Kerlink and its Japanese distributor GISupply have announced a package of applications for different verticals to serve global markets: construction-worker health and safety, smart agriculture and smart-aquaculture.
The package combines Kerlink Wirnet iStations in LoRa-based networks with sensors from GISupply and other companies that enable multiple applications and which are connected to GISupply’s cloud applications for analysis and access by end users. The three sectors are:
- A construction-industry solution, called ezFinder BUSINESS Heat Stroke+, that monitors workers for warning signs of heat stroke, a serious threat to crews working in hot climates in the summer. This solution consists of a local wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) device and wearable trackers for each worker. WBGT is used to estimate the effect of temperature, humidity and visible and infrared radiation on humans. It is used by industrial hygienists, athletes and the military to determine appropriate exposure levels to high temperatures. In these customized LoRaWAN networks designed by Kerlink and GISupply, the Japanese company’s ezFinder BUSINESS Heat Stroke + collects and reports data from both of WBGT devices and wearables to estimate the risk of suffering heat stroke for each worker.
- The smart-agriculture solution, called Ushimiru, supports sustainable agriculture via a network that enables producers to monitor and track their cattle grazing in large pastures, eating grass and fertilizing the fields naturally. Grazing is less expensive than confined, indoor feeding, but it carries risks for cattle. GISupply’s LoRa cow-monitoring collar tracks and monitors the animals and indicates whether they have stopped moving, which could signal an animal at risk. GISupply’s Ushimiru technology enables a ‘geo-fence’ application that notifies owners if the animal has gotten out of a fenced pasture or is in a dangerous area, such as rough terrain.
- Japan is one of the world’s biggest fish economies. Its Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) estimated that aquaculture production in 2015 totalled nearly $4.4 billion or 24 percent of total national fish production. Kerlink and GISupply’s smart-aquaculture solution targets that market as well as the global fish-farming industry with a LoRa-based sustainable aquaculture business model. Their solution helps improve effectiveness of fish breeding by enabling producers to continuously monitor water quality and temperature, which is critical because of global warming.
“The robustness and flexibility of Kerlink’s Wirnet iStation are key features of these diverse solutions, because they are easy to deploy and simple to integrate with our technologies,” said Satoshi Kitaoka, president of GISupply. “Equally important for our company and our customers, Kerlink stations are proven to be reliable in any environment.”
“Kerlink seeks to do business with innovative companies that have developed novel apps and solutions that bring the benefits of the Internet of Things to a wide range of businesses and companies,” added Tsuneo Tatara, vice president of Kerlink Japan. “As these three examples show, GISupply is one of those companies and, as our distribution partner in Japan, it will help Kerlink to grow its business in that important global market.”
