Elevator Monitoring with Digi Routers

Predictive Maintenance for Elevator Operations

ELEVATOR MONITORING WITH DIGI IX20 ROUTERS

With elevators installed in hundreds of thousands of buildings across America, reliability is of paramount concern to all elevator operators. Tens of thousands of field professionals work on the front lines to ensure that elevators remain operational – and safe – every day. Elevator manufacturers have invested heavily to develop IoT platforms to provide greater maintenance life-cycle transparency for clients and technicians alike.

Business Needs

Fast and Reliable Data Connectivity

Elevator manufactures need connected solutions that personalize the service experience with real-time updates, transparent information sharing, proactive communication tools, and predictive maintenance insights. These solutions need to combine cloud technology, machine learning, and more to provide users with information and predictive maintenance insights. This IoT data can be gathered directly from elevator machinery via smart sensor technology. Elevator manufacturers like Otis developed such a solution, but still needed a way for all the data their systems collected on a daily basis to travel wirelessly to their data centers for real-time viewing within their cloud-based application - the Otis ONE.

ELEVATOR MONITORING WITH DIGI IX20 ROUTERS

Solution Overview

Tough-Built Cellular IoT Routers and Antennas

Originally, Otis deployed WR21 cellular routers manufactured by Digi International to enable the connectivity they needed for their data communications within each elevator. Today, we recommend the Digi IX20 for such applications. While both routers feature software-selectable multi-carrier options and regional LTE variants that ensure the broadest coverage, the Digi IX20 utilizes a modular modem - the Digi CORE® - which makes it extremely easy to upgrade as newer and faster 5G technologies become available. It also has options that include dual-band Wi-Fi, which opens up users to even more applications - such as connecting to wireless sensors, and allowing engineering techs the ability to connect while performing repairs. And when paired with 3-in-1 PUCK-8 Antennas from Poynting Antennas, the IX20’s signal strength gets a serious boost.

The high-performance architecture of the Digi IX20 router provides primary and backup WWAN connectivity over software selectable multi-carrier LTE. Digi IX20 supports software features for advanced security (stateful firewall, MAC filtering, and VPN), redundancy (Digi SureLink®), and management (SNMP, event logging, analyzer trace, and QOS), enabling it to be used in PCI or NERC-CIP compliant applications.

The PUCK-8 consists of a 3-in-1 antenna system within a single housing, featuring 2×2 MIMO LTE and Wi-Fi (Dual-band 2.4GHz & 5GHz). The 2x Cellular MIMO antennas (for 2G/3G/4G) cover the 698MHz to 3800MHz band, this includes the most popular international LTE bands. The antenna provides a dual-band Wi-Fi antenna offering concurrent 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, capable of 802.11n and 802.11ac/ax. The PUCK exceeds the performance of many competitors due to the attention to design of this high-performance antenna.

Benefits Observed

Improved Field Service Efficiency and Product Safety

The Otis ONE digital platform enables a personalized service experience through real-time updates, transparent information sharing, proactive communication tools, and predictive maintenance insights. Their systems carefully monitor all of the mechanical, electrical, and electronic components of the elevator while tracking factors that can predict the need for maintenance before operational issues arise. Customers and technicians can get the data they need to minimize downtime and help ensure proper and safe operation. Digi routers available from the team at USAT make these things possible.

Our Team

Device Provisioning, Activation and Installation Services

For over 25 years USAT has provided expert mobile and remote IoT connectivity solutions for field service operations nationwide. We provide top-tier support for all aspects of your business-critical fixed and mobile communications projects. The solutions engineers we employ configure, provision, kit, and ship all your devices hot and ready for immediate use. And when you utilize our installation services, our techs ensure each device is functioning securely, reliably, and at peak performance on ultra-fast network carriers like Verizon.

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