Ping Services
Adelaide start-up, Ping Services, has developed an acoustic listening device for monitoring the health of wind turbines, creating a world-first plug and play device that attaches to the base of a wind turbine.
Ping Monitor uses the Google Cloud platform.
Ping Monitor can compare the sound that is detected from wind turbine blades to identify damage and the likely magnitude of that damage, communicated via Internet of Things technology, with the company using the Google Cloud platform.
“We did an extensive search on available cloud offerings and we settled on Google Firebase because it gave us a significant head start on product development, avoiding the initial time investment and set-up costs,” said Matthew Stead, CEO and co-founder of Ping Services. “We have since expanded into the more general Google Cloud offerings.
“The platform has a high level of inter-component integration and a cohesive overall design - while other platforms have features, it is unclear how the components work together.
“It’s great to have Google here to support our investment in the platform and meet Google employees - hopefully some of the Google development skills rub off on us.”
Ping Services is based at Lot Fourteen, which is also home to Google, MIT bigdata Living Lab, the Australian Institute for Machine Learning, Amazon Web Services and the national space agency.
“The network of people at Lot Fourteen has been great,” said Jon Cooper, CTO and co-founder of Ping Services. “There have been many great introductions and connections with other people that have been in similar positions to us. This all means we can learn from each other and accelerate our growth.”
Mike Duhne from Google Cloud in Adelaide believes collaboration with local companies is key in delivering solutions.
“The work we’re doing with Ping Services is a good example of what’s possible when organisations collaborate to drive solutions for global markets,” said Mr Duhne. “By building their renewable energy market solution on Google Cloud, Ping Services can deploy their Ping Monitor anywhere in the world using Google’s global network infrastructure.”
South Australia’s global recognition for hi-tech enables companies to collaborate and partner on significant, globally relevant projects, with Lot Fourteen providing the perfect environment for this to occur.
“There is a lot of support for the South Australian hi-tech ecosystem,” continued Mr Stead. “This is very visible and includes the Chief Entrepreneur, Stone & Chalk, various programs such as the Research, Commercialisation and Startup Fund (RCSF), the South Australia Venture Capital Fund (SAVCF), etc. It is very exciting to be part of this.”
Ping Services is working towards a significant expansion and deployment of their systems around the world, with a target of deploying 2,000 Ping Monitor systems by the end of 2021.
“We are already working with global leaders in the wind turbine generator sector and look forward to being able to make announcements on these partnerships.
“It’s exciting that Google has acknowledged the impressive technology environment at Lot Fourteen and will be supporting the development of us and other companies.”