Easing the notorious rush-hour gridlock on Interstate 25 south of Denver will require controlling thousands of motorists’ access to the highway with fraction-of-a-second precision never before seen in Colorado.

It’s why in the next few weeks, state transportation officials will launch the Smart 25 Managed Motorways Pilot Program, using what’s called “coordinated ramp metering” on a 14-mile stretch of northbound I-25 between University Boulevard in Denver and Ridgegate Parkway in Lone Tree.

Many entrance ramps on metro Denver highways have traffic lights to control traffic flow but they aren’t programmed to respond to real-time conditions. By making constant and minute changes to the length of time cars wait on entrance ramps before merging onto the highway, traffic engineers believe slowdowns and logjams can be greatly reduced — or avoided altogether.

The proof, according to Colorado Department of Transportation Smart 25 Project Manager Zach Miller, resides nearly 8,800 miles away in Melbourne, Australia.

“Australia has figured out how to use algorithms to resolve complex traffic problems to prevent congestion,” Miller said. “I am hopeful this technique can be beneficial to CDOT as well.”

What Australia’s second-biggest city found after implementing its coordinated ramp metering program on a stretch of the M1 freeway a decade ago is impressive: The number of vehicles getting through increased by 25% during peak commuting periods, travel speeds improved 35% to 60% during peaks and crashes went down by 20% to 50%.

“We can’t control what the drivers do, but we can control the environment in which they make these decisions,” said Matt Hall, a manager with the Victoria Department of Transport.

And that environment is one of extreme precision: Traffic conditions on the roadway are constantly monitored by sensors, which send data to algorithm-chewing computers. The length of time the green or red light on an entrance ramp illuminates is adjusted every 20 seconds.

“It slowly pushes out red time as needed,” said John Gaffney, strategic advisor to the Victoria Department of Transport. “And if one area is struggling, we share the pain across the system.”

Sometimes that means adding just a tenth of a second to motorists’ wait time, Gaffney said, but manipulating wait times on numerous ramps across miles of highway helps to fill in what empty spaces there are on the highway to keep traffic moving smoothly. It only takes two additional vehicles per lane mile to bog it all down, he said.

The stretch of I-25 through the Denver Tech Center sees upwards of 250,000 vehicles a day on average, CDOT data shows. Melanie Ward, Centennial’s strategic adviser for transportation and mobility, said there has been no shortage of complaints from city residents about I-25.

“We hear from our residents all the time that traffic congestion is the biggest concern,” she said.

She welcomes CDOT’s Smart 25 pilot program as a potential solution to congestion — and possibly helping cut down on the metro area’s ozone alert days — but she worries that extended red ramp lights could mean backups on connecting streets.

“We want to make sure we’re not seeing I-25 improvements at the expense of the local roads,” Ward said.

In Melbourne, Gaffney said, that hasn’t been a problem. If a ramp starts to become overloaded, cars will be released while the system transfers wait times somewhere up the road to compensate.

“You have to have all the ramps looking at the system,” he said.

Both Hall and Gaffney said Colorado is on the “leading edge” in putting in place a coordinated ramp metering system. Utah, Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee, among other states, have explored using it but I-25 already has much of the infrastructure needed in place.

That includes the sensors on the highway and a dozen “sensing pucks” at each of the 18 ramps involved in the study, Miller said. The first three months of the pilot, which could start as soon as the end of June, will be spent collecting data.

The next two months will be a “soft launch” of the program, followed by four months of full operation. Miller said CDOT is spending $5 million on the pilot program, and will be able to assess next year whether it’s something to implement on a permanent basis.

“This corridor was completely refreshed 15 years ago,” Miller said, referring to the additional lanes built on I-25 and I-225 in 2006 as part of the $800 million T-REX project. “However, most of the improved capacity gains have been lost due to increased demands.”

Jeremy Hanak, public works director for Greenwood Village, would just like the worst of the rush hour through his city to grow no longer or more intense than it is.

“If you get a coordinated traffic signal system, you can increase efficiency,” Hanak said. “Hopefully, you can stop yourself from going from a one-hour peak period to a two-hour peak period.”

Read the article here: Colorado looks to Australia to solve I-25 traffic congestion

Foreign object debris, or FOD, can come from a variety of sources and presents a major hazard to aircraft around the world, costing the aviation industry an estimated $4 billion in repairs each year.

One Whiteman Air Force Base Airman took it upon himself to try to prevent these maintenance costs after learning about the risks of FOD and the importance of having good attention to detail on the flight line.

“From the moment I walked onto the flight line, I was blown away by the sheer power of the B-2 (Spirit)s and the Airmen who work around them,” said Airman 1st Class Paul Olexa, 509th Bomb Wing Innovation Office assistant, originally assigned to the 509th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron. “I began to learn the process for removing, inspecting, and installing parts. I watched how Airmen handled tools, parts, and where they placed objects.”

Seeing the trends for item placement and the chance of losing parts or tools, Olexa realized something needed to be done to keep track of these items. Originally he focused on the magnetic aspect of many parts and tools as a way to keep track of them.

Before joining the military, Olexa worked as an area manager within a factory, this industrial background exposed him to a variety of floor mats that serve a variety of purposes. This experience helped him develop a floor mat that would potentially reduce FOD. The concept started as a magnetic floor mat and evolved to incorporate smart technology in order to analyze and track FOD.

“The FOD mat is a durable polymer mat capable of detecting and locating metallic and non-metallic objects using a variety of sensors,” Olexa said. “Doing so will allow users to easily find FOD thus reducing the risk of damage, property damage, labor hours, and mission delays.”

With up to eight hours of battery life, the mats will be able to be used throughout various maintenance tasks and will record data for the items that fall on them.

“Each item dropped on the mat will be assigned a unique ID and will be recorded in a database,” Olexa said. “Metrics recorded on the database will be the item location, time of drop and time of retrieval. It will also include a machine learning model for object identification.”

While the FOD mat was developed for use during military aircraft maintenance, Olexa stated there will be a public version with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities along with a variety of sizes to fit the needs of different industries.

The mats will be modular and will be able to be connected to form larger mats. They can also be stacked for storage and charging.

The initial prototype, which will be no larger than a pizza box, is undergoing development by Texas A&M University engineering students for their capstone project. The capstone project partners students with innovators and industry professionals, giving them the opportunity to use the skills and knowledge they’ve acquired to produce and design real-world projects.

“Innovation is the method by which we maintain or in some areas, regain our competitive edge in every warfighting domain,” said Capt. Benjamin Fogarty, 509th Bomb Wing Innovation Office director. “It is the diametric opposite of complacency; innovation requires us to take the initiative and not accept the status quo, but instead strive for something better.”

Fogarty added that innovation comes to play in the lives of Airmen by improving efficiency, quality of work and providing new insight to units that choose to innovate.

“What we are finding is that better forms of communication and the ability to understand data in real-time is a cross-enterprise obstacle now for the Air Force and we are pursuing numerous parallel lines of effort to solve this ubiquitous problem,” Fogarty said.

The 509th BW Innovation Office along with innovation teams across the Air Force are working together to solve problems and overcome obstacles in more efficient, cost effective and creative ways by opening the door for new ideas and technology.

“A1C Olexa has so far been unique in his success, and has done an extraordinary thing by putting himself out there and having the persistence to carry his idea to fruition,” Fogarty said. “He had good leaders who pointed him in the right direction. We need more of our leaders to step up and do the same for their Airmen. We need them to tell their Airmen, ‘That’s a great idea and the innovation office can help you make it a reality. I’ve seen them do it.”

Read the full article here: Whiteman AFB Airman innovates, develops smart maintenance floor mat to prevent FOD

The Smart Meters for Independent Living (Smile) initiative is being run by the University of Edinburgh’s School of Informatics, with housing and care specialist Blackwood Homes and Care, and Scottish innovation centre The Data Lab.

It will see the consortium develop and test artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning methods to analyse energy usage data from consenting residents’ smart meters, which will give a view of their daily routines to highlight unusual changes in behaviour which could cause concern. The trial began in November 2019 and, despite delays caused by the pandemic, it is analysing energy usage data in homes across Scotland.

Residents and their family or carers can set “rules” for the system, telling it which changes in routine could be a cause for concern – the duration of a shower being longer than usual, or a change to normal cooking schedules, which could indicate that there has been an incident.

Machine learning algorithms use energy usage patterns to identify the timing of people’s relevant activities in the home, looking for changes that should be flagged up. The system will then alert the individual, their loved one or carer, enabling a decision on the best course of action.

Gillian Docherty, CEO of The Data Lab, said: “We’re proud to be involved in such a forward-thinking project and look forward to receiving the initial findings soon.”

Dr Lynda Webb from the School of Informatics said: “The fact that we are also co-designing the service with Blackwood customers means we can take forward the research in a way that is adapted to people’s true needs.”

Read the full article here: Smart tech transforming the lives of elderly people living independently

Many detractors understandably argue that governments should divert the immense funds going into space exploration to fix our problems here on Earth.

However, aside from falling into the category of the excluded middle fallacy, the idea that we should halt space exploration also ignores the immense benefits space-age technologies have brought us here on Earth.

One new example is startup SMART, which, thanks to a partnership with NASA, is building an airless bicycle tire based on technology created to make future lunar and Martian rovers more resilient.

SMART’s METL tire is the product of the company’s work with NASA’s Glenn Research Center, as part of the agency’s Space Act Agreement startup program.

Working with NASA engineers Dr. Santo Padula and Colin Creager, who developed the so-called “shape memory alloy” (SMA) technology, the team at SMART devised an airless, maintenance-light tire that could replace traditional rubber tires.

As the U.S. produces approximately 246 million rubber waste tires a year, such a technology could help to fix an unsustainable rubber waste problem on Earth. Puncture-free tires could also reduce thousands of injuries resulting from tire pressure accidents.

NASA’s SMA technology brought down to Earth 

SMA technology allows for a tire built entirely of interconnected springs. As these tires don’t require an inner tube or air pressure they are puncture resistant. The people at SMART say the tire is elastic like rubber at the same time as being strong like titanium.

Based on NASA’s tests, the tires also provide similar or even better traction than rubber tires, as well as shock-absorbing capabilities, a TechCrunch report details.

As they were originally built for rovers that could go years, or a lifetime, without maintenance, SMAs were built to return to their original shape at the molecular level. The tires can deform to adapt to different terrain types without losing their structural integrity over time.

SMART was co-founded by engineer Brian Yennie and entrepreneur and reality series “Survivor: Fiji” winner Earl Cole. Both worked with SMA creators Dr. Santo Padula and Colin Creager, as well as former NASA intern Calvin Young, to rethink SMA for the consumer market.

The first METL tire, aimed at the cycling market, will be available to the public early next year. If that goes well, SMART also aims to bring SMA tires to the automotive and commercial vehicle industries.

Aside from being a NASA partner, SMART also has a partnership in place with Ford-owned Spin, a micromobility bike and scooter-sharing company.

SMART is also crowdfunding via a WeFunder campaign which, at the time of writing, has already accrued $90,000 of its first goal of $100,000. The company will have to compete with the likes of Michelin and GM to reach that $8 million valuation cap.

Read the full article here: NASA Rover Tech Used for Eco-Friendly Rubber Tire Alternative

COVID-19 has changed the world this year, with some industries affected more than others. As teleworking and spending more time at home become the norm, travel and transportation agencies have to adjust to fewer commuters and travelers while implementing additional safety protocols. In July 2020, Transit App showed a 58 percent national reduction in travelers since 2019, with even higher percentage declines in cities like Washington and New York.

During this time of declined ridership, transit agencies must optimize resources – and many are focused on modernizing systems in order to do so. For example, Columbus, Ohio, established its Smart Columbus initiative, transitioning away from gas-burning cars to electric and public transportation. San Francisco, Calif. committed to a 10 percent decrease in single-occupancy vehicle trips by switching to transit, shared, and active forms of transport modes, and is investing in smart technology to improve its public transport system.

Integrated systems make all the difference

Another example is VIA Metropolitan Transit, which enables nearly 40 million passenger trips yearly across San Antonio, Texas, and serves as the primary form of transportation for much of the community. Because of this vital role, VIA has invested heavily in technology in the past few years, which is helping to position San Antonio as a transit leader.

To keep buses and technology running smoothly, VIA has embraced smart data analysis and storage, leveraging Pure Storage’s FlashArray. Its platform tracks bus and van schedules through GPS, facilitates maintenance orders, and refreshes data every few minutes. This data in turn feeds into the VIA chatbot and third-party apps such as Apple Maps, Google Maps, and Transit, fueling programs and features that boost the rider experience for as many as 100,000 rides every day.

