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Wi-Fi Identification Technology
November 2015
Interview with Rafael Salmi President and GM of Richardson RFPD
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CONTENTS
Wireless & RF Magazine
EDITORIAL STAFF
NEWSWIRE
Content Editor Alex Maddalena amaddalena@aspencore.com
WiFi Software for Human Identification Through Walls
Digital Content Manager Heather Hamilton hhamilton@aspencore.com Tel | 208-639-6485 Global Creative Director Nicolas Perner nperner@aspencore.com Graphic Designer Carol Smiley csmiley@aspencore.com Audience Development Claire Hellar chellar@aspencore.com
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TECH TRENDS
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Tap Tap Tech: Mission to Mars TECH REPORT
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Cellio Wireless IoT Remote Gas Tank Monitoring Solution EEWeb FEATURE
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Smart Home Butler Organizes Your Connected Things INDUSTRY INTERVIEW
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Latest RF Products from the World’s Leading Suppliers Interview with Rafael Salmi – Richardson RFPD
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Wireless & RF Magazine
Newswire Students Pioneer Software that Uses
Wi-Fi to Identify People Through Walls By Max Teodorescu, Electronic Products
Machine learning lets software work out the Wi-Fi reflection patterns of individual people
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NEWSWIRE
S
nagging an unsecured Wi-Fi signal may occasionally grant an unsolicited peek
into someone’s data traffic and computer, but what if that same signal, unsecured or otherwise, could be used to spy on their silhouettes through a wall? Worse, what if it could recognize them in a crowd? MIT researchers from the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab have developed software that intercepts rebounding wireless signals to see behind walls.
The technology—called RF-Capture—is precise enough to track the motion of a human hand with reasonable accuracy and, when fed through a machine learning algorithm, can recognize people based on their unique Wi-Fi silhouette. RF-Capture is the natural evolution of a similar software developed back in 2013, with the added benefit of measuring the signal change reflected off a human body. How this is accomplished is simple: broadcasted Wi-Fi signals bouncing off of reflective surfaces are intercepted by a capture device, which then applies the RF-Capture software to sort the signals and separate those bouncing off human body parts from other forms interference. The software then consolidates the data snapshots from each body part into a collective silhouette representing the human body.
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By combining machine learning with the distinct difference in body metrics of the photographs—height, shoulder width, and more—it becomes possible to train algorithms to spot the subtle difference in persons and recognize who is standing behind the wall. “[W] e use the captured human silhouettes from our reconstruction algorithm [to] train a classifier on these silhouettes which allows us to distinguish between people,” explains Fadel Adi, one of the project’s researchers. “The classifier captures features like height and body builds, which allows us to distinguish between people using RF-Capture.” So, what level of accuracy are we looking at? Testing revealed that the system can identify up to 15 people behind a wall with 90 percent exactness. In addition, it can trace a person’s moving hand
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within about an inch, said Adi, suggesting that the as the technology improves, it may have spawn some very practical real-world applications. For example, the RF-Capture’s ability to ascertain a person’s breathing and heart rate could spark health tracking implements that watch over senior citizens, or it could integrate some sort of gesture control for IoT devices scattered throughout the home. But, as with all new means of obtaining personal information, the biggest elephant in room is privacy. To prevent abuse, the team insists that blockers must be developed to prevent any solutions piggybacking off of RFcapture from tracking people other than the owners of the device.
Source: Electronic Products electronicproducts
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TapTapTech
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TECH TRENDS
MARS T
oday, we’re going to discuss Mars—the planet, not the candy maker. Mars has held a cultural interest for the world for literally millenia, being named after the Roman god of war due to its red, angry color. In the late 1800’s, Mars fascination peaked again as research revealed what seemed to be artificial structures—leading to books such as War of the Worlds and the Princess of Mars. And now, it seems as if Mars has taken the spotlight again. Curiosity currently wanders the planet, and my office in a much smaller form, NASA just verified that liquid water still flows on today’s Mars, intermittently at least, and the movie “The Martian” was just released, the first decent Mars movie in years.
