IoT Ventures selected Semtech to supply LoRa devices for its Drought Early Warning System, a network of low-cost rainwater tank and rain monitors
IoT semiconductor company Semtech announced a collaboration with New Zealand’s IoT Ventures and global connectivity provider Lacuna Space.
As part of this collaboration, IoT Ventures has used Semtech’s LoRa devices to develop its Drought Early Warning System, which is a network of low-cost rainwater tank and rain monitors to analyze water consumption and rain forecasts in remote New Zealand and South Pacific Island communities.
The water monitoring system features small form-factor sensors, which are solar powered and provide an in-field life of seven to ten years without intervention, according to IoT Ventures. In addition, the Drought Early Warning System is starting to use Semtech’s Long Range-Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (LR-FHSS) satellite connectivity to integrate with a terrestrial network using LoRaWAN.
“The remote location of many Pacific Island countries makes it challenging to provide emergency water supplies during droughts, and if an island runs out of water, it may take several weeks for water to be transported,” said Matt Hector-Taylor, co-founder at IoT Ventures. “By combining low-cost sensors with LoRa and strong connectivity signal capabilities, the joint solution helps provide consistent access to clean drinking water for citizens of some of the most remote islands in the world, supports the United Nations Sustainability goals and reduces crisis response.”
According to Semtech, the implementation of smart water monitoring infrastructure comprised of sensors and gateways using LoRa devices and the LoRaWAN standard, enable governments and utility providers to collect data with the aim of managing costs and appropriately allocate resources.
“As climate change affects water availability worldwide, Semtech’s LoRa devices and the LoRaWAN standard help governments anticipate and mitigate water supply issues,” said Marc Pégulu, vice president of IoT product marketing and strategy for Semtech’s Wireless and Sensing Products Group. “The Drought Early Warning System from IoT Ventures and Lacuna Space will provide communities scalable, highly-accurate resource management capabilities.”
Earlier this month, Semtech confirmed a deal to acquire Canadian firm Sierra Wireless for $1.2 billion. The deal, subject to final approval, will bring together Semtech’s LoRa/LoRaWAN property, enabling non-cellular low-power wide-area (LPWA) IoT in unlicensed spectrum, with Sierra Wireless’ well-established cellular-based IoT business.
Semtech said it will create a “comprehensive IoT platform” which brings together the “ultra-low power benefits of LoRa with higher bandwidth capabilities of cellular”.
“This acquisition brings together two important technologies for the future of IoT – LoRa and cellular – to enable the digitization of the industrial world with a comprehensive chip-to-cloud platform. Semtech expects the combination of… cellular capabilities across its modules, gateways and managed connectivity together with… LoRa-enabled end-nodes to create a uniquely differentiated IoT portfolio,” Semtech said.
The acquisition has been approved by the Semtech and Sierra Wireless boards of directors. However, the transaction still needs to be approved by Sierra Wireless shareholders, some regulatory bodies and the Supreme Court of British Columbia.
