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Why Utilities are choosing Smart LoRaWAN® connectivity

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WHY UTILITIES ARE CHOOSING SMART LoRaWAN ® CONNECTIVITY www.lora-alliance.org Hangzhou Water Meter Co. Ltd (HWM), China HWM, a water meter manufacturer in China focusing on smart water utility equipment design, research, and manufacture, has incorporated LoRa devices and the LoRaWAN protocol into its smart water metering solutions enabling public utility companies to improve efficiency and reduce management costs. By the end of 2019, HWM's LoRa-based water metering solution had been deployed in 72 residential districts in Hangzhou. It is expected to deploy 80 gateway devices and tens of thousands of intelligent water meter terminals. Currently, hundreds of thousands of LoRa-based water metering solutions by HWM have been deployed in Zhejiang, Anhui, Hunan, Sichuan, and other regions of China to help water supply customers transform to intelligent public utilities management. Suntront, China Suntront Technology, a leading smart meter solution company for heat, gas, water, and energy, has incorporated LoRaWAN devices and wireless radio frequency technology into its smart gas and water meters for more advanced coverage and analytics. Suntront's smart gas and water metering solutions utilize LoRa Technology to remotely measure and adjust the levels of flow through piping by accessing a LoRaWAN network and transmitting data via third-party applications. A simple user management software service connects to Suntront solutions and provides the utility manager all necessary functions, including the ability to view usage trends and to monitor each meter remotely. Utility managers then use the data to program the LoRa-enabled devices to automatically shut off or change valves when certain thresholds are met. The solution also automates the management process to limit human error. Lowan, China Lowan Information, a leading LPWAN solution provider and LoRaWAN-powered IoT network operator helped the city of Hangzhou digitally transform their grid and energy management systems. Lowan provides cities with flexible and reliable smart-grid solutions to maximize energy efficiency. The company deploys LoRa technology with its long range, low power platform to improve power management across the country. As a result, utility companies save money and time, avoid utility energy losses and serious safety risks. LoRa-based IoT solutions help identify when current is drawn, monitor electricity usage remotely, instead of manual personal visits and readings, and decrease human reading errors, reducing billing costs overall which free utilities to focus on creating business value by improving services and improving the quality of life for citizens. Transpower and KotahiNet, New Zealand When Transpower, the owner and operator of the National Grid, the high voltage transmission network in New Zealand wanted an automated way to continuously measure cable distance in real-time, KotahiNet iteratively designed, produced, and tested a LoRaWAN device capable of operating in the harsh electromagnetic environment using a distance ranging laser, transmitting data over KotahiNet's public LoRaWAN network, and visually displaying the results online. Two final prototype devices are now in operation, providing cable distance and temperature data in real-time. These data can be compared to predictive models; provide a better understanding of risk exposure as well as mitigation strategies; and reduce operational costs. The next steps are being considered for further devices and measurement. NNNCo, Australia In Australia, NNNco, a public LoRaWAN operator, has started deployment of a network for connecting 170,000 water meters in the Gold Coast region, illustrating how cities are seeing the benefits of a technology that is ready to use for IoT. NORTH AMERICA Vision Metering, USA Vision Metering, a leading developer of Internet of Things (IoT) utility metering solutions, has incorporated LoRa devices and the LoRaWAN protocol into its line of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI)-based smart electric meters and meter interface units for water and gas meters. Vision's LoRa-based applications enable the upgrade of legacy metering solutions, requiring traditional walk-by or drive-by reading methods, to fixed, long range AMI, for hourly or daily data transfer over LoRaWAN networks for efficient utility management and billing.

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