The Internet of Things market is in the midst of a race to the moon. Although the industry is rapidly growing in size and value, the major players in the field have yet to be identified. Those who manage to pull off the first lunar landings are likely to enjoy a long-term windfall.

As with any race, speed matters. Time to market will be the factor that separates the leaders from the followers — and we at Ingenu are here to help.

A common pain point we hear from our partners is that their development cycles are either too long to seize short-lived opportunities or too rapid to ensure products are viable and sustainable. Beyond that, development can be further complicated by the variety of different platforms the IoT relies on. What makes sense from a tech perspective may not make sense from a consumer perspective. And because the IoT is just now reaching the mainstream, consumer demands are still poorly understood.

Perhaps worst of all is the lack of available development tools. Some companies are committing to next-generation technologies like NB-IoT but discovering there are too many unknowns and uncertainties to build marketable products around the platform. The same problem exists for IoT technologies that are overly complex; they are difficult to develop on, and they are too confusing for users.

Boost Your Speed

Accelerated development is an urgent capability for two main reasons:

First, IoT products are designed for long-term use. Once they have been installed, they don’t require replacement for years or decades. The companies that miss out on this first wave of adoption may have to wait for a major tech shift to gain any market share.

Second, the IoT market is growing into new and untapped industries. Each one of these realms — from finance to healthcare to retail to logistics — could spend billions on IoT devices. The developers who create industry-specific products have few competitors and gain an early foothold in markets that will prove sustainable for the long term.

Rapid IoT development creates huge opportunities — but it also presents many potential roadblocks and obstacles along the way. The right partner, however, can help you navigate the process, avoid the pitfalls, and successfully bring your product to market in a timely fashion.

At Ingenu, we strive to make development as efficient and effective as possible. Our RPMA® (Random Phase Multiple Access) connectivity technology has been designed from the ground up to enable easy development of IoT applications. But we don’t stop there. We go a step further by providing industry-leading development support and resources.

Ultimately, by partnering with Ingenu, you reap the rewards of:

• We allow you to focus on growing your business rather than languishing in development. Our combination of simplified technologies and in-depth assistance empowers developers to march through timelines and get products into the hands of customers faster.
• We have nearly a decade of experience providing IoT solutions, and we are eager to share our expertise. With so many small and striving IoT companies competing for an edge, our hard-won knowledge proves to be a huge asset.
• We help developers create products for the largest possible user base. One radio works anywhere in the world, allowing for immediate global product availability. No potential for growth is left off the table.

In the burgeoning IoT industry, speed to market is essential to capture. If you are an IoT solution provider, visit our website to learn more about all the benefits that RPMA® has to offer; download our free white paper, “How RPMA Works“; and contact us today.

May 15, 2017 – Today u-blox announced the availability of its ultra-small RPMA® (Random Phase Multiple Access) module, the SARA-S200. This product is the latest result of the strong partnership between Ingenu and u-blox which was announced in September 2016. In early 2017, u-blox began to offer its first-generation RPMA module, the NANO-S100, which is now followed by the smaller and cost-optimized SARA-S200.

The most obvious difference in the latest RPMA module is the reduced size. The SARA-S200 is 65 percent smaller than the NANO-S100. Measuring at just 16 mm by 26 mm by 2.3 mm, or the size of a small postage stamp, the SARA-S200 enables developers to integrate RPMA technology into a range of IoT devices with smaller form factors. Nevertheless, even with its reduced dimensions, the SARA-S200 still provides the same strong performance, in aspects like power consumption, which have made RPMA the technology of choice for connecting IoT devices.

Another key aspect of this module is that it uses the SARA footprint, which is u-blox’s most popular form-factor. Many 2G and 3G cellular modules with this identical footprint are already widely deployed in IoT devices throughout the world. By matching this form factor, swapping RPMA into these existing IoT devices, which in many cases are being forced to move to new connectivity solutions because of cellular network shutdowns, is greatly simplified.

Industries that can utilize this module include but are not limited to Smart Meter, Smart Building, Oil & Gas, and Agriculture. The smaller module size will also enable the integration of RPMA into a variety of wearable and tracking devices, many of which are currently under production with Ingenu’s ecosystem of IoT device partners.

This announcement marks another important step for Ingenu as it enables a wider variety of devices and applications to incorporate RPMA and operate on its Machine Network throughout the globe.  Ingenu and u-blox personnel will be on hand to discuss the SARA-S200 during Internet of Things World in Santa Clara. The first prototypes of the SARA-S200 will be available to developers in June 2017.

I, myself, have never been to Rome, but from what I imagine, it is a magical city full of stunning architecture, cobblestone streets, and beautiful lighting that makes it come alive at night. After reading the latest drama about LED (light emitting diode) street lights being installed around the city, it made me think of what this means for Rome as well as the rest of the world.

Becoming a smart city has become a top priority on seemingly every city’s agenda within the past couple years, and converting to LED street lighting is a big step forward.  Street lights are a necessity for cities, providing lighting for safety and assistance in the dark. Now, since cities invest so much into street lights, wouldn’t it make sense to take the smarter route and switch over to energy-efficient LED lights to help save money and provide brighter lighting for higher safety? It seems like a no-brainer, but the situation in Rome tells a different story.

So, why are the citizens in Rome having such a hard time accepting the change? In this circumstance, it comes down to the difference in quality and color of the LED lights versus the original, yellow sodium street lights. Rome is known for being a romantic city, and lighting plays a big role in this. It is natural for residents to resist change, but the benefits to converting are that the city will have full control of brightness, maintenance, and operation. It seems as though the positives outweigh the negatives, and in the grand scheme of things, the lighting can always be adjusted to keep the “romantic” ambiance alive.

The famous saying “When in Rome, do as the Romans do” is defined as: “when visiting a foreign land, follow the customs of those who live in it”. It can also mean that when you are in an unfamiliar situation, you should follow the lead of those who know the ropes. Rome has put itself in an unfamiliar situation by installing new lighting around the city and taking steps towards becoming a smart city, something that it does not have experience in. Coming from a company that supports smart cities and has strategic partnerships with LED lighting companies,  installing LED lighting is a great step in the right direction and will provide a brighter path towards becoming a smart city. This change may seem overwhelming now because of the backlash that is coming along with it, but years from now it will be a great success both in terms of energy saving and the sustainability benefits it affords.

Smart Street Lighting with RPMA

Last post I talked about how the noise floor is a very succinct way of measuring all the interference in a given frequency range. In other words, if the wireless environment is tough and challenging, the noise floor will tell you just how challenging it is. Wireless protocols deal with that incessant interference in a few ways.

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As I admire the beautiful day from the window of Ingenu’s corporate headquarters in San Diego, it is difficult to imagine yet another storm that is looming in the Eastern swath of the country.  The region is preparing for a “paralyzing blizzard” which is sure to cause destruction and mayhem at the very least.

In order to keep the thoroughfares affected by the storm in working order, crews will be on hand to scatter salt along the roads.  While this is an effective solution for reducing the freezing point of water, it can be extremely corrosive to roads and cars, and requires inordinate amounts of resources in order to distribute.  It is also estimated that nearly 22 million tons of salt is utilized each year in the U.S. for road maintenance, which results in toxic levels affecting nearby waterways and agriculture.

However, with the advancements in IoT technology, municipalities can more closely monitor snow and ice levels, and thus pinpoint the distribution of roadway salt with better accuracy.  For example, Libelium is utilizing its Waspmote Plug & Sense! environmental monitoring solution to measure distinct atmospheric and weather conditions which can better detect the need for salting.  This reduces the amount of salt that is distributed, manages resources for distribution and ultimately lessens the carbon footprint of the vehicles that are used to support this much-needed service.

This use case illustrates that the Internet of Things is more than just about technology.  It is changing the way we collect and utilize information, which in turn can make ordinary things and solutions even more intelligent and useful.

A few weeks ago I wrote about what I felt as I realized that the wireless technology my company makes, RPMA, had been deployed near my childhood home and where I spent much of my youth. My wife read it and pointed out to me that there’s even more to the story that I forgot. I grew up in an area that was very slow to get cellular and internet service. Even now, coverage is spotty on most carriers and LTE is available on only one. When my family first got the internet it was dial-up, and it stayed dial-up well after most areas had upgraded to more bearable speeds. To this day, the only high-speed internet available at my childhood home is via hotspots from that one cellular carrier.

Knowing that history, my wife pointed out that unlike the other modern communications technologies that have become commonplace like cellular and cable internet, IoT connectivity via RPMA came almost immediately (on a relative timescale). Because deploying cellular and cable are so expensive, it took many years to reach many parts of the US and world. That effort continues today. Deploying IoT connectivity is happening in a much different and more accelerated way.

This dynamic has a very positive outcome for those who live in more rural areas: they are more likely to benefit from the quality of life improvements the IoT brings. Those living in urban areas tend to obtain the benefits of modern communications tech more quickly. It makes economic sense. Companies deploy where they can serve the most customers. One side effect of this is that the rural poor are often left hanging and waiting. The more affluent households in rural areas often have other ways to obtain the same services, albeit for much higher costs. The rural poor don’t have that ability.

My parents, who have had to either grin and go without modern conveniences and technologies until they eventually came around, or paid much higher prices for them, already have IoT connectivity. It was this fact, that my family didn’t have to wait around for the first time, that struck my wife. And it is this fact that will allow the IoT to have a broader impact much more quickly than the internet did.