City infrastructure and the Internet of Everything

Everything will soon be connected by the Internet. The Internet will be everywhere in industrialized nations, so now it is up to people to develop new ideas to apply this technology, including for the efficient operation of our cities.  

There is no question that many taxpayer dollars are wasted upon resources that are not being used.  Municipal lighting that remains on all night regardless if anyone is using it is an example of the waste that happens in cities every day.

Money can be saved with Internet-connected systems.  More efficient cities result in millions of dollars of savings.  Systems that communicate via the Internet will know when to shut down and when not to shut down.  Expert systems will be able to predict peak times and make adjustments accordingly.

Barcelona is a flagship of the SMART city of the future.  Already, by integrating technology and city infrastructure, they have been able to move to generate 47,000 more jobs and reduce costs.  For example, they already have integrated sensors in trashcans so that trash pickups are scheduled when bins are at capacity and not on a particular day. This improvement in the collection of waste and recyclables will certainly change that way people think about urban reverse logistics.

Barcelona is working to allow more shared information about traffic and parking spots in the city.  This improvement will help guide people to be able to park in the city, reducing traffic and improving efficiency for commuters.  The resulting reduction in pollution makes the city a more welcoming place to live.

Learn more by viewing Barcelona’s YouTube video explaining where this city is taking the concept.

Combatting RFID Security Risks

Guest Post by Dr. Mario Vaccari, faculty member, Transportation and Logistics Management at American Public University

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology has become popular in global supply chain operations, but not without risk. Pairing long-range readers with scannable RFID tags presents an opportunity for unauthorized scanning by malicious readers and to various other attacks, including cloning attacks. In addition, many of the tags remain with products after they reach customers, presenting security threats to consumers.

Several security measures have been implemented to reduce the risk of attacks in global supply chains and to combat the issue of consumers’ increasing privacy concerns. Some of these security measures include XOR Operation, mutual authentication protocol, random hash-lock protocol, and RIPTA-DA RFID authentication protocol.

There are basically two types of RFID tags: active tags and passive tags.

• An active tag is driven by a power source and broadcasts its own signal. The signal’s reach differs based on some variables.
• A passive tag does not have a power source and is not capable of broadcasting its own signal.

Both types of tags provide benefits and challenges such as cost, size, range, security risks, and applications. In the case of passive tags (mostly found in consumer goods), the tags are inactive until activated with a reader/scanner. This condition is called residual RFID and this is where many privacy concerns begin.

Nowadays, privacy concerns are on everyone’s minds. The average consumer will quickly demand protection from perceived risks, yet few know how technology works to process data. This is the case with consumer knowledge of the privacy risks associated with RFID technology.

Organizations should offer consumers facts about some of the perceived security risks, as well as what is being done to diminish such risks. Organizations must take a proactive approach so consumers are educated on facts, not perceptions. The likelihood of a negative perception remaining constant in people's minds is a risk that should not be overlooked.

As RFID technology continues to evolve and its use increases in global supply chains, security risks will need to continue to be addressed. While measures are being taken by supply chain organizations and technology developers to reduce overall risks, organizational leaders must take a proactive approach to keep consumers abreast of what is being done to protect private information. Consumers have concerns and companies that use the technology have an obligation to provide accurate information to address those concerns.

Related article: http://www.dcvelocity.com/articles/20150910-has-rfid-found-a-home/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Will Volkswagen Survive?

When the news broke that Volkswagen had installed cheat devices to attain reduced emissions on their diesel engines, fewer than a million cars were initially affected.  However, as the investigation progressed, additional vehicles and brands were impacted. 

As the situation unfolds, the resale price of these vehicles has dropped dramatically. The stock price of Volkswagen has also dropped by a third. Given all the uncertainty about what will happen no one wants to risk buying one of these vehicles. Will Volkswagen survive?

Shortly after the situation was revealed, CEO Martin Winterkorn stepped down, claiming he had no knowledge of the situation. The new CEO, Matthias Mueller, was appointed and soon cheat devices were found in over eight million cars worldwide (mostly in the U.S. and Europe).

Though Volkswagen initially resisted, overwhelming pressure from many governments and organizations led it  to announce a recall. It will be the largest ever and how and when the repairs will take place has yet to be announced. The company is working with authorities to engineer a solution that will meet the requirements of regulating agencies.

While a fix is possible, any change will certainly affect the performance of these vehicles. How much of an impact it will have, and when the solution will be implemented, are also unknown. 

Volkswagen has gone from the world’s largest car producer to a company whose existence and fate are unknown.  As Germany’s largest employer, it wields both economic and political power in that country.  There will also be an impact on the global marketplace as consumers seek alternative vehicles. 

How Volkswagen will engineer and implement this massive recall will be a milestone for the organization if it survives the process. If so, it will represent one of the most instructive recalls and comebacks in history, rivalling the turnaround at Chrysler.

