Our Role
Working in close collaboration with the teams at Microsoft and Tangram Design, our role in this project was to take some high level conceptual designs and use cases and perform all design, engineering and prototyping to turn them into a reality.
Internet Button
One use case was an internet button. A discrete, battery-powered device that when clicked, double-clicked or long-pressed would send unique messages to Azure cloud services where configurable responses would get triggered. Use it as a panic button, wireless doorbell, sending an SMS message to a co-worker…the only limit is your imagination. We went from initial engagement to manufacturing 5000 pieces in less than 12 month.
Sensor Gateway
Another use case was a sensor gateway. A device with BLE, LoRa, GNSS, Wi-Fi and ethernet capabilities for bridging local sensor devices to the cloud.
People Counter
For retail applications, a door-mounted people counting camera was developed. To protect privacy, all people detection algorithms and captured video were processed on-device with only the final tally of number of people entering or leaving sent to the cloud.
Vibration Sensor
For industrial applications, a demonstrator of the predictive maintenance capabilities enabled by Azure applications was showcased by building a smart vibration sensor. Once mounted to rotating equipment, vibration levels are monitored and deviations from normal automatically detected to identify potential breakdowns before they occur so they can be prevented.
Presence Detection
For applications requiring presence detection in large spaces, or where privacy is an utmost concern, a device based on a microphone array was created with Azure-powered sound processing to discern between people, pets, equipment or other sounds.
Cortana-Enabled Scanner
Another retail application was the creation of a smart scanner with Microsoft Cortana voice assistant built in. It worked as both a barcode scanner and portable assistant for accessing the analytic capabilities and knowledge base of Azure.
