TORONTO - cStar Techo1ogy, Inc., which demonstrated a comprehensive
vending machine monitoring system built around its "SkyGate" and
"DirectGate" products earlier this year, has introduced this system to
the trade (see V/T May and August).
Chief executive officer Solbyung (Stella) Yoon, who formed cStar after heading two high-tech
organizations, sees the vending industry as a primary market for her
firm's patented telemetry technology. "Vending has been waiting so long
for affordable, extremely fast, secure, two-way data exchange over all
networks, with an end-to-end solution," she explained. "My company has
been able to optimize access to this service, taking cost-effective
communications farther than ever before - with no monthly fees. That's
an important factor that vending operators have been waiting for."
cStar, she said, is leading "Wave III" of the Internet revolution,
during which equipment not primarily designed for data communication
(like vending machines) can be networked simply and reliably. cStar's
technology permits networking all the vending machines in a building or
building complex to one wireless device. That single device transmits
data from all the machines on its network (up to 256), using Internet
protocols. The operator can retrieve the data from any
Internet-connected computer, in an office or on a vehicle. A great
variety of networking options are available. MATCHING SOLUTION TO NEED
"Our proprietary technology gives us a distinct advantage by offering
vending operators the unique ability to link their vending machines with
a wide variety of data transmission methods," Yoon explained. Operators
know that telephone lines are not widely available where vending
machines are installed, which means that landlines are not a universal
answer to vending telemetry needs. But wireless transmitters are not a
universal solution, either, because not all vending machines are
installed in locations from which data signals can be transmitted
reliably. Basements and other shielded, or high-interference, areas can
present problems to which the only technical solutions are impractical,
such as installing wireless relays to hand a signal along until it
reaches an area from which it can be transmitted reliably.
Both media solve some problems; neither medium solves all of them. But, Yoon
pointed out, coupling them by means of cStar's patented technology -
which sends signals along the electrical power lines in a building, and
allows retrieving them at the best site for wired or wireless
transmission, provides a completely effective, efficient and affordable
telemetry system for any vending location, she stated. The "SkyGate
MVC-800" is a power line-carrier slave node that modulates a signal
within a frequency range above that of any "noise" appearing on a power
grid. It also employs a set of sophisticated protocols incorporating
error detection and correction provisions, thereby providing extremely
reliable data interchange, Yoon explained. She believes that cStar's solution
is the only full-access telemetry system introduced so far that
is able to trace sales, inventory and collections, monitor equipment
functions, and provide "health-and-welfare" (e.g., refrigeration
failure) and report security violations.
In order to make the system as "hands-off" as possible, cStar has incorporated an automated relay
system within its local-area network (LAN) "SkyGate SVS-1000"
multiplexer. This is the device that collects data from all the machines
on the network for retransmission. The relay allows it to be polled
automatically by a route vehicle equipped with a cStar "SkyGate VVS-1000
Network Accessor" when the truck enters the location's parking lot. The
driver need not initiate this polling and uploading process, thus
eliminating the need to look away nor release the steering wheel.
The truck-mounted "SkyGate" receives and stores the information
automatically. That polling process is repeated, also with hands-free
no-hassle automation, when the truck returns to the operating company
warehouse. When the vehicle comes within range of the warehouse
facility's "SkyGate VVS-1100 Network Controller," that device polls the
truck-mounted "VVS-1000" and, in turn, receives the data collected on
the route. The operator then can access and review the information for
each machine on the route by use of a conventional personal computer
running cStar's "REC-100 DirectGate" software.
Yoon summed up the "SkyGate" product line launch by observing that it provides operators with the
tools needed to realize the tremendous advantages conferred by a full telemetry vending
machine tracking service - one that offers an enormous improvement in speed and route
productivity over conventional route information-gathering procedures.
Information on cStar's "SkyGate" hardware and "DirectGate" software for vending machines, vehicles and
offices can be had from sales manager Thomas Flynn, cStar Technologies, Inc., 1-1122 Finch
Ave West, Toronto, ON M3J 3J5, Canada; tel. (416) 739-8484, extn. 216
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DATA RETRIEVAL: Diagrammed above is one method
of collecting the data for use by a vending
company. In this model, a single "SkyGate
SVS-1000" multiplexer collects the data from
each "MVC-800"-equipped vender in the location
(building at left). As route truck comes in
range - enters the location's parking lot
onboard "SkyGate VVS-1 000" polls the location's
multiplexer and receives the collected data over
a wireless local-area network. Upon return to
the warehouse (at right), a "SkyGate VVS - 1100"
polls the truck-mounted device which, in turn,
retransmits the data locally to the operator's
computer, where cStar "DirectGate" software
makes it immediately accessible. Other
arrangements, including wide-area networks
linking location networks directly to office,
also are easy to implement.
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Shown here are vending machines with cStar's
MVC-600 & MVC-800 Power Line Carrier series
(PLC) nodes, tandem connected, point-to-point
and cluster connected point-to-multipoint
configurations, between vending machine lead
controller boards. The nodes send and receive
data along building, electrical wiring, enabling
two machines in tandem, or more, to operate as
one.
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