CyberLightning has introduced CyberVille, a software platform for visual monitoring and control of the data and the physical assets that comprise the Internet of Things (IoT).
The end-to-end data management and 3D visualization platform provides organizations with a strategic tool to control sensor and machine networks using a simple point-and-tap interface on any mobile device.
Targeted initially at energy production, smart grid and smart city management applications, CyberVille integrates heterogeneous data and inputs from multiple control systems to create a unified view and control panel for complex networks.
It supports rich data sets and the huge amounts of frequently updated machine and sensor data generated by the large scale machine-to-machine networks that comprise the Industrial IoT.
“Network operations and control rooms for infrastructure systems today are typically populated with dozens of displays. It’s a major challenge for skilled staff and managers alike to view both the ‘big picture’ and be able to drill down to levels of detail needed to really track performance and respond to issues,” said Ville Mickelsson, CEO of CyberLightning.
“The complexity of these types of networks will grow exponentially in the Internet of Things era. With CyberVille, we are presenting the first solution built from the ground up to address the challenges of systems management in incredibly complex network environments.”
CyberVille is based on open-source, standards based Internet technology. It provides a multilayered 3D view of complex networks in the context of the real world where they are installed.
The visualization is based on a combination of geographic information system (GIS) data sets and 3D models, along with all of the real time data feeds associated with the various objects that make up the network or networks under management.
CyberVille is architected around several components. The CyberVille Mind incorporates the Data Control and Collection Engine, the Big Data Processing Engine, and a suite of modules for different industry segments, such as energy, building automation, traffic management, etc.
A core data processing module supports the diverse APIs of machine/sensor networks and manages data flow. An organization’s proprietary data as well as public data such as weather conditions are readily integrated and presented within the various visualization views.
The CyberVille UI translates data from the CyberVille Mind for presentation on client devices, including mapping of data sets with the CyberVille GIS module, which draws on publicly available GIS sources.
All types of client side tablet and smartphone browsers are supported, including Android, Tizen, iOS, Firefox, Chrome, as well as traditional operating systems (Windows, Linux, OSX, etc.).
The efficiency of the UI module is illustrated by typical performance on a smartphone, of up to one million polygons of real-time, interactive display.
To illustrate applications in the energy industry, CyberLightning built a 3D model of an operating wind farm, with sample data sets reporting operating status of individual wind mills and control points in the system.
Viewed on a tablet, the visualization is so richly detailed that different rotation speeds of fan blades can be seen. This type of visual trigger alerts operators to a potential fault, which can then be verified by zooming in on specific data feeds.
Management and control of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) networks also benefits from a visually-based (versus text field) interface with detailed imagery and real-time data feeds.