Datafarm

Datafarm: low-carbon energy for data centers

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

The start-up Datafarm proposes an energy solution for low-carbon digital technology. Within a circular economy system, it powers data centers with energy produced through methanization, by installing them directly on cattle farms.

 

When you hear about clean energy, cow dung probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. But think again! The start-up Datafarm, incubated at IMT Starter, has placed its bets on setting up facilities on farms to power its data centers through methanization. This process generates energy from the breaking down of animal or plant biomass by microorganisms under controlled conditions. Its main advantages are that it makes it possible to recover waste and lower greenhouse emissions by offering an alternative to fossil fuels. The result is a green energy in the form of biogas.

Waste as a source of energy

Datafarm’s IT infrastructures are installed on cattle farms that carry out methanization. About a hundred cows can fuel a 500kW biogas plant, which is the equivalent of 30 tons of waste per day (cow dung, waste from milk, plants etc.). This technique generates a gas, methane, of which 40% is converted into electricity by turbines and 60% into heat. Going beyond the state of the art, Datafarm has developed a process to convert the energy produced through methanization…into cold!  This helps respond to the problem of cooling data centers. “Our system allows us to reduce the proportion of electricity needed to cool infrastructures to 8%, whereas 20 to 50% is usually required,” explains Stéphane Petibon, the founder of the start-up.

The heat output produced by the data centers is then recovered in an on-site heating system. This allows farmers to dry hay to feed their livestock or produce cheese. Lastly, farms no longer need fertilizer from outside sources since the residue from the methanization process can be used to fertilize the fields. Datafarm therefore operates within a circular economy and self-sufficient energy system for the farm and the data center.

A service to help companies reduce carbon emissions

A mid-sized biogas plant (500 kW) fueling the start-up’s data centers reduces CO2 emissions by 12,000 tons a year – the equivalent of the annual emissions of 1,000 French people. “Our goal is to offer a service for low-carbon, or even negative-carbon, data centers and to therefore offset the  greenhouse gas emissions of the customers who host their data with us,” says Stéphane Petibon.

Every four years, companies with over 500 employees (approximately 2,400 in France) are required to publish their carbon footprint, which is used to assess their CO2 emissions as part of the national environmental strategy to reduce the impact of companies. The question, therefore, is no longer whether they need to reduce their carbon footprint, but how to do so. As such, the start-up provides an ecological and environmental argument for companies who need to decarbonize their operations.  “Our solution makes it possible to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20 to 30 % through an IT service for which companies’ needs grow every year,” says  Stéphane Petibon.

The services offered by Datafarm range from data storage to processing.  In order to respond to a majority of the customers’ demand for server colocation, the start-up has designed its infrastructures as ready-to-use modules inserted into containers hosted at farms. An agile approach that allows them to build their infrastructures based on customers’ needs and prior to installation. The data is backed up at another center powered by green energy near Amsterdam (Netherlands).

Innovations on the horizon

The two main selection criteria for farms are the power of their methanization and their proximity to a fiber network . “The French regions have already installed fiber networks in a significant portion of territories, but these networks have been neglected and are inoperative. To activate them, we’re working with the telecom operators who cover France,” explains Stéphane Petibon. The first two infrastructures, in Arzal in Brittany and in Saint-Omer in the Nord department, meet all the criteria and will be put into use in September and December 2020 respectively. The start-up plans to host up to 80 customers per infrastructure and plans to have installed seven infrastructures throughout France by the end of 2021.

To achieve this goal, the start-up is conducting research and development on network redundancy  issues to ensure service continuity in the event of a failure. It is also working on developing an energy storage technique that is more environmentally-friendly than the batteries used by the data centers.  The methanization reaction can also generate hydrogen, which the start-up plans to store to be used as a backup power supply for its infrastructures. In addition to the small units, Datafarm is working with a cooperative of five farmers to design an infrastructure that will have a much larger hosting and surface capacity than its current products.

Anaïs Culot.

[box type=”info” align=”” class=”” width=””]This article was published as part of Fondation Mines-Télécom’s 2020 brochure series dedicated to sustainable digital technology and the impact of digital technology on the environment. Through a brochure, conference-debates, and events to promote science in conjunction with IMT, this series explores the uncertainties and challenges of the digital and environmental transitions.[/box]

Unéole

Unéole on our roofs

/0 Comments/in , , /by

We know how to use wind to produce electricity, but large three-bladed turbines do not have their place in urban environments. The start-up Unéole has therefore developed a wind turbine that is suitable for cities, as well as other environments. It also offers a customized assessment of the most efficient energy mix. Clovis Marchetti, a research engineer at Unéole, explains the innovation developed by the start-up, which was incubated at IMT Lille Douai.

 

The idea for the start-up Unéole came from a trip to French Polynesia, islands that are cut off from the continent, meaning that they must be self-sufficient in terms of energy. Driven by a desire to develop renewable energies, Quentin Dubrulle focused on the fact that such energy sources are scarce in urban areas. Wind, in particular, is an untapped energy source in cities. “Traditional, three-bladed  wind turbines are not suitable,” says Clovis Marchetti, a research engineer at Unéole. “They’re too big, make too much noise and are unable to capture the swirling winds created by the corridors between buildings.”.

