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LoRaWAN Innovation Programme available to Calderdale Businesses

Access to prototyping hardware, training, a public LoRaWAN network and support

Businesses in the Calderdale (West Yorkshire, UK) area are invited to participate in a free LoRaWAN innovation support programme, that is being operated as part of the IoTUK Boost launched by the Digital and Future Cities Catapults in December 2016.

The support provided will include:

  • Hands-on training via a workshop
  • Free LoRaWAN prototyping hardware
  • 12 months technical support
  • LoRaWAN network access via The Things Network
  • Showcasing opportunities

View from the site of the LoRaWAN antenna installation in Hebden Bridge

Up to ten local businesses, ranging from individual entrepreneurs through to small and medium-sized enterprises, will be selected from those applying for the free programme. Those most likely to benefit from participation may already be involved in the IoT and M2M industry — which market analyst IDC predicts will grow from its current £2.18 billion to £5.66 billion by 2020 — or have identified opportunities that the technology presents.

Environmental sensors to digital signage

A LoRaWAN enabled river level sensor from Flood Network

Designed specifically for long-range communications over distances of up to 15km and with an extremely low power draw, LoRaWAN can vastly reduce the connectivity and maintenance costs associated with services ranging from environmental monitoring systems and next-generation consumer electronics, through to industrial equipment and digital signage systems which can be updated over-the-air without an in-person engineer visit. An individual LoRaWAN node can, depending on its purpose, run for up to 10 years on a single battery charge.

For an example of how exciting new LoRaWAN enabled applications can quickly be prototyped, see a recent post in which a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3 was combined with a Microchip RN2483 module, plus a simple Python script, to create a remotely updated display.

More information, including details of how local business can apply to participate, can be found on the official website at:

https://thingscalderdale.com/boost/

Please note that the closing date for applications is Wednesday 15th March.

— Andrew Back

Calderdale LPWAN Boost is operated by AB Open in partnership with the Digital Catapult as part of the IoTUK programme, RS Components, The Things Network and Calderdale Council.

Open source (hardware and software!) advocate, Treasurer and Director of the Free and Open Source Silicon Foundation, organiser of Wuthering Bytes technology festival and founder of the Open Source Hardware User Group.
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