the data transmission via Wireless Industrial Router

More than 30 million homes in the UK will start to be ‘smart’ thanks to the smart meter implementation program awarded by the Government. Four-Faith is one of the companies that will be part of the deployment of this solution which will contribute to save energy and money to both consumers and companies.

Smart meters will form the essential foundations for a revolution in energy consumption and management. They are the modern day infrastructure equivalent of building railways. They pave the way for the smart homes, grids and cities of the future.

 In the United Kingdom, a cut in energy bills for end users of £6 billion in 20 years is estimated, which is a total of 11,5£ per household per year. They represent 26% of the UK’s total energy use, which will reduce carbon emissions due to the fact that the overall electricity demand will be reduced by up to 5% annually.

Furthermore, customers will have visibility and control over their energy usage leading to accurate and more predictable bills and cost savings. There will also be new opportunities for pre-paid energy payment or tailored tariffs, offering greater control of energy usage. However, the benefits of smart meters go beyond energy saving. They will open the door to a wide range of potential new services through the connected home: remote control of energy usage (turn heating on via your smartphone, remote control household appliances), service integrations such as electric cars and manage via mobile, renewable micro generation integration (i.e. solar panels), link in new eHealth services and connect via Home Area Network...

 This will be possible thanks to the real time monitoring of energy consumption (gas and electricity) thanks to the data transmission via Wireless Industrial Router (M2M communications). Here is the point where telcos as Four-Faith will play a key role: more than 30 million SIM cards will be deployed by 2020. More than 7,000 people will work to make it possible, reaching a peak installation figure of 20.000 Comm Hubs each day.

 Four-Faith´s propietary Smart M2M platform will be the main system to support all m2m services provided by the operator like managed connectivity and device management. Furthermore, the company will be in charge of supply chain, security operations, service desks, event management and network planning and deployment.

Your house is your new follower on Twitter

It’s hard to believe that the social media hype could ever be matched. However, the ubiquity that social media has in today’s world could soon apply to M2M. The integration of social media and machine to machine technology is developing fast.

There are some clear initiatives which have anticipated the coming together of two of the biggest trends today: Web 2.0 and the Internet of Things. Had it not been for M2M technology, it wouldn’t have been possible to carry out Guarana Antarctica’s advertising action which fueled a campaign car with likes and comments from its Facebook page, driving it to its destination.

Another example of how to combine social media with web-based M2M applications are NFC tags. By tapping the card on any activated station, a wireless connection is established which sends a message to the user’s social platforms or information to the user’s email address. This social application of NFC is becoming more and more common. Cutty Sark, for instance, uses it for socializing party moments, as we saw in a previous post about connected drinks which includes some other examples of the combination of M2M and Social Media.

Furthermore, many people who work with Wireless Industrial Router have had the same thought: if people can tweet, then why can’t objects do the same? Perhaps in a more experimental way, there are already many objects tweeting about what happens to them. Tom Coates’ house is one of the most well-known examples. From its account on Twitter,  @houseofcoates published when the owner arrives or when the lights are turned off thanks to a full intelligent management system.

Arduino is a platform which is widely used for this kind of experiments.Four-Faith’s Jesús Zorzano has tested a chair that tweets when anybody sits on it. It may seem like a pretty useless application of M2M, but it is just a prototype that shows how objects will be able to communicate in the future. Your computer could alert you when somebody turns it on, or your bed could send you a message if someone is lying on it. Let your imagination run wild.

M2M also matters to animals

M2M also matters to animals

The behavioral habits of wild animals have been traditionally studied through long periods of observation. These were hard processes and the results were not always optimal because the mere presence of humans always distorts results to some degree. Technology has vastly improved these processes; first with video cameras to record habitats in order to study them. Secondly, M2M devices to monitor animals’ activity have been deployed.

A collar or a bracelet placed on the animals are some of the M2M methods that scientists use to know their location at any time. They are also able to be aware of the weather conditions that the animals are subject to. This allows them to know more accurately about their way of life.

Those devices can also be useful to control animal populations, especially those of endangered species.

M2M has many benefits. For instance, the advancements in sensors could allow for the incorporation of dozens of features which can protect animals such as gunshot sensors to fight against poaching.

However, this technology has yet to overcome some challenges. Human settlements are scarcely found in areas in which wild animals live. This means that there is little or no mobile coverage which is why we depend on satellite monitoring. Also, the battery life of devices is another hindrance. Animals certainly aren’t going to spare the time to charge the batteries which is why it is necessary that these devices be autonomous during several months to fulfill their purpose.

The use of M2M in aid of animals doesn’t only entail placing devices on the animals themselves, but also solutions which monitor their environment. For example, the MolluSCAN Eye Project tracks pollution levels by monitoring sea animals and providing researchers with valuable data.

Pet tracking management system

Keeping pets has become a part of urban life, but the social problems have become even more prominent. In the UK, pet feeding and management have strict requirements, including a requirement that the pet must take pet card, so that the benefits, first to prevent pet wandered off, and second, management departments to conduct unified management for pets.

With the development of technology, especially the popularity of smart phones, mobile Internet and the development of IOT, two-dimensional code pet cards came into being.

Two-dimensional code pet card is the first phase of its entire product family of products, is also a pet's identity, its biggest advantage is to facilitate pet management department to unified management of the city. Each two-dimensional code card is numbered, such as Beijing's pet numbers beginning with 010, a total of eight digits pet ID.

Two-dimensional code information covered include pet owners contact, pet photos, vaccination information, etc.. When faced with a pet with two-dimensional code identity card, simply scan two-dimensional code card, you can directly dial the number of pet owner. If someone's phone did not have code sweeping function, then he can call national service hotline on the back of the pet card, customer service personnel will through the numbers on the card link to the pet owner. Moreover, the point of sale of the product can also be carved your own telephone number.

In the two-dimensional code pet GPS chip built into the card, as long as through the APP will be able to initiatively locate the pet position.

Let’s toast for the Internet of Things

When M2M experts say that everything will be connected in the future, they mean it. This includes drinks; maybe not the liquid itself (for the time being) but their recipes or glasses are already becoming objects which interact with others or with social media to enrichen the drinking experience.

There are several ways to connect drinks, such as the glass that updates your Facebook status by Budweiser. The Buddy Cup has a sensor that detects when you are toasting with another user. It is connected with your Facebook login and it automatically makes a virtual friendship with the other Buddy Cup user. Budweiser claims that this happens as it does in real life: you make new friends whilst you are partying and toasting.

Heineken is also experimenting to connect its beer. In some festivals, the recipe is connected to the DJ’s cabin and, depending on whether people are drinking or not, the music and lights’ performance vary. Furthermore, the Dutch company has also tested bottles that recognize its owner through his or her fingerprints.

Nevertheless, the bottle or the glass is not the only way to connect the drinking experience. Cutty Sark, for instance, has developed a bracelet which also connects with your Facebook profile and updates it when you drink whiskey in one of its parties. It is connected with NFC technology and users can approach it to a sensor when they ask for another drink.

Beyond the social use of machine-to-machine technologies to connect drinks, there is also a retailing application. Through IOT, bars can track the consumption of their clients to charge them the accurate bill without the need of a waiter who takes notes of it.

The possibility of connecting your drinks will become more a more frequent, but there is always the possibility of keeping this information private.

Monitoring sport performance with M2M

Not long ago, the most sophisticated way to measure sport performance for common people (not professionals) was a chronometer. Sport lovers now have a great opportunity to measure their workouts thanks to smartphone’s implantation. These devices through different Apps are able to monitor dozens of parameters.

GPS geolocalization is probably the most simple example and also the one which has brought the greatest advantages. Anyone can measure the speed and the routes of a training day. Uphill and downhill routes and rhythm changes can be checked on the mobile or with other devices in order to analyze the workout. A smart phone is not always necessary as there are many other devices which offer these possibilities, including the evolution of the chronometer: the smart watch.

You can achieve an all-rounded evaluation of your sport activity when these devices are combined with others that measure your physical performance. BodyMedia is an example of the connectivity at the service of sport. Their device can measure parameters such as the pulse, sweat or the temperature of the skin that are transmitted through blue tooth.

BodyMedia measures all these parameters thanks to a bracelet. But this is not the only way. Nike has launched shoes that provide athletes with information such as vertical leap, quickness (“hustle”) and how many times they jumped during a game or workout.

However, the smartphone continues to be main technology which measures amateurs’ physical efforts. According to Consumer Insights, 10 percent of US Cellular customers use a mobile phone or tablet for health or fitness on a regular basis.

Beyond performance analysis, other M2M solution for sport are becoming more and more usual. Some of them are very useful in improving the safety in more violent sports. The Checklight, developed by Reebok and MC10 is a beanie which can be worn either by itself or under a helmet that uses sensors to monitor head trauma and provide real-time data. The device comes with a light, which provides visual cues. A green light indicates that the device is active, but no trauma has been sustained. A yellow light indicates a moderate, though not necessarily hazardous impact. A red light indicates a severe impact.

This pioneer project uses M2M Industrial Router (M2M) technology to allow customers to pay for their car insurance policy based on how they drive

Four-Faith has joined forces with one of Europe’s largest insurers, The Generali Group, to pilot a new form of car insurance in Spain. This pioneer project uses M2M Industrial Router (M2M) technology to allow customers to pay for their car insurance policy based on how they drive. It will not only help customers drive more responsibly, but also potentially save them money on their car insurance.

Four-Faith’s telematics service, which is installed in the car, will tell the driver how many kilometres they drive a year, whether they mainly drive during the day time or evening, in urban areas or the countryside, whether they keep to speed limits and whether they accelerate or brake sharply.

All of this information can easily be accessed by the insured party through a mobile application or website, letting them know which driving habits they can improve.

The insurer, Generali, is provided access to a final ‘score’ which they can use to adjust the insurance premium. They do not have access to any other detailed information.

The project is a joint collaboration between Generali and Four-Faith both through its Digital unit and Four-Faith Seguros, the Four-Faith Group’s insurance company. Following the pilot, a commercial service is planned to launch in Spain in the first quarter of 2013.

Four-Faith believes that M2M technology has the potential to revolutionise the car industry from innovative car insurance policies such as this to connected cars. In addition to this pilot, Four-Faith Digital’s UK Product Development team has also been trialling a service called Drive to Improve, which uses the same technology to let consumers monitor their driving habits via an app. Visit http://www.four-faith.com/En/Solutions/   for more information.