Trains Turn to Natural Gas to Cut Fuel Costs, Compete with Trucks

As reported by Environmental Leader: General Electric’s locomotive division and other companies are testing natural gas equipment as rail companies look for ways to take advantage of natural gas production, which has halved the price of fuel, the Christian Science Monitor reports.

The savings could be in the billions, the publication reports. Union Pacific, the nation’s biggest freight railroad, spent more than $3.6 billion on fuel in 2012, about a quarter of its total expenses.

GE’s NextFuel kits (pictured) allow railroads to use liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a fuel source, reducing emissions and fuel costs. Caterpillar’s Electro-Motive Diesel has also developed an LNG prototypes; both will be tested by Union Pacific, CSX, BNSF and Canadian National railroads this year.

Natural gas could help railroads improve their profits and better compete against trucks, the Christian Science Monitor reports. However, any changes will happen slowly as they would require expensive new fueling stations and infrastructure across the US’ 140,000-mile freight-rail system.

The natural gas truck market experienced a growth spurt in late 2013 driven by lower fuel costs and environmental benefits over diesel, according to an analysis by Navigant Research published last month. The report forecasts this trend will continue this year as new engines and vehicles are introduced. Overall, the markets for natural gas trucks and buses are expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 12.6 percent and 6.4 percent, respectively, between 2013 and 2022, the report says.

New emissions regulations coupled with low LNG costs are also driving commercial maritime firms to LNG-powered fleets.

Shell, GE and Clean Energy Fuels will this year begin construction on the US’ first fuel station for liquefied natural gas-fueled cargo ships in Jacksonville, Fla.

New "Look And Link" Wireless Technology Enables Device-to-Device Links By Pointing

As reported by Spectrum IEEE: Researchers from South Korea’s Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute demoed a new wireless technology this week that could enable better device-to-device (D2D) communications, allowing smart gadgets such as phones to link to one another without going through a base station. Many researchers believe that D2D capability will be a key feature in the next generation of wireless networks after 4G LTE and LTE-Advanced. It could help decongest overloaded base stations and usher in new applications, such as screening a video clip on a big screen while it's actually stored on your phone, or downloading the service manual directly from your smart car.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: Don’t D2D technologies already exist? Sure they do. You may be scrolling through this story using a Bluetooth-connected mouse. Perhaps you bought a cup of coffee this morning by tapping your smartphone to a near field communication (NFC)-enabled cash register. Other D2D standards already available or in the works include Wi-Fi Direct, LTE Direct, and Peer Awareness Communications.

But these technologies have yet to catch on in a big way. And maybe for good reason. Surveys show that users don’t particularly like touching their phones to things or scanning a list of available devices to connect with the one they want, which Wi-Fi Direct and most other D2D technologies require. Most people find all that tapping, scrolling, and clicking to be physically demanding, annoying, or just plain awkward. Given the choice, we would much rather engage with smart objects simply by pointing our smartphones or tablets at them—or better yet, by looking at them, such as with smart glasses.

But here’s the problem: In order to connect with, say, a smart poster or with your friend’s television, your phone must know its ID, such as an IP address or a given nickname. Without knowing this information or making you select it from a list, how would your phone identify the device you’re pointing it at?

The South Korean team, led by Young-Hoon Kim, devised a solution using a novel beamforming technique. Dubbed “Look And Link,” it uses an array of antennas to direct a phone’s transmissions toward the correct receiving device. The demo took place on Wednesday at an IEEE wireless standards meeting in Los Angeles.

So how does Look And Link work? Imagine, for instance, that you are strolling down the street, and you see a restaurant that you think you might want to try. But this is the future, so rather than walk in and ask for a menu, you simply stare through your smart glasses at the smart sign in the window. Using a built-in antenna array, your smart glasses form a directional beam to transmit a query toward the smart sign, thus avoiding querying other nearby devices.

But not just any beam pattern will do the trick. Conventional techniques, for instance, would create a beamform that, while concentrating most of its gain toward the smart sign, would also radiate in unintended directions. So devices that you’re not looking at, but that are close to you, might receive a signal that’s just as strong—or stronger—than the signal received by the smart sign. In the below figure, for example, both the device you’re pointing at (Device A) and a nearby device (Device B) will receive your query quite strongly.

Kim and his team solved this problem by randomly varying the shape of the beam over short time intervals—a technique they call jittering. Only the gain in the direction of the target device stays the same. The effect is that while the smart sign receives a signal of consistently high strength, other nearby devices see huge gain changes. The researchers illustrate the concept nicely in the figures below:

So now, when your smart glasses send out a query to the smart sign, nearby devices know not to answer. Meanwhile, the smart sign transmits back its ID, allowing your glasses to connect with it using some other wireless standard, such as LTE Direct. Then you can download information from the sign, such as menus and operating hours. Maybe you even decide to make a reservation for later that evening.

