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LoRaWAN, The IoT Network Serving Ports

Smartports have more and more wireless sensors and devices located at strategic points gathering all kinds of information. Collecting and making sense of these data is essential to providing a good service. But how should these data be sent? LoRa technology may be the answer.

Posted on 07.12.2018
PierNext
The LoRa technology would allow to follow in real time the position of the containers. [Image of Pixabay]
LoRA is the predominant wireless platform for building IoT (Internet of Things) networks all over the world. We can find them integrated into cars, household appliances and even lampposts. Smartports can benefit from their features, but just like any new technology, pilot tests are needed to evaluate their benefits. Two geolocation technologies, GPS and LoRaWAN, have been tested and compared in the Port of Barcelona through triangulation. The graphic shows a possible application of the LoRa technology for ports.

GPS vs LoRaWAN

The experiment consisted in using both technologies to monitor 5 port police vehicles and 5 vehicles from the port’s own fleet. To do so, a telecommunications network was installed in the port’s areas of influence and a GPS and a LoRaWAN device were installed in each vehicle. The results showed that even though GPS was more precise than LoRa, its energy consumption was considerably higher. With LoRa technology, the location is not measured by satellites but by the position of the antennas. “The signal is neat and clear and its energy consumption is low. Plus, it has a large penetration coefficient in solids, and can even reach basements with extraordinary clarity” says Martin Longobucco, CEO and founder of Datalong16, the company that carried out the experiment in conjunction with Kerlink and Flex.

With LoRa technology the position of the objects is not obtained via satellite, but by the position of the antennas. The energy consumption is therefore very low and the signal neat and clear.

A competitive advantage for smartports

Ports can benefit from this technology from both a financial and environmental perspective. The first way is the devices’ energy consumption: “the same data are transmitted with less energy for a longer time. This means that they can be smaller, last longer and be much cheaper”. The second way is the fact that “LoRa sequences are not subjected to any kind of payment but are free of charge. They do not depend on any operator, and the antennas, which are cheap, