Fri, 09/15/2017 - 2:55pm 1 Comment

How IoT Could Reshape Healthcareby Ryan Bushey - Digital Editor - @R_Bushey

The Internet of Things (IoT) could unleash a new paradigm in a number of different industries.

IoT—a comprehensive network of interconnected devices communicating with each other— is being explored to improve environmentalmonitoring systems for atmospheric conditions, create more efficient energy management applications, and improve consumer tools inthe retail and automotive sectors, just to name a few.

The medical and healthcare space is another area where IoT could really thrive, but only if both healthcare payers (insurance carriers) andproviders recognize its potential, states a recent Accenture Health report based on a survey of healthcare executives in the payer andprovider space (i.e. chief executive officers, chief information officers etc.).

“The Internet of Health Things (IoHT) is already delivering tangible cost savings, but continuous investment is essential. To succeed in thedigital economy, healthcare providers and payers must take full advantage of IoHT now to grow their businesses in the long-term,” thereport states.

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“Connected devices using the Internet of Health Things are beginning to transform healthcare delivery. By introducing more connectivity,remote monitoring and information gathering, IoHT can encourage better use of healthcare resources, more informed decisions, areduction in inefficiencies or waste and the empowerment of health consumers.”

Accenture Health reported that the estimated value of IoHT solutions in the healthcare space could reach $163 billion by 2020, with acompound annual growth rate of 38.1 percent between 2015 and 2020.

The survey was conducted to get an understanding of the current and future market demand for IoHT solutions in healthcare.

“Our aim was to understand the drivers of internet of health things investments and whether the investments were demonstrating benefitin the market today and where the market may be going,” said Brian Kalis, the managing director of Accenture Health, in an interviewwith R&D Magazine.

Synthesizing all the responses revealed three areas that are receiving the most prominent investment and possess the most value.

Wellness and prevention

Accenture’s analysis found that 42 percent of providers were able to achieve extensive medical cost savings from wellness and preventionprograms focusing on IoHT, and an estimated 45 percent of payers reported that they achieved these cost saving solutions when usingIoHT.

Consumer satisfaction plays a significant role in making providers and payers offer wellness and prevention IoH solutions. Providers alsoconsider other business drivers like changes in Medicare reimbursement or shifts to readmission penalties. Payers focus on an increasedneed to stay competitive in the market, along with an emphasis on demonstrating effectiveness of care management programs.

Furthermore, both payers and providers reported that wearable devices help them accomplish these goals.

“I think we’re seeing an overall maturing of the space, where you’re moving beyond just the physical device and the wearable. It comesdown to the unique design of the actual service you’re providing and how that wearable fits into the context of the service that’s addingvalue,” explained Kalis.

Kalis elaborated that some of the challenges that have been faced historically with wearable devices are a lack of sustained adoption andcontinued use of wearable devices.

Some companies have explored incentives to get people to use these devices more frequently.

In August, Apple and Aetna reportedly held meetings to explore adding Apple’s health and fitness-tracking smartwatch to Aetna’scoverage plans as an additional perk

This deal could have boon in sales for the Apple Watch, while also helping Aetna increase customer interest in a healthier lifestyle andbetter diet tracking.

Operations

IoHT initiatives can also be used in operations, to manage inventory of medical supplies, and potentially improve the consumerexperience.

“Some of the types of solutions we’re seeing in this category are tied to the supply chain, so it involves the tracking of different suppliesand logistics within the context of a facility,” said Kalis.

This could look like IoHT solutions for providers that entail real-time location tracking of assets or automated asset management.

Kalis mentioned that payers deal with a lot of information pertaining to finance and administration, so a system geared more towardsmember services is needed . This would potentially revolve around streamlining the use of hospital resources or establishing a program forbetter connectivity.

Remote Patient Monitoring

Remote patient monitoring (RPM) tracks patients outside of the conventional clinical setting, lowering costs, while still maintaining patientindependence. Telehealth is an example of this technology that can deliver virtual medical and health services.

A majority of the RPM IoHT investments have been geared towards cardiac conditions like congestive heart failure, as well as chronicrespiratory diseases like asthma and COPD, and cancer.

Behavioral and mental health technologies have not received the same investment at similar levels compared to cardiac conditions, but thespotlight could start shifting to that area, said Kalis.

“Some of the solutions we’re seeing in the market are cognitive therapy solutions that have the ability to track just general activity levels,mood, and behavior and provide a mix of both human as well as self-care coaching,” explained Kalis.

Overall, mental and behavioral health is a relatively high priority for both providers and payers.

What’s Next

Looking ahead, Kalis sees a lot potential for the future IoHT space.

“Overall what we’re starting to see is the future of the internet of health things moving towards a concept of living services. We’re seeinga lot of that happen with the advancement of artificial intelligence move towards no user interface systems, whether it involves usingvoice or natural language processing to converge and make these services come to life,” elaborated Kalis.

