Military and Civilian Innovations – at the IOT Conference

Military and Civilian Innovations – at the IOT Conference

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The leading IoT experts and companies from the IDF and the industries participated at the conference today, organized by iHLS on the Internet of Things, a rapidly developing technology which would reach critical mass of users and devices by 2020.

The moto of the today’s lectures was cooperation. The IoT and the Smart City and Secure City applications require cooperation between the technology developers, manufacturers, solution suppliers and other entities. The military is also interested in adopting civilian technologies and collaborating in this field on the basis of open innovation.

The lecturers included Lt.Col. Nurit Inger, Head of Sigma Branch, Matzpen, IDF, and representatives of SAP, Ness, MERR Group, Galigu, Ensura C&C, Intel and Egged.

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From the IDF experience, there is a vast potential for IoT in the army. It can enhance systems efficiency in inventory management, maintenance, online control, as well as terrain mapping, surveillance and monitoring of vehicles and UAVs, navigaion and location, physiological metrics and more.

Yet IoT technologies should be adopted carefully while maintaining security.

The IoT revolution will also have consequences on human resources – at the civilian sphere – the rise of autonomous vehicles would leave taxi drivers without work; in the army – the warrior and the tank driver would be replaced by remote control experts.

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The Smart City – IoT plays an important role in the municipal sphere – security, water, buildings, transportation. Smart infrastructure enables customized updating of city residents regarding environment conditions, transportation, availability of bicycle tracks etc. on real time. Smart and efficient cities are based on smart infrastructures concerning smart signage, access control, control centers, security, manpower management, maintenance, parking, garbage collection etc.

All that, while maximizing security and minimizing risk – adhering to Safe City principles.

The Smart City’s infrastructure availability depends on the sensors costs, bandwidth cost and value, and information processing speed and value.

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Buses were presented as an example of an IoT platform – a bus is equipped with fleet control, ticketing and validation, security and surveillance cameras, security indicators, passenger information and entertainment, engine and fuel status, driver’s behavior etc. – all the information being sent to the back office.  In the near future we would find on the buses also passenger control applications – location, preferences, history, as well as cargo loss or theft surveillance.