Internet of Things

The internet of things is a technology that allows us to add a device to an inert object (for example: vehicles, plant electronic systems, roofs, lighting, etc.) that can measure environmental parameters, generate associated data and transmit them through a communications network.

What Is It?

The internet of things (IoT) is a set of technologies that uses sensors and actuators to inform us about the status of everyday items such as vehicles, tools and even living beings. It allows us to interact with them, enabling connectivity with platforms in the cloud that receive and process information for posterior analysis. This analyzed data is then used to make decisions.

Applications for Use

Here at Ferrovial, we mainly use IoT technology with connected cars, wearables, collaborative robotics, sensors in industrial plants (industry 4.0) and to efficiently manage energy.

We have developed a wide variety of projects in areas such as mobility, construction, highways, airports and industry. Some examples of initiatives carried out by our Digital Hub include:

• Monitoring the Zity vehicle fleet, acquiring real-time telemetry and positioning data, carrying out bidirectional communication with drivers, and creating accident and harsh driving alerts — all to reduce the occurrence of accidents.
• Using sensors in lineal construction machinery, which identify work events and optimize the production cycle.
• Implementing markers on national highways and roads to analyze vehicle transit and users, characterizing and quantifying trip profiles to learn more about our end users and to better understand their behavior.
• Designing and using push-button terminals at airports where users can express their levels of satisfaction and record voice messages with their opinions about our service. Analyzing this information is used to improve passenger satisfaction levels.
• Acquiring information about water treatment plants via integration with SCADAs (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) to facilitate the ability to analyze and optimize production aspects.

Our Digital Hubtechnology specialists support businesses by identifying which technology solutions (IoT devices) are best for each case, analyzing its technical viability within the correct context, providing support during economic analysis and, if needed, executing the entire project (from device installation and management, field testing, sending information and posterior analysis).

In addition, our Digital Hub started an IoT platform that assists different Ferrovial companies and serves as the central piece of all applications and use cases of this type. It integrates different field elements and is the base over which vertical solutions are developed, which add value to businesses via data analysis techniques and automatic learning.

The main advantage of this platform is that, as new sensors are added, data integration capacities can be re-used by other departments and business lines for other use cases that install the same type of sensor, therefore accelerating the implantation process for these types of solutions.