Energy optimized IoT LoRaWAN Gateway for Smart Construction and Smart Infrastructure

The implementation of Internet of Things (IoT) technology is one of the main technological opportunities within construction and infrastructure to further increase efficiency and to optimize maintenance.

IoT offers opportunities to do this through continuous condition monitoring of equipment and infrastructure, measuring resource consumption and by increasing the safety and security on work sites by, for example, people and asset tracking.Within Smart Infrastructure, and more specifically, for continuous condition monitoring to optimize infrastructure maintenance, one of the problems that complicates implementation of new technology is the lack of connectivity and access to the power grid in remote areas.

Many infrastructure objects of interest are in areas with no power and may be unreachable by terrestrial connectivity.

Technological solutions have been developed to solve some of these problems, such as, for example sensors with direct connection to the cellular network that is powered by batteries or smaller solar panels.

This solution, however, is not optimal and cost effective in use cases where multiple sensors are implemented within a radius of 2-5 km.

It is in these use cases that LoRaWAN technology has been successful as each sensor does not need to connect directly to the cloud, which enables placing sensors in areas where there’s no cellular signal, and is lower cost as each sensor does not require its own data plan.

LoRaWAN sensors are highly energy efficient sensors that transmit messages to a LoRaWAN Gateway that forwards the data to a central server.A lot of progress has been made regarding energy efficiency on the sensor side and they can run off a small battery for up to 10-years.

They are implemented in multiple industries where the Gateway is connected to a power outlet, but for infrastructure monitoring this is often not possible.

There is currently no smart energy saving solution for IoT Gateways to facilitate their installation without access to the power grid.

Lower energy consumption is a critical aspect of the performance of an IoT Gateway to power it with an autonomous power solution, such as for example, solar panels and a battery.Despite this being a key performance aspect of an IoT Gateway’s performance, Multi-Tech Systems Inc., one of the leading IoT Gateway manufacturers, has been forced to change hardware components to components that consume more energy due to the global supply chain shortage of data chips during the last few years.

The power consumption of their Gateway MultiTech Conduit has, as a result of this, increased from 4-5W to 7W during continuous use.

This does not significantly increase operational costs of an IoT deployment, but it substantially reduces the possibility to reliably run it off an autonomous renewable power solution, especially during winter months.The purpose of this project is to develop software integrated in a power board that uses machine learning of the IoT sensors communication patterns to optimize the energy consumption of an IoT Gateway by deactivating it when the sensors are not communicating with it in order to offer a solution to the problems outlined above.

By implementing this technology, the IoT Gateway’s energy consumption will be cut by at least 50%, to 3,5 W, without causing interference in the communication protocol between the Gateway and the sensors to ensure that this critical information reaches the data analysis tools online. This allows the Gateway to operate from a 50W solar panel and a portable battery.

By enabling implementation of IoT sensor technology in the most remote areas of the globe, this solution is a key component to ensuring that all infrastructure can benefit from the advantages of IoT.