Introducing RemoraTM

Novel is excited to announce their first product, Remora^TM . 

Remora^TM is an affordable, adaptable IoT product that functions as a fully customizable, sensor-based data acquisition device. Remora^TM is designed to adapt to any sensor needed to collect environmental, real world data.  This data is transmitted securely to an encrypted cloud-based storage. Once stored, back-end processes analyze the data.  

·         Completely customizable for all types of inputs including but not limited to geolocation, audio, video, and environmental data

·         Superior expertise, workmanship, affordability, and customer service using all US, Non-Foreign engineers

·         Continuous and secure cloud data storage and analytics

Data Collection Front End

Remora^TM is always the “right tool for the job” because of its customizable nature. Remora^TM has been designed as a platform and can be configured to capture specific data for analysis, or to capture general data that can then be correlated to find previously unknown connections. Its configuration possibilities are unlimited, lending Remora^TM all-in-one affordability. Remora^TM can also be programmed to trigger event based upon input stimuli conditions of interest as identified by back end processing.

Specific Examples Include:

·         Temperature, Salinity, Algae Blooms, Dissolved Oxygen, and Chemistry of our nations water ways

·         Number of Cars, People, Passengers, etc. through an intersection

·         Thermal Infrared spectral data from aerial maps.

·         Monitoring and Predictive Interference in Aerospace, Transportation, and Military vehicles, Other Machinery

The Remora platform includes the ability to connect and transmit data back to the cloud out of the box using a variety of methods including cell, WiFi, and Satellite.

Advanced Analytics Back End

Remora ^TM cloud stores its data in a purpose built database (MongoDB) that is designed to run on cluster servers to support Big Data Analytics. These analytics include statistical analysis including Principal Component Analysis, Correlations and Co-Correlation Analytics, and Map Reduce at a minimum. The choice in Database allows Remora to grow dynamically as more input data sets and vectors can be analyzed.  The more seemingly unrelated data can be joined into the database, the more correlations can be discovered.

Real World Big Data

In the past several years, internet companies have discovered the powerful abilities to correlated user provide data in the internet. This data can be used to identify data patterns in personal relationships, buying trends, personal interests, etc.  For the most part, this data has been scraped or provided entirely from internet user provided data. This data is willfully provided by filling out forms, buying goods and services, visiting websites, or simply searching in a popular search engine.  Correlation can provide business to sell targeted goods and services to users.

Remora ^TM aims to become the platform used to provide data collection, storage, and analysis of “Real World” data.  This is the complement of what large companies are currently doing “online”.  Remora ^TM will allow the creation of solutions to problems that may not even be known in our “Real World”.

Would you like to know more about Remora ^TM? Please contact Ken Bupp, at Ken.Bupp@novel.engineering or call (321) 392-0911.

Novel to enter NASA Cube Quest Challenge

Novel has always had a driving desire to be on the forefront of technology and innovation. To continue to expand our engineering and technology capabilities, Novel is exploring opportunities to enter NASA's Cube Quest Challenge.

"For the Cube Quest Challenge, teams must design, develop and deliver a small spacecraft the volume of six combined single CubeSat units that can catch a ride to lunar orbit or further in deep space, and then rapidly transfer large data volumes from itself to Earth, while surviving the extended duration in space." NASA Ames Research Center

Chris Marot, Novel's President and COO, and Bruce Monteleone, Technical Lead traveled to the NASA Ames facility to meet with project managers and competition coordinators to learn more about the challenges that the cube satellites will need to face. 

"Novel is excited to be sponsoring and leading a team in this year's challenge," Marot said. "We are especially excited to be working with industry leaders in the space realm, and helping to  forge the path ahead for future robotic and  human space exploration. The CubeQuest Challenge kickoff help at Ames was fun, exciting, and a huge success. We thank Nasa for hosting and running a great summit."

For the Cube Quest Challenge teams will need to design, develop, test, and launch a small cube satellite that can survive launch and orbit in deep space while transferring large amounts of data back to earth. These satellites are measured in inches, not feet. Some previously developed NASA CubeSats have been 14.4 inches long, 8.9 inches wide, and 3.9 inches tall. The small scale of these satellites will require innovative and new technologies to be developed since they cannot carry large complex machinery.

"Advancements in small spacecraft capabilities will provide benefits to future missions and also may enable entirely new mission scenarios, including future investigations of near-Earth asteroids." said Maria Alberty, NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field California. 

AIAA SciTech 2015

Jan 5-9 is AIAA's SciTech 2015. For those of you who aren't familiar with SciTech, it is a gathering of academia, government, and aerospace industry professionals to discuss developments, challenges, and goals for the industry.

I've been selected as a social media ambassador for the event, so be sure to follow us on Twitter @noveleng_media to see my pictures and updates from the event. It's basically a live stream on Twitter. However, Airbus is sponsoring a live stream from the event, so if you wish you could be here but can't, you can watch videos online.

The event features keynotes, panel discussions, technical presentations, committee meetings, an exhibition hall, and networking events. This event was a great way to learn more about the aerospace industry and where potential expansions in technology could be.

