With intelligent LED street lighting and a LoRaWAN network, a forward-looking digitalisation project is starting in Thuringia: smartinfeld.de
Berlin, Schimberg, 12 June 2018: In Martinfeld, a district of Schimberg, the starting signal has been given for the implementation of the Internet of Things project „SMARTinfeld“ . The aim of the project is to create the highest density of IoT applications in a single municipality anywhere in Germany. As a first step towards becoming a smart city, the municipality has now converted its entire street lighting to intelligent LED lights. Sensors detect faulty lamps and, where required, control the switching time of each individual street light. This saves the municipality money in the long term and increases safety and comfort. The project sets the course for future digital services in Martinfeld. Sensors could soon report, for example, when public waste bins need to be emptied. The technical basis is a Long Range Wide Area Network, LoRaWAN for short, which can transmit measurement and sensor data over very long distances with very little energy. Planning for the conversion of the roughly 100 lights began in Martinfeld two years ago. The infrastructure is provided by the local IT company Alpha-Omega Technology , which is also in charge of project management. Partners are the municipality of Schimberg and several companies, such as ZENNER IoT Solutions. "SMARTinfeld" is already attracting attention from utilities well beyond the region. http://smartinfeld.de
On 6 June 2018, Martinfeld, a district of Schimberg in the Eichsfeld district of Thuringia, entered a new era. What at first glance looks like a routine conversion to modern LED street lighting is an important step towards future digital services for citizens. The planning phase for the modernisation began two years ago. At that time, district mayor Gerhard Stitz and Jan Bose, managing director of Alpha-Omega Technology, decided to create a future-proof solution that goes far beyond controlling the street lights. In future, the project partners want to use the network now in place to collect further information, such as environmental data, and make it available to citizens.
"The first goal is to ensure stable operation of the street lights, knowing full well that as a pioneer in this field you take a certain risk. There are currently no comparable projects in Germany in terms of scale and technology," says Jan Bose, managing director of Alpha-Omega Technology and initiator of the project.
LoRaWAN for energy-saving and secure data transmission
The basis of "SMARTinfeld" is an energy-efficient and robust LoRaWAN, a low-power wireless network protocol. Such a network makes it possible to transmit measurement and sensor data over very long distances with little energy, up to 15 kilometres in rural areas. With its two-level symmetric encryption, in which the key is never transmitted over the air, the LoRaWAN protocol offers a solid and secure basis for data transmission. The necessary hardware is provided by Alpha-Omega Technology, because the company does not only accompany IoT projects. With iot-shop.de it also runs an online shop for sensors and other equipment needed to build professional LoRaWAN networks. In addition to the municipality of Schimberg, the project partners are ZENNER IoT Solutions GmbH, leitec® Gebäudetechnik GmbH and other national and international companies.
The goal: the highest density of IoT applications in a single municipality
One use case is the monitoring and control of street lights, which has now become reality in Martinfeld. The sensors detect faulty lights immediately and inform the person responsible via an app. And for events in the village, such as festivals, the switching times of the street lights can be controlled differently from normal operating hours. "In addition to the service we want to offer our residents and visitors to events, the safety aspect of preventing accidents is of course paramount," says district mayor Gerhard Stitz. The conversion is also expected to halve the annual energy costs of 6,600 euros. The use of further sensors is already being considered for the near future, such as monitoring the fill level of the public waste bins in the village. The IoT applications create a clear cost advantage for the municipality, because it can deploy its staff efficiently.
The innovative project is already attracting attention outside Martinfeld: several utilities and metering service providers have shown interest in the technology and in adopting individual components of "SMARTinfeld".
Project website: smartinfeld.de
Press contact
Sabrina Ortmann Kommunikation
Phone: +49 (0)30-120876871
Email: presse@alpha-omega-technology.de
Alpha-Omega Technology
Jan Bose
Phone: +49 (0)36082 84789-0
Email: jb@alpha-omega-technology.de
About Alpha-Omega Technology
Alpha-Omega Technology GmbH & Co KG, based in Schimberg, Thuringia, and in Berlin, was founded in 2016 by Jan Bose as a sister company of the management consultancy Alpha-Omega Projects GmbH. By developing IoT applications based on low-power networks such as LoRaWAN, Alpha-Omega Technology creates novel and cost-effective solutions for public and commercial customers. In addition to selling IoT hardware and developing software, Alpha-Omega Technology establishes IoT networks for municipalities and companies together with its partner ZENNER IoT Solutions. With iot-shop.de Alpha-Omega Technology runs Germany's largest online shop for sensors and other equipment for building professional LoRaWAN networks. Its customers include energy utilities and municipalities as well as research institutions and industrial companies. Further information at www.alpha-omega-technology.de