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Thu, 09/21/2017 - 1:52pm

Startup Offers 'Fitbit' for Industrial Machinesby Ryan Bushey - Digital Editor - @R_Bushey

Maintaining machines residing in various manufacturing facilities can be an arduous task.

Factories are often in remote areas, and can be miles away from plant managers who may be unable to access the equipment on a day-to-day basis.

However, machine maintenance is crucial. The health of a machine deteriorating in pharmaceutical research and development facility, forexample, could lead to the destruction of experiments resulting in millions of dollars in lost revenue.

Avoiding this challenge is the goal of startup Petasense.

“We’ve built an end-to-end wireless predictive maintenance system and machine learning software that will help you monitor the health ofall kinds of machines that are found in plants and facilities,” explained Petasense co-founder Arun Santhebennur in an interview with R&DMagazine.

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Santhebennur, along with the other founder Abhinav Khushraj, officially unveiled their company in June 2017 after operating under atemporary state of secretiveness for the first few years.

Essentially, the system works using Internet of Things (IoT) technology in a similar manner as a Fitbit. However, instead of tracking aperson’s health via movement, it tracks the health of machines via vibrations.

“I would say 80 percent of failures of rotating machines are caused by things like imbalances, misalignment, looseness, and other factors.They all show all up in vibrations before they actually happen,” explained Santhebennur.

The product developed by Petasense can work for a variety of rotating equipment like motors, pumps, and gear boxes as well as HVACequipment like compressors, chillers, and fans.

Setting a Baseline

Santhebennur explained the installation process is fairly easy, even for people who are not familiar with his technology.

Customers identify the machines they want to monitor. Petasense then recommends the best location for their sensors to be placed, inorder to provide the best analysis for the vibrations.

Users then activate a mobile app, connect to Wi-Fi, and begin sending vibration data to the cloud.

Petasense’s own version of cloud software stores this information, and machine learning algorithms start providing information about themachine’s health.

This process occurs by setting a baseline for the machine, explained Santhebennur.

Within the first two weeks, the startup’s sensors sketch out a baseline for how a machine is behaving. Doing this gives operators insightinto what constitutes typical performance for their device.

“In the past, without machine learning, what people would do is they would set standard level alarms for all fans at like 0.5 inches persecond. It was not specific to select machines and was not based on the machine’s behavior,” said Santhebennur.

Any possible misstep from that generic baseline could trigger an alarm, requiring a plant manager to go check on the machine.

The difference with Petasense’s technology is that engineers can keep adjusting the baseline in the software and keep eliminating falsepositives in order to generate a higher level of customization.

Machinery found in these facilities can be old, but Santhebennur assured the integrity of the data obtained through this technology isaccurate regardless of machine age.

“We’ve manufactured thousands of sensors now that have gone through several iterations, factory calibration process, and a robusttesting process, before each sensor goes out. It doesn’t matter if the machine are new or old as long as they are mounted properly so wecan get a good sense of machine behavior’s baseline,” elaborated Santhebennur.

Industry applications

The startup’s product suite caters to clients in various industries like power generation, oil and gas, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals,and buildings and facilities.

Petasense has its service monitoring all the HVAC equipment including chillers, pumps, and compressors for some large pharmaceuticalcompanies. The sensor and software combinations are also in use at oil and gas refineries tracking the health of some of these pumps inorder to help employees avoid costly issues associated with their failure.

Furthermore, installing this end-to-end solution in combined cycle power generation plants is useful because these buildings containhundreds of pumps and cooling tower fans. They possess both a gas and a steam turbine together to produce significantly more fuel thana traditional fan.

Operating these sensors in a plant like this is important because each component can perform a task like providing cooling water to partsof the plant in order to maintain a consistent temperature. Failing to ensure these tools are working can create hazardous conditions.

Understanding the Industrial IoT Space

The industrial internet of things (IoT) space is booming with large companies like IBM and GE, which are creating software for customersseeking a solution to enable smarter management of factories and similar surroundings.

Santhebennur explained how Petasense stands out, especially after announcing the company broke a recent milestone by logging 18billion wireless vibration readings.

“It just shows the scale that's possible from a wireless perspective. Think about the old model. The old model was somebody would goand take readings once a quarter or once in six months. They would manually walk up to the machine and take a measurement. Now,with a wireless sensor, you could be doing that once every hour, so 24 times day instead of once in three months or six months,” he said.

Essentially, predictive maintenance is where Petasense feels it excels because this process generates a lot more data that can deliver amore precise analysis of the machine, thanks to the proprietary machine learning algorithm.

Overall, Santhebennur believes the future of the Industrial IIoT will see continued “explosion” of sensors to track more physicalparameters and more breakthroughs on the wireless connectivity side.

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Tue, 09/26/2017 - 9:56am 1 Comment

Three Industries Undergoing IoT Innovationby Ryan Bushey - Digital Editor - @R_Bushey

It sounds like the beginning of a scientific fiction movie.

