WaterGroup smart water meters to be connected to Sigfox LPWAN
Water conservation consultancy firm WaterGroup has signed a five-year partnership with Internet of Things (IoT) startup Thinxtra that will see its smart water meters connected with Sigfox's Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN).
The LPWAN currently covers 71 percent of the Australian population, but is expected to cover 95 percent by the end of the year. It is part of a wireless network dedicated to IoT that Sydney-based Thinxtra is rolling out across Australia and New Zealand.
"Large users of water will benefit greatly from this network coverage as it provides a platform for our smart meter systems," said Guenter Hauber-Davidson, MD at WaterGroup.
"In the past, the cost of connectivity was a constraint. Now, with the simple-to-use, large-scale and low-cost Sigfox network, monitoring their water use -- and identify leaks -- is finally within reach for any school, age care centre, shop, restaurant, car wash, or factory."
Hauber-Davidson claims Fairfield Council is saving AU$4,500 a month as a result of early leak detection enabled by WaterGroup's smart metering system, while the Australian National University generated more than AU$300,000 worth of savings within six weeks of installing the company's system.
In May, cloud services provider TasmaNet announced securing a partnership with Thinxtra to make the island-state of Tasmania "IoT-ready". Up to 55 communications towers will be rolled out across Tasmania by the third quarter of this year, with TasmaNet looking to provide access to its towers, its network for backhaul, and its engineers for ongoing maintenance and support of the sensory network.
The network is expected to enable the use of devices including smart meters, temperature probes for aquaculture, GPS trackers for agriculture assets, and development kits with free connectivity for most schools in the state.
ATF Services' wireless monitoring devices for construction sites is also being connected to Sigfox's LPWAN as part of the site safety company's partnership with Thinxtra.