Supported by engineers and researchers, Quentin Dubrulle put together a team to study the subject. Then, in July 2014 he founded Unéole, which was incubated at IMT Lille Douai.  Today the start-up proposes an urban turbine measuring just under 4 meters high and 2 meters wide that can produce up to 1,500 kWh per year. It is easy to install on flat roofs and designed to be used in cities, since it captures the swirling winds found in urban environments.

Producing energy with a low carbon footprint is a core priority for the project. This can be seen in the choice of materials and method of production. The parts are cut by laser, a technology that is well-understood and widely used by many industries around the world. So if these wind turbines have to be installed on another continent, the parts can be cut and assembled on location.

Another important aspect is the use of eco-friendly materials. “This is usually a second step,” says Clovis Marchetti, “but it was a priority for Unéole from the very beginning.” The entire skeleton of the turbine is built with recyclable materials. “We use aluminum and  recycled and recyclable stainless steel,” he says. “For the electronics, it’s obviously a little harder.”

Portrait of an urban wind turbine

The wind turbine has a cylindrical shape and is built in three similar levels with slightly curved blades that are able to trap the wind. These blades are offset by 60° from one level to the next. “This improves performance since the production is more uniform throughout the turbine’s rotation.” says Clovis Marchetti. Another advantage to this architecture is that it makes it easy to start: no matter what direction the wind comes from, a part of the wind turbine will be sensitive to it, making it possible to induce movement.

 

Photograph of the urban wind turbine proposed by Unéole.

 

To understand how a wind turbine works, two concepts of aerodynamics are important: lift and drag. In the former, a pressure difference diverts the flow of air and therefore exerts a force. “It’s what makes planes fly for example,” explains Clovis Marchetti. In the latter, the wind blows on a surface and pushes it. “Our wind turbine works primarily with drag, but lift effects also come into play,” he adds. “Since the wind turbine is directly pushed by the wind, its rotational speed will always be roughly equal to the wind speed.”

And that plays a significant role in terms of the noise produced by the wind turbine. Traditional three-bladed turbines turn faster than the wind due to lift. They therefore slice through the wind and produce a swishing noise. “Drag doesn’t create this problem since the wind turbine vibrates very little and doesn’t make any noise.” he says.

An optimal energy mix

The urban wind turbine is not the only innovation proposed by Unéole. The central aim of this project is to combine potential renewable energies to find the optimal energy mix for a given location. As such, a considerable amount of modeling is required in order to analyze the winds on site. That means modeling a neighborhood by taking into consideration all the details that affect wind: topographical relief, buildings, vegetation etc. Once the data about the wind has been obtained from Météo France, the team studies how the wind will behave in a given situation on a case-by-case basis.

“Depending on relief and location, the energy capacity of the wind turbine can change dramatically,” says Clovis Marchetti. These wind studies allow them to create a map in order to identify locations that are best suited for promoting the turbine, and places where it will not work as well. “The goal is to determine the best way to use roofs to produce energy and optimize the energy mix, so we sometimes suggest that clients opt for photovoltaic energy,” he says.

“An important point is the complementary nature of photovoltaic energy and wind turbines,” says Clovis Marchetti. Wind turbines maintain production at night, and are also preferable for winter, whereas photovoltaics are better for summer. Combining the two technologies offers significant benefits at the energy level, for example, uniform production. “If we only install solar panels, we’ll have a peak of productivity at noon in the summer, but nothing at night,”  he explains. This peak of activity must therefore be stored, which is costly and still involves some loss of production. A more uniform production would therefore make it possible to produce energy on a more regular basis without having to store the energy produced.

To this end, Unéole is working on a project for an energy mix platform: a system that includes their urban wind turbines, supplemented with a photovoltaic roof. Blending the two technologies would make it possible to produce up to 50% more energy than photovoltaic panels installed alone.

A connected wind turbine

“We’re also working on making this wind turbine connected,” says Clovis Marchetti. This would provide two major benefits. First, the wind turbine could provide information directly about its production and working condition. This is important so that the owner can monitor the energy supply and ensuring that it is working properly. “If the wind turbine communicates the fact that it is not turning even though it’s windy, we know right away that action is required;” he explains.

In addition, a connected wind turbine could predict its production capacity based on weather forecasts. “A key part of the smart city of tomorrow is the ability to manage consumption based on production,” he says. Today, weather forecasts are fairly reliable up to 36 hours in advance, so it would be possible to adjust our behavior. Imagine, if for example, strong winds were forecast for 3 pm. In this case, it would be better to wait until then to launch a simulation that requires a lot of energy.

Hiboo

Tracking mobile industrial equipment in real time with Hiboo

/0 Comments/in , , /by

The Hiboo start-up was incubated at Télécom Paris and provides a platform to help companies better manage their mobile assets: equipment, merchandise, vehicles etc. This solution is now widely used in the construction industry.

 

In 2016, the start-up Hiboo, which was incubated at Télécom Paris at the time, created a connected device in order to bring this type of equipment to the construction industry. But the industry was already facing an overwhelming amount of unused data and resolving this problem was not one of its top priorities. Instead, the sector sought to solve an ongoing problem – although it generated significant annual revenue, its profit margins remained low.

“We started out with the idea that one of the best ways to optimize this profit margin was to better understand the equipment’s activity using the available data,” explains François Jacob, co-founder of Hiboo. The start-up therefore made a radical shift to become a super aggregator of data sources. This transformation gave rise to its current platform, which helps companies manage their operations more effectively.

