<p id="isPasted">One of the most common requests we get from teams building connected products is how our cellular modules compare to LoRaWAN.</p><p>The discussion is often heavily based around a technical comparison between LoRaWAN and cellular connectivity. The technical side is important, but it&#39;s the wrong place to start.</p><p>It&#39;s far more useful to start with a clear understanding of the problem you&#39;re trying to solve, and then evaluating the tech. LoRaWAN and cellular aren&#39;t direct 1-1 replacements for each other, so it&#39;s critical to understand how the tech you choose supports your business case.</p><p>In this article, we&#39;ll explain what LoRaWAN actually is, how it compares to cellular connectivity, and how you can work backward from your business need and use case to find the right connectivity tech for your product.</p><h1>What is LoRaWAN?</h1><p>LoRaWAN is a low-power, long range, low data rate wireless protocol. It runs on 900MHz in the Americas/ANZ and 868MHz in Europe/Asia. To access these networks, no SIM card is required&mdash;just a LoRaWAN radio and unique ID.</p><p>There are two kinds of LoRaWAN networks:</p><ul><li><strong>Private</strong>: a customer sets up their own network (e.g. a mine or farm)</li><li><strong>Public</strong>: a customer uses a network that was set up by a Network Operator (Actility, Senet, et al)</li></ul><p>So it&rsquo;s like a combination of:</p><ul><li>The range of a good walkie-talkie</li><li>The speed of dial-up internet</li><li>The power efficiency of an LED headlamp</li></ul><h3>LoRa vs. LoRaWAN</h3><p>This is <strong>not to be confused with deployments using LoRa in point-to-point or local mesh configuration</strong>, which do not require expensive LoRaWAN base station infrastructure and system costs.</p><p>While LoRaWAN is a connectivity solution used in lieu of a cellular connection to the internet, in point-to-point/mesh deployments, simple LoRa radio modules with sensors can be paired with Particle modules to provide a fully-networked solution.</p><p>LoRa sensors can be distributed over a wide area and uplink to a Particle device paired with a LoRa module acting as a gateway node. The Particle gateway bridges the LoRa network to the internet via its cellular (or possibly WiFi) connection to the cloud.</p><p>This <em>LoRa + Particle</em> architecture is useful for installations where:</p><ul><li>There is a lack of reliable cellular connectivity over the area but certain spot locations do work optimally</li><li>There are requirements for numerous simple and very low power IoT devices in relative proximity (e.g. 100s to 1000s of feet apart over acres of land)</li></ul><p>This configuration is fairly well supported via Particle community efforts, for example: <a href="https://community.particle.io/t/long-range-iot-networks-chapter-2-particle-lora-better-together/62991/1" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Long Range IoT Networks - Chapter 2 | Particle + LoRa Better together</a></p><h3>How Does LoRaWAN Work?</h3><p><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 767px;"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1686319918679-lorawan_diagram.webp" style="width: 765px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-inner"><em id="isPasted">Source: Semtech, Indianapolis Bootcamp 2018</em>&nbsp;</span></span></span></p><h1 id="isPasted">Common LoRaWAN Use Cases</h1><p>LoRaWAN has been adopted for a wide variety of IoT use cases. Here are a few well known ones:</p><ul><li><strong>Smart cities</strong>. There&rsquo;s an integral role for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.particle.io/iot-guides-and-resources/smart-cities-iot/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">IoT in smart cities</a>, such as monitoring connected infrastructure, utilities, parking management, air quality measurement, etc.</li><li><strong>Smart grids</strong>. The foundation of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.particle.io/iot-guides-and-resources/iot-smart-grid-applications-benefits-and-use-cases/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">smart grid is IoT</a>. LoRaWAN is used for connecting densely-deployed electric meters, EV chargers, battery monitors, etc. in urban and suburban areas.</li><li><strong>Agriculture</strong>. Livestock, crop, and soil monitoring are common agricultural IoT use cases. LoRaWAN is used to collect high volumes of data, aggregate them via a gateway, and send it to the cloud for analysis.</li></ul><h1>Cellular vs. LoRaWAN - Economic and Tech Perspectives</h1><p>When we speak to companies that are trying to compare Particle&rsquo;s cellular devices to LoRaWAN technologies, they often want to discuss the technology first.&nbsp;<strong>But this is a mistake</strong>.</p><p>In our experience, it&rsquo;s best to&nbsp;<strong>start with a strong understanding of the business problems to be solved, the volume and frequency of data required to generate value, and the environments in which a product will be operating</strong>. The answers to those questions and the analysis to get there should then be used to drive technology selection.</p><p>The unit economics are quite different when comparing a cellular and LoRaWAN connectivity solution.</p><p>While LoRaWAN may appear attractive due to its lower operating cost when compared to cellular deployments,&nbsp;<strong>the two technologies solve fundamentally different problems and are not direct replacements for each other</strong>.</p><p>Allowing cost to drive technology selection is a decision that may actually increase costs in the long run, as the solution may not solve the problems it is intended to, or may be inflexible and not be able to be applied to new business needs as they come up.</p><p>In this section, we&rsquo;ll look at both the economic and technical comparisons between cellular connectivity&mdash;via the Particle platform&mdash;and a public-network LoRaWAN offering.