International Partner Search

Innovation & Technology Offer

Advanced system made of low cost components to monitor environmental variables.

Country of Origin: Spain
Reference Number: TOES20161123001
Publication Date: 23 November 2016

Summary

Spanish research center offers license agreement and technical cooperation to exploit an advanced technology, made of low-cost components, to monitor environmental conditions. It is a set of modular nodes and sensors allowing the selection of variables under control, plus an application to display results and operative commands in a user-friendly dashboard. The system has practical application in fast-growing sector like smart agriculture, industry 4.0 and smart city management.

Description

The measuring of environmental conditions is an activity that is currently carried out in many fields. Fast-growing sectors like smart agriculture, industry 4.0 and the management of smart cities require of the collection and analysis of huge amount of environmental data, with the aim of enabling the application of monitoring programs and the implementation of automatic reaction systems.

A Spanish research center has develop a new system aimed at monitoring the environment, which is capable of measuring any kind of variable that can be quantified by means of sensors, including meteorological variables, such as temperature, humidity or rainfall, as well as air quality conditions, such as gases, particulate matter or noise, among others. 

This system is based on a modular design, which makes it really easy to customize the measuring process and to monitor new variables simply by adding additional sensors. Further features of this technology are the interoperability offered, since it provides interfaces with standard connections, which increases its integration and facilitate access to the generated data. The technology follows Internet of things, big data and cloud computing paradigms and has its own independent power supply infrastructure.

However, what really makes it different is that is made of low cost components, which makes it affordable and gives the opportunity to expand the current market size of environment measuring stations.

This system consists of two sub-products: 1) a set of generic sensor node and 2) a web-based platform, which is capable of managing the flow of data coming from the nodes and creates added value information using big data technics. The software includes a graphical user interface that enables monitoring and operative functions by the means of a user-friendly dashboard, which displays comprehensible and helpful images. The technology offered is reactive, the dashboard displays alerts or launch programmed events when certain parameters are met. The whole system can be operated from the dashboard. Manual operations will follow recommendations obtained from big data analyses, automatic operations can use the sensors installed as performers, for instance, activating trough the nodes the irrigation system on a farm for certain parameters of temperature or changing the speed limit of traffic signs in cities for certain levels of pollution.

The research center is looking for a partner interested in a license agreement. The ideal partner would be a company capable of producing and commercializing this tool in the market of environment monitoring solutions stations. The research center is also offering technological cooperation agreement in case assistance is required to scale up the technology at an industrial level. Offering jointly the set of sensor nodes and a data analysis platform would make this technology the first integral solution available in this market.

Advantages and Innovations

This technology is cheaper than any other comparable solution available in the market, it is made of low cost components. 

It has more sensors than the current stations and is prepared for the addition of further capabilities, depending on the foreseen use. 

The modular design facilitates the adaptation to any field and/or firm by adding new capabilities.

Each node is autonomous at both levels, power supply and connectivity. That is to say each node can independently collect and send observations, unlike most of solutions available in the market. 

It is based on open standards, open-source software and hardware, which facilitates the compatibility as well as the reusability of this technology. 

The whole system has its own power supply infrastructure.

It uses GIS (Geographic Information Systems) standards to increase interoperability.

It follows Internet of things, big data and cloud computing paradigms. 

The software incorporates a user-friendly dashboard that allows a visual monitoring of the variables under analysis and the visualization of programmed operative commands. 

The technology has multiple areas of practical application, particularly in fast-growing sectors such as smart farming and crop monitoring, smart cities environmental conditions monitoring, automation systems to control and monitor industrial environments. 

This technology offers both at the same time, the set of sensor nodes and the data analysis platform, which makes it the first advanced integral solution in the market of environment monitoring stations.

Stage Of Development

Available for demonstration

Stage Of Development Comment

There is an available prototype. The web platform for the application is under development.

Requested partner

The ideal partner sought would an experienced company in the field of environment monitoring solutions interested commercializing this technology through a license agreement. Partners coming from other fields than environment monitoring would be welcome too. For instance, providers of IT solutions focused on smart farming, smart city or smart industry projects. The commercializing partner would be also in charge of scaling up the technology at an industrial level. At this stage, the research center would provide the required technical assistance through a technical cooperation agreement.