The Evolution of Bluetooth: From Entertainment To Smart Buildings

For most of us urbane mobile users, Bluetooth is a reminder of the “good old days” of the Internet through which we would exchange MP3 files and pictures. Today, it is commonly used in fitness bands, cars and even headsets. But the utility of this piece of technology goes much further.

Experts are reckoning the application of Bluetooth in smart buildings.Although the adoption is not largescale just yet, it is on the rise.

At the recently held IoT in India Expo in New Delhi, there was a session held on the rising significance of Bluetooth mesh as a basis for connectivity in smart buildings. This is a networking structure that uses low-energy networking technology to interact and exchange information. A mesh network is where every single node is connected, allowing the effortless relay of data. While its largely used in industrial automation, it is becoming a reliable alternative for smart buildings as well.

More specifically, the current successes are being seen using lighting as the foundation for Bluetooth connectivity.

Let’s see how this works with LED lights, which are a common feature in homes and offices today. LED lights are an energy efficient alternative, but with the proliferation of IoT, lights are now embedded with IoT sensors as well. Buildings today are coming equipped with Ethernet cabling, which makes it way easier to connect sensor-embedded LED lights. With an interconnected lighting system using SIG-qualified Bluetooth mesh, these LED lights can be easily lit up without having to reorient a building’s wiring. Since mesh networking involves several nodes, each one acts like a gateway for the original net connection, constantly communicating with one another and amplifying the signal. Unlike range extenders that will likely slow down Internet speeds, mesh networks amplify speed and ensure the entire building is powering on at optimal speeds at all times.

The benefits of this efficient system of mesh networking are many. Bluetooth mesh networks can provide a wide range of coverage, interoperability, device monitoring &control, low energy consumption and most importantly, compatibility with mobiles, tablets, PCs and laptops.

For instance, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam recently replaced their halogen lighting systems with Bluetooth-enabled LED modules. Now, the museum’s lighting is controlled by Bluetooth switches. In addition, the museum also added Xicato sensors which use Bluetooth technology to broadcast data including occupancy, lux levels, temperature and humidity levels – parameters whose management is critical to retain the quality of the priceless works of art.

US-based retailer Target, during the revamp of its stores, is installing Bluetooth beacons in its new LED light fixtures to enable location and navigation. Once completed, this will be one of the largest deployments for a lighting-based indoor positioning system.

Scalability of Bluetooth Mesh

At the IoT Tech Expo in Amsterdam, Bluetooth SIG Technical Program Manager Martin Woolley spoke about the introduction of Bluetooth Mesh in 2017 and how it is a wise choice for smart building deployments. As of 2018, there were 10 million Bluetooth devices being shipped everyday and 34,000 companies support the use of the technology. A Bluetooth Mesh can support up to 32,767 nodes per network, sending hundreds of multicast messages per second. This range of scale can be achieved through multiple techniques including multi-hop messaging – where messages can “hop” across the network to the furthermost edges. According to Woolley, these devices can communicate with one another even when out of radio range.

Security Concerns

With the exponential proliferation of iot banglore comes the concerns regarding security. Reports of malware attacks and cybersecurity lapses in businesses make headlines every day. The industry is cognizant of these concerns, and Bluetooth Mesh offers a reliable solution. Bluetooth products essentially must support same security features, and a single compromised device cannot debilitate an entire network. Moreover, only members of the same network can communicate, mitigating the chances of a rogue device to connect.

So far, the lighting industry has seen the success of applying Bluetooth Mesh to lights. According to ABI Research, annual commercial smart lighting equipment shipments are expected to increase fivefold by 2022. 40% of all connected end points will be smart lighting based by 2021. Already, industries like retail, healthcare and travel are testing this technology in pockets, and furthering the use of Bluetooth Mesh for smart buildings.

With security, safety, connectivity and reliability being paramount to the success of a technology like Bluetooth Mesh, industry experts are optimistic that it will play a transformative role in the smart buildings industry in the near future.