</p><h1>LoRaWAN vs. Cellular (Particle) - A Quick Comparison</h1><table id="isPasted"><thead><tr><th><br></th><th><strong>LoRaWAN</strong></th><th><strong>Particle</strong></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Profile</strong></td><td>Deployments of relatively high density/lower cost assets (individual sensors and meters)</td><td>Deployments of relatively lower density, higher cost assets (vehicles, controllers, instrumentation)</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Bandwidth</strong></td><td><strong>Low.</strong> Best suited for small, infrequent bursts of data. Higher bandwidth needs like OTAs can be challenging.</td><td><strong>Medium.</strong> Communication through the Particle cloud is limited to 1024 characters of JSON per Data Operation, and can operate as fast as 1 Data Operation per second per device. OTAs are separate from Data Operations, and are included free in all of Particle&#39;s packages.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Connectivity Module Cost</strong></td><td>$8-10/module, plus board, MCU, antenna, etc.</td><td>$50-75 all in</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Recurring Cost</strong></td><td>$200-500/mo/gateway</td><td>$2-10/mo/device</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Power Consumption</strong></td><td><strong>Very Low.</strong> Best when multiple years of battery life is required.</td><td><strong>Medium to Low.</strong> Best for use cases where power is consistently or intermittently available.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Security</strong></td><td><strong>Good.</strong> Uses 128-bit AES for network and application session keys</td><td><strong>Best.</strong> Cellular providers use robust and proven encryption and authentication standards at the network level. SIM cards are highly secure. Particle implements public-private key encryption using AES-256 keys for communication between the edge and the cloud.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Coverage</strong></td><td>Highly region and operator dependent. Operators include Senet, Actility, The Things Network, Machine Q, Helium, and SigFox</td><td>The Particle MVNO offers connectivity from over 200+ providers worldwide. Most countries are supported by more than one operator, and the best operator is automatically selected by a given device.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Latency</strong></td><td><strong>Variable.</strong> Best suited for very simple devices with payloads of a few 10&#39;s of bytes and a publish interval of many minutes. Many free networks limit the total air time per device per day. Latency may also depend on network congestion and utilization.</td><td><strong>Low</strong> Federated infrastructure ensures devices have connectivity and uptime.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Reliability</strong></td><td><strong>Variable.</strong> LoRaWAN is subject to jamming and interference, especially in urban environments, as it operates on public frequency bands. Uses shared infrastructure and devices can broadcast at any time, so interference can cause messages to drop unexpectedly.</td><td><strong>High.</strong> Cellular networks are highly reliable and available. Particle offers automatic retry mechanisms for data sent between edge and cloud. Particle also offers first-party support for cellular issues, and has active fleet monitoring services for enterprise clients.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Scalability</strong></td><td><strong>Low.</strong> Challenges include a lack of coordination by nodes (can broadcast over each other) and shared frequency spectrum. This limits the number of nodes each gateway can support and the amount of aggregate bandwidth a particular network has available.</td><td><strong>High.</strong> Cellular devices operate on the same infrastructure as cell phones do, which is consistently maintained and upgraded by providers. Access to the infrastructure is federated and controlled so all devices are given equitable spectrum and bandwidth to operate.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Certification</strong></td><td><strong>DIY.</strong> Certification by the LoRa Alliance is your responsibility, but is not required by all public networks. Additionally, the spectrum is shared with non-LoRa devices that may or may not be certified. If other devices perform poorly on the spectrum, it may interfere with your devices&#39; ability to communicate reliably.</td><td><strong>Pre-Certified.</strong> Certification is required for all devices operating on cellular networks and licensed spectrum. You can have confidence that cellular devices will be &quot;good neighbors&quot; to your devices on the network as a result. Particle modules come pre-certified, limiting the amount of certification work your engineers have to do.</td></tr></tbody></table><h1>Aligning Connectivity Tech to Asset Value and Unit Economics</h1><p>As a general rule of thumb, here is how you can ensure the connectivity tech you choose makes sense for your use case and business model.</p><h3>LoRaWAN</h3><p>LoRaWAN is a good fit when the value of a single monitored device is low, but the value of collecting data from hundreds of devices is high, as it is in use cases like soil sensing, metering, etc. It&rsquo;s also best if you&rsquo;re charging a recurring fee for the data-in-aggregate, rather than per asset.</p><p>For example, LoRaWAN makes more sense for getting a weather data stream across 100 distributed stations in the Permian Basin, vs. an eBike where a single asset generates revenue.</p><h3>Cellular</h3><p>Cellular is a good fit for when the connected asset(s) are high value because they&rsquo;re either generating revenue during operation or their failure would result in some kind of cost such as a fine, service call/truck roll, or unplanned equipment breakdown. It&rsquo;s also a good fit for when each deployed product can earn subscription revenue with a substantial margin.</p><h1>Connectivity Technology Selection and Its Impact on Product Functionality and Performance</h1><p>In this section, we&rsquo;ll break down some of the key components of each connectivity technology and explain how it will impact your product&rsquo;s functionality, performance, and cost.