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Riverside Acquires IoT Data-Sharing Machines

On Thursday, Riverside became the second city to use its new solution, the Machine Network, which uses patented technology called Random Phase Multiple Access. Initially Riverside will use it to monitor its electricity grid.

By Fielding Buck, The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, Calif.

A San Diego company is helping machines talk to each other in Riverside.

Ingenu, formerly known as OnRamp Wireless, specializes in the Internet of Things (IoT), which connects machines to each other to share data.

On Thursday, Riverside became the second city to use its new solution, the Machine Network, which uses patented technology called Random Phase Multiple Access (RPMA). Initially Riverside will use it to monitor its electricity grid.

It will help Riverside Public Utilities respond to power outages more quickly, according to George Hanson, engineering manager for the city.

Riverside may have more uses for the Machine Network down the line.

“We’re exploring those,” Hanson said in a phone interview. “This is an excellent apparatus.”

Ingenu launched the Machine Network in Dallas last month. It plans to expand to 30 metropolitan areas by the end of 2016.

“RPMA technology was built from the ground up, intended and purpose-built for machine communications. This is not a cellular technology that is being repurposed for machines. It was solely intended for machines,” said Tom Gregor, Ingenue’s president and general manager for the Machine Network.

RPMA reaps its data from unlicensed spectrum, avoiding cellular costs, according to its website.

The technology offers many advantages, he said in a phone interview, including being compact, energy efficient and able to cover big distances.

Access points require a 32-inch Omni External Antenna attached to a cabinet that sends and receives wireless signals. It contains a battery that Gregor said can last more than 10 years.

“The cabinet is maybe 2 feet by 3 feet, so we look for a little 4-by-4 pad at a location. From there it’s just one coaxial cable run up to an antenna.”

Ingenu has two access points operating in Riverside and is working up to nine. Gregor said the work should go fast.

“We were able to deploy 17 locations throughout Dallas in a little over two weeks time. We were able to create a very robust footprint covering 2,200 square miles in and around the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex.”

©2016 The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, Calif.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.