IoT

Over the years, the internet has morphed from its original design objective of providing an alternate communication network for the US defence establishment, into a forum for the scientific community to publish, archive and do peer review of research papers, to being a commercial platform enabling P2P communications, collaboration, and digital marketing and e-commerce transactions.

With IoT, the internet is expanding to include all “things” – sensors, actuators, embedded systems, controllers, etc present in vehicles, buildings, grids, factories and even cities, enabling pervasive data communication, remote monitoring & control and analytics. At the enterprise level, IoT seeks the union of traditional IT (enterprise solutions like ERP, CRM, etc and LAN/WAN infrastructure) with Operational Technology (OT) – the Industrial Automation & Control Systems (PLC / SCADA / DCS / Home Automation Systems) that used to be localized to assembly lines, process industries, grids and pipelines.

SFO, which has equal expertise in both IT and OT, is in a unique position to offer integrated IoT solutions that can transform how different stakeholders in an enterprise – customers, suppliers, distributors, logistics service providers, sales force, production planners and factory workers – interact and exchange vital data that favourably impact the competitive edge of the enterprise’s offerings in the market.

SFO’s expertise and experience in the communication domain cover a wide range of product building blocks, technologies, and services, spanning communication networks/backbones which enable the IoT ecosystem, mobility & data analytics and AI that help in deriving insights from the vast quantities of data generated by the Things and Devices connected.

The Communications industry is evolving in the direction of integrating IoT into its wide range of wireline and wireless networks where data generated may be stored and managed in the cloud to be communicated, accessed and shared among different systems. SFO has innovative offerings that seamlessly integrate all the five levels of the IoT eco-system, viz. Sensors, Gateway, connectivity, Cloud, and data analytics, that relieve our customers of the usual headaches of dealing with multiple vendors associated with IoT implementations.

SFO has a Gateway platform that can channel inputs from a local sensor network to the cloud for remote monitoring, alarm/alert annunciation, and control that can be useful in remote monitoring and management of critical industrial assets such as ATM networks, rolling stock, etc. The Gateway platform uses a host of communication technologies (Bluetooth, ZigBee, Sub1GHz, Wi-Fi, GPRS, etc) to effect local and long-distance communication. At the other end of the eco-system, advanced analytics algorithms and Machine Learning techniques are used to crunch data and generate insights.

SFO has more than a quarter-century of experience in Smart / IoT devices such as smart meters, PLC/controllers, etc for power plants, utility networks, etc. SFO possesses key expertise in Industrial IoT and Smart Solutions such as Data Sensing/measurement, Industry standard protocols, Communication: RF, PLC, Cellular etc, Data acquisition/head end software, Application, and Analytics solution. Typical projects leveraging these capabilities include rural network monitoring & control, power distribution monitoring & control, smart infrastructure monitoring, smart tool controller, etc

Wearable technology makes IoT possible in Healthcare and is being presently used in the healthcare sector to track the patient health history and monitor data related to patient care. SFO has integrated patient data in the cloud into wearable devices to ensure efficiency and smoothness in handling healthcare practice.

We have also developed remote Smart Home Care solutions for the senior citizens for facilitating assisted living using our Gateway platform. SFO also has sound track-record in using IoT for enabling vehicle telematics, including vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications.