Blythe Brumleve:
0:05
Welcome into another episode of everything is logistics a podcast for the thinkers in freight. I'm your host Blythe Brumleve. And I am happy to welcome in Todd Rigby.He is the director of sales at Rajant . And we're going to be talking about communications in the toughest environments and how we make that easier. So Todd, welcome to the show. Well,thanks, I appreciate you having me. Absolutely. So I kind of wanted to start with a very base level knowledge because we're on on you know, a couple of the recent videos that I was watching. It says reagent kinetic mesh extends network range and offers built in redundancy for ultra reliable wireless underground communications with no fiber required. So from the very basic of level explained it to me like I'm five, how do you build a wireless network.
Todd Rigby:
0:59
So basically, what we do is we use wireless communication nodes, and we call those breadcrumbs. And we basically build a breadcrumb trail. So we put these nodes out. Typically, these nodes have two to four radios in them, more radios give you more bandwidth.And we're able to make multiple connections, multiple active connections on every radio in a node. Now, that's that in and of itself is a major departure from99% of the wireless networks in the world, most wireless networks, things that you're probably more familiar with,like a cellular network, or a Wi Fi network, they let you have one active connection at a time.And if you've ever used one of those networks, and notice that sometimes it's really good. And other times, it's not so good.It's because of signal degradation, interference or obstruction to that single connection. If you have a network with multiple active connections, and that network is dynamic, and can continuously select the optimal connection,then you have a higher probability that your network is going to perform at top performance levels all the time.So imagine if your network was intelligent enough to self optimize? That's what a Rajant network does.
Blythe Brumleve:
2:45
And then from now that we kind of have that basic understanding, because with reagent in particular, that from what I understand that it's connecting those different nodes, like you talked about,and it's but it's doing it in some of the more extreme environments, so construction sites, underground, a mining operations, so things like that.So how do you even begin, I guess, what does the equipment look like in order to go to the middle of nowhere almost have to say a mind, for example, and establish an internet connection.
Unknown:
3:19
So you're absolutely right. People come to reagent when they have their most difficult and challenging communication problems. I'm trying to think just briefly where to start. I know this shows mostly about logistics and warehousing. So maybe let's let's use a warehouse as an example. If you have a traditional, you know, LTE or Wi Fi network, where you have one active connection, you're going to have a piece of infrastructure mounted either on the ceiling or on a wall somewhere. And then you're going to have a client radio, let's say you're a forklift operator,you're driving around the warehouse. There'll be a client radio on your machine, right? As you drive around a rack or a large shelf, you're now getting a obstruction between you and the device you're trying to connect with because wireless networks universally are line of sight communication devices. So when you only have a single active connection, and you're dealing in an environment with lots of obstructions, whether it's an underground mining tunnel, whether it's an oil refinery with all kinds of metal piping and equipment, or whether it's a rare warehouse full of racking, you have obstructions,right. So in Rajant's case, we still put up network infrastructure. We still hang those notes from the ceiling or mounted to the walls, we also put notes on machines on robots on ATVs. They can even be man worn. And each radio in each breadcrumb makes many active connections both to fixed or infrastructure nodes, but also other mobile nodes. So as you move around a rack, for example,you're continuously looking for new connections. And the breadcrumb is continuously evaluating the quality of every one of those connections and can change the path that data is taking to get from your machine back to the database, that's recording all the workflow that you're trying to track. So by having this dynamic, multi connection network, you're able to stay connected with extremely low latency and have plenty of bandwidth to do your job efficiently. Whereas if you're using other networks that only have a single connection, and are not as dynamic, they struggle to maintain that continuous connectivity.
Blythe Brumleve:
6:19
And so is that a because I've always just in my home, in particular, so we have fiber Internet, and it worked great for a while, and then all of a sudden, it stopped working as great. And then you know, the ISP, Internet Service Provider tells me Oh, you just need the extra connection points. And I'm thinking, Well, isn't that convenient, because then I have to pay you an extra fee for all of these different devices to connect. But now it kind of sounds like maybe they're not ripping me off. And maybe they're just trying to help me is that
Unknown:
6:49
I would say they're being honest with you. So, you know, you're I think what you're describing are specific Wi Fi issues. So Wi Fi has a couple of things that are unique. In within the Wi Fi protocol.There's a rule that basically says a Wi Fi access point has to divide its bandwidth equally among all of the clients that are connected to it. So if, if when you first got it, the only devices that were connected were maybe your smartphone and your computer, you've got two devices, they each get 50% of the bandwidth, everything's fine. But then maybe you add a ring doorbell, you add some, you know, Amazon Alexa devices, you add a smart TV, these things are connected all the time. And they're now taking portions of the bandwidth out of that access point, whether they're using the bandwidth or not, what you have available through your smartphone and your computer has now decreased.
Blythe Brumleve:
7:57
And so is that a similar situation of what's going on and say warehouses? For example, where, you know, so so many conflicts, I imagine, you know, being in a surrounded by steel or something, depending on you know, what the building is constructed with that that affects the wireless signals going on throughout the building as well.
Unknown:
8:15
Yeah. So you have you have issues with client density,which is what I was just describing. Wi Fi also has a unique issue, where the farther you get away from an access point. Sorry, my watch is deciding it wants to talk to me,series not being very helpful at the moment. The farther you get away from an access point, the weaker you're the weaker your signal is, we've all experienced when we get down to one bar of coverage, where the data rate is slower. But what most people don't realize is even if just one client on an access point has one bar of coverage, they effectively slow down every other client on that access point. So for example, if you decided to put a satellite ring doorbell alarm in a socket in a bedroom in the back corner of your house, and now that's the furthest device away from your access point. That weakest client connection now retards every other client connection on the same access point. So applying that to a warehouse, if you have a robot, for example,or an AGV that's moving packages around and it drives down an aisle and it's getting further and further from an access point. It's not only affecting its own throughput, but it's retarding the throughput of every other device connected to the same access point. I'm in a reagent network, where we're using breadcrumb to breadcrumbs,we're using a different protocol, we're not relying on the Wi Fi protocol, we're using a proprietary protocol that's designed around supporting mobility. So because we have many connections, that same scenario, you're driving down the aisle, maybe you are getting farther away from an infrastructure node that's mounted to a wall, but you're getting closer to another AGV.That's in the aisle. So now it decides I'm not going to talk back to the infrastructure behind me, I'm going to talk to the robot ahead of me, and then it will relay my information to the next robot to the next robot, and then maybe to a piece of infrastructure to get back on a wired network.
Blythe Brumleve:
10:53
So the robots are almost in a warehouse environment, like the example you're using. They're almost like the wireless hub and the signal if I'm understanding you correctly. Exactly.
Unknown:
11:03
So it's, oh, go ahead.I was just gonna say, like in a Wi Fi network, your access point is more intelligent and sophisticated than the Wi Fi client. The same in an LTE network, the cell site has far more intelligence than the cell phone. In a reagent network.Every breadcrumb has the same intelligence. Okay, so every one of these individual dynamic units is able to make its own routing decisions, monitor its own connections, and they all work autonomously and independently, choosing the best routes to self optimize, and dynamically ensure that the networks operating at its highest available performance all the time.
Blythe Brumleve:
11:53
This episode is brought to you by SPI logistics,the premier freight agent and logistics network in North America. Are you currently building your freight brokerages, book a business and feel that your capabilities are being limited due to lack of support and access to adequate technology? At SPI logistics, we have the technology, the systems and the back office support to help you succeed. If you're looking to take control of your financial future and build your own business, with the backing of one of the most successful logistics firms in North America, visit SPI three pl.com to learn more. So sticking with the warehouse example. So are you is Rajant you know manufacturing these robots. I think there's another phrase that you guys uses is Cobots to?Are you guys manufacturing them?Or is this maybe like an integration or component that's added to the robots and the Cobots.
Unknown:
12:47
So we do not manufacture robots. So we are just a communications company.We are application agnostic. We work in all kinds of in industrial industries. And we've worked with all sorts of manufacturers as well as end users to help them have better communications. You can think of Rajant as the tech that makes tech work better.