Hiboo helps collect and sort data

On paper, all construction companies face the same problems when it comes to mobile industrial assets: renting equipment, inventory, time spent on site, consumption, identifying machine problems etc. But on site, they lack an overall vision, and taking inventory of their equipment takes a long time and it is not always very thorough. Hiboo collects information provided by three categories of equipment: connected vehicles, unpowered equipment, and non-connected equipment containing an onboard computer.

In the construction industry, companies may manage thousands of pieces of equipment at the same time. Such equipment may include some twenty brands of connected vehicles. However, if a company wants to understand how each brand fits into their overall equipment operations, users must log into each brand’s individual platform to retrieve this information, which is impossible to do on a daily basis.

Hiboo solves this problem by aggregating key data such as GPS coordinates, energy consumption and machine error codes by logging in to all of the manufacturers’ individual servers in the client’s place. The data are then harmonized before being automatically analyzed by ‘workers’. These robots isolate outliers, such as a vehicle that has consumed 2,500 liters of fuel in one day. The process is then checked by engineers at Hiboo who send a final report to the clients. Users may therefore access all operations inputs and outputs for connected equipment on a single website.

Solutions hidden in data

Hiboo also equips unpowered equipment such as crane parts, dumpsters and trailers with connected devices that communicate via low-frequency networks. They are energy-efficient, and make it possible to obtain GPS coordinates and track equipment’s activity over a number of years. The information is sent to Hiboo using traditional telephone networks. With the help of a partner, the start-up also equips non-connected vehicles with devices in order to collect the information obtained in their on-board computers. “So we provide equipment managers with a comprehensive solution for practically all of their assets,” adds François Jacob.

All of this data is made available to users on the Hiboo platform. But it can also be integrated in applications such as invoicing software. The start-up helped the Swiss company Bernasconi shorten its invoicing process by one week every month by eliminating paper invoices. And a major industrial equipment rental company was able to save up to 700 billable days a month by identifying the over-usage of its equipment. “By processing data from the field, we can help companies revolutionize asset management, maintenance, assignment, invoicing etc.” explains François Jacob.

A versatile technology

Hiboo  wishes to go further in leveraging data, in particular machine error codes and their severity levels. “Using this data and maintenance records, we want to provide predictive maintenance so that we can predict the probability of a machine breaking down,” explains François Jacob. This could involve a failure on a compressor, an oil leak, a motor with low voltage etc. To do so, the start-up team combines information about the errors with the computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) already used by companies to monitor machines and keep them in good working order.

Although originally intended for the construction industry, Hiboo’s solution can be used for other applications, given its ability to control the flow of data between different networks. For example, the start-up will be covering the Dakar rally in 2020. “By connecting to Marlink, the satellite communication network used to track the rally participants, we can collect information about the various vehicles and track their performance on our platform,” explains François Jacob.

Learn more about Hiboo

DeNoize

A window, and silence!

/0 Comments/in , , /by

To combat noise pollution and its effects on human health, DeNoize, a start-up incubated at Mines Saint-Étienne, offers a solution: a window that ‘mutes sound’. This connected window would analyze outside noise and adapt to cancel it out.

 

Double glazing increases thermal insulation, but when it comes to noise, it’s another story. When we’re indoors at home or the office, the vast majority of the outside noise that reaches us comes through the windows. This is an especially big concern for people who live or work near airports or major roads. Since May 2018, DeNoize co-founders Olivier Schevin and Aman Jindal have made it their mission to reduce this noise pollution, which is detrimental to our health.

DeNoize, a start-up incubated at Mines Saint-Étienne, offers an innovative solution for improving sound insulation in windows. “Our challenge is now to miniaturize the system so that it can be integrated into window frames,” says co-founder Olivier Schevin. The concept could easily be integrated into standard windows available today.

The problem with double glazing

“Double glazing is actually less effective than single glazing when it comes to sound insulation for the same thickness of glass,” says Olivier Schevin. Although it may seem counterintuitive, double glazing offers less resistance to low frequencies— between 50 and 500 Hz. A frequency band that is the main source of noise from airports and roads. “Double glazing was designed to solve thermal insulation problems, without considering the acoustic aspect,” he explains.

Double glazing is first and foremost two masses, the panes, with air or gas between them. This structure poses a problem from an acoustic point of view: certain frequencies – low frequencies – causes the air trapped between the panes to resonate and the sound propagates. This effect may be counteracted by increasing the thickness of the windows, or the space between the two panes. This passive reduction results in a bulky look from an architectural viewpoint and is also very expensive.

Sound fights back

DeNoize’s innovation is to use sound to fight sound, making it an active noise reduction system. “We’re going to generate a counter-vibration suited to the vibration of the outside noise,” explains Olivier Schevin. “The system produces a vibration that counters that of the outside noise, creating a destructive interference.” The vibrations ‘cancel each other out,’ reducing the noise transmitted by up to 75% for low frequencies.  

“This technology is somewhat similar to that used in noise-cancelling headphones,” adds Olivier Schevin. “The technical difference is the surface of the area we want to treat. For the headphones, it’s a really small area close to the ear.” The system developed by DeNoize users sensors to analyze outside noise in real time and adapt to it accordingly. The actuators produce a counter-vibration that interferes with the original noise. It must also include a control unit and an electronic board responsible for determining the most effective actions for sensors and actuators.

