Smart Border Protection
Plans for “The Wall” at the U.S./Mexico border appear to be driving forward. Recent reports indicate that building the border protection wall could cost upwards of $22 Billion. However, news coverage suggests that there is a more cost-effective solution in using drones to create a ‘virtual wall.’ Time will tell whether the current administration will consider replacing all or parts of the physical wall with modern drone technology to intelligently monitor rural and desolate parts of the border. In fact, some are reporting that it’s a possibility. On the other hand, several companies have already been selected to build prototypes of the border wall. Perhaps the final solution will be some combination of both, as The Department of Homeland is actively seeking border monitoring solutions in drones for Border Patrol. Drones at the Border In 2014, it was reported that Predator drones were patrolling nearly half the U.S./Mexico border. These drones were used to monitor rural areas for illegal immigrants, human traffickers and drug cartels – covering parts of the border where there are no US Customs and Border Patrol (CPB) agents, camera towers, ground sensors or fences. The Predator drones used for these purposes were designed for the battlefield, and unfortunately a report from December 2014 found that they did not achieve the intended results. Today, The Department of Homeland Security is looking to use smaller drones with facial recognition as part of its Silicon Valley Innovation Program – a program created to, “cultivate relationships with technology innovators, particularly non-traditional performers, from small start-ups to large companies, investors, incubators, and accelerators.” A contractor solicitation notice that was issued last summer (and closed on April 27, 2017) by DHS requested specific requirements for these border patrol drones. According to NBC News, the Department of Homeland Security was “flooded with bids” for these smaller drones. Here’s a small sampling of what the solicitation was requesting (see the full solicitation for the detailed list of requirements): Functional across a variety of weather conditions and times of day Ability to detect the following items of interest within required detection range: humans traveling on foot (alone and in groups), humans traveling on animals (e.g., horseback), and moving ground conveyances (e.g., All Terrain Vehicles, motorcycles, automobiles, and trucks Easy to navigate and operate Sophisticated sensors, with advanced capabilities – such as infrared and facial recognition capabilities sUAS capabilities (sUAS typically applies to smaller consumer-grade drones under 55 pounds) Hypothetical natural language voice command system While the request includes a broad range of desired capabilities, an article in The Verge suggested that, “the greatest challenge facing contractors is how to stream data from the devices, since much of the border lacks conventional cellular service.” Connecting Where Cellular Can’t From a technology standpoint, consumer-grade drones for border patrol are going to need secure, reliable and rugged command-and-control (C2) links. There are a number of secure wireless data communications solutions available that enable reliable C2 links. These solutions have been trusted by the government and defense industry for years, offering secure, reliable links with more than 60 miles Line of Site (LOS). There are C2 solutions providers that have operated in unmanned systems for millions of flight hours in some of the harshest weather conditions without a single broken communication link. Drone manufacturers also should consider these types of C2 solutions because they offer secure wireless data communication by leveraging data encryption capabilities that adhere to FIPS and AES standards. Some non-cellular solutions are also proven to be reliable and secure in nature which further boosts the overall data security scheme. Frequency-hopping techniques, for example, leverage coordinated, rapid changes in radio frequencies that “hop” in the radio spectrum, evading detection and the potential of interference. Some wireless products also deliver multiple user-defined cryptography keys (as many as 32 user-defined keys in some cases), providing a more robust link security by allowing the automatic and frequent changing of cryptographic keys. As drones are deployed more frequently for mission critical operations at our borders, it will be imperative to leverage secure C2 links that can support modern data needs in real-time while keeping the links secure. With the comfort of these powerful C2 links, Border Patrol agents can effectively monitor, assess and act upon threats in the most efficient manner possible.
