The Internet of Things (IoT)

IoT and IIoT are emerging fields of wireless communication among devices, ranging from smart sensors to industry standard rugged transducers, and end user applications. Sentient computing created a solution based on LoRa wireless technology which uses the LoRaWAN protocol to communicate on the 915MHz Australian frequency band.

Sentient has successfully installed 4 Lora networks around WA where:

• LoRa has been used to provide long range wireless communication.
• A LoRaWAN compliant local Gateway has been installed to provide secure in-house communication with the data being kept on the local Control Network and not being forwarded to a cloud-based application.
• LoRaWAN compliant Class A sensors with a battery life of 5 years and up and a sampling period of between 10 minutes and an hour have been installed with success. Some of these include Temperature and Humidity, Pressure based and Ultrasonic Level Sensors, Vibration monitorig sensors
• For some sensors an auto update of the sampling rate (to provide quick updates to the operator if the the sensor data changes) was enabled.
• The solution has been integrated with MacroView, currently supervising the whole plant at these locations, to provide monitoring and trending facilities. The solution could also be used to provide data directly into most Control Systems or Historians if required.