Oil & Gas – IIOT Connection https://www.iiotconnection.com CONNECTING INNOVATIONS WITH INSIGHT Thu, 15 Apr 2021 17:37:43 -0400 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.3 https://www.iiotconnection.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/icon.png Oil & Gas – IIOT Connection https://www.iiotconnection.com 32 32 Globalstar Wins Asset Tracking Order from Brazilian Oil and Gas Company https://www.iiotconnection.com/globalstar-wins-asset-tracking-order-from-brazilian-oil-and-gas-company/ https://www.iiotconnection.com/globalstar-wins-asset-tracking-order-from-brazilian-oil-and-gas-company/#respond Thu, 15 Apr 2021 17:37:43 +0000 https://www.satellitetoday.com/?p=324931 Oil and gas sector trading operations company Cisa Trading has selected Globalstar to deliver asset management solutions to its operations in Brazil. Cisa Trading said it required satellite tracking and monitoring of 4,400 containers moving in and out of remote cellular coverage areas. The company selected Globalstar’s SmartOne Solar tracking devices because they met its […]

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A view of Globalstar offices. Photo credit: Globalstar

A view of Globalstar offices. Photo credit: Globalstar

Oil and gas sector trading operations company Cisa Trading has selected Globalstar to deliver asset management solutions to its operations in Brazil.

Cisa Trading said it required satellite tracking and monitoring of 4,400 containers moving in and out of remote cellular coverage areas. The company selected Globalstar’s SmartOne Solar tracking devices because they met its operational requirements. Globalstar SmartOne devices are powered by solar energy and can be operational for up to 10 years with little to no maintenance.

"For our company it was an excellent opportunity to offer our client a state-of-the-art solution for controlling the location and movement of its assets, optimizing the use of the equipment and interacting proactively with its operational team. This strategic alliance demonstrates the confidence we have in the Brazilian oil and gas market and in the potential of our client," said Edward Karic, Executive Director of Cisa Trading’s oil and gas division.

Globalstar’s Brazilian subsidiary Globalstar do Brasil Ltda. led fulfillment of the contract order.

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Cybersecurity: Continuous Vigilance Required https://www.iiotconnection.com/cybersecurity-continuous-vigilance-required/ https://www.iiotconnection.com/cybersecurity-continuous-vigilance-required/#respond Thu, 01 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.chemengonline.com/?p=213648 As digitalization becomes more common and remote operations become necessary, guarding against cybersecurity breaches grows even more critical The hacking of a Florida water plant, which made headlines in

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As digitalization becomes more common and remote operations become necessary, guarding against cybersecurity breaches grows even more critical

The hacking of a Florida water plant, which made headlines in February, was a poignant reminder of the dangers posed by breaches of cybersecurity. Although the incident was discovered before real harm could occur, it highlights the importance of due vigilance when it comes to the security of IT (information technology) and OT (operational technology) of plants in the chemical process industries (CPI).

 

Threats are always there

"The [CPI] face increasing and more sophisticated cybersecurity threats," says Michael Lester, director of cybersecurity strategy, governance and architecture at Emerson (St. Louis, Mo.; www.emerson.com). "Attacks are constantly evolving, as commoditized malware and advanced technologies provide new capabilities to threat actors. The motivation is still mostly financial gain, but nation state actors are increasingly involved and there are increasing numbers of attacks targeting the industrial control space from various threat actors," he says.

"Smaller chemical facilities often have older ‘patchwork' automation systems that increases vulnerability compounded by a lack of resources to routinely assess and strengthen their cybersecurity," Lester says. "Recent attacks are a reminder that regardless of size, industry or location, all facilities need to be aggressive about cybersecurity."

"Cyber-threats to industrial organizations will continue to increase, in both volume and sophistication," echoes Donovan Tindill, senior cybersecurity strategist at Honeywell Process Solutions (Houston; www.honeywellprocess.com). "We've reached a point where cyberattacks are not a question of if, but rather of when and what could be done to prevent that attack or minimize its harm. If you own or manage an OT-based operation, the time to take action and prepare your network is now," he says.

 

IIoT increases vulnerability

Maintaining a competitive edge means leveraging the industrial internet of things (IIoT) technologies, says Emerson's Lester. "More connections mean more potential vulnerabilities – and organizations need to prioritize cybersecurity equally alongside their IIoT and digital transformation initiatives," he says.

