The Durban branch of the SAIMC held its technology meeting on 4 September at the Premier Inn in Pinetown. Following the success of the first discussion group held in July, the topic this month was ‘Smart Factories and Smart Cities’.
We were surprised that this topic did not generate more interest as there were more people attending, but nevertheless some interesting and stimulating conversation arose.
The discussion began with an observation about existing city traffic controls, notably in Tokyo, which enable the efficient movement of vast numbers of people. To achieve this, a massive amount of data must be processed with negligible delay is massive. This is typical of an effective smart system.
The group was then reminded of the extreme effects of the global technology outage last July, which crashed computers around the world. This led to grounded flights, disrupted health services, crashed payment systems, blocked access to Microsoft services and much more. The disruptions originated from the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike, which provides software to a wide range of industries. An update to one of CrowdStrike’s pieces of software malfunctioned.
To summarise, there are several fundamental requirements for factories or cities to deserve being termed ‘smart’. Data must be:
Relevant: Objectives must be clear from the outset so that only essential data is gathered to avoid information overload.
Current: The update frequency must suit the application and be sufficient to facilitate experiential learning of an AI system and operators.
Reliable: A single failure (device or data link) must not crash the system.
Interpretable: There has to be a processing system that has the speed and capacity to react in time to prevent a bad situation arising. This is where the specification, programming and logic competence is vital.
The meeting concluded that more questions than answers had arisen, and debate continued over supper and refreshments.
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