We are at the dawn of the Internet of Things.
In less than a decade’s time, sensors, trackers and network devices that form the infrastructure of the Internet of Things (IoT) will permeate every aspect of our lives. It is imminent that interests in solving business problems using said infrastructure will overtake the hype of building the infrastructure itself. If you’re considering how IoT applications may propel your business, you are already one step ahead of the crowd. We at RedBite believe that the IoT is here, that the IoT is now.
Barcodes
One group of technology that powers the IoT is Auto-ID. Among them, the barcode is perhaps the best known. From groceries picked up in a store to parcels received from an online retailer, familiar black stripes can be found decorating most packaging. Using a barcode scanner, strings of numbers can be instantaneously read from their encoded form. By themselves, the numbers bear no meaning. In a simple point of sale (POS) application, product names and prices are immediately retrieved by searching numbers against an EAN repository. Parcel tracking applications on the other hand, not only look up, but also log delivery progress against the numbers. Due to the exceptionally low cost involved in printing onto packaging, the barcode outstrips other technologies in POS and delivery signing applications.
However, if we expand our perspective into other processes of the same business operations, we’ll find inherent needs not fulfilled by barcodes. For example, stocktake are still largely performed in a traditional manner where employees are assigned to manually tally physical goods. Despite its ubiquity, the barcode adds little to no value in stocktaking, especially when compared to RFID.
RFID
Most RFID technologies are ideal when real time location information of items is necessary. Arrays of antennae covering an area of interest, in tandem with tracking software, can provide surprisingly accurate and up-to-date movement and location logs. In the stocktaking scenario, or any scenario that requires mass identification in a small amount of time, most RFID technologies excel due to their read range and behaviour. Using a handheld RFID scanner, an operator can swiftly perform a tally of items in proximity, including items that are obscured. The same setup would, however, struggle to single out items. RFID technologies’ massive read range would pick up stray reads, making it ambiguous as to which scanned object is of interest. Thus, RFID technologies are unsuitable for classic point of sale scanning.
QR Codes
QR codes have been on a meteoric rise in the last couple of years; posters, most products and even some phone applications have QR codes. In its barest form, QR is just a more advanced version of a barcode. To what then, does QR’s popularity owe? – Its ability to hold information in formats and lengths that a barcode cannot. Combined with its aesthetic appeal, relatively low cost to print and that it can be read by any smartphone, you put into the hands of consumers the ability to interact with a product in a way that was never before possible. Download an app, get and share information and enter a competition are just some of the possibilities that QR codes bring.
NFC
Although a very different technology, recent traction gained by NFC is by no means inferior to QR. Similar to QR, it owes its rise to smartphones. Contrary to QR, reading NFC tags require almost physical contact. NFC is perfect for scenarios that call for absolute certainty in what’s being read, e.g. I’d be unhappy to pay for a pint I’m not having, just because of a stray read. In the object-tracking world, NFC has the potential to address security and anti-counterfeiting needs.
It is beyond the scope of this post to discuss in detail every business scenario and judge which, or in fact if any, Auto-ID technology forms the perfect solution for your business. At RedBite we believe that technologies are mere tools, tools that are not created equal, some better at one task, some at another. This is why our software solutions adopt all mentioned Auto-ID technologies. We address your business needs by empowering you with the choice and any combination of Auto-ID technology.
Every object tells a story. Let them speak.
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Keith Lee
RedBite Solutions
Lots of voices talking about the IoT but it isn’t clear to me at least what the IoT is. The most common description is my refrigerator ordering its own replacement filter and I don’t think that is happening anywhere. You guys are IoT experts–tell me what it is, where it is being used.
Hi John,
Thanks for your comment. We don’t wonder at all that you’re confused. If you take a look at our previous Insights posts, you will see that we’ve been looking for just such a public discussion on what the IoT is and what it is not. From our perspective, the IoT is a catch-all description for technology that connects physical objects to the internet, thereby enabling information about the object to be communicated. Increasingly, this will involve sensors and M2M intelligence and the self-replenishing fridge cliché may become a reality but you are right that’s not happening right now. However, so much else is and it can be delivered via some very well known and robust technologies like RFID and QR Codes.
At RedBite, for example, our customers use our solution to turn “dumb” things like letters, road-signs, airport baggage loaders, air-conditioning units and boilers into Smart Things by attaching RFID tags and QR codes to them so that they are, a) uniquely identifiable and b) have their own unique online presence through which users can interact with. Being Smart, they can remind us when servicing is required and they can notify us immediately if damages are reported against them. In short, they are Things connected to the Internet. This was the original vision of the IoT and it’s very much becoming a reality.
Kind regards
Adrian Segens
RedBite Solutions
Don’t know whether Auto-ID empowers the IoT (whatever that is), at least not the technologies mentioned here. Since the IoT-devices also need storage for data and/or intelligence to start/stop communicating as well as putting information (of sensors) into the message they send. I would rather state that (wireless) communication protocols and sensors including standardization empower the IoT. Sure, each device should have an identification, but that ID can be stored within the message itself and may differ from what we see from the outside.
Hi Peter,
Thanks for your comment.
I fully agree with your opinion about IoT-devices (infrastructures, as we call them) and their need to communicate via standardised protocols. In fact, RedBite is part of the HyperCat consortium, which defines the standard for secure and interoperable IoT for industry. See our latest Insights post on Interoperability and the IoT for further details.
However, we have a different view on the definition of the IoT in that it only applies to devices. In the original spirit of the IoT, the focus was to “research ways in which… every single object in the world… (could) be uniquely tracked and potentially controlled”
This definition encompasses devices with connectivity and on-board processing capabilities as well as mundane things like a wrapped loaf of bread.
Imagine that our mission is to reduce food wastage by working out the latest use-by date without risking consumers’ health. The most direct and perhaps naive way to achieve this in a wrapped loaf of bread example is to slap on it an electronic chip that has temperature & humidity (TH) sensors as well as network capability. The best use-by date can then be worked out by analysing the log of TH readings. This may work but it is not as cost effective as the next example.
Now imagine a world where infrastructure of IoT is ubiquitous; Auto-ID, TH readings can be taken across anywhere in a supply chain at anytime. Instead of putting sensors on bread wrappers, we can place low cost RFID tags on them. TH readings of the static sensors in the supply chain can then be inferred onto any unique loaves of bread based on where and when they are detected. So long as the RFID tags have unique IDs, readings can be logged against these IDs in an online database by the sensors. Consumers can then scan the tags (or doubling QR tags that point to the Internet profiles of the loaves) to find out the best use-by date.
This example may be contrived but it conveys that the IoT does involve mundane objects and that Auto-ID without any doubt, empowers it.
Kind regards
Keith Lee
RedBite Solutions