Aware360
IoT for People—"The Next Frontier for IoT"

While the Internet of Things (IoT) continues to introduce changes in edge connectivity and processing, most of the innovation to date has been aimed at enhancing business productivity. Envisioning greater potential, Canada-based Aware360 is leveraging the IoT specifically for people-safety solutions. Pioneering the concept of PeopleIoTTM, Aware360 brings array of real-time monitoring innovations designed to ensure people’s wellbeing at work, home and leisure.

Steve Matthews, CEO of Aware360 described, “While IoT solution providers always had access to a multitude of devices—apps, wearables and sensors—there was no viable solution available to keep people connected and protected in real time, addressing a multitude of potential safety issues.” Specific instances include companies’ who wish to ensure employee safety, in remote or dangerous locations, as well as education providers ensuring student and teacher/worker safety. By leveraging robust data, the company identifies the risks, generates real-time alerts and notifies response centers who provide a personal response.

To exemplify the robustness of PeopleIoTTM solutions, Matthews pointed out that the growing sophistication of healthcare sensors can provide early warning of health incidents. These sensors, combined with the PeopleIoT™ platform input, ensure that the response center has the contextual information to respond proactively and effectively, not relying on the traditional user, their family and friends for their safety.

The underlying infrastructure of Aware360’s solution revolves around four key elements relating to the user: location, activity, condition and time. This information is collected in real time. In a sense, Aware360 creates a ‘digital twin’ for a person, against which they then use a rules-based engine to seek out exceptions (for example a person enters a restricted area, or is driving while fatigued). Once an exception occurs, Aware360 triggers the response center to take charge of the situation. The response centers have all the customer-specified relevant data needed to perform a personalized response.

Offering a solution that works for users, their management and internal IT, brings the best of IoT to people—opening up many new opportunities to promote a safe and healthy workplace

As PeopleIoT^™ develops, Aware360 is adding numerous situation-specific features to ensure a more valuable solution. Matthews notes a couple of examples which speak about their platform’s flexibility. A company needed a comprehensive system to ensure their driver’s safety before and during work trips. They were utilizing a process where a driver would need to check in with a call center before departure, and at regular intervals, to confirm safety and progress. However, this practice was time-consuming, costly and dangerous, making them pause their journey and use a smartphone each time they received a check-in call. Aware360 solved the situation by using a pre-trip planning app to register and approve trips, and using the motion-sensitive sensor in a smartphone to alert response centers the user was driving and to postpone their check-ins or calls. In another example, providing a safety solution for students, Aware360 alerts student concerns with location tracking. In response, Aware360 created a solution whereby user location would only be triggered in the event of student sending an emergency alert or if the school initiated an emergency event (such as a lockdown).

Matthews explains, “The ability of PeopleIoT^™ solutions to integrate any device, network or platform provides the robustness needed to handle the variations of user activity—without the inflexibility of the many siloed solutions we see today. Offering a solution that works for users, their management and internal IT, brings the best of IoT to people—opening up many new opportunities to promote a safe and healthy workplace.”