Apr 14, 2022Presented here are recent news announcements in the RFID and IoT industry.
- Dhyan, Senet Partner on LoRaWAN Smart Streetlighting for Cities, Utilities
- DATASCAN, Frequentiel Collaborate on Item-Level RFID for Retailers
- Elsight Drone Connectivity Added to Auterion Ecosystem
- LORIOT Closes Series A Funding with WIKA Group
Dhyan, Senet Partner on LoRaWAN Smart Streetlighting for Cities, Utilities
Device-management company Dhyan has announced a solution partnership with Senet to manage smart streetlights powered by Senet's LoRaWAN network service. Senet, a provider of cloud-based software and services platforms for the on-demand build-out of Internet of Things (IoT) networks, operates the largest public carrier-grade LoRaWAN network in the United States. With interoperability testing completed, the solution is intended to facilitate the addition of smart streetlights to existing LoRaWAN networks, such as those deployed for water utility advanced metering infrastructure projects or other municipal and enterprise applications.
LoRaWAN is a long-range low-power wide-area network protocol designed to wirelessly connect low-power devices to the Internet in networks of any size. It targets key IoT requirements, such as bidirectional communication, security, mobility and localization services. LoRaWAN's long range and low power make it suitable for smart streetlighting projects, the companies explain, as it provides a greater connectivity range than Zigbee or Wi-SUN, and without the expense of cellular technology.
Senet is focused on the use of LoRaWAN for commercial IoT deployments in the United States, and it has deployed high-capacity networks for municipal water utility districts throughout the country. Dhyan's central management system technology is in use in IoT deployments worldwide, including a growing number of smart streetlight networks. The partnership and integration is intended to bring together two providers of hardware, software and cloud-based network and device management to collaborate on commercial deployments and explore proof-of-concept installations with municipalities.
"The technical attributes of LoRaWAN make it ideal for public lighting systems, which can be a valuable anchor application for smart cities or easily added to an existing municipal LoRaWAN network deployment," said Bruce Chatterley, Senet's CEO, in a prepared statement. "The testing we've completed with the Dhyan streetlight controller provides municipalities with a proven solution to improve the quality of public lighting, while also enabling a foundation for future efficiency and operations management through the use of additional IoT sensors."
"Dhyan is pleased to be working with Senet as their experience with LoRaWAN dovetails nicely with Dhyan's StreetMan smart streetlighting management system," added Prakash Ramadass, Dhyan's VP of smart cities, in the prepared statement. "This is a great solution for cities looking for a low-cost, long-range smart streetlighting solution." The company's central management software family for the IoT market consists of StreetMan, for managing smart streetlights; LightMan, for managing smart area lights, such as those in campuses, parking lots, buildings and warehouses; and CitiMan, for managing smart-city IoT assets.
DATASCAN, Frequentiel Collaborate on Item-Level RFID for Retailers
Datascan and Frequentiel have announced a strategic partnership to bring radio frequency identification solutions to retailers throughout North America and northern Europe. The agreement is intended to combine the companies' experience with physical inventory self-scanning and RFID. DATASCAN has provided retail-based solutions for more than five decades, while Frequentiel's OCTO+ RFID system has enabled European retailers to track, count and analyze inventory throughout the retail supply chain for more than 14 years.
"We have been talking to clients about the benefits of perpetual inventory accuracy for some time," said Mark Belmer, DATASCAN's chief revenue officer, "and we are very excited to be able to broaden our portfolio to include RFID tracking alongside our core barcode solutions. This partnership gives our clients access to the potential of perpetual item-level tracking for every single unit in their inventory, backed by our own industry leading customer support."
"Frequentiel is excited to partner with such an established industry leader and extend our reach into new markets," added Jean-Baptiste Hochart, Frequentiel's sales director, "We believe that OCTO+, our RFID platform, that already tracks billions of items will help retailers in North America and Northern Europe with their omnichannel journey."
Elsight Drone Connectivity Added to Auterion Ecosystem
Auterion has added drone company Elsight to its partner ecosystem. Elsight's Halo communications module is intended to ensure connections for drones at any location and time. With a small and lightweight form factor, the module can be integrated into drones and other unmanned and autonomous systems, the company reports, and it will be available to Auterion's partners through its integration with Auterion's Skynode system.
"Elsight is a leader in providing drone-connectivity solutions, and the Halo integration further strengthens connectivity functionality for Auterion customers," said Markus Achtelik, Auterion's VP of engineering, in a prepared statement. "Halo runs connections with different carriers at the same time, combining multiple, flexible communication links with advanced bonding algorithms to provide a multi-network, agnostic solution, ideal for communications in beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) flights. Those flights are fast becoming the present and future of commercial drone use."
Communications and data connectivity are crucial for enterprise drone use across industries, the company reports, and radio frequency connectivity can suffer from range and line-of-sight issues. Satellite connectivity offers a strong range, coverage and uptime, but latency and budget can pose problems. Reliable cellular connectivity must meet all field requirements, bandwidth and cost needs, Elsight reports. Halo thus provides a multi-SIM solution that links to multiple cellular providers, checks for compromised channels arising from communication dead zones, and automatically reroutes to the most suitable channel for the needs of a particular application.
"We're thrilled about the integration of Halo with Skynode," said Ronny Vatelmacher, Elsight's VP of product and business development, in the statement. "Halo's state-of-the-art module provides a degree of reliability and safety that's close to 100 percent. It offers full redundancy, high bandwidth, low latency, data security and overall operational safety by aggregating all available IP links, 4G, LTE, 5G cellular and others as necessary, into one bonded link."
Vatelmacher added, "Combine that with Auterion's autonomous mobility platform and you've got an unbeatable BVLOS solution, boosting your chances of obtaining regulatory certification. Robust flight control systems like Auterion's Skynode are important to regulators considering BVLOS drone ops. Of course, the integration helps with VLOS, too, when there are areas where the reception of a specific carrier is bad."
LORIOT Closes Series A Funding with WIKA Group
LORIOT, an Internet of Things (IoT) company that provides long-range IoT networks, has announced the closing of a Series A investment funding by WIKA Group, headquartered in Germany. WIKA Group is focused on pressure and temperature measuring equipment in the manufacturing market, with an emphasis on the gas and oil industry.
WIKA's strategic investment is intended to ensure LORIOT's expansion and an acceleration of its growth as a LoRaWAN network server provider. LORIOT says the company and WIKA both view this investment as a starting point for a strategic partnership with the common goal of supporting each other in addressing new markets and speeding up expansion strategies.
Axel Kaltofen, WIKA's executive VP for process instrumentation, will become a member of LORIOT's board of directors and will contribute to key decisions at the company. According to Kaltofen, WIKA is "looking forward to working together with LORIOT to extend WIKA's IIoT [Industrial Internet of Things] solutions portfolio with LORIOT's outstanding products and IIoT know-how for LPWAN network management."
"LORIOT is a young and profitable company with an excellent reputation," added Julian Studer, LORIOT's CEO and founder, in the prepared statement. "We've had steady growth since our inception, and now is the perfect time for us to take full advantage of the investment. Even more so with the WIKA Group, which is the ideal strategic partner to help us achieve our full potential and support our future expansion."
Exhibitors at RFID Journal LIVE! 2022 will offer tagging and tracking solutions for a wide variety of industries. To learn more, visit the event's website.
