Regular readers of the blog of our parent company will be aware that we’ve been experimenting with the assorted generations of the Raspberry Pi single board computer since it was first launched here in the United Kingdom. Now we’re going into the hardware business it seemed like the perfect time to try out the “industrial version” of the venerable Pi. Here’s how our Compute Module 3 setup looks on the test bench:
We had a few problems getting everything up and running in the first place. That explains the serial console cable you can see at the top. More on all that in due course, but first of all please take a look at what that console is displaying:
A working copy of version 0.1 of the V2G EVSE OCPP 1.6 alpha firmware! As a close inspection of the output reveals, there’s a few bugs still to be ironed out, and a lot more intelligence to be baked into the CM3’s electronic brain.
However our first technical milestone has now been passed successfully, so now you may wish to head on over to the V2G EVSE CM3 project page to discover more about the niggling little problems we encountered persuading the CM3 to run Java, and how we got around them…..
We eventually arrived at the Department for Transport with our suitcase in tow and my suit still in its case. However after a literally sticky start the discussion about our Transport Technology Research Innovation Grant (T-TRIG for short) seemed to go very well. The meeting was scheduled to last an hour but continued for another half an hour beyond that. The title of our newly funded project is “Vehicle to Grid Controller with Modular Communications”. However we were reliably informed that it may well take a month for “The Minister” to sign off on the associated press release and the “public summary” to be published.
The connection may not be immediately apparent, but the next day I attended the FIX Trading Community 2018 EMEA Trading Conference. Suffice it to say that the phrase “energy markets” was mentioned almost as often as “financial markets”. Here’s the panel that discussed “How is a Growing Demand for Digitalisation Shaping the Next Wave of Transformation in Capital Markets?” who at one point debated the pros and cons of blockchain technology in energy markets:
I’m afraid that I took exception to Bill Murray‘s assertion that blockchain technology would enable small scale renewable generators to partake in local energy markets. My question was succinct:
“How?”
In his answer Bill mentioned “Eastern Europe” and “Asia”, but not the United Kingdom.
I also discovered a most interesting piece of news, about which I will have more to say in due course. According to an Itiviti AB press release:
The Board of Directors of Itiviti AB announces that the transaction to merge the company with ULLINK was completed on March 14, 2018.
With annual sales exceeding $200 million, 1,000 employees and local presence in major financial markets across Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Americas, the combination of Itiviti and ULLINK creates a full-service technology and infrastructure provider for global and regional financial institutions.
The intention to combine Itiviti and ULLINK was jointly communicated by the companies and owner Nordic Capital on November 28, 2017.
The Board has appointed Torben Munch as Chief Executive Officer of the combined entity.
Then on Friday we took a brief break from work in order to visit the Winnie the Pooh exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Not to be missed by children of all ages!
V2G EVSE’s startup adventure has only just begun. Apart from delivering what we have promised the DfT we also have to find funding for the next stage of the project at some point in the not too distant future!
The first article on the V2G EVSE blog is also the first in an occasional series of articles that are not directly related to electric vehicle charging infrastructure! The topic under discussion at the Penryn Campus of the Universities of Exeter and Falmouth yesterday was eHealth. Quoting from the Wikipedia article on the subject:
eHealth (also written e-health) is a relatively recent healthcare practice supported by electronic processes and communication, dating back to at least 1999. Usage of the term varies. A study in 2005 found 51 unique definitions. Some argue that it is interchangeable with health informatics with a broad definition covering electronic/digital processes in health while others use it in the narrower sense of healthcare practice using the Internet. It can also include health applications and links on mobile phones, referred to as mHealth or m-Health. Since about 2011, the increasing recognition of the need for better cyber-security and regulation may result in the need for these specialized resources to develop safer eHealth solutions that can withstand these growing threats.
As I mentioned at one point during the proceedings, I had been “parachuted into the event from the smart grid” because I had the good fortune to bump into Mael and Darren from the Smartline Project at a Software Cornwall event on a snowy day in St. Austell at the beginning of February:
Yesterday I learned much more about the Smartline Project’s Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN for short). Darren said that by the end of March 350 “LoRa but not WAN” gateways and lots of associated sensors will have been installed in social housing across the Camborne/Redruth area of Cornwall. I clarified his remark in the question and answer session:
Somewhat earlier in the proceedings Anna Mankee-Williams had (somewhat tongue in cheek?) set the scene by playing the first part of a video entitled “How IoT Will Destroy Us All”!
Anna summed up her point up by saying:
The Internet of Things is being “pushed” by big business. It’s more like “the Internet of Everything” these days. Who actually NEEDS an Amazon Echo?
I cannot help but agree, since I don’t possess even a single incarnation of Alexa! Does that make me a modern day Luddite?
I expect I’ll have more to say on the Smartline Project’s use of IoT devices when Anna has sent me the slides from the event, but for now I’ll focus on a couple of the exercises Anna asked us to do. The first was to discuss how an omniscient CIO could start to fix the many things that are broken. Having parachuted in from the vehicle-to-grid space I suggested breaking down lots of silos. In my example Transport v Energy v Infrastructure v Buildings v a few more. I was dismayed to learn from the IT expert sat next to me that matters are far worse in the NHS! Apparently it’s nigh on impossible to acquire and compare data from different primary care trusts. Likewise from different hospitals within a single trust. Likewise between different departments within a single hospital.
Suitably chastened I subsequently ate my traditional tin miner’s lunch:
After that we divided into breakout groups. As alluded to above, both the “research” group and my “infrastructure” group decided the top eHealth priorities were:
1) All concerned should have access to a basic minimum level of communications technology. Half of the 350 recipients of a sensor studded social house didn’t previously have internet access and were therefore provided with tablets as part of the Smartline Project, and
2) In order to achieve #1 “regulations” needed to change. In my smart grid (AKA the “Internet of big things“) analogy the UK Government is already “committed” to ensuring that every new build will be fitted with big enough wires to allow the charging of an electric vehicle at some point in the indeterminate future. Why not do the same with Cat 6 cabling and/or a sprinkling of adequately wirelessly connected IoT style sensors?
There had been lots of discussion about these and other issues over lunch:
However I’m pretty sure that all the questions haven’t been answered and all the problems solved just yet!
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