Honeywell's Tindill would agree. "The growth in the number of sensors or cloud connectivity increases the scope of cybersecurity, the attack footprint and the exposure as the number of cyber assets requiring cybersecurity protection and detection increases," says Tindill. "The objective of robust cybersecurity management is to protect the increasing count of cyber assets with basic cyber hygiene, such as strong remote access, electronic security perimeter, patching, monitoring, and incident response to ensure it is not more vulnerable," he says.

"In our experience, it is necessary to audit cybersecurity at least once per year and remediate all risks that exceed the tolerance level for that organization," continues Tindill. "Recommendations may include additional network segmentation, application whitelisting, endpoint hardening, security logging, proactive monitoring, robust incident response, and more," he says.

The benefits of due vigilance are real. "If you implement a foundational set of security controls in your plant systems that everyone should have, like patching, endpoint protection, backups and inventory management, then you can reduce your cybersecurity risk by up to 85%," says Ben Dickinson, global product manager – cybersecurity, ABB Energy Industries (Zurich, Switzerland; www.abb.com).

"The proliferation of IIoT devices introduces a new risk that companies must consider as they have the potential to increase the attack surface that hackers can exploit," says Mark Carrigan, chief operating officer, PAS Global, LLC (Houston; www.pas.com; Figure 1). "The reality today is that in most areas, OT cybersecurity trails IT cybersecurity. Many companies are realizing that they must implement the basics of cybersecurity for their OT assets, including collecting a holistic inventory of all assets (hardware, software and firmware), identifying and remediating vulnerabilities and improving the backup and recovery processes to ensure they can minimize the impact of a successful attack," says Carrigan.

cybersecurity

Figure 1. Discovering and remediating vulnerabilities in OT is complex

 

To help in these efforts, PAS offers its Cyber Integrity platform (which includes Automation Integrity) to prevent, detect and remediate industrial cyberthreats. PAS Cyber Integrity is said to deliver comprehensive inventory, vulnerability, configuration, compliance, backup and recovery, and risk management for OT assets. In January, PAS launched a new module for Automation Integrity – Sensor Data Integrity – that "improves the discovery and configuration-management of IIoT devices that are prevalent in the process industries," says Carrigan.

Sensor Data Integrity enables industrial organizations to ensure configuration-data integrity for smart and traditional sensors with signal tracing and validation. This addition to Automation Integrity helps reduce both process safety and cyber risk in support of digital transformation initiatives. The new Sensor Data Integrity module provides multi-vendor discovery of smart IIoT and traditional analog sensors; visibility to the complete inventory and potential cyber vulnerability for sensors; creation of templates to define approved configuration for each sensor type; automated detection of configuration errors; automated identification of devices that don't match assigned templates; cross-checking of parameters; support for large-scale, multi-site sensor deployments; and sensor signal tracing, validation and visualization. The information provided by Sensor Data Integrity can also be leveraged by sensor asset-management systems (AMS) to support instrument calibration, and can feed PAS Cyber Integrity to support cybersecurity vulnerability assessments.

 

Security monitoring

Digital transformation typically involves providing more people and more access to data from the industrial control system (ICS) and other OT devices and systems, says Emerson's Lester. "This may include not only manufacturing and production staff members, but also third-party suppliers who assist in optimizing asset and overall performance. This increased data flow requires careful consideration of the architecture and systems and processes to continually monitor this architecture," he says.

"Security monitoring is not only an important mechanism to detect threats, but also helps with forensics and preventing similar future attacks," Lester continues. "A centralized Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) platform can take ICS workstations, servers and network equipment system events and logs and put them into a meaningful dashboard for prompt response from qualified resources. A SIEM can also monitor network traffic data through Network Security Monitoring appliances using a one-way-only communication flow as an added security monitoring feature," he says.

At the forefront of such efforts, LogPoint A/S (Copenhagen, Denmark; www.logpoint.com) launched Version 6.10 of its SIEM solution in February. This latest LogPoint release enables sharing of security analytics and dashboards and provides more context on attack developments supporting the latest MITRE ATT&CK framework. LogPoint 6.10 also integrates with third-party detection-and-response systems to send notifications to Managed Detection and Response (MDR) providers.