Tackling The Cancer Epidemic Using AI

In recent times, breast cancer has become the most common type of cancer affecting women worldwide accounting for 25% of all cancer cases and affected 3.5 million people in 2017-18. Early diagnosis in these cases significantly increases the chances of survival. The key challenge in cancer detection is how to classify tumours into malignant or benign. Research indicates that most experienced physicians can diagnose cancer with 79% accuracy while using artificial intelligence based diagnosis, it is possible to achieve 91% accuracy.

NASSCOM CoE-IoT & AI & Eqounix Tech Lab organised a hands-on session on 28th September 2019, 10am onwards at the iot bangalore center on Breast Cancer detection. This was a paid session and there were over 50 attendees, consisting of basic & advanced developers from enterprises like Sopra Steria, United Health Group, TCS, HCL, Inventum Technologies, Publicis Sapient, Globallogic etc and startups like Attentive AI, Empass, Anasakta Labs, NEbulARC, SirionLabs & Vision Networks. Students from ICGEB/JMI, Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University etc also participated in the session.

The session first half focussed on Wisconsin Diagnostic Cancer (WDBC) & Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (IDC) datasets insights, Visualization of Dataset, feature selection and why they are chosen and how the physical parameters are translated into a dataset. In the second part, the focus was on Feature Selection and CNN, random forest based classification of cancer as malignant or benign followed by the optimised the deployment strategy & cost estimation

WISCONSIN DIAGNOSTIC BREAST CANCER (WDBC):

The samples consist of visually assessed nuclear features of Fine Needle Aspirates (FNAs) taken from patients. Attributes 3 to 11 were used to form a 9-dimensional vector which was used to obtain a neural network to discriminate between benign and malignant samples. Cross-validation was used to project the accuracy of the diagnostic algorithm.

INVASIVE DUCTAL CARCINOMA (IDC)

Invasive Ductal Carcinoma dataset originally consisted of 162 slide images, scanned at 40x. From that, 277,524 patches of 50×50 pixels (which is converted to  32 x 32pixels to fit the model architecture)  were extracted, including, 198,738 IDC negative examples & 78,786 IDC positive examples. Each image in the dataset is labelled based on the following parameters:

• Patient ID: 10253_idx5
• x-coordinate of the crop: 1,351
• y-coordinate of the crop: 1,101
• Class label: 0 (0 indicates no IDC while 1 indicates IDC)

CNN Architecture used:

1. Used exclusively 3×3 CONV filters, similar to VGGNet
2. Stacked multiple 3×3 CONV filters on top of each other prior to performing max-pooling (again,

similar to VGGNet)

3. But unlike VGGNet, used depthwise separable convolution rather than standard convolution layers
4. Keras Sequential API is used to build CancerNet

The model achieved 86% classification accuracy, 85% sensitivity, and 85% specificity.

CODE REPOSITORY:

https://bitbucket.org/tdequonix/cancer_detect_meetup_resources/src/master/

Enter git clone and the repository URL at your command line:

git clone https://shantanugaur@bitbucket.org/tdequonix/cancer_detect_meetup_resources.git

• build_dataset.py : Builds the dataset by splitting images into training, validation and testing sets.
• cancernet.py : Contains CancerNet breast cancer classification CNN
• train_model.py : Responsible for training and evaluation of Keras classification model

DATASET & PRESENTATION: 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1kgbtXSkDhDXK1aTCb8l1GvQcOn3iTjZQ

NEXT SESSION:

The next session will be focussed on the Prognostic system. This recently put into clinical practice, is a method that predicts when the cancer is likely to recur in patients that have had their cancers excised.  This gives the physician and the patient better information with which to plan treatment and may eliminate the need for a prognostic surgical procedure. The novel feature of the predictive approach is the ability to handle cases for which cancer has not recurred as well as cases for which cancer has recurred at a specific time.

A Billion Dollar Market – India’s Health Insurance Market Is At A Precipice Of Change

Round Table

A Billion Dollar Market – India’s Health Insurance Market Is At A Precipice Of Change

Context

Health insurance is not a luxury but a necessity today. Given the propensity and range of diseases that man is prone to, having a healthcare premium is imperative. India has more than 60 insurance companies, of which nearly 40 are dedicated to health insurance.