Blythe Brumleve:
13:21
So is it like an actual device? Or is it just a, you know, an integration software wise, maybe API or something like that? No API. But
Unknown:
13:29
what we do have an API,but it is a device. So it's a box with discrete radios inside,it has a computer inside. And that's what makes up a breadcrumb. We also have some other secret sauce components.Nobody else quite builds a device like arrangement,breadcrumb. And it enables that mission critical communications that you can rely on in the harshest of environments, the harshest circumstances. You know, we have breadcrumbs deployed, north of the Arctic Circle where they, you know,spend nine months of the year in Scottsdale and ice. We have been deployed in the deserts of Northwest Australia, where they have average daily temperatures above 150 degrees Fahrenheit.These are very rugged and robust pieces of equipment. And they're built purpose built to help people working in the harshest environments in the harshest of circumstances. And in the US,military uses them to protect help protect the lives of American servicemen and women.
Blythe Brumleve:
14:54
And you mentioned that that mission critical connectivity because I imagine that there's a large safety component Add to that as well being in these harsh environments, if something goes wrong, at least you have sort of that connection to the outside world, you can say, hey, you know, we need help, or hey, this issue was going on. Is that a safe assumption? Absolutely. I
Unknown:
15:13
mean, think of the recent train derailment in Palestine, Ohio. That is a big safety component, had they been able to remotely stop that train before it derail, we wouldn't have had the disaster that we had. Pretty much every industry has safety elements and components that they're worried about even warehouse logistics,if you have an automated warehouse, where you've got robots AGVs, moving cargo around. And you also have people interacting with them, well, you have a potential safety hazard.And you better have a reliable way for the people to communicate with the robots to say, hey, stop, you're, you're either possibly running over a person or, you know, going in an area that we don't want you to right now, or, you know, there's all sorts of unforeseen circumstances because at this point in time, robots are not particularly self aware. We put sensors on them to try and detect things, we put software safety measures to try to help them think and react, if they see something they unexpected that they stop. But there's so many circumstances that happen that are unexpected, that they don't have code for that sometimes, you need a person to be able to hit a button and make all the automation stop, just to get everything back under control. And back in a predictive environment where the robots can safely operate.
Blythe Brumleve:
16:53
Is that what they mean by the phrase co bot,it's almost like a co worker instead of a, I don't know, like a co bot is, you know, helping you that work throughout a warehouse.
Unknown:
17:04
I'll be honest, I haven't heard the term co bot,I'm not quite sure what what they're referencing, when they say co bot.
Blythe Brumleve:
17:12
That's what I would assume is that it's not like a co worker, it's like a co bot, where it's helping you do your job faster is what I think they meant by that phrase. Okay.So, you know, we talked a little bit about warehousing,especially with how reagent is powering, you know, that sort of the communication aspect of logistics. But what about like the the port infrastructure, you know, I saw this cool video that had almost what looks like drones that are flying around the port and connecting to the trucks and connecting to containers on the ship, tell us a little bit about how that connectivity works, and how that's being that that level of communication is being optimized.
Unknown:
17:50
So let me first tell you what the communication challenges in a port, please,let's, there's lots of different kinds of ports, right, there's container ports, there's vehicle ports, there's bulk material ports, but let's just talk about a container port for a minute.In a container port, you're every day, you're unloading containers off of cargo ships,you're stacking them up at the terminal, and then at a different point in time, trucks are arriving at the terminal to pick up the containers, right?All of these containers are serialized, they all have a number that's associated with them. In a perfect world, that number gets recorded every time that container gets moved. But as we know, the world is not a perfect place. And if you have a hiccup in your communications system, when you set the container in a particular stack,at a certain height, if you don't get that recorded in your database, you effectively lose the container inside your terminal. You know, it's not lost, but you can't lay your hands on it. And your customers certainly very frustrated,because you can't tell them when it's going to leave the port and start its journey across the country to get to your electronic store so you can sell all your new flat screen TVs. So because you have this dynamic landscape, where the piles of containers are rising and then falling and rising and falling every day, it can be very difficult to plan communications. So we build a network in a port much the same way as we would in a warehouse where we typically are mounting fix nodes that we call infrastructure on light poles around the port. And then we also put breadcrumbs on the equipment and the machinery that's operating in the port on the cranes on the strap carriers on the container lifts that are kind of like big forklifts. on light vehicles where you have people jumping in and out of a truck to do a quick inspection or verify something, so that you have this dynamic web of communications over the port that allows the signal to come into the spaces between the containers for multiple different directions to provide more reliable, robust communications. I was talking to the director of a large port in Canada on the western seaboard a couple of months ago, where we deployed a reagent network a couple of years