Role-based access to dashboards in LogPoint 6.10 helps teams effectively manage and update each other on evolving threats, increasing efficiency in the SOC and decreasing false positives. Configurable role-based, read-write access to each dashboard means that whenever an analyst makes an update, all users with access to the dashboard see the changes, says the company.

 

Security in the time of pandemic

"The biggest trend over the past year has been remote work as a solution to mitigate the spread of COVID-19," says Matt Malone, Industrial Control system (ICS) Cybersecurity Consultant, Yokogawa Corp. of America (Sugar Land, Tex.; www.yokogawa.com/us). "In our case, it greatly expanded interest in an existing product portfolio of ours, secure remote services. For example, our VPS Remote application (Figure 2) provides access to users of our Centum VP distributed control system from virtually any location. It has provided many of our clients the means to continue working in spite of COVID-19 without sacrificing safety or security. COVID-19 has also accelerated digital transformation in the industry; now, companies are realizing that cybersecurity is a prerequisite to successfully transforming."

Figure 2. The VPSRemote is configured with devices installed at the user's site for remote operation and linked to the secure Yokogawa Center System, which provides a safe network communication environment to connect these devices and systems

 

"While our secure remote services portfolio had already been on the market leading up to the COVID-19 outbreak, Yokogawa has since launched an entirely-new cybersecurity management solution that bridges IT and OT," says Malone. It is not solely based on technology but brings in numerous, management best practices, he adds.

For instance, companies can invest in general cybersecurity awareness programs for IT, OT and hybrid IT/OT personnel, explains Malone. They can perform security assessments or audits of control systems and control-system networks and increase visibility of control system cyber assets and configurations. They can implement anomaly and intrusion detection tools on control-system networks and invest in cybersecurity education and training for IT, OT and hybrid IT/OT personnel, says Malone.

"Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Emerson has worked with customers to provide secure remote services," says Lester. "Leveraging a variety of IIoT technologies and expertise we have enabled services such as non-intrusive health monitoring of valves, equipment performance monitoring and control system health monitoring to meet their operational needs. Secure distributed cloud-based engineering environments have also supported customers with virtual factory acceptance testing (FAT) to ensure projects remain on schedule," Lester says.

"An increased requirement to operate and maintain plants remotely over the last year has led to new initiatives that ensure remote access is carried out securely," says ABB's Dickinson. "Many of the vulnerabilities exploited by attackers relate to insecure remote access setup, so it's important that an appropriate level of security is embedded in your digital and remote-access solutions," he cautions.

 

Other product developments

ABB has developed a Secure Reference Architecture (Figure 3) and Cyber Security Risk Assessment Service, both based on IEC 62443, that couples together best practice approaches to securing industrial distributed control systems (DCS). "We work strategically with our customers to identify both their risk exposure and assess the maturity of their system security and security management practices. This enables the identification of appropriate security levels required for each system in order to mitigate cyber security risk to an acceptable level that corresponds to the organization's risk appetite and regulatory compliance requirements," explains Dickinson.

Figure 3. The Reference Architecture harnesses ABB's domain expertise in both cybersecurity and control-system technology to define a standardized definition of a secure control system architecture, and using a standard terminology that aligns with international standard IEC62443. This enables ABB to standardize the way in which it designs and implements its control-systems technology to deliver a secure setup by default and using a consistent approach across different delivery teams

 

This approach ensures optimal return on investment of cybersecurity improvement programs by ensuring all investments are tied to risk, Dickinson continues. Implementing the recommended security controls to achieve the identified security level will significantly reduce risk, but not eliminate it completely. "To address the residual risk, ABB has developed an event-monitoring service to help our customers effectively monitor their control systems and detect when an attacker has been successful in targeting your systems in order to respond quickly and effectively and thus limit the damage they have on a system," he says.

Meanwhile, Honeywell continues to invest in OT cybersecurity products and services, says Tindill. Some recent new offerings include Honeywell Forge Managed Security Services with Advanced Monitoring & Incident Response. Scheduled to be launched at the end of March, this offering is configured especially for OT environments. "This 24/7-managed security service combines automated analytics with the know-how of certified cybersecurity professionals to help identify, mitigate and manage cybersecurity threats," says Tindill.

