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A  petition  is calling for the World Health Organization to act quickly to establish indoor air quality guidelines to reduce the spread of airborne diseases such as coronavirus. The petition which urges explicit guidelines around air humidity in public buildings is being supported by members of the medical and scientific community. Headed by Infection Control Consultant at Harvard Medical School, ASHRAE distinguished lecturer & member of the ASHRAE Epidemic Task Group, Dr Stephanie Taylor, the petition asks the Director General of WHO to: Review the scientific evidence related to indoor humidity and respiratory immune system response, viral transmission and virus inactivation, and; Produce guidelines on the minimum lower limit of indoor humidity in public buildings Scientific evidence shows that indoor air maintained between 40-60% relative humidity (RH) has significant benefits for human health. This is the optimal level for the human respiratory immune system and will reduce the spread of respiratory disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it is thought that the  COVID-19 virus can spread  “through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes or talks.” According to a news release from the National Institutes of Health on March 17, these respiratory droplets seem to be detectable in the air for as long as three hours. “Humidification of indoor air gives people a simple means of actively combatting seasonal respiratory infections.” With regard to Covid-19 behavior in the 40-60% RH band, the airborne droplets containing the virus retain moisture and so become heavier and fall out of the air, allowing physiochemical reactions to deactivate the virus. However when RH is lower than 40% airborne droplets containing the virus shrink through evaporation making them lighter. This enables particles to float for longer in the air, increasing the likelihood of infection. The vast majority of respiratory virus suspended in dry atmospheres also survive longer and remain infectious for far longer than those floating in air with 40-60% RH. Dr Walter Hugentobler, MD, general physician, former lecturer Inst. of primary care at the University of Zürich, added: “Raising air humidity by humidification reduces the risk of virus spread in hospitals and other buildings at low-cost and without causing negative effects. “It can also be easily implemented in public buildings, both in private and workplace environments with relative ease. Humidification gives people a simple means of actively combatting seasonal respiratory infections.” The scientists argue that published guidance on minimum humidity would result in: Significant reduction of infections from respiratory diseases Thousands of lives being saved due to this reduction Alleviation of the burden on Global healthcare services due to seasonal respiratory disease World economies benefitting from less absenteeism Improved indoor environment and health for millions of people The WHO currently has guidance on  indoor air quality issues like pollutants  and mold but no recommendations for minimum humidity Take control of the air you breathe VOCs are ubiquitous in indoor air, the questions are: what concentration levels are in the air you breathe? and how long are you exposed to them? Using sensors to  sample indoor air quality  and  measure VOC concentrations  is the only way to know for sure.

In the last year there has been much discussion about the increasing demand for low power long-range wireless devices to serve the need of the  emerging IIoT market . This technology is collectively known as LPWA (Low Power Wide Area) and the main players (and unsurprisingly, those making the most noise) in this category are Sigfox, LoRa, CAT-M1 and NB-IOT technology. While evangelists for these respective technologies naturally claim that theirs is the one true solution, all is not as it seems. This paper discusses the issues surrounding Sigfox and LoRa specifically – another article will examine those around CAT-M1 and NB-IOT. The goal of LPWA technology LWPA technology used in Sigfox and LoRa is low cost, straightforward and requires no deep technical knowledge. The proposition is that LPWA devices can be deployed in the field without needing connection to a power source and will continue to function on battery power for around 10 years. Connected directly to a sensor (e.g. temperature sensor) or attached to an existing device (e.g. water or electricity meter) these LWPA instruments forward meaningful data to a base station which then transmits to the Cloud. Deployment can be handled by those with basic technical knowledge and skills (no engineering BSc required) and when the devices come to the end of their decade of service, they can either be disposed of, or have their battery replaced. How the issue of compromise compromises these LPWA technologies As with all technologies compromises have to be made to achieve the required results. Here are the notable ones. The first major compromise that both Sigfox and LoRa have made is to elect to create products that only use unlicensed ISM (Industrial, Scientific, Medical) radio bands. These radio frequencies are freely available for anyone to use (provided they obey their country’s RF regulations). For SigFox and LoRa, the use of free ISM radio bands avoids the otherwise hefty license fees required for exclusive use of frequencies. Additionally, through this method they have garnered an advantage over competitors like cell phone companies who may have spent billions of dollars buying licenses for exclusive use of frequencies. Read: The completely overlooked but drastic cost savings municipal water departments can achieve with this simple IIoT application But herein lies the downside: by using unlicensed radio bands, control over bandwidth is lost. Even players as big as Sigfox and LoRa cannot force users of the same frequencies to curtail their usage should it become harmful or disruptive for their customers. And with this volume of users no assumptions can be made about their behavior, making it impossible to make future predictions. So the question is, will these providers be able to guarantee quality of service in decades to come? Elimination of cell technology Both Sigfox and LoRa use simple radio designs which use less silicon and therefore cost less to make. These designs deliver signals over very long distances, eliminating the need for cell type technology as signals can be picked up from a few gateways scattered around a city (this is referred to as a star topology). In theory this reduces infrastructure costs enormously compared to cell technology but one of issues with this is that the devices continuously transmit on the highest power whether they need to or not (this is sometimes called “shout loud”) and has obvious negative implications for power savings, which will be discussed later. The benefit of the shout loud approach means data can be picked up by distant gateways, however, this could – in the end – limit the amount of connections and data in the network. Control of usage vs freedom of use One of the big differences between Sigfox and LoRa is that Sigfox controls the base stations themselves whereas LoRA allows anyone to set up a network. With Sigfox managing their own network they have some control over aspects like how many nodes are allowed to connect and the location of base stations. By contrast many LoRa deployments are demonstrated on a building-wide network, using it simply as a local collator of data. This is a direction that LoRa seem to be increasingly heading towards. This in some ways negates the benefits of reducing infrastructure costs by having long range devices. Using LoRa as a short range radio should at the very least deliver deep coverage across the building location. But what might be the consequences of such deployments using the unlicensed band? An unlicensed radio band Deathmatch? If this scenario is widely adopted and 10,000’s of LoRa networks appear in buildings throughout a city, what would be the result? Will they potentially interfere with each other? Will they cause problems with other networks including Sigfox who are competing on the same band? Research on this scenario is scant. However one paper concludes that this could potentially become a major problem for both these technologies. The paper:  Bad Neighbors? A comparison of LPWA technology options  suggests that LoRa and Sigfox do not play nicely together and that it is hard to predict the performance of both these systems, particularly if they intend to operate with many 100’s or 1000’s of concurrent networks in a city scenario. Understanding some of the other compromises related to low power operation will be my next topic.