ago, and he was telling me it was transformative for their operations, they don't have the issue of loss containers before they had a reagent network periodically,maybe once a month, they would have to pause their operations,get all of the longshoreman that worked in the port to line up,maybe six feet apart and walk through the terminal with a list of lost containers looking for the serial numbers, trying to locate them, so that they could then record in the database where they were, and then make sure they got taken out of a port put on a truck, and they could go on their way. Because if you don't know where your container is, it's as if you know, feeds had taken it as far as the customers concerned. Now,the port operators, you know, I feel bad for them, right? They don't want to lose a container.They don't want to misplace somebody's cargo, they want the container to come in and to go out as quickly and smoothly as possible. But if you don't have mission critical communications,you're going to have an interruption to your process.Imagine, for example, you order something on Amazon, you know,Amazon ruined the customer service experience for every other company in the world.Because now we as consumers expect Amazon, response information and tracking on everything we buy, whether it's an automobile, a TV, a refrigerator, whatever, we all expect it to be like, You know what, the snack we ordered from Amazon. But the Amazon process only works. If you have really good communications and tracking at every step of the process. If you fail to record the receipt or the departure, then suddenly,when you look up the status of your package. It it's like,well, it was here last Tuesday.And we're not sure what happened to it. And it does happen even with Amazon. And I'm not bad mouthing Amazon, they do an amazing job. But we've all probably had the experience where we've ordered something,and it gets to a certain point.And then we're just not sure what happened. And then maybe a week later, it just shows up on their door. And we're well I guess I guess it finally found its way to me, I'm happy. But it's very discomforting when we don't know where our packages or when it's going to arrive. And it's the same for commercial operations that are shipping things around the globe, if they can't track it, and don't know when it's going to arrive. It's hard to plan for it.
Blythe Brumleve:
23:36
Absolutely,because I mean, even you know,a, I don't know, a $20 pair of pants or something is a little bit different than like $20,000or $200,000 worth of merchandise and a container, you absolutely want to know where that is at all times. And so as you were talking it, you know, and watching the research videos for this interview, you know, with looking at a lot of the different port communications and things like that I can't help but think of like use cases for like autonomous vehicles,while at the port, you know,moving containers to different locations and things like that.Is that a practical use case for regions communications as well?
Unknown:
24:11
Absolutely. We do lots of work with autonomous vehicles in many different industries.Because as I was mentioning,before, robots, autonomous vehicles, they're not yet developed to the point where they're self aware, we can't put them in in an environment and give them a job description and expect them to do a job.Instead, what we're doing is we're giving these machines tasks, we're giving them very simple, specific instructions,and they're a task and they go and complete the task and then we give them the next task.Well, to give those tasks to them, we have to be able to communicate with them. If for some reason they become disconnected from the network and lose can activity will now we can't give them the next task. They also can't report that they completed the task or report where they set the container down. And so the operation and the whole promise of autonomy breaks down and has issues. And that typically requires human intervention. At some point, when you have a port terminal that's fully autonomous. And suddenly one of the machines loses connectivity,they have to shut down every autonomous machine, they have to then send a person into the autonomous zone, they call it to get on that machine, manually drive it, reset, whatever to get the communications restored. And then they put it back in standby mode, and then they slowly put all the other machines back in standby mode. And it can honestly take two to four hours for the operators to get all of the autonomous equipment back online, and working again. So don't imagine losing connectivity is a small thing.It's a huge thing. It's it's the lifeblood of an autonomous operation.
Blythe Brumleve:
26:19
So with all of these different, you know,connection points and and how that that gets initially established, I imagine there's a large cybersecurity angle to a lot of these different connection points. Can you speak a little bit about, you know, I guess what kind of security parameters are establishes it on the company to provide that as it you know, you guys are providing that and how did this is the cybersecurity parts work between wireless connections with all of these different connection ports.
Unknown:
26:48
So there's multiple layers to cybersecurity. You have, typically wireless networks are connected to wired networks, wired networks have users, they typically have user accounts, different users have different rights. Sometimes there's, you know, IT security administrators, there's physical firewalls, you still need the firewalls, the user accounts. We just since we're a wireless network provider, what we provide is very good encryption of the data. So while it's traveling through the air, it can't be intercepted, captured and, you know, stolen, so to speak. It's one of the reasons the US military has selected us for some very sensitive programs. Because in mission critical operations, where people's lives are at stake,they need to make sure that that data gets across the areas that need to be communicated without the chance that somebody can interrupt or intercept and decrypt the information that's being transmitted.
