Qualcomm Aware simplifies IoT

The Qualcomm Aware Platform was unveiled this week, promising to empower developers and enterprises to harness real-time information and data insights from the Internet of Things.

“Today, ecosystem fragmentation and system design complexity often prevent IoT deployments from meeting their fullest potential,” Qualcomm said in a statement. “By combining industry-leading silicon and an extensive ecosystem of hardware and software partners with a developer-friendly cloud framework, Qualcomm Aware will offer a set of differentiated services for managing assets that require critical, accurate, and time-sensitive decision making. 

“By providing ubituitous global connectivity, intelligently optimising and fusing location technologies with sensor alerts and critical device management and control features, Qualcomm Aware will provide a new baseline for IoT and help enterprises drive operational efficiencies. Among the critical use cases to be served by Qualcomm Aware are cold chain distribution, utility asset monitoring, cargo shipment tracking, warehouse and inventory management.”

The Qualcomm Aware advantage rests on three key pillars: technology leadership; Enablement of an expansive ecosystem of hardware and software partners; and an API-first architecture and developer-friendly tools that enable interoperability with partner clouds and leading enterprise software tools.

Qualcomm provided the following information on the three pillars of the platform:

Technology Leadership

Over 350-million of Qualcomm Technologies’ IoT modem chipsets have been shipped to date and are being utilized across various industry segments, including the recently announced Qualcomm 216 IoT LTE Modem, which is an integrated solution designed to deliver IoT-optimized speeds of up to 10 Mbps at ultra-low power thereby prolonging battery life, critical for expanding a variety of high-performing IoT applications.

The Qualcomm Aware technology advantage extends beyond just the silicon. Recent acquisitions of Skyhook Wireless and the assets of PoLTE Corporation have added proprietary positioning techniques and a robust global signal database consisting of approximately 8-billion wireless MAC Addresses and hundreds of millions of cells. In combination with Qualcomm Technologies’ existing location technology, these acquisitions help enable Qualcomm Aware to deliver intelligent and ubiquitous location capabilities in an always-on, low-power manner. With the ability to work in the most difficult signal environments including indoors, underground, and when devices are offline, this robust location technology suite provides important awareness and condition monitoring context to enterprise solutions, enabling end-to-end asset and operational visibility and helping businesses everywhere be more informed and prepared.

The Qualcomm Aware includes industry-leading cloud security tools and the encryption and mutual authentication of all device-to-cloud communications. It also delivers global cellular connectivity, device management and provisioning.

Expansive Ecosystem

In order for IoT to scale, a range of different solutions is needed to address the varying needs of industry applications. The Qualcomm Aware brings together an ecosystem of hardware and software partners to quickly and efficiently develop connected solutions tailored to different use cases. Qualcomm Technologies is engaged with a large and growing list of leading hardware and software companies to develop Qualcomm Aware ready products.

The platform will include Qualcomm Aware blueprints, which are individualised, and scalable solution architectures customised for specific use cases. Working with a wide-range of Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and System Integrators (SIs), these blueprints will enable enterprises to quickly and efficiently roll-out pre-designed solutions in a manner that is tailored for their needs.

API-First Architecture and Developer Friendly Tools

Qualcomm Aware offers a highly customisable framework and implements standard APIs that are designed to provide seamless interoperability with private clouds, industry-specific application platforms, existing enterprise software tools for enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply chain management, inventory management and more. One of the first of these integrations will be with Microsoft Dynamics 365. This framework allows customers to design a solution to meet their specific business needs.

Leveraging these key pillars, the initial launch of the Qualcomm Aware will focus on businesses operating in supply chains and logistics. 

The pandemic exposed how business supply chains are prone to disruptions and the challenges in planning for unexpected shifts in supply and demand. The lack of visibility and tracking of goods results in delays, spoilage and lost revenues and can lead to severe environmental impact.

The Qualcomm Aware will abstract the complexity of creating a digital twin in the cloud and provide the necessary tools for the logistics industry to more efficiently manage its assets throughout its journey. With delivery of accurate and precise location in a power-optimised manner, Qualcomm Aware can become a critical piece in the future efficiency of supply chain management.