Here we examine the history of the 3 serial interfaces used today and explore the common issues found with them and the benefits of each of the 3 different connections. RS232: Down but not out Once a standard feature on personal computers, the RS232 serial port was one of the first used to connect data terminals to mainframe computers. It remained in widespread use for serial communications between PCs, printers and other peripherals until the late 1990’s, after which it was superseded by USB. However, RS232 ports remain in use today in the industrial sector. RS232 Connection and Configuration Connecting a RS232 port to a laptop usually requires a RS232 to USB converter like our  Define Multicom . Typically they are used as programming ports to configure instruments and controllers, and are also used in  SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems . SCADA systems gather data from RTU’s (Remote Terminal Units) like controllers or meters, and then display the results on a PC. Here, RS232 ports are used for several reasons: There are many reported problems with RS485 cards. Instabilities caused by the Windows operating system controlling the flow of data leads to unreliability across many SCADA programs. To get around this, SCADA systems prefer an RS232 card (which does not have any flow issues) coupled with an external RS485 to RS232 converter like the  Multicom . RS232 cards are more readily available than RS485 cards. Another common application for an RS232 port is in small printer applications. Typically an instrument like a panel meter can drive a printer to print items such as weigh bridge dockets or to drive a cell phone modem. Issues with RS232 Connect what to what? There are three pins used for signaling on a RS232 system: Rx – Receiver Tx – Transmitter Gnd – Signal ground (There are other signals in the specification used for hardware handshaking such as RTS and DTR, but these are not used in Define Instruments products.) The original standard makes a distinction between a computer (master device) known as DTE (Data Transmission Equipment) and a slave device known as DCE (or Data Communications Equipment). The labeling of the DCE becomes an issue, in that the Rx of the computer must be connected to the Tx of the DCE, and vice versa.  As many instruments now can act as both master and slave (e.g. driving a printer), this leaves the quandary of how to label the device: DTE or DCE? Over the years, manufacturers have not shown consistency on this point. This has been further complicated by manufacturers of devices that are limited by their size opting to not use the official connectors of the standard (as they are too bulky). As a result, the system cannot be identified from the connector as DTE or DCE. Thus one is left without knowing which way to connect: Rx from the device to the Rx of the computer, or the Tx of the computer to the Tx line on the device. Employing trial and error is all that remains. Fortunately, incorrect connection of the pins is not damaging. If wrongly connected, the driver chips simply won’t work. Cross over cables are so named as they perform the cross over in the cable, and are a very handy addition to a technician’s toolkit. Caution is required when grounding the RS232 signal Most desktop computers ground of the RS232 ports are internally connected to earth. This presents problems if the DCE’s serial port is not isolated from all other signals. For example: a DCE serial port ground maybe referenced to another signal in a system which is not grounded. Connecting the grounds together in this case will short points together which are at different potentials, and more than likely cause damage to the PC or device. To get around this, the device’s serial port must be verified as a fully isolated design.  All Define Instruments RS232 ports are fully isolated.  If the port is not isolated, then one must use an external device that isolates the serial ports. (The  Define Multicom  can be used to galvanically isolate two RS232 ports.) Variable protocols The RS232/RS485/RS422 standards only relate to the hardware interface, not the software protocol required to make the buses communicate. There are numerous protocols (both open standards and proprietary) that exist in the market place. Hence one cannot assume interoperability between different manufacturers of “RS232” ports. Define Instruments supports a mixture of industry standard and proprietary protocols: Modbus RTU This protocol is widely used in industry and most SCADA packages and PLC’s have drivers for it. However a word of warning using Modbus: although the Modbus protocol is well published, every manufacturer can and does determine its own addressing scheme. This means the manufacturer must supply the addressing scheme, register type, and Modbus commands supported, for successful integration into a Modbus system. ASCII protocol The reason ASCII is popular is that it is easier than Modbus to write your own driver in a PLC or a PC. Define has its own protocol based on ASCII characters. Again, every manufacturer’s protocols – although similar – are not usually compatible. String outputs Define supports two streaming string outputs. In these modes every new sample is streamed out in ASCII to the serial port. A computer on the other end can easily disseminate the reading in between start and stop characters. This type of output is very popular in the weighing industry as it is used to drive computers, large displays and summing units. RS485: Still popular The RS485 port has been used successfully for many years, and while RS232 installations are in decline, the RS485’s popularity shows no signs of abating. The RS485 has many advantages over both RS232 and USB when it comes to applications in noisy industrial environments.  