Blythe Brumleve:
28:11
Do you wish there was a central place to pull in all of your social media posts, recruit employees, and give potential customers a glimpse into how you operate your business? Well, all of this should already be on your website. But too often, we hand that responsibility of building our online home off to a cousin,a neighbor's kid down the street, or a stranger across the world. Digital dispatch believes in building a better website at a fraction of the costs that those big time marketing agencies would charge. Because we've spent years on those digital front lines. Our experienced team focuses on the modern web technologies to bring in all of the places you're already active online, show off those customer success stories,and measure the ROI of it all in one place. With manage website plans starting at $90 a month,head on over to digital dispatch.io to see how we can build your digital ecosystem on a strong foundation. We've got explainer videos right on the website and the ability to book a demo immediately find it all over at Digital dispatch.io. And so with the you know, outside of the the cybersecurity angle,we've talked a lot about you know, from a warehousing point of view from a port point of view, but I'm curious if you have any outside of logistics if you have any favorite use cases where reagent has been applied,you know, like mining operations military you mentioned earlier,you know, the Arctic Circle. Do you have any use cases for reagent that you particularly think are the most fascinating?
Unknown:
29:49
Oh, we've done a lot of really cool, you know, events. A month a month or two before COVID started I was involved with one of our resellers at a freestyle skiing event in Aspen,called the Aspen open, where they had an issue where they had what they called a split judging panel. So the Aspen open, there are multiple events that skiers participate in on a single ski run. And so they have one set of judges that judge one of the events, and then they have another set of judges to judge another event. And it's important for these judges to be able to collaborate in order to come up with the best overall score chiefs. And the purpose of that is giving all of the competitors the best credit for everything they did on the run and making our competition more competitive. So we set up a network, basically, in a day on a ski run. And we're able to capture video all the way down the run. And the judges were able to sit in a nice comfortable conference room and have, you know, coffee and donuts and their hands weren't frozen as they were taking notes on on the competitors, they were able to actually see instant replay. That was a fun one. We we did another one last year at a mine in the central eastern United States that had had what they call a subsidence. This was effectively a failure of the structure supporting this underground mine. And the whole mountain under which it was done collapsed. And the good news is no one was hurt. So there were there were no fatalities and no injuries. But M Shaw, the mining Safety and Health Administration who oversees safety in mines across the United States told the operator, they could not let anyone go back into the mind unless they were able to figure out a way to do an unmanned survey of the mind. And so we equipped several autonomous robots with our breadcrumb nodes, and set a convoy of them into this underground mine,where there's no lights, there's no power, there's obstructions because the roof is falling in.And they were able to spread out. And we got these robots,the league robot got two kilometers deep into this mine where the subsidence was, they were able to send 4k video back out to the surface along with they also had a LIDAR sensor where it takes a point cloud.And I don't know if you've ever seen any of the National Geographics where they fly over the jungle in Central America and strip off the next question,same technology. It could work in the dark very effectively. So they took a point cloud, which is a massive amount of data. And we were streaming about 80megabits per second. From robot to robot to robot out of the mind to the surface where they captured it recompile the point club, and within less than an hour they were able to virtually with in front of the M shine Specter, let him see as if he were walking through the mind what the conditions were. And he immediately said, Wow, this is amazing. And we can start formulating a plan to let people back in. Now, I had the opportunity to visit this mine during this inspection and talk with the M shot inspector. And it was really interesting because he said to me when we told the mind, they could go back in after they did an unmanned exploration. We were just throwing them a bone. We honestly didn't believe there was technology that would enable them to do this. But we didn't have the heart to tell them they were never going to be able to go back in this mind. And he said we're we're blown away at what your technology accomplished. And from now on.If there's ever a caveat or a subsidence in an underground mine in the US, you can guarantee we will stipulate that they need to get a hold of reagent and reagent can help them set up an unmanned inspection of their underground mine so that we don't have to send people into unsafe areas before we verify that the conditions are safe enough for people We'll go back in.
Blythe Brumleve:
35:02
And I imagined that this would have use cases in several different industries.I mean, archeologic archeology comes to mind, as far as you know, exploring a lot of Central and South America using LIDAR technology, things like that.But to explore these buildings and these structures that haven't been explored and meet hundreds, sometimes 1000s of years, is that a safe assumption? Or is that in the works?