</p><h3>Spectrum</h3><p>LoRaWAN relies on the public spectrum that anyone can use. That leaves devices that use LoRaWAN susceptible to interference from other devices using the public spectrum.</p><p>In areas where lots of devices are using LoRaWAN, you&rsquo;ll likely struggle to keep your devices reliably connected. This interference may increase over time as well, as more and more devices are deployed on to the spectrum.</p><p>On the other hand, cellular providers purchase blocks of the radio spectrum. They own the series of frequencies on their block of the spectrum, and have a vested interest in maintaining and protecting it. Even though the cellular carriers essentially have a monopoly, the federated nature of cellular systems means that the carriers will maintain the infrastructure to ensure high performance and availability.</p><p>We liken the difference between cellular and LoRaWAN to the difference between a mixed-use walking path and a highway.</p><p><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1686319961376-02-Wireless-Data-Highway_Particle.webp" style="width: 765px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"></p><p id="isPasted">The federated nature of cellular technology also provides an opportunity for a centralized support system. This enables faster response times in the event of an outage or other disruption.</p><p>Particle offers such a centralized support system. In addition to having access to Tier 1 support lines as a result of our large aggregate cellular fleet size, Particle also layers on additional support offerings for our customers. For example, we monitor all of our customer fleets for signs of a provider outage, and often are able to call you before you notice your devices are offline.</p><h3>Ease of Use</h3><p>While you can connect to public LoRaWAN networks, you may also need to set up your own via a company like Senet or Actility. Overall, LoRaWAN is generally fairly easy to set up, and many companies provide support to set up your deployment.</p><p>Cellular, while introducing some complexity to connected products, is getting easier and easier to manage. No longer do you have to deal directly with cellular carriers who may not serve your service area. You can work with MVNOs that make it so you can deploy widely without worrying about coverage.</p><p>Additionally, you can work with an IoT PaaS provider like Particle that offers a connectivity management solution&mdash;Particle Connectivity&mdash;so you don&rsquo;t have to worry about negotiating with carriers, coverage, support, or even provisioning your SIMs. With Particle, devices will connect to the best available carrier right out of the box.</p><h3>Vendor Risk</h3><p>The technology behind LoRaWAN is all owned by a single company. When you choose a LoRaWAN solution, you purchase their IP, which may be licensed to a number of other chip vendors and platform providers. This represents business risk and is a single point of failure in your supply chain. They can raise prices at any time, leaving you with no alternatives, or they could shut down the business.</p><p>Cellular technology, while still being fairly concentrated with a few big players across the stack, still gives you options. The underlying technology is based on standards that are designed and ratified by multiple companies around the world. As a result, there are many silicon manufacturers, MVNOs, IoT solutions, etc. that reduce your dependence on a single vendor.</p><p>Particle leverages this optionality in its supply chain in order to provide the highest quality products and reduce risk in the event that a particular cellular module becomes unavailable. Learn more about how our&nbsp;<a href="https://www.particle.io/supply-secure/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Supply Secure program</a> can solidify your supply chain and ensure you have devices when you need them.</p><h3>Power Usage</h3><p>One of the advantages of LoRaWAN is that it&rsquo;s a low-power technology to the point that devices can run on coin cell batteries. Depending on your use case, this can be a major advantage, but it is worth noting that if you try to increase the power or range, battery life is significantly threatened.</p><p>Cellular devices do tend to consume more power, but offer more range and bandwidth via the networks. Additionally, Particle&rsquo;s cellular devices offer several options for power management, including sleep modes. Learn more about how Particle makes&nbsp;<a href="https://www.particle.io/iot-guides-and-resources/low-power-iot/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">low-power IoT</a> possible.</p><h3>Device Concentration</h3><p>LoRaWAN is a useful solution for when you need to have a high number of devices in a concentrated area. Each of the devices can connect to a single gateway and transmit data to the cloud.</p><p>Cellular connectivity suffers when too many devices are trying to connect to the same tower at the same time. If your use case requires a high concentration of devices, you&rsquo;ll have to factor that into your decision.</p><p>For example, livestock tracking for a herd of cattle means you&rsquo;ll have hundreds or thousands of devices in a particular area. LoRaWAN allows you to track them by transmitting location data from the edge to a gateway, and then to the cloud without sacrificing connectivity. Cellular devices in this use case may drop connectivity due to the concentration of devices.</p><h1>Choosing Between LoRaWAN and Particle</h1><p>Ultimately, the choice of connectivity technologies should be informed by your use case and business model. If the benefits and features enabled by connectivity&mdash;whether through cost savings or subscription revenue&mdash;don&rsquo;t allow you to make a significant enough margin on your product, the low cost of LoRaWAN may make sense.</p><p>If you&rsquo;re able to generate enough economic value with a connected product to drive favorable unit economics, and you need more performance from a power and bandwidth perspective, cellular connectivity via a dedicated&nbsp;<a href="https://www.particle.io/platform/particle-iot-platform-as-a-service/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">IoT Platform-as-a-Service</a> is the way.</p>