It was designed from the beginning to be tolerant of noise and forgiving of long cable runs . It achieves this by using a differential current drive output which has high immunity to noise. While RS232 installations are in decline, the RS485’s popularity shows no signs of abating. Another major advantage is that users can have more than one slave on the BUS. The original specification stated a maximum of 32 slaves, due to the leakage of the then driver chips. These days the chips have improved, and many can support up to 256 slave devices. The slave units are simply wired in a daisy chain configuration, meaning one port can talk to 256 slaves. This is great for large SCADA systems and comes at a very low cost to implement. Issues with RS485 Timing of the controlling BUS The RS485 signaling system uses two wires to achieve its drive: A+ and A- sometimes referred to as A and B, or D+ and D-. These two signals, along with a ground signal for reference, become the BUS. To achieve bi-directional communications like most protocols require, the BUS is shared between transmitting and receiving. So when one end of the BUS is transmitting it must take control, and the other end must release control and enter a listening mode. The timing of controlling the BUS is critical for a successful installation . If the transmitting side takes too long to release the BUS, the other side may start transmitting before the first has finished, causing the message to be corrupted. Many computer RS485 cards use the RTS signal in a standard PC UART to control the BUS. Unfortunately Windows then has to control this signal. Since Windows is not a Real Time Operating System (RTOS), the signal may be delayed (for a multitude of other operating system demands), resulting in garbled messages. The best way to eliminate this issue is to use an external RS485 to RS232, or RS485 to USB converter, like the  Define Multicom . Embedded devices like the Multicom take care of this issue. Misconceptions around the necessity of the ground connection A common misconception is that only the two signaling wires are required for a RS485 system and the ground connection can be omitted. This is incorrect. Even though the system may appear to work without the ground, its noise rejection and reliability is significantly degraded. When to use RS485 terminating resistors The RS485 standard is designed to work up to 10Mbits/s, while most industrial systems tend to work up to 115Kbits/s max (or a 100th of the maximum). Terminating resistors are required if using very high baud rates, as transmission line reflections from un-terminated ends can come back to be read mistakenly as a valid signals. A good rule of thumb is if the system runs up to 115K, one need not worry about terminating resistors. Labeling of the terminals The standard shows A and B. Unfortunately, early in the RS485’s history, a semiconductor maker mislabeled these pins on a RS485 driver IC datasheet. This caused mass confusion for manufacturers who referenced this datasheet and incorrectly transposed the pin labels. Some manufacturers noticed the error and amended their labeling. The consequence of this is that  there are many products which have incompatible labeling . The solution is to swap the wiring around (the same workaround as for the RS232). Define labels all its products as  D+ ,  D-  and  Sgnd . For wiring a system together, simply connect all D+ together as with D- and Sgnd. RS422: In decline The RS422 port was the predecessor to the RS485 port and is becoming less and less common today. The main difference is that the RS422 port has separate drivers for Transmit and Receive. Hence instead of 3 wires, 5 wires are required for a RS422 bus. Many of the same advantages of the RS485 BUS are retained in the RS422 BUS. Read:  How Engineers Find Information to Decide what to Specify and Buy for their Engineering Solution Conclusion This paper gives a bit of history of the three different serial interfaces commonly used today. It explains common issues found in setting up such a system and the benefits of the three different connections. Although both the RS232 and RS422 connections are in decline today, the many benefits of the RS485 connection will ensure that it will remain relevant for many years to come. The many benefits of the RS485 connection ensure that it will remain relevant for many years to come.

This infographic provides insights into how marketers targeting technical prospects in the manufacturing, software and engineer sectors are allocating their budgets, the channels they are using and the results they are getting. Drawing data from Engineering.com ’s 2018 report “ Budget Trends in Industrial & Technology Marketing ” this builds a picture of how engineers and other industrial professionals are responding to marketing messages.

This infographic reveals the information consumption habits of engineers during a buying cycle. It shows how they consume engineering content to help them make buying decisions. Based on data from Engineering.com ’s research study “ How Engineers Find Information ” 2018 this data reveals some surprising insights.

As you dig into the world of the Internet of Things (IoT) and it’s subset the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) you’ll encounter many abbreviations (like the two in this sentence). These get thrown around in a manner that assumes you already know what they mean and what they do. This can be frustrating, so let’s begin decoding these terms. What does MQTT mean and how does it work? MQTT stands for Message Query Telemetry Transport and it is a communication protocol.  But what does that actually mean? Put simply, it’s a language spoken by machines to other machines (machines that are connected to the IoT). And like any language it has its own set of rules, functions and formats. By machines I mean anything from domestic fridges, cars, and HVAC systems to industrial manufacturing robots, municipal wastewater systems and citywide streetlight networks (so pretty much everything!) Machines talking to machines is often referred to as machine-to-machine or M2M and there are many M2M languages of which MQTT is just one. How do machines connect to the IIoT Cloud? Newer machines may have native IIoT capabilities but the majority of machines require connection to an  IIoT Cloud Gateway  or some other type of  Cloud Interface  before they can communicate with the MQTT broker in the Cloud. When is MQTT used and why? MQTT is used to send data from a large number of machines to a single destination – the Cloud – where the data can be analyzed, interpreted and forwarded. The Cloud hosts an MQTT broker – an intermediary between machines and other machines and/or humans. And this is an important distinction as the machines aren’t actually talking directly to each other but via the broker. MQTT uses the concept of ‘topics” to organize its data and a publish/subscribe model to communicate the topics to other parties via the Cloud. For example: an HVAC system sends (or publishes) data on the topic of the “health” of its compressors to the Cloud. Any interested parties with approved credentials – machine or human – can subscribe to this topic to receive the information. Subscribers may include maintenance technicians (humans), parts procurement systems (machine) or servicing scheduling systems (machine). Suddenly every aspect of a machine’s life cycle is available for scrutiny and this represents an exciting and profound opportunity to connect to and act upon this information for fault finding, cost savings, improved efficiency and scheduling – which is why everyone is excited about the potential of the Internet of Things.