Unknown:
35:26
That's absolutely a great example. You know, we've also used these with firemen who were in a hazardous material situation, let's say there's a building at a chemical plant,they have to go into a metal building, and there's a fire,they can take breadcrumbs with them. along, you know, they're wearing their hazmat suits, and they can build a network,because we can transmit voice,video and data over the same network. So this is a network just like you'd have in your home or your office, it's based on what's called IP, which stands for Internet protocol. So it's, it's the exact same network, everybody's used to working within their office. It you know, basically, if it has an Ethernet plug, you can connect devices into it and transport the data over our network. So it's very simple to use. And, you know, it has countless applications in dangerous environments.
Blythe Brumleve:
36:34
Any plans to get this technology into conference and events? Because the Wi Fi is always comparable at conferences?
Unknown:
36:45
Well, to be honest, we use it a lot for ourselves at conferences and events. We quite often have sample networks set up around our booth. And people are often amazed because they know how horrible communications are a trade shows. In two weeks,we'll be at promap in Chicago.And I'm sure we'll have a demo network set up there. If anybody would like to stop by our booth and check it out. We'd love to show it to him and tell him about ragin.
Blythe Brumleve:
37:24
Yeah, what a pitch to be. Just tell people don't use the crappy conference Wi Fi, which is a racket anyways, come over it and use reagent instead. So what does the you know with it? I don't want to say it sounds complicated, because as you're explaining it, I'm like, okay,that makes a lot of sense. But I imagined for, you know, a lot of folks, you know, who may be used to, you know, I think of like my dad, who is you know, the the typical blue collar worker, if I tried to explain what reagent is to him, he would probably be scratching his head 30 seconds into the conversation, his eyes would start glazing over. So how do you like the sales process,the onboarding process? What does that look like, for you and your position?
Unknown:
38:07
So well, maybe maybe I'll first tell you how I would explain our system to somebody like your dad, please. Yeah. And then we can talk about the sales onboarding process. So most people have a smartphone today.And I would imagine, your dad has a smartphone too. And most people have used their smartphone to connect to a wireless network. Mainly a Wi Fi network. And I usually ask them,So walk me through the steps that you do on your smartphone that connect to the Wi Fi. And they'll usually say, Well, I go into settings and I click Wi Fi.I see the list and I pick one.And I said, Okay, if you want to imagine what it's like to have a reagent network, imagine,instead of just picking one access point to connect to what if you could select Pick all?What if you could connect to every single access point at the same time, and your phone was smart enough at any moment to decide which of those access points had the best, fastest,most bandwidth and sent the requests that way? And maybe it brings the response back a different way? Because it was even faster? That's how urgent network functions. It has all these connections, and it's dynamically picking the best one. So most people go oh, wow.Yeah, that would be cool. So that's kind of the basic how I explain how reagent works differently than other networks they might be familiar with. As far as the sales process, rigid has reseller partners around the world we don't sell through Best Buy or fries or your favorite electronics store. We're not Retail wireless network. Because of the technology that's inside a breadcrumb, it's going to cost more than your basic home Wi Fi that you'd go to the electronics store and buy, or that you'd get from your internet provider. So we sell through professional value added resellers, or integrators, who work in different industries, most often, they introduce us to their customers that are having communications problems. And either they explain the technology and demonstrate it themselves. Or occasionally,they'll invite someone like myself to come with them. And we do joint presentations and joint demonstrations, to show them how the technology would apply to their environment. And it's,it's really rewarding to see the amazement and the excitement on their faces when we're able to do things they've never seen done before with other competing wireless solutions. And they're just shocked and amazed. And they're like, oh my gosh, and then they buy the equipment, and they put it in, and you go back and see him and they are just such, I hate to use the term fanboy. But I mean, they're getting about, Oh, my heck, you just transformed our whole operation. The IT department used to be the laughingstock of the company. And now nobody does anything without calling in the IT department and consulting with us first, because now instead of our solutions not working, they work so well. And everybody uses them, everybody relies on them. And it it makes everything in the operations smooth. And they the other funny thing is how many times we see people get promoted after they've put in a reagent network. I've seen it countless time after time after time, the buyer agent network, and six,nine months later, they've got a new job with a bigger title. And I'm sure a bigger paycheck,because they solved some of the most difficult problems that the companies were having. And, and their their stature in their job changes.
