The Things Industries supports Wilhelmsen to expand its services portfolio with long range, low-power Internet of Things
Amsterdam, December 11, 2019 - Today Wilhelmsen Ship Management (Wilhelmsen) announces its new generation of on-vessel services, powered by wireless technology for low-power and long range communication. The services will enable Wilhelmsen to generate deeper insights about a ship’s assets by collecting data and presenting those as actionable information to the crew, captain and operations control centre.
Wilhelmsen has partnered with The Things Industries (TTI) and selected Semtech’s popular LoRa® technology as the foundation for its new global 2.4GHz maritime IoT network to deliver an ecosystem of cost-effective, robust and proven IoT solutions and make them available to its diverse global customer base at “land and sea”.
Traditionally, sensor data on ships is exposed through wires. With the emergence of new wireless technology, it is possible to complement these systems with easy to install, low-cost sensors that can monitor many variables, such as conditions of machinery and engines, leakages, environmental metrics, location of assets, etc. The data can for example be used to conduct preventive maintenance, decreasing the risk of vessel idle time or incidents and therefore costs. Or to drive operational excellence by eliminating waste in certain processes.
“We have evaluated wireless solutions for decades to deliver efficiencies at land and sea. The technology solution of choice needed key capabilities to revolutionize our strategy – long range, low power and a strong open ecosystem,” said Jon Helge Ulstein, Senior Project Manager at Wilhelmsen. "This new system will benefit our customers immediately and is a step towards autonomous vessels and industry 4.0. Spearheaded by Wilhelmsen’s ship management division, this new IoT platform will be utilized to deliver among other things digital condition monitoring, asset tracking and logistical applications. This goes hand in hand with the group’s onboard app store project, ShipOS, headed by RaaLabs.”
Wilhelmsen, together with The Things Industries partner to implement the LoRa protocol. This open standard allows Wilhelmsen to tap into a global, established ecosystem of vendors and service providers, in order to access a marketplace of certified sensors, hardware designers, systems integrators and application developers. TTI will introduce a new middleware layer featuring a set of transparent interfaces and formats that will drive compatibility with the maritime ecosystem, and enable ease of use and freedom of choice for Wilhelmsen.
Wilhelmsen has selected Semtech’s LoRa radio technology to transmit sensor data. This technology is characterised by its low-power nature while radio signals are able to propagate over long distances and in difficult environments. It is robust against interference and signal fading which makes it very suitable to deploy onto a marine vessel.
Wienke Giezeman, CEO of The Things Industries said: “We are excited to be a partner in this important project and we are looking forward to working with the broader LoRaWAN ecosystem to make this a success for Wilhelmsen and the maritime industry.”
The global maritime shipping industry is expected to register a CAGR of 16.82%, during the forecast period 2019-2024. With this expected market growth, Wilhelmsen, a global maritime industry group founded in 1861 and a maritime market leader, is deploying the new LoRa-based connectivity in its own operations to improve efficiencies and will also offer their customers proven, connected IoT solutions. Wilhelmsen serves 20,000 vessels out of 2,200 ports in some 70 countries and handles more than 220 000 product deliveries a year.
About The Things Industries
The Things Industries provides enterprise-grade technology for customers to build private LoRaWAN networks. Its technology is user-centric and meets the demands of scalability, flexibility and security. Its API-first approach allows customers to seamlessly integrate into existing systems and infrastructure. TTI supports an installed base of roughly 15 000 LoRaWAN gateways globally. For more information, visit www.thethingsindustries.com
About Wilhelmsen
Wilhelmsen is a global maritime industry group founded in 1861. We have the biggest maritime network in the world, with a presence in over 2 200 locations globally. We serve over half of the worldwide merchant fleet with products and services, and supply crew and technical management for some of the most complex vessels in the world. We also develop new and daring solutions, shaping the maritime industry for the future. Our investments seek to explore and develop new opportunities within the energy-, offshore- and maritime industry. With thousands of colleagues in more than 70 countries, we take competence, sustainability, innovation and unparalleled customer experiences one step further. For more information, visit www.wilhelmsen.com
About Semtech
Semtech Corporation is a leading supplier of high performance analog and mixed-signal semiconductors and advanced algorithms for high-end consumer, enterprise computing, communications, and industrial equipment. Products are designed to benefit the engineering community as well as the global community. The Company is dedicated to reducing the impact it, and its products, have on the environment. Internal green programs seek to reduce waste through material and manufacturing control, use of green technology and designing for resource reduction. Publicly traded since 1967, Semtech is listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol SMTC. For more information, visit www.semtech.com.
