Internet of Things
The arrival of ambient IoT and how it may save our supply chains – and planet
Trillions of tiny self-powered computers, integrated within everything and communicating constantly, will revolutionize supply chains, improve sustainability, and reduce waste of all kinds, explains Ohad Perry, vice president, digital supply chain business, Wiliot
E
verywhere you look, supply chains are in need of reinvention. Last year, the Food Industry Association found that 70 per cent of retailers said supply chain issues were
hurting their business — up from 42 per cent the year before. And according to the J.D. Power 2022 U.S. Initial Quality Study, supply chain issues led to a record rate of new-car problems, with automakers navigating shortages in creative ways.
Tracing “things” through the world’s complex supply chains is more critical than ever to driving greater efficiency, productivity, and even sustainability. Now there’s a technology that can do all that. Soon, all those products, parts, and materials will communicate their supply chain journeys from manufacturer to consumer over a ubiquitous, wireless network dubbed the ambient internet of things.
A new IoT based on proven tech The tech industry has promoted so-called ambient computing for decades. It’s also established the oft-discussed internet of things (IoT). What the two have in common is billions of intelligent computing devices attached to the internet and communicating data about buildings, homes, appliances, even vehicles. Think smart speakers, fitness trackers, doorbells, robots (manufacturing and vacuuming), self-driving tractors, and more. What’s been missing until now is the innovation needed to bridge the two and make everything smart. Not just smart speakers, but smart clothes, smart packaging, smart crates, smart vaccine vials. This is the ambient IoT, a revolutionary next step in ambient computing enabling trillions of connected things, not just billions. With ambient IoT, compute power and connectivity will be all around us – literally. A smart home won’t just include tens of IoT devices; it will contain hundreds, communicating information without intervention, without batteries, without
34 October 2023
plugging into anything. Ambient IoT forms part of the fabric of the physical world, connecting it with the digital through a few key technology enablers:
Inexpensive, stamp-sized computers. They can be affixed to anything or integrated directly into products, containers, clothes, packaging, and more. Despite including advanced programming and communications, these tiny computers, called IoT Pixels, cost pence, not pounds. They can be seamlessly integrated into products and materials, connecting trillions of things to the ambient IoT. Standards-based wireless communications. These tiny computers include wireless antennae (Bluetooth, for starters) and sensing technology that can detect and provide information like temperature, location, fill level, and humidity. No purpose-built network infrastructure is required; they can communicate over standard and existing wireless devices, eventually utilizing next generation 6G wireless networks. Ambient power. The ambient IoT is self-
Components in Electronics
powered, harvesting energy from radio waves that are all around us to drive the trillions of IoT Pixels built into everything from shipping crates to vaccine vials. To date, no existing IoT or ambient computing model sources its energy this way. This ubiquitous source of energy and communication is what makes ambient IoT unique and truly transformational. Ultimately, ambient IoT builds on the foundation of other IoT communications technologies, like RFID, but without expensive, legacy infrastructure requirements. Plus, no tapping, scanning, or other human intervention. Trillions of things simply push data out over the network, rather than requiring reader devices to pull it. Ambient IoT represents real-time, continuous data communication between everything and the Internet, on its way to a powerful, AI-based cloud where companies and individuals can redefine their relationship with all those things.
Impacts of ambient IoT
How will the ambient IoT impact everyday life? By becoming integral to everyday life. Experts
at ABI Research estimate that 2.5 trillion trackable items move through the automobile supply chain every year — trackable through ambient IoT. Consider also the 600 billion parcels and packages ABI Research expects to traverse the globe by 2030, or the more than 21 billion vaccines and drug containers by 2026.
Ambient IoT makes supply chains more efficient by creating real-time visibility into the location and condition of products and materials on a unit basis. This will reduce waste, like in food chains, where supply chain inefficiency means 31 per cent of food worldwide never gets eaten, which contributes to as much as 9 per cent of global warming. And it contributes further to sustainability by enabling supply chain traceability and real-time emissions tracking so companies can make corrections in real- time, proactively fix operations, and reduce their carbon footprint. This “in-the-moment” supply chain remediation has never been possible before.
Ambient IoT marks the transformation
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