Providing real-time data to the education industry using IoT technology
Uchida Yoko uses IoT technology to provide real-time analytics to the education industry.
ABOUT
Provide a “new way of learning” using IoT technology
Uchida Yoko offers solutions to problems that can be found at “learning places” like colleges and universities. For years, they have been working to utilize IoT technology in the education industry, working on various tools to promote learning such as enhanced school teaching materials and modern equipment.
Among these advancements, Uchida Yoko created the Internet 100 boxes to replace the traditional 100 box cabinet that measures humidity and temperature in schools.
CHALLENGE
Network infrastructure as a barrier to new school teaching materials
Internet 100 boxes store IoT-connected sensors and fixed point cameras that measure temperature, humidity and more in school facilities. These connected devices can be found in the 100 box cabin, and the data that is acquired from the sensors is transferred to the cloud.
Uchida Yoko hopes to use the accumulated data as teaching material for colleges and universities.
However, while most teachers want Uchida Yoko’s new Internet 100 boxes to be installed, the school facilities worry about the cost of laying out network infrastructure to support this IoT project.
In addition, installing IoT-connected equipment in outdoor locations, especially those that are remote, are vulnerable to environmental factors.
With thousands of sensors being deployed, it’d be difficult to manually track and monitor each device to determine if they are fully operational.
System Configuration
SOLUTION
Since they wanted to use the information they gathered as teaching material, they required a connectivity that could support data from a wide geographical range. In addition, Uchida Yoko needed a way to power IoT-connected sensors and fixed-point cameras that were installed in various locations.
Uchida Yoko solved this problem by powering their IoT project with Soracom cellular connectivity, which was easy to install and inexpensive to use.
More importantly, considering Uchida Yoko wanted this IoT project to be a long-term solution, they also wanted their connectivity to have a low operational cost as well.
WHY SORACOM
Soracom provided them with this flexibility by allowing them to change the data speed depending on the amount of data that was being collected. Since sensor data is often small, this allowed Uchida Yoko to cut costs drastically.
Another benefit of working with Soracom was that Uchida Yoko was able to monitor the communication status of each IoT-connected sensor and fixed-point camera via the user console.
With this, Uchida Yoko was able to know when a problem occurred with one of their devices, even if it was located remotely. This enabled them to isolate what was happening, whether it was hardware or communication, and take the appropriate measures to get their project fully operational again.
FUTURE PLANS
Uchida Yoko plans on investing more of their energy into using technology to enhance the education industry.
They strongly believe that utilizing real-time data as teaching material has the power to change the way that students learn, and are dedicated to bringing innovation to learning through design and technology.