IIoT Top News: IIoT Predictions and Innovations for 2015-2016
As we inch our way closer to the New Year, we would like to take a moment and appreciate some of the technological advancements of 2015, as well as a few bold IIoT predictions for our connected-world enthusiasts. This medley of top news gives credit to our inventiveness, while highlighting a future forecast for IIoT. No matter your place in the world, drones have captured our attention. Precision Ag has changed the way farmers care for crops and animals. So naturally, more and more farmers would be jumping on the drone plan of action. Recently, the FAA has been putting a major kink in the farmer’s right to use drones in farming. The ruling states that if a farmer uses a drone for farm operations in any way, they must file with the FAA for a commercial exemption to use that technology legally. New permanent rules for drone usage could be in place next year from the FAA. So time will tell how the FAA’s ruling will impact the farmers and other commercial drone users in this country. Now it seems every car manufacturing company has grabbed ahold of the terms automation and autonomous. The next generation of cars needs to be self-driven, so the race is on to see what car company will own the rights first. A group in China raises that bar even higher by creating a self-driven car, they claim is operated solely by your mind. Just think one day in the near future you could climb into your car, click your heels together and merely think, “There’s no place like home,” and off the car would zoom. 2015, has been a good year for smart city development here in the U.S., with more than $160 million dollars in governmental funding allocated for this initiative. Gartner predicts that by 2016, the smart cities planned by the government will end up using 1.6 billion connected things. Twenty-four percent of IoT in 2016 will be in commercial security cameras, webcams and indoor LEDs, according to Gartner’s latest prediction. So, with everything becoming connected, IT departments are trying to stress the importance of securing this growing data collection. Don’t get us wrong IT departments are looking forward to the IoT expansion in 2016, but this level of increase in data could have a drastic impact on the networks, which is why IT managers surveyed suggest a new plan of action to combat the overwhelming IoT to the world we all know and love. This week concludes with three main messaging themes gained from this year’s Internet of Things World Forum (IoTWF). First, we must awaken and realize all the competitive advantage IoT can bring to businesses. Next, we must activate a realistic IoT deployment plan that will fit within our business needs. Last, we must accelerate the connection, with the assistance of service providers and developers. The IoT may change the way we function in this world, but the possibility of more innovation at our finger tips fuels our inventive minds forward. Hope you enjoy this week’s focus on IIoT predictions. As always tell us what we missed! Drone Use in Ag Increasing, But Lack of FAA Rules Slowing Technology (Capital Press) For every, good technological advancement there is a level of disruption expected as it thrusts itself into the market place. Drones are quickly becoming the must-have tool for the farming industry yet Capital Press points out that, “the Federal Aviation Administration’s lack of permanent rules for the technology is slowing its development.” Chinese University Develops a Headset That Lets You Drive a Car With Your Mind (Popular Mechanics) Autonomous cars appear to be the wave of the future. A group in China pushed the envelope even further by producing a car powered solely by your mind. They say the inspiration for this forward thinking technology can“bring more benefits to us, since we can better realize functions relating to brain controlling with the help of the driverless cars’ platform.” Smart Cities to Boost Internet of Things Market in 2016: (Gartner Chronicle Daily) The 2015, push for more smart cities is having an equally important impact on the number of connected things. According the Gartner, “The smart cities planned by the government will use almost 1.6 billion of connected things or Internet of Things (IoT) by 2016, an increase of 39 per cent from 2015.” Data Volumes and Network Stress Top IoT Concerns in 2016 (ITPro Portal) A group of IT managers were recently surveyed about the impact all things connected could have in 2016. The department managers stated that, “all this activity adds up to a huge number of devices with the overall average per individual UK organization expected to run into the thousands over the next 12 months. All these devices will be attached to a variety of networks resulting in increased stress on both existing and new networks.” The Internet of Things World Forum 2015 Highlights Three Themes (AME Info) This year’s Internet of Things World Forum highlighted three main themes throughout. The IoTWF focused on, “awaken, activate and accelerate the IoT solutions for your business.”
IIoT Bold Prediction Series Part 3: Predictive Analytics Alters Fundamental IT/OT Practices
So far, our series of IIoT Bold Predictions for 2016 has focused on the concepts of IIoT security and government’s regulatory role in the development of IoT and IIoT devices. Today, we’re changing gears a bit, with a prediction from Scott Allen, FreeWave’s CMO, which focuses on the implementation of IIoT technology into big data practices to create real-time, data-driven intelligence. Prediction #3: Predictive Analytics Alters Fundamental IT/OT Practices Predictive analytics will change the nature of industrial communication systems and networks significantly over the next five years. Certain industrial sectors have long utilized machine-to-machine (M2M) technology, like manufacturing, utilities, and oil and gas, as the backbone to operations technology. However, as IIoT communication technology continues to improve at a rapid pace, these industries will begin implementing tech and business practices designed to create data synergy that will ultimately provide predictive analytics for better decision making. There are two elements at work that will push predictive analytics to the forefront of industrial communication systems. The first is the advancement of technology. Big data companies are making serious progress with comparing data-at-rest with data-in-motion as a strong basis for predicting outcomes with maximum accuracy. As the network infrastructure advances at the access layer in ways that allow analytic applications to be executed locally while communicating globally this trend will do nothing but accelerate. The second element that will drive change is the retiring or soon to be retiring workforce that drove the implementation and use of SCADA networks. This will create a knowledge gap that will require new technology to fill – and predictive analytics will be the one that fills that gap. Although an aging workforce is not unique to the IIoT sector, the transition will be pronounced and could, without incorporating predictive analytics practices, be accompanied by some significant growing pains. Looking Ahead Sensor-2-Server (S2S) technology will begin to ease the synergy between IIoT technology and big data. Ensuring accurate data transmission, collection and analysis in critical industries is an important step along the path to a connected world. As S2S technology proliferates, companies will see a significant impact on IT and OT practices, along with the ability to converge those two silos into more efficient and streamlined decision-making.