Integrated technologies enable riders to buy bus passes through a mobile app, view digital signs at bus stops that indicate when the next bus will arrive, track bus locations in near real-time, and interact with a new AI-powered chatbot on VIA’s website that answers questions and reports bus locations in both English and Spanish, 24 hours a day.

When COVID-19 hit, San Antonio saw almost a 50-percent decrease in bus ridership. Still, VIA saw the importance of keeping its buses running for the community, many of whom are essential and frontline workers. It continued to process and share accurate, up-to-date information that riders could depend on. VIA also suspended fares for almost three months during the first wave of the pandemic to avoid crowding while boarding as part of its extensive safety measures. And it launched its VIA Cares program to meet community needs, including Wi-Fi hotspot vans for students learning remotely, and food bank deliveries to homebound residents.

While keeping the city’s transportation systems running was critical, VIA’s commitment to its staff was equally important. It quickly adopted a work-from-home model in mid-March, outfitting its employees with remote capabilities and allowing data to process through a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). With Pure Storage’s Evergreen Storage subscription model, VIA was able to quickly scale and handle large amounts of data more seamlessly than before.

Embracing technology for future growth

Looking forward, VIA has established a plan called Keep SA Moving, with the goals of making bus services more frequent and reliable, creating rapid transit corridors throughout the city, and using technology to make services smarter and more convenient.

While the agency remains on track with its VIA Vision 2040, a long-range plan to continue to outfit San Antonio with the best technologies and service options for transportation accessibility, this year has underscored the importance for VIA to stay resilient and agile. With the amount of data increasing each day, storage continues to be at the forefront of its plans.

As cities like San Antonio continue to grow rapidly, accessible and user-friendly transportation is essential. Governments have invested $124 billion in smart cities globally, and it is only a matter of time before cities worldwide embrace technology to improve transit and connect people to economic opportunities and each other – safely.

Read the full article here: The future of transportation – leveraging smart solutions to boost user experience

The deployment of an optical broadband network in the Bolivian city of Potosí will open up an array of opportunities that the city, its people and businesses have not had before.

Residents of Potosí, Bolivia, the highest city in the world, are to benefit from fibre broadband connectivity following the roll-out of a GPON broadband network. Potosí is 4,090 metres above sea level, resting at the foot of the Cerro Rico mountain that rises to 4,800 metres.

Slovenia-based Iskratel is implementing the new, optical broadband network in the Bolivian city in collaboration with its Latin-American partner Teleserv Group Bolivia for the Potosí service provider Cotap.

Unified communications solutions

The deployment will see Iskratel’s SI3000 Lumia GPON (gigabit passive optical network) line terminals, along with Innbox G85 and Innbox G74 optical network terminals, deployed at customer premises. The deployment is ‘complemented’, Iskratel reports, by its virtual IMS and unified communications solutions.

“In Potosí, a city with such fascinating history, life has never been easy,” said Juan Francisco Flores, legal representative of Cotap Ltda.

“The deployment of an optical broadband network not only delivers new connectivity to our residents and businesses, but also opens up an array of business opportunities that the city and its people have not had possible before.”

“Bringing fibre connectivity to the people of Potosí, the highest city in the world, fills us with profound pride. We were able to achieve this together with the support and help from our partners and friends at Cotap and Teleserv,” added Svjetlana Kalaba, director of business unit broadband at Iskratel.

She continued: “We truly are taking reliable and ultra-fast connectivity to the summit.”

Potosí was once one of the richest cities in the world, with a population exceeding cities such as London, Seville, Madrid, Rome or Paris. Its economy, driven by silver mined from Cerro Rico, turned the city into the hub of world economy. Today, Potosí is a Unesco World Heritage Site.

Iskratel is a European provider of communications solutions for the digital transformation of the telecommunications, transport, public safety, and energy industries. It has its own R&D and manufacturing centres, employs 900 employees, and has a presence in some 50 countries.

Read the full article here: Highest city in the world deploys fibre broadband

We were still getting over the bizarre reveal of the polarizing 2022 Tesla Cybertruck when 2020 crept up on us like a deranged clown at a birthday party that at first seems okay but then gets weirder and weirder as the day progresses. During the cavalcade of horrors that was 2020, the electrified march of progress continued, albeit a bit slowed by the global pandemic. Read on for some of the highlights of EV development in this crazy year:

Tesla Model Y Actually ahead of Schedule

While 2020 demolished timetables for unveilings and production, automakers new and old still managed to surprise us. First Tesla announced that it began production of the Model Y early. As a company known for its ever slipping delivery targets, this was big deal as the company started making an actual profit and almost acting like a traditional automaker.

Lucid Air Lets Fly a Challenge in the Range Wars

Meanwhile, Lucid, which is run by former Tesla engineers, announced a 517-mile-range battery pack, a shot straight at Tesla in the range wars. And the company also unveiled its 2021 Lucid Air sedan and completed the first phase of its factory in Arizona.

Ford Mustang Mach-E Is Much Hyped, Almost Here

Ford has been promoting its upcoming Mustang Mach-E like crazy ever since unveiling it at the Los Angeles auto show in 2019. So have others, including Vaughn Gittin Jr., who shoved seven motors into one. And we finally got the chance to drive a Mustang Mach-E ourselves. In the middle of all of this, Ford’s premium wing, Lincoln, announced and then canceled an EV that would have been powered by Rivian’s platform.

Rivian R1S/R1T Delayed, but Check Out This Delivery Van?

Rivian had to delay production of its electric R1T truck and R1S SUV, but showed the world the delivery van it built in partnership with Amazon, which should keep it financially secure for years to come. It also lent prototypes of the R1T to the motorcycle-adventure series Long Way Up starring Ewan McGregor securing a ton of screen time in front of an audience that might not even know the company exists.

GM Goes for EV SUVs with GMC Hummer EV, Cadillac Lyriq

Not to be outdone by Ford, GM brought back the Hummer as an EV: it’s the gigantic gas guzzler from two decades back, redone in green. Or at least greenish; it takes a lot of raw materials to build something that large. The automaker also accelerated its electrification timeline, promising 30 EVs by 2025 via the bold Ultium battery platform it revealed earlier this year. That includes the Lyriq luxury electric SUV from Cadillac and a mystery electric truck it showed off during a news conference. Then of course Chevy has a new Bolt EV and Bolt EUV coming.

Honda e Not Coming Here, Sorry

GM’s battery platform even yielded a partnership with Honda. GM will supply the battery and motors, and Honda will engineer them to its liking. A big deal considering Honda killed its only U.S. EV, the Clarity, and still won’t bring the cute-as-a-button Honda e (pictured) to our shores.

The Mercedes EQS and Other EQs

The Mercedes-Benz EV stable grew a bit this year with the EQS being teased and expected to show up next year to replace the delayed EQC. The automaker intends to launch four new EVs on the EVA platform including the EQE and EQE SUV and the company intends to throw a battery in everything from the A-class to the S-class. Plus, were expecting an electric Maybach and G-Wagen. Oh, and expect an AMG EQS with 600 hp in 2022.

VW ID.4 Will Get Here Eventually

Volkswagen’s MEB platform is finally yielding results. The ID.3 has been launched in Europe and the ID.4 electric SUV destined for the U.S. market was unveiled. It was originally expected here by the end of the year, but like most things in the year of COVID-19, it’s been pushed, probably to January.

Volvo XC40 Recharge, Polestar 2 from Sweden

The Polestar 2 went into production and impressed us while the slightly less exciting (but based on the same platform) Volvo XC40 Recharge (pictured) gave the Swedish automaker its own EV to share with the world. The most exciting news out of Sweden is that the Polestar Precept concept will go into production and be available at some point in the future in the U.S.

Hyundai’s e-GMP Platform

Hyundai and Kia announced a dedicated EV platform with the unfortunate name E-GMP. It’ll power 23 global vehicles by 2025. The first of these vehicles will appear in 2021, while the companies plan to continue to produce the Kona Electric and Niro EV.

A Toyota EV Is Finally on the Way Here

After focusing on hybrids and fuel-cell vehicles for the U.S., Toyota is finally bringing an EV here even though Toyota president Akio Toyoda has said that EVs are overhyped. The EV platform is likely to be shared with Subaru, which so far has only shown off a show car that might be an EV crossover in the future.