When deciding if cellular connectivity or LoRaWAN is right for your IoT project, it helps to start with the use case and work backward to the tech. This guide will give you what you need to know to do just that.

Cellular vs. LoRaWAN for IoT Deployments: Why The Business Case Matters More Than The Tech

<p id="isPasted">Global Positioning System (GPS), the principal component of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), is a technological marvel that traces its history back to 1951. In that year, Raytheon scientist Dr. Ivan Getting designed a 3D position locating system based on the time difference in the arrival of radio signals from different transmitters.</p><p>Soon after, scientists confirmed that Doppler shift could be used to either calculate the position of objects in Earth orbit or, if the satellite&rsquo;s position was known, the Doppler shift could be used to determine the location of an earthbound receiver. Just two years after the launch of Sputnik in 1957, the first of five low-altitude satellites for global navigation were launched.</p><p>An American program called &ldquo;621B&rdquo; developed many of the characteristics of today&rsquo;s GPS and, together with the original five satellites and a further fleet carrying highly accurate clocks, the program formed the basis of the 1973 NAVSTAR-GPS. In 1983, the U.S. allowed GPS to be used for civilian purposes and an expanded constellation of 24 operational satellites was deployed between 1989 and 1994. The modern GPS was declared fully operational the following year. Finally, in 2000, the precision of the civilian system was upgraded to match that of military applications.</p><p>Today, billions of people benefit from GNSS daily, whether navigating at sea, surveying, mapping, farming, guiding heavy machinery or performing thousands of other tasks. GNSS is also now providing a foundation for many IoT applications in the logistics and transportation sectors.</p><h2><strong>GNSS for asset tracking</strong></h2><p>If you want to know the location of a high-value cargo with a precision of tens of meters, nothing can better GNSS. This is a key reason why Nordic included the capability in its <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/nRF9160?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">nRF9160 SiP</a>, a cellular IoT solution. A cellular IoT asset tracker, such as the <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/News/2022/06/Aovxs-Nordic-powered-cellular-IoT-tracker-monitors-goods-in-storage-or-transit?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Aovx G Series tracker</a>, switches the GPS on, looks for the satellites and, once it has found several, waits for the satellite assistance data that will determine its position.</p><p>One downside is that a cold-start GPS modem &lsquo;time-to-first-fix&rsquo; (TTFF) on a group of satellites can take several minutes and use significant battery capacity. To overcome this, the nRF9160 works seamlessly with Nordic&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Cloud-services?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">nRF Cloud Location Services</a>&rsquo; Assisted- and Predicted-GPS (A-GPS and P-GPS) services.</p><p>These services use satellite assistance data stored in a ground-based GPS database which is relayed to the IoT device via the LTE-M network - saving significant power. When required, the IoT device can then find the satellites in seconds, conserving energy. The P-GPS technique builds on A-GPS by providing over two weeks of assistance data to the IoT device. The result is even greater power savings.</p><h2><strong>Cellular location services</strong></h2><p>But while GNSS is impressive it is not foolproof. The system relies on &lsquo;line-of-sight&rsquo; between satellites and receiver and that&rsquo;s often restricted. For example, &lsquo;urban canyons&rsquo;&mdash;formed by rows of tall buildings on each side of a city street&mdash;can obstruct the signal. Moreover, there&rsquo;s little chance of GNSS signals penetrating buildings. Further, GNSS can take a heavy toll on cells; that&rsquo;s an important consideration when designing an asset tracker for months or years of battery life.</p><p>One option to overcome the limitations of GNSS&mdash;and another location service built into nRF Cloud Location Services and used in conjunction with the nRF9160&mdash;is to use the known location of cellular base stations to narrow down the position of the asset tracker. The single-cell location method relies on identifying in which cell the tracked device is situated and then referencing the cell identification against a database of known base station locations. It offers accuracy down to kilometre level while only modestly impacting battery life.</p><p>Multi-cell location builds on the single-cell technique by referencing the position of several nearby base stations instead of just one to offer accuracy down to a few hundred meters while still keeping power consumption low.</p><h2><strong>The Wi-Fi option</strong></h2><p>A second locationing alternative for when GNSS isn&rsquo;t available&mdash;and which can also be used to trade-off location precision against battery life&mdash;is Wi-Fi Service Set Identification (SSID). Every Wi-Fi network is identified with a SSID &ndash; essentially a technical reference for Wi-Fi network&rsquo;s name. If you can find out the network&rsquo;s SSID you can then cross reference it against one of several databases that will detail its location.</p><p>Nordic&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/nRF7002?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">nRF7002</a> Companion IC is a 2.4 and 5 GHz Wi-Fi 6 device providing low-power and secure Wi-Fi for the IoT. It is the ideal device to be used in conjunction with the nRF9160 SiP and nRF Cloud Location Services for GNSS, single or multi-cell, or Wi-Fi locationing.</p><p>When used for Wi-Fi locationing, the nRF7002 interrogates any nearby Wi-Fi access point (AP) for its SSID; the nRF9160 then sends the SSID to nRF Cloud using NB-IoT or LTE-M connectivity. nRF Cloud then checks one or more Wi-Fi SSID databases and returns the SSIDs location, plus the degree of uncertainty for that location, to the nRF9160, or elsewhere as directed. Wi-Fi SSID locationing is more accurate than cell-based location features and less power-hungry than GNSS.</p><h2><strong>Where am I?</strong></h2><p>In the more than 70 years since Dr. Getting came up with his 3D position locating system, GNSS has come to dominate as the most reliable and accurate method of pinpointing the position of an object or person on the Earth&rsquo;s surface. If you need to know where something is with high precision, there are few alternatives.</p><p>But when a precision of a few hundred meters is acceptable, and battery life is critical, or when the GNSS signal is obstructed, Wi-Fi SSID locationing is a great alternative. And if you just need to know where your asset is to within a kilometer or so and want to really get the most from the batteries, cell-based locationing is the answer. With Nordic&rsquo;s nRF9160 SiP, nRF7002 Companion IC and nRF Cloud Location Services, you can seamlessly switch between all three methods to optimally trade-off precision against battery life.</p><hr><p>This article was first published on Nordic&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.nordicsemi.com/getconnected" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" id="isPasted"></a><a href="https://blog.nordicsemi.com/getconnected?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Get Connected Blog</a>.  &nbsp;</p>

Today, billions of people benefit from GNSS daily, whether navigating at sea, surveying, mapping, farming, guiding heavy machinery or performing thousands of other tasks. GNSS is also now providing a foundation for many IoT applications in the logistics and transportation sectors.

