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International automotive technology supplier, ERM Advanced Telematics , whose products are installed in more than five million vehicles worldwide, has been making progress since the expansion of its activities from telematics solutions for
locating and tracking vehicles, drivers and passengers, to a
complimentary field of IoT (Internet of Things).
The company has launched its IoTLink line of products, which is based on technology that was specifically developed at ERM. The new sensing solutions use sensors and gateways that enable continuous tracking of
assets and monitoring their status according to pre-defined parameters.
The products emit constant status signals, as well as alerts of any
breach of the pre-defined parameters. In addition, the IoTLink products communicate between themselves using BLE (Bluetooth low energy)
technology. The products are also equipped with an internal battery and are easily and quickly installed.
IoTLink products enable tracking, locating and monitoring of assets that are not necessarily in or on the vehicle, such as items that are being
transported in crates or are in storage, in containers, in transit, in
fields, etc, alongside assets such as activated machines and
refrigerators for industrial or home, which use equipment that requires
long-distance monitoring. This latest move by ERM, which has focused its efforts on the automotive market, is now offering solutions to new sectors such as agriculture, logistics and any field that requires this type of monitoring. ERM’s new IoT solutions will enable complete
integration and interfacing of the company’s main telematics product
line that is based on the StarLink technology.
As part of the new IoTLink line, ERM announced the e2Sens comprehensive sensor, that will be offered at a highly competitive price and will enable the monitoring of assets in real time. e2Sens will also enable
periodic reporting based on a list of parameters – humidity,
temperature, light, motion, angles, shock, falling, or opening or
closing of doors. A complimentary product to e2Sens is e2Gate, which
serves as a gateway to the e2Sens sensor and can also act independently as a standalone sensor. e2Gate combines a mobile tracking unit with a sophisticated sensor, and is equipped with a cellular modem, GPS, an internal battery and the capability to monitor temperature, identify an accident, angle, shock, movement and location, all in one device and in real time.
In addition to the use of e2Gate or StarLink devices as gateways, and in order to maximize flexibility in field implementation, IoTLink
technology comes also as part of a special app that was designed by ERM, allowing the use of mobile phones and tablets as gateways.
The IoTLink technology focuses on continuous measurement over monitoring ranges and thresholds determined in advance by the users, and it provides alerts if these thresholds are exceeded. As long as the sensors do not detect any irregularity from the pre-determined range, the reporting will be on a periodic basis. Once a threshold is breached, the
sensor will send out an event in order to permit an immediate
satisfactory handling of the asset.
The e2Sens and e2Gate are equipped with a powerful internal battery that allows continuous emitting of data over a period of several years without a need for recharging and without any wires. Therefore, IoTLink based solutions can be deployed in any setting – mobile or stationary, and by the user without any prior experience, simply, quickly and easily.
Eitan Kirshenboim, CMO and business development manager at ERM Advanced Telematics, said, “We designed a strategy of combining the connected
vehicles technology with asset monitoring, while offering a natural
interface between them. The goal of this strategy is to enable our
business partners to expand their reach beyond telematics and fleet
management services. We will allow them to add asset management and
monitoring both for clients that provide logistics services and for
clients that need asset monitoring on a daily basis.”
According to Kirshenboim, “As part of the strategy, ERM’s partners
will be able to monitor assets from after the completion of
manufacturing, through the phases of storing, transporting to their
destination and subsequent installation at the customer’s premises or
at a site – and keep monitoring the assets during the maintenance
phases. This is followed up by continuous tracking and monitoring of the
asset or machine along the entire supply chain at any point in time
throughout the asset’s lifecycle.“
Kirshenboim added: “Initially, we will focus on the IoT market through
our existing telematics business partners, deployed in 68 countries.
Thanks to ERM’s technology, current partners will be able to add the new functionality to their implementations, without the need to replace anything in vehicles that are already in service. It’s a great
opportunity for them to add value, create new revenue streams and offer new services. In the next stage, we will market IoTLink to any organization in the IoT field that aims to expand its activities to the fleet management and automotive telematics markets.”
“We will stress our capabilities to fully track and monitor the status
of assets, when mobile or stationed, using various gateways wherever
they are, and continue this process after the asset has been placed at
the site where it is intended to operate,” Kirshenboim further said.
