LoRaWAN was deployed in more than 100 countries in 2019, with around 80 million connected devices worldwide delivering on promises of improved air quality, road safety, and citizen wellbeing.
Taking on a project of this scale can be daunting, so where do you start, and how do you implement a smart city network?
We thought, instead of us telling you how to do it, you might prefer to hear from someone with recent experience.
We asked Allun Preece, Principal Engineer at Bradford Council, for some words of wisdom for those looking to embark on their smart city project. Allun recently initiated a roll-out of a LoRaWAN network for Bradford Council incorporating sensors, covering adaptive lighting, monitoring air pollution, road temperature, vehicular and pedestrian counting, and much more; so, who better placed to turn to for advice.
Allun’s top five tips:
#1 Senior management support
Without buy-in from the top, it will be an uphill struggle and impossible to get the project off the ground.
#2 Be clear: What you are implementing and why
Our CMS was about having the system in place to control the lighting, which then gives us a future proof solution and control of the energy consumption.
#3 If it’s about savings, quantify them! Financially.
The adage the numbers speak for themselves, be fully armed with financial predictions of savings and cost.
#4 Don’t get side-tracked – stick to your guns.
If you have a clear vision of the project, don’t let other people put you off what you are trying to achieve. There are so many different technologies out there it is easy to get side-tracked. And lastly…
