The mobile network 5G is a hot topic right now in the public discourse, including costly auctions and a discussion about whether or not “every backwater needs 5G”. The subject LoRaWAN fades into the background although it could be considered as an alternative. WiriTec GmbH sees potential in the new technology and has been looking into this technologie for quite some time because of the various possibilities and advantages.
What is LoRaWAN?
Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) is a system of servers, gateways and nodes as well as the equivalent protocol for radio links. This system works in a frequency range (ISM band) that is also used for baby phones or radio thermometers. One of the advantages is that LoRaWAN can be used all over Germany without causing any costs for the mobile network services. Moreover, the gateway — which receives data from sensors and forwards it — can have a coverage of many kilometres depending on the standard (we had a range of 25 km in our test). Additionally, the sensors have a very low energy demand and batteries can run for years. Furthermore, permeation is very good since even thick concrete walls are no problem for LoRaWAN.
Areas of Application for LoRaWAN
The possibilities to apply the network are various as are the nodes. Sensors for determining indoor climate, evaluation buttons, presence sensors and many more open up a number of possibilities for the usage of LoRaWAN. Smart cities, mobile apps as well as retrofits of buildings and facilities are only a few examples and show that LoRaWAN is an eminent part of the Internet of Things (IoT). In the following passages, we are going to introduce a few concrete examples for the use of LoRaWAN technologies.
Fill-Level Monitoring
Full trash cans or tanks: Sensors that can detect when a fill level is too high, send this data with the help of LoRaWAN. In the framework of a smart city, the process of picking up garbage can be managed efficiently. With the collected information, garbage trucks can drive to specific spots where trash cans must be emptied, or the network can tell you if any trash cans have to be put outside due to their fill level.
Transmitting Evaluations
The coffeemaker should be filled again, and the workplace is in a bad condition, hence, it needs to be cleaned again: With an evaluation button you can let the responsible department know about the condition of a place, which makes managing your buildings and facilities more efficient.
Determining the Indoor Climate
Temperature or humidity levels can be determined by sensors and then forwarded. It enables you to control the indoor climate from afar, no matter if it is too humid in the break room or if the temperatures in an oven that heats metals are exceeding a specific range.
Diagnose Energy and Water Use
Thanks to LoRaWAN, you can receive the exact consumption data, which is expedient when managing scattered real assets. There is no need to send someone to various places to check on the measured data, since the numbers are received and processed at selected places.
Obtaining alerts
A surveillance of the heater function and other technical machines is possible as well, thanks to LoRaWAN. If the use is not relevant but the functional ability itself, an alert makes a quick adjustment possible and therefore, down times of facilities become shorter.
Your partner for LoRaWAN projects
Concerning data acquisition and processing, WiriTec is a specialist that has been dealing with these subjects for ten years. We have various sets of rules at work which check the incoming information first, filter duplicates, classify according to priority or other factors and therefore, extract the relevant information from a large amount of data. Moreover, due to speedikon® C, we have experience in processing this data. Incoming and processed data is automatically allocated to the right facility, forwarded to the responsible person and a subsequent process is released when necessary. That is why we are an excellent partner for processing data that has been collected with the help of LoRaWAN technologies.
We are looking forward to your message if you want to realise a project with us.