Alpha-Omega Technology and Datacake offer a plug-and-play solution for reading smart metering systems via LoRaWAN
Berlin, 19 May 2020: The IoT company Alpha-Omega Technology GmbH & Co. KG and Datacake GmbH have integrated the product innovation KLAX into the low-code platform Datacake. KLAX is an attachment for the integrated optical interface that is fixed by magnet to modern metering systems for electricity and gas. The sensor automatically captures the values via the meters' optical interface and transmits them continuously via LoRaWAN. Datacake offers plug-and-play monitoring, notifications and data analysis for IoT devices, sensors and machines. The platform can be used without programming skills: individual configuration is done entirely through graphical elements.
This makes it even easier for users to commission their own IoT, maintain devices, and monitor, analyse and control measured values. "Users often fail at configuring the various components and functions of their IoT, such as the network operator, the hardware and the front end, and bringing everything online together. This is very time-consuming and not everyone has the necessary programming skills," says Simon Kemper, founder of Datacake. "Anyone using our platform does not need to program. We orchestrate the individual components for the user. We are, so to speak, the conductor in the Internet of Things." The cloud-based platform connects the KLAX optical reader for electricity and gas values to the desired LoRaWAN provider with a mouse click, be it TTN, Kerlink Wanesy or LORIOT. Customisable dashboards present the received data to the user, also on a smartphone if desired: costs, meter readings, daily consumption, trends and analyses.
"KLAX Bundle": plug-and-play entry into LoRaWAN
"With the integration of KLAX into the Datacake platform, we are taking another step towards making LoRaWAN applications in the electricity and gas sector as easy as possible to set up and operate," says Jan Bose, managing director of Alpha-Omega Technology. The IoT company started in February this year in cooperation with the LoRaWAN initiative The Things Network (TTN) and the "KLAX Bundle" product package for getting started with LoRaWAN at home. The "KLAX Bundle" contains the reader KLAX and the The Things Indoor Gateway (TTIG) from TTN. This was the first time a combined gateway-and-sensor product designed as plug-and-play was available for Long Range Wide Area Networks. Both devices are optimised for easy commissioning. With the inexpensive gateway, users can build a sensor-based IoT on a LoRaWAN basis even without prior knowledge. In combination with KLAX, the readings of electricity and gas meters can be monitored, and the measured values are available in the back end shortly after measurement. Alpha-Omega Technology has now completed the plug-and-play concept with Datacake's user-friendly front end, which also includes a ready-made dashboard for KLAX.
KLAX closes a product gap
More and more smart metering systems for electricity and gas are in use throughout Germany. They use optical interfaces to output the measured values. Until a year ago, however, there was no technical solution for capturing this data in a LoRaWAN network and evaluating it continuously. The product innovation KLAX closed this gap at the beginning of 2019. KLAX is developed and manufactured by Alpha-Omega Technology together with comtac and ZENNER IoT Solutions. A current list of the devices KLAX can address is provided by the KLAX whitelist at https://alpha-omega-technology.de/klax-der-lorawan-faehige-optokopf