-only model, and others such as Mobilogix following suit. This service-based model will gain additional traction as OEMs move down the value-chain by developing in-house capabilities or partner networks to simplify the ecosystem and consumer’s solution.

Taylor concluded:

“While there is extensive work to be done on the hardware side to make low-cost trackers that can be simply attached to any ‘thing’, many OEMs are shifting from a hardware-only model to more of a consultative approach to a customer’s requirements and deliver personalized end-to-end solutions. Flexibility, simplicity, and cost are crucial to gain enterprise traction.”

The post Asset Tracking Device Shipments Drive IoT Expansion and Grow 51% Year-on-Year Through 2024 appeared first on IoT Business News.

PassTime announces partnership with Polte to achieve universal asset visibility with their next generation of ultra-lightweight, power efficient Encore 2 vehicle trackers.

Today, PassTime GPS, a leading provider of automotive and IoT GPS solutions, announced a strategic partnership with Polte Corporation, the innovator of Cloud Location over Cellular (C-LoC) technology, to incorporate highly accurate Polte Mobile IoT location into PassTime’s line of Encore asset trackers.

Together, PassTime and Polte will enable Buy Here Pay Here dealers, franchise dealers, powersports dealers, auto finance companies, plus a wide range of customers in other industries to securely locate vehicles and assets virtually anywhere that GPS becomes unavailable. This integration will allow Encore asset trackers to maintain the lowest power profile at the smallest size possible.

Polte’s multi-patented C-LoC technology produces the most accurate cellular location on the market, leveraging ubiquitous 4G & 5G cellular network signals and the Polte IoT Cloud (PIC) to deliver real-time insights as devices move indoors, outdoors, and everywhere in between. Polte’s disruptive approach eliminates the bulk and expense of additional hardware or infrastructure needed for positioning with traditional technologies, while saving battery by offloading computational complexity from the device to the cloud.

With completed commercial integration of Polte’s location technology, PassTime’s Encore line of asset trackers, expected to incorporate Polte’s location technology in early 2021, will fill in the gaps in intelligence left by competitors using solely GPS for positioning. This new partnership transforms the customer experience, allowing, for example, cars to be more quickly recovered or located if parked indoors or in parking garages. This streamlines operations and cost of capital, cutting down on the time required to search for missing assets. Polte brings greater speed to ROI and a simpler, more agile extension to PassTime’s location management. Instead of hybridizing with alternate options such as Wi-Fi or BLE, Polte’s integration eliminates the need for the significant overhead and hassle of access points or beacon deployments.

“Selecting Polte’s Mobile IoT location technology as an augmentation to our Encore product line was simple,” PassTime EVP and CTO Todd Goodnight said. “Taking advantage of Polte not only allows us to unlock precise location and indoor visibility where GPS falls short, but reinforces our value promise: providing long battery life trackers that are compact, easy to use and require no installation. Our customers will now have everything they need to safeguard vehicles and precious assets against loss or theft.”

“Powered by Polte” PassTime Encore trackers incorporate WNC’s 5G compatible LTE-M module containing a Sony Semiconductor Israel chipset, utilizing both Mobile IoT hardware partners to deliver massive scale, security and power savings for a variety of customers looking to connect their vehicles and protect their assets.

“We are excited to work with PassTime to offer unprecedented location intelligence to the automotive industry,” Polte CEO Ed Chao said. “Due to Polte’s use of cellular networks for positioning, the evolution of Encore will only become more powerful with the expansion of 5G. Together, we are setting the new standard for vehicle asset tracking.”

The post PassTime GPS Revolutionizes Encore Asset Tracking Solutions with Polte Mobile IoT Location Technology appeared first on IoT Business News.

Globalstar, Inc. today announced that it has signed a commercial agreement with Ceres Tag, to supply satellite services to the livestock industry through the world’s first and only smart ear tag for traceability provenance, biosecurity, health, animal welfare, production improvement and theft reduction.

This agreement follows Ceres Tag’s recent success in winning the SVG Ventures THRIVE Challenge and their ear tag being named as the #1 Big Breakthrough Technology for Ag Change in the Next Decade by the AgJournal of Weekend Australian.