Kim points out that another advantage of Look And Link, besides enabling device identification through pointing, is that it allows devices to link with one another quickly. Using Look And Link, he says, two devices can connect in a just a few seconds, compared to almost a minute using Bluetooth.

At Wednesday’s demo, the researchers used a prototype transmitter with four antennas, according to Byung-Jae Kwak, one of the team members. He concedes that four or more antennas may not fit into today’s smartphones, which currently have no more than two. But, he says, cellular carriers as well as unlicensed device makers are beginning to look toward higher frequencies, which require smaller antennas. The South Korean team demoed Look And Link, for instance, using 5 GHz spectrum. “We are also interested in using 60 GHz,” Kwak said in an e-mail. “In that case, we can easily put eight antennas in the space of a finger nail.”

One Billion Smartphones Were Shipped In 2013—And That’s Not Even The Interesting Part

One way to boost growth: Convince people they need two phones.

As reported by Quartz: In 2013, the world’s phone manufacturers shipped (as opposed to sold) just over a billion smartphones according to IDC. 

Strategy Analytics, a competing research firm, puts the number for smartphones slightly lower at 990 million. Either way, what’s interesting isn't the nice round ten-digit number—it’s the suggestion that the big manufacturers at the top are running out of road.  

Start with Apple. It accounted for 15.3% of all smartphone shipments in 2013, even though it makes only a handful of very expensive models. That’s down 3.4 percentage points from the previous year. Samsung looks to be in slightly better shape, growing market share a smidge from 30.3% to 31.3%. But both companies announced disappointing numbers over the past week, with Samsung’s fourth-quarter handset sales down 9% (paywall) on the previous quarter and Apple selling 10% fewer iPhones than expected.  

Then look a bit further down the rankings The next three biggest companies by shipments—Huawei, LG, and Lenovo—together grew their market share to 14.2%, up from just 10.9% last year.  

The numbers point to an inescapable conclusion: The era of high-margin, high-growth smartphone sales is over. Huawei, LG and Lenovo make good phones, but few of their handsets aspire to be the very top of the market where the iPhone competes with Samsung’s Galaxy S series. Indeed, Samsung’s growth can probably be attributed to the lower-priced models it peddles in emerging markets, rather than its flagship phones.  

Despite the astronomical numbers, smartphone growth is slowing in percentage terms, up a mere 38% in the past year compared to 46% between 2011 and 2012. One reason is that much of the low hanging fruit has been picked; many people in the developed markets of the west who were going to buy smartphones already have. Now comes the more difficult task of convincing them to keep buying new ones every couple of years, and digging into the lower end of the market where most of Earth’s less prosperous residents reside.

 The low-end still has quite a way to go: smartphones remain prohibitively expensive for vast numbers of people. 

Unmanned U.S. Aircraft Plunges Into Pacific

As reported by NBC Montana: U.S. Customs and Border Protection grounded its fleet of unmanned aircraft Tuesday after losing one worth $12 million in the Pacific Ocean.

The unarmed aircraft had a mechanical failure while on patrol of the southern California coast.

The crew determined that it wouldn't make it back to Sierra Vista, Ariz., "and put the aircraft down in the water," the agency said in a statement.  It's unknown what caused the failure.

The majority of the aircraft is submerged. The Coast Guard is assisting in recovering any floating pieces, an official said.

Unmanned aircraft systems are technically not "drones," which operate under preprogrammed instructions, Customs and Border Protection said.  They are piloted remotely.

Customs and Border Protection's fleet of 10 is now down to nine, all grounded, an agency official said.  The one lost Tuesday cost about $12 million, plus another $6 million for the ground system.  The agency lost a smaller unmanned aircraft in 2006. It ultimately crashed about 200 yards from a home, the official said.

Last November two sailors were treated for minor burns after a drone malfunctioned and crashed into a guided missile cruiser off the coast of Southern California.  The ship was testing a combat weapons system.

The drone was being used to test the ship's radar tracking when it malfunctioned, veered out of control and struck the cruiser, the military said.

Why GPS Is A Productivity Booster And Liability Reducer For Vending Operators

As reported by Vending Times: Owners and managers in the vending industry are aware that it's essential to monitor and manage their fleets. In an industry that relies on drivers servicing their routes in company vehicles, operators know that overseeing those vehicles and drivers is a necessary task. Fleet and asset tracking are becoming more common than ever, as fleet managers look to increase efficiency and cut back on costs in their fleets during a tough economy.

Vending operators today are using a range of new information technologies to improve efficiency and boost profit in a tough economy. State-of-the-art automated vehicle location can contribute substantially to this effort. Less "windshield time" makes drivers more productive while reducing fuel expense, and the ability to monitor route trucks remotely can enhance security, improve safety and cut maintenance costs. The global positioning system (GPS) is the key to deploying a versatile set of tools for intelligent vehicle tracking.

