< PreviousFEATURES 40 Capturing knowledge IoT has a key role to play in supporting change and innovation. Farmers, for example, are exploring IoT to remotely monitor soil moisture and temperature as part of the move to reduce water consumption while optimising productivity, as well as track animal health and well-being. Environmental tracking is allowing climate experts to monitor the speed with which change is occurring - from the reduction in emissions created by farming to the recovery of deep-sea habitats and remote snow, glacier and permafrost monitoring stations in Central Asia. Further, monitoring is transforming lives in countries with limited clean water resources. Access to Water has distributed more than 150 million litres of clean water to Senegal, where around 20% of the population has no access to clean water. The charity uses filtration devices that not only treat dirty, polluted or brackish raw water but also collect vital information about water quality and equipment usage to support both proactive maintenance and strategic planning. While 15% of the world is covered by terrestrial communication networks, far too many of the most vulnerable communities remain unconnected and unable to benefit from this innovation. For SIs, the addition of satellite connectivity to IoT solutions is hugely powerful, enabling companies to quickly take tried and tested solutions to new markets. A proactive approach The availability of a satellite connection designed specifically for widescale IoT deployment has transformed the opportunity. But does the business case stand up, especially when the cost/benefit argument is under incredible scrutiny? Most operational IoT applications do not require the continuous or real-time communication associated with high-cost, power hungry satellite links that have made such solutions completely unaffordable. Instead, critical solutions such as tracking the location of farm animals, measuring the earth moisture content or monitoring the health of vulnerable habitats, can be delivered with lower cost, intermittent satellite communication. Minimal power consumption and the ability to link to solar power are key considerations when attaching an IoT sensor to a water filter, livestock or farm equipment, many miles from maintenance services. Ten-year battery life is a significant factor in building a powerful business case, as is antenna design and robustness of equipment and battery life. Two-way communication is also valuable, for example if the SI wants to increase the frequency of recording in a specific location from once, to twice a day. A powerful business case The model is working. Affordable, reliable connectivity across the globe is extending the use of intelligent farm control systems, for example, allowing existing sensors to be used to record and control information remotely over long distances. Using sensors that are connected to the cloud, and IoT-based digital agriculture, factors such as weather, temperature, humidity, rainfall data, water level, water quality and soil moisture are helping to transform the effectiveness of farming and maximise plant health. Satellite IoT (SatIoT) is enabling farmers to digitise animal tracking, so that they can accurately establish the location of their herds, allowing them to better manage livestock. For example, they can track movement patterns and create geo-fences to establish when livestock has drifted into the wrong areas. Commercial beekeepers meanwhile, are using SatIoT for colony management, ensuring continual information irrespective of the hives’ locations, such as remote areas of California where farmers rely on rented bee colonies to pollinate the majority of the world’s almond harvest. Real-time data from active hives, including temperature, humidity, movement and even sound frequencies is passed to the cloud for monitoring and analysis, providing beekeepers with the information required to track hive health. Change is happening. Countries and organisations globally are actively investing to support change, especially within agriculture. With funding commitments of $8 billion, The Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM for Climate), for example, seeks to accelerate innovation in ‘climate smart’ agriculture especially aimed at small-holder farmers in developing economies, new technologies, agro-ecological research and methane reduction. However, without ubiquitous access to network connectivity, there will be an unfair difference in the speed with which countries, organisations and individuals can make changes and adopt innovations such as smart farming or agriculture 4.0 practices. This will create even greater disadvantages in populations already disproportionately affected by climate change. With the addition of low-cost SatIoT, innovative IoT solutions previously restricted by the lack of terrestrial/cellular connectivity in locations that are, by their very nature, outside the mainstream areas of network coverage, can now be quickly and effectively delivered to accelerate essential and equitable change. Instead, critical solutions such as tracking the location of farm animals, measuring the earth moisture content or monitoring the health of vulnerable habitats, can be delivered with lower cost, intermittent satellite communication. Reichle & De-Massari UK Ltd. 450 Brook Drive, Reading, Berkshire, RG2 6UU gbr@rdm.com Bandwidth is as much a part of basic supply as water and electricity Connectivity infrastructures from R&M – from the core network to the house connectionFEATURES 42 Seamless mobile coverage and ultrafast internet access is essential in the hotel and hospitality industries, says Stuart Waine of Spry Fox Networks The contemporary traveller has high expectations for their hotel stay. From plush bedding and pristine facilities to high-speed internet connectivity and a decent mobile phone signal, irrespective of location. The sheer number of wireless enabled gadgets the average person travels with has increased phenomenally. Being able to connect all said devices seamlessly and securely to a fast and reliable network is central to the overall travel experience, especially in a luxury hotel or holiday resort. More than 60% of guests will take the trouble to report a poor mobile coverage incident, and more than 30% will not rebook if they had one. And with technology playing a larger role in our lives than ever before, fuelling desires for digital nomad lifestyles, any hotelier failing to fulfil these mobile connectivity expectations is likely to lose custom and receive poor reviews on TripAdvisor. Apart from playing a key role in delivering the ultimate guest experience by enabling In-app services and QR code interaction, seamless mobile coverage is at the heart of many smart building technologies and facilities management systems. Temperature control sensors, two-way radios, digital keys, laundry and luggage- Liam Taylor, European business manager, Fibre Optics, Microcare Maximising guest satisfaction with reliable mobile coverageFEATURES 43FEATURES 44FEATURES 45 tracking technologies are all cellular based as this provides the trigger mechanism for device-to-device connectivity. Moreover, the deployment of smart building systems is growing exponentially and not just because 5G networks and IoT technologies are coming to fruition. Under new health and safety laws, all commercial properties are required to nominate someone to be responsible for harnessing data to demonstrate due diligence. Hotel buildings block mobile phone signals Providing the levels of coverage needed to meet these different requirements in hotels has always been challenging, not least because of the buildings themselves. Architectural designs differ enormously in terms of style, height, facades, not to mention raw materials like glass, steel or reinforced concrete, which stop mobile signals from passing through them. Indeed, in many tall inner-city hotels, it’s not uncommon for one side of a building to have a strong mobile signal while the other side is a mobile dead zone, or for rooms at street level to have reliable connectivity while those on higher levels have no signal at all. Proprietors must also consider the different mobile network operators (MNOs) to ensure all bases are covered as far as hotel guests are concerned, as they have no control over their preferred providers. 5G rollouts have only exacerbated the situation because this next generation network has much shorter transmission rates than its 4G counterpart and is more easily hampered by physical materials or line-of- sight challenges. Overcoming these issues to provide the levels of coverage needed has historically been expensive and complex for hotel owners/managers because their choice has been limited to distributed antenna systems (DAS) directly connected to the MNO base stations, but these options are only viable for the largest of hotels. Smaller facilities face the same mobile coverage dilemmas, but the operators are not geared up to support them and the respective hotel managers have neither the budget nor the technical experience to commission this type of system. They need a viable and cost-effective alternative, such as a mobile-repeater solution, to resolve their mobile coverage problems without disrupting guest services and without compromising building aesthetics. In the UK, now that the regulators have relaxed the rules pertaining to their usage, providing the levels of coverage needed to ensure your guests have a totally personalised experience is no longer the arduous task it once was. Mobile repeaters are carrier-agnostic, which means that they will improve mobile coverage levels for all users. More importantly, they are quick and easy to deploy because their configuration is based on the findings of a mobile site survey and no internal fibre cabling is needed. Installations can be up and running in a matter of days, providing coverage for all frequencies including 5G. The hotel industry knows no bounds, so keeping pace with the latest technological advances is crucial to staying competitive and maintaining the bottom line. Seamless mobile coverage is the very essence to achieving this as it is the driving force behind personalised guest experiences and slick operations. Moreover, in a 5G era, hoteliers don’t just need better connectivity, they need smarter connectivity and leveraging mobile repeater technology provides a viable means of fulfilling this. More than 60% of guests will take the trouble to report a poor mobile coverage incident, and more than 30% will not rebook if they had one...And with technology playing a larger role in our lives than ever before, fuelling desires for digital nomad lifestyles, any hotelier failing to fulfil these mobile connectivity expectations is likely to lose custom and receive poor reviews on TripAdvisor.FEATURES 46FEATURES 47 As telephone networks are being overhauled the world over, the analogue era in the UK is coming to an end with the switch-off date currently set for December 2025. France, Germany, Japan, Spain, Singapore and Sweden are all further down the line in the process than the UK, while Estonia and The Netherlands are way ahead of the curve and have already made the switch. For many businesses in the UK, the deadline cannot come soon enough as these copper-based networks are simply unable to support the digitised technologies we’ve come to depend upon. Universal internet accessibility, together with global smartphone penetration exceeding 80% have transformed the way people communicate, with many favouring messaging platforms such as WhatsApp over conventional telecoms. You would think, therefore, that switching from analogue to a