The system is integrated into the window frames and requires an electrical connection nearby to supply it with energy. This is already common today with rolling shutters for example. The  innovation in step with advances in smart home technology.

Read more on I’MTech: Smart homes: A world of conflict and collaboration

This communication between actuators, sensors and control unit makes it possible to customize noise reduction in real time which adapts to outside variations. “As of now, we have a working prototype,” says Olivier Schevin, “But the system doesn’t calculate in real time yet. So we still have a development phase ahead of us for the electronics part.”

Olivier Schevin is launching an industrial project with students to develop a real-time demonstrator. The electronic component is still to be developed, since the existing control unit  was made using laboratory equipment that cannot be integrated into window frames. “In general, we’re still looking for ways to improve performance at the lowest possible cost.”

AiiNTENSE

AiiNTENSE: AI for intensive care units

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

The start-up AiiNTENSE was incubated at IMT Starter and develops decision support tools for healthcare with the aim of advising intensive care personnel on the most appropriate therapeutic procedures. To this end, the start-up is developing a data platform of all diseases and conditions, which it has made available to researchers. It therefore seeks to provide support for launching clinical studies and increase medical knowledge.

 

Patients are often admitted to intensive care units due to neurological causes, especially in the case of a coma. And patients who leave these units are at risk of developing neurological complications that may impact their cognitive and functional capacities. These various situations pose diagnostic, therapeutic and ethical problems for physicians. How can neurological damage following intensive care be predicted in the short, medium and long term in order to provide appropriate care? What will the neurological evolution of a coma patient involve, between brain death, a vegetative state and partial recovery of consciousness? An incorrect assessment of the prognosis could have tragic consequences.

In 2015, Professor Tarek Sharshar, a neurologist specialized in intensive care, saw a twofold need for training – on one hand neurology training for intensivists, and on the other, intensive care training for neurologists. He proposed a tele-expertise system connecting the two communities. In 2017, this project gave rise to AiiNTENSE, a start-up incubated at IMT Starter, whose focus soon expanded. “We started out with our core area of expertise: neuro-intensive care and drawing on support from other experts and learned societies, we shifted to developing decision support tools for all of the diseases and conditions encountered in intensive care units,” says Daniel Duhautbout, co-founder of AiiNTENSE. The start-up is developing a database of patient records which it analyzes with algorithms using artificial intelligence.

AI to aid in diagnosis and prognosis

The start-up team is working on a prototype concerning post-cardiac arrest coma. Experts largely agree on methods for assessing the neurological prognosis for this condition. And yet, in 50% of the cases of this condition, physicians are not yet able to determine whether or not a patient will awake from the coma. “Providing a prognosis for a patient in a coma is extremely complex and many available variables are not taken into account, due to a lack of appropriate clinical studies and tools to make use of these variables,” explains Daniel Duhautbout. That’s where the start-up comes in.

In 2020, AiiNTENSE will launch its pilot prototype in five or six hospitals in France and abroad. This initial tool comprises, first and foremost, patient records, taken from the hospital’s information system, which contain all the relevant data for making medical decisions. This includes structured biomedical information and non-structured clinical data (hospitalization or exam reports). In order to make use of the latter, the start-up uses technology for the automated processing of natural language. This results in patient records with semantic, homogenized data, which take into account international standards for interoperability.

A use for each unit

The start-up is developing a program that will in time respond to intensivists’ immediate needs. It will provide a quick, comprehensive view of an individual patient’s situation. The tool will offer recommendations for therapeutic procedures or additional observations to help reach a diagnosis. Furthermore, it will guide the physician in order to assess how the patient’s state will evolve. The intensivist will still have access to an expert from AiiNTENSE’s tele-expertise network to discuss cases in which the medical knowledge implemented in the AiiNTENSE platform is not sufficiently advanced.

The start-up also indirectly responds to hospital management issues. Proposing accurate, timely diagnoses means limiting unnecessary exams, making for shorter hospital stays and, therefore lower costs. In addition, the tool optimizes the traceability of analyses and medical decisions, a key medical-legal priority.

In the long term, the start-up seeks to develop a precision intensive care model. That means being able to provide increasingly reliable diagnoses and prognoses tailored for each patient. “For the time being, for example, it’s hard to determine what a patient’s cognitive state will be when they awaken from a coma. We need clinical studies to improve our knowledge,” says Daniel Duhautbout. The database and its analytical tools are therefore open to researchers who wish to improve our knowledge of conditions that require intensive care. The results of their studies will then be disseminated through AiiNTENSE’s integration platform.

Protecting data on a large scale

In order to provide a viable and sustainable solution, AiiNTENSE must meet GDPR requirements and protect personal health data. With this aim, the team is collaborating with researchers at IMT Atlantique and plans to use the blockchain to protect data. Watermarking, a sort of invisible mark attached to data, would also appear to be a promising approach. It would make it possible to track those who use the data and who may have been involved in the event of data leakage to external servers. “We also take care to ensure the integrity of our algorithms so that they support physicians confronted with critical neurological patients in an ethical manner,” concludes Daniel Duhautbout.

 

Energysquare: charging your telephone has never been so simple!

