Sensor as a Service business model

The rapid advances in digitization are constantly giving rise to new application possibilities. These undoubtedly include the “sensor-as-a-service” business model, which involves the evaluation and use of specifically recorded smart sensor data. The information content of the data enables service providers, for example, to provide certain services at the right time and in the right place, and thus particularly economically. The prerequisites for this are:

• Communication-capable, specific (smart) sensors
• Secure and cost-effective transport of the generated data to the Internet or a cloud
• Application-specific evaluation and presentation of the data content in the cloud
• Automatic initiation or execution of certain services on the basis of the determined information

The components of Schildknecht AG’s IIoT solution, consisting of DATAEAGLE 7000 gateways with integrated mobile connectivity and eSIM, as well as the DATAEAGLE portal, offer an end-to-end solution package for this entire “value chain”, as shown below with two examples.

The economic benefits for Sensor as a Service exemplified by an infrastructure business model:

The cleaning and maintenance of restroom facilities at rest areas on freeways, for example, is an economic and logistical challenge for the operator and its cleaning service provider. The facilities are distributed over large distances, are frequented very differently depending on the time of day, week and year, but should always be found in good condition by the user. An attractive and economical solution for this in every respect has been developed by ASFINAG (the operator of the freeways in Austria) and the company Fuchs-Funk (the representative of Schildknecht AG in Austria) on the basis of “Sensor-as-a Service”.

The measurements of the frequency of use, which are broken down according to the the user groups and over time, are continuously registered by means of sensors (light barriers on the doors). The data is sent by the IoT gateway DATAEAGLE 7012 with integrated eSIM card via mobile radio to a device cloud set up for this purpose by Schildknecht. This data transport takes place globally and independently of the local and possibly unusable infrastructure and uses all mobile phone providers! The results are evaluated in the DATAEAGLE Prtal and prepared graphically and in tabular form for each individual location (service area) and sent by e-mail to the regionally responsible service provider (cleaning company) on an hourly basis and in a daily summary. When a programmed maximum number of users is reached, an alarm is issued. Download case study

The implementation of this typical “Sensor-as-a-Service” business model is up to the relevant competent companies: Funk-Fuchs or Schildknecht AG for the determination of demand and demand information (sensor technology, communication and data evaluation) and the respective cleaning companies for the execution; the actual operator ASFINAG is only involved in an informative capacity – an economically sensible division of labor!

The economic benefits for Sensor as a Service exemplified by an infrastructure business model:

Innumerable decentralized transformer stations (substations) are used to convert the usual nitrate voltage in the distribution network into the low voltage prescribed for local networks and end consumers. According to DIN EN 50160, a certain voltage quality must be maintained, even with considerable load fluctuations! This requires continuous condition monitoring of voltage and current and other measured variables (temperature of the transformer) in the individual stations as well as forwarding of the measured values to a central office of the energy supplier. Until now, this was a costly procedure!

Here, too, digitization enables a fundamental turnaround to greater cost-effectiveness, provided that IT-enabled sensors are used by the utilities. For the transport of the sensor data to the Internet, evaluation of the data in a cloud, regular information of the utility – as already explained in example 1l – the proven DATA EAGLE 7000 complete package of gateways, managed connectivity and cloud service and – if desired – its operation by Schildknecht AG or its representative – is available.
In view of the hundreds of thousands of local transformer stations in Germany, for example, this “Sensor-as-a-Service” application offers an immensely high savings potential! Measuring power demand with DATAEAGLE!