IQRF Summit 2018 – IBM joins IoT alliance in CZ

The conference on the Internet of Things – the IQRF Summit 2018 – that has just taken place was an opportunity for visitors to see what Smart City, Smart Building, and Industry 4.0 projects companies are working on, and how. All those presentations here shared one common denominator: they all either use the IQRF, the Czech wireless technology, directly in their products or build on it in overarching systems. At the summit, the IBM announced that it was joining the IQRF Alliance as it was keen to become a major strategic partner for other members.

“I’m confident that IBM products complement the rapidly expanding IQRF ecosystem superbly. This is why we decided to join the IQRF Alliance and play a highly active role in the development of joint IoT projects,” said Petr Havlík, Sales Manager Enterprise, IBM Czech Republic.

New features in the IQRF ecosystem now make it extremely easy to build IoT solutions from IQRF Alliance members’ interoperable products. New devices are for the IQRF interoperability certified and are then included in the online repository. Whenever a customer purchases such a device, the code is simply scanned by a special mobile app and the device is connected to the network. A practical demonstration was provided by IQRF Alliance CEO Šimon Chudoba. Subsequently, workshop participants had the opportunity to try it out as well.

The benefits of interconnecting AI-fitted Movidius Myriad 2 industrial technology with IQRF technology were explained by Fabrizio del Maffeo, Managing Director, AAEON Europe. “You can turn street lights on and off, depending on what the infrared camera sees. If someone collapses, a smart system concealed behind a parking camera can make the alarm and call for help. By analyzing captured images using artificial intelligence, the system can respond in a way that helps to save lives and property.”

Vladimír Šulc, IQRF Tech CEO and spiritual father of the IQRF technology, explained the latest Smart Connect technology for a simple connecting of a device to the IQRF network. All you need to do is to enter the device ID into the network’s control element, e.g. by means of a QR code, and the device is then automatically connected to the network. The concept of virtual devices makes it possible to combine a wireless mesh network with sensors, actuators, and controllers at extremely low levels of power consumption.

Chinru Lin, Ardomus Networks Corporation President, presented that IQRF technology is not only suited to major projects but is also ideal for home automation.

Tech Data, the global distribution company headquartered in London, promised to help Alliance members with the promotion and offering products and solutions globally.

In the area of Smart Buildings, projects focused on the hotel heating optimization and sanitary technology monitoring were presented.

The regulation of hotel rooms heating brings greater comfort for accommodated guests, easier remote control of heating and reduced heating and operation costs. The heating system is connected to the hotel reservation system and the heating is done according to the reservation of the accommodation.

IoT in sanitary technology can prevent serious health problems of people. A system that monitors the frequency of water releasing and allowing too-long-standing water to be released, can prevent, for example, growing of a health-threatening legionella.

Protection of human lives, health and cost savings - these topics were the central point of Industry 4.0 presentations. Monitoring of railway embankments in the UK prevents trains accidents. Working in production halls carries the risk of injury, so it is advisable to monitor the status of the indoor environment and of the staff using special sensors. Destruction of expensive production tools can be avoided by components status monitoring and sending messages to a central application where an evaluation and eventual alarm is performed.

Smart cities can be equipped with smart public lighting or smart building lighting. Advantages of these solutions are money savings and better people feeling. You could see lighting solutions by several IQRF Alliance members. Monitoring of the outdoor air condition is another important part of a modern, smart city. Pollution in cities is often alarming. Regularly measured and publicly available values can help improve this situation. Watching car parks using special sensors under individual parking places can also help improve the lives of urban residents. Centrally available data can be used to make it easier to find a parking place.

All presentations will be to download on IQRF Summit 2018.

Workshops

During the Summit, two parallel workshops targeted at device manufacturers and IoT solution integrators took place.

Manufacturers had practically tried the whole process, from the device firmware modifying according to the IQRF Standard, up to product certification and placement to the IQRF Repository and the IQRF Alliance Marketplace.

Components of the IQRF ecosystem were explained to integrators, who tried to make a functional unit from sensors, actuators, through gateways to cloud applications. Thanks to the new IQRF Repository, the process is greatly simplified. The IQRF Repository develops the IQRF Alliance together with partners.

IQRF Wireless Challenge IV

The winning project came from the Technical University of Ostrava. The winner is Jan Velička, who elaborated in detail the prototype of two measuring modules of environmental values, including a functional prototype. These modules can be plugged into other DDC expansion modules from IQRF Tech. The visualization displays the measured values of pressure, temperature and carbon dioxide.

Informal meeting

A social event was a place for informal meetings of participants. People discussed common topics and they shared ideas. This type of event has been chosen because it helps in establishing new business partnerships.