The estimated cost of the recall will easily be in the billions. CEO Matthias Mueller will need to build a team of the best to pull off this miracle. A likely course of action will be to sell off some assets. 

We will need to wait to see if Volkswagen will manage to navigate the rocky road ahead. Either way, the event is likely to become a valued case study for global businesses in the years to come.

Exploring the Social, Economic, and Technological Issues Posed by Artificial Intelligence

Recently Bill Gates and Elon Musk have joined Stephen Hawking in discussing the dangers of Artificial Intelligence (AI).  Given that three of the smartest people alive today are concerned about this indicates that it is a topic that deserves further exploration. 

Bill Gates has gone on record that we should be worried about AI.  Elon Musk has stated similar concerns. Beyond their concerns about super intelligence,  there are issues concerning any level of artificial sentience. The ethical issues of creating intelligence and then holding it under control is certainly an alarming matter in society today. However, before one can have the ethical quandary, one must first identify and define artificial intelligence.   

Many organizations have attempted to define artificial intelligence, and I feel that there are many new intelligences that have been created. The big question is not if artificial intelligence will occur, but when and what shape it will take and how much a threat to humanity will it become. 

Programs like the iPhone’s Siri offer knowledge and information and a level of human interaction.  Google and Amazon are using artificial intelligence algorithms to sort through emails and online product reviews. 

To address the social, economic, and technological issues surrounding artificial intelligence and its various forms, a panel of experts will be convening in Washington, DC as part of the Policy Studies Organization Dupont Summit 2015 on Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy.

Dr. Andrew Colarik, Massey University – New Zealand will take the position that artificial intelligence is defined when an entity shows true learning and independent decision-making. He offers the example of a child. A parent can impart all the wisdom and knowledge to a child, but the child will make a decision on what to follow. 

To this end, an expert system would not be classified as artificial intelligence because it would always follow all wisdom and knowledge programmed into the system. This might be classified as super intelligence because an artificial intelligence that was enhanced by supercomputing power could certainly be defined as a potential threat to society.                 

I will share the position that artificial intelligence is defined when an entity passes the Turing test, the benchmark for artificial intelligence for some time now. An expert system becomes artificial intelligence by gathering enough experience to pass the Turing test. 

There has been a strong claim that an entity has been able to pass the Turing test, but the skeptics remains unconvinced. Once an entity does pass the Turing test, what are the rights of that entity once it is known to have passed this benchmark?

Dr. Kandis Wyatt, American Public University, will explore the position that artificial intelligence might take on a different form than super intelligence or artificial intelligence as previously defined. There are certainly a large number of expert systems in use that are used to predict future events with greater and greater accuracy.

For example, the satellites and expert systems currently in use for weather modeling and prediction have become quite sophisticated. These networks of knowledge are combined to collect and compare important, relevant data to come up with a predictive model for future activity. 

Does the artificial intelligence marketed by Google or Apple in their products truly display intelligence or are these just clever databases of available information? Does this kind of expert system that takes meteorological, historical, and satellite observational data constitute intelligence? Clearly, this kind of system is using multiple areas of knowledge and comparing them together to make predictions that are more accurate than the ability of a single human. 

I hope you can join us for this important conversation.

The Toyota Airbag Recall and the Dangers of Corporate Culture

Although the Toyota airbag recall is nowhere near over, there are already many lessons learned. Chief among them is the need for a corporate culture with checks and balances.

Although there were number of deaths associated with the malfunctioning airbags, Toyota did not initiate a widespread recall. After working hard for decades to be a company that is synonymous with quality, it seemed that Toyota did not want to accept that their product was defective. Although the airbag was a product from a sub-supplier, Toyota had quality checks for these vendors.  It appears that there was a belief in Toyota that a qualitative failure was impossible.

This same kind of mentality was common among U.S. car manufacturers prior to Japan’s push into the U.S. market. When Japanese cars debuted, American cars had quality issues consumers could see. There was so much pride in the workmanship among manufacturers that defects were not addressed. Is it any wonder that Americans were swayed by lower prices and higher quality from Japan?

Toyota seems to have that same mindset. After so many successful years, the company has forgotten what made it great in the first place.

Although Toyota has finally stepped up to recall all the defective units, there was certainly some pressure needed from Washington, D.C. Perhaps this kind of pressure was necessary so that Toyota did not have to admit a major failing. Unlike in the U.S., where a car manufacturer would throw the sub-contractor (Takata) under the bus, Toyota was unwilling or unable to do the same.

Hopefully, Toyota will learn from this recall. The company needs to re-examine its culture and put quality back at the top of its agenda. Failing this, Toyota might lose market share to competitors.

While even a company that is focused on quality will have an occasional recall, how that recall is handled can really make a difference in its brand perception.