FreeWave at AUVSI Xponential – Booth #3142
AUVSI XPONENTIAL 2017 is just around the corner and we couldn’t be more excited! Unmanned systems from some of the industry’s leading technology providers will be on display, and we’re looking forward to putting our embedded systems solutions out there as well (booth #3142). It’s a potentially transformative time for the unmanned systems industry. As military spending budgets increase, along with the adoption of unmanned systems for air, land and water, manufacturers and operators will need rugged, reliable and secure C2 solutions with high-speed data transmission. Reliability and security are two extremely critical factors in the ongoing development of unmanned systems solutions, especially for commercial deployments. For years, the government and defense industry has been on the forefront of secure unmanned systems, but as the commercial sector begins to utilize unmanned technology, the ability to ensure secure command and control can be the difference between reliable industry operations and serious injury. Clearly, security considerations for unmanned systems are going to be an ongoing hot topic at XPONENTIAL and into the future. We have spent the past 20 years supplying secure, rugged and reliable embedded solutions for government and defense, precision agriculture and beyond, and as a result, we hold a firm belief that the unmanned systems solutions providers for the next generation need to be hyper-vigilant with regard to the industry. With that in mind, we will be offering demonstrations of our latest C2 solutions for unmanned systems at XPONENTIAL this year. Booth attendees will get a first-hand look at our solutions, offered in a small form factor ideal for drones and robotics that have logged more than 2.5 million flight hours without a single link failure (https://www.freewave.com/unmanned-systems-drones-robots/).
ZumLink Firmware Update 1.0.4.1
FreeWave announces the release of firmware version 1.0.4.1 for all ZumLink Enclosed Ethernet Radios (Z9-PE and Z9-PE-DEVKIT). This new firmware version includes improvements which are not backwards compatible in frequency hopping mode with the original firmware release (1.0.3.2) so it is required that all radios be upgraded to the same firmware version. FreeWave recommends that your radios get upgraded with the new firmware version to take advantage of improvements and additional features, including: IP Filtering – Prevents IP addresses not within the IP subnet from being transmitted. Repeater – Allows a single radio to repeat (store and forward) traffic from one radio to another. Terminal Server Activity Timeout – Provides a settable time that closes the port when no data is received through the socket connection for longer than the timeout period. Diagnostic Support Bundle – Generates a zip file containing all the configuration and diagnostics information when IP address followed by /support is typed in a web browser. You can download the new firmware version from the Support Section of the FreeWave website. Note that you must be logged into the Support Knowledge Base to access and download. A complete list of changes and improvements will be included in the updated Release Notes and User Manual which will also be found on the Support website. Please contact FreeWave Tech Support for more information or assistance.
FreeWave Named as One of “20 Most Promising Wireless Solution Providers 2017”
Today, CIO Review published it’s list of the “20 Most Promising Wireless Solution Providers 2017,” and FreeWave is excited to be included in that list along with many other notable industry leaders! CIO Review writes, “FreeWave delivers best-in-class wireless platforms for secure and cost-effective control, transport and collection of IIoT data.” Among other companies included in this report are Qualcomm, Mojo Networks, Brocade Communication Systems and NetGear. For the last two years, we have focused our new product engineering on developing a comprehensive collection of communication platforms, an Industrial IoT programmable radio (IPR), ruggedized WiFi platforms, and products with mesh networking and frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) capabilities. In the last year, we’ve announced several new products designed to service a wide range of IIoT applications, including a pilot program for our IPR where third parties can develop proprietary IIoT apps for Edge and Fog Computing. Join the ZumLink IPR Pilot Program today! https://t.co/bWVQM8Arun #IIoT #IoT #programming #AppDev #Wireless pic.twitter.com/Km06N4nukK — FreeWaveTechnologies (@freewavetech) April 5, 2017 It’s been an exciting 2017 so far, and we’re excited for what the future holds, both for FreeWave and for the IIoT industry as a whole!
Join the ZumLink IPR Pilot Program
What if you could collect, analyze and react to data in real-time at the sensor edge? Zumlink IPR combines RF wireless communication with programmability to control sensor data at the edge. CLICK HERE to participate in our Zumlink IPR Pilot Program. What types of Apps can you develop? Develop an App that only sends data when Modbus exceptions occur Translate Modbus to MQTT to send messages to the cloud For perimeter security, transmit still photos in real-time And more…. ZumLink IPR Pilot Program Prerequisites A use case that would solve a wireless communication problem for your company Access to developers with Java or Python programming skills
April 2017 Changes to RMA Program
Please note that effective April 3, 2017, FreeWave is discontinuing the Discount RMA Program for Out of Warranty items within its commercial markets (Government and Defense customers will continue as per their contracts). However, until June 1, 2017 , FreeWave will allow last time purchases under the Discount RMA Program guidelines for commercial customers. After June 1, 2017, FreeWave will not offer discounts on out of warranty radios under any circumstance. Because we anticipate a high volume of RMA requests during this period, please allow for a 3-5 business day turn around on request processing. We appreciate your understanding and patience on this matter. If you have any questions or if you would like to learn about new replacement models, please contact us at moreinfo@freewave.com or (866) 923-6168.