The Ceres Tag platform uses the unique capabilities of Globalstar to produce a small and light weight (just over one ounce) smart ear tag that attaches to the animal and automatically sends the data to the cloud via the Globalstar Satellite Network.

The Ceres Tag requires no infrastructure, no maintenance and has a battery capable of lasting the lifetime of an animal making it the lowest cost, scalable, plug and play option for ranchers to produce better performing animals at a greater profit.

David Smith, CEO of Ceres Tag, commented:

“With over 1 billion cattle in the world and a similar number of sheep and goats, we now have a low-cost limitless way to monitor our animals. There has never been a more important time to know where your food has come from than during this pandemic.”

The unique relationship with Globalstar enables Ceres Tag to supply an automated daily recording of animals including world exclusive capabilities on pasture feed intake, which is primary to determining feed efficiency, genetic selection and managing of greenhouse gas. Traceability, biosecurity, performance, health and welfare have never been under more scrutiny than they are now.

David Kagan, CEO of Globalstar Inc., commented:
“We saw an immediate match between Globalstar and Ceres Tag to deliver this unique monitoring capability to over 80% of the world’s livestock that are located in remote locations where there is no infrastructure and where you may only see the animals once or twice a year.”

Smith also commented, “Ceres Tag is quickly becoming one of the world’s most comprehensive animal monitoring companies with a wildlife and pet platform, also well developed in the pipeline and due for launch in 2022.”

Kagan added:
“With this partnership, Globalstar will be one of the world’s largest providers of LEO satellite enabled IoT solutions. This partnership builds on a strategy of unlocking the full scalability of devices across several sectors. Animal monitoring is one of these areas in which we see significant growth opportunity.”

The post Globalstar Signs Agreement With Ceres Tag, the World’s Only Direct to Satellite Livestock Smart Ear Tag appeared first on IoT Business News.

Growing technological and network maturity opens the door to new addressable markets.

Asset tracking is one of the highest growth application segments for the Internet of Things (IoT).

According to a new report by global tech market advisory firm, ABI Research, asset tracking device shipments will see a 51% year-on-year device shipment growth rate through 2024.

Expanding LPWAN coverage, technological maturity, and the associated miniaturization of sophisticated devices are key to moving asset tracking from traditionally high-value markets to low-value high-volume markets, which will account for most of the tracker connection and shipment numbers.

“Hardware devices for the asset tracking market are primarily dominated by the need to balance power consumption, form factor, and device cost. Balance and compromise between these three must be achieved based on the use-case and are dictated by the business case and possible return on investment for the customer,” said Tancred Taylor, Research Analyst at ABI Research. “As these constraints are marginalized by greater volumes of adoption, by emerging technologies like eSIM or System-on-Chip, and by increasingly low-power components and connectivity, so too will the limitations on the business case.”

Expanding technological and network foundations drive the number of use-cases, and OEMs are responding by diversifying their hardware offerings. Some OEMs such as CoreKinect, Particle, Mobilogix, or Starcom Systems are innovating in this space by taking a reference-architecture or modular approach to device design for personalized solutions. Others are going to market with off-the-shelf or vertically-focused devices for quickly scalable deployments – such as BeWhere, Roambee, Sony, or FFLY4U.

Early adoption of asset tracking was in the fleet, container, and logistics industries to provide basic data on the location and condition of assets in transit. The total addressable market for these industries remains extensive, particularly as the solutions trickle down from the largest enterprises to small- and medium-sized companies. Increased device functionality combined with component miniaturization is key to driving the next generation of low-cost tracking devices. This will enable granular tracking at the pallet, package, or item level, and open new markets and device categories, such as disposable trackers. Emerson, Sensitech, CoreKinect, and Bayer are among companies driving innovation in this field.

Innovation among product offerings is accompanied by variations in business models and go-to-market approaches. Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are playing a significant role in driving adoption through increased verticalization, with Verizon, AT&T, and Orange among those offering subscription models for end-to-end solutions – comprising device, connectivity, software, and managed service offerings. This model is additionally gaining traction among OEMs, with Roambee an early adopter for a subscription-only model, and others such as Mobilogix following suit. This service-based model will gain additional traction as OEMs move down the value-chain by developing in-house capabilities or partner networks to simplify the ecosystem and consumer’s solution.

