DS showcased the Powalert sensor at the MyBroadband conference on the
26th October 2017. IoT is the incremental next step into the optimised
use of technology that was made prevalent by smart phone technology. The
cost efficiencies of smart phone technologies have resulted in the
deployment of a number of other generic devices that use low powered
network connections as an alternative. These are the class of devices
known as IoT, the Internet of Things, which were previously not
networked.
The PowaINFRA range is a true IoT solution. Powalert is a product in
the PowerINFRA range. This solution expands the digital world to
buildings and infrastructure that were previously mostly accessed by
requiring physical connections.
The Powalert sensor, using IoT technology, provides the ability to
determine power related failures within telecommunications. A last mile
provider typically has multiple customers using leased lines. When an
outage occurs at the customer premises, the immediate cause is typically
related to either network or power. However, there is currently no
out-of-band verification available to eliminate either cause as it can
potentially be the power utility, the device or the interconnecting
network that has failed.
This is obviously a large problem for telecommunications operators as
statistics show that 80% of outages at the customer premises are
related to power issues. When a utility power outage occurs, the Network
Operations Centre (NOC) of a telecommunications company can usually not
determine whether the cause of the outage is network related or as a
result of a power outage. This is because the majority of monitoring
systems deployed are unable to clearly distinguish between network and
power causation as there is no “ping” power utility command. The problem
for operators is that a significant number of rolling wheels call-outs
are redundant.
DS’ patented solution provides the ability to distinguish power from
network-based or device outages. Whilst the call-out costs associated
with this may vary by type of outage, it contributes significantly to
the operational budget for any organisation monitoring these devices and
subsequently responding to the loss of such a device. This DS solution
endeavours to optimise those associated costs by determining whether the
outage is power related or not.
When the outage is not directly related to a loss of power, during a
significant number of the remaining outages, technicians may power-cycle
the network equipment in any case to return service. These generally
relates to network hardware and software issues. As an example, the
equipment from a well-known networking vendor has a bug that locks up a
device after 213 days. A key feature of the Powalert is the ability to
remotely recycle the power of the attached network device in the event
that it loses connectivity. The Powalert device will thus be able to
clear these basic faults without the requirement for a remote hands or rolling wheels visit.
The Powalert device uses a low powered wide area network protocol
that is secure and encrypted. This in turn is relayed by a base station,
the PowaINFRA gateway, which in turn is connected to the Vodafone M2M
facility. Alternatively, if required the Powalert device can also
connect directly to a Sigfox network base station.
Increased customer satisfaction and availability levels are benefits
that can be derived from accurate service level reporting. The portal
reports the monthly SLA percentage uptime to an accuracy of three
decimals for both the utility-side power and the device-side power. This
allows the telecommunications operator to confidently exclude downtime
directly attributable to power outages.
The PowaINFRA range also has sensors that are capable of monitoring and reporting on:
- power
- temperature,
- fire safety,
- presence/access
- dam levels, as well as
- fibre optic cable breaks.
The overall solution can be deployed not only in telecommunications
but also any commercial facilities, medical facilities and equipment and
data centres.
IoT device communications are secure and encrypted and are designed
to transmit between known identities. These devices have not been
designed with security as merely an afterthought. IoT devices are
programmed on modern principles where security is embedded into the
system. IoT applications and communications are thus inherently more
secure by design. As a rule, it is not that IoT devices won’t be
compromised but that they are a far less likely target than the current
crop of legacy devices such as wifi access points, surveillance cameras
and televisions. IoT devices are thus ready to be deployed securely in
multiple use cases, solving specific problems in a cost effective and
efficient manner.