Other recent offerings include Honeywell Forge Cybersecurity Suite, the latest release of industry proven software that helps users better manage the operations of OT-centric cybersecurity with improved asset discovery, risk and compliance monitoring and more. Also recently introduced is PCN Hardening Services. "Configured especially for OT networks, this service offers a method of better securing process control systems and network devices by applying elevated security configurations to existing components," says Tindill.

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Repsol and Microsoft renew partnership developing AI-powered digital solutions https://www.iiotconnection.com/repsol-and-microsoft-renew-partnership-developing-ai-powered-digital-solutions/ https://www.iiotconnection.com/repsol-and-microsoft-renew-partnership-developing-ai-powered-digital-solutions/#respond Mon, 22 Mar 2021 16:04:11 +0000 https://www.chemengonline.com/?p=213530 Repsol S.A. (Madrid, Spain) and Microsoft Corp. (Redmond, Wash.) have renewed their strategic collaboration focused on accelerating Repsol's digital transformation and the global energy transition. The companies will co-innovate to build new AI-powered digital solutions, and as part of a long-term cooperation, Repsol will provide Microsoft with renewable energy in Europe, including Spain. Additionally, Repsol […]

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Repsol S.A. (Madrid, Spain) and Microsoft Corp. (Redmond, Wash.) have renewed their strategic collaboration focused on accelerating Repsol's digital transformation and the global energy transition. The companies will co-innovate to build new AI-powered digital solutions, and as part of a long-term cooperation, Repsol will provide Microsoft with renewable energy in Europe, including Spain. Additionally, Repsol will expand its use of Microsoft cloud solutions to power its operations, including recommitting to the Azure cloud platform.

"The extension of our collaboration and the supply of renewable energy undoubtedly reaffirms the vision that both companies share about sustainability and how digitalization will transform the energy sector," said Josu Jon Imaz, Repsol CEO.

Teams from both companies will bring together their deep expertise in the energy sector and digital technologies such as AI, IoT and edge to explore collaboration on and development of various initiatives that will help accelerate industry transformation. Initial focus areas include the use of disruptive technologies to enable autonomous systems and efficient operations, improve productivity and safety for employees, and support the development of advanced energy solutions such as biofuels, energy storage and more.

As part of the collaboration, Repsol will provide a long-term supply of renewable wind and solar power to Microsoft operations in Europe, including Spain. Microsoft and Repsol share similar ambitions around the importance of reducing carbon emissions. Microsoft announced that it will source 100 percent of its energy supply from renewable energy by 2025, and Repsol – as the first company in its sector to announce the target to become a net zero emissions company by 2050 – has a goal of having a generation capacity of 7.5 GW by 2025 and 15 GW in 2030.

"Today the world is confronted with an urgent carbon crisis, and we have an opportunity to apply advances in digital technology to help the energy industry transition to a more sustainable future," said Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft. "Our collaboration with Repsol brings together the company's leadership in renewable energy with the power of Azure, Microsoft 365 and Power Platform to accelerate Repsol's digital transformation and reduce carbon emissions."

Additionally, as part of Repsol's hybrid cloud strategy and its broader digital transformation plans, the company has extended its use of Microsoft cloud solutions and has recommitted to the Microsoft Azure cloud platform. Repsol is also expanding its use of Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams to enable greater collaboration, communication and productivity for its employees, as well as using Power Platform for low-code applications development and business process automation. The proliferation of these technologies across Repsol will help the company accelerate its Digitalization Program – a fundamental element in its business transformation – and make progress against its Strategic Plan 2021-2025, which envisions a positive impact of the company's digitization projects of more than €800 million a year by as early as 2022.

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Focus on Sensors https://www.iiotconnection.com/focus-on-sensors-4/ https://www.iiotconnection.com/focus-on-sensors-4/#respond Mon, 01 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.chemengonline.com/?p=212623 Oxygen measurement with Ex approvals & SIL2 certification The new Zirkor200 oxygen-measurement analyzer (photo) adds features for integration into safety-related process controls. The user-friendly

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Oxygen measurement with Ex approvals & SIL2 certification

SICK

The new Zirkor200 oxygen-measurement analyzer (photo) adds features for integration into safety-related process controls. The user-friendly, extremely rugged and precise zirconium-dioxide analyzers are not only available for gas explosion-hazardous areas (Zirkor200 Ex-G), but for use in dust explosive atmospheres (Zirkor200 Ex-D) as well. The Zirkor200 now also features SIL2 certification for integration into safety-related process controls. Both explosion-proof variants are approved in accordance with ATEX and IECEx. The Zirkor200 Ex-G for Zone 1 works well primarily in the chemicals, petrochemicals, refineries and oil-and-gas industries. With the Zirkor200 Ex-D for Zone 21, the focus is on applications in the cement and power-generation industries, and in the fields of waste-processing and recycling. In the majority of these industries, the Zirkor200 with SIL2 option also enables safety-relevant measurements with only one system (1oo1; one out of one). The analyzers of the Zirkor200 series handle process-gas temperatures up to 1,600°C. – SICK Inc., Minneapolis, Minn.

www.sick.com

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Free firmware upgrade adds MQTT IIoT support https://www.iiotconnection.com/free-firmware-upgrade-adds-mqtt-iiot-support/ https://www.iiotconnection.com/free-firmware-upgrade-adds-mqtt-iiot-support/#respond Mon, 01 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.chemengonline.com/?p=212656 This company has released a free firmware upgrade enabling new and existing MicroSmart FC6A Plus PLC CPUs (photo) to support the industry-standard MQTT protocol. The upgrade can be downloaded to the FC6A CPU

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IDEC

This company has released a free firmware upgrade enabling new and existing MicroSmart FC6A Plus PLC CPUs (photo) to support the industry-standard MQTT protocol. The upgrade can be downloaded to the FC6A CPU, so it is easy for users to connect all types of field data to on-site and cloud-based brokers, and make the information readily available for users and analytical applications. Users can also send commands to the FC6A using MQTT. MQTT has emerged as the preferred industrial internet of things (IIoT) communications protocol because it uses a lightweight and efficient publish/subscribe methodology for secure messaging between devices and centralized brokers, making information easily available for all authorized applications. A large number of clients can publish data to the broker, subscribe to any broker data, or bi-directionally do both. – IDEC Corp., Sunnyvale, Calif.

www.idec.com/usa

 

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Baker Hughes to acquire ARMS Reliability https://www.iiotconnection.com/baker-hughes-to-acquire-arms-reliability/ https://www.iiotconnection.com/baker-hughes-to-acquire-arms-reliability/#respond Thu, 18 Feb 2021 18:38:28 +0000 https://www.chemengonline.com/?p=212546 Baker Hughes (Houston) has announced it is acquiring ARMS Reliability, a leading global provider of reliability solutions to some of the world's largest industrial companies across a wide range of industries including mining, oil and gas, power, manufacturing, and utilities. The acquisition deepens Baker Hughes' industrial asset performance management (APM) capabilities and will expand the […]

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Baker Hughes (Houston) has announced it is acquiring ARMS Reliability, a leading global provider of reliability solutions to some of the world's largest industrial companies across a wide range of industries including mining, oil and gas, power, manufacturing, and utilities. The acquisition deepens Baker Hughes' industrial asset performance management (APM) capabilities and will expand the company's industrial asset management offerings.

APM solutions leverage data capture, integration, visualization, and analytics to improve the reliability and availability of physical assets. ARMS Reliability's asset strategy management, asset reliability services, and consultancy experience, along with its OnePM software offering, will integrate into Bently Nevada's System 1 software platform from Baker Hughes, which provides critical plant-wide asset health monitoring and protection. The combined offering will provide Baker Hughes customers with a full spectrum of APM services to enhance industrial operational efficiencies, extend asset lifecycles, and reduce non-productive downtime.

The acquisition is another step forward for Baker Hughes' strategy to provide an industrial software platform at scale to deliver outcome-based solutions for highly engineered critical equipment. Baker Hughes will have access to ARMS Reliability’s substantial presence in a broad range of industrial sectors including mining, power, manufacturing, and utility companies. ARMS Reliability’s global customer base has strong adoption in the U.S. and Australia, and the agreement is expected to drive strong growth in APM adoption in other geographic markets, as well as enabling synergies from a broader combined offering with Bently Nevada.

"The acquisition of ARMS Reliability emphasizes Baker Hughes' commitment to empower the digital transformation of our customers' industrial assets and strategically invest for growth in industrial asset management," said Rami Qasem, executive vice president of Digital Solutions at Baker Hughes. "This is another exciting step forward as we look to be the partner of choice and offer our customers a complete set of services across the entire industrial asset lifecycle."

