Industrial Operators – You Own Your Data and Then Some
July here in the states is painted red, white, and blue. It’s a time when freedom becomes front and center. We are grateful for our young country. We remember the Founding Fathers and the sacrifices they made. We recognize, if only for a moment, our collective pride. No matter your country of origin, those who came before were brave enough to make a path toward a future with greater freedom. This got us thinking (after all, we do have “free” in our company name!). What does freedom mean when it comes to data? What does freedom mean for remote network industry leaders? Freedom means access to your data. Freedom means ownership of your data. Freedom means visualizing operations through real-time data. Data, in a sense, renders the freedom to take action, make informed decisions, and realize greater business value at scale. At FreeWave, we pledge to make IIoT data a freedom all remote industrial leaders can enjoy. Freedom gives way to growth, learning, and success. For more than 30 years, we have believed in the power of data. Data impacts decisions, business value, and, most importantly, the very future and safety of real people and our planet. Henceforth (to borrow from our Founding Fathers’ lingo), we’ve taken the liberty to create the first-ever industrial internet of things (IIoT) Bill of Rights. This is more than a list of nice-to-haves, they are must-haves for remote industrial operators of every size and industry. The IIoT Bill of Rights is our position on data governance and data democratization. It addresses global reach – that a remote industrial operator can be anywhere in the world and know what’s happening within their operations no matter how far they are spread out and what environmental conditions surround them. We believe a secure cloud environment is the right of every remote industrial leader. Zero Trust Security is not a privilege of a few, but the mainstay of many. Data should be kept safe, no questions asked. We also champion continuous connectivity. This comes by way of unlimited, high-speed, affordable satellite connectivity for all. To round our IIoT Bill of Rights, we lean into one of our four core values: Be a simplifier. This means that IIoT data solutions should be easy, plug-and-play deployments. No hair-pulling. No head-scratching. No unnecessary downtime. Instead: Open box. Power on. Get Data. This means fast deployment because uptime is one of the biggest freedoms IIoT data enables. Data inspires greater uptime because you have knowledge at your fingertips to make amazing decisions that keep operations running smoothly, all while keeping people safer. Another IIoT Bill of Rights amendment calls for cross-translation of protocols so that remote industrial companies can transform existing SCADA networks into data racetracks that carry more data, faster. Cross-translation allows different edge or SCADA protocols on the edge, SCADA, and even devices that speak different protocols to communicate. This is how industrial leaders can unleash the full power of an IIoT network infrastructure. The last amendment is AI readiness – because those who own their data will win the AI race. To see FreeWave’s full IIoT Bill of Rights, read our position paper. Working with our expert technical staff at FreeWave and experienced channel partners to solve your biggest wireless and edge computing challenges, you leverage the full solution for IoT connectivity that includes the FreeWave Insights™ data platform-as-a-service, satellite service connectivity (we’re a Connectivity Wholesale Partner in Viasat’s ELEVATE program), our portfolio of rugged connected devices, and satellite-connected devices (we’re a Global Authorized Reseller of ORBCOMM). If you’re passionate about bringing meaningful technology solutions to remote industrial companies, join us as a channel partner. If you’re a remote operator looking to scale business value leveraging your IIoT data, contact us here. We’re making a path to a future where data serves industrial operators in measurable and positive ways. Let’s do it together.
