As everything around us, from wearables to more mundane things, such as utility meters, are becoming connected, the immediate benefits of this increased connectivity might not be equally clear to all of us. Nevertheless, intelligence is embedded everywhere, and there are several reasons why this is a beneficial direction of development.
The world we live in and various events in our daily lives have always been intertwined. Fortunately, since the beginning of the data revolution, humans have had more opportunities to make sense of their surroundings. In 2020, it was estimated that people created 1.7MB of data every second, with the size of the entire digital universe to be around 44 zettabytes. However, the massive flow of information has also presented new challenges for identifying and connecting the right data points and understanding connections between events, such as sleep patterns and health conditions.
We have access to more information than ever before in human history. This access has opened new paths of discovery for life-changing fields, such as health care and smart living, and increased our productivity during COVID-19. While we still need real-time data and thick data to form a holistic view of a problem, real-time data produced by humans and machines can answer the question of “what” and direct our discovery of “how” towards the right path. Working with real-time data also presents enormous challenges, such as the problem of analytical errors caused by the lack of objectivity in analysis. The empirical work, such as doctors coming up with a diagnosis, must still be performed by humans, but working with intelligent machines can increase our objectivity in problem-solving and thus help us on our path of discovery. And discovery and problem-solving, after all, are what make us humans.
1. Improving Health Care with Real-Time Data
Consumers have already embraced wearables as an opportunity to empower themselves to take control of their health and wellbeing. Also, medical wearables are poised to change the future of diagnostics by providing accurate real-time data on patient vital signs and habits. Access to this information is already presenting drastic changes in cardiology and diabetes management, as well as treatment of sleep disorders. Altogether, global spending on wearable devices has the potential to reach a total of $81.5 billion in 2021.
So why are consumers and healthcare providers betting big on wearables? Firstly, wearables offer real-time data on the go and thereby provide new levels of visibility for preventive care, for example, by collecting data on blood oxygen saturation, sleep, and blood pressure. Some devices can even track mental health data to identify, treat, and prevent stress and anxiety disorders. Second, intelligent edge devices allow us to form a holistic overview of human health and various factors impacting one another. Understanding the human body and health at the deeper level enables health practitioners to identify and treat the problem, not just the symptom. Third, visibility to our health has become increasingly important in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Wearables and intelligent edge devices are presenting one potential solution for returning to normal.
2. Energy Efficiency and the Future of Living
The explosion of AI and automation is also changing the future of living and energy management. We are increasingly able to control almost every electronic device in our living environment, such as utility lighting, heating, utility meters, and EV chargers with voice commands. Efficient data collection and resulting optimization decisions that machines will automatically run for us can reduce energy consumption and carbon footprint. Forward-thinking commercial builders are already experimenting with innovative building technologies to introduce us to fully self-sufficient office buildings, such as the Edge, that rely on real-time data from intelligent edge devices to optimize energy consumption and production. As the costs for smart building development decline, these applications will become more widespread across the globe.
In addition to energy efficiency, smart building technology can help us to prevent property damage and safety hazards by identifying emerging maintenance issues and alerting help. For example, the house or commercial building can turn off the water pipe after identifying a leak and call a plumber. Or activate the fire sprinklers and alert the fire department when smog or hazardous gas is detected. Intelligent edge devices can show us a way towards a greener, more convenient, and safer living environment.
3. Improving Productivity and Wellbeing During Work from Home
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the transition towards flexible working arrangements and forced us to rethink productivity. While many of us have found refuge for creativity from working from home, limited social connections have challenged our organizational cultures and employee mental health. As a result, work-life balance has become an increasingly important topic during the lockdown when it is harder to isolate work life from the rest of our life. Smart edge devices can help users to improve work-life balance through smart reminders and scheduling functionalities.
The benefits of various productivity tools can be further amplified with voice command and scheduling functions. For example, arranging a quiet time for deep focus and balancing work with scheduled breaks can help us stay motivated and focused even when the natural scheduling is taken away from our work environment.
How Do We Make It Happen?
Real-time data and intelligent edge devices have the potential to truly transform our future and our way of living for the better. Therefore, Ambiq is on a mission to put intelligence everywhere. As the world becomes more and more connected and AI helps us unlock whole new data processing capabilities, ensuring access to accurate and reliable data points becomes a key problem area. Powering up intelligent IoT devices by plugging them on the wall is the old solution to the problem. Still, wireless solutions can help us implement intelligence into places and locations where we previously had no access. This is where ultra-low power solutions become handy.
At Ambiq®, we want to empower the next generation of innovators by clearing away the power constraints that previously made many wireless IoT and wearable applications obsolete. We can now extend the battery life in devices for weeks depending on the applications. In addition, reliable access to data points, such as intelligent edge devices, can help us reach new heights of real-time data analytics by providing a more accurate and consistent data flow. Learn more about Ambiq’s vision for putting intelligence everywhere.