There are a plethora of needs in the healthcare sector, which require insurance intervention. By 2021, health insurance is expected to reach US$3.5bn, representing growth of more than 12% annually since 2006. Moreover, the increase of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in India such as diabetes, cardiac issues and cancers require cost-heavy intervention. A sound healthcare premium will go a long way in safeguarding citizens from skyrocketing costs.

Due to imminent changes in the eco-system, the sector is constantly in a state of flux. While Government spend is increasing with various schemes announced by Central and State Governments, the healthcare insurance market is challenged with process compliance, fraudulent practices, skewed claims ratio, low coverage, increased out-of-pocket expenses and policy support.

The healthcare insurance market is dynamic, offering myriad opportunities for innovators, investors, enterprises and policy makers. Yet, it is imperative to address existing challenges, identify high-opportunity areas and chart a roadmap for future success.

At the BioAsia Conference 2019 in Hyderabad, an industry roundtable led by NASSCOM Center Of Excellence iot india flagship healthcare initiative Lifesciences & Healthcare Innovation Forum (LHIF), where industry participants comprehensively discussed the opportunities & challenges around healthcare insurance market and role of technology and policy in easing the situation for the public.

Challenges

1. Delays in claims processing is a major concern not only for the patients but also for the hospitals. Any extra day spent by the patient occupying a bed waiting for a discharge due to delays in insurance paperwork, may not result in higher returns to the hospitals.
2. Health Insurance companies are not able to assess the risk exposure from their customers. Many of them do not disclose pre-existing ailments and no sooner they take health insurance, these customers start availing the claims. As the risk profile and historical medical records are not available for the insurers, they have no option but to offer same policy to all.
3. Policy provisions are neither clear on the websites, nor do the customers read and understand the available terms and conditions. Many of them realize the inclusions and exclusions once they start using the claims process.
4. Inflation in the healthcare delivery costs is steadily increasing the claims, however there is a challenge in increasing the insurance premiums. As the affordability of the premiums is reducing, it is difficult to acquire new customers. Increased competition and untenable provisions offered by some companies, is putting pressure on other companies in this space. Customers only see the cost of the premium without realizing the provisions within.
5. There is no regulatory body, which controls the health insurance procedures at Hospitals. Some providers tend to overuse the facilities for the customers having health-insurance.
6. Due to inadequate staff to monitor the enrolled hospitals and also due to some unscrupulous individuals, there is 15% incidence of abuse.
7. 60-70% of the populations living in rural India. Many of them are illiterate to Health Insurance. They only know abouthealth cards issued by government and not sure the provisions there under.Despite large penetration of PM-JAY, the insurance companies are yet to see a viable financial model for them to succeed in enrolling into the Ayushman Bharat. The cost of the packages fixed by government may impede the quality of care.
8. Though Ayushman Bharat equally emphasises on wellness, the Health Insurance companies do not see a possibility of participation in preventive health compared to curative health, mainly due to no incentives provided to them on preventive health.
9. There is no clarity or clear guidance from either regulatory or the government on the same day procedures – Out-Patient Surgeries, that can be covered under health insurance. As a result, individuals prefer to get admitted for at least a day to claim the insurance. This increases the cost of the claim. Also, many individuals lack awareness on the same-day procedures. Though some hospitals are offering same day procedures, it is not clear if the insurance companies are accepting these claims.
10. Smaller bills are cleared fast without necessarily checking for the potential frauds, whereas large bills need to go through more diligence for validation and verification. This results in genuine customers switching the insurer due to dissatisfaction.
11. Non-payment of claims arises from three factors. (a) Lack of proper documentation, (b) Lack of awareness of inclusion and exclusion criteria in the policy and (c) difference in costs from the same hospitals for the same procedures.

Opportunities

1. A uniform platform for sharing the health profile of individuals (similar to the credit profile) will really help Insurance Companies to customize the insurance products based on individuals. Those will better health profile tend to get lower premiums.
2. Nearly 60% of the population do not have health insurance coverage, even 10% of them buying the health insurance policies, will dramatically increase the revenues for the Insurers and they may be able to provide better services.
3. Government is increasing the focus on wellness and with the help of regulatory. We can see positive guidelines & directions in this space.
4. Insurance companies provide health-check coupons to their customers, but only 7-8% of them are utilized. But a push in wellness from government and corporates can increase the utilization. More utilization of these coupons may result in better data for Insurance companies to customize their premiums.
5. Hospitals and Health Insurance companies can work together to provide a better customer experience.

