How can we put an end to missing baggage at airports? How can we reduce noise in our cities and improve their water management systems? How can we successfully integrate renewable energies in the electricity network? How do you control a vehicle fleet from an office or improve the performance of a fashion store or even a hospital? From 25 to 27 October, the Internet of Things (IoT) Solutions World Congress at Fira de Barcelona will be answering these and many other future challenges on ten test beds that will provide practical examples of how the industrial internet will change the way we produce and manage resources and business, transforming the global economy.

Test beds are experimental platforms designed to implement new solutions and test them in real-life operating conditions. The tests explore untried technologies or combinations of existing ones with the aim of creating ground-breaking products or techniques with the capacity to generate new international standards. The practical applications on show at the IoT Solutions World Congress will be coordinated and supervised by the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC).

The first of these, Smart Airline Baggage Management, will show how General Electric, Oracle, Infosys and M2MI have created a solution to reduce baggage losses and damage in airports. The test bed merges various Internet of Things systems to localize and connect the handling, transport and management of baggage in airports (ramps, trucks, security, aircraft, etc.). The goal is to reduce the figure of 23 million lost suitcases every year and cut the huge cost of compensation involved.

Another innovative system is the one developed by RTI, Cisco and National Instruments to integrate renewable energies in the existing electricity network, which is not currently equipped to absorb the energy generated by renewable systems such as solar panels and wind turbines. It is often required to offset the drops in power output or non-linear increases in production or demand inherent in renewable energies with more power, thus losing the expected savings. This system creates micro-networks connected to the main network and energy storage spaces in areas of high demand to take advantage of and better integrate the production of renewable energies in the network.

Telefónica will be presenting a project it is currently undertaking in Seville with Fiware which makes real-time measurements of the water quality in the city’s ornamental fountains, including chlorine and pH levels, temperature, pumping speed and even wind speed in order to either increase or reduce the height of the water jets accordingly, amongst other technical parameters. This system offers the chance to improve municipal services, increase operating efficiency and act with much greater celerity compared to conventional manual controls.

The Lisbon municipality of Odivelas, along with Fisonic and Fiware, will be presenting a continuous real-time noise monitoring system that identifies the noisiest locations and times of the day, emitting an alarm if it identifies the sound of weapons or traffic accidents and creating interactive ‘sound maps’ which can be used to implement policies that improve the standard of living in cities.

Meanwhile, Geotab and Telefónica will be bringing their real-time fleet management solution to the show, which lets users create alerts and notifications, review drivers’ routes and generate activity reports. Its advanced functionalities also include engine diagnostics and accident detection, identifying the cause and interacting with other navigation devices, the driver’s NFC keys and sensors.

NEC and Microsoft will be installing a test bed to analyse customer behaviour in retail establishments by means of sensors and videos, transforming this analysis into specific data to help improve the consumer experience and hence increase efficiency and sales.

At the IoT Solutions World Congress you can learn how Schneider Electric has developed a remote interaction model with solar panels via an augmented reality system synchronized to actual objects known as the ‘cybernetic avatar’ which improves the effectiveness, speed and safety of staff working with these systems.

You can also see examples of this technology used in the healthcare field, such as a remote control and treatment service for patients to improve their quality of life and reduce the number of hospital admissions, developed by Cognizant and Microsoft.

Meanwhile, LoRa Alliance will demonstrate how IoT technology can be applied to a Low-Power Wide-Area (LPWA) network in an urban setting, facilitating its use for logistics, transport and energy management. Their test bed will extend to the city of Barcelona to demonstrate examples of geo-positioning and tracking.

The event will also be showcasing a new network infrastructure that is more compatible with the future of the Industrial Internet of Things, allowing this technology to be implemented with greater reliability and security to produce Time Sensitive Networking. This new network will be demonstrated by Cisco, Intel, Bosch Rexroth, KUKA, Schneider Electric, TTTech, National Instruments and the Industrial Internet Consortium. The next edition of the IoTSWC in October, organised by Fira de Barcelona, will bring together some of the leading experts in the industrial internet. Over the three-day event, companies such as ABB, Accenture, Bosch, Dassault, Deloitte, GE, Intel, IBM, Microsoft, MIT, Red Hat, Schneider and Vodafone will be presenting their latest solutions and advances in the field of the IoT, while more than 200 speakers will discuss how the industrial internet is transforming industry as we know it on a conference programme based on six core themes.

Over 120 exhibitors have already confirmed their participation in the IoTSWC 2016, making this the leading international event for the industrial internet sector. These firms include ABB, Accenture, Analog Devices, Dassault Systèmes, Deloitte, Deutsche Telekom, EMC, Everis, General Electric, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, IBM, Intel, Interdigital, Kaspersky, Microsoft, National Instruments, PTC, SAP, Schneider, Sigfox, Telefónica and Vodafone.

At its first edition, IOTSWC managed to attract 4,500 visitors from 53 different countries.

Further information: https://www.iotsworldcongress.com