Luis Simón Gómez Semeleder

How many of us don't feel safe overtaking a bike on the road? The truth is that while driving a car we could be presented with a dangerous situation, but also if we are the ones riding on the bike. Now IoT technology can help us and give drivers a 'sixth sense'. Telefónica has been involved in the development of a road warning system that provides assisted driving. Using camera drones, it is able to warn the driver if there is a bicycle ahead or a vehicle stopped. If you still can't imagine how it works, find out in this infograph we show you today and see how you can prevent accidents on the road thanks to Internet of Things. Now that the Vuelta a España is taking place, we have tested this solution with Perico Delgado, former professional cyclist.

There are many Jobs in which protecting your head is vital to avoid serious accidents, but can you imagine being protected beyond the blows that a helmet prevents? And have all the information of your working environment in real time? It is not necessary to imagine it. It´s already possible with the connected helmet of Engidi. Work accidents are a serious issue that threatens the health of hundreds of thousands of workers around the world. In Spain, 652 peopledied for this reason in 2018, while at European level an average of 10 workers die every day (more than 3.800 people according to the latest data published by Eurostat). Engidiis a startup dedicated to the design of wearables based on Internet of Things technology. Aiming at offering an effective solution to increase job securityin companies, Engidi has created an IoT device that integrates non-invasively into a standard work helmet. This smart helmet is responsible for collecting information on working conditions to ensure good safety management in the workplace. How does it work? The solution stands on an intelligent device that monitors the safety of workers. It consists on multiple sensors, an NB-IoT connectivity module and a location system. All this is integrated in a non-invasive way inside the homologated protective helmet. The digital sensors monitor variables such as thermal stress conditions, height or the use of the helmet itself. The system also alerts impacts and falls with the location of the affected worker, it has an emergency call button and controls the numbers of operators in a certain area, warning of excessive concentration of people in dangerous areas. NB-IoT connectivity makes it possible to send the data to a digital platform for real-time visualization by the occupational risk control units, thus being able to study the behavior patterns to implement more efficient work routines from a safer point of view. All of this helps prevent mishaps and allows reducing reaction times and intervention to accidents, something that can be decisive to save the lives of people. Engidi is financed by Wayraand has the technological support of Telefónica. The NB-IoT solution of the connected helmet is being tested in itsThe Thinxlaboratories. In these tests they emulate real situation and environments, such as the networks that can be found in different countries of Latin America. The implementation of the connected helmet in professional environments can benefit millions of people around the world. In Europe alone there are 35 million workers who wear helmets for personal protection in their work. Sectors such as industry, mining, navy, construction or forestry can benefit from greater job security thanks to this IoT solution.

The relentless growth of the world population that has been happening since the middle of last century (it is expected that in 2050 global population will reach 9.500 million), coupled with the need to limit the use of diminishing natural resources, has left the agricultural sector with no choice but to look for new advanced solutions that can offer an effective response to this new context. The use of new technological tools, combined with Internet development, is presented as indispensable tools in the agriculture of the 21st century. We need to produce more and better, and we have to do it in rationally and efficiently, with an adequate use of resources and in a more sustainable way in the medium and long term. Society faces the great challenge of producing twice as much food in smaller cultivated zones, with less labor and with serious water shortage problems that indicators reveal will worsen in the coming years. In this context of concern for sustainability, quality and quantity of agri-food productions, the objective of the sector is to find new solutions that optimize the use of resources and arable land. In this sense, agriculture increasingly relies on technology and the use of large volumes of data (Big Data). This is known as precision agriculture and consists in the analysis of the collected data, mainly by intelligent sensors, to optimize the management of a cultivated land from the agronomic, environmental and economic point of view. The objective is to carry out a more efficient and precise use of resources. Agriculture increasingly relies on technology and the use of large volumes of data The main method of precision agriculture is to apply the necessary resources, but at the right time and in the right place. For this, the new type of agriculture employs global positioning systems (GPS) and other electronic media such as drones that allow you to obtain accurate crop data and act in the best way. Through the collection and analysis of data, farmers can optimize resources such as irrigation water, fertilizers or pesticides, which translate into a significant reduction in costs and an improvement in product quality, as well as more responsible use of the environment. On the other hand, agricultural automation and robotics also have a leading role in the agricultural sector and allow, thanks to artificial intelligence, to improve the yields of the various processes in the field of agriculture. Automation is a reality that continues to advance in various tasks. Actions such as controlling irrigation from a smartphone or driving a harvester from a virtual reality system already represent the day to day of many farmers throughout the world. Artificial Intelligence (AI) allows people to program complex tasks on computers or condiv them to learn to refine their procedures through experience, just as humans do. Agricultural automation and robotics also have a leading role in the agricultural sector A technological revolution has started in the agricultural sector that has no intention of stopping : projects such as "Smart Agro ", promoted by Telefónica and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) with the aim of transforming agriculture and increase food security, will soon be implemented in Bucayá , Colombia, benefiting 38 families in the area. More than just one technology in particular, smart farming is the confluence of a diversity of technologies that is bringing a true revolution to the value chain and is growing rapidly. Through current technology, farmers will improve the quantity and quality of the products produced in a sustainable way, with the consequent benefits that this will bring to society. The data and technology have become part of the agriculture and will mark the way forward in the future.