Sponsored by
By Josh Bishop
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Wireless & RF Magazine
Much as the movies about Mars have had a large amount of failures, missions to Mars have had an incredibly low success rate. Worldwide, we’re barely above a fifty percent success rate, in large part due to what is sometimes referred to as the curse of the USSR, related to Mars missions. This curse also seems to have passed onto the Russians—the USSR was unsuccessful on every Mars mission they had for the first decade of attempts and then recently, the Russian-China venture with the Fobos-Grunt in 2011 ended several years too soon. To quote many people, “space is hard.” Mars is even harder.
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The time it takes to get to Mars varies wildly depending on method of thrust and the planet’s relative positions. Let’s be very generous and say bestcase scenario is thirty to forty days to get there. Best-case scenario currently based in reality is closer to two hundred days—one way. And this entire time, the crew is susceptible to Apollo 13-esque failures and nice, hefty amounts of radiation. Once you arrive, the planet is basically the coldest, harshest desert you can imagine, with an incredibly thin, unbreathable atmosphere, less light because you’re so much farther from the sun, and less gravity. I imagine it’s like living in a snowless Antarctica as a kangaroo wearing sunglasses. But you can’t breathe.
TECH TRENDS The funny thing is, and I can’t explain why, but the idea of going to Mars just blows me away! Despite all the dangers and the harsh environment, to set foot on Mars and look out across the barren wasteland would be simply unbelievable. So, if MarsOne turns out not to be a scam, I may just need to change my early retirement plans.
Once you arrive, the planet is basically the coldest, harshest desert you can imagine, with an incredibly thin, unbreathable atmosphere, less light because you’re so much farther from the sun, and less gravity.
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Wireless & RF Magazine
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TECH REPORT
Wireless IoT
Remote Monitoring of Gas Tanks Across the Country By Brent T. Ward, Device Solutions
Much of our economy is based on the use of gases. In addition to the obvious gases like gasoline and diesel, there is also a very big market for supplying and managing the distribution of noble gases throughout globe.
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Wireless & RF Magazine
Device Solutions was contacted by a cooperative of 150 gas companies to envision a better system to remote monitor inventories and critical supply points along the supply chain.
Monitoring gas levels around North America required lots of manual labor, driving, errors and delays inherent in manual processes.
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According to Transparency Market Research, in 2012, the noble gas market was estimated at 179 billion litres globally is projected to be approximately 202 billion litres by 2019 [1].
been unable to accurately visualize the locations of inventory, different sizes of tanks, and differing rates of consumption. This lack of visibility translates into loss of opportunities.
Keep in mind that there is are multiple tiers of distribution from the points of production to the points of consumption —with inventories of gas in tanks in increasingly smaller sizes all the way out to businesses and consumers. Managing that flow efficiently has been challenging. Companies have
Historically, tracking inventories along the supply chain was done by “gut� feel, over or under buying, and lots of manual logging, estimating and reactive refilling of gas tanks. Visionary leaders in the industry recognized that there had to be a more efficient and cost effective way to remove all the manual
TECH REPORT effort, reduce errors due to manual processes, and make more information available in real time for decision making and value add to customers.
An example tank that holds gas that can be monitored remotely via Cellio.
Device Solutions was contacted by a cooperative of 150 gas companies to envision a better system to remote monitor inventories and critical supply points along the supply chain. The
solution had to handle widely distributed tanks and cylinders across North America, and most importantly had to scale quickly, easily, and cost effectively. The ROI for the solution was to be compared to the expensive costs of labor, vehicle usage, fuel costs, costs of erroneous data and other factors involved in manually checking each of the individual tanks on a regular basis. In this case, hourly and/or daily monitoring of each tank is sufficient resolution to give the gas companies the view into the inventory needed for inventory management and forecasting. Cellio, Device Solution’s system of wireless gateways and transceivers, was used to provide the optimal solution to the gas cylinder and tank monitoring problem. Pressure Sensor connected to Cellio Transceiver; Both Wi-Fi Gateway (top right) and Cellular Gateway with GPS location capability (bottom right) are pictured above.