Latin America, Oil and the Race to Retrofit
Latin America has the second-largest proven oil reserves in the world behind the Middle East, yet it’s never been known as an oil-producing maverick due to external and internal hindrances, including U.S. sanctions against Venezuela and a regulatory framework in Mexico and elsewhere that tends to dampen competition. All that is about to change. With geopolitical disruptions wracking the Middle East and Russia, importers looking to diversify their oil supply have set their sights on Latin America — and for good reason. The discovery less than a decade ago of around 11 billion barrels of crude oil reserves off the coast of Guyana made headlines globally, with news coverage reaching a fevered pitch when the oil started gushing into pipelines. The “incredibly short” five-year timespan between discovery in 2015 to full-blown production in 2020 was “unprecedented,” according to Oilprice.com. The discovery, and the oil-and-gas exploration since then, has huge implications for the global market and for Latin American oil producers. It offers a partial solution to a looming problem: a source of clean, cost-efficient oil, which will be in high demand during the decades-long energy evolution. To stay competitive and claim its stake as part of the solution, Latin America’s existing onshore oil fields, which historically operate well below their production potential, have shifted into high gear to optimize performance, increase operational efficiencies, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. There is a challenge, however, faced by many existing producers: aging infrastructure. Data Within Reach Aging infrastructure located in harsh, remote environments like the Maracaibo Basin in Venezuela, which is surrounded by mountain ranges and an almost constant veil of overhanging clouds, or the Sureste Basin in Mexico where more than 50% of the basin area is located in a deep-water Campeche slope, are not be built for data at scale. The challenge of outdated infrastructure lies in leveraging data from the increasing number of sensors at the edge for data collection, storage, analysis, and connectivity across the enterprise. IIoT devices have long been MacGyvered with twine and duct tape. They use different protocols within decades-old SCADA systems. These disparate systems hurt production potential with two significant barriers: equipment from a variety of vendors along with little or no historical documentation to reveal who or what the modifications were and machine languages that don’t talk “nicely” to one another. While we don’t have statistics showing the number of aging pipeline networks in Latin America, there is evidence that outdated equipment reduces oil and gas opportunities. In early 2024, the U.S. Energy Information Administration looked at Venezuela’s energy landscape and found that “much of Venezuela’s crude oil production capacity and infrastructure have suffered from a decade-long lack of capital and regular maintenance.” Yet, replacing a network from scratch is costly – and unnecessary. Retrofitting existing infrastructure makes sense, leads to increasing business value from your operations, and funnels data to key decision-makers throughout the business (yes, even beyond the operations team – more on that in a bit). To support our worldwide network operator customers, we often team up with in-region trusted distribution and system integrator partners. This helps our customers experience the FreeWave difference – an end-to-end Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) data solution – with local expertise and ongoing support. One project we’re working on is based in Peru. The infrastructure is more than 15 years old. Over the years, personnel have changed and there has been no consistent tracking of data and processes. All this has led to knowledge gaps, with questions like: What equipment do we have in the field? Where can we increase efficiency? What data do we have that we don’t access? How can data help us reduce costly downtime? What data do decision-makers in different parts of our business need? How can satellite connectivity improve uptime and data access? In established oil fields, a rise in IIoT sensors measuring things like temperature, pressure, and flow is generating massive amounts of data. But too often, data generated at the edge remains siloed, beyond the reach of decision-makers. Or, because IIoT devices have been MacGyvered with twine and duct tape and, therefore, use different protocols within decades-old SCADA systems, standard protocols simply don’t communicate well. Retrofitting aging SCADA infrastructure means leveraging data for better data management, transfer, analysis, and visualization. The solution integrates IIoT sensors, edge computing, cloud analysis for extensive processing of data from different sources, and satellite connectivity. First, though, comes the convergence conversation. Unpacking IT/OT Convergence for Better Decision-Making FreeWave’s end-to-end solution includes the FreeWave® Insights™ data platform, connected devices like our FreeWave Fusion™ platform for edge processing and connectivity, ORBCOMM’s feature-rich satellite terminals, and satellite service plans through our partnership with Viasat. The unmistakable trend we’re seeing from our work in Latin America and other regions is is Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT) convergence. In the past, these two areas were worlds apart – and it was understandable. Each had its own agenda. They didn’t play in the sandbox together. Today, they must and can. Oil producers racing to retrofit their infrastructure are recognizing that convergence is essential. In an article by McKinsey & Company, “While the rationale for converging IT and OT originated years ago, the emergence of IIoT is driving momentum today—particularly IIoT’s need for data from a vast number of sources. Compared with a traditional IT stack, the IIoT-based industrial automation stack adds a new layer for analytics, end-user digital applications, data management, and storage.” An operation and IT alliance amps up computational power in the cloud and gives a clearer insight to more users. FreeWave is closing the IT/OT gap for oil producers in Latin America that have aging infrastructure needing to get data from sensors and machines in the field, converting that data through our platform and delivering it via a single pane of glass – a user interface that provides uninterrupted visualization of data to real people, alerts, and alarms that enable data-driven decision at the point of decision-making. While technology has evolved, OT has always been
Edge Security in an Era of Distrust
Unlike other IIoT security models that rely on a trusted perimeter, a Zero Trust Security framework provides broader coverage by distrusting every network device and user along the data path. Working in cybersecurity, the good guys are expected to think like the bad guys. Let me explain. Institutions world-wide are still guarded when it comes to cloud computing, and while the cloud generally offers greater protection against cyberattacks than on-premise data storage and processing, it is not impenetrable to hackers. Despite this leeriness, roughly 60 percent of all corporate data already exists in the cloud. And cloud migration continues to accelerate. By 2025, 85 percent of corporate IT departments will have adopted a “cloud-first” strategy, prioritizing cloud technologies over on-premises solutions. That’s why, when developing the FreeWave® Insights™ cloud-based data platform, our team assumes the “bad actor” role. To ensure the integrity and security of data in the cloud, our team is charged with finding and exposing any weak spots. We must anticipate every conceivable threat and vulnerability. We think like the enemy so we can forge armor that guards against brute attacks and sneaky infiltrations alike. Zero Trust, Cloud, and Cybersecurity And that brings me to another part of my job: helping customers see the good in the cloud (in cyberspace), sometimes convincing them that it truly does not harbor threats as ubiquitous and unconquerable as the “vicious, Lovecraftian monsters” that lurked in the low-lying cloud (of the atmospheric variety) in the horror film The Mist. I can do so with confidence because our Insights platform — in conjunction with FreeWave’s Fusion™ radios — uses a Zero Trust Security framework to keep data secure all along the data pipeline and into the cloud. We’ll delve into Zero Trust Security in a bit, right after this plot twist: concerns about cloud security are indeed legit, but in the IIoT world, the cloud represents just one part of an ever-expanding attack surface of potential entry points for cybercriminals. It’s not so much cloud adoption as the rapid expansion of IIoT ecosystems — where numerous devices are connected and continually exchange data — that poses the greater cybersecurity threat. The proliferation of IIoT devices broadens network vulnerabilities, as each device becomes a potential cyberattack vector. That’s why a cybersecurity framework must extend from the cloud all the way to the edge, encompassing every networked IIoT device. This is where Zero Trust Security comes in. Never Trust; Always Verify A Zero Trust Security framework regards all network devices and users as suspect and ignores data from any source until the sender provides verifiable proof of identity. Unlike Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and other conventional security models that control access to a trusted perimeter, Zero Trust Security requires multiple layers of authentication and authorization as part of a continuous process. A Facilities Management Advisor article aptly illustrates the difference by likening a VPN perimeter to airport security: You show your ID at the checkpoint, and once inside, you can “roam freely and check out all the shops, terminals, and gates.” Potentially, a fake ID could provide entry to the perimeter and unimpeded access within it. But if Zero Trust were in play, “you can access only the terminal, gate, and plane you are authorized to use when you get through security.” And what does it take to pass through security? Strict access controls include various cryptographic techniques including encryption (public) and decryption (private) “keys” and digital certificates. (I Googled “How to explain public and private keys to laymen” and up popped this discussion, which paints a clearer picture than the way I tend to describe Zero Trust cryptographies: as an elaborate secret handshake known only to card-carrying club members.) Besides assuming that every network-access seeker is an impostor or a malicious actor until proven otherwise, Zero Trust Security limits access based on the principle of least privilege, meaning that devices, users, and applications are only granted the minimum level of access required to perform their tasks. In addition, Zero Trust Security divides firewall-protected network zones into smaller, isolated micro-segments — each with its own access controls and encryption — to further prevent lateral movement by evil geniuses who manage to circumvent the first line of defense. End-to-End Data Pipeline Security The FreeWave Insights data platform takes Zero Trust Security all the way to the edge. The platform allows for the secure flow of information from IIoT devices and other data sources to the cloud for analysis and then to an onscreen user interface, or dashboard, which custom-displays different data sets for different users depending on their position and permissions. FreeWave’s Zero Trust Security framework starts with our Fusion radio gateways (coming soon!) that collect and transmit data from IIoT devices in the field. An easy-to-install application is all it takes to transform Fusion radios into cybersecurity fortresses by activating Zero Trust verification and encryption. The encryption process essentially wraps data in a Zero Trust packet for secure transfer to the cloud, where another app unwraps, or decrypts, the data and delivers it to the end user. But first, the Insights platform prioritizes, analyzes, and graphically represents the data based on the user’s dashboard preferences. FreeWave customers might have hundreds of IIoT sensors — many of them unsecured — operating across several industrial sites. All of these devices are integrable with our Fusion-based data encryption software and our cloud-based Insights data platform. Notwithstanding my penchant for envisioning the worst-case scenarios, I know a good thing when I see it. And Zero Trust Security is a good thing. But don’t take my word for it. According to IBM’s most recent Cost of Data Breach Report, Zero Trust strategies reduced the average cost of a data breach by $1.76 million in 2023. And, in its Market Guide for Zero Trust Network Access, Gartner asserts that Zero Trust architecture “erects true, identity-based barriers that are proving more challenging for attackers to circumvent than traditional network-level VPNs and firewalls.” Bottom line: Zero Trust Security is the best defense against cyberspace villainy.
What is “Platform as a Service” and How Does it Improve Efficiencies in IIoT Ecosystems?
What I’m about to tell you will change a year from now — and even by the time you read this: As I write, there are about 17.08 billion connected IoT devices worldwide. That figure mushrooms daily. In fact, by 2030, the number of active IoT devices is expected to double. Put another way, according to IDC data, 152,200 IoT devices will connect every minute by 2025. Why am I mentioning these fun facts? Remote asset monitoring is the most popular use case for IoT. Yes, the MOST popular. At industrial production sites the world over, IIoT sensors (short for Industrial Internet of Things sensors, as IoT devices are referred to in such applications) continually measure pressure, temperature, water level, wind speed, air quality, ambient conditions, safety parameters — the list goes on. I’ve worked with IIoT technology in various capacities since its infancy, so it’s impossible for me to see the proliferation of IIoT sensors and not envision the enormous potential the data offers to different decision-making levels, from engineers in the field, to regional managers, to top leadership. But in recent years, as the IIoT sensors market expanded, the promise of efficiency was tempered by something else I couldn’t help but notice. Wasted effort. And lots of it. With each new IIoT device brought to market, manufacturers spent untold amounts of time and money making it live up to its potential. Time and again, they were building and rebuilding the same technology to enable data-based decision making, miles away from the device itself. Essentially, IIoT manufacturers kept reinventing the wheel. That is, until my colleagues and I saw the way to a solution. Platform as a Service Comes to the Rescue I live in Colorado, and while I’m not far from the woodsy mountains, I can honestly say I’ve spent zero time pondering the age-old question: If a tree falls in the forest, and there’s no one there to hear it, does it make a sound? And yet I ask you to consider this: If an IIoT device on an offshore oil rig (or some other remote location) senses something amiss, and there’s no one onsite, does anybody hear? For all practical purposes, the answer is no. The device itself is just a piece of hardware. It can emit a signal of sorts, but in order to be understood and acted upon by humans, the signal must not only be transferred but also translated into intelligible data. And just because a transmission is intelligible doesn’t make it meaningful. For that, the data must undergo software analysis on its way to a user interface, or point of human interaction. What starts out as zeros and ones becomes knowledge along the way. Onscreen, the user sees an interactive IIoT dashboard, which graphically represents — or “visualizes” — data so as to provide at-a-glance, actionable insights regarding remote operations. So, when a sensor detects a pressure spike or something else awry, the aberrant measurement doesn’t fall on deaf ears but takes the form of an alert, which is “heard” and heeded at the end of the data chain. At the start of the data chain — commonly called the edge — is your sensor. On the other end is the user interface. In between is a middle layer of sorts, which connects sensors to software and, ultimately, humans. This middle layer is called a platform, and every sensor needs one. The platform allows for the flow of information from end to end and also contains the tools needed for analysis. It gets the data where it needs to be, in a format that’s useful to the person receiving it. So, for every IIoT device developed, manufacturers also built out a platform. Over time, a pattern emerged: Regardless of the manufacturer or specific type of device, the resulting platforms were mostly all the same. These platforms shared so many basic functions and requirements that their makeup was roughly 70 percent identical. The remaining 30 percent of platform design varies by use case and other factors. Take, for example, a fictitious tech company called Joe’s Tree Growth Sensors (a nod to both my passions: Colorado and technology!). Several of Joe’s sensors monitor the growth of trees intended to provide shade in a public park. Elsewhere, Joe’s sensors monitor the growth of trees on a pine plantation. Sitting at his computer in the comfort of his office, the park manager wants to see his tree-growth data presented in a certain way, with emphasis on crown measurement. The sales manager of the plantation, however, needs to see alerts when the trees are ready to harvest. And across the hall from the sales manager, the plantation’s Director of Tree Health needs to see indicators that trees have a growth-stunting nutrient deficiency. Still, the thought that every device represents a specific and representative platform gave me pause. That is a lot of dashboards, proprietary links, and so on. Data overload. Clearly, it would be more cost-effective to invest resources on customizable parts unique to each application and end user while outsourcing the development of the platform’s all-purpose — or “generic” — design elements. And Joe can accomplish this feat by leveraging Platform as a Service (PaaS) as opposed to building a platform from scratch for each newly invented IIoT device. Joe’s tree-loving customers win big, too, because the platform, with its customizable dashboard, delivers data they predefine as relevant. Introducing the First Customizable Data Platform for Industrial Operators While Joe is imaginary, IIoT manufacturers and remote operators are already seeing real results with the very real and available FreeWave® Insights™ cloud-based data platform, which comes complete with user-friendly tools for dashboard creation and customization. (The words dashboard and platform are sometimes used interchangeably, but we consider the dashboard as the user interface within the IIoT platform.) The dashboard is both a control panel and a visual representation of key data your IIoT devices and sensors collect. A well-designed dashboard conveys information hierarchically through charts and other data visualizations, empowering users
Transforming SCADA As We Know It Through App Dev
Small- and mid-sized industrial organizations that are reliant upon Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems — like those in oil and gas, energy, utilities, and agriculture — are facing new pressures to meet market demands. In these environments, agility and operational efficiency are no longer “nice to have” but are now essential to survival. Operations managers at these smaller businesses constantly face demands to incorporate modern technology that requires increased connectivity across networks in order to automate, monitor and control the processes that optimize operational success (and limit risk/downtime). The challenge for many of these small- and mid-sized businesses is that they need to find solutions rugged enough to operate in harsh and remote field locations, while reliably monitoring data, executing logic locally and enabling visibility globally – all with limited resources. In many instances, a traditional SCADA system is hard on the pocket books and ROI is something that might only be achieved in the distant future. The good news is that technology providers have been listening and working to craft solutions for these businesses to ease the cost burden on the front end and expedite the ROI process. App Server Software Available Today Freshly available (as of today), App Server Software technology combines proven, industrially hardened 900 MHz wireless telemetry with the ability to program and host third-party applications, similar to a Linux-based Raspberry Pi embedded in an industrial Ethernet radio. Within the app server software solution, Industrial IoT (IIoT) developers have the ability to program with any language that is compatible with a Linux kernel, including: Python, Java, C++, Node-RED and Node.js development environments. The App Server software that FreeWave now offers comes pre-loaded with Node-RED, Python and MQTT for easy industrial IoT app development on multiple ZumLink 900 Series radio models. App-Based SCADA Systems With the app server software came the opportunity to transform SCADA. In order to support the small- and mid-sized businesses that face the costs of Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) type hardware and monthly recurring fees, the engineers at FreeWave have successfully built a prototype ZumDash Small SCADA app in Node-RED that is enabled by a ZumLink programmable radio. The prototype app is available at a fraction of the cost of traditional SCADA. The Small SCADA app enables reliable data collection; monitoring, and remote command and control functionality through triggers, alarms and actions. It supports analog, digital and HART data through a Modbus interface. It also provides a “dashboard” with user-defined status updates and data trend visualization from any web-based device. Essentially, the new app serves as a small SCADA replacement. A Sample ZumDash Dashboard App Development Opportunities The Small SCADA app is only the beginning. Developers have a big opportunity to help transform operations across many industries through app dev at the edge. FreeWave wants to enable these developers through its pilot program. Participants will receive a complimentary hardware/software dev kit to write their own industrial IoT applications with easy-to-use developer tools. Learn more about the app-based SCADA system here: FreeWave Unveils ZumIQ App Server Software to Power IoT Programmability at the Edge