No Nikola Badger After All . . .

The most 2020 of all the EV news was the Nikola Badger electric pickup. After announcing it in February and taking pre-orders, the startup known more for fuel-cell semis ended up canceling the truck in November after allegations of investor fraud forced the CEO and founder to resign and the company’s deal with GM to be scaled back. Oh Badger, we hardly knew ye.

. . . But Bollinger and Fisker Seem on Track

In better news, Bollinger showed off production-intent images of its truck and SUV that are slated to go into production in late 2021 for fans of boxes and Lego blocks. Meanwhile, Fisker plans to have three vehicles on the road by 2025 as the Ocean went from using Volkswagen’s battery platform to Magna’s.

Audi e-trons Multiply

Audi shared details about the Q4 e-tron and Q4 Sportback e-tron going into production next year as it expands its electric lineup. But more important, we learned that the beautiful e-tron GT will get an RS version (pictured), will go into production looking nearly identical to the show car, and will be available in early 2021. We also got more information about the PPE system being developed by Audi and Porsche, which will be a premium EV platform, and the Project Artemis plan to take on Tesla.

BMW iX3 Will Be 1 of 25 EVs

BMW revealed that it will offer electric versions of the X1 and 5-series as part of its push to get 25 EVs on the road by 2023. By the end of 2021, the i3, i4, iX3, and iNext will be out.

Battery Day, and the Endless Promise of Solid-State Batteries

We also got some welcome news about the batteries powering these machines. Tesla’s Battery Day event included news of a $25,000 EV in three years’ time, and a whole slew of companies including Samsung and Toyota, announced they were close to cracking the solid-state-battery nut. Companies have been talking about figuring out solid-state batteries for years, so it’s probably best not to get our hopes up.

EVs’ Prices May Drop to Internal-Combustion Levels

But we should be excited about a BloombergNEF report that by 2023, average battery prices will hit $101 per kWh, down from the current average price of $137 per kWh. The $100-per-kWh mark is the point at which experts say the cost of an EV will be the same as a gasoline-powered car. So in 2023, it’s possible electric vehicles will be priced the same as their ICE counterparts. If there are still federal tax incentives, they’ll actually be cheaper.

Let’s Just Start 2021 Now, Shall We?

So, even in this weird year, EVs made an impact in a way they hadn’t in the years prior. Even the more traditional automakers are not only talking about electric vehicles but bringing them to market, and bold rollout plans seem to be on track. In the end, 2020, with all its flaws, was a good year for electrification, and 2021 should be better—even if we still won’t get the Honda e in the United States.

Read the full article here: The Electric Year: In 2020, We Charged toward Electric Vehicles

The course of technology-driven change has been diverted this year due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. While the biggest drivers of change are still artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT), and other fourth industrial revolution fields, their impact was felt in different ways than we may have anticipated at the start of the year.

Nowhere is this more true than in healthcare. The focus of advanced research across medicine, vaccines, social care, and environmental health has shifted to tackling the ongoing crisis. And every key trend, from biotechnology and smart medicine to virtual and augmented reality, smart cities, digital twinning, and robotics, have had their part to play.

Here are my top five predictions for how this will continue to play out throughout 2021. As new vaccines and treatments provide a glimmer of hope that normality of some sort may resume, breakthroughs enabled by the accelerated pace of innovation we’ve seen this year will better equip us to face new challenges.

Healthcare a consideration in every aspect of life

In 2020, every company has had to become a tech company as data and computing have become essential to everything we do. In 2021, every company will learn to become a healthcare company, too, as safeguarding employees and customers becomes a core requirement of doing business.

This will include enhanced biosecurity measures from sanitization stations to on-premises screening technology and quarantine measures at locations where staff are required on-site and can’t work from home. Tech-driven innovation around this will bring us improved safety measures and early-warning systems to reduce the likelihood of contagious illnesses being passed around.

For some companies, it will still be safer for staff to remain remote going into 2021 and possibly throughout the year. Here, there will be other challenges, such as a need to support the mental health of workers as they juggle home and work responsibilities. Without daily face-to-face contact, it will be more difficult for managers to assess whether their teams are overworked or taking the right precautions to safeguard their health. Once again, technology will play its part in mitigating these dangers, from health apps that monitor our activity and remind us to take breaks and exercise, meditation and mindfulness apps, and remote therapeutic services.