How Wi-Fi locationing complements GNSS and cellular

<div data-hook="post-title" id="isPasted" tabindex="-1"><div id="isPasted"><article><div><div><p>As part of TechBlick series on additive and printed electronics, TechBlick invited Butler Technologies to share some insights how they leverage screen printed electronics on flexible substrates to enable textile-based truly wearable and washable biosensors. They even went the extra mile, providing a full solution with complete software suite [data capture processing and UX]. The article originally appeared <a href="https://www.techblick.com/post/how-printed-electronics-can-make-healthcare-more-accessible" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a></p></div></div></article></div><h1 data-hook="post-title">How Printed Electronics Can Make Healthcare More Accessible</h1></div><div data-hook="post-description"><article><div data-rce-version="9.9.0"><div data-id="rich-content-viewer" dir="ltr"><p><strong>Authors</strong>: &nbsp;Michael Wagner, Chief Innovations Office at Butler Technologies &amp; Courtney Houtz, Marketing Manager at Butler Technologies</p><p>From grocery shopping to doctor appointments, we can do just about anything online these days. Virtual appointments have become increasingly popular since the COVID-19 pandemic, but can doctors make accurate judgements based on a video chat?&nbsp;</p><p>Telemedicine and virtual doctors&rsquo; appointments have long relied on subjective feelings from the patient rather than actual data. Printed electronics are the solution to provide doctors with accurate data to monitor in real time.</p><p>Printed electronics are typically circuitry printed onto flexible substrates, including PET, PC, and TPU using conductive inks or materials. Printed electronics is an all-encompassing phrase for any electronic that is printed. Traditional examples of printed electronics include membrane switches and printed circuit boards, but this technology is ever evolving. New and innovative ways to use conductive inks are being discovered every day. Conductive materials can create flexible printed heaters that can be easily incorporated into clothing items like socks or gloves. Biometric sensors, which send or receive electricals, can also be printed with conductive inks. This new type of printed electronics has countless applications in the medical field.&nbsp;</p><div data-hook="rcv-block7" type="paragraph"><br></div><p><a data-hook="linkViewer" href="https://butlertechnologies.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>Butler Technologies</u></a> is at the forefront of this advanced printed technology. Last year, we partnered with <a data-hook="linkViewer" href="https://www.loftllc.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>Loft LLC,</u></a> a software design firm, to build a functional biometric wearable. The wearable sleeve was designed with printed biometric sensors and measured muscle activity in the arm. Butler Technologies manufactured the printed sensors whereas Loft designed a web platform to track and display the data gathered by the biometric sensors. By combining hardware and software design, doctors and physical therapists can rely on actual objective data for at-home health monitoring rather than subjective data.</p><div data-hook="rcv-block11" type="empty-line"><br></div><p><strong>Printed biometric sensors for telemedicine</strong></p><div data-hook="rcv-block13" type="empty-line"><br></div><div data-hook="reactPlayerWrapper" tabindex="0"><div data-loaded="true"><iframe frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="1" title="Printed Biometric Sensors for Home Healthcare" width="100%" height="100%" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2G4lXq7o7kg?autoplay=0&mute=0&controls=1&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.techblick.com&playsinline=1&showinfo=0&rel=0&iv_load_policy=3&modestbranding=1&enablejsapi=1&widgetid=3" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe></div></div><div data-hook="rcv-block14" type="video"><br></div><div data-hook="rcv-block15" type="empty-line"><br></div><div data-hook="imageViewer" tabindex="0"><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1686247481770-1686247481770.png" alt="" data-pin-media="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/634751_f8ae74a2f3e24099af40926f468124ff~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_1040,h_302,al_c,lg_1,q_80/634751_f8ae74a2f3e24099af40926f468124ff~mv2.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></div><p><strong>Book your place now: Free-to-attend Innovations Festival on Printed Flexible Wearable Electronics. 65 talks, 50+ exhibitors, and 1200 registrations - see<a data-hook="linkViewer" href="https://www.techblick.com/innovation-festival-june-2023" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>&nbsp;here</u></a></strong></p><p>Biometric sensors are used to track muscle activity, heart rate, breath rate, brain activity, and more. A biometric sensor can send or receive electrical signals through contact with skin.&nbsp;</p><p>Printed biometric sensors are dry electrodes. They can be easily adhered to clothing garments or medical braces without the need for messy gels or annoying wires. Traditional biometric sensors are cumbersome with messy gels or complicated wires to collect accurate data, which is not helpful when the doctor or nurse aren&rsquo;t in the room with the patient. Printed biometric sensors are the best solution for telemedicine visits because they can be adhered to garments that the patient is already familiar with, like a standard brace or compression shirt. These printed sensors can also be washed like a normal garment whereas traditional sensors tend to be single use.</p><p>The data collected by the sensor can then be transmitted to an app or website via WiFi or Bluetooth connection. This gives the doctor or physical therapist objective data in real time despite their patient being at home. The doctor can also review the data him/herself instead of relying on the patient to communicate the data over the phone.&nbsp;</p><div data-hook="rcv-block25" type="empty-line"><br></div><p><strong>Bridging the gap between hardware and software</strong>&nbsp;</p><p>Butler Technologies uses conductive inks to screen print <a data-hook="linkViewer" href="https://butlertechnologies.com/biometric-sensors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>biometric sensors</u></a> onto flexible TPU substrates. The biometric sensors that Butler Technologies manufactures are just one part of the wearable puzzle. Without someplace to send the data, the sensors are moot.&nbsp;</p><div data-hook="imageViewer" tabindex="0"><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1686247482792-1686247482791.png" alt="" data-pin-media="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/634751_0a108d0a0b1041579b53a05ffb780510~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_672,h_448,al_c,lg_1,q_85/634751_0a108d0a0b1041579b53a05ffb780510~mv2.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></div><div data-hook="rcv-block29" type="image"><br></div><p>Loft helped finish the puzzle by working on the software side. The Butler Technologies team sent Loft sample biometric sensors to confirm they could easily read the signal from the sensors. Loft used WiFi to transmit the signal from the sensor to a webpage that displayed the data.</p><p>Once it was confirmed that the biometric sensors were working properly, Butler Technologies purchased off-the-shelf compression sleeves and shirts that would become the final wearable product. Biometric sensors made with stretchable conductive inks are designed to stretch and flex with the body. At Butler Technologies, we typically print biometric sensors on a flexible thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) substrate and then adhere to the garment with a hot melt adhesive through a common heat transfer process.</p><p>However, the off-the-shelf products quickly proved challenging as the sensors were hard to apply in a shirt that was fully stitched. Butler Technologies&rsquo; team of engineers had to use a mannequin and find a way to curve the sensor within the shirt so that it would still collect the correct muscle activity.&nbsp;</p><p>In order for the sensor to collect proper data, three sensors were adhered to the sleeve of the compression shirt. Two electrodes ran parallel to the bicep muscle and one sensor acted as the reference electrode. One active electrode was placed on the middle of the bicep muscle and the other on the end of the bicep muscle. The reference sensor was placed on the forearm. This sensor picks up ambient electrical activity in the body to make it easier to clean up noise in the data. Loft&rsquo;s computer program could then pinpoint what signals were the bicep muscles firing and what a resting signal looked like.</p><div data-hook="rcv-block39" type="empty-line"><br></div><div data-hook="imageViewer" tabindex="0"><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1686247482373-1686247482373.png" alt="" data-pin-media="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/634751_fff7e781c8ca46959d0411bc3815fd8c~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_900,h_506,al_c,q_85/634751_fff7e781c8ca46959d0411bc3815fd8c~mv2.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></div><div data-hook="rcv-block40" type="image"><br></div><p><strong>Connect with the printed flexible wearable electronics community in Berlin and learn the latest - explore programme here https://www.techblick.com/electronicsreshaped</strong></p><p><strong>Why printed electronics are the right solution</strong></p><p>Traditional wires hinder movement, accessibility, and usability. They are bulky and uncomfortable for prolonged use. Printed biometric sensors are comfortable, conformable, and stretchable. They are lightweight, so the wearer would not notice the sensors were embedded in the shirt.&nbsp;</p><p>From idea to finished product, the finished wearable device was completed in six weeks. Printed electronics can make remote healthcare more accessible and reliable. A patient does not need to visit a doctor&rsquo;s office in order to detect health concerns. Physical therapists and doctors can track how well a muscle is recovering after surgery or injury with printed biometric sensors. They can also track if their patient is completing exercises and exerting the right muscles.</p><p>Biometric sensors have many other applications outside of the healthcare field. They can be embedded into outdoor or exercise apparel so consumers can track their own vitals. The possibilities with printed electronics are endless.</p><div data-hook="rcv-block49" type="paragraph"><br></div></div></div></article></div>

