Internet of Things

Automotive insurers needed cost-effective telematics solutions that could accurately monitor driver behaviour whilst maintaining reliable connectivity and extended battery life in vehicles worldwide. Black box telematics devices have now become commonplace in automotive insurance, where the primary benefit is risk reduction for insurers, which translates to reduced premiums for drivers as they are incentivised to improve their risk profiles.

Plextek designed both telematics devices and the supporting server back-end systems. The telematics devices monitor driving behaviours, providing insurers with crucial insights for risk assessment. The design necessitated close attention to the key challenges of low power consumption, low unit cost, robust firmware, and cellular connectivity – all of which had to be optimised to meet the requirements.

Additionally, we developed cloud systems capable of efficiently storing and managing vast quantities of data and securely streaming it to our clients’ data centres. Here, the key challenges were data integrity, security, and reliable scalable infrastructure catering for an ever-increasing user base. Today, our technology is deployed in hundreds of thousands of instances worldwide and is managed by our spin-out company Redtail Telematics.

A utility company faced the challenge of monitoring underground electrical infrastructure in corrosive urban environments where traditional sensors would fail quickly, and regular maintenance access was impractical. Damaged underground electrical wires can lead to hazardous situations, potentially causing sparks that could ignite surrounding gases, resulting in exploding service manholes which are often in highly populated urban locations.

Recognising the critical need for early detection of damage, the client sought a system capable of detecting the early signs of risk and transmitting warnings before situations escalated – particularly crucial during winter when gritted roads lead to salination of water, which in turn increases corrosion damage to underground wires.

Developing a sensor array suitable for such harsh environments presented significant challenges. However, the Plextek solution went beyond conventional methods, incorporating a pioneering power harvesting technique that used locally available sources to extend the sensor battery lifespan from months to years. This provided a real-time predictive maintenance solution to direct engineers to suspect installations before the risk of explosion developed.