January 21, 2020 by Luke James
American Fortune 500 companies Arrow Electronics and ON Semiconductor have partnered with Chinese tech-giants Geniatech to develop a multi-sensor online wearable device MuSeOn 1.1, that will enable real-time monitoring of employees in their working environment as a new safety measure.
News of the partnership was confirmed through a statement released by the CEO of Geniatech, Mr. JinJun Fang.
He said, “Arrow, ON Semiconductor and Geniatech have joined forces to realize the first industrial-grade low-power multi-sensor platform, which enables a wide range of commercial applications, such as worker safety.”
MuSeOn 1.1 is built on ON Semiconductor`s RSL10 platform, ultra-low-power Bluetooth 5 certified radio System on Chip (SoC), and it is integrated with five sensors to measure and detect air quality, temperature, humidity, and pressure. This will allow for quick navigation of the wearer’s outdoor activities along with indoor positioning.
The device comes with an ambient light sensor component and an omnidirectional microphone. It uses a dual interface RFID card and is stored in a case with an IP rating of IP65.
MuSeOn 1.1 multi-sensor device developed through a partnership between ON Semiconductor, Geniatech, and Arrow Electronics. Image Credit: Geniatech.
“With a range of environmental sensors alongside the industry-leading RSL10 radio, we knew the possibilities for the RSL10 Sensor Kit were nearly endless,” said Wiren Perera, the head of IoT at ON Semiconductor. “We are very excited to see how this platform has been taken one step closer to users with the MuSeOn 1.1 solution.”
Arrow, Geniatech, and ON Semiconductor developed and designed the safety wearable device along with its firmware. Arrow Electronics is also a major supplier of industrial gateways that are based on Geniatech’s Developer Board 4 designed for a range of embedded and IoT features.
Aiden Mitchell, the global vice president of IoT at Arrow released a statement saying, “The combination of the data gathered and cloud analytics provided through the Arrow IoT ecosystem will help to improve workplace safety, drive compliance with safety policies, and help protect workers from risks.”
The merger deal to develop the multi-sensor device comes at a time when businesses have realized how important it is to monitor working environments so as to improve workplace safety. But these devices will achieve so much more; they will help cut the cost that businesses incur over minor injuries at work.
According to a report released by the Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index in 2018, the cost of disabling nonfatal workplace injuries accounted for almost $60 billion in the U.S. alone. This means that U.S. businesses are spending over $1 billion every week on these injuries.