APM services are deployed in some of the world's most complex industrial sectors and can deliver up to a 30% reduction in maintenance cost, up to a 75% decrease in machine breakdowns, and up to a 45% reduction in downtime, according to the Asset Performance Management Market Global Forecast to 2025. Baker Hughes' Bently Nevada business is an industry leader in condition monitoring and asset protection with over 60 years of expertise and over 6 million sensors installed globally. The addition of ARMS Reliability to the world-class Bently Nevada portfolio will provide centralized, connected APM solutions to customers.

The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021 and will be integrated into the Bently Nevada product line within Baker Hughes' Digital Solutions segment.

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BP joins the IBM Quantum Network to advance use of quantum computing https://www.iiotconnection.com/bp-joins-the-ibm-quantum-network-to-advance-use-of-quantum-computing/ https://www.iiotconnection.com/bp-joins-the-ibm-quantum-network-to-advance-use-of-quantum-computing/#respond Tue, 16 Feb 2021 13:45:52 +0000 https://www.chemengonline.com/?p=212442 IBM announced that bp plc (London) has joined the IBM Quantum Network to advance the use of quantum computing in the energy industry. By joining the IBM Quantum Network as an Industry Partner, bp will have access to IBM’s quantum expertise and software and cloud-based access to the most advanced quantum computers available via the […]

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IBM announced that bp plc (London) has joined the IBM Quantum Network to advance the use of quantum computing in the energy industry.

By joining the IBM Quantum Network as an Industry Partner, bp will have access to IBM’s quantum expertise and software and cloud-based access to the most advanced quantum computers available via the cloud. This includes access to a premium 65-qubit quantum computer, the largest universal quantum system available to industry today, and an important milestone on the IBM Quantum roadmap to a 1,000-plus qubit system, targeted for the end of 2023.

bp will work with IBM to explore using quantum computing to solve business and engineering challenges and explore the potential applications for driving efficiencies and reducing carbon emissions. 

“bp’s ambition is to become a net zero company by 2050 or sooner and help the world get to net zero. Next-generation computing capabilities such as quantum computing will assist in solving the science and engineering challenges we will face, enabling us to reimagine energy and design new lower carbon products,” said Morag Watson, senior vice president, digital science and engineering for bp.

Quantum computing has the potential to be applied in areas such as: modelling the chemistry and build-up of various types of clay in hydrocarbon wells – a crucial factor in efficient hydrocarbon production; analyzing and managing the fluid dynamics of wind farms; optimizing autonomous robotic facility inspection; and helping create opportunities not yet imagined to deliver the clean energy the world wants and needs.

In 2020, bp announced its net zero ambition and its new strategy. By the end of this decade, it aims to have developed around 50 gigawatts of net renewable-generating capacity (a 20-fold increase), increased annual low carbon investment 10-fold to around $5 billion and cut its oil and gas production by 40%.

Joining the IBM Quantum Network will enhance bp’s ability to leverage quantum advances and applications as they emerge and then influence on how those breakthroughs can be applied to its industry and the energy transition.

“bp joins a rapidly growing number of clients working with IBM to explore quantum computing to help accelerate the discovery of solutions to some of today’s biggest challenges,” added Dario Gil, Senior Vice President and Director of IBM Research. “The energy industry is ripe with opportunities to see value from the use of quantum computing through the discovery of new materials designed to improve the generation, transfer, and storage of energy.”

bp joins more than 130 members of the IBM Quantum Network, a global community of Fortune 500 companies, start-ups, academic institutions and research labs working to advance quantum computing and explore practical applications. Together, members of the Network and IBM Quantum teams are researching and exploring how quantum computing will help a variety of industries and disciplines, including finance, energy, chemistry, materials science, optimization and machine learning, among many others.