Role of Technology

1. Technology can play a major role in prevention campaigns in the local language (due to increased mobile penetration). Insurance companies are willing to push customized content through these campaigns on basic problems like nutrition, sanitation, stress and prevention measures.
2. Technology can help Third Party Administrators (TPAs) with the documentation process and the aggregate data on the ailments and the procedures. This helps in customizing the offerings and speeding up the claims process.
3. A well-implemented EHR/PMR Systems at Government and Private Hospitals can provide a lot of insights for both the insurers and hospitals. PMR data can help in understanding the customer well before offering a suitable insurance product.
4. Integration of Hospital Billing systems to TPA claims processing system can ease out on the time for processing a claim. Technology can also help in discharge process automation within the Hospital environment to reduce the time for discharging a patient.
5. AI can play a significant role in the fraud detection process and disease predictions.
6. Affordable wearables can help monitor the customer's data by the Insurers and their empanelled doctors and provide timely advise on preventive health.
7. Insurance companies can work with telemedicine platform providers to engage with their customer to reduce the hospitalization through early interventions.
8. There is an increased opportunity for Health Insurers to engage with Healthcare iot startups india.
9. Managing NCDs is the biggest opportunity for wellness and preventing potential complications arising out of NCDs. Use of technology in engaging with the customers on managing NCDs will help the Insurers in avoiding future hospitalization.

Better pricing, continuous engagement with the customer and preventive measures to help the health insurance sector can boost the sector’s organic and robust growth.

NASSCOM Chairman Rishad Premji interacts with startups in Bangalore

Rishad Premji, chairman of NASSCOM paid a visit to NASSCOM IOT Bangalore where he interacted with startups associated with NASSCOM10K Warehouse and CoE IoT-DSAI, and extensively discussed the deep tech ecosystem in India.

“What IT services did for India more than 20 years ago, a product-driven ecosystem can do for India today.” He emphasised on the need for companies and startups to continue serving the stakeholders better, by improving product offerings.

Rishad Premji, Chairman of NASSCOM (left) interacting with startups at NASSCOM

The session was highly interactive and informative, as Premji fielded questions ranging from technology disruption in retail, building profitable digital brands online, need for hardware startups in India, growth of product startups supporting enterprises, and evolving investor trends in India.

NASSCOM’s forte of a thriving ecosystem, built on industry liaisons, continues to grow stronger and Premji encouraged the startups to actively participate in the various network events being organized by NASSCOM such as the NASSCOM Product Enclave and the upcoming NASSCOM Technology Leadership Forum, considered among the country’s high profile industry events, with an impressive line-up of companies, government representatives and industry bodies.

Admittedly, fields like IoT India and AI are still growing in India, albeit very fast, so there is a growing need to integrate the existing stakeholders and build an ecosystem. Other initiatives such as NASSCOM DeepTech Club and Accelerate 10X are structured iot startups programmes intended to provide the deep tech ecosystem in India a strong impetus, and provide an ideal nurturing ground for the next wave of India’s robust startup revolution.

Rishad Premji (right) gets a demo of AI-powered analytics platform Str8bat from founders Gagan Daga and Rahul Nagar. Str8bat is being incubated at NASSCOM CoE-IOT Bangalore’s #InnovateLab

Premji also visited the NASSCOM Centre of Excellence India IoT’s state-of-the-art #Innovate Lab, a futuristic facility with a range of equipment required by product companies to build, including a vector signal generator, oscilloscope and 3D printer among others. He spent some time with founders Gagan Daga and Rahul Nagar of Str8bat, which uses analytics and data-driven insights using motion technology for cricket, on a fully-powered AI engine. Str8bat was incubated at the NASSCOM CoE-IoT Bangalore in May 2017 and works out of the facility’s #InnovateLab.