In recent years new types of intelligent drones have been developed that are able to act in three phases: before, during and after the fire. One of the biggest concerns in times of high temperatures is the increased risk of fires in areas with a high density of vegetation. Galicia, Extremadura or Andalusia are communities prone to suffer these catastrophes in their large green areas with the consequent human, animal and plant losses that the fire can cause. This is why public administrations are extending the duration of prevention campaigns all year around instead of only during the most dangerous months. Our best efforts are not enough in the fight against a scourge that in more than 90% of cases is the result of the actions of a human being, directly or indirectly. It is everyone's responsibility to contribute to its eradication with all the means at our disposal. Once again, technology has come to help us with issues that we once had trouble managing in the past. Thanks to IoT, in recent years a series of intelligent drones have been developed which can act against fire in three phases: before, during and after the fire. Surveillance and monitoring In prevention work, the drones can monitor high risk areas and help by alerting when the first signs of fire appear, as well as keep an eye on the natural resources of the area. In this way, the performance of emergency services is more efficient and faster, avoiding putting people's lives at risk and minimize the costs incurred. During the fire, these drones can detect heat, wind direction and even capture real images thanks to their incorporated sensors and cameras. In addition, thanks to IoT it’s possible to send real-time and detailed information to emergency services. An undoubtedly fundamental help, thanks to it firefighters and security forces, such as the UME, can carry out the extinction tasks in a more precise and guided way. Intelligent fire extinguishing system In fire extinction processes there are also larger drones (up to two meters in diameter) that can store up to 300 liters of water and cover between 50 and 100 meters of an area on fire. This drone has structural modifications that allow water misting and transportation, as well as control systems, thermal cameras and navigation. They also include helicopter tracking systems that make the fight against the fire more effective. With the implementation of these drones it will be possible to save lives by managing the workers correctly in the extinction. In the same way, they will be very effective since they are able to get closer to the flames, preventing the pilot from risking his life or the helicopter from suffering damages. This proximity will result on a more concrete and effective action against the hottest points of the fire, even at night thanks to its infrared cameras, becoming an important working tool for firefighters. The possibilities of the IoT applied to drones against fires don’t end here. They can be helpful in the reforestation phase too. Tree plantation Lauren Flechter, an engineer at BioCarbon, has created a solution to plant up to a billion trees a year with the use of drones. The drone is loaded with germinated seeds that are fired to the ground with compressed air from a height of about 2 meters. The seeds remain inside a nutritious capsule that besides protecting them in the fall will feed the future tree. Thanks to the IoT, the drone determines the best place to plant the seed by taking into account factors such as humidity, location or type of existing vegetation. Public administrations have taken note of the advantages of these drones in the prevention, detection, and extinction of forest fires. Some communities have already implemented them to inspect the fire safety sections around urban and rural areas safely from the air.