With wireless realtime monitoring of all the gas cylinders, labor, travel and other associates expenses have been eliminated and accuracy has improved dramatically.
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Wireless & RF Magazine
Cellio transceivers were positioned near the actual tanks and up to 16-tank pressure sensors were connected to each transceiver. These transceivers, connected to as many tanks as necessary to cover all the tanks of interest, then each use 900MHz to transmits the sensor information to Cellio gateways which in turn use Cellular connections or Wi-Fi connections to connect to the internet. The various gas companies then directed the data from the various readings to the data storage locations they specified. The initial installation of systems across the country was done quite rapidly. In addition, further scaling of the system was simple - adding additional sensors and transceivers to existing areas with existing gateways is as easy and affordable as turning on the new transceiver and connecting up the sensors to as many as 16 gas cylinders per transceiver. The result of the installations was the ability to all but eliminate driving and walking to each of the inventory areas to check levels, as well as having accurate readings daily and hourly of each of the tanks throughout the enterprise
16 gas cylinders are connected to each Cellio Wireless Transceiver and the transceivers send the information to the Cellio Wireless Gateway that sends all the data wirelessly to the data backend. This balances cost, accuracy, and distance.
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and network. Costs were cut a measured 80% over the previous approaches. One of the most innovative outcomes was the ability to create a new competitive offering that the gas suppliers could offer and sustain at scale. The cooperative developed the concept of selling a “bottomless� gas tank service. Having greater visibility to location, fill levels, usage rates, consumption, and demand has also allowed the companies to better recognize trends, track historical data, forecast demands and devise even more interesting offerings to make the companies more efficient and the customers even happier. Given the success of the application of Cellio Wireless Gateways and Transceivers in remote monitoring and data collection from gas cylinders across North America, other immediate possibilities for remote wireless have emerged in other industries: Agriculture, Factories, Farming, Forestry, Logistics, Mining, Transportation, Warehouses, Waste Management, Water Management, Zoos, and more!
TECH REPORT
Here are some
Real World Applications
where Device Solutions’ Cellio is being considered:
Compliance
Oil and Natural Gas
Waste Management
A landscaping company is contracted to use a precise amount of liquid fertilizer for each of their corporate clients and must report the precise usage, precise location, time, person who applied the fertilizer, etc. for compliance and billing reasons. They currently measure amounts from the side of a see-through tank. A wireless sensor inside the tank could greatly improve accuracy. Additionally, an element they have considered adding is “locking out” the valve mechanism so that if they are in a location that is not authorized for treatment that the operator is not allowed to apply it and remove the risk of making a HUGE mistake. Also, they would like the valve to be connected to a GPS location system so it that automatically locks to prevent spillage and accidental discharges —another way to use geofencing.
In an oil field in Texas, an oil company is interested in tracking all of the operational factors of a pumping station to make sure that the output rates help them stay on quota and producing at planned rates. There are opportunities to turn off the pumps as soon as quotas are reached, whereby they can save substantial amounts of money in electricity and wear and tear on the machinery. They also want to keep track of those machines that have issues and those that are OFF. Currently they keep a whiteboard with hand-written notes in the main office that is updated when field personnel radio in with pump updates. Additionally, the main office would like the ability to cut power to any of the wells should they detect a situation in which they don’t want the well to continue pumping.
A trash collection company only wants to collect trash bins that are more than 40% full, and want to make sure they collect trash bins immediately once they reach 90% full. Currently they need to physically visit all trash bins every day, twice a day, to make sure that none of the trash bins are overflowing. This is a big waste of time, manpower, and fuel. They would also like to control an indicator LED on the trash receptacles to show users that the bin is “empty” or that it is “full” and someone is going to be coming soon to empty. An optional indicator would be a “level meter” that would show the user the level of trash without having to lift the lid.
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Wireless & RF Magazine
The application examples above are just the tip of the iceberg for wireless sensor networks. Wireless sensing is perfect for all the places that currently require manual activities, transit equipment, transit time, and paper based data recording. These could cost effectively replace or augment with a more automatic and distributed set of sensor nodes reporting in on a regular basis. The opportunities for wireless sensor network installations across organizations large and small are almost limitless.
more accurate information, reductions in potential liabilities, and various other factors. The highest value, but rarely part of the ROI case, is the long term high value of tying all of this data in real time into back-end ERP, CRM, PIM, and other forecasting and supply chain management systems for improved long range planning, purchasing, and optimization. Imagine the possibilities of those factors were included!
UsingCellio Cellio, Device works with is an Solutions affordable clients and partners to architect and end-to-end solution that The ROI’s in all of these cases are rarely implement the most robust, reliable, and computes, & where made on just the replacement of lowcostconnects, effective solutions to get from paid resources doing their current it is to where it needs to be. In some communicates information in the jobs manually. Most of these ROI’s engagements, the request is simply for Internet of Things require looking at a larger picture that the hardware and they will take care of incorporates the workflow associated thecollection integration to the sensor instruments, Cellio automates the manual data process. It can monitor with the measurements, uselocation, of the controllers, and the data is a temperature, fillthe level, pressure, moisture, light, andback-end more. Cellio
ready-to-go platform that can be customized to measure what you want to measure and pay what you can afford.
Temperature Monitoring
Feed Level Measuring
Pressure Monitoring
Remote Valve Control
Data delivered to your devices
The 3 C’s of Cellio
High-level illustration of Cellio enabling remote data monitoring, sending control signals remotely, and conveying information to user devices.
Cellio collects data through a 900Mhz enabled device. Cellio computes the data at the device and in a scalable cloud server, and integrates it with your company’s existing platforms. Cellio communicates the data via dashboard, email, or text message.
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Cellio has the embedded hardware to gather data and the software to connect
to the cloud. From data to dashboard to decision maker,
TECH REPORT systems. In other cases, clients have asked us to help them work through the whole end-to-end solution and then either recommend elements they do not already have in place or work with their existing vendors to make the wireless integration of the system run quickly, efficiently and seamlessly so that they can get about the business or running their business – with greater visibility and control. If you have any questions about how Cellio can be used to wirelessly enable your data, need some assistance in working through the ROI for your unique environment, or have a wild idea about how to run your business more efficiently or service your customers better, please give us a call, we are constantly on the look out for the next most innovative application of our wireless data solution.
REFERENCES [1] Noble gases market to reach 202.2bn litres by 2019, according to a new report, http://www.gasworld. com/noble-gases-market-to-reach2022bn-litres/2007768.article ABOUT THE AUTHOR Brent T. Ward, MSEE, MBA VP Business Development, Cellio Device Solutions Inc Device Solutions Inc, Cellio, 919-732-7872x721 or bward@device-solutions.com, www.device-solutions.com/cellio www.device-solutions.com/cellio
Wireless sensing is perfect for all the places that currently require manual activities, transit equipment, transit time, and paper based data recording.
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Wireless & RF Magazine
The Smart Home
Butler
Organizes Your Connected Things
By Cees Links – Founder & CEO of GreenPeak Technologies www.greenpeak.com www.greenpeak.com
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EEWeb FEATURE
Almost every technology media outlet— consumer, trade, and engineering—has been writing about the ongoing avalanche of technology for the home. It is the next Big Thing, and incredible predications are being tossed out by the analyst community and industry players:
Deloitte predicts, “In 2015, one billion wireless Internet of Things (IoT) devices will be shipped, up 60% from 2014, and leading to an installed base of 2.8 billion devices.”
IDC says, “In 2015, 4,800 connected end points are added every minute. This number will grow to 7,900 by 2020. The installed base of the IoT devices will grow from 10.3 billion devices in 2014 to 29.5 billion in 2020.”
Gartner says, “4.9 billion connected things will be in use in 2015 (up 30% from 2014), 25 billion by 2020.”
“By 2020, more than 5 billion people will be connected, not to mention 50 billion things,” according to World Economic Forum.
Cisco claims, “The IoT is a world where up to 50 billion things (or devices) will be connected to the Internet by 2020; or, the equivalent of 6 devices for every person on the planet.”
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Wireless & RF Magazine
These are big numbers and amazing forecasts for the future growth of the IoT market. Sounds wonderful— no need to worry, right? However, these cheerful predictions might not come to pass as there is a growing undercurrent of industry grumbling and complaining that the IoT and Smart Home revolution seems to be talking a lot longer than it should. Why? There are several reasons How do we make all these but a key issue things talk to each other? has been the infighting among the CE industry behemoths about whose protocols and platforms will be the base of this new technology. How do we make all these things talk to each other? There are many players all battling—and new ones are popping up all the time. This is creating an atmosphere of uncertainty and mistrust. As a result, the device makers and the solution providers are confused and don’t know which way to turn. Whose technology protocols should these manufacturers incorporate into their gear? Should they adopt ZigBee, Apple’s HomeKit, Allseen Alliance/AllJoyn, or Intel’s Open Interconnect Consortium? Other 802.15.4 technologies? There are too many competing choices. Instead, to protect against future technology changes, maybe the device makers should design in wireless
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connectivity chips and software that will work with a variety of protocols? That’s complicated and expensive. Also, as you can imagine, if the device, appliance and system developers are confused about future directions, the actual end users and application designers are even more bewildered. This market battle that is slowing down the adoption of the IoT has been covered by the various pundits and analysts covering this emerging market.
Do Consumers Really Want an IoT? Another reason why the Smart Home revolution seems to be taking much longer is the fact that the terms themselves—Smart Home and IoT—are ill conceived and not really very appropriate. Too many people—industry leaders, media, analysts, and end users—have confused the concept of “smart” with “connected.” Most devices labeled “IoT” or “smart” are simply connected devices. Just connecting a device to the Internet so that it can be monitored and controlled by someone over the web using a smart phone is not smart. Yes, it may be convenient and time saving, but it is not “smart.” Smart means intelligence. Smart means the device and solution can analyze the incoming data and then make a decision to control or activate a device within the home or facility—without having a human being required to
EEWeb FEATURE ZigBee and Proprietary Frameworks
press the on/off button. Most current
that the system has learned about
Figure 1. This chart
Graphic 1: This chart provides an overview of the many competing standards and protocols that IoT provides an an overview so-called smart devices are little more the residents, it makes a decision of the many competing devicethan developer needs to evaluate and compare to ensure product success internet-enabled remote controls. whether or not to open windows, turn standards and
on or off the heating, airco, lights or protocols that an IoT device developer In the home, “smart” means a network of entertainment system, to activate the Instead, to protect against future technology changes, maybe the device makers should design in and needs to evaluate sensors in the house that measures and security system, etc. If there is a leak compare to ensure wireless connectivity chips and software that will work a variety protocols? That’s complicated monitors the environment—more than just in the waterwith system, it turnsof off the product success. and expensive. “what is the temperature”. This can include water and notifies a repair person. who is in the home, where are they in the Also, as you can imagine, if the device, appliance and system developers are confused about future home, what is the “normal” activity in the What about the so-called wearables? directions, actual end users and application designers arecurrently even more bewildered. home the at that particular day and time? And Many people are strapping then, by using intelligence and information “smart” bands on their arms that
This market battle that is slowing down the adoption of the IoT, has been covered by the various pundits and analysts covering this emerging market.
Just connecting a device to the Internet so that it can be monitored and controlled by someone over the web using a smart phone is not smart.
Do Consumers Really Want an IoT
Another reason why the Smart Home revolution seems to be taking much longer is the fact that the terms themselves - Smart Home and IoT - are ill conceived and not really very appropriate. Too many people – industry leaders, media, analysts, and end users – have confused the concept of23 “smart” with “connected”. Most devices – labeled “IoT” or “smart” – are simply connected devices. Just
However, these are not smart. If they were truly smart, the Wireless & RF Magazine sonal online coach which would interpret the data and then person to change their behavior in order to live a healthier life. to buy and install a so-called smart device that requires the user to program and troubleshoot it to get it started. Consumers don’t want a product that requires them to constantly monitor and manage it. Instead, the consumer wants smart services that do all of that, automatically and autonomously. These smart services can include home security, personalized home lighting and environmental control, automated ordering and purchasing of supplies and groceries for the home. Imagine a smart medical service that not only tracks when and how the people in their home take their medicines, but also tracks the volumes and automatically orders refills when the inventory drops. Even better, the smart medical prescription service analyzes the combination of drugs the person takes, comparing it against a database of adverse drug combinations. The medical service could also monitor their vital signs in case any negative or dangerous conditions occur. Another service, already on the market, is called Senior Lifestyle solutions. It learns how a senior citizen lives in their home and then sends an alert to their family or caregivers if something in the home changes, i.e., the senior is not getting out of bed or is not making their breakfast at the usual time. There are many minor and tedious tasks that we do to maintain our homes and improve our lifestyle
hat is needed to transform health wearables into a smart is nice to know how you are doing but it would be much better eedback and coaching. Figure 2. A “personal online coach� is what is needed to transform health wearables into a smart solution that truly benefits the wearer. It is nice to know how you are doing but it would be much better to know how to improve and to receive feedback and coaching.
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The S intelli
The S intelli Right techn
EEWeb FEATURE
Figure 3. The Smart Home Butler—a collection of smart services—uses a network of Sentrollers and cloud intelligence to make our lives safer, easier, and more efficient.
Smart Home butler - a collection of smart services - uses a network of Sentrollers and cloud igence to make our lives safer, easier and more efficient.
Smart Home butler - a collection of smart services - uses a network of Sentrollers and cloud igence to make our lives safer, easier and more efficient. t now, the emerging Smart Home industry expects the resident to research the various25 nologies, select the right option, negotiate the best price, take them home, and install the syste
Wireless & RF Magazine
that could be outsourced to our “personal Smart Home butler.”
web-based businesses—why not enable it for Smart Home services as well?
Smart Home Butler and Service Providers
It is time to take a new look at how our technology industry approaches and
By marketing services, instead of connected things, we now open the door to organizations that specialize in delivering services—with technical, environmental and connectivity expertise—to come in and manage these services. Instead of trying to install and maintain it themselves, many consumers would prefer to pay a small fee to a service provider that would install the devices and network, and then manage it for the resident. Right now, the emerging Smart Home industry expects the resident to research the various technologies, select the right option, negotiate the best price, take them home, and install the system. Once installed the system has to be programmed, managed and monitored. Most people would prefer paying a small monthly fee so that they would not have to handle that level of complexity. How to reduce service costs for the consumer? Service providers could install and manage the system for free or inexpensively. To cover the cost of the devices, the cloud intelligence and the entire service, the service provider could collect lifestyle data of the end user—i.e., how the residents live their lives, what is their schedule, what products do they buy, when do they consume the most energy—and then, sell that data. This business concept works well for many
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Instead of trying to install and maintain it themselves, many consumers would prefer to pay a small fee to a service provider that would install the devices and network, and then manage it for the resident. markets the potential of the Smart Home —the Smart IoT. By giving consumers, as well as businesses, governments and corporations what they want— effective service applications as well as complete managed solutions instead of DIY things— our tech industry can further accelerate the growth of “smart” into the world, thereby making our lives safer, more efficient and more comfortable; all for less cost.
About GreenPeak Technologies GreenPeak Technologies is a fabless semiconductor company and is a leader in IEEE 802.15.4/ZigBee silicon solutions for the Smart Home and the Internet of Things. GreenPeak is privately funded. It is headquartered in Utrecht, The Netherlands and has offices in the United States, Belgium, China, France, India and Korea. GreenPeak has won the prestigious 2014 Deloitte Fast50 Award and is recognized as a leader in developing new wireless technologies for consumer electronics and Smart Home applications, demonstrating rapid growth and adoption by major customers.
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INDUSTRY INTERVIEW
Interview with Rafael Salmi – Richardson RFPD Every tech industry needs a components distributor. With product life cycles shrinking as the demand for new and unique devices grows at an exponential rate, developers are more dependent than ever on component information that will help differentiate their end products. This is no exception for the wireless and RF industries; as new capabilities surface to enable the Internet of Things (IoT) and machine to machine (M2M) communications, engineers are looking for the latest components that will have an effect on performance, efficiency, and cost. That is where Richardson RFPD comes in. Since 2011, Richardson RFPD has been investing heavily into not only distributing
Today, we employ a global staff of 400 while maintaining relationships with over 200 of the industry’s top component suppliers and serving over 24,000 customers worldwide.
components from hundreds of industry-leading suppliers, but in design and support centers around the world to help engineers select the right components for their particular applications. This support focus garnered the attention of Arrow Electronics, which Richardson RFPD became a wholly owned subsidiary of shortly after being established. EEWeb spoke with Rafael Salmi, President and GM of Richardson RFPD, about the opportunities and challenges in the market and what makes the company a trusted name in the RF and wireless components industry.
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Wireless & RF Magazine
What is Richardson RFPD and what makes it a trusted name in the RF industry? Our roots formed in the early nineties with a focus on RF components for cellular base stations and power components for industrial manufacturers. Thus, the name “RFPD,” which stands for “RF and Power Division.” Around this time, however, the primary market driver fueling the organization’s growth was the proliferation of mobile devices. As global demand for cellular services exploded, the carriers required more specialized components and technical support. In response, Richardson RFPD seized the opportunity and quickly became the ‘go to’ provider of RF and wireless solutions. Today, a globally recognized specialized component distributor now under theArrow Electronics umbrella, our business focus remains true to our name. Our number one mission is to support design wins and demand creation in RF and Wireless, Energy and Power, as well as IoT/M2M applications. The primary markets we serve include cellular base stations; industrial manufacturers; military, aerospace and defense; automotive and transportation; medical and test and measurement.
Richardson RFPD has become a trusted name in the industry because we’ve been true to our promise of offering our customers the best possible component solutions, design support and services that enable the development of advanced wireless, power and IoT/ M2M applications and solutions. Over the years, we’ve remained steadfast in our focus on RF and Power technology solutions with a commitment to expanding our line card while continuing to build a first class team that serves the needs of a global customer base. Our continued growth is a testament to the value that we deliver to the market. Today, we employ a global staff of 400 while maintaining relationships with over 200 of the industry’s top component suppliers and serving over 24,000 customers worldwide.
In what ways does Richardson RFPD differentiate from other distributors? We are different from other distributors in a number of ways. First, our deep specialization and technical knowledge relevant to the markets we serve is very unique. Suppliers and customers both place a very high value on our understanding of the design process.
The primary markets we serve include cellular base stations; industrial manufacturers; military, aerospace and defense; automotive and transportation; medical and test and measurement.
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INDUSTRY INTERVIEW Secondly, we operate as a truly global organization with 19 legal entities around the world and a unique ERP system that enables a global supply chain. This seamless infrastructure enables us to track our customers’ product designs, manage inventory and efficiently scale to support new opportunities and growth. Lastly, we have the deepest talent pool in the industry with the majority of our team members coming from the RF and wireless industry, many of whom have engineering degrees.
It seems like everything is becoming connected these days—from refrigerators to light bulbs. How is Richardson RFPD aiming at addressing this new market? The emergence of IoT and machine-tomachine (M2M) devices and increasing demand for connectivity solutions is a huge opportunity for Richardson RFPD.
Our expertise in RF and wireless is logically a foundation for growth in this area. In fact, we have now expanded our customer base from traditional industrial customers to a broader market segment. Our value proposition fits very well with emerging product development opportunities in IoT and M2M since we not only assist in product design but also in designing broader connectivity solutions that bridge applications. We’re seeing growing demand for products, solutions and technical knowledge in this area as the cellular providers and industrial organizations explore new business opportunities in M2M.
What opportunities or challenges do you see working in these new markets? The opportunity for growth in this market is phenomenal. Another interesting reality is the lower barrier
We have the deepest talent pool in the industry with the majority of our team members coming from the RF and wireless industry, many of which have engineering degrees.
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Wireless & RF Magazine
of entry for the design engineer. The emerging ‘maker’ movement is flinging the doors of opportunity wide open and will eventually change the demographic make-up of our customer base. Crowd funding sites along with easy access to affordable electronic components, open source reference designs, free schematic and layout tools are making it possible for engineering enthusiasts and hobbyists to get in the game of product design. IoT and M2M is one area in which we expect to see increased activity among the next generation engineering community. The flip side of this challenge, however is, that we need to find the right talent to help drive these massive growth opportunities by expanding our marketing and sales reach and scaling our operations to support a broader customer base. Despite the recruiting challenges, we are committed to investing in experienced professional and technical resources by seeking out the best-of-the-best.
The emerging ‘maker’ movement is flinging the doors of opportunity wide open and will eventually change the demographic make-up of our customer base.
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Richardson RFPD is also in the power and energy department. How are those areas playing into the business now with alternative energy and efficiency in center stage? Energy and power is another area ripe for new business growth. Some key drivers pointing to the need for specialized electronic components and technical field support include the ongoing global demand for alternative and renewable energy sources, more efficient energy usage and storage and an increasing use of robotics and automation in manufacturing. Looking forward, we’re always evaluating new technologies and expanding our line card to enable new product development and accelerate time to market for our end customers. Silicon Carbide, for example, is one new technology that component makers are quickly adopting as a superior solution for manufacturers. As part of our commitment to the customer, we’re aligned with the
INDUSTRY INTERVIEW industry’s top suppliers so that we can deliver the best possible technology solutions within the markets we serve.
What do you see happening in the next 3 to 5 years in these markets? In RF and wireless, for one, it’s going to get very interesting with a growing need for increased bandwidth. Also, the anticipated adoption of 5G will drive new wireless applications and solutions across many different markets and industries. We are also seeing an emerging opportunity in fiber optics. Today, copper and fiber technologies complement each other more than ever in the communication space, yielding faster data rates in access, core and transport. In response to increasing customer demand, we’re investing in resources to support this market opportunity. In the industrial space, more sophisticated technologies are driving innovation and NPI. There is a huge opportunity for us as the automotive and transportation industry adopts more sophisticated wireless solutions to enable vehicle safety and vehicleto-vehicle (V2V) communications. In this area, we’re seeing literally hundreds of emerging opportunities that have not previously been on our radar as a traditional RF application. At Richardson RFPD, we’re committed to offering our customers the deepest and broadest selection of components in this area. As design engineers around the globe seek
Looking forward, we’re always evaluating new technologies and expanding our line card to enable new product development and accelerate time to market for our end customers.
expert advice and the best available parts, we’ve become their ‘go-to’ resource for product selection, design and production quantity orders. Regardless of their phase in the product cycle, engineers know that they can rely upon our resources and our knowledge to get it right the first time. Another key attribute that will drive business forward these next few years is the ability to be both global and local. Beyond their deep technical knowledge, the Richardson RFPD field sales teams also understand the unique needs of each local market. In a complex and evolving world, customers appreciate the level of personalized services and support we offer, backed by the financial strength and corporate resources of Arrow Electronics organization. With a proven ability in deliver superior products, knowledge and design support, Richardson RFPD truly unique as a specialized global component distributor in RF and wireless, energy and power, and IoT and M2M. Looking forward, with an exceptionally strong leadership team in place, a global field team with unmatched RF, wireless and power knowledge and experience, Richardson RFPD is poised for growth in 2016.
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