Over the last 12 months I have consulted on many IIoT projects for industrial companies across the U.S. These companies have varied from value-added distributors to systems integrators to end users. During discussions I have found it interesting to note reactions to the inclusion of IIoT in the application. One of the most common reactions forms the basis of this article. Typically it goes something like this… After discussing specific needs there would come a point in the conversation where I would mention Remote Monitoring and Control of Assets, to which the typical response was: “But we’re already doing this with our SCADA systems, what’s the difference?” This is an excellent question and the best way to answer is by comparing the two approaches.* For our comparison I have selected a recent  application in the Water/Wastewater industry . This system includes the Remote Monitoring and Control of a large water filtering station for irrigation in the Florida region. Remote Monitoring & Control in Water Filtering Station An RTU has been programmed to monitor and control the filtration system and by measuring the differential pressure across the filters, the RTU automatically performs a backflush of the filters when required. The RTU also monitors the flow rate and total flow of water and wastewater. From this information one can determine the general health of the system. Investigating the reasons for faults currently involves humans Occasionally, the unit in the field will trip out and stop working. The customer then has to send a technician to the site – a drive of around 3 hours. When the technician arrives, quite often the only action required is to reset the system, as most of the time this clears the fault. But what the customer really wants to knowis why the system tripped in the first place. And how necessary was it to dispatch a technician to the site? If a technician was not required, could the system be reset remotely? These questions can be only answered by looking at the data from the sensors before and after the trip event. And so using the traditional approach, a SCADA system must be installed to receive this data. As the system is usually deployed on hardware at the customer’s premises, the following must be considered: What level of reliability is required? Should it be running on Server Grade Quality devices? Should a backup power system also be installed? How much will this cost in capital and maintenance? Who will manage this system? Once these questions have been answered, the SCADA application can be built. It will of course require a data historian, the setting up of a mimic and possibly an add-on package to deal with the telemetry aspect of the modem etc. Addressing security within the SCADA system During the building of the system, security must also be addressed. The industry standard approach to this is to add a VPN connection between the SCADA PC and the RTU in the field. This requires using a powerful cellular router that has the capability to both perform the VPN function and to open a port in firewalls and connect to a DNS. Once the VPN is set up, the SCADA can be set to run mode and will begin polling the RTU in the field. As is clear, deploying this system is not for the faint-hearted It requires expert help from engineering or IT professionals and could take some time to set up and test. The IIoT approach In the IIoT approach, the first consideration is the choice of Cloud Platform Provider. This is an important first step as not all Cloud providers are created equal – I would consider this as important as selecting the correct hardware. In this example I have chosen the Xively platform as it has a powerful Connected Product Management feature (CPM) which allows organization of products in domains and sub domains, the importance of which will become clear later. A typical IIoT system uses a broker in the Cloud. I have chosen to use an MQTT broker as it is available in most Cloud systems. Coupled with this is the  Define Instruments Zen IoT RTU . The difference between this and the traditional RTU is that it is setup to deliver messages to the Cloud broker using MQTT. It uses a publish and subscribe model: the Zen IoT RTU will publish information like pressure and flow rate to the broker and subscribe to a control topic. Read:   The completely overlooked but drastic cost savings municipal water departments can achieve with this simple IIoT application Control topics are used to perform tasks such as turning on a relay in the RTU. The other major difference is that the Zen IoT RTU itself makes the connection to the broker and it does so in a secure mode using TLS and certificates. This eliminates all the issues related to setting up VPNs, DNS and firewalls. The only information that has to be provisioned in the IIoT RTU is the username and password associated with the Cloud account. The information is now sitting in the Cloud and in this location it is available to the humans and devices who have permissions to access it. The Cloud platform enables this by providing a rich set of APIs, rules-based engines and standard interfaces to CRMs and ERPs. For this application a dashboard is required to visualize the data. There are 3rd party dashboards available but in this instance a webpage was created to visualize the data using the REST API. This is akin to setting up the mimic in the traditional SCADA system. So at this stage in our comparison, the IIoT approach is obviously the simpler of the two to setup for a secure application. And one that avoids the headaches of server-side hardware. You do however have to pay a monthly subscription to the Cloud provider (around $1 per month for this application). Thinking into the future Let’s now examine a post-installation scenario. After a few months of using the system the customer comes back and says:  “The system is great! So great in fact that I want to roll it out to monitor the 400+ filtration systems I have throughout the country. And I have some changes…” The customer explains his clients would like to: See how much water they have been using See how much wastewater was lost Manually turn the system on and off by logging in to a website He further explains how he personally would like to: Know when the pump has completed 1000 working hours (to schedule maintenance) Be alerted via his CRM at the 800 working hours mark Lastly, he leaves this juicy tidbit: “I was recently speaking to a pump manufacturer and he asked if we could share with him some of the pump data so he could use it to improve his product. I don’t see any reason why not…” The IIoT solution provider can confidently accommodate these requests. He knows that his Cloud partner already provides CRM alerts as a feature, he also knows the Connected Product Management system is another feature already in place to provide different permissions to different users. All the IIoT solution provider has to do is: Make 2 new dashboards Create accounts for the new users Provision these credentials into the Zen IoT RTUs But where does the engineer come in? In actuality an engineer isn’t required at all An engineer isn’t required at all in the commissioning of the sites as an electrician can wire up the units in the field. After wiring, the electrician isn’t required to do much more, just turn them on, run through an automated test setup and ensure any issues are sent as alerts directly to their cellphone (the last part requires a little more work – but just a little). Employing the IIoT approach, the customer’s requests are a cinch to implement and it’s smiles all round. Not so for the SCADA provider. The SCADA headache Unfortunately, faced with these requests from the customer, they are plagued by a sense of panic and overwhelm. So many questions, ones like: Will the server be up to the job? Will it require an upgrade? If so, how much will that cost? With 400+ VPNs concurrently talking to the field devices, can the SCADA system handle it? How will all the permissions be managed to allow 400+ users to get information on the site Suffice to say that the IIoT system wins hands down when faced with a scaling issue like this. Not only that, the capital and development costs for IIoT are far smaller. As are the costs of expert professional help from engineers and IT specialists. Only the beginning But this application could just be the start of this customer’s IIoT journey. For example, the information obtained from the systems over time could be useful for improving the design as well as determining the real maintenance and running costs associated with such a system. Armed with this knowledge, a new business model could be evolved. Offering a maintenance agreement based on the water pumped, for example. Or partnering with a finance company to offer a pay-as-you-go service so clients are only billed for the actual water pumped. Read: The drastic limitations of Sigfox and LoRa that nobody is talking about In conclusion, the benefits of implementing an IIoT solution over a traditional SCADA system go beyond the immediate wins of cost, timeline and required expertise. It is also highly scalable and adaptable to customer needs in the future. Anything that gives such a level of security, peace of mind and readiness for what might be over the horizon is an undeniable asset to your business and to everyone else’s. * I have assumed that both approaches require a highly secure solution.