Taylor concluded:

“While there is extensive work to be done on the hardware side to make low-cost trackers that can be simply attached to any ‘thing’, many OEMs are shifting from a hardware-only model to more of a consultative approach to a customer’s requirements and deliver personalized end-to-end solutions. Flexibility, simplicity, and cost are crucial to gain enterprise traction.”

The post Asset Tracking Device Shipments Drive IoT Expansion and Grow 51% Year-on-Year Through 2024 appeared first on IoT Business News.

ICT International’s LoRa-based precision environmental sensors enable smarter crop monitoring with a data-centric approach.

Semtech Corporation announced that ICT International, an Internet of Things (IoT) solution provider for environmental applications, and Definium Technologies (Definium), a developer and manufacturer of IoT gateways and devices, are leveraging an advanced array of products based on Semtech’s LoRa® devices and the LoRaWAN® protocol to improve crop yield in Australian avocado plantations with a data-centric approach to farming.

“Avocado crops are highly susceptible to stress at key times throughout their growing cycle,” said Dr. Peter Cull, Director of ICT International.

“Utilizing plant physiology sensors based on Semtech’s leading and proven LoRa devices enables the simple and accurate monitoring of moisture flow inside the plants, and allows farmers to respond quickly to stressors to improve yield. As a result, farmers maximize profit while reducing expenses related to product waste.”

“As the challenge of extracting high yields from crop farming continues to increase due to changing weather conditions, accurately monitoring environmental crop stress is crucial to ensuring we produce enough food to feed the world,” said Mike Cruse, CEO at Definium Technologies.

“Our collaboration with ICT International and Semtech to deliver precision environmental sensing solutions has broad applicability across the agricultural spectrum. These applications include grazing, row cropping, viticulture, and nut orchards, in addition to smart cities and mining.”

ICT International and Definium deployed a suite of LoRa-enabled sensors throughout a large-scale avocado farm in New South Wales, Australia to identify the ongoing causes of low crop yield. Through the use of soil moisture sensors, sap flow sensors, vapor-pressure deficit sensors, and weather stations, the data accurately identified periods of low soil moisture and high plant water stress, and matched those to excess fruit drop.

Smart agriculture applications are a proven vertical market for LoRa devices, which offer farmers and ranchers several advantages, including up to 30 miles of network coverage from a single LoRaWAN gateway in rural areas. Farmers across Australia are currently in the process of integrating ICT International and Definium’s LoRa-based sensors into their own smart irrigation systems to better address and respond to crop stress and significantly increase yield.

“From measuring environmental conditions influencing crop production to tracking livestock health, smart agriculture applications based on LoRa devices offer a leading flexibility and ease of use for farmers to quickly reduce environmental impact, maximize yield and minimize expenses,” said Marc Pegulu, Vice President of IoT Product Marketing for Semtech’s Wireless and Sensing Products Group.

“Commercial and independent farms alike are increasingly turning to LoRaWAN connectivity, leveraging its flexible and proven capabilities to help create smarter and more sustainable operations.”

The post Semtech’s LoRa® Devices Boost Crop Yield on Connected Avocado Farms appeared first on IoT Business News.

PassTime announces partnership with Polte to achieve universal asset visibility with their next generation of ultra-lightweight, power efficient Encore 2 vehicle trackers.

Today, PassTime GPS, a leading provider of automotive and IoT GPS solutions, announced a strategic partnership with Polte Corporation, the innovator of Cloud Location over Cellular (C-LoC) technology, to incorporate highly accurate Polte Mobile IoT location into PassTime’s line of Encore asset trackers.

Together, PassTime and Polte will enable Buy Here Pay Here dealers, franchise dealers, powersports dealers, auto finance companies, plus a wide range of customers in other industries to securely locate vehicles and assets virtually anywhere that GPS becomes unavailable. This integration will allow Encore asset trackers to maintain the lowest power profile at the smallest size possible.

Polte’s multi-patented C-LoC technology produces the most accurate cellular location on the market, leveraging ubiquitous 4G & 5G cellular network signals and the Polte IoT Cloud (PIC) to deliver real-time insights as devices move indoors, outdoors, and everywhere in between. Polte’s disruptive approach eliminates the bulk and expense of additional hardware or infrastructure needed for positioning with traditional technologies, while saving battery by offloading computational complexity from the device to the cloud.

