LoRaWAN™ Compatible Sensor Developed in Just a Few Weeks in Timisoara, Romania
The battery-operated LoRaWAN™ Class A device can be installed anywhere in a range of up to 15 km from the base station, transmitting environmental readings once every minute for several years.
26 March 2016, Timisoara: the passionate electronics engineer Radu Motisan demonstrated a remote battery-operated application over LoRaWAN™: a small size, low power, self-sufficient environmental monitor for air pollution, using the Bosch BME680 integrated environmental sensor and LoRa™ communications. The final result was a tiny box that could be installed in a remote location (up to 15 km from the LoRa™ base station) and left to run continuously and provide information for several years.
The project, a local Romanian joined effort, was initiated by Innovation Labs and was supported by Orange, Tech Lounge, Cisco and Flashnet. The LoRaWAN™ network was built over an industrial Cisco IR900 router with a 868MHz LoRa™ board as a base station and using the LoRa™ Network Management Server provided by Flashnet. A RN2483 test board and several RN2483 SMD modules (dual 433/868 MHz module supporting LoRaWAN® Class A protocol) were used to build this low power, long life environmental surveillance unit, powered by a single CR2032 battery and using LoRa™ for data upload.
uRadMonitor has also been developed in order to carry over the Orange Hotspots in fixed or mobile public locations. The solution will also eventually be implemented through the LoRaWAN™ infrastructure that is currently being tested by Orange Romania.
It took less than two weeks after the equipment delivery to install the communication infrastructure, engineer and build the sensor node, 3D print its casing and connect everything to www.uradmonitor.com. You can see the full project details on Radu’s blog: http://www.pocketmagic.net/lorawan-rn2483-bme680/.
This initiative proves once more the high LoRaWAN™ availability for IoT projects and openness for small business startups. Using only local resources and without any extensive hardware investments, anyone can build and integrate different nodes and application within an existing LoRaWAN™ coverage.
About Radu Motisan:
trained as a software engineer and with a master degree in Computer Science from West University of Timisoara, Radu is also a passionate electronics engineer. Besides the formal learning in school (mostly mathematics and informatics), Radu also has extensive knowledge of electronics, physics and chemistry. Some of the things he builds, or various resources related to his research and computer programming are presented on his personal blog – http://www.pocketmagic.net.
About Innovation labs:
Innovation Labs 2016 is organized by Tech Lounge, Simplon, the Sibiu and Banat IT Community Foundation, with the support of Orange, Carrefour, The Romanian-American Foundation and of the following partners: Microsoft, Intel Software, Adobe, IXIA, Ericsson, Bloomberg, Electronic Arts, Cisco Romania, Flashnet, Cyberint, Aqua Carpatica, the Software Industry Employers Association (ANIS), together with the following academic partners: the Bucharest Polytechnics University, the Babes-Bolyai University, the Cluj-Napoca Technical University, the ‘Lucian Blaga’ University of Sibiu and the West University of Timisoara.
About Flashnet:
FLASHNET is a fast paced tech company that integrates the latest IT, energy and telecommunications technologies into hardware and software solutions, creating and implementing intelligent systems for smarter cities and better infrastructure. Founded in 2005, FLASHNET is a leader in intelligent utility management systems, with worldwide operations. Flashnet is a member of LoRa™ Alliance. www.flashnet.ro
