Japan’s KDDI and South Korea’s LG Uplus will launch the G6.0 smart drone, manufactured by Coretronic Intelligent Robotics Corporation (CIRC), in their respective countries this summer, following the signing of an operational partnership agreement. The G6.0 is a portable AI-friendly, fully autonomous drone, highly resistant to dust and water, which is expected to find use in monitoring and inspecting infrastructure and large facilities. The drone supports a connection interface and communication modules commonly used for smart drone platforms.
Elisa of Finland has been awarded a ten-year contract by state-run security operator Erillisverkot Group as the sole radio network supplier for the country’s new ‘Virve 2.0’ public safety network. Virve 2.0 network services will be in use from 2021 and will incorporate 4G, 5G and IoT technologies, supporting critical communication between public authorities, security services and other users. Image, video and other wireless broadband services are being added to existing Virve services, while IoT will enable functions such as automatic monitoring of rescue personnel and the mobile use of modern surveillance cameras and drones. Erillisverkot selected Ericsson as supplier of 5G-ready core network technology for the public safety network, also under a ten-year contract.
Russia’s Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) is offering dairy farms a new IoT service under the ‘MTS Smart Farming’ banner. On its website MTS promises three months of free services for initial customers of the service, designed for monitoring the activity and condition of dairy cow herds, including disease tracking, breeding management, and monitoring/analysis of feeding/grazing.
ElevenPaths, the cybersecurity division of Telefonica, has formed a strategic collaboration with cybersecurity solutions company Chronicle, part of Google Cloud, aimed at bringing more powerful and flexible managed security analytics services to enterprise companies in Europe and Latin America. Chronicle’s analytics services are being integrated into ElevenPaths managed security offerings, with benefits to customers envisaged to include: improved detection of potential threats; faster troubleshooting of security alerts via Chronicle’s ability to analyse telemetry at the speed of search; and more effective investigation of incidents, based on a longer retention of security telemetry. The firms plan to release joint offerings later in the year.
iBasis has been chosen by HeartStation to provide an IoT connectivity solution to remotely monitor over 50,000 Automated External Defibrillator (AED) cabinets via eSIM technology. iBasis notes that its solution ensures AEDs are fully powered and operational in the event of an emergency, with a signal regularly monitored and automatic alerts triggered to dispatch technicians when necessary. iBasis says that its solution is differentiated in its ability to enable dynamic routing selection of communications carrier in the cloud to drive the most effective network connectivity to remotely monitor and manage devices worldwide.
Russian broadband network operator ER-Telecom has announced a solution for remote automatic measurement of human body temperature using thermal imaging cameras in crowded public locations and in workplaces, in a move prompted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. According to ER’s website, its proposed solution features: simultaneous temperature measurement of groups of people; ‘fast’ screening at long range with ‘wide coverage’; automatic notifications/alerts to system operators/security guards/medical personnel; accuracy to within 0.3 degrees Celsius; selection of control zones; and a single operator interface for working with multiple systems.
A1 Telekom Austria, via its innovation subsidiary World-Direct, has implemented a COVID-19 digital screening platform in cooperation with the state of Tyrol, the Red Cross and the med-tech company ilvi, which it says simplifies and accelerates the virus testing process, and also offers a tailor-made IT solution for the wider health sector utilising secure connectivity via the A1 Data Centre. The application is based on a server solution operated by A1, to which authorities, screening teams and laboratories are connected. A mobile device with ilvi software is used for input of sampling and patient data transmitted in real-time to labs, which in turn can promptly transmit results to the authorities responsible for taking further action.
In another response to the pandemic, Finnish LoRaWAN IoT network operator Digita is providing connections free of monthly charges until end-2020 for certain critical applications including remote health monitoring solutions offered by Vesratio. Monitoring services for private homes and care homes – aimed particularly at the elderly and people with reduced mobility and memory disorders – are also free of service charges from Vesratio for the duration of the year, the latter confirmed in a press release. Digita’s IoT network currently offers 96% indoor population coverage of Finland.
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