Eucast And Clovity Have Combined Technology To Give Security And Insights At The Network Edge
Since the dawn of manufacturing, there has always been the need to automate and optimize the process to produce goods from raw materials and distribute them in an efficient manner., there has always been the need to automate and optimize. Now more than ever, Manufacturing, and Industrial companies are seeing the benefits of expanding into rural areas to take advantage of lower real estate pricing, lower unincorporated tax benefits, and lower labor costs vs building out locations within inner cities. However, if moving to rural areas means a lack of connectivity or broadband, then the cost will ultimately outweigh the benefit.
Manufacturing companies must have an ‘always available’ mentality to produce the most product as the demand warrants. Any downtime or visibility into productivity means potential for loss of revenue or worse in some cases-fines from regulatory agencies like the EPA.
This becomes a challenge as the cost to lay down new fiber is very expensive and can take years, if not months to complete. The cost to erect towers with the telecom providers might cut down the time to implement but it doesn’t reduce the cost because operating to operate that network is very expensive to the telecom providers and undoubtedly, that cost is passed on to the industrial companies themselves.
Manufacturing companies and Industrial companies like Oil and Gas rely on a reliable network, and Artificial Intelligence and IoT to automate processes and workflow to reduce the chance of human failure. A gas leak, black smoke from a plume of burning gasses, a failed production line machine that was due for maintenance, or a failed quality inspection line that didn’t recognize a defective product can mean millions in a matter of minutes in lost productivity or inherit regulatory fines.
The Solution and the Answer: “Private IoT Network in a Box”.
EUCAST Global and Clovity have engineered the perfect solution for the manufacturing and industrial sector in the form of a 5G/CBRS Private IoT Network in a box. The solution is a Private Network that deploys using 5G/LTE and CBRS (Citizens Broadband Radio Service) coupled with the latest in IoT software, which can provide a broadband coverage of a mile to 5 miles and facilitate the collection of data from smart devices all in a single deployment and a single dashboard. Additionally, because of the nature and architecture of the Private Network, access to the devices or data on that network is highly secured. Data is encrypted in transmission and at rest and access to any devices is highly secured by administrative users and 2nd-factor authentication using NIST standards.
Due to Private Networks and Artificial Intelligence/IoT being relatively early in the adoptive lifecycle, EUCAST Global and Clovity have the top tech talent to provide for AI adoption, knowledge transfer, and technology sustainability and growth. Taking an industry like the Manufacturing and Industrial sector we know that it is an industry that has data everywhere but poor or expensive network communications. With a EUCAST and Clovity solution, the barrier to entry is a fraction of the cost of laying fiber or paying for high cellular services.
By owning the network, manufacturing and industrial companies can manage their own usage without monthly usage costs to a telecom provider. Thus, evolving system transformation from legacy to Industrial 4.0, and improving ROI in a rapid fashion. By having substations and rural stations on multiple Private Networks, the ability to hack into all of the infrastructures becomes increasingly impossible.
The Internet of Things (IoT)
As for the ‘smart’ side of the solution, Clovity has engineered a proprietary IoT software that can deploy in a single day. The software is called CSensorNet, and it has embedded Artificial Intelligence and workflow that can support any smart device and any network connection for all the use cases listed below.
By combining CSensorNet and EUCAST’s Private 5G Network, an integrated and flexible deployment can solve many of the remote challenges of today. Together, the fully integrated Network and IoT software create a powerful yet simplistic solution that can deploy in a single day. Through the use of Artificial Intelligence, substations can even be self-monitored to correct any issues through machine-to-machine communication, even in rural areas where there is no or low broadband coverage. Notifying area supervisors of corrective procedural steps and avoiding a truck roll to a remote location.
Here are some prime examples of how this single solution and deployment, of the EUCAST and Clovity IoT Network in a Box, can improve the Manufacturing and Industrial sector immediately:
- Smart Cameras with Artificial Edge Intelligence. It used to be that CCTV cameras were deployed on work sites to perform the basic function of monitoring through tv or monitor, by simply displaying what is happening in a specific site or location. Very little in the way of advancement in automation at the time as to ‘what’ the camera was seeing and if what is being recorded is in any way a need for concern.
That task was left up to a person to visibly concur with what the camera is showing and thus take some sort of manual action, like alert security, shut off a valve or pipe, and or alert others through traditional means of contact. Today, oil and gas benefits from the advancements of the IoT and thus advancements in hardware, network, and the introduction of artificial intelligence by being the ‘decision maker’ in a process that traditionally was fairly binary. With Smart cameras and the ability to perform automated functions and decisions right in the field and ‘at edge’, we now can see how the detection of fugitive chemicals, gasses, or flames can trigger a full workflow of automation that previously was done manually and untimely and traditionally had low levels of confidence or quantification.
Today’s smart camera and artificial intelligence can immediately identify objects, situations, and environments and create smart decisions that replace the standard manual processes. If for example a burning flume, which is used to burn off excess gasses, is also turning into black smoke which releases carbons in the atmosphere, the camera coupled with the artificial intelligence can immediately identify the smoke, the size of the smoke, the color of the smoke, which flume is projecting the black smoke and how long it has been burning real-time and immediately invoke the AI to notify and pass along video or images to field workers who can be remote. AI and machine learning can even perform as a workflow, immediately triggering a response to shut off a valve or change the mixture of the fuels to burn back to purity, all remotely or automatically based on these conditions.
