Technology
Technology
Our technology has been adopted by epidemiologists, engineers and program implementers working in a dozen countries around the world on water, sanitation energy and infrastructure programs. We are directly measuring the performance and use of these interventions in a way that has not previously been possible. Our data is used in lieu of anecdotes for grant payments, carbon credits, and to influence program designs.
IOT Tech for Climate Resilience
The SweetSense™ platform is designed to combine a variety of accessory sensors with cellular and/or satellite internet-cloud reporting connectivity. We can monitor water use, conservation and quality; air quality; agricultural productivity; electricity consumption and other parameters to improve environmental conservation, energy efficiency and climate resilience. Accessory sensors include low and self-powered EnOcean transmitters, including custom designs and off-the-shelf products from other vendors.
Sensor data is transmitted to a cloud-based machine learning analysis platform that supports local and regional scale decision management.
Our Approach in Emerging Markets
“Good mornings are better when your alarm clock talks to your coffee maker,” a recent ad campaign hints. Your day improves from there when your refrigerator reminds you to buy beer, your thermostat gets the house cozy before you get home, and your car guides you away from traffic jams. It’s a miracle we navigated these first world problems before the advent of the Internet of Things.
IOT, a market anticipated to reach around 25 billion connected devices by 2020, doesn’t have to be just about marginal quality of life improvements for suburban America. It can also help bring critical life saving services to rural Africa, Asia and other emerging economies.
While some worry about warm coffee and cold beer, billions of people in developing countries are preoccupied with finding clean drinking water, safe sanitation, and reliable energy from sources other than firewood and kerosene.
We are Driving Improvements to Human Wellbeing
“The IoT and connected sensors are driving improvements to human wellbeing in healthcare, water, agriculture, natural resource management, resiliency to climate change and energy,”
wrote the United Nations and CISCO Systems wrote in a recently published report, Harnessing the Internet of Things for Global Development.
Our team at SweetSense Inc. has conducted numerous studies since 2010 with our own IOT platform within public health interventions. Our results have influenced the design of these interventions, and provided data to enable performance based incentives.
In one recent study in Bangladesh, for instance, our instruments demonstrated more than a 50 percent exaggeration of latrine use compared to household surveys. That result may enable funders and development engineers to rethink how they implement sanitation programs.