Virtual care and remote medicine

If it’s possible to receive the same level of care at home as you would from a visit to a doctor’s surgery or outpatient clinic, then surely it makes sense to do so? Particularly for minor and routine appointments, the number of virtual visits have skyrocketed during the pandemic and is predicted by Forrester analysts to hit one billion by the end of 2020. It’s also thought that during 2021 one third of virtual care appointments will be related to mental health issues.

As well as reducing the risk of spreading contagion, remote medicine allows medical professionals to squeeze more patient consultations into their busy schedules. This is a particularly vital consideration in highly populated countries such as China and India, where doctors are in short supply.

Another facet of this trend will be the ongoing development of robotic and autonomous healthcare assistants capable of working in hospitals or right in people’s homes. These will reduce the likelihood of infection (a big problem in hospitals even before Covid). These also have mental health implications – companion robots are being introduced into care homes in the UK; they were found to be successful at reducing symptoms of loneliness and social isolation.

Genomics and gene editing lead to further breakthroughs

Gene editing enables us to influence specific traits that are inherited by new living cells, when new proteins are created by the division of existing cells. These traits, known as phenotypes, govern the cell’s longevity, its ability to survive against injury or illness, and many other factors. By manipulating these phenotypes through techniques such as CRISPR-Cas9, scientists have already made many advances in treatments of killer diseases, including Duchenne muscular Dystrophy, heart disease, and cancer.

Due to breakthroughs in this field, we’re likely to see accelerated development of forms of treatment known as “precision medicine,” where drugs can be customized to match the genetic profile of individual patients, making them more effective, as well as less likely to cause unwanted side-effects.

The technology has also been used to create a “lab on a chip,” designed for fast detection of coronavirus infection. A handheld device capable of detecting if people are infected, without having to rely on inaccurate indicators such as coughing or a temperature, could be hugely beneficial in returning a level of normality to our lives.

And looking beyond medical use cases, methods demonstrated by on UK startup, Tropic Biosciences, have been used to create caffeine-free coffee beans, reducing the cost and resources spent decaffeinating regular beans. They have also created disease-resistant bananas, which could transform an industry that currently spends a quarter of its production costs fighting disease.

Data and AI drives shift to fairer healthcare insurance and coverage

The growth in the amount of data collected on our health, from our interaction with health services as well as our own devices and online activities, means providers have an increasingly accurate picture of where and when intervention may be needed.

The coronavirus pandemic has shown us that there is a willingness to share our personal data when the benefits to our health are clearly communicated. This has been proven by track-and-trace systems that have reliably kept infection levels in check in some regions (though less so in others).

This will be particularly important from a financial point of view. The coronavirus pandemic has been costly for the healthcare industry, with revenues falling by 50% in the US due to patients avoiding hospitals and surgeries. This will lead to an increased reliance on AI-driven prediction tools to forecast where resources can be used most efficiently. Insurance providers will also step up their use of advanced predictive technology to better understand risk and more accurately set premiums.

AI, IoT, and Smart Cities improve our ability to detect and respond to future outbreaks

“Smart cities” is a term used to describe the concept of building digital connectivity and automated data-driven decisioning into the fabric of urban life, including planning public transport networks, refuse collection, energy distribution, and environmental health initiatives. AI and IoT are fundamental to many initiatives in this space.

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, the focus of smart city innovation has switched towards planning and managing the way growing numbers of people will live in ever-closer proximity to each other. This is a particular challenge in developing countries where urban populations continue to grow – the UN predicts 68% of the world’s population will live in urban areas by 2050.

Just as every company will have a focus on healthcare going into 2021 (see my first prediction in this post), so to will every city planner and municipal authority. A keyword is “resilience”, with increasing resources dedicated to developing technology to help avoid the catastrophic impact on lives and economies of pandemics and outbreaks. Environmental health is a major focus, too, with tech-driven initiatives aimed at reducing air pollution and building resilience to climate-driven change such as temperature and sea-level rises, likely to take center-stage as we move into the ‘20s.

Read the article here: The 5 Biggest Healthcare Trends In 2021 Everyone Should Be Ready For Today

A new report released by Black & Veatch examines key issues and trends impacting today’s power industry.

