AI Technology
The potential of AI – avoid hidden cost of fragmented architectures
By Bob Leigh, senior director of commercial markets, RTI I
n the race to deploy autonomous systems and artificial intelligence (AI), organisations often focus on physical assets such as robotics, sensors and cloud infrastructure. However, hidden barriers can stifle true innovation and skyrocket project costs. We call this ‘Integration Tax’: the hidden cost of fragmented architectures. The “Integration Tax” is the cost incurred whenever you attempt to do something new with your data, such as storing it in the cloud or using it for machine learning. In sectors such as agriculture, healthcare and defence, systems are often divided between multiple cyber-physical systems deployed at the edge, while most of your business is conducted in the enterprise cloud. Although the cloud is essential for autonomous systems, existing cloud technologies often cannot provide the low latency and reliability necessary for physical AI.
Furthermore, many legacy architectures are message-centric. While these messages package data for transmission, important contextual information is often removed in order to meet performance and ease-of- use requirements, making them inflexible. Messages prioritise the needs of the network over the value of the data they carry. This restricts scalability and creates significant obstacles to evolving real-time data access. As integration costs escalate, they consume a larger proportion of the budget, encroaching upon the domains of testing, prototyping and product development, and thereby impeding innovation.
Real-world consequences The integration tax has a noticeable effect on major industries and at every stage of the product lifecycle. Prototyping: Whenever you introduce something new to your system, such as a new sensor, application, piece of code or piece of infrastructure, data from multiple, disparate sources collide. This means that different domains which were never designed to communicate with each other must be integrated. This integration cost significantly
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Similarly, autonomous vehicles can conserve bandwidth by transmitting only basic GPS and ‘heartbeat’ status updates during routine motorway driving. They can then switch to high-definition sensor and LIDAR streams only when the onboard AI detects a navigation hazard that is outside the normal range of possibilities. This ensures that expensive cloud connectivity is reserved for the highest-value data needed for remote diagnostics or model training rather than wasting resources on redundant telemetry.
increases the total development cost. Even the cost of testing and prototyping a new feature can be prohibitive. Healthcare: Many experts agree that the future of the operating room lies in the Digital OR (operating room). However, sharing data between different systems, such as real-time surgical robotics, imaging and electronic health records, remains an almost insurmountable challenge. Without a common data model and with no data context or security built into the design, this goal will remain elusive. Industry: Most industrial systems are built for the needs of the machine and typically comprise distinct subsystems separated by data silos, ranging from maintenance logs to field work orders and autonomous machinery. Without seamless data flow, development teams struggle to generate a meaningful return from the available data – they need to ensure that the right data is in the right place at the right time, so that assets can be oriented towards the task at hand rather than the hardware in the field.
A platform for real-time data streaming
If teams are to eliminate the ‘Integration Tax’, they must fundamentally change the way they architect systems. The goal is to significantly reduce the cost of software integration,
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thereby promoting innovation and enabling all systems to work together. Real-time data streaming is the solution, putting data rather than messages at the centre of the architecture.
Our approach is to design the system around the data and utilise a common data model across the entire network. This model creates a consistent framework that answers three critical questions: 1. What is the content being communicated? 2. How is it being communicated, in terms of timeliness, conditions, and security?
3. Who needs this data, and when? From edge to cloud
Adopting a unified data model allows organisations to bridge the critical gap between the reliability of the edge and the elasticity of the cloud. This enables adaptive data streaming, whereby the system creates value by prioritising data flow based on current needs or environmental factors.
For example, by filtering data at the edge, a system can stream low-bandwidth status updates during routine operations and only trigger high-cost video uploads when an anomaly is detected. This adaptive approach ensures that expensive cloud bandwidth is only used when the data provides the highest diagnostic value.
Autonomous underwater vehicles can also conserve bandwidth by transmitting basic sonar pings during descent and switching to high-resolution imagery upon reaching their target. This prioritisation manages transmission costs by aligning data density with the specific mission phase and environmental needs. Finally, a security or sensor network can be configured to send critical battery health and alert data only when the status changes, eliminating redundant telemetry that does not impact immediate decision-making. This granular control eliminates the ‘integration tax’ by ensuring that limited network resources are only consumed by the most valuable, actionable information.
Transforming data assets into enterprise value
The ‘integration tax’ is not just a technical challenge; it also erodes your competitive advantage. Every dollar spent on custom gateways and resolving data silos is a dollar taken away from your product roadmap. Adopting an architecture that prioritises data allows you to stop paying for poor architecture and start investing in your mission. Don’t let the costs of making your systems communicate with each other overshadow your next breakthrough. Eliminate the tax, unify your architecture and finally innovate without limits.
https://www.rti.com/en/
www.cieonline.co.uk
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