Idox Launches Automated Tag Extraction Capability

13 May 2021 – Today Idox announces the launch of an automatic tag extraction capability within its flagship cloud document management solution, FusionLive. Idox, a leading developer of specialist information management solutions, caters to engineering companies in complex process industries including oil and gas, power generation and utilities.

For the first time, users can automatically extract and generate asset data to populate digital twins and link them to all related engineering documentation. This is essential for engineering firms to share trusted data with asset owners upon project handover, but has typically been undertaken manually at considerable delay and cost.

“A lot has been made of digital twins in the engineering sector but if they are not enriched and maintained effectively, they lose their value over time; they’re static, dead and of limited use. To live up to the hype, digital twins must be dynamic, living digital assets that change over time just as their real counterparts. Key to this process is having simple mechanisms to generate the data that feeds them and keeps them up to date.” explains Steven Bruce, Product Director at Idox (above).

“An engineer working on a project for an offshore platform, or a hydroelectric dam isn’t interested in a simple virtual tour of the asset – they want a digital twin tagged with up-to-date information on each component’s status, design, history and documentation. Barring the very largest companies, this wasn’t available before now – at least not without intensive and expensive manual tagging and data gathering processes - requiring significant continuous investment in time and resources.”

Idox sees particular value for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) companies working on large, capital-intensive projects, such as in the offshore and onshore energy industries, where safety, risk and regulatory compliance are especially dependent on accurate information handover.

FusionLive is already being used by a number of international companies, and the integration of automatic tag extraction has been successfully trialled with a leading global EPC company.

The technology is an integration of Idox’s industry leading engineering information management platform, FusionLive, and its proprietary tag extraction and management technology. The tag extraction process scrapes hundreds of tags from documents within seconds and automatically validates them against a master tag register before the data is loaded into the digital twin.

Bruce concludes: “In a fiercely competitive, increasingly digital environment, EPCs must differentiate themselves not just on bid-costs, but on their ability to hand over accurate, enriched digital twins on-schedule. It won’t be long before owners refuse to settle for anything less.” 

Source: Idox

Semtech Teams with InVue to Implement LoRaWAN into Retail Industry

12 May 2021 – Semtech Corporation (Nasdaq: SMTC) today announced its collaboration with InVue, a global provider of intelligent hardware and software systems for retail, consumer electronics and data centers. This partnership will integrate the LoRaWAN^® protocol into InVue LIVE compatible products across retail display, security and operations.

“I consistently hear from our retail customers around the world about the growing need for not only data, but actionable insights which result in greater efficiency, security and less friction for shoppers in stores,” said Chris Gibson, InVue chief product and marketing officer (right). “With LoRaWAN, we can deliver on these priorities across a variety of retail applications through our InVue LIVE products in a simple, secure and scalable way.”

InVue’s integration of the LoRaWAN protocol into its InVue LIVE products highlights a successful implementation of LoRaWAN into the broader retail industry and improves the key areas retail continues to invest in – operational readiness, and ultimately, the shopper experience (product availability, convenience and customer insights). This suite of products enables retailers to monitor and manage these operations through a single platform in addition to delivering actionable data and insights in real-time.

Each InVue LIVE device uses a LoRaWAN network to wirelessly connect to the internet while offering bi-directional communication, end-to-end security, mobility, and localization services. This functionality allows retailers to track customer interaction with display merchandise for phones and tablets (S3100V and OnePOD Wireless), reduce theft (OneKEY), measure on-shelf availability (OSA Sensor), and automate on/off as well as planogram reporting electronics displays (TV Manager).

“As the Internet of Things (IoT) continues to revolutionize the world around us, the application in retail has been nothing short of remarkable with the LoRaWAN protocol,” said Marc Pegulu, Vice President of IoT product marketing and strategy for Semtech’s Wireless and Sensing Products Group. “Our collaboration with InVue is groundbreaking for both the customer and retailer due to LoRaWAN protocol capabilities that offer ease of deployment, scalability and even streamline operation costs for retailers to understand what is happening in their stores.”

The InVue retail solutions utilize products that are a part of the LoRa Core™ portfolio. The portfolio provides global LoRaWAN network coverage and is targeted at several vertical industries including asset tracking, building, home, agriculture, metering, and factory automation.

To learn more about LoRa^®, visit www.semtech.com/lora.

Source: Semtech

Semtech and EchoStar Mobile Launch New Initiative Enabled by LoRaWAN® Protocol

4 May 2021 – Semtech Corporation (Nasdaq: SMTC), a leading supplier of analogue and mixed-signal semiconductor products, and EchoStar Corporation (Nasdaq: SATS), a mobile satellite services provider, announced the launch of an initiative to test satellite connectivity services enabled by the LoRaWAN^® protocol.

“With our technology collaborator, Semtech, and as a new member of the LoRa Alliance®, we are excited to explore the use of next-generation LoRaWAN network technology to bring new satellite-based connectivity services to the Internet of Things (IoT) market,” said Telemaco Melia, Senior Director of Commercial Operations at EchoStar Mobile (above). “New LoRa satellite services are expected to bring lower price points to the market, opening up a larger addressable opportunity across key industries including logistics, asset tracking, transportation, utilities, agriculture, and maritime.”

The LoRa Alliance is an open, non-profit global association that develops, maintains, and promotes the LoRaWAN protocol for low power wide area networks (LPWANs). Recently the LoRa Alliance expanded the LoRaWAN protocol to include Long Range – Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (LR-FHSS) data rates.

LR-FHSS extends the LoRaWAN protocol’s support to enable direct data links from end nodes to satellites. It does this by leveraging either the Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) unlicensed band, or, in the case of EchoStar Mobile, through licensed spectrum, which provides a differentiated service versus the ISM band. LR-FHSS can support millions of end nodes and delivers a new level of robustness for IoT services.

“It’s estimated that only 10% of the world’s surface has terrestrial connectivity. Semtech’s LoRa^® devices integrated with LR-FHSS allow satellites to connect IoT devices in the vast remote areas around the globe to enable IoT solutions with an unmatched continuum of coverage and performance,” said Marc Pegulu, vice president of IoT product marketing and strategy for Semtech’s Wireless and Sensing Products Group. “Our work with EchoStar Mobile and LoRa Alliance members is expected to achieve complementary satellite and terrestrial LoRaWAN network connectivity services for customers who require global coverage from land to sea to air.”

About Semtech’s LoRa^® Platform

Semtech’s LoRa device-to-Cloud platform is a globally adopted long range, low power solution for IoT applications, enabling the rapid development and deployment of ultra-low power, cost efficient and long range IoT networks, gateways, sensors, module products, and IoT services worldwide. Semtech’s LoRa devices provide the communication layer for the LoRaWAN^® protocol, which is maintained by the LoRa Alliance®, an open IoT alliance for Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) applications. The LoRa Alliance, of which Semtech is a founding member, has been used to deploy IoT networks in over 100 countries. To learn more about how LoRa enables IoT, visit Semtech’s LoRa site.

Source Semtech