When we think about Internet of Things, different pictures come to mind: a sensor that measures the activity inside our house, a bracelet that helps us exercise, or a device that helps us maintain a room temperature even when we’re on the far side of the city. However, the potential of IoT goes far beyond the most tech-heavy sectors and even reaches more traditional niches which over time have gradually come to embrace technologies in their daily use. An example is one of the essential sectors within the Spanish economy: agriculture. The revolution in farming has been unstoppable. In fact, the European Union has already planned for the paradigm shift in the agricultural industry, in which it predicts that there will continue to be even more developments that allow professionals in the sector to optimize all their processes. This comes in a niche which will have no fewer than 75 devices connected by 2020, according to the report by the World Government Summit. This is not a theory but a real practice that is already part of the day-to-day activity of Spain’s agriculture sector. And to prove it, here are a few examples: 1.- Smart tractors Tractors have not disappeared, nor are they going to disappear from agriculture; in fact, now they can be used more efficiently than ever, especially connected tractors, which can lay out the best route to plow the field in order to avoid repetition and possible soil erosion. Thanks to this kind of practice, fuel consumption and potential emissions into the atmosphere are also lowered. 2.- Drones in the fields This is surely the most fascinating application of them all. If farmers have spent their entire lives looking up at the sky, now they’re still doing it, but with a bit of help: drones which help enormously to measure the harvest and carry out automated tasks. Drones are able to perform an increasingly broad range of tasks in the fields, from monitoring the state of the plants and harvests to distributing fertilizer, not to mention measuring plots of land and different constants (air temperature, water and heat levels, etc.). The use of drones is so advantageous that some wineries have even decided to use them to improve their efficacy. 3.- Sensors in the soil There is also room for technology underground. One example comes from the Spanish startup BrioAgro, which installs sensors to provide real-time information. In this way, the farmer can get all kinds of data on the moisture and light levels and the nutrients in their crops, right on their mobile phones. Furthermore, farms that use underground sensors can also lower their water consumption and use fertilizers and energy much more efficiently, without this affecting their farm yields aboveground. 4.- Chips in animals Farms tend to have some animals, but it’s not always easy to keep track of them. Many of them carry chips, but the fact is that these chips have traditionally only been used to identify the animal, not to offer any added technological use. Today, however, Internet of Things allows us to take things much further, especially in cases like the Grupo Caro, a Spanish company that monitors the daily activity of each of its animals thanks to an individual chip which provides information on their general condition, feeding, hydration, quality, etc. In this way, the owners collect objective information in real time, a job that used to be done without the reliability of technology and with a much more burdensome work process. 5.- Big data in production Among other things, farmers ultimately have to keep an endless list of factors in mind to monitor their yields and their farms’ daily activity. Thanks to the IoT, however, they can have global tools which can provide information in real time and improve the efficiency of their farms by merging applications like those mentioned above.

Streamlining and modernizing farming techniques has been a key process since the turn of the century in order to ensure global food supplies. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that farming production will need to be increased at least 70% by 2050, thus almost duplicating current production. However, climate events (shifts in weather patterns, advancing desertification…), combined with demographic and social trends (increase in urban population and city size…) make it very difficult to allocate the necessary farming land in the medium term. Therefore it is more important than ever to be able to optimise the use of farming land to be able to increase current production. From a consumer perspective, most of the farming resources are dedicated to water, fertilizers and plant protection products, as well as the power to carry out the irrigation, fertilizing and harvesting. New technologies simplify manual processes and make a better use of available resources. There are currently a variety of Internet of Things based solutions to digitize farming processes: smart irrigation, cattle monitoring, smart water resources management, etc. Farms have also started to use connected drones recently. Drone farming Besides the coolness factor, drones are an ideal platform for monitoring activities. The main advantage of flying a drone over other aerial solutions is its rapid deployment, enabling monitoring of large portions of farmland in a simple, quick and cost-effective manner, providing high value insight that speeds up decision-making. Spectral on-board sensors allow drones to take high resolution aerial pictures of the whole plot of land evaluated. Certain farming activities are currently automated thanks to GPS positioning tools. Therefore these activities can now be planned and designed with a great deal of precision Fertilizer management The pictures taken using the different on-board cameras (multispectral, infrared, thermal…) provide data that goes beyond what can be seen with the naked eye: soil nitrate levels, or crop vigour through leaf brightness testing (plant reflectance). It is possible to determine exact fertilising needs for the soil of each plot of land after processing this data. Thus, farmers can have a fertilizing map while driving the tractor, which will allow them to add only the needed amount of fertiliser in each differentiated area. This level of precision brings obvious advantages: previously the whole plot of land received equal amount of fertiliser or it was spread based on the farmer’s experience and knowledge. The lack of science behind this had a toll on using these products efficiently and required farmer expertise. Technology takes this burden off farmers’ shoulders and allows to maximise investment in expensive plant treatment products and fertilisers maintaining farming land performance at its peak thanks to the precise data obtained. Water resources and other farming applications for drones Based on our bird's-eye-view data provided by multiple sensors, we can extract further information that allow us to extend our analysis to other aspects of plots and crops. Besides fertiliser level, we can also determine the amount of watering required (if the crop is subject to “water stress”), control pruning requirements, detect weeds, or keep invasive species at bay in real time. Other applications are more obvious and well known, but also important for farming activity and are related to surveying applications (plot measurements, cadastral surveys…), reservoir water management, river courses, crop patrolling and security, etc. Affordable technology Steep entry barriers previously made access to these aerial resources (satellite, or plane/helicopter images) only affordable for large crop owners (normally in the hands of the big food industry players). Drone technology is an outstanding improvement, unthinkable until not long ago. It is a tangible reality that allows access to relevant information positively impacting on crop performance at an affordable price for farmers that own medium size crops. Telefónica’s global offering in farming, called Smart Agro, combines connectivity and the support channel of a leading telecommunications firm with partners that provide both the technology and expertise in the field of farming. We offer customised end to end projects to suit the needs of any farmer whether it is to reshape their business model or improve the operative process, maximizing savings in either case.