The opportunity to better serve customers is driving greater interest in IIoT remote monitoring and predictive servicing solutions. In any industry it is a proven fact that customers who are loyal remain with you for longer, spend more on your goods and services, and have less of a cost impact when compared to acquiring new customers. Yet so many businesses focus on slick sales and marketing activities for customer acquisition, only to lose them once acquired. If the ideal outcome is years of customer loyalty, how do you breed this in your customer base? One part of the answer is to deliver a consistently excellent customer experience. A designated customer service champion Finding faster and smarter ways to pre-empt and address the needs of your customers is a priority. Consultant and Author Joseph Michelli who studied businesses that displayed excellent customer service in his book  Prescription for Excellence , identifies that to be successful a business needs “an executive, preferable in the top echelon, overseeing all aspects of the customer experience and ensuring a systematic approach.” For many smaller companies though, a spare executive may not be on hand to exclusively spearhead the much needed architecting of the customer experience. But all is not lost. Where a designated “customer service champion” may be lacking in your team, leveraging IIoT technology may be a way forward. While deploying IIoT technology is not a silver bullet, it can help in some specific areas. One such area is the consumables-to-customer sector. Finding faster and smarter ways to pre-empt and address the needs of your customers is a priority. Avoiding run-to-empty scenarios that destroy customer loyalty For companies selling consumables, the worst case scenario is a customer running out of that consumable at a crucial time. The consequences of which could range from an annoying inconvenience (running out of printer ink) to a life threatening situation (heating oil deliveries in Chicago during a Polar Vortex). A “run-to-empty” scenario is massively damaging for your customer and your company alike. With the IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) there is real opportunity for companies that regularly supply consumables to customers to leverage remote monitoring to mitigate this scenario, and to learn more about their customer’s consumption habits. Reshaping the idea of customer service Today, we often associate customer service with picking up the phone to call a company’s service agent. This phone call can take some (considerable) time: first we have to navigate automated screening systems, then spend a frustrating amount of time on hold and when we finally do speak to a human being we don’t always get the issue sorted first time. But what if the reverse was true? What if  you  received call from the customer service department informing you that you are running low and declaring an estimated run-to-empty date? Or perhaps just a notification via the app informing you that a delivery has already been dispatched to replenish your supply. This example of predictive customer service is increasingly becoming a reality. Automated consumables replenishment avoids disappointing your customers and the subsequent damage to your reputation. The old way Replenishment request received from the customer Procurement of the item from the warehouse Scheduling of delivery and delivery route planning in line with other customer requests Customer Delivery The challenges to business faced by the old way: For customers to be aware that they are running low, they need to establish how much of the consumable is remaining. This may require external inspection and the customer finding the time to make this inspection. Customers need to understand their consumption habits to estimate how long their remaining supply will last so they can schedule a new delivery. Few, if any will recall the last time they called to with a replenishment request, let alone those in the last 12 months. Customers may not be able to raise a replenishment request at an obvious point (e.g. when a tank is half-full) due to capacity and minimum delivery quantities. E.g. Minimum order for a water deliver may be 10,000 liters. Customers with a 15,000 liter tank can’t reorder when half empty as their tank does not have the capacity to accommodate a 10k delivery. Unfortunately, some customers don’t realize there are running low until they’re completely out. Customers may have meant to make a replenishment request earlier but got distracted, busy or just plain forgot. Delays in making a request further increases run-to-empty risk. The seamless supply of consumables without the customer needing to pick up the phone is a huge step forward. Predictive servicing via IIoT remote monitoring leads the way. A sensor installed at the customer’s location measures current levels and this is visualized via an app to provide at-a-glance levels to the customer without external inspection. The publishing of user data to the Cloud over time builds a picture of the users consumption habits, trends and points of dire need. Notifications within the remote monitoring app can alert customers when the consumable falls below a set level, boosting awareness. IoT remote monitoring integrates with the consumables supplier’s ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system so replenishment is automatically procured and scheduled for delivery . Delivering massive value Many innovative businesses have already adopted predictive service and replenishment. Service agents monitor the incoming data from customer devices and action replenishment accordingly. The seamless supply of consumables without the customer needing to pick up the phone is a huge step forward. Imagine: no more phone calls to call centers, no more being left to dangle on hold, no more “you are number 26 in the queue”. In the eyes of the customer you are delivering huge value by removing the onus normally placed on them and instead are proactively taking care of them, sometimes replenishing before they even realize it is required. Predictive servicing is the new gold standard in customer service. Of course, the customer also does not mind paying a little extra for this peace of mind.

Clearing the fog surrounding fog computing Cloud Edge Computing or Fog Computing  is a concept related to the IoT (Internet of Things) and the sending of data to the Cloud. It’s best if we examine this concept alongside the other main cloud computing concept. For clarity we’ll name each after the 2 companies who are driving product development and innovation in each of the respective ways of thinking. The Amazon IoT approach Amazon advocate sending all data to the Cloud  for processing. This approach is very much a “capture everything and deal with it later” way of thinking. Of course, Amazon have the infrastructure to deal with the massive amounts of data that will issue forth and many believe that collecting as much data as possible is the most robust method for future-proofing whether this data is useful now or not. This “catch all” approach provides a safety net if in the future historical data is required. Nobody can predict the future but yesterday’s data may become a tool of competitive advantage in tomorrow’s world. Advantages of Send-All-to-Cloud: No data left behind (could be useful later) Big Data tools for centralized analysis The Dell IoT Cloud Edge Approach Dell believes that the future of IoT lies at the Cloud Edge . Unlike Amazon’s “grab it all” approach to data, Dell take a more pragmatic “take only what is useful and meaningful, then send it to the Cloud” perspective. This is the essence of Edge Computing. To conduct this cloud-edge processing of data, something has to be placed between The Cloud and the item collecting the data (placed at the Cloud’s edge as it were). This “in-between” item is known as an  IoT Cloud Edge Processing device  or a  Cloud Edge Gateway . It can also be termed a  Fog Computing Device  (the fog at the edge of the Cloud) Analyzing IoT data near to where it is collected cuts gigabytes from network traffic and keeps sensitive data inside the network. Advantages of Cloud Edge computing: Only the meaningful data is taken – lower data volume Calculations can be performed on the data before it is sent Lower bandwidth costs Realtime processing All this data, now what? In both of these cases the overriding thing to keep in mind is that it is not the amount of data collected that is valuable. The value of data is in how it is interpreted and how it is used. Cloud Edge Computing products View Define Instruments Edge Computing Gateways Cloud Edge Computing video

Volatile Organic Compounds are organic chemical compounds that negatively affect the environment and human health. They evaporate at normal room temperature and pressure and are present in both indoor and outdoor environments. Outside VOCs tend to affect the natural environment (and indirectly wildlife and humans) e.g. Smog but inside, exposure to VOCs can drastically affect the health of humans. Some VOCs are more volatile than others: those that evaporate faster are more dangerous and pose a greater risk. To provide clarity around VOCs and their risks the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) adapted World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines to divide indoor organic pollutants into 3 classifications: Very Volatile Organic Compounds (VVOCs) Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) Semi-Volatile Organic Compounds (SVOCs) The three classifications are all important to indoor air and are all considered to fall within the broad definition of indoor volatile organic compounds. Very Volatile Organic Compounds (VVOCs) VVOCs are the most dangerous class of pollutants and can be toxic at very low concentrations. Examples include propane, butane and methyl chloride. Propane Propane is the most commonly used VVOC and is highly dangerous. Typically it is shipped as a liquefied gas under its vapour pressure and used for heating and cooking. Many households use portable propane heaters to warm garages and utility areas while propane gas grills are used for barbecuing. Butane Used in an almost identical fashion to propane, butane is contained in items including camping stoves, lighters, torches, fridges and freezers. Butane is regarded as one of the more harmful volatile substances to inhale. Methyl Chloride Also known as Chloromethane, this is colorless, flammable, toxic gas that is widely used as a refrigerant but has many other industrial applications. Some examples include: as solvent in petroleum refining, a propellant in polystyrene foam production, a methylating and chlorinating agent in organic chemistry and as a herbicide. Exposure to methyl chloride causes a wide variety of issues from drowsiness and dizziness to seizures and comas depending on the level of concentration and duration of exposure. Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) Although less dangerous than VVOCs, VOCs are still hazardous to human health. Generally you are more likely to encounter VOCs as many are found in household products and VOCs may also be present in home or work environments . Exposure guidelines and thresholds for VOCs have been collated and published by the EPA. Below is a list of the most common VOCs. Formaldehyde This VOC is a known carcinogen. Formaldehyde is used to make resins for building materials, coatings for clothing fabrics, and paper. It commonly occurs in molded plastics, glues, lacquers, insulation materials and pressed wood products such as laminate flooring, plywood, fibreboard and particle board. Vinyl Chloride Used to make PVC plastics, piping, floor coverings and consumer goods, Vinyl Chloride is also known as chloroethene, chloroethylene and ethylene monochloride. The United States EPA IRIS program determined that vinyl chloride is “highly likely to be carcinogenic” and those residing close to factories that produce this chemical are at risk. The liver is the main toxicity target of vinyl chloride. Liver lesions and impaired liver function have been reported in workers exposed to low air levels over time. Carbon Tetrachloride EPA cites this VOC as “likely to be carcinogenic to humans”. Historically it was used as a dry-cleaning agent, a refrigerant and propellant for aerosol cans, and used in fire extinguishers and as a grain fumigant. Because of its harmful effects, these uses were banned and now Carbon Tetrachloride is only used in specific industrial applications. Toluene An important chemical used as a gasoline additive and to make nylon, plastics, solvents, dyes, inks and paints. Paints in particular are under scrutiny as both commercial office and home remodeling involves exposing people to this VOC through paint fumes. Low VOC and toluene-free paints are available. In recent years several paint companies have been charged with misleading consumers over claims of VOC free paint products. Acetone Used mainly as a commercial chemical solvent in consumer products and industrial processes, people’s exposure to acetone usually stems from use of paints, glues, nail polishes and particularly nail polish removers – either through home use or at consumer nail beauty bars. It also found in wallpaper and furniture polish. Isopropyl alcohol Used in making cosmetics, skin and hair preparations, pharmaceuticals, perfumes, lacquer formulations, dye solutions, antifreezes, and soaps. However, the most likely exposure to Isopropyl alcohol is via its widespread use as a cleaner and disinfecting agent. Hexanal Hexaldehyde is used as a flavoring in food production and as a fragrance in perfumes. Additionally it is used to create other chemicals that are used in the production of plastics, rubbers and insecticides. People exposed to moderate concentrations of Hexanal for a short time can suffer irritation of the nose, throat, lungs, eyes and skin. Longer periods or higher exposure result in a choking feeling, coughing and rapid breathing. Carbon Disulfide Also called Carbon Bisulfide, this highly volatile compound is used in the manufacture of viscose rayon and cellophane. It is also present in varnishes, solvents and insecticides. The most common source of human toxicity is via inhalation in an occupational setting. Semi Volatile Organic Compounds (SVOCs) SVOCs tend to have a higher molecular weight and boiling point than VOCs meaning they are less likely to become a vapor at room temperature. However, this does not mean they are any less dangerous. The use of SVOCs in building materials, furnishings, electronics, and furniture is often proprietary – usually indicated by the term “additives” – therefore their presence and concentration is not required to be publicly disclosed. This represents a serious gap in information. Examples of SVOCS include: Pesticides Organochlorine pesticides, one more widely known as DDT was used extensively from the 1940s to the 1960s in agriculture and mosquito control. As neurotoxicants they caused severe health and environmental problems which led to them being banned. Chlordane Listed as a “probably human carcinogen”, this SVOC was used as a contact insecticide for lawns and crops until it was discovered that Chlordane was very persistent in the environment, surviving in soils for more than 20 years. Between 1983 and 1998 its only approved used was to control termites, then in 1988 the EPA banned all uses of it. Benzyl Alcohol Benzyl alcohol is used as a solvent, a preservative, and to make other chemicals. It is also used as a fragrance in perfumes and in flavoring, and is an ingredient in ointments and cosmetics. Also used in inks, as a photographic developer, and in dyeing nylon filament, textiles and sheet plastics. Fire retardants A significant source of SVOCs are flame retardant chemicals such as those found in fire extinguishers. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs or PBBs) are the most common of these. Take control of the air you breathe VOCs are ubiquitous in indoor air, the questions are: what concentration levels are in the air you breathe? and how long are you exposed to them? Using sensors to sample indoor air quality and measure VOC concentrations is the only way to know for sure.

As the issue of maintaining healthy Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) in the workplace becomes more prevalent, companies are being taken to task for ignoring the harmful effects of poor air quality on their employees. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) indoor air quality may be between 2 to 100 times more polluted than outdoor air. Recent years have witnessed an upward trend in number of lawsuits filed against employers relating to poor air quality. Here are some examples. Chevron pays $21.4 Million in damages to families of brothers who died from cancer after daily exposure to VOCs In 2019 a judge in Northern California ordered Chevron Corp to pay the families of two brothers who died of cancer $21.4 Million in damages after concluding the company failed to properly warn the men about the dangers of toxic solvents they worked with at a company tire factory. Gary and Randy Eaves both worked for decades at Cooper Tire & Rubber in Texarkana, Arkanas. As part of their work the brothers were frequently exposed to the chemical benzene, commonly used as a rubber solvent. Benzene is a VOC and known human carcinogen. Gary Eaves was a tire handler and hauler in the tire plant’s curing department. In this role he was exposed to the solvent on daily basis and as a spray booth operator he was responsible for spraying tires with the chemical. Gary also hauled the tires coated in benzene. In June 2013, Gary Eaves was diagnosed with cancerous non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, at the age of 59. He died just two years later in July 2015. Randy Eaves was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia a few years later, in June 2016. He also died less than 2 years later, in March 2018. Both of the brothers were 59 when they were diagnosed with cancer. The families’ lawyer argued that none of the plant workers wore respirators or protective clothing while working with the solvent and were never advised to handle benzene inside of a ventilation booth. Alexander also argued that the manufacturer should have warned of the dangers of using the chemicals and that the benzene solvent was shipped without Safety Data Sheets that could indicate this. Samsung’s estimated $15.3 Million payout and apology to workers who developed cancer after exposure to VOCs In November 2018 multinational electronics conglomerate Samsung reached a final settlement with a group representing the families of ex-employees who died from leukemia and other cancers while working at the company’s semiconductor plants. The tech giant’s apology and settlement ended a controversy that dogged the company for over a decade. The issue began in 2007 when a 22-year-old woman named Yu-mi Hwang, who had worked at Samsung’s Giheung semiconductor plant, died of leukemia. A year later, a 30-year-old woman who shared a workstation with Yu-mi died, also of leukemia. Thus began a series of reported deaths and severe illnesses affecting Samsung workers. Campaigners claimed that in this time 320 Samsung employees developed illnesses after being exposed to VOCs at chip factories. They also claimed that 118 people died as a result. Benzene, trichloroethylene (TCE) and methylene chloride are VOCs used widely in semiconductor and electronics manufacturing and are associated with cancer, nervous system damage and are also known to affect developing embryos. After years of denying responsibility, Korean smartphone giant promised to offer adequate compensation for employees who died of or developed leukemia from working at the company’s semiconductor plants. Under the agreement, Samsung agreed to compensate any employee who became sick from working in the company’s semiconductor and LCD lines from May 1984 onwards – when Samsung built its first chip line at Giheung. Compensation was based on when and where an employee worked, and the kind of sickness they contracted. Those who suffered leukemia received up to around US$130,000. A conservative estimate of the payout puts this at around $15.3 Million dollars. The decade long fight by campaigners to hold Samsung responsible for health problems related to working conditions, galvanized public opinion and birthed a broader movement to hold businesses accountable for safety lapses in the chip and display industries which use large amounts of chemical compounds. Boeing Aviation in ongoing lawsuit with pilots and air crew over exposure to contaminated cabin air Most recent is the lawsuit filed in Jan 2020 by 3 Delta Airlines flight attendants against aviation giant Boeing. The suit alleges that cabin air on all Boeing’s commercial aircraft (except the 787 Dreamliner) could be filled with toxins due to their use of a “bleed air” system which use the planes engines to draw in outside air. Due to its design the bleed air system may also suck in heated jet engine oil, hydraulic fluid and chemical compounds that can also be found in insecticides and pesticides. The lawsuit stems from an event on a February 2018 flight from Frankfurt to Detroit that left passengers and flight crew sick. The flight attendants claim that while aboard a Boeing 767-300ER aircraft “toxic” air flowed into the cabin. The suit says the fumes cause nausea and dizziness as well as long term health problems such as memory loss, tremors and joint and muscle pain. The suit also alleges that Boeing has known about the design flaw but has failed to fix it and has deceptively created the image that the air in its cabins are safe. Although there are engineering standards that recommend levels of air filtration for airplanes there is no federal requirement for airplanes to install air filters, so that means that the air in many cabins may not be filtered or cleaned in any way, exposing passengers and crew to harmful particulates. Accounts of events similar to that above were echoed in March 2019 when the BBC reported that British Airways, EasyJet, Jet2 and Virgin Atlantic (all operators of Boeing aircraft) were  subject to legal action by the Unite union over “aerotoxic syndrome” . The cases continue. Are you monitoring VOC levels in your workplace? Taking control of the air you and your employees breathe begins with monitoring indoor air quality. As these accounts demonstrate, the  measurement of VOC concentrations in working environments  is increasingly important. Monitoring IAQ is part of being a workplace health compliant employer, will save lives and mitigate worker related litigation.