A washable wearable biometric device using printed electronics technology provides real-time data for telemedicine. Integrated into a sleeve, the sensors monitor muscle activity. The data, transmitted to an online platform, facilitates remote health monitoring. 

How Printed Electronics Can Make Healthcare More Accessible

<p dir="ltr" id="isPasted">Think about all the machines you use each day. The hairdryer in the morning, the car to drive to work, and the heating system in the evening, to name a few. We depend on machines to make our lives easier, which means we highly rely on them to function. But how can we manage this reliability?</p><p dir="ltr"><strong>Reliability is managed by understanding machine data in a process known as predictive maintenance.&nbsp;</strong></p><p dir="ltr">Predictive maintenance relies on the actual condition and trends/slow deviations from the normal state of the equipment to predict future conditions. It uses sensor monitoring to collect real-time data and send alerts according to the operating status of the machine. Statistical models detect abnormalities and failure patterns to anticipate when future maintenance will be required, before machine failure.</p><p dir="ltr">The <a href="https://bobassistant.com/en/offer/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">BoB Assistant</a> from Watteco is an example of an IoT device that can be deployed on various types of machinery across many industries such as manufacturing, energy and facility management. The device has an embedded temperature sensor and a 3 axis accelerometer, which detects orientation, shake, motion, positioning, shock, or vibration. Its embedded analysis algorithms understand and monitor equipment autonomously without any particular configuration. It operates across a <a href="https://blog.akenza.io/lorawan-explained?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=wevolver&utm_campaign=wevolverarticles&utm_content=bobassistant" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">LoRaWAN</a> network for maximum range, deep indoor coverage and minimal energy consumption, all while sending only encrypted data. Operating at temperatures from -20&deg;C to +55&deg;C and with a battery life of over 2 years, it supports many applications.</p><p dir="ltr"><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1686036315557-bob-text-visual_v2.png" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"></p><h2 dir="ltr" id="isPasted">A Predictive Maintenance Case with the BoB Assistant and akenza</h2><p dir="ltr">In this particular use case, we installed the BoB Assistant to an air circulation vent. While air circulation vents may be relatively simple machines, their proper functioning is critical, especially in crowded indoor areas like concert halls. A malfunctioning vent can significantly impact the comfort and safety of occupants, making proactive maintenance crucial to avoid disruptions and potential risks.</p><p dir="ltr">The BoB Assistant is connected to the akenza platform, where the data is collected and visualized. Custom rules and alerts can be created in the platform based on the sensor data.</p><ul><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><strong>The Learning Phase</strong></p></li></ul><p dir="ltr">The BoB Assistant is equipped with an accelerometer and a machine learning algorithm to recognize vibration patterns and faults. It does not require previous knowledge of the target machine (in this case an air vent) to operate. Once it is installed, it will start &ldquo;listening&rdquo; to the machine. It takes up to seven days to learn vibration patterns and understand what the normal vibration patterns are. After the learning phase, it uses its pattern knowledge to recognize a normal vibration versus a vibration anomaly.</p><ul><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><strong>Predictions and Anomaly&nbsp;</strong></p></li></ul><p dir="ltr">With the learned vibration patterns, the BoB Assistant calculates vibration trends and can predict if these will reach a critical threshold, sending an alert before that. In addition to that, we created a rule in the akenza platform that detects if the anomaly level crosses a certain threshold, sending an alert immediately for maintenance before any potential damage may occur. This is important as staying at a high level of an anomaly for an extended period could cause a larger, more costly complication.</p><ul><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><strong>Operating hours&nbsp;</strong></p></li></ul><p dir="ltr">By accurately identifying vibration patterns, the BoB Assistant can also track the operating hours of the machine, sensing when it is in use and when it is idle. This valuable data allows for proactive maintenance planning, as one can monitor the amount of operating hours in the akenza platform and indicate when the machine is due for a service. This helps to prevent unplanned downtime and costly breakdowns, ensuring that the machine is serviced at the optimal time. It also helps to make the service interval dynamic based on the actual operating hours of the machine.</p><p dir="ltr"><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1686036339266-predictive-maintenance-graph.png" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"></p><h2 dir="ltr" id="isPasted">Integrate BoB into your solution</h2><p>Whether you think about smaller household devices or larger industrial machines, the overlying principle of machine reliability still applies. However, the BoB Assistant is most suitable for use on expensive, critical equipment such as HVAC systems, CNC mills, compressors, transformers, generators, and pumps where the cost of the device can be easily amortized. By forecasting what type of machine failure will occur and when, unscheduled equipment downtime is eliminated. Other benefits include increased production capacity, reduced maintenance costs, and an increased equipment lifespan.</p><p>To explore the full potential of the BoB Assistant, akenza provides a <a href="https://akenza.io/device-type-library/bob%20assistant-nke%20watteco?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=wevolver&utm_campaign=wevolverarticles&utm_content=bobassistant" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">payload decoder</a>, built-in data visualization, and an easy connection to a dashboard builder such as Grafana, or a third-party connector such as Azure IoT Hub, Power BI or Tableau.</p><p id="isPasted">Are you ready for your next IoT project? <span style='color: rgb(66, 66, 66); font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px; font-weight: 400;'><a href="https://auth.akenza.io/register?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=wevolver&utm_campaign=wevolverarticles&utm_content=bobassistant" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Try for free now</a></span><span style='color: rgb(66, 66, 66); font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px; font-weight: 400;'>.</span></p>