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Swarm CEO Sara Spangelo Sets Disruptive Pricing on New Satellite IoT Service https://www.iiotconnection.com/swarm-ceo-sara-spangelo-sets-disruptive-pricing-on-new-satellite-iot-service/ https://www.iiotconnection.com/swarm-ceo-sara-spangelo-sets-disruptive-pricing-on-new-satellite-iot-service/#respond Wed, 10 Feb 2021 21:58:39 +0000 https://www.satellitetoday.com/?p=322494 Swarm's Internet of Things (IoT) network that connects sandwich-sized satellites to tiny, handheld hardware is now live, offering remote connectivity at the market-disrupting price of $5 per month per device.  Swarm, which was founded in 2017 and garnered media attention in 2018 for launching satellites without FCC approval, is now an operational player in the […]

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Swarm co-founders Ben Longmier and Sara Spangelo holding the Swarm Tile, and a Swarm satellite. Photo: Swarm

Swarm's Internet of Things (IoT) network that connects sandwich-sized satellites to tiny, handheld hardware is now live, offering remote connectivity at the market-disrupting price of $5 per month per device. 

Swarm, which was founded in 2017 and garnered media attention in 2018 for launching satellites without FCC approval, is now an operational player in the satellite IoT market. The company announced its commercial availability on Tuesday, after it launched 36 satellites on the recent SpaceX rideshare mission. The company now has 81 satellites on orbit, 72 of which are commercial. 

The company is vertically integrated, and built and designed hardware, software, and protocols for its satellites and the user modem it calls the Swarm Tile. The Tile costs $119 per device and is a modem that can be embedded into any IoT device that operates in a remote location. 

The Tile communicates with satellites in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) that weigh just 400 grams. Satellites pass the data to ground stations, pulling customer data into an API where it can be easily accessed. It's a two-way network, allowing a customer to send a command to the sensor. At this point, satellites pass over Swarm's ground stations about every three hours. When the company has launched its full constellation of 150 satellites, it will allow data to be transmitted at any time. 

Sara Spangelo, CEO and co-founder told Via Satellite the Swarm pricing model is four to 20 times cheaper than similar satellite offerings today, and Swarm can transmit customer data more often because of its large number of satellites. Spangelo said this pricing allows customers who may pay $10,000 each month to another provider to spend $500 per month with Swarm. The company's goal with the pricing is to bring in new customers who haven't been able to afford remote IoT connectivity before. 

"For small companies that are bootstrapped, doing low-margin things like agriculture and logistics, this is an incredible benefit to their businesses – how they operate their price points, the risks they can take, the markets they can enter," Spangelo said. "It also is at the point where people that have only previously used cell [connectivity], but want to expand their business beyond where cellular coverage is, can start to think about it as affordable." 

The company has customers from small and medium-sized businesses to Ford-owned Autonomic, which has a connected vehicle infrastructure called the Transportation Mobility Cloud. Another company SweetSense, which offers remote water and energy monitoring solutions, has a partnership with Swarm, whose pricing allows SweetSense to monitor more water supplies in Africa. 

Spangelo said Swarm has the highest demand in agriculture for water monitoring applications, and logistics for tracking trucks or maritime tracking. She also reports demand in energy monitoring, environmental tracking, and government uses, but emphasizes that the service "vertical agnostic." 

"It’s not a moisture sensor or an asset tracker. It’s a modem, or a connectivity device that can be integrated or plugged into any sort of device," Spangelo said. "We do that on purpose. We have ideas of the verticals and use cases, but we’ve been very surprised what people come around with, ones we would have never expected."

 

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BP completes autonomous vehicle trial at Lingen refinery https://www.iiotconnection.com/bp-completes-autonomous-vehicle-trial-at-lingen-refinery/ https://www.iiotconnection.com/bp-completes-autonomous-vehicle-trial-at-lingen-refinery/#respond Mon, 08 Feb 2021 16:51:33 +0000 https://www.chemengonline.com/?p=212227 Bp plc (London, U.K.) has successfully completed an autonomous vehicle trial at its Lingen refinery in Germany, working with Oxbotica, a global leader in autonomous vehicle software. The trial was a world-first in the energy sector and the latest addition to the bp ventures technology portfolio. During the trial, the vehicle travelled over 180 km […]

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Bp plc (London, U.K.) has successfully completed an autonomous vehicle trial at its Lingen refinery in Germany, working with Oxbotica, a global leader in autonomous vehicle software. The trial was a world-first in the energy sector and the latest addition to the bp ventures technology portfolio.

During the trial, the vehicle travelled over 180 km fully autonomously, safely navigating the extensive and complex environment of the bp refinery, including busy junctions, narrow paths, railway crossings, and multiple terrains, during both day and night and in unpredictable weather conditions.  Oxbotica was able to deploy its autonomy software platform and integrate with the existing infrastructure within two hours of arriving on site.