NASA, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and major universities all had a strong attendance that was enhanced by a strong international presence.

Headlines from the event include:

• Aerospace Vehicle Technology Trends Panel – Forum 360
• Diversity: It’s What Will Drive Aerospace Forward
• Technology Roadmaps Pave the Way to Our Future
• Samanta-Roy Discusses Importance of Partnership in Technology Advancement

There were over 3,000 people in attendance at this event sharing ideas, technology, and knowledge. I had an incredible experience and can't wait to go to the event next year in San Diego. 

Happy Holidays from Novel Engineering

While browsing Twitter one afternoon, I happened to see that the White House was having a 3D printed ornament challenge. I thought, “There’s an idea! We have a 3D printer that we could use to make some Novel ornaments.” Unfortunately, I found out about the project well after the submission deadline. I loved the concept though, and I knew just the people to help create some Novel ornaments. 

Introducing Novel’s Junior Engineering Team: Cole (7) and Caia (5)!

Novel’s founders strongly believe that 3D printing will become as common as our home and office printers. We know the technology will advance rapidly, and we want to be part of that. It’s why we have a 3D printer in the lab that is open for all employees to use. We also know that kids need to learn how to use these technologies sooner rather than later, and we are doing what we can to help by getting our junior engineers involved. 

To say that our Junior Engineers were ecstatic about this project would be a massive understatement. When they heard about the project Cole and Caia immediately started working on designs. Caia’s initial design was a snowflake with, “I Love Novel” written across it. Cole immediately leapt to incorporating a sound box and LED lights into a traditional spherical ornament. 

 "It made me really happy to use the 3D Printer," said Cole. "Tinker CAD was also fun. I want to enter the next White House 3D Christmas party contest."

Caia loved the whole experience, "It was awesome! I want to use it again to make a 3D sea shell ornament."

Below are some photos from their design process. Because their ornaments were printed with green plastic, the kids primed and painted them to customize their projects even further. They also made circuit board Christmas trees to get in the spirit of the holidays.

Thank you to all of our clients, business partners, employees, and friends. Your support keeps us going. We look forward to continuing to work with you, and can’t wait for new projects to come to us. All of us at Novel wish you a safe and happy holidays!

The Internet of Things

The Internet of Things has become a buzzword recently, but what is it and what can it do?

The Internet of Things (IoT) is more of a concept than a physical object. In truth it is a series of objects that talk to each other using an internet connection. This can be as simple and convenient as your smartphone being able to control your garage door or your security system. Someday the IoT will also include your personal fitness tracker communicating with your doctor or hospital automatically. IoT is just a series of objects being able to connect and “talk” to each other and it is taking over as the next wave of internet development.

This new wave of internet has the potential to connect over 28 billion devices by 2020. That is four times the current population of the planet and 28 billion might be a low estimate. A Business Wire report is predicting 212 billion devices in the same time frame at a market value worth over $8.9 trillion.

The reality of IoT has already begun to filter into our daily lives. Our cars are connected to the internet, wristwatches are connected to our phones, and machines in a factory are all connected through Wi-Fi. These are also the areas where we will see the most growth of connected devices in the next few months: transportation, consumer devices, and industry.

As the demand for more connected devices increases, there will be a direct increase in demand for developers and companies like Novel that can engineer solutions and communication paths for these devices. “The key isn’t the things, but the data these things generate and the applications that will be built on top of that data,” said Stacey Higginbotham in a recent blog for Gigaom.

IoT will be generating massive amounts of data, and most of that data will be stored on a cloud. We’re not talking terabytes, think more about zettabytes and yottabytes of data. Right now, there are very few machines that can handle that amount of data, but there aren’t 212 billion devices putting data into a cloud yet so we don’t need to panic right away. In the meantime, Novel can help companies establish and manage their own cloud by helping design devices that will collect the data that companies want, and writing applications that can interpret and utilize that data. Novel can also help design encryption software to keep data secure and prevent security breaches.

What businesses can do with the data from IoT connected devices is almost limitless. Do you want to figure out how to optimize a mechanical process? Or perhaps you are more interested in research and want to measure a set of variables over a length of time? Maybe you want to track logistical processes and figure out where your methods can be improved or strengthened. Novel can help design devices to measure any type and amount of data that a business could want to generate and then our developers can write an application that will make that data useful to the company.

There is a lot more work to go with this emerging industry, and there will be some road blocks. If you would like to get started connecting your business, your data, or develop devices that will be a part of the IoT, please contact Novel here. IoT can help your business research, develop, and thrive. Don’t be afraid to catch this new technology wave with us. 

Welcome to Novel Engineering's Blogger

Novel Engineering - Blog

Welcome to Novel Engineering's Blogger.  Here you will find the latest news and educational information about Embedded Software and Electronic Hardware Engineering topics for product development within the Aerospace, Transportation and Healthcare/Medical Industries. 

Novel Engineering is an engineering service provider to the software and electronic industry. We are an employee owned company whose engineering staff is comprised of expert software, electrical, and FPGA & PLD firmware engineers. As an employee owned company our keystone values are commitment, perseverance, honesty, teamwork, and aptitude.