While a GPS fleet-tracking solution can go a long way toward doing that, managers are often reluctant to employ such a solution because of concern over employee resistance. Just as with route drivers asked to use data-retrieval devices instead of their familiar manual route cards, securing employee "buy-in" by explaining the benefits to them and involving them in the implementation of the system can go a long way toward overcoming this.

And it is worth doing. A comprehensive GPS fleet tracking solution is an essential business tool for fleet-based route delivery companies as it cuts back on costs and liability in a number of ways.

FUEL COST SAVINGS

In an industry that relies heavily on vehicles, fuel costs are a major concern for vending operators. A GPS fleet-tracking solution can assist in reducing these costs in two ways: efficiency and vehicle reporting. According to AAA's 2013 Your Driving Costs study, the cost of owning and operating a vehicle in the United States has risen by 1.96% from 2012.

Additionally, fuel costs have increased 1.93%, on top of a 14.8% increase in the previous year. All these rising costs affect a business's financial performance, and controlling them directly bolsters the bottom line.

The routing feature of a GPS fleet-tracking solution not only ensures your driver arrives at the next stop on time, but it also ensures that he or she has the most direct route to the location, reducing fuel consumption and saving time. Some solutions integrate with personal navigation devices (PNDs) such as Garmin. The ease of use of these consumer systems has encouraged their adoption for fleets. 

A GPS fleet tracking solution that integrates with a PND can offer advantages besides a quick adoption rate. Integrating these technologies can cut down on unnecessary driving in a fleet by providing voice-guided turn-by-turn directions. By taking advantage of this integration's routing feature, vending fleets are able to increase driver productivity and reduce fuel costs and wear and tear on trucks.

In addition to increasing route efficiency, a comprehensive GPS fleet tracking solution can reduce costs by providing detailed reports on vehicle usage. These can contain a wealth of information about how and where a vehicle is being used, through idle reports and detailed activity reports. This information allows fleet managers to analyze fuel use and identify fleet inefficiencies or incidents of fuel slippage, which directly affect operating costs. A comprehensive GPS fleet-tracking solution can provide actionable data based on these reports, showing managers clear ways to improve processes.

A study conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found that trucks left idling for long periods of time waste approximately 960 millions of gallons of diesel fuel each year -- and commercial vehicles left idling often invite complaints about air pollution. Variable costs, such as idling, can be monitored through the real-time data collection and alerts provided by a comprehensive GPS fleet-tracking solution. Companies are increasingly tracking their fleets so that they can report on key metrics, including idling time, fuel consumption and driving speeds.

MAINTENANCE ECONOMIES

When selecting a GPS solution, it makes sense to choose one that offers reports on vehicle status and provides the option to implement maintenance schedules. These features offer two major benefits: extending vehicle life and reducing repair costs, both of which contribute to cost savings. Proper vehicle maintenance keeps assets running with optimum fuel efficiency.

AAA's Your Driving Costs reported that the costs associated with maintaining a vehicle showed the single largest percentage increase from 2012 to 2013, growing by 11.23%. With the increasing cost of maintaining and operating a vehicle, fleet managers should consider a solution that can help bring that cost down. Automated vehicle maintenance reports allow fleet managers to decease the frequency of major repairs, saving money not only on the repair itself, but also on loss of productivity from vehicle downtime.

SAVINGS FROM TRACKING ASSETS

In the vending industry, companies own and manage a number of expensive vehicles, assets and equipment. If an asset is stolen or lost, the cost of replacing it is a major concern -- as is the effect on productivity. A fleet-management solution that provides GPS-asset tracking features enables the operator to monitor, track and recover assets quickly, returning operations to normal as soon as possible.

A solution also can ensure that vehicles and their associated assets are being used appropriately. Drivers using their vehicles for personal errands unrelated to the job concern fleet managers. A comprehensive package includes a provision that can send an alert to the manager if a vehicle is moving after hours or on the weekends. Advanced solutions also can allow managers to place "geofences" around specific areas to monitor vehicles within them and alert the manager if a vehicle leaves its designated area. And drivers are glad to know that if the truck is stolen, it is easy to locate and coordinate a rescue with the police.

REDUCING LIABILITY

Fleet-tracking and vehicle-maintenance reports can also have a very positive effect on cost and company image by reducing liability. By knowing where their vehicles are located and how fast they're going, fleet managers can be confident in both the driver and the vehicle, should an accident occur. A GPS fleet-tracking solution allows operators to ensure that their employees are obeying the rules of the road, that accident risk is reduced, their liability exposure is less and their trucks are improving their companies' professional image in the community.