No longer does a site need to wait until a field technician or engineer shows up and provides visible confirmation, this can all be done remotely using sensors, cameras, and artificial intelligence. It’s that same intelligence that can also work collaboratively with industry SCADA systems and provide machine-to-machine learning and communication so that in cases of future incidents, disasters, or emergencies, the process to manage can be done automatically and between machines with little or no intervention with labor. The creation of this type of solution ensures that immediate attention is provided to the incident, and a quantifiable catalog of incidents can be used to ensure that sites are meeting regulatory requirements as well as a faster recovery to standard operating procedures in the fastest and most optimal way possible. This frees up valuable resources to focus on innovation and less on manual processes. This technology is a game changer because it keeps sites proactive in their pursuit of compliance and ensures that energy is being processed in the most optimal means towards a greener environment. It also mitigates the loss of gasses, fuels, etc. so that revenue is kept in the pipelines and not in the atmosphere. - Private LTE, 3G, 4G, and 5G networks. Oil and gas companies are beholden to the same network challenges and security concerns as any other company in the world. However, an additional element of cost to oil and gas companies often creates barriers to the best and most stringent of networks, paying higher network infrastructure costs in rural or underserved areas of broadband or cellular services.
This leaves oil and gas companies with higher-priced options and minimum order quantities from larger providers to reach sites that are out of reach of traditional broadband infrastructure. In response to this need, EUCAST and Clovity are providing low-band and high-band private network options that can be deployed where there is no signal or infrastructure. This is significant because now operators can deploy a EUCAST private network and use it to house devices, machines, users, and communications without the need for a large provider or deep construction into towers or buried fiber. In fact, EUCAST private networks can utilize multiple backhaul options like satellite, TVWS (TV white space), fiber, CBRS (citizen broadcast radio services), or even microwave, which can expand the private network even further. The IoT network-in-a-box options are cost-effective, secure, rapidly deployable, and scalable to fit the needs of even the smallest of oil and gas sites.
Smaller operators like these options because they are no longer beholden to the cost structures and minimum order quantities that the larger telecom providers demand. The networks can even be picked up and re-deployed into other sites on the same day and the IoT software, it can provide remote or touchless provisioning and de-provisioning of devices. The private network technology is a game changer because the threat of cyber-attacks on primary and traditional networks remains a concern for the oil and gas industry, the private network is a perfect solution to segment the communication traffic between systems, cameras, sensors, and remote devices by having the ability to switch to other networks and prevent any intrusion of threat.
- Digital Twins. This technology is likely the newest innovation for both EUCAST and Clovity for the oil and gas industry and one that poses the best method of replicating physical sites and actual operating scenarios packaged in a virtual 3D environment. A digital twin is exactly what it sounds like, it is a digital copy of a physical environment.
Key Technologies for Digital Twin
- BIM (Building Information Modeling)
- LBS (Location Base Service)
- IoT (Internet of Things)
- loB (Internet of Behaviors)
- A.I (Artificial Intelligence)
- Big Data & Cloud
- AR/VR
- Wearable Device
- Machine to Machine
- Machine to Cloud
- Machine to X
An actual 3D model of all the equipment and devices in a site location, including the data, is replicated down to the last detail of machines in every aspect of the physical environment. Furthermore, the digital twin has the ability to accept and send out information to be kept in sync with the physical environment. There are several uses that this provides to the oil and gas industry that not only both save time and money, but also put tools in the hands of the IT/OT staff to create safer conditions and thwart cyber-attacks. With a digital twin of an oil and gas facility (indoor or outdoor) an administrator can ‘see’ virtually which sensors are triggered for alerts, what the health and maintenance might be of a particular machine, pumps, or actuators, and can remotely manage these devices and even processes from a 3D model. Additionally, because a digital twin has the ability to receive every aspect of data that a physical production environment receives, it becomes a perfect testing ground for ‘what if’ situations without the need to build out a new physical environment.
For example, with a digital twin, a security engineer can inject fault tolerance or sample attacks on the environment to see how it can recover, without disrupting the physical environment. This provides a better testing environment because what can be seen are the real-time events and actions that would be needed to secure a site in the case of a disaster. This saves time and money as well as can serve as the best defense against a cyber-attack.
In summary, the combined technologies of EUCAST’s 5G/CBRS network core and Clovity’s CSensorNet AI and IoT software, are prime to disrupt and assist the oil and gas industry in staying compliant with new EPA regulations, keep operations automated so less labor is used to perform tasks that can be remote, ensure these fuels are staying in the pipes thereby saving valuable revenue from escaping and ensures that the safety of a vital part of the US economy can be mitigated and protected from cyber-attacks.
In the end, the IoT Network in a Box helps the oil and gas industry by providing its Artificial Intelligence solutions that include integration to turnkey smart cameras and monitoring solutions, complete with emergency notifications, machine-to-machine communication, and visual imaging.
About Clovity
Founded in 2008, Clovity is a San Francisco-based AI and IoT-as-a-Service platform provider powered by their proprietary software called CSensorNet. Clovity also provides IoT Managed Project Teams to help companies scale their IoT workforce in areas of IoT Digital, Cloud, and Data.
Clovity’s IoT and AI platform connects companies to their assets and the world of ‘things’ around them. We have engineered our solution to provide edge computing, artificial intelligence, and cloud-agnostic, coupled with powerful data analytics and data visualization.
Learn more athttps://www.clovity.com
About EUCAST Global
EUCAST Global is the leading force in advanced wireless access technology. EUCAST Global is headquartered in Denver, CO providing Private 5G/LTE/CBRS networks to the private and public sectors. EUCAST provides end-to-end advanced wireless access solutions, consisting of base stations, control servers, and proprietary 5G core network with network management software.
Learn more at