Machine reliability is managed by understanding machine data in a process known as predictive maintenance. In this article, we look at how the BoB Assistant proactively monitors an air circulation vent with the help of the akenza platform.

BoB: Your Personal Assistant for Predictive Maintenance

<p><strong>Particle will host Spectra, the free virtual IoT conference for Particle customers and users on&nbsp;June 21, 2023 at 9:00 AM PT.</strong></p><p><a class="button-main-action" href="https://wevlv.co/spectra-event-web" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Register for free here.</a></p><p id="isPasted">The event will cover topics including:</p><ul><li>The latest exciting product announcements from Particle</li><li>What to consider while building your connected product strategy</li><li>Expert advice from others who have successfully scaled their products on Particle</li><li>Reliable strategies to unblock common bottlenecks in building and deploying IoT products</li><li>Particle&rsquo;s first Climate Impact report, and a conversation about how IoT empowers ESG outcomes</li></ul><p>Attending the event will be useful not just for existing Particle users but anyone interested in how Particle is working to democratize IoT development. Throughout the day, leaders in the field will educate attendees through keynotes, panel discussions and workshops.&nbsp;</p><h3 id="isPasted">Live interaction &amp; meaningful connections</h3><p>Spectra places a big emphasis on real-time audience interaction. Each session will have a mix of Q&amp;As, in-session chats, &amp; polls. Plus &ndash; the opportunity to meet with peers, exchange ideas &amp; network, facilitated by AI-enabled match-making.</p><h3 id="isPasted">Recordings</h3><p>You&rsquo;ll have access to all recordings after the event is over, so you can go back an rewatch the sessions you didn&rsquo;t catch live.</p><p><a href="https://explore.particle.io/l/spectra_2022" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Watch 2022 recordings here. </a></p><h3>Spectra 2023 Speakers</h3><p>The event will feature speakers from across the Particle and Edge Impulse team who can offer advice on getting started on your projects to how to scale your ideas.&nbsp;</p><p>More to be announced soon!</p><h1 id="isPasted"><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjg1OTc2NTM3MDE3LXNwZWFrZXJzLnBuZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"></h1><h3>Register for free</h3><p><em><strong>June 21, 2023, 9:00 AM PT</strong></em></p><p><span style="background-color: transparent;">Join thousands of product leaders, developers, and entrepreneurs for a day of IoT insights, business strategy, and product workshops.</span></p><p>Plus, Particle are giving away 200 Photon 2s! Register for a chance to win!</p><p><a class="button-main-action" href="https://wevlv.co/spectra-event-web" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Register for free here.</a></p><p><br></p>

Spectra is the IoT conference for Particle’s connected ecosystems. From enterprise customers, partners, and advocates, to builders, developers, and users, Spectra is your opportunity to learn and discuss IoT market trends, industry opportunities, and challenges. 