With completed commercial integration of Polte’s location technology, PassTime’s Encore line of asset trackers, expected to incorporate Polte’s location technology in early 2021, will fill in the gaps in intelligence left by competitors using solely GPS for positioning. This new partnership transforms the customer experience, allowing, for example, cars to be more quickly recovered or located if parked indoors or in parking garages. This streamlines operations and cost of capital, cutting down on the time required to search for missing assets. Polte brings greater speed to ROI and a simpler, more agile extension to PassTime’s location management. Instead of hybridizing with alternate options such as Wi-Fi or BLE, Polte’s integration eliminates the need for the significant overhead and hassle of access points or beacon deployments.

“Selecting Polte’s Mobile IoT location technology as an augmentation to our Encore product line was simple,” PassTime EVP and CTO Todd Goodnight said. “Taking advantage of Polte not only allows us to unlock precise location and indoor visibility where GPS falls short, but reinforces our value promise: providing long battery life trackers that are compact, easy to use and require no installation. Our customers will now have everything they need to safeguard vehicles and precious assets against loss or theft.”

“Powered by Polte” PassTime Encore trackers incorporate WNC’s 5G compatible LTE-M module containing a Sony Semiconductor Israel chipset, utilizing both Mobile IoT hardware partners to deliver massive scale, security and power savings for a variety of customers looking to connect their vehicles and protect their assets.

“We are excited to work with PassTime to offer unprecedented location intelligence to the automotive industry,” Polte CEO Ed Chao said. “Due to Polte’s use of cellular networks for positioning, the evolution of Encore will only become more powerful with the expansion of 5G. Together, we are setting the new standard for vehicle asset tracking.”

The post PassTime GPS Revolutionizes Encore Asset Tracking Solutions with Polte Mobile IoT Location Technology appeared first on IoT Business News.

Globalstar, Inc. today announced that it has signed a commercial agreement with Ceres Tag, to supply satellite services to the livestock industry through the world’s first and only smart ear tag for traceability provenance, biosecurity, health, animal welfare, production improvement and theft reduction.

This agreement follows Ceres Tag’s recent success in winning the SVG Ventures THRIVE Challenge and their ear tag being named as the #1 Big Breakthrough Technology for Ag Change in the Next Decade by the AgJournal of Weekend Australian.

The Ceres Tag platform uses the unique capabilities of Globalstar to produce a small and light weight (just over one ounce) smart ear tag that attaches to the animal and automatically sends the data to the cloud via the Globalstar Satellite Network.

The Ceres Tag requires no infrastructure, no maintenance and has a battery capable of lasting the lifetime of an animal making it the lowest cost, scalable, plug and play option for ranchers to produce better performing animals at a greater profit.

David Smith, CEO of Ceres Tag, commented:

“With over 1 billion cattle in the world and a similar number of sheep and goats, we now have a low-cost limitless way to monitor our animals. There has never been a more important time to know where your food has come from than during this pandemic.”

The unique relationship with Globalstar enables Ceres Tag to supply an automated daily recording of animals including world exclusive capabilities on pasture feed intake, which is primary to determining feed efficiency, genetic selection and managing of greenhouse gas. Traceability, biosecurity, performance, health and welfare have never been under more scrutiny than they are now.

David Kagan, CEO of Globalstar Inc., commented:
“We saw an immediate match between Globalstar and Ceres Tag to deliver this unique monitoring capability to over 80% of the world’s livestock that are located in remote locations where there is no infrastructure and where you may only see the animals once or twice a year.”

Smith also commented, “Ceres Tag is quickly becoming one of the world’s most comprehensive animal monitoring companies with a wildlife and pet platform, also well developed in the pipeline and due for launch in 2022.”

Kagan added:
“With this partnership, Globalstar will be one of the world’s largest providers of LEO satellite enabled IoT solutions. This partnership builds on a strategy of unlocking the full scalability of devices across several sectors. Animal monitoring is one of these areas in which we see significant growth opportunity.”

The post Globalstar Signs Agreement With Ceres Tag, the World’s Only Direct to Satellite Livestock Smart Ear Tag appeared first on IoT Business News.