As the world continues to fight the coronavirus pandemic there is a growing body of evidence that shows air quality has played a significant role in both the transmission and health outcomes of those affected by COVID-19. The outbreak which began in Wuhan, China quickly spread around the world and spiked in countries including Iran, Italy and Spain. The medical evidence showed that people with pre-existing respiratory conditions were most at risk and many of the reported deaths were individuals with a previous history of respiratory disease. But what caused these individuals to have respiratory diseases in the first place and what linked the spikes in Wuhan, Iran, Italy and Spain? Mounting evidence and the results of the latest studies point to air pollution. The overlap of highly polluted spaces such as northern Italy and pandemic hotspots is stark, additionally a link between air quality and the 2003 Sars outbreak is already known. Air pollution may be important in 3 ways: Higher death rates due to lungs and hearts weakened by dirty air. Pollutants inflame lungs, potentially increasing the probability of catching the virus. Particles of pollution may carry the virus further than first thought Although still preliminary, the hypothesis is that high levels of air pollution may be one of the most important contributors to deaths from Covid-19. The Air Quality Index [AQI] of the countries are as follows: Wuhan 147, Iran 77, Italy 78, Spain 75 (AQI of 50 or below represents good air quality) In a Germany study, analysis showed that of the coronavirus deaths across 66 administrative regions in Italy, Spain, France and Germany, 78% of them occurred in just 5 regions – and these were the most polluted. Areas of the world with highest air pollution seem to correlate to those with highest incidences of coronavirus cases. The research examined levels of nitrogen dioxide (a pollutant produced from diesel vehicles) and weather conditions that can prevent dirty air from dispersing from around a city. Out of 4,443 deaths over three-quarters were in 4 regions in northern Italy and one around Madrid in Spain. These 5 regions had the worst combination of NO2 levels and airflow conditions that prevented dispersal of air pollution. The study noted the Po Valley in Italy and Madrid are surrounded by mountains which helps trap pollution, an indication there might be a correlation between the level of air pollution, air movement and the severity of coronavirus outbreaks. Historic studies link NO2 exposure to respiratory health issues, particularly lung disease which could make people more likely to die if they contracted Covid-19. A separate study published on 7 April looked at fine particle pollution (PM2.5) in the US and found even small increases in levels in the years preceding the pandemic were associated with far higher Covid-19 death rates. Researchers at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health in Boston analyzed air pollutants and Covid-19 deaths up to 4 April in 3,000 US counties covering 98% of the population and found an increase of only 1μg/m3 in PM2.5 particles was associated with a 15% increase in the Covid-19 death rate. The authors said the results highlighted the need to keep enforcing existing air pollution regulations, and that failure to do so could potentially increase the Covid-19 death toll. Ironically, the US Environmental Protection Agency suspended its enforcement of environmental laws on 26 March. Another preliminary study from the UK showed London, the Midlands and the north-west England had the highest levels of nitrogen oxides and higher number of coronavirus deaths. It is not yet known whether coronavirus remains viable on pollution particles and in sufficient quantity to cause the disease In another important development, coronavirus was detected on particles of air pollution by scientists investigating whether this could enable it to be carried over longer distances – thereby increasing the number of people infected. Italian scientists collected outdoor air samples at one urban and one industrial site in Bergamo province and identified a gene specific to Covid-19 in multiple samples. Lead scientist Leonardo Setti at the University of Bologna said it was important to explore whether the virus could be carried more widely by air pollution. Two other research groups have suggested air pollution particles could help the coronavirus travel further in the air. It is not yet known whether the virus remains viable on pollution particles and in sufficient quantity to cause the disease. However, previous studies have shown that air pollution particles do harbor microbes and that pollution is likely to have carried the viruses causing bird flu, measles and foot-and-mouth disease over considerable distances. The potential role of air pollution particles is linked to the broader question of how the coronavirus is transmitted. Large virus-laden droplets from infected people’s coughs and sneezes fall to the ground within a meter or two. But much smaller droplets, less than 5 microns in diameter, can remain in the air for minutes to hours and travel further. Researchers say the importance of potential airborne transmission, and the possible boosting role of pollution particles, mean it must not be ruled out without evidence. Take control of the air you breathe Monitoring and measuring the atmosphere using sensors to sample the air quality means you receive data to make decisions about what you breathe.