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Start-up company Energysquare has created a wireless charging device for tablets and cellphones. Using a simple mechanism combining a sticker and a metal plate, devices can be charged by conduction. Energysquare, which is incubated at Télécom ParisTech, will soon see its technology tested in hotels. The company now also aims to export and adapt its product to other smart objects.

 

Are you fed up of jumbles of wire in the house or on your desk? You probably never deliberately knotted your phone charger, and yet, when you want to use it, the wire is all tangled up! This article brings you good news: your fight against electric cables has come to an end! Start-up company Energysquare, incubated at Télécom ParisTech since 2015, has revolutionized electrical charging for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets by disposing with current chargers. Your devices can now all be charged together on a single pad plugged into the mains.

“We based our work on the fact that the devices we use spend a lot of time on the surfaces around us, such as a desk or bedside table. Our idea was to be able to charge them over a whole surface and no longer with a cable at a single point,” explains Timothée Le Quesne, one of the designers of the Energysquare concept. We took a closer look at this vital accessory for future smart houses.

Easy-to-use conductive charging

The first question that comes to mind is how does it work? The technology is composed of two parts. Firstly, the pad, which is a 30×30-centimetre metal plate with independent conductive squares. It is plugged into the mains and can be placed on any surface as desired. The second part is a sticker comprising a flexible conductor with two electrodes and a connector adapted to the charging socket of your device, whether Android or IOS. The sticker is stuck directly on the back of your telephone. No surprises so far… but it is when the two parts come into contact that the magic happens.

When the electrodes come in contact with the charging surface, the system detects the device and sends it a signal to check that it is a battery. An electrical potential of 5 volts is produced between the two squares connected to the electrodes, allowing conductive charging. “The geometric format of the pad has been designed so that the two squares are automatically in contact with the electrodes. That way, there is no need to check anything and the device charges automatically without emitting any electromagnetic waves. Conversely, when no devices are detected, the pad automatically goes on standby,” explains Timothée Le Quesne.

But what happens if another device is placed on the pad? “The surface is naturally inert. The cleverness of the system lies in the fact that it can detect the object and identify whether it is a battery to be charged or not. Even if you spill water on it, it won’t have any effect. It is water resistant and protected against infiltration,” explains the young entrepreneur. No electric current is transmitted to your cup of coffee placed absentmindedly on the surface either. Although the system uses conductive charging, it does not emit any heat when it is running. Heat is dispersed across the surface like in a radiator, even if several devices are charging at once at the same speed as when plugged into the mains. Charging a device becomes so practical you could easily forget your phone lying on the surface. But this is not a problem, because the system goes back into standby once the device is fully charged.

Hotels soon to be using this technology

“We most need electricity when we’re away. We often have low battery in airports, cafes etc… This is a B2B market that we aim to invest in,” explains Timothée Le Quesne. For the moment, Energysquare is addressing the hospitality sector with tests to be carried out in France over the coming weeks. The principle is simple: the pad is installed on a bedside table and the stickers are provided at reception.

But the start-up aims to go even further. Why place the pad on a surface when it could be directly integrated into the furniture it sits on? “Our only limitation is preserving the metal surface of the pad to allow it to charge. We can still add a bit of style though by giving it a brushed effect, for example. Working with furniture manufacturers offers us good prospects. We can already imagine surfaces in meeting rooms covered with our device! We can also give the pad any form we like, with larger or smaller sections according to the device it is designed for,” Timothée Le Quesne continues.

With such a universal system, we can reasonably ask what the start-up’s aims are for the international market. “In January we will be participating in CES, an electronics show in the USA, where we will have a stand to display and demonstrate our technology.” This welcome overseas publicity is hardly a surprise since the start-up saw positive interest in its technology during a fundraiser on Kickstarter in June 2016, with 1/3 of purchasers in Asia and 1/3 in America. “As soon as we have finished validating our tests in hotels in France, we will turn to the foreign market,” affirms Timothée Le Quesne. But don’t worry, Energysquare hasn’t forgotten private individuals, and will launch the online sale of its technology in 2017.

Smart objects: a promising market to conquer

“One of our aims is to become a standard charging device for all smart objects,” admits Timothée Le Quesne. This is a promising future market, since 20 billion smart objects are forecast to be manufactured between now and 2020… All the more technology for us to spend time plugging in to charge! The start-up has already carried out tests with positive results on smart speakers and e-cigarettes, but the shape of certain objects, such as smart headphones, prevents the Energysquare system adapting to them. “For some devices, the electrodes will have to be integrated directly by the manufacturer.”

Nevertheless, there is one item that we use every day which would definitely benefit from this sort of charging system: laptops! The main difficulty, unlike other objects, is the power that needs to be generated by the system. “We need to change certain components to obtain more power through the pad and adapt it to laptops. It is something that is scheduled for 2017,” affirms Timothée Le Quesne. This is the first obstacle to overcome, especially since, when we asked the young entrepreneur what the future for Energysquare looked like 5 to 10 years from now, he replied: “we would like to be able to not only charge devices, but also power household appliances directly. We want to get rid of electric cables and replace them with surfaces that will power your kettle and charge your phone.”