The IoT Conference for Particle Customers + Users

<p id="isPasted">From the Swiss Alps to Whistler, Canada, in the Northern Hemisphere and from&nbsp;Las Le&ntilde;as, Argentina, to The Remarkables in New Zealand in the Southern Hemisphere, devotees of winter sports with deep enough pockets can forever circumnavigate the planet chasing the endless winter.</p><p>More than a third of the world&rsquo;s countries offer outdoor skiing and snowboarding facilities, and around 400 million people visit a ski resort yearly. It&rsquo;s a multi-billion dollar industry employing hundreds of thousands of people, and like any other big business, technology has an increasing role to play in its success.</p><p>For example, climate change, lack of snowfall, and glacial retreat has brought advanced snowmaking technology to the fore. Saudi Arabia is building a $500 million ski resort in the desert, and last year&rsquo;s Beijing Olympic Games was the first Winter Games in history to rely on 100 percent human-made snow. For the ski industry, climate change is a hot-button topic. So too, is safety.</p><h2><strong>Safely does it on the slopes</strong></h2><p>According to research, skiing, and snowboarding accidents account for around 600,000 injuries each year. It may sound a lot, but skiing is safer than you think, and loss of life is extremely rare. Nobody is getting complacent, though, and technology is not only bringing snow to our slopes but safety too.</p><p>For example, ski navigation devices using Bluetooth LE wireless connectivity to relay data to smartphone apps to provide turn-by-turn audio navigation, start-and-end point navigation, and tailored routes based on ability are becoming increasingly available. The same apps allow friends and family to keep track of each other on the mountain, identify meet-up spots, and avoid over-crowded runs. It&rsquo;s a step change from the &lsquo;technology&rsquo; that dominated in the preceding 100 years &ndash; a map, a compass, and an altimeter.</p><h2><strong>IoT networking for ski schools</strong></h2><p><strong><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1685714188547-FLAIK.webp" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"></strong></p><p id="isPasted">Cellular IoT wireless technology is also being embraced on the snowfields to promote safety and management tools for ski resort operators. Last year, snow sports product company flaik upgraded its <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/News/2022/11/The-flaik-tag-employs-Nordic-nRF9160-SiP?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ski school workforce management solution</a> to include IoT network capabilities to further enhance the visibility of thousands of guests and instructors anywhere on the mountain in near real-time.</p><p>The platform comprises a wearable device integrating Nordic&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/products/nrf9160?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">nRF9160</a> SiP and a web-based dashboard. The nRF9160 provides the GNSS positioning and cellular IoT connectivity, allowing the skier&#39;s location data to be relayed from the tag to a smartphone or tablet via the Cloud. The nRF9160 combines the LTE-M cellular network location data with the GNSS trilateration for precise position monitoring of the device and the skier.</p><p>The positions of ski school guests and instructors are continually relayed to the flaik servers, allowing ski schools and resorts to access live and historical GNSS data to comprehensively understand what is happening on the ski fields. From the Cloud, all the flaik tag location information can then be viewed through the web-based dashboard.</p><p>For example, ski management personnel can connect late students to classes in minutes or track any classes late to return at the end of the day. At the biggest resort at which it is deployed in Whistler, flaik can scan and associate up to 3,500 devices to guests and instructors in a 30-60 minute window.</p><h2><strong>Winter wearables bring the fun</strong></h2><p>Of course, above all else, skiing and snowboarding are meant to be fun, and wireless technology is also employed in winter sports for play and work. The industry is now awash with wearable devices that can help skiers improve, using a raft of sensors and Bluetooth LE connectivity to provide continuous in-ear feedback to a skier as well as tips and suggestions for improvement via a smartphone app, for example, on how to fine-tune your body position and edge control.</p><p><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1685714215182-MOTIONM-1_WEB.webp" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"></p><p id="isPasted">Key are the sensors that can provide data on every metric a skier could want&mdash;speed, turns, pace, vertical, mileage, and G-force&mdash;and a powerful processor to supervise them and run their complex algorithms. For example, MotionMetrics&rsquo; <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/News/2020/03/MotionMetrics-Carv-Bluetooth-LE-sensor-based-ski-training-solution-helps-skiers-improve-technique?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Carv</a> wearable comprises two ultra-thin footbeds with MEMS accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers, and capacitive pressure sensors that fit underneath the linings of any ski boots.</p><p>The built-in sensors track the skier&#39;s motion and pressure distribution during every turn throughout each ski run, providing a comprehensive data set across four key skiing categories&mdash;balance, edging, rotation, and pressure&mdash;based on 35 metrics. Nordic&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/nRF52832?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">nRF52832</a> SoC powers the device, its 64 MHz Arm Cortex M4 processor supports the application&rsquo;s Floating Point and Digital Signal Processing computations, while the Bluetooth LE connectivity relays this to the user&rsquo;s smartphone to offer live in-ear feedback from the sensors on how to improve. For example, &quot;keep your weight forward&quot; or &quot;apply more pressure to your outside ski.&quot;</p><p>As well as making skiing a safer and more enjoyable activity, this technology is also opening the sport up to more people, with the cost of wearable devices a fraction of the price of expensive private skiing lessons. This will help grow and democratize an industry already quickly bouncing back from pandemic shutdowns.</p><hr><p>This article was first published on Nordic&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.nordicsemi.com/getconnected" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" id="isPasted"></a><a href="https://blog.nordicsemi.com/getconnected?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Get Connected Blog</a>.  &nbsp;</p>

Ski navigation devices using Bluetooth LE wireless connectivity to relay data to smartphone apps to provide turn-by-turn audio navigation, start-and-end point navigation, and tailored routes based on ability are becoming increasingly available.

Wireless tech transforms skiing

Single Board Computers are radically improving indoor agriculture by optimizing environmental conditions, enabling IoT applications, and integrating AI for sustainable, efficient farming.


Applying Single Board Computers (SBCs) in Indoor Agriculture Applications

As part of TechBlick series on additive and printed electronics, Michael LeFebvre draws upon his four decades of industry experience to highlight 3 recent technical and application innovations impacting transparent 5G antennas, ADAS, and wearable therapy all based on printed & additive electronics

Printed Electronics: The Future is Thin, Flat, and Flexible

The automotive industry undergoes a profound transformation through the IoT's power. Vehicle connectivity and autonomous driving redefine transportation, offering innovative opportunities. Embracing IoT's potential, our daily lives are poised for a significant shift in the automotive sector.