This article was originally published on infobref.com
The deployment of 5G wireless technology opens the door to a multitude of applications. They will require lightning-fast connections with very short and stable response times. Startup LatenceTech will enable carriers and enterprises to ensure that the quality and speed of connections over wireless and Internet networks are up to these demands.
The problem the company is addressing is the variation in response time on digital networks. “Response time is the time it takes for call data to go from the point of origin to the point of arrival, and then back to the point of origin,” explains Benoit Gendron, president and co-founder of LatenceTech. “This response time, which is latency, is becoming increasingly variable. Yet many new applications need a connection that is both ultrafast and very stable.”
He cites these applications as examples:
- connected vehicles, which will soon need to “talk” to each other to coordinate their movements and avoid collisions;
- remote operation or telecontrol of machines or vehicles – for example, to drive machines in inaccessible places, such as at the bottom of a mine;
- remote virtual reality.
Such applications often require a combination of wireless connections, to reach dispersed, remote or moving objects or individuals, and a wired connection, to connect them to a central server or the cloud. “If any part of the connection is too slow or unstable, many of these applications lose interest, or can even become dangerous,” notes Benoit Gendron.
LatenceTech’s solution is software that measures the response time of each connection in real time.
A small piece of software is installed next to the start and end points, and it passes test data in parallel with the real data for measurement purposes. It thus faithfully reproduces the conditions of the connection. This system makes it possible to follow the state of the connection. It also allows, thanks to artificial intelligence machine learning, to make a predictive analysis.
We want to make predictions about the state of the connection in the next 2 to 5 minutes,” explains Benoit Gendron. If we see a risk of slowdown or instability of the connection, then we can send an alert to warn.”
This could, for example, prompt a vehicle to preemptively slow down, or the operator of a remote machine to temporarily suspend a delicate operation.
The company’s business model is based on a software service sold to 3 types of organizations:
- telecom providers – “we think that soon wireless network operators will offer packages that will include a guaranteed latency cap,” says Benoit Gendron;
- companies, especially in the industrial sector – “for their digital transformation to Industry 4.0, some companies want to track a lot of equipment and sensors, so their needs sometimes exceed the capacity of Wi-Fi networks,” explains Benoit Gendron. They sometimes build their own private wireless cellular network”;
- telecommunications equipment manufacturers, often called OEMs, who will want to allow their customers to track the status of their connection.
The technology is primarily designed for businesses, but individuals can try it out on their phone or tablet by downloading the free Mobile Latency Measurement mobile app from the App Store for iOS or Google Play Store for Android.
Currently, LatenceTech employs four people and several interns.
The company is in the testing phase of its technology with several organizations in various market segments. It has a first paying customer and its service is installed with telecom network operators in America and Europe.
LatenceTech is one of 20 startups selected this year in Startup Montreal’s Bourse+ program.
Next steps to watch:
LatenceTech is currently conducting a financing round to increase its equity capital to continue its development.
It is open to conducting tests with companies that have needs for critical applications with very low latency.
