The Internet Of Things Meets The Water Industry

The cost and complexity of moving data from one device to another within the wired or wireless world of water is about to change. A new non-profit association of members is hoping to standardize Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN) to enable Internet of Things (IoT), machine-to-machine (M2M) and smart city applications. By standardizing large area networks, the LoRa Alliance aims to drive connectivity costs down and make it much easier to connect sprinklers, leak detectors and water meters from multiple vendors for example on the same network.

Although not specific to the water industry, the new network protocol is ideally suited for the water market. “If we look, there are a lot of water problems,” explained Hardy Schmidbauer, Director of Wireless Products for Semtech (an Alliance member) and Vice Chairman of the Marketing Committee for the LoRa Alliance in a recent Water Online Radio interview. “A lot of efficiencies could be gained with proper monitoring or sensoring. IoT networks will significantly reduce the cost of connectivity and make it much easier to drop a sensor in a field and know if you are over-watering or deploy sensors to detect leak detection and conserve more.”

To learn more about the formation of the LoRa Alliance, its membership, the IoT and network security, click on the audio player below: