GDEcD Center for Manufacturing Helps Tech Company Innovate Remote Sensor
Thursday, July 30th, 2015
The Georgia Department of Economic Development Center of Innovation for Manufacturing worked with Atlanta-based New Frequency in developing an innovative sensor for collecting and sending real-time data from remote assets. The company’s technology has been applied to a myriad of applications including power, water, gas temperature and steam.
Most recently, the need for improved monitoring technology in wildlife came to the attention of New Frequency. Current regulations require that wildlife traps be manually inspected for a catch every 24 hours, which requires a huge investment of manpower, time and gas – especially when traps have an average 60% empty rate.
What To Do?
To solve this problem, the company developed a sensor that sends a signal to a monitoring system once an animal is trapped, enabling crew to inspect only those traps that have an actual catch.
New Frequency ran into a challenge when it needed to scale its software systems to be applied across a wider network that would meet the needs of the wildlife industry. That’s when our Center for Innovation for Manufacturing stepped in. As the company was considering a move to Virginia, director John Zegers and the Manufacturing team provided important connections and funding support to advance the project here in Georgia.
“We had the resources they needed and the partnerships with Georgia Tech to develop their data management system right here,” said Zegers.
The Center connected New Frequency to Dr. Andrew Dugenske at the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute’s Factory Information Systems Lab. Dr. Dugenske identified and outlined a program specific to the company’s needs to launch the next generation of its signature patented Trap-Alert™ system.
“The connection with Dr. Dugenske that was made by the Center of Innovation for Manufacturing allowed us to develop our application database. This is the bedrock of our business, and without it, we would never have been able to enter the high-volume transaction space.” –Todd Moran, New Frequency CEO
Once development of the product was complete and the scalability was expanded, New Frequency began commercializing the product. This ultimately led to a substantial contract with a global pest control provider, and positioned New Frequency to explore further applications for the technology in areas such as infrastructure security.
The work done with New Frequency is just one of countless examples of how Georgia and the Centers of Innovation continue to provide companies with the resources and partnerships they need to connect, compete and grow in the state marketplace.
For more information on the Center of Innovation for Manufacturing and how they can help grow your business in Georgia, click here.
Original content from the Georgia Department of Economic Development.