Futuristic technology is enabling sophisticated communication between devices of all shapes and sizes, transforming the way we live andwork.

Kitchen appliances that can “talk” to each other, power grids and other forms of infrastructure that can be self-sustaining, and medicaldevices that permit more flexibility when it comes health tracking and maintenance.

These are some of the applications being brought to life thanks to breakthroughs with Internet of things (IoT) technology.

IoT allows users to operate a network of internet-connected devices built with embedded sensors that are able to collect and synthesizedata for specified tasks.

Major corporations like Amazon, Microsoft, and GE developed software that serves as the bridge between the device’s sensors and the

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data networks needed to transmit this information, according to Business Insider.

All of these factors provided a foundation for startups and other ventures to create services that could redefine conventional industries.

R&D Magazine highlight the industries where IoT firms are testing intriguing technologies.

Agriculture

The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations predicts the global population will reach 8 billion people by 2025 and 9.6billion people by 2050.

This uptick in growth means food production would need to increase by 70 percent by 2050, especially with elements like climate changeand a slow-down in productivity growth potentially hindering this goal, according to a report focused on the practice of smart farming.

All of this emphasizes how vital advancements in the agricultural IoT space have become.

A proliferation of smartphones and other devices have made it easier for farmers to keep watch of their crops in a more cost-efficientmanner, as well as implement strategies for mitigating damage from pests.

This enhanced level of monitoring and data analysis is where startups in this space have started to flourish.

Ventures like Descartes Labs use a mix of satellite imagery and artificial intelligence to predict crop yields.

The company, which recently raised $30 million in a series B financing, was spun out of Los Alamos National Laboratory. It has access toa massive archive of satellite imagery sourced from NASA, the European Space Agency, and other “commercial constellations,” reportedFast Company.

Descartes proprietary program can analyze quadrillions of pixels at a time and compare it to past data emitted from sensors from farmingequipment, such as combines, tractors, and cars, to determine the health of a given crop as well as identify if the field is growing corn,soy, or something similar.

Another firm called Gamaya is also able to monitor crops, but on a smaller scale.

It uses a mix of drones and artificial intelligence to assist farmers with finding ways to grow their crops in a more efficient and cost-effective manner.

Hyperspectral cameras mounted to drones capture images of the land that the human eye cannot see, such as shifts in water and fertilizeruse, reported Fortune.

Next, the artificial intelligence software studies the images to deliver alerts and recommendations to help farmers better grow their cropsor lower fertilizer use.

Both of these companies can essentially provide the agriculture industry with sophisticated tools that help increase production.

Healthcare

Popular IoT-oriented startups have been operating in the wearable space, designing devices intended for physical fitness and sleeptracking.

However, CB Insights released a report mentioning fledgling ventures working in a realm called “Clinical Efficiency.”

It’s a category of startups using connected objects to improve the delivery of healthcare in hospitals and clinics, as well as find ways toboost medication adherence.

San Diego, California-based Company Awarepoint uses a “integration real-time location system”, which is software that helps healthcareorganizations track medical equipment in real time to ensure it never gets lost. It canalso perform other tasks, such as helping patients

navigate new large hospital complexes through their mobile devices.

Adheretech offers a service that helps patients in another way.

It manufactures smart wireless pill bottles that use sensors and a built-in cellular chip to passively send-real time data, analyze thatinformation, and then send automatic alerts for missed dosages on specialized medications for important conditions.

Transportation

There are widespread opportunities for IoT innovation in the transportation sector. Big car companies and other corporations are devisingsolutions that fall into two categories—either embedded or tethered, according to an analysis from Business Insider.

Vehicles manufactured in the embedded category contain built-in antenna and chipsets designed to collect information, while cars withtethered connections use hardware to let drivers connect to their smartphones.

Other areas of innovation in this space include better app integration where more sophisticated software can replace built-in GPS systems.wApplications like GasBuddy provide a better overview of where customers can find the cheapest fuel in the surrounding area.

Commercial vehicles will have plenty of new connected features for drivers, but certain startups are focusing their efforts more onconnected trucking fleets.

Ventures like Vnomics design software systems for commercial trucking fleets for better fuel optimization. The program offers real-timemonitoring for fuel usage from multiple sensors, analyzes engine data to determine potential maximum achievable fuel efficiency, as wellas offer audio alerts for improper shifting and idling with the goal of producing a detailed driver scorecard for owners to ascertain howthey are managing their fuel supply.

Greenroad Technology offers similar software solutions. The company’s platform can be installed a fleet of delivery trucks or similar carswhere sensors can track driver behavior and road conditions. Analyzing all this information let’s owners of these fleets recognize areaswhere they need improvement in terms of fuel usage or insurance purposes.

Ultimately, both of these companies are using a unique combination of sensors and software to create a safer driving environment.

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