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Autonomous vehicles can help bp improve safety, increase efficiency and decrease carbon emissions at its sites (Source: bp)

Following the success of the trial, bp aims to progress to deploying its first autonomous vehicle for monitoring operations at the refinery by the end of the year. 

The self-driving vehicles will enhance human operations and improve safety by increasing the monitoring for irregular conditions, faulty equipment and security threats, making it more frequent and around the clock. The autonomous vehicles' enhanced analytics will help the site reduce the size of its current fleet.

Morag Watson SVP digital science and engineering, bp said: "This relationship is an important example of how bp is leveraging automation and digital technology that we believe can improve safety, increase efficiency and decrease carbon emissions in support of our net zero ambition. 

"Lingen has 30 km of roads. Intelligent technology like this helps us make the incremental but equally critical improvements to our operations, so we can continue to focus on delivering the energy the world needs in the way that it wants.  I am looking forward to working with Oxbotica to explore how we can unlock the full potential of autonomy."

 The announcement follows bp's recent $13 million equity investment in Oxbotica. The partnership will give Oxbotica access to bp's operations, retail sites and customer network, helping to unlock its potential.

Ozgur Tohumcu, CEO at Oxbotica said: "As part of our first refinery trial in Lingen, we showcased how autonomy improves safety, reduces emissions and improves productivity. The investment from bp will allow us to scale our autonomous software platform across the energy ecosystem with a number of planned use cases and unlock the true power of universal autonomy." 

Beyond the trial, bp believes that Oxbotica's technology can help it to create an inherently safer operating environment for field workers through its reliable, repeatable, and predictable application. 

The software can be installed into any vehicle and can work indoors, outdoors, underground, in any weather condition and any time of day or night. It has zero dependence on external infrastructure such as GPS or third-party mapping and is completely sensor- and platform-agnostic.

Erin Hallock, managing partner at bp ventures added: "Oxbotica's technology makes autonomous vehicles safer due to improved vision, more efficient due to reduced downtime and less carbon intensive through forensic control of acceleration, braking and driving patterns. We are delighted to partner with a business at the forefront of the future of mobility that can modernise bp through autonomy and look forward to scaling the software across bp's ecosystem."  

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Printing sensors onto stickers https://www.iiotconnection.com/printing-sensors-onto-stickers/ https://www.iiotconnection.com/printing-sensors-onto-stickers/#respond Mon, 01 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.chemengonline.com/?p=211717 Advanced sensors are crucial to any predictive maintenance strategy, and often these sensors must be quickly installed into difficult-to-reach spaces. A novel nanomaterial technology enables predictive sensors

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Advanced sensors are crucial to any predictive maintenance strategy, and often these sensors must be quickly installed into difficult-to-reach spaces. A novel nanomaterial technology enables predictive sensors that can be "printed" onto flexible stickers. These stickers can be easily attached to rotating or static equipment, including pumps, valves and pipelines. Developed by startup company Feelit (Haifa, Israel; http://feelit.tech), RetroFeel nano-ink sensors can measure process parameters in real time, including strain, temperature, humidity, vibration and pressure, providing remote sensing and critical alerts related to structural or operational anomalies. According to Feelit, the sensors and associated wireless-edge platform create a high-resolution "electric skin" for equipment, boasting a sensitivity that is reportedly 50 times greater than current sensing technologies on the market. The ability to simply glue the sensors to equipment enables a quicker, non-invasive startup without the need to halt production.

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Henkel is investing in Feelit’s unique sensor technology (Source: Henkel)

The Adhesive Technologies business of Henkel AG & Co. KGaA (Düsseldorf, Germany; www.henkel.com) recently announced its investment in Feelit's technology, and last year, the company collaborated with Merck KGaA (Darmstadt, Germany; www.merckgroup.com) for the first production test runs of the sensors. At a Merck production site, Feelit's sensors were installed on a diaphragm valve to predict diaphragm failure and prevent rupture and loss of chemical containment. Two pilot trials were completed with Feelit's sensors, and additional trials have been underway at other global manufacturing sites. The partnership with Henkel has expanded the sensors' reach for new monitoring applications in the oil-and-gas sector, says Feelit CEO Gady Konvalina. Feelit plans to significantly scale up its nanoprinting and sensor-fabrication capacities by 2024.

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