LoRa nodes deployed

4th of May 2017 - The LoRa field tests have successfully been closed after 3 month pilot. During this period feedback from the field and from the customers has been fed back into our design. The result is an upgrade in both software and hardware. This resulted is a excellent LoRa node with a battery lifetime expected to be in the range of 10+ years.

The updated LoRa nodes are now live deployed in the field. For the coming decade our node continue to measure information about ground water levels, rainfall and other environmental information which is needed for professional water management.

Smart Industry

ComResult becomes ambassador for the Smart Industry (Netherlands) as of Februari 2017. These companies are ready for the future and want to actively contribute to create a Smart Industry by sharing know-how (build communities, organize work-shops, hackatons etc.).

LoRa pilot

8^th of feb 2017 - ComResult and partners launched a LoRa pilot in Drenthe (Netherlands) to field test the in-house developed LoRa node. LoRa (Long Range) is the latest 'Internet of Things' (IoT) technology which allows to connect physical 'things' to the internet.

Our state-of-the-art LoRa node allows real-time monitoring of groundwater wells and rain meters and is capable to communicate over long distances (10 km or more). Of course it is designed for low-power consumption (battery lifetime of several years) which lowers maintenance costs and adds value to the end-user.  For the pilot LoRa coverage was created in the pilot area, thereby using the TTN network. 

 For this project a corporation was established between Ultracasting, Calcoric and Empowernow in 2016.

An article about our IoT pilot was published in the "Dagblad van het Noorden" newspaper (Dutch article - here). For more information please contact us.

IoT

Internet of Things

The Internet of Things (IoT) is the network of physical objects or "things" embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and network connectivity, which enables these objects to collect and exchange data. The Internet of Things allows objects to be sensed and controlled remotely across existing network infrastructure, creating opportunities for more direct integration between the physical world and computer-based systems, and resulting in improved efficiency, accuracy and economic benefit. Each thing is uniquely identifiable through its embedded computing system but is able to interoperate within the existing Internet infrastructure. Experts estimate that the IoT will consist of almost 50 billion objects by 2020.

Background

The term “Internet of Things” was coined by British entrepreneur Kevin Ashton in 1999. Typically, IoT is expected to offer advanced connectivity of devices, systems, and services that goes beyond machine-to-machine communications (M2M) and covers a variety of protocols, domains, and applications. The interconnection of these embedded devices (including smart objects), is expected to usher in automation in nearly all fields, while also enabling advanced applications like a Smart Grid, and expanding to the areas such as smart cities.

"Things," in the IoT sense, can refer to a wide variety of devices such as heart monitoring implants, biochip transponders on farm animals, electric clams in coastal waters, automobiles with built-in sensors, or field operation devices that assist firefighters in search and rescue operations. These devices collect useful data with the help of various existing technologies and then autonomously flow the data between other devices. Current market examples include smart thermostat systems and washer/dryers that use Wi-Fi for remote monitoring (src: wikipedia).

So what is the difference between IoT and M2M?

Machine to Machine (M2M) refers to technologies to communicate with other devices of the same type. M2M is a broad term as it does not pinpoint specific wireless or wired networking, information and communications technology. M2M is considered an integral part of the Internet of Things (IoT) and brings several benefits to industry and business in general as it has a wide range of applications such as industrial automation, logistics, Smart Grid, Smart Cities, health, defense etc. mostly for monitoring but also for control purposes. IoT on the other hand connects everything in the physical world, beyond the border of industries. IoT will tear down walls and will be disruptive as the number of new opportunities are endless.

IoT or IoE?

Today many people stress that the name IoT is not sufficient as it does not only connect Things and deployment will be much wider. Also humans will become part of the "IoT" and therefore many people believe the term should be changed to "Internet of Everything" (IoE). In the end this is just about naming and the actual rollout and deploymets will not change because of that.