FreeWave – IWCE Booth #768
If you plan to attend IWCE 2017 this year (March 27-31, 2017), don’t forgot to stop by Booth #768 to learn more about our new products: ZumLink 900 Series, ZumLink IPR, WavePro and WAVECONTACT. We’ll have some very exciting announcements at IWCE, so please stop on by!
IoT News Roundup Topics of the Week: Big Headlines in Early 2017
The Internet of Things (IoT) continues to drive headlines in early 2017. It seems like every day we are seeing a flow of news stories about a more connected world. We’ve been watching some of the IoT and Industrial IoT (IIoT) headlines across the trades and have compiled some of our recent favorites. IoT News Headlines Forbes: HR can use big data to drive engagement, predict success By Valerie Bolden-Barrett| Published on @hrdive “Forbes Human Resource Council says HR can use big data in the same manner as key performance indicators and retention metrics to carry out organizational goals. The council offers six ways HR can leverage data.” “With all the big data and technological advances at HR’s disposal, over reliance on metrics can ignore employees’ human needs. Engaging employees sometimes can be a simple as acknowledging them for a job well done or asking for their input in a major decision affecting their work.” Lady Gaga’s Halftime Show Drones Have a Bright Future By @brbarrett | Published on @WIRED “Each drone communicates wirelessly with a central computer to execute its dance routine, oblivious to what the hundreds of machines around it are doing. The system can adapt on the, er, fly, too. Just before showtime, the computer checks the battery level and GPS signal strength of each drone, and assigns roles accordingly. Should a drone falter during the show, a reserve unit takes over within seconds. All of which is pretty cool in its own right. But making it work for the biggest television event of the year takes a whole different level of planning.” How Service Relationship Management and the IIoT Are Keeping Transportation on the Right Road By Michael Riemer | Published on @IoTJournal “In 2016, the Internet of Things went mainstream, but in 2017 we expect the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) to transform operations across numerous industries. Also known as the Industrial Internet, the IIoT enables machine-to-machine (M2M) communication of usage, performance and health metrics. There is quite a buzz around using this data, along with machine learning and other predictive algorithms, to help anticipate and eliminate potential causes of downtime. Nowhere is this more evident than in the commercial asset service ecosystem. Trucking fleets, construction assets, agriculture and power-generation equipment are all susceptible to costly unscheduled downtime and generally long repair cycles.” China is Now the World’s Largest Solar Power Producer By @luchanglu| Published on @DigitalTrends “As it stands, solar energy represents only one percent of the country’s energy output. But this may soon change as China devotes more and more of its attention towards clean energy. The NEA says that China will seek to add more than 110 gigawatts within the next three years, which could help the nation up the proportion of its renewable energy use to 20 percent by 2030. Today, it stands at 11 percent.” We predicted that 2017 would be a transformative year with a lot of innovation and smarter data, especially within the IIoT realm. These recent headlines are certainly tracking along with those insights. It will be interesting to see how IIoT continues to shape markets and change the way we do things.
