IoT trends 2023: the sensor-based Internet of Things makes it possible to control energy consumption intelligently, to equip rural communities with modern citizen services, and to keep an eye on the environment with measurement data. The LoRaWAN radio technology is gaining ground in all these areas.
Schimberg and Berlin, 30 November 2022: Alpha-Omega Technology GmbH & Co. KG is an expert in IoT infrastructures and operates the largest online shop for low-energy products in Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN) in the German-speaking region. The company's experts see three major trends in the dynamic market for sensor-based IoT applications.
1. Smart energy control: The German energy saving ordinance requires prompt measures in energy management. These can be realised with intelligent energy control, so IoT solutions are gaining ground.
2. Smart villages: Smart village applications based on LoRaWAN technology remotely monitor street lights, road surfaces and waste bins. A modern infrastructure with attractive digital citizen services gives rural communities a locational advantage.
3. Smart environmental monitoring: Sensors in a LoRaWAN IoT make an important contribution to adapting to the consequences of climate change. They measure soil values and help detect forest fire risks early, monitor the water levels and water quality of rivers and lakes, or record measurements in arable soils for CO2 removal.
Trend 1: Smart energy control
Since September, the German energy saving ordinance has been in force, with which the government wants to prevent an energy supply emergency this winter. For example, room temperatures in public buildings are to be limited, hot water supply switched off and shop lighting reduced. If municipalities and companies want to implement the ordinance, they also have to take short-term energy management measures to cut electricity or gas consumption quickly. For intelligent energy control, IoT solutions based on LPWAN technologies are gaining ground. With the open radio standard Long Range Wide Area Network, LoRaWAN for short, smart control of central hot-water radiator systems can be implemented, for example.
The energy saving ordinance requires prompt measures in energy management. These can be realised with intelligent energy control based on a sensor-based IoT.
Jan Bose, managing director at Alpha-Omega Technology: "Sensors such as the 'Vicki' from MClimate are available on the market that transmit not only actual values to a back end but also target values and information on how far the valve is open. In the back end, all data is visualised for the user. The valve position is readjusted automatically. A schedule can also be stored, for example to lower the temperature in office buildings automatically at night and at weekends and raise it again in time when needed. This saves a great deal of energy."
Sensors also help to save energy indirectly. With them, companies and public properties can ensure, for example, that windows are opened wide only for short bursts of ventilation and are not left tilted overnight. Because inspection rounds are inefficient, especially in large buildings, LoRaWAN technology is ideal there. Discreet window sensors are easy to install and, thanks to their low power consumption and long battery life, can monitor the opening status of each window for years. This can be a sensible, easy-to-implement building block for long-term energy savings.
Trend 2: Smart villages
Digitalisation can bring great benefits to rural communities, for example when sensors in sparsely populated areas signal the failure of street lights. A village with a modern infrastructure has locational advantages: modern citizen services help attract young families and, with them, urgently needed skilled workers. IoT solutions can also ease staff shortages. With fill level sensors on public waste bins, for example, refuse collection can optimise its staffing by emptying bins when needed instead of on fixed dates.
Smart village applications based on LoRaWAN technology remotely monitor street lights, road surfaces and waste bins. A modern infrastructure with attractive digital citizen services gives rural communities a locational advantage.
The smart village project SMARTinfeld in the village of Martinfeld in the Eichsfeld district of Thuringia shows how the IoT solutions work in practice. For more than five years, Alpha-Omega Technology has been testing sensor-based LoRaWAN IoT applications here under realistic conditions in cooperation with the municipality and optimising them for rural areas: from intelligent street lighting and measuring road surface temperatures and traffic counting to monitoring transformer stations. The findings and skills are intended to benefit IoT projects in other communities.
Trend 3: Smart environmental monitoring
As a next step, test projects in environmental sensing are planned in SMARTinfeld, for example to keep an eye on the water levels of local watercourses. "In rivers and lakes, sensors can provide information on water quality based on the conductivity of the water. Impending pollution, for example, can be detected early and its consequences mitigated. And ultrasonic sensors mounted on bridges can monitor water levels so that communities can react in time to levels that are too high or too low," explains Jan Bose. For agriculture and forestry, monitoring the weather and soil properties is of particular interest, with sensors measuring temperature, soil moisture and precipitation, for example. A LoRaWAN IoT can also help detect forest fire risks as early as possible. "For this, a multi-sensor is used that records temperature, humidity, air pressure and various gases such as hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide," explains Jan Bose.
Sensors in a LoRaWAN IoT make an important contribution to adapting to the consequences of climate change. As part of the climate protection project “Project Carbdown”, for example, they record measurements in arable soils for CO2 removal.
LoRaWAN sensors can even collect measurements underground, as the climate protection project "Project Carbdown" shows. In a partnership between science and industry, the project investigates how CO₂ can be captured from the air using rock dust on arable land. Special sensors are used to determine soil moisture, temperature, conductivity and pH and to record further environmental parameters. Their probes are buried, and the radio module, connected by a rugged cable, sends the data from above ground. Further sensors record rainfall and temperature at close intervals and show how, for example, soil pH and conductivity change shortly after weather events. The project is intended to show how much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere can be bound in arable land per hectare and year. In future, farms could earn additional CO2 certificates if they apply this method.
Trend technology LoRaWAN
LoRaWAN stands for Long Range Wide Area Network and belongs to the group of Low Power Wide Area Networks, LPWAN for short. This radio technology needs only little energy to transmit measurement and sensor data over long distances, up to ten kilometres in rural areas. The sensors' batteries last for many years. Users build their own infrastructure and are thus independent of the operators of the large mobile networks. For LoRaWAN, the market also offers a wide selection of sensors for use cases beyond the classic spectrum of heating valves or parking sensors.