Blythe Brumleve:
42:27
Yeah, I mean, I It sounds like a good pitch out there for folks who you know,are experiencing connectivity issues, and you also want a raise or you want a bump in your job responsibilities. It sounds like that is the perfect solution for them. It says to contact your agent and and get some connectivity issues fixed.And so with a lot of you know,you've talked about a lot of the challenging locations, that you've installed the technology,are there any challenging locations that you haven't, you know, integrated with yet, but hope to in the future?
Unknown:
43:01
Oh, wow. That's, uh,you know, we've done some limited work with motorsports. I think there's a huge opportunity in motorsports. You know, if you if you'd like, I know I'm that long the East Coast stock car racing is a huge thing. People might think, Oh, well, we have streaming video off cars now. On a very, very limited basis.They're streaming video off cars, you basically have a guy in a helicopter with the telescopic antenna hanging out the door, pointing at one car,and he literally has to aim his antenna at that car and follow it around the track to pull video off that car. You never see a screen in a motorsports race with 20 different cameras all streaming at the same time.Never happened. You see like the the overview of the track from the fixed camera. And then you might see one little window with an in car camera. And that's because the guy in the helicopters tracking that car around the racetrack. There's we've done lots of tests with various motorsports companies.There's a professional racecar team that deploys Rajant at the track to help pull machine information off their car. But we have not yet signed a deal with any of the you know, like the Indy league or the Formula One league to have reached the end of every track for every race so that they could get streaming video off every car. I I believe that's coming. There is a project going on with one of the sponsoring up entities for motorsports league in Australia that's doing a proof of concepts. And I think that's kind of, you know, to come. If you go to YouTube, you can search ragin racecar, and you'll find a few different tests that we've done. And Rajant , really the only solution that's going to work for that kind of environment. So I think that's something we'll see more of in the future. But it's, it's an app, it's a technology that really could be applied to any number of solutions and scenarios and environments and industries. And if people need better communications, I would I would say, if you you know, like in a warehouse environment, if you have robots, and you don't feel like you're getting the full value out of them, nine times out of 10 the problem is not your robot, the problem is your network.
Blythe Brumleve:
46:08
Wow, that that's, that's a really, I think, a fascinating place to end this conversation. Because this has been filled with a lot of different gems. And I think you're out here solving problems that folks don't know that they have until they're actually in those conditions. And in those environments to experience the frustration of not being able to connect to certain devices, you know, just depending on where you're located or where your work seems to be located. So So Todd, this has been a really great discussion. where can folks follow you follow regions,you know, all the work that you guys got got going on?
Unknown:
46:42
You can come to you can follow Rajant both on our website, www dot reagent, it's Rajant.com. We also post almost every day on LinkedIn. You can also find me Todd Rigby on LinkedIn. And you know, if you have a communications problem,come to our website, drop a note, or give us a call. We'd love to talk to you. We'd love to help you solve your problems.I will tell you unequivocably reagent has a mountain of happy happy customers.
Blythe Brumleve:
47:24
That's awesome.I mean, obviously, you're you're touching a bunch of different industries and really fascinating ways. So this has been a great conversation. So appreciate your time again, and I will link to all of those things that you talked about in the show notes just to make it easy for folks but thank you again, Todd that this was great.
Todd Rigby:
47:41
Well, I appreciate you having me on your show. I enjoyed the conversation and you know, we should do it again sometime.
Blythe Brumleve:
47:49
Absolutely.Hopefully you'll be fixing conference Wi Fi next has been that's that's another good opportunity for us I think.I hope you enjoy this episode of everything is logistics, a podcast for the thinkers in freight, telling the stories behind how your favorite stuff and people get from point A to B. If you liked this episode, do me a favor and sign up for our newsletter. I know what you're probably thinking, oh God,another newsletter. But it's the easiest way to stay updated when new episodes are released. Plus,we drop a lot of gems in that email to help the one person marketing team and folks like yourself who are probably wearing a lot of hats at work in order to help you navigate this digital world a little bit easier. You could find that email signup link along with our socials and past episodes. Over at everything is logistics.com And until next time, I'm Blythe and go Jags
