Archives December 2017

LoraWAN advantages for the Internet of Things, also known as IoT, are discussed in this article.

LoraWAN is a useful technology for business process improvement.

LoraWAN is a low data rate, low power, long-distance wireless technology.

The ‘Lora’ part of the name, stands for ‘LOng RAnge’.

LoraWAN is designed for Internet of Things (IoT) uses.

LoRa technology offers bi-directional communication, end-to-end security, mobility and localisation options.

Lora typically operates within license-free ISM (Industrial, Scientific, Medical) radio frequency bands located below 1 Gigahertz (GHz).

Operating in the ISM frequency bands, allows anyone to build a LoraWAN network, without the cost of Ofcom (in the UK) spectrum operating licences.

Lora technology provides a very long-transmission range, compared with Wifi & Bluetooth etc, while using exceptionally low power consumption.

There are of course IOT applications that are better suited to other wireless technologies, such as Wifi.

LoraWAN can only transmit small amounts of data at a time, so is not suitable for streaming video for example.

Lorawan Advantages are listed below:-

Long-range and deep penetration

LoraWAN is good at penetrating into buildings, or even underground. Therefore Sensors can be located indoors, outdoors and even underground, and still be able to communicate with the receiving Gateway device.

Distances of up to 50Km can be achieved in open areas and up to 10km within a town or city.

Low Power

LoraWAN’s advantage for IoT is offering low data bit rates, which results in low energy consumption.

Environmental Sensors such as Smart Parking or Soil sensors are designed with Lora technology, to send small amounts of data when required.

How often the small amounts of data are sent can be designed to be event-driven or at a scheduled time period.

This enables battery life to last for up to 10 years.

High Network Capacity

Lora uses an adaptive data rate and features a multi-channel multi-modem transceiver in the gateway device.

This allows for simultaneous messages to be received on multiple channels.

Therefore a LoRaWAN network has very high capacity and scalability options..

Open Standard, unlicensed band

The LoRaWAN specification is supported and maintained by the LoRa Alliance.

LoraWAN mostly operates in the licence free ISM (Industrial Scientific Medical) bands.

In Europe the frequency is 868MHz, and 915 in the USA etc.

The advantage of LoraWAN operating in an ISM band is that there are no expensive licence fees to be paid to local regulatory bodies (Ofcom in the UK, for example).

A potential disadvantage of using unlicenced frequency spectrum is interference from other users.

Security

Lora has AES-128 encryption built in as standard.

Ease of Installation

As Lora connected Sensors consume only tiny amounts of power, they can run from batteries for a number of years. This makes installation simple, as time-consuming & expensive cabling isn’t required.

Uses of LoraWAN

LoraWAN is great for a number of application areas. Some of these are listed below:

Smart Agriculture

Smart agriculture is a term that refers to using sensor technology monitor environmental factors.

Environmental factors that are monitored include soil Ph, moisture content, water levels etc.

The data from the sensors is fed back to the internet or local server, for analysis and processing.

As Lora is a two-way technology, it can also be used to send data commands out to equipment in the fields, as well as receive data.

This could for example allow water valves to be remotely controlled when the sensors detect a field that needs watering.

Smart Cities

Smart cities monitor environmental conditions and adjust and respond.

Lora is a perfect technology for sensors, as batteries can last for years, and it is long range.

An example application of LoraWAN as part of a Smart City ecosystem is its use in Smart Parking systems.

Smart parking systems use sensors embedded into the floor of a car park, to detect whether there is a car in a parking space.

This data is used to direct motorists to available free parking, and to make cities run smoother.

Yesway is based in Lincoln, UK.

+44 (01522) 740818

This article was written by Yesway engineer Craig Miles

Internet of Things | Two Way Radio Wireless Communications – Yesway Communications

Pouring water on an Induction Motor may stop it working, which can be monitored with IOT.

The reason water stops the motor working, is due to the lowering of the insulation resistance of the internal motor coil windings, but what are the wet induction motor symptoms.

The coil windings are located inside the metal case of the induction motor, and are what generates a magnetic field, which makes the motor turn.

This article will focus on what are known as ‘three phase’ Induction Motors, which have three sets of coil windings inside the motor. It will also be expanded to include the advantages of adding IOT monitoring.

The internal motor windings are wound together in a component known as a ‘Stator’.

Each winding is electrically separated by an insulation layer on the copper wire that makes up a stator winding.

Therefore there should be a high level of electrical resistance between each of the three coils.

This ‘Insulation Resistance’ is typically above 2 Mega Ohms in a correctly operating Induction Motor, however for marine Induction motors 0.5 Mega Ohms is the stated (Solas) minimum.

If the coil windings become wet, then the insulation resistance would drop to a low level, which would prevent the motor from operating, due to a short circuit between the coil windings.

The good news is that induction motors can usually be dried out, and therefore returned to having a high insulation resistance between the Stator coils.

Methods for drying out the stator coils to restore an acceptable insulation resistance include hot air, or heating the coil windings using a welding set.

It is of course vital that the motor is disconnected from the electricity supply, and that only a qualified person carries out the work.

On land based industrial installations a damp or wet  Induction Motor, should trip the safety circuit breakers (RCD), and isolate the supply.

This is because on land, the priority is to safeguard the safety of people and livestock.

On board ships and Super-yachts however, the priority is to maintain the ships important systems, such as Steering gear.

Therefore ships electrical systems are designed to tolerate a single earth fault, without shutting down the whole circuit.

A wet Induction Motor would cause an earth fault to be detected by the ships ‘fault panel’, but not trip the whole circuit.

Yesway has experience of working on Marine Induction motors, and years of related experience.

Monitoring Using Radio Communications

Radio communications technology can be used to monitor the condition of induction motors.

This can be part of your overall business improvement process.

Sensors can be attached or even integrated into induction motors, to monitor motor conditions.

Induction motor parameters that can be monitored by sensors are:

Phase Current

Motor speed RPM

Vibration

Torque

Connecting via LoraWAN

LoraWAN is a wireless technology that can be used for creating a Smart Factory.

Advantages of LoraWAN is low power consumption, so the sensor attached to the motor can be battery powered, and last years.

Another advantage of LoraWAN for monitoring wet Induction motors in Smart Factories is long range, and good signal penetration through walls.

Internet of Things | Two Way Radio Wireless Communications – Yesway Communications