M2M
M2M technology powers a 70-mile-long art installation
Connecting Light: managing multiple remote devices is a model of modern business, explains technology provider Digi International
70-mile-long Hadrian’s Wall World Heritage Site, pulsated with colour, brought alive by an interactive digital art installation consisting of hundreds of interactive light-fi lled balloons. Linked via a wireless network,
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the balloons transmitted colours from one to another. T e installation, devised by the YesYesNo art collective and named Connecting Light, was part of the London 2012 Festival, a series
or two days at the end of August, Britain’s greatest Roman monument, the
of Cultural Olympiad initiatives across the United Kingdom. With more than 400 large
balloons spanning the width of England, it provided a public demonstration of advanced machine-to-machine (M2M) communications, showcasing a communications technology that is enabling businesses to open new markets and compete in a highly connected world.
Mobile access “Central control of widely deployed assets is the next phase
of the Internet, and this is a great example of how technology can be used to take control of remote devices”, said Larry Kraft, senior vice president of global sales and marketing, Digi International. “We created a system that allows anyone with an Internet or cellular connection to easily communicate with hundreds of interactive bal- loons scattered across England. It’s the same advanced infrastructure that municipalities use to connect street lights and variable message signs along highways, and that forward-thinking power utilities
are using to network their entire grid.” T e art project was connected
by the company’s iDigi Device Cloud, a ready-to-use device cloud networking platform. T is provided the backbone of the project, supplying the infrastructure required to access, control, confi gure and upgrade each illumination device securely over the Internet.
Remote management For connecting to the iDigi Device Cloud, each Connecting Light balloon included a programmable XBee radio-frequency module. All together, the balloons created a vast ZigBee wireless network, which was linked via ConnectPort X4 cellular gateways to a custom application hosted on the iDigi Device Cloud. T e installation artists were
Electronics payload: lighting panels and the control system for one of the balloons
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Preparing one of the balloons which formed the Connecting Light display. Each balloon carried an XBee wireless module which communicated with others to form a vast ZigBee network
able to easily monitor the status of the balloons and manage their light patterns remotely through the Connecting Light website. Spectators interacted with the balloons by sending commands and messages using their mobile phones.
LAND mobile September 2012
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