Intec NetCore, Inc.
The IT Strategic Headquarters at the Prime Minister of Japan and His Cabinet released “IT New Reform Strategy – Reforming Japan using IT – (Plan)” at the end of 2004. This strategy aims to create a more affluent society by supporting various industries in fields such as medical and social services, the environment, transportation, disaster prevention, etc., with communication-based IT. M2M is one of the base concepts for this.
M2M stands for Machine-to-Machine and it refers to communication between “things” as well as services that utilize communication. “Things” here indicates not only computers and printers, but every possible electronic machine and equipment in this world, including cameras, various sensors, cars, appliances, air conditionings, lightings, elevators, gas meters, robots, machine tools, vending machines, RFID devices.
When hearing that it is about communication between machines, some of you may wonder, “what’s new about it?” since there are already many technologies for this that are familiar to you, such as Telematics, Telemetry, factory production control, and building management. Certainly, many control systems for “things”, using individual systems and dedicated protocols, have also existed up until now. The important differentiating point for M2M is that this sort of system is built on top of IP, a common and open infrastructure. By sitting on top of a common infrastructure, it can use broadband networks and it becomes possible to standardize parts and information. It is not just a collection of management systems; the importance of the general term “Machine” in M2M is that this is a system based on the communication between things called machines.
The core protocol that people expect will support open M2M is IPv6 (IP version 6). The biggest trait of IPv6 is the astronomical amount of addresses (numbers assigned to communication devices) it has, and this “quantity difference” will become a “quality difference” due to the difference in address allocation methods and to the difference in the amount of the devices that can be connected. It has been 10 years since the IPv6 core specifications were decided. IPv6-enabled devices and technologies are finally available and have been gradually put in practical use in various application fields. On the other hand, IPv4, the current version of the Internet protocol, is on the verge of depletion. The latest forecasts announced one after another around September to October in 2005 say that IPv4 addresses will be exhausted some time between 2009 and 2014. M2M itself will probably be built using both IPv6 and IPv4 for the moment. However, the consensus of network experts is that building a new system that can continue to be used in the future by using IPv4 actually has a higher risk now in terms of expandability and long-term costs.
The machines and equipment that can receive M2M service are, as started above, large in both kinds and amount. At the same time, the service can be used for various purposes, e.g. managing and monitoring “things”, collecting data from “things”, providing services through “things”, etc. There is the potential for the number of new services created to truly equal the number of kinds/amount of “things” times the number of kinds of services. I will introduce some typical ones. Let’s take a look at the effect of “things” getting connected.
The first one is an application at the US Department of Defense. At the Department of Defense, they announced that they would deploy IPv6 within their network by 2008, and they called it the “Global Information Grid”. In other words, they will connect all “things” that are interrelated, such as fighter crafts, tanks, land mines, soldiers, operational headquarters, etc. in order to circulate information. In the past, when there was no such information network, relief supplies sometimes arrived in places where they were no longer needed, and sometimes operational plans were not spread well enough. By receiving information from “things”, it becomes possible to carry out operational plans more efficiently.
Another application in progress is that of buildings’ facility management. Judging from Matsushita Electric Works’ performance, by properly managing air conditioning, lightings, elevators, etc., it is possible to use about 30% less energy. Up until now, elevators and air conditioning have been operated using individual systems, e.g. one system for elevators and another for air conditioning. However, there are large benefits in creating an integrated system on top of IP infrastructure. Also, by using IPv6, you will be able to flexibly deal with cases such as complex buildings seen in recent redevelopment zones in the midtown area of Tokyo that manage more than 100,000 subjects and centers that manage multiple remote buildings.
You can also obtain the kind of information that did not exist in the past by connecting various sensors to networks and collecting information. One famous example is the WIDE Project’s ITS tests. They installed sensors and IPv6 devices in 2,000 taxicabs. By combining the movement of windshield wipers and the GPS information, a “weather map” is generated for that time. It is not like the area-by-area map released by the Meteorological Agency; instead, it is a very detailed map down to the block level. By using this map and sending empty taxicabs to areas where it is raining heavily, they say that the turnover rate of taxicabs increases. Also, the price of sensors, such as weather information sensors, has been coming down lately. The Live E! Project, founded primarily by the IPv6 Promotion Council, set up sensors called Digital Instrument Shelters nationwide and started experiments in order to build infrastructure for autonomous creation/circulation/processing/sharing of effective digital environmental information on the Earth. The idea of letting the information develop freely by circulating it openly is something unique to the Internet; it has a totally different meaning from the measurements made using dedicated protocols in the past.
The IPv6 Deployment Field Trial by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications is rolling out trials in 15 application fields and in 15 regions nationwide, having these IPv6/M2M solutions as their theme in the Fiscal Year 2005. They provide “solutions” to resolve earnest needs in each region, and they have gathered examples showing that IPv6 is better as an implementation method. In that sense, although they are called field trials, they are highly practical and are solutions that can be replicated. From the viewpoint of practical use, the effectiveness of web cameras among the 15 applications stands out. In the projects, such as the disaster prevention project in Nikappu-cho, Hokkaido, and the environmental rehabilitation project in Miyako-jima, Okinawa Prefecture, the benefit of machines performing inspections on things that people have been inspecting is great. Other than this, LP gas telemetry is probably also a field that has potential. In this field trial, they IPv6-enabled the telemetry that was done using analog telephones, etc. in the past. At JA-JP Gas, an LP gas company, they used to run side businesses such as emergency report systems, using that limited connection. However, they say that it is now possible to develop diversified services using more advanced environments such as broadband due to the IP-enabled connection.
I have discussed the possibilities of M2M applications, but there are many issues as well. Although it is using open connections, it is just for the network layer; there are still many issues left for connections at the application level, e.g. appliances, cars. There are also cost issues for IP devices in the M2M machines, their verification, ensuring security, etc.
From trajectory calculation in olden times to inventory management systems, when you think that all the calculation programs are simulations of the real world in a virtual calculation world to begin with, the M2M idea can be considered as a method of taking actual “things” more directly, more precisely, and more in real time, into the virtual calculation world and controlling them. Using precise and real time simulations probably can make businesses more efficient and make people’s lives more convenient. When you look at it from a new business point of view, in the situation that “things” have become computers for communication with a computer on a chip and in the environment where high-speed networks are available in various places at low prices is provided, by connecting various devices that were not connected in the past to the Internet and formulating various methods for various application fields, business opportunities will grow. You may be able to say that it is a field like treasure hunting where whoever implements the idea is, indeed, the winner.