Black & Veatch’s new 2020 Strategic Directions: Electric Report details market drivers and provides insights into how the industry can address challenges.

The study is based on a survey of more than 600 leaders in the industry and has found that:

• New regulations are creating new dynamics – traditional methods of operating a power utility with separate generation, transmission and distribution assets are giving way to more integrated approaches.
• Electric vehicles (EVs) and electrified fleets are gaining traction as vehicle production and delivery intensifies, requiring power providers to meet charging needs as increasingly empowered consumers – both citizens and commercial and industrial interests – test utilities’ business models.
• New power generation technologies harnessing green hydrogen produced through renewable power and more advanced battery storage show growing promise in the quest for decarbonization.
• Climate change, COVID-19 and shifting demographics highlight an industry where there’s no one-size-fits-all dynamic and management of the grid is becoming more targeted and localized.

Mario Azar, president of Black & Veatch’s power business, said: “After 130 years, the power industry is being repowered as sweeping changes are guiding more focus on a consistent, methodical adoption of innovative practices to ensure the sector’s relevance.

“Now more than ever, consumers expect their power providers to be progressive and proactive, further emphasising the need for reliable and resilient energy supplies.”

Other key study findings include:

• Aging infrastructure remains the chief concern among one-third of respondents, down 13% points from a year ago. But renewables remained the secondary focal point, relatively unchanged from 2019 at more than one-quarter of the survey-takers.
• More than three-quarters of respondents agree that they are devoting more of their capital spending to clean energy.
• Eight of 10 respondents forecast that over the next five years, more of their spending in new generation capacity will be directed at solar arrays on land, followed closely by energy storage and eventually microgrids and other distributed energy resources (DERs).
• Nearly one-quarter of respondents say they would consider hydrogen as a source of peak generation.
• When asked which elements of DER are most challenging, two-thirds of respondents cited the ability to forecast, monitor and manage utility-owned and third-party DER.
• 68% of respondents are working to redesign their regulated rate and pricing structures to accommodate increased penetration of DER.
• The percentage of respondents who consider electrified transportation as a big opportunity to gain future load and revenue spiked 74% over 2019, to 21% from just 12%.

Read the article here: Issues and trends impacting today’s power industry

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Focusing on the Army’s priority of taking care of its Soldiers, the U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville, recently awarded a $4.5 million contract to Spectrum Solutions, Inc. in support of the U.S. Army Materiel Command’s Smart Barracks Initiative.

The initiative will strive to modernize Soldier barracks by applying innovations and best practices in smart technology, cyber and physical security, energy systems, and quality-of-life improvements for the Soldiers who call these facilities their home.

In July, AMC reached out to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the Huntsville Center’s expertise to help execute this initiative after its leaders identified the program’s top five objectives:

• Provide increased security to prevent suicide, harassment and assault
• Provide increased water and power efficiencies to include sustainability
• Provide ease of maintenance to the facility and its systems to make it more efficient
• Provide a means of capturing the performance/status data association with all Army baseline systems and the analytics that allow the data to be shaped, assessed and used by decision makers
• Increase the appeal of barracks to young Soldiers, making the facilities a place they want to live in.

Responding to the request for support, Jelani Ingram, architecture branch chief with the Huntsville Center, established a product deliver team within days, and prepared a briefing to demonstrate his team’s technical and contracting ability to award the effort for fiscal year 2020.

Huntsville Center also outlined a phased approach to establish a prototype strategy that can be implemented across many installations. AMC has designated Fort Benning, Georgia, as the initial site.

The Utility Monitoring and Control Systems (UMCS) Mandatory Center of Expertise’s newest MATOC award, UMCS V, was identified as the best contract vehicle for the first phase of the project. The task order for Phase 1 provides utility monitoring and control system, heating ventilation and air conditioning, electrical retrofits, fire detection/protection modifications and wireless communications, maintenance and service, and plumbing enhancements at Fort Benning.

A virtual site visit was conducted Aug. 11. Phase 1 was awarded on Sept. 22 and is expected to be completed by April 22, 2023. Planning of Phase 2 of the Smart Barracks Initiative, which includes furnishing and electronic security systems, will begin in October with contracts awarded by the end of fiscal year 2021.

Read the article here: Huntsville Center supports Army’s Smart Barracks Initiative