digital alternative would be a straightforward process, involving plugging an existing phone into a new socket or router. However, although the demise of wired telephony heralds the dawn of a new communications era, when you start investigating the practicalities of the switchover, it becomes abundantly clear that this legacy copper- based network is the underpinning enabler to so much more than just fixed-line telephony. In fact, according to industry estimates, around a quarter of businesses are blissfully unaware of what the switchover actually involves and have much work to do before the analogue D-Day. Although digital telephony is clearly the way forward, it does bring with it a number of short-term infrastructure challenges. It also demonstrates the need for enterprises to implement a comprehensive wireless strategy to support current and future communications. Many organisations, smaller ones in particular, are still reliant on legacy comms networks for the operability of the low power technologies behind alarm lines, elevator lines, ATMs, POS, door entry systems, telemetry systems, flood defence, traffic lights, fax machines, pagers, telecare, to name but a few. After the cut-off point, all these applications and many others will need to be IP compatible if they are to continue working. Suppliers will therefore need to carry out testing to make sure that their associated products are future ready for an all-IP network. Cellular versus wifi For many services, WiFi is a logical alternative as it is the backbone to digital transformation. But WiFi only networks, no matter how sophisticated, will not resolve the switchover challenges in their entirety, and other channels including public cellular coverage, private cellular coverage, and low power sensor networks must also be carefully considered. Below are some of the reasons why. 1. Speed challenges Many existing WiFi networks are also copper based, which causes speed and performance issues because of RF leakage. This is being addressed with the rollout of gigabit broadband, but the process is still ongoing in many countries with urban areas being prioritised. Colin Abrey from Nextivity, on the impact analogue networks will have on non-voice applications Analogue network switch offs; the dawn of a new era in telecoms connectivityFEATURES 48 2. QoS challenges WiFi signals are transmitted via a series of access points, with quality of service dependent on the proximity of a device/technology in relation to said access point. The further away, the weaker the signal, especially if there are corners/corridors/stairwells to contend with. 3. Security challenges WiFi access points, even those that meet the latest WPA3 standards, present security weak spots, heightening the risk of cybercrime and malware attacks. 4. Embedded technology challenges More concerning, however, is the lack of synergy between device protocols as this impacts the operability of ‘many embedded building technologies’ mentioned earlier. Safety critical communications Another important consideration is that of public safety. While all legacy communications will be impacted to some degree by digitisation, utility companies and elevator suppliers are particularly susceptible and need to think about their wireless strategies now. Water and energy providers, for example, have historically used pagers and two-way radio systems to control and manage their infrastructure, which is typically housed in remote off-grid locations and/ or below ground. Not only must they overhaul their underlying comms infrastructure in line with next- generation technologies, the legacy devices they currently depend upon are also being phased out, further demonstrating the need for action. For elevator manufacturers, the critical application is the emergency communication line. Legislation mandates that all elevators must allow occupants to raise the alarm, and the underlying enabler-to- elevator handsets and panic buttons have always been analogue. Both will need to be replaced with digital alternatives, and WiFi is not the right option here because of line-of-sight challenges. Cellular connectivity and Wifi have equal standing The analogue switch-off demonstrates the need for robust mobile communications networks to operate alongside WiFi. Not only are they the most viable option for rural communities that are not going to benefit from all fibre broadband anytime soon, they offer a straightforward and cost-effective means to operate smart building technologies. Cellular networks support multi-network access via roaming or dual SIM enabling interconnectivity, are highly secure, and require minimal hardware as far as smart technologies and applications are concerned. Mobile connectivity challenges The downside, however, is that mobile signal strength often deteriorates inside any commercial or residential property because of the building materials, and the further inside you go the worse this becomes. To provide the levels of coverage needed to enable seamless interconnectivity between people and machines, the outdoor signal needs to be taken indoors using supplementary equipment such as Ofcom-compliant mobile repeaters, which prevent added noise in the network and ensure the protection of telco equipment from damage. With analogue switch-offs imminent, cellular and WiFi must be factored into all technology/service migrations as a matter of course. It must also be given equal standing in wider digital transformation projects as both are interdependent. Apart from making the changeover seamless and helping enterprises prepare for Industry 4.0, accounting for the digital transformation within a complete wireless strategy allows businesses to be ready to support up-and-coming technologies, automation, as well as robotics operating on public 5G and/or private mobile networks.FEATURES 49Next >