Wi6labs

Wi6labs: customized sensor networks

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Wi6labs, a start-up incubated at IMT Atlantique, installs connected sensor networks for municipalities and industries. What makes this startup so unique? It offers custom-developed private networks that are easy to install. When it comes to controlling energy networks, water supply and monitoring air quality, the solution proposed by Wi6labs is attractive due to its simplicity and the savings it offers. The startup is part of the IMT delegation to CES 2019 in Las Vegas.

 

It all started three years ago. In July 2016, the mayor of Saint-Sulpice-la-Forêt, a municipality located 10km northeast of Rennes, France, became aware of a leak in the city’s water system. For one year, the municipality’s water bill had been constantly increasing. All in all, the water leaked was equivalent to 26 Olympic-sized swimming pools. The fact that this leak was discovered came as a relief to the mayor. But how could he prevent undetected occurrences like this from happening again? To avoid wasting more water, Saint-Sulpice-la-Forêt contacted a local start-up: Wi6labs.

“We proposed installing sensors in the water system,” recalls the start-up’s founder, Ulrich Rousseau. “In just one night, these objects can detect and locate a leak.” Satisfied with the results, the mayor renewed the partnership to monitor the temperature and energy consumption in public buildings. The sensor network revealed, for example, that the town’s school was being heated at night and during school vacations. By adapting its practices based on data from the connected sensors, the municipality saved €7,400 of its annual energy expenditure of €50,000 over the next year. “The investment of €20,000 for installing our solution paid for itself in three years,” Ulrich Rousseau explains.

For Wi6labs, the Saint-Sulpice-la-Forêt experience was a pilot experiment used to test the start-up’s relevance. The operation’s success allowed them to propose this solution to other local municipalities and companies. Each time, there was a common theme: a water leak. “It’s our starting point with customers. They all deal with this problem and are convinced that our approach will help them manage it,” he explains. Once the system is installed for the water meter and the initial data is retrieved, the changes in practices aimed at reducing the water bill provide convincing proof for continuing with the operation.

The start-up then eventually offers its customers solutions for monitoring air quality and adjusting gas consumption. In their partnership with Keolis, a public transport operator, Wi6labs developed a sensor network to inform the company of the number of passengers using its buses in real time. “We study specific cases, for both municipalities and companies, and we respond with a customized solution that meets a wide range of needs,” Ulrich Rousseau explains.

Wi6labs conquers dead zones

All the start-up’s solutions are built on its product Wiotys, a platform used to control a LPWAN network. These low-power, long-range networks enable communication between connected objects. Wiotys makes it possible to install sensor networks that are independent and isolated. In other words, the sensors used by Saint-Sulpice-la-Forêt only communicate amongst themselves and are controlled locally. This approach is therefore different from those used by telecommunication operators like Orange and Bouygues, which deploy national networks connecting the sensors.

This difference has vast implications. First, there are the advantages. Wiotys networks are not limited by the dead zones in the major operators’ networks. Saint-Sulpice-la-Forêt, for example, does not benefit from any LPWAN networks from national operators. It is therefore impossible to connect their sensors to a national network. Secondly, this allows them to create custom solutions. For example, if a company wants to charge its customers based on data from a sensor, it must send information through the network’s downlink channel, in other words, in the opposite direction from the uplink channel, which sends information from the sensor to the platform. “Operators are not comfortable doing this because it is expensive to reserve part of the network for downlink data transmission to the sensor. For us, it is simply a question of taking this need into account when dimensioning the network,” Ulrich Rousseau explains.

However, they cannot offer some of the features operators can. This is the case with roaming—a sensor’s capacity to switch from one connection terminal to another as it moves.  “For our customers, this is not generally a problem, since water meters and air sensors are stationary,” the founder of Wi6labs explains. The start-up has strategically chosen to eliminate certain complex features to make the installation easier. “What we sell our customers is a quick solution that is easy to deploy. It’s a little like installing a router at home: you plug it in, and it works.”

Today, Ulrich Rousseau assures us that the start-up no longer experiences any technological barriers. Its use cases have involved working 20 meters underground and responding to complex requests from customers. The true limit is that of social acceptability, especially for municipalities. “All of the sudden, we must explain to the civil servant who used to enter meter readings into an Excel spreadsheet that our sensors will be taking over this task,” Ulrich Rousseau explains. “We have to change his tasks and train him to learn how to control the sensors.”

These are no small changes for civil servants who for years have performed tasks unrelated to digital technology. For a municipality, this also requires adjustments to integrate training time and new tasks for civil servants. Social resistance can therefore by significant and the legitimacy of these reactions should not be minimized. According to Ulrich Rousseau, Wi6labs is also responsible for explaining the significant and valuable results of these changes. “We must be educators. For us, this involves showing local citizens and civil servants the savings in euros for the municipality in practical terms, rather than talking about kilowatt hours.” In essence: changing citizens’ perception of energy to increase their awareness of the energy and environmental transition.

 

Opti'waves

Opti’Waves: microwaving ceramics

/0 Comments/in , , /by

The start-up Opti’Waves, a direct spin-off from research conducted at Mines Saint-Étienne laboratories, offers new technology for firing technical ceramics. By using microwaves, this technology considerably reduces high-temperature firing times and the energy used to manufacture ceramics. Its target market? Dental prostheses. The start-up will present its industrial solution at CES 2019 Las Vegas with the delegation from IMT.

