III receives 3rd Consecutive R&D 100 Awards
Date: 2013/11/08
“World’s first Zigbee CraneAbide technology” & “BestLINK” Highlights III's Prominence in R&D
III (Institute for Information Industry, Taiwan) received the 2013 51th R&D 100 Awards for the third consecutive time, at the Gala Awards Banquet November 8, 2013 in Orlando, Florida. The research institute won the award for its development of the CraneAbide-A crane-subscribing maritime container terminal management system, and “BestLINK” which were pioneered by III Smart Network System Institute (SNIS). III stood out among 1,100 global candidates to win the highly distinguished award, which has been referred to as the "Oscars of Invention" by The Chicago Tribune, joining the ranks of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory、MIT Lincoln Laboratory、National Energy Technology Laboratory…etc. and bringing Taiwan's technological soft power to shine on the world stage!
Innovative breakthrough-CraneAbide successfully improves operation efficiency 50%
Carried out under the supervision of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Department of Industrial Technology, since 2007, III has assisted Taipei Port Container Terminal Co., United Fiber Optic Communication Inc., and ShinSoft Co. with necessary technics to form “Technology Development Alliance for Highly Efficient Container Terminal” and successfully combined the results of various research fields such as the “Container Terminal Operation System” from Evergreen International Co. , the “On-Board Unit of Intra-Vehicle Communication” from Advantech Co., and the “e-Paper of Zigbee Badge Card ” from Eink Co. to introduce “ Zigbee technology” into container terminal and establish “Wireless Sensor Highly Efficient Container Operation Smart Park” ,unblocking the current technological bottleneck of automated container terminal and making it becoming the world’s first demonstrative container terminal adapting this technology in facilitating real operation.
There are fewer than 10 container terminals adapting to automated systems and Taipei Harbor is one of them. What’s more, it is using the unique Zigbee Technology! Because of the system, Taipei port saved up to 50% of the time originally wasted in labor and administration and therefore the operation performance is leveled up significantly!” More specifically, the application of e-Paper and automated operation raised the attention from Mainland China, Vietnam, America, and Africa…etc. because of this solution achieves the goals of environmental protection and energy saving simultaneously.
As a matter of fact, the research and development team of SNIS has constantly refined the CraneAbide system and continuously adjusted related soft and hardware systems. It turns out that the registration rate at the yard sector rises to 96% and the near-field identification rate is up to 94%, which successfully solve the three major problems within the container terminal: time consuming - unable to control the traffic flow of trucks, high vacancy rate- either to or from the delivery point, when making rounds, the truck would usually be empty, and low mobility efficiency- automated cranes usually need to relocate its position in accordance with container cars. As a whole, the operation efficiency has been well improved by more than 50% for Taipei Harbor within three years.
“BestLINK” applies high tech communication technology to provide non-stop safe connection
“BestLINK” crucial technologies involve the planning and construction of exclusive wireless broadband network; the optimization of the operation of exclusive wireless broadband network; the development of visual system; and the integration and management of monitor services. In realization of the demand and trend of wirelessly transmitting instant images, since 2010, the R&D team members of III SNIS allied with K-Best Technology Inc. has jointly developed BestLINK, which is a regional area WLAN solution that is a superset of IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi, particularly useful in providing mobile internet access for remote rural areas. The technology successfully breaks through the limitations of traditional Wi-Fi - short transmission distance and poor penetrating capability.
This wireless product is not only with the superior characteristics of long distance transmission capability and high bandwidth, but also able to function well to provide and extend internet access on vehicles moving at high speed up to 120km/hr to transmit instant images. As a result, the wireless product can be used to build up high quality wireless access environment and applied to the prevention and rescue missions of public security. Until now, the product has practically been deployed in the following events: the routine patrol in New Taipei City and Tao-yuan City communities, 2012 Ho-hai-yan Gongliao Rock Festival in New Taipei City, 2012~2013 New Year’s Eve Party at Changhua County, and the monitor, security protection, as well as the traffic management missions of 2013 Dajia Matsu Holy Pilgrimage in Changhua city.
The technology experts at III, who therefore developed the BestLINK solution within nearly more than a year by combination of GPS location of persons and vehicles, instant image transmission, mobile vehicles as well as the micro-AirPort to collect and emit instant signals in order to provide superior mobile signal coverage. Staffs in charge of public security such as the police, fire fighters, rescue teams, and paramedics could instantly be aware of the latest development of any abrupt incident so that can assign tasks and manage resources not only accurately but also effectively. More importantly, this solution solves the vagueness or termination of images transmission successfully.
In terms of future outlook, under the support of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Department of Industrial Technology, III will continuously to promote the technology to the world, and is looking forward to grasping this opportunity of winning R&D 100 Award to boost the reputation globally. In conclusion, by helping cross field integration of various industries, III will assist domestic enterprises entering the global market and seize the business opportunities of the world.
Photo: The 51th R&D 100 Awards Banquet was held on Nov 8 in Orlando, Florida. III (Institute for Information Industry, Taiwan) won the award for its development of “CraneAbide” and “BestLINK”, which was pioneered by III's Smart Network System Institute (SNIS).The director of III’s SNIS, Ming-Whei Feng, received two honorable prizes at ceremony.
Picture description:
E-paper, a portable electronic display panel with WSN communication capability(left); Communicator installed permanently on-board a yard trailer that provides advanced functionality compared to that of the e-paper for outside trailers.
Picture description:
BestLINK system deployed to a rural area where local standard Wi-Fi WLANs are linked up to the internet via AP or base station of BestLINK.
【R&D100 Awards】
Since 1963, the R&D 100 Awards have been seen as one of the most distinguished prizes in the field of research and development. The 100 winners are selected from 1000 commercialized technologies from leadings research organizations, scientists and experts from across the globe. The entries are judged on the basis of their innovation and originality, technological breakthroughs, as well as potential for future applications. In recent years, the R&D 100 Awards have come to serve as a major indicator for the state of technological innovation in the market.
【Media Contact】
Ms. Meredith Chang, Section Manager Tel: +886-2-6631-8638 E-mail: meredith@iii.org.tw
Sales and Mass Media Section, Planning & Evaluation Division, Institute for Information Industry