In a joint Smart City project, Stadtwerke Bonn is cooperating with the city of Bonn to set up and permanently operate a high-performance LoRaWAN (Long Range Wide Area Network) radio network in Bonn. The pilot project serves to gather experience in the context of the LoRaWAN network construction and the available sensor technology and to identify new business areas. Stadtwerke Bonn will be responsible for the construction, installation and future operation of the LoRaWAN.

"The development of the LoRaWan infrastructure is an important part of our Smart City strategy. The many fields of application can create products and services that make life in our city faster, more efficient, healthier, more economical, more social or more environmentally friendly. This enables us to find answers to the needs of our customers and the challenges of our city and thus shape our future as a company," says Mirko Heid, Head of Group Strategy at Stadtwerke Bonn.

As a first step, Stadtwerke Bonn has installed so-called gateways on its own and municipal company buildings, which provide the necessary wireless network coverage in Bonn. LoRaWAN-capable sensors for various internal applications are gradually being tested and installed. In the pilot project, sensors are being tested for temperature measurement, parking space monitoring, stream water levels and level measurement of containers, tanks and silos. "The possible applications are almost endless and offer us a great deal of added value," says SWB project initiator Axel Kapellen.

Three advantages make LoRaWAN very interesting: very low energy consumption of the sensors for radio transmission, very cost-effective installation and radio connection of the sensors and a long range. "LoRaWAN is a business area in which we see a lot of innovation potential and can work economically," explains Christian Roosen, project coordinator at SWB.

As part of the pilot project, the technical deployment and radio coverage will be tested until mid-2020 and further interested cooperation partners and community partners will be sought for the next development steps. Following the test operation, LoRaWAN will be generally accessible and usable for companies, scientific institutions, authorities and private interested parties.