 

Having a dental prosthesis fitted is never a pleasant experience. The time required for this procedure makes it even more unpleasant. Whether several teeth need to be covered with a bridge, or a single molar needs replacing, you will have to undergo a series of appointments spanning at least one month. As the dentist assesses the best solution, takes dental impressions, fits a temporary prosthesis, then removes it and fits the final prosthesis, your jaw will repeatedly undergo great strain. The main reason for this little obstacle course your mouth must endure is the time the practitioner needs to produce the prosthesis, and have it fired at a high temperature.

“A type of chalk is condensed by heating it to approximately 1,500°C to create a ceramic prosthesis,” says Sébastien Saunier, a researcher in ceramic materials at Mines Saint-Étienne. The conventional firing process in very energy-intensive kilns —also called densification—lasts between 10 to 15 hours. Prosthetic technicians therefore wait until several parts can be produced in one operating cycle before using the kiln. Since dental practices often have three or four dentists, the volume of parts for patients cannot fill the kilns every day. There is therefore generally a wait time of approximately one week before the prosthesis can be delivered.  “It is because of this time requirement that a temporary prosthesis must be fitted to prevent the gums from closing over again,” the researcher explains.

In light of this situation, Sébastien Saunier decided to use the results of his research to found the start-up Opti’Waves. To reduce the heating time for prosthesis densification, he developed a densification system using microwaves. The firing time was reduced from 10 hours to 40 minutes. “Conventional kilns are resistive, like traditional kitchen ovens: the heat comes from a resistor that heats the material from the outside,” Sébastien Saunier explains. “Firing the ceramic takes at least 10 hours. If the temperature rises too fast, the prosthesis will not be evenly fired, just like when you bake a pie too quickly: the outside is burnt and the inside isn’t cooked.”

The benefits of microwaves

With the microwave kiln, the firing takes place in the core. To ensure the prosthesis is evenly fired, Opti’Waves developed a patented bowl system. The parts are placed in this system and the bowl distributes the heat over the entire material. “This the culmination of the expertise we have been developing for ten years in the laboratories of Mines Saint-Étienne on firing ceramics using microwaves,” the researcher explains. Using bowls of different shapes and sizes, the Opti’Waves kiln can be used to produce crowns, bridges and even entire jawbones. The icing on the cake: the reduced firing time directly affects the kiln’s energy consumption. “The microwave kiln already uses slightly less energy than a conventional kiln, but the savings is directly proportional to reduced operating time.”

The start-up’s product therefore allows prostheses to be produced more quickly, since practitioners no longer need to wait several days before starting a firing cycle that lasts one workday. This benefit will change the organization of the dental prosthesis market. “The manual dental impression process is increasingly being replaced by intraoral scanners. The digital file is generated almost instantly and can immediately be emailed to countries in Eastern Europe or Asia,” says Sébastien Saunier.

In these countries with lower labor costs, the high volume of requests enables them to quickly fire several dozen prostheses at once. They are then sent to practitioners in France, with a total time equivalent to or even shorter than what a small laboratory of prosthetic technicians could accomplish, considering the wait times needed to fill the kiln for a few patients. “Our microwave kiln allows us to directly compete with this production outsourcing and bring prosthesis manufacturing back to France,” observes the researcher and entrepreneur.

Opti’Waves will participate in CES 2019 in Las Vegas from January 8 to 11. The young company will again present its kiln before putting it on the market this spring. “There is already a high demand among prosthetic technicians,” says Sébastien Saunier. This early success is also due to the kiln being so easy to use. In addition to its performance, it comes with a range of software that makes life easier for prosthetic technicians: “All they need to do is enter the number of parts they want to fire and push the button.”

The researcher sees the expertise they have developed in the dental prosthesis market as a springboard. “Our core business is technical ceramics, which is present everywhere: in the aeronautics, automotive, defense and luxury industries…” Opti’Waves makes no secret of its ambitions to apply its microwave technology in other business sectors, in which companies are also facing energy challenges. In conclusion, Sébastien Saunier sums it up quite simply: “our objective is to industrialize technical ceramic production using microwaves.”

Acklio

Acklio: linking connected objects to the internet

/0 Comments/in , , /by

With the phenomenal growth connected objects are experiencing, networks to support them have become a crucial underlying issue. Networks called “LPWAN” provide long-range communication and energy efficiency, making them perfectly suited to the Internet of Things, and are set to become standards. But first, they must be successfully integrated within traditional internet networks. This is precisely the mission of the very promising start-up, Acklio. This start-up developed at IMT Atlantique was a finalist for the Bercy-IMT Innovation Awards and will attend CES 2019 from 8 to 11 January.

 

How many will there be in 2020? 2 billion? 30 billion? Maybe even 80 billion? Although estimates of the number of connected objects that will exist in five years vary by a factor of four depending on which consulting firm or think tank you ask, one thing seems certain: the amount of objects will be a number with nine or more zeros. All these communications must be ensured to connect these objects to the internet in order to exchange data with the cloud, our email accounts or smartphone applications.

But connected objects are not like computers: they do not have fiber optic connections, and few of them use WiFi to communicate. The Internet of Things relies on specific radio networks called LPWAN—the best-known examples of which are LoRa and Sigfox. One of the major challenges in deploying the IoT is therefore to successfully ensure rapid, efficient data transfer between LPWAN networks and the internet. This is precisely the aim of Acklio, a start-up founded by two IMT Atlantique researchers: Laurent Toutain and Alexander Pelov.

