UK water utility to deploy one million LoRaWAN meters; KeySight joins Car Connectivity Consortium; Qorvo offers new IoT development kit
UK Water Utility to Deploy One Million LoRaWAN Meters
Feb 15, 2024The Essex and Suffolk Water utility is rolling a smart meter solution from UK broadband and digital service provider Connexin that will create a network for homes and businesses in the North of London.
The Essex and Suffolk Water system leverages LoRaWAN IoT connectivity between water meters and gateways across the area. The utility intends to upgrade all its water meters to the LoRaWAN-enabled versions by 2035. The network receives data from the meters and then forwards water-use details to the meter management system from Temetra, which analyzes readings and provides relevant action and response.
The “end-to-end meter-as-service” solution will help the utility and its customers monitor water consumption and leakage.
With the new contract, Connexin will install 164,000 Itron water meters for Essex and Suffolk Water by the end of 2025, with a total of 612,000 meters connected by 2030, and a million by 2035.
According to Connexin, Essex and Suffolk Water has calculated that approximately 18 percent of its customers have a leak at their properties, which results in water wastage as well as higher water bills. Therefore, the LoRaWAN network will enable the water company to increase water sustainability in a drought prone area.
KeySight Joins Car Connectivity Consortium with UWB, BLE Technology
Keyless entry technology company KeySight has become the latest member of the Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC) to help develop and validate ultra-wideband- (UWB-) based entry systems.
The company joins the CCC following its introduction of the Digital Key Release 3 v1.1 for seamless integration of mobile devices used for secure vehicle keyless entry and access. The technology leverages Bluetooth Low Energy, (BLE), as well as UWB for contactless, location-aware, and secure, communication between smartphones and vehicles. Keysight will collaborate with CCC members for design verification and production testing of wireless products.
Keysight reports that it will offer a suite of turnkey automated test systems to members of the CCC. The systems include the VXT PXI Vector Transceiver which can be used for developing and characterizing components and devices for 5G NR (new radio) and Wi-Fi among other applications.
Additionally, it offers the PathWave X0Series Measurement Applications to be used for benchtop and modular signal analyzers to help design, evaluate and manufacture transmitters. Its third solution is PathWave Signal Generation which enables signal creation for validation and testing.
Qorvo Offers New IoT Development Kit
Semiconductor company Qorvo released its new IoT development kit which is available through electronics distributor Mouser. It supports BLE, Matter, Thread and Zigbee protocols.
The QPG6105DK development kit is aimed at helping companies develop IoT devices such as products for smart home sensors and actuators, smart lighting, thermostats and other connected devices more easily.
The development kit includes Qorvo’s ConcurrentConnect technology enabling multiple protocols to operate simultaneously and communicate across various smart home devices.
The QPG6105 radio board and a separate carrier board, (both part of the kit) enable application development and debugging of the radio board. The carrier board includes the common debug probe known as SEGGER J-Link debugger, and virtual COM port, along with humidity, PIR and Hall sensors, as well as LEDs and buttons, among other features. The radio board includes a QPG6105 system on chip (SoC), with 1MB flash, 128KB RAM and +10dBm output power.
