AT&T connects Elemental Machines’ smart labs to the internet with operator’s IoT solutions
Sridhar Iyengar of Elemental Machines
Elemental Machines is using AT&T* Internet of Things (IoT) solutions to make critical lab equipment even smarter. The Elemental Machines Sensory Network™ gives science-based industries data-driven insights to help customers improve lab operations, research, development and manufacturing.
And with AT&T IoT solutions, lab monitoring has never been easier. Constantly monitoring equipment and its environment means more information and consistency. And it helps prevent major research setbacks.
Imagine a lab freezer that malfunctions overnight. Scientists find their 22 million-year-old ice samples from the Arctic in a pool of water. With Elemental Machines’ smart lab solutions, lab staff could receive an alert that the freezer isn’t at an ideal temperature. They could then act quickly to save their samples and avoid this costly catastrophe.
The Elemental Machines smart lab solution uses AT&T Control Centre and AT&T Global SIM to monitor assets both on site and remotely 24×7. Even with Wi-Fi interruptions or lost power, cellular connectivity will keep sending data.
The system includes Elements™, intelligent wireless sensors that are easy to install and battery-powered. They send data wirelessly to Elemental Gateway tablets, which have AT&T Enterprise Mobility Management. The company can provision, manage and help secure specific laboratory data and apps on their own. The tablets share data with the Elemental Insights dashboard for easy access to all data.
Element-As track the ambient conditions in the lab environment: temperature, humidity, light and air pressure. Element-Ts track lab equipment performance and usage, including freezers, refrigerators, ovens, incubators, liquid nitrogen tanks and more.
With this data, lab staff can:
- Verify that all equipment is performing correctly.
- Receive immediate text and/or email alerts about any changes in the environment or to key equipment via email or text message.
“Our lab operations require a monitoring system that allows our team to track both equipment performance and environmental conditions in near real-time, whether on-site or remotely,” reflected Michael Koeris, PhD, CEO and founder of Sample6, a food-safety technology company that offers a rapid pathogen-detection system for the food industry.
“The Elemental Machines system gives us easy access to performance characterisations of the lab and equipment, immediate alerts if something is amiss or out of spec, and cellular backup so that we can have access to critical data, even if there is a power interruption.”
Teams have access to Elemental Insights web-based dashboards. This lets scientists and their operations counterparts:
- Understand usage patterns.
- Identify any maintenance issues.
- Modify research processes.
- Improve experimental reproducibility.
- Create performance reports for compliance requirements.
“IoT has the potential to disrupt how science is done by allowing massive levels of data to be collected in near real time – from biotech/pharma to materials science to agritech. This requires premium carrier-level services to support the adoption and roll-out of connected systems to various types of users,” said Sridhar Iyengar, PhD, CEO and founder of Elemental Machines. “Offering AT&T’s technology and network gives our customers the confidence to place their trust in our solution.”
Comment on this article below or via Twitter @IoTGN