Alexander Pelov explains why industrial players are interested in LPWAN networks, “Using just 3 AAA batteries, we can now power a connected gas meter that will transmit one message per day for a period of 20 years. These networks are extremely energy-efficient and make it possible to reduce the cost of communications.” From GPS tracking of objects, animals and people to logistics, alarm systems and more, all industries that wish to make use of connected objects will rely on these networks.

For Alexander Pelov, however, this poses a problem. “Depending on whether we choose the LoRa or Sigfox technology to set up the LPWAN network for the connected objects, a different approach will be used. The developers won’t work in exactly the same way, for example,” he explains. So it would be impossible to scale up in terms of infrastructure or environment to deploy multiple connected objects. It would also be difficult to ensure fluid data transfer between the LPWAN networks and the internet if each network is different. In other words, this represents a major hurdle in the development of IoT.

To overcome this obstacle, Acklio’s team integrates basic LPWAN protocols in standard internet protocols—like IPv6. Alexander Pelov sums up his start-up’s approach as follows, “We define a generic architecture and add it at the server level, which controls the connected objects. Then, we send messages from these objects to the internet and vice versa via this architecture.” Acklio’s technological building block thus acts as an intermediary in the transmission of data from one environment to another.

It is based on the principle of data compression and fragmentation. The role of the technology is first of all to compress the header in a data packet using a mechanism called SCHC —static context header compression. This is a crucial step for providing internet connectivity within the LPWAN network. Since compression is impossible at times, or may produce data packets that are still too large for the LPWAN network, Acklio also makes it possible to fragment the Ipv6 data packets. This two-in-one technology will allow developers to work without worrying about which LPWAN technology is used for the IoT application they are developing.

Acklio, an important player in IoT standardization

The young start-up’s work is so promising that it has been commissioned to coordinate efforts to standardize connectivity between LPWAN networks and the internet. Acklio is leading a working group within the IETF—an organization that is actively involved in developing internet standards—which brings together the IEEE, the 3GPP cooperation for telecommunications standards in Europe, and alliances for the standardization of LoRa and Sigfox technologies (including LoRa Alliance members Bouygues Telecom and Orange for example).

In all, more than 200 industry players are represented in the IETF, not counting academic institutions. “It’s an organization where researchers and engineers can talk about operational needs, technical constraints and scientific challenges without engaging in business lobbying,” says Marianne Laurent, Head of Marketing director for the start-up. In 2018, the IETF recognized Acklio’s technology as a standard. A sign of success and the start-up’s high-quality work, this has also created an opening for the technology and therefore, for competition for the young company.

However, Acklio will be able to count on its head start in developing its compression-fragmentation technique. For now, it is still the only one of its kind, and will enter the market with two products which it will present at the Las Vegas CES 2019 in January. This could be the occasion for the start-up to continue its winning streak for awards, starting with an interest-free loan from Fondation Mines-Télécom in 2016 and continuing with a Best Telecommunication Innovation Award at the 2018 Mobile World Congress in March of last year. Most importantly, the American event will also provide an opportunity to find new customers. Acklio is on track to become a shining example of researchers succeeding in the entrepreneurial world and of the direct commercialization of fundamental research in telecommunications.

 

[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]

LPWAN: networks suited for connected objects

Alexander Pelov illustrates the performance of LPWAN networks through a use case carried out with the city of Rennes to control its electrical grid. “With only two LWPAN base stations, it is possible to cover 95% of the Rennes urban area.” This high level of performance does come with some drawbacks: the networks are slow and only a few messages can be sent per day by the objects connected to these networks. The two base stations support a daily traffic of one hundred 12-byte messages. But the sensors do not usually need to send much information to the server or to do so quickly. That is why these long-range networks have already become the foundation for communications between connected objects.

[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]

 

Yelda et OSO-AI Yelda and OSO-AI

Yelda and OSO-AI: new start-ups receive honor loans

/0 Comments/in , , /by

On December 6, the Committee for the Digital Fund of the Graduate Schools and Universities Initiative chose two start-ups to receive honor loans: Yelda and OSO-AI. Together, Yelda, a start-up from the incubator IMT Starter, and OSO-AI, from the incubator at IMT Atlantique will receive three honor loans, for a total of €80,000.

These interest-free loans aimed at boosting the development of promising young companies are co-financed by the Fondation Mines-Télécom, the Caisse des Dépôts and Revital’Emploi. This initiative has supported over 84 startups since 2012.

 

[box type=”shadow” align=”” class=”” width=””]

Yelda is developing the first vocal assistant for companies. The start-up’s team—composed of experts in bots, automatic natural language processing, voice management and machine learning—is convinced that chat and vocal interactions will soon replace traditional interfaces. This will revolutionize the way users interact with companies, for both customers and employees. Yelda, a start-up from the incubator IMT Starter, received an honor loan of €40,000. Find out more [/box]

[box type=”shadow” align=”” class=”” width=””]

OSO-AI is already improving quality of life for the hearing impaired. The start-up will soon become the partner of reference in Artificial Intelligence for hearing aids and will invent Augmented Auditory Reality. The start-up, incubated at IMT Atlantique, received an honor loan of €30,000 and another of €10,000. Find out more [/box]