Google Ad Patent May Offer Consumers Free Cab Rides To Businesses

As reported by Red Orbit: Technology giant Google has acquired a patent for a free (or highly discounted) taxi service that would provide transportation to an advertiser’s business location. This could include restaurants, shops and other entertainment venues, and could possibly encourage consumers to respond more often to location-based special offers.  

The technology is based around algorithms that would determine a customer’s location, find the best route and desired form of transport.

The search giant described this patent as a “Transportation-aware physical advertising conversions.” It was actually filed on January 11, 2011 and received publication on January 14 of this year. Luis Ricardo Prada Gomez, Andrew Timothy Szybalski, Sebastian Thrun, Philip Nemec and Christopher Paul Urmson were listed as the inventors. These same individuals were among those previously responsible for Google’s patent for a driverless car and numerous other innovations.

“The present invention relates generally to arranging for free or discounted transportation to an advertiser’s business location,” Google noted in the abstract on the company’s official patent website. “More specifically, the invention involves automatically comparing the cost of transportation and the potential profit from a completed transaction using a number of real-time calculations. For example, the calculation may consider various factors including a consumer’s current location, the consumer’s most likely route and form of transportation (such as train, personal car, taxi, rental car, or shared vehicle), the consumer’s daily agenda, the price competing advertisers are willing to pay for the customer to be delivered to alternate locations, and other costs. In this regard, the customer’s obstacles to entering a business location are reduced while routing and cost calculations are automatically handled based on the demand for the advertiser’s goods and potential profit margins.”

Google has found that for many brick-and-mortar shops the most difficult part is getting people to their actual physical locations. Google’s invention could help bring those customers in. According to the patent this technology in essence works by determining a user’s location, the route and potential forms of transport to an advertiser’s business. It also looks to determine the price that advertisers might be willing to pay for the customer to be delivered to a particular location.

To accomplish this could involve advertisers calling upon databases that record people’s various habits, including likes and preferences so that the ads could be more highly targeted. It would combine that information with location data that could be gathered from Wi-Fi, cellular and GPS tracking that would in turn enable businesses to truly tailor very specific ads and special offers to customers. This could also be based on the daily habits of would-be consumers so the time of day and schedules are taken into consideration.

Those in the ad game seem to believe that this invention has merit.

“This is trying to turn advertising into a utility and remove barriers for consumers,” Gregory Roekens, chief technology officer at the advertising firm of AMV BBDO, told BBC on Sunday. “It’s a really interesting idea.”

The key part is ensuring the offers come when people are closer to the business trying to lure them in.

“Travel takes a huge amount of people’s time,” Roekens added. “So if people can use this time more productively and interactively while in the vehicle, there’s another opportunity for advertisers.”

Testing Drone Beer Delivery on the Frozen Northern Lakes

As reported by GIS User: What’s a beer company to do when it realizes its customers are located in isolated ice fishing shacks miles away from the nearest liquor retailer… and they’re thirsty?

Most beer companies would give up. But not Lakemaid Beer, the Fishermen’s Lager. Having recently launched its new Lakemaid Frosty Winter Lager, the perfect beer for ice fishing season, Lakemaid Beer has turned to new technology to meet the needs of its thirsty customers.

The answer: the Lakemaid Beer Drone.

Inspired by Amazon’s founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, which has been testing the drone delivery of its products, Lakemaid Beer has been testing a new drone delivery system on some of the top ice fishing lakes in Minnesota and Wisconsin.  Below is a video from their web site:

“Amazon faces a lot of obstacles,” said Lakemaid Beer Company’s president, Jack Supple. “Dense urban locations present a host of problems to drone delivery. But our tests are on vast, wide-open frozen lakes free of trees and power lines. Our drone can fly as the crow flies, straight to our target, based on GPS coordinates provided by an ice angler. Fish houses are very uniform in height, so we can fly lower than FAA limits, too.”

“It’s the perfect proving ground for drone delivery,” said Supple, “Our initial tests on several mid-size lakes have been very successful. We’re looking forward to testing the range of our drones on larger lakes.”

“We’d be happy to share our research with Amazon,” Supple added.

It may be awhile before Lakemaid Beer can officially deliver its beer by drone. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) currently restricts the commercial use of drones by small businesses, and remote verification of the legal drinking age of ice anglers will need to be addressed. The FAA is expected to issue new regulations governing the commercial use of drones by 2015.

“Our customers, distributors and retailers appreciate the extra effort we’re willing to go to get Lakemaid Frosty Winter Lager to them,” said Supple. “Even if our customers are located 4 miles out in one of the 5,500 ice shacks on Lake Mille Lacs (one of Minnesota’s largest lakes).”

To learn more about Lakemaid Beer, the official beer of Rapala, visit http://www.lakemaidbeer.com.