Sydney Launches City-Wide Free IoT Network
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
Public access open data network connects the city to the Internet of Things.
Sydney, Australia has launched a public access open data network that connects the city to the Internet of Things (IoT), thanks to the collaboration between the University of Technology Sydney’s (UTS) Institute for Sustainable Futures and the Sydney-based IoT integrator Meshed, Electronics News reported. The launch follows an identical deployment in Wollongong, NSW, and a number of other cities worldwide.
The network allows anyone to engage in real-time monitoring by connecting smart sensors to the internet, Computer World reported. The low-power, long-range, wide-area network (LPWAN) enables sensors to transmit packets of data within the Sydney gateway without a cellular, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth connection.
Professor Stuart White, director of the Institute for Sustainable Futures told ComputerWorld, “This network will enable us to measure a huge range of things including some we haven’t even thought of yet. But at the very least, we’ll be able to measure the health of the city, air quality, water quality, temperature, humidity, a whole range of environmental factors, energy use, water use.”
The Sydney project is partnered with The Things Network, which launched a similar program in Amsterdam in 2015. Other such networks already are in place in New York, Zurich, Madrid, San Francisco, San Paulo, London, and Singapore.
Dutch entrepreneur and founder of The Things Network, Wienke Giezeman explained, “We are an open network and our network architecture is built so the packets of data are always directly redirected to the appropriate receiver, without a gatekeeper and a business model.”
“This project has enormous scope for the future,” said White. “There will be opportunity for new innovations, new technologies, new start-ups as well as engaging with organizations who are interested in measuring and monitoring a whole range of environmental parameters.”
“Free to use, community IoT networks are democratizing the internet of things by enabling communities and industry leaders to obtain real-time data about the things that matter most to them and respond faster,” said Catherine Caruana-McManus, director of strategy and sales at Meshed.