Energy and Excitement at DistribuTECH 2017
This week we attended DistribuTECH 2017 with several thousand of the leading minds in technology, education and innovation for utilities, Smart Grid and municipalities. We had many great conversations about the direction of Industrial IoT (IIoT) and the all-encompassing digital technology shift. At the FreeWave booth we led many demonstrations of our latest technology. We also shared how our fellow attendees can achieve smart data at the Edge. Here is a small snapshot of the excitement and action from the show: FreeWave at DistribuTECH We had a lot to share at DistribuTECH this year. In addition to providing product demos at our booth, we just launched several important company, product and partnership announcements. Here’s the run-down on what we launched this week: New IIoT Products & Two New Partnerships Introduced at DistribuTECH Zumlink Z9-C and Z9-T Radios: FreeWave introduced the Zumlink-Z9-PE last Fall, but now it brings the next generation, high performance platform to market. ZumLink is the underpinning of the company’s go-forward IIoT strategy for IIoT and embedded radio applications. The Z9-C and Z9-T deliver high speed Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) functionality in a radio module that is half the size of a credit card. FreeWave and Systech application partnership: Together with Systech, we announced an industrial Tank Level Control application that resides on and executes from FreeWave’s ZumLink IIoT Programmable Radio for edge networks. The new application features an easy-to-use “ITTT (If This Then That)” process control programming interface that will control analog, digital and RS485 sensors linked to the ZumLink programmable radio. The FreeWave ITTT App is designed for a user-friendly experience and requires no previous programming knowledge or practice. Technology partnership with E2E Technologies: E2E is a comprehensive solutions provider specializing in communication architecture design, implementation and network management. E2E’s Stingray Network Management System (NMS), supports the full array of FreeWave’s industry-leading wireless communication solutions and is optimizable for IT professionals looking to manage individual components of a limited IIoT or M2M communications system within a larger IT network management framework. The New FreeWave We officially unveiled a new look and website that reflects our move to the next generation of the industrial IoT: The Programmable Edge and Fog Computing. The new FreeWave visually projects our future-focused mission to help organizations around the world connect and gain valuable intelligence from devices – even in the most challenging of locations and conditions – anytime, anywhere in a secure, reliable fashion. This week has represented several major milestones for FreeWave, and launching it all at DistribuTECH was the perfect platform for sharing both our news and the future direction of FreeWave. What do you think about the new FreeWave website?
2017 IIoT Prediction Series, Part 1: Where the Fog Meets the Edge
As 2017 kicks into full gear and a particularly interesting 2016 fades into the rearview mirror, we took a look around the IIoT landscape to see what this year might potentially have in store. We will be unveiling five IIoT-related predictions throughout this week and into next, so stay tuned and let us know what you think! It’s become increasingly difficult to ignore the importance of cybersecurity. From the role it played in the 2016 presidential election to the recent revelation that in 2013, more than one billion Yahoo accounts were breached, cybersecurity is no longer a problem unique to Sci-Fi thrillers. Of course, the two examples mention here are simply the most egregious of recent memory, but they pale in comparison to the threat of a cyberattack on actual infrastructure. Cybersecurity for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) began as a minor headache and quickly grew into a full-blown migraine. Data is the perhaps the most important “currency” in the world today, and companies both public and private are scrambling to figure out the best way to protect that data will still ensuring real-time transport and analytics. With that in mind, our first prediction for the new year centers on the deployment of new methods for data transport and protection: 2017 will see the emergence of True Fog Computing and Programmable/Intelligent Edge Devices with the strongest security measures to-date. According to analysts, organizations have become more comfortable hosting critical infrastructure and application in the Cloud. In efforts to further optimize processes and shorten response times, organizations will explore ways to host applications at the device/sensor level (i.e., the Edge or Fog Computing). A decentralized network architecture that brings computing power closer to where data is generated and acted upon, Fog Computing enables analysis, control and automation closer to the “Things” in the Industrial Internet of Things. Because Fog Computing reduces the amount of data being sent to the Cloud, cybersecurity will be enhanced by reducing the threat and attack surfaces of IIoT networks. In industries where even milliseconds are vital, certain processes will move away from the Cloud and closer to the Edge. The basis of this shift in intelligence deployment is simple: the Cloud, while fairly secure, is still prone to security breaches, so rather than host all of the data and the analytics tools, move those processes closer to the edge to the sensors and devices with security already built in. Now, while the concept is simple, the execution is more difficult. This shift requires a robust, high-speed network capable of real-time data transmission and, perhaps even more importantly, programmable devices at the edge. Rather than thinking about big data from the perspective of drinking from a fire hose, a programmable device at the edge allows the user to develop proprietary applications that filters out unnecessary data. Subsequently, the smaller data packets enable two things to happen: faster transmission to the analytics engines, and the ability to send that data via mesh networking technology, which has proven to provide greater security. Simple, right? As it stands, the greatest problem facing this shift in intelligence to the edge is that there are, at the moment, very few companies creating programmable devices for the edge. It’s a different way of approaching data transmission and security, and so far, the industry has been slow to catch on: rather than trying to build a wall in front of a massive door (the Cloud), eliminate the door and create a series of constantly moving mouse holes (the Edge). Which sounds easier to protect?