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Thanks to its exceptional characteristics and unrivalled communication prices on the market, SIGFOX’s wireless connectivity solution is perfectly suited to the multitude of Machine-to-Machine applications. These applications are based on the periodical, sporadic or on demand feedback of small quantities of data that signal a condition, an alarm or indicate a measured value.
It also opens up new possibilities for applications in the field of the Internet of Things. Such possible applications include:
Smart Metering
Smart metering solutions enable water and energy suppliers to obtain fully automated, remote readings for meters and allow for the implementation of customer-orientated services (consumption monitoring, etc)
Smart metering applications usually imply:
- Large number of meters to be read (up to several million units)
- High level of geographical dispersion of measurement points to be read, located indoor, outdoor and underground
- Small quantity of data feedback for each node (the meter data)
- Strong autonomy and reliability constraints for the “modem” in order to avoid maintenance costs
Healthcare
Healthcare solutions such as telemedicine, among other things,to monitor patients from a remote location via a mobile device. These devices ensure the transmission of the medical parameters that need to be monitored. Telemedicine boxes must therefore conform to the following requirements:
- Compact and minimal weight to guarantee product acceptance and use
- A high level of self-sufficiency to avoid a break in the medical monitoring process
- Wireless communication capacities guaranteeing the transmission of information (measures or alarms) wherever the patient may be located (outside or inside a building) or his or her situation (in case of a fall)
- Geo-positioning capacities enabling the tracking of patient moving outside of a defined zone (security zone)
Building security and Building Intelligence
Today buildings are becoming more and more equipped with detection and regulation devices to ensure the comfort and security of their occupants: air conditioning, access control systems, fire detectors, intrusion detectors…
In order to guarantee their effective functioning and offer new services in relation with the management of buildings, the manufacturers of these equipments want to make them communicate. Specifications of the manufacturers require that the integrated communication functions integrated in their system guarantee:
- A minimum cost (module/modem and data transfer)
- The possibility of communicating limited quantities of data (alarms, condition) with an external network, without using existing private infrastructures (telephone or business network for example)
- An ultra-limited consumption (energy efficiency in systems being an increasingly critical parameter)
- The ability to be easily integrated, even in very compact equipment (a smoke detector for example)
- The possibility to easily manage a large number of devices that are widely dispersed, both outside and inside buildings
- A simple interface to access devices data and statistics
Smart City
The Smart City concept covers a multitude of urban installations and infrastructures that can be controlled from remote locations, automatically or semi-automatically: public lighting, traffic signal systems, information signs, waste collectors, parking spaces, parking meters, information points, public transportation, etc
M2M connectivity for urban applications must ensure:
- Extremely low implementation and operating costs, even on a large scale
- Excellent sapace and time service availability
- Maximum ease of use of the data collected from the equipment in order to implement services for general public use
Tracking
In a world where the circulation of goods is increasingly prominent, it is often necessary to verify the positioning of equipment and merchandise in order to ensure their correct management or security. The implementation of an effective, low-cost tracking device can only be possible if the system has an integrated modem ensuring the following criteria:
- Compact (to enable the development of miniature markers)
- A reliable, cost-effective and long distance transmission of localisation data
- An excellent autonomy even when using a low capacity battery
Equipment and infrastructure control/ Environmental and agricultural control
The development of next generation, low cost sensorshas enabled today’s managers and manufacturers to verify via remote control the integrity and correct functioning of their equipment.
Similarly, environmental and climate-related issues urge monitoring authorities and farmers to deploy underground measuring systems. These systems the measurement of the state of certain resources and to more efficiently organise agricultural production and cultural protection, whilst limiting the consumption of materials known to be dangerous for land and soils.
Never the less, due to the multitude of points requiring verification and the variety of land plots, information feedback requires a wireless communication technology that can guarantee the following:
- A low integration and transmission cost
- A very low level of consumption (ensuring several years of autonomy using a miniature battery) and a very low carbon footprint
- Easy to implement
Internet of Things
The Internet of Things is the use of technologies such as Machine-to-Machine to make objects used in our day-to-day lives “intelligent” and capable of communication.
Smart plants that send you a message when they are lacking water, intelligent clothing that indicate your sports performance, a lost key ring that you can locate remotely, electric household appliances that report potential malfunctions to the manufacturer, your coffee machine that orders its own capsules… The field of applications for the Internet of Things is immense and its full potential is yet to be fully unleashed.
In any case, whatever IoT application you imagine creating, you will need a wireless Internet connection:
- Compact and ultra-easy to integrate even for small sized objects
- With an annual cost that doesn’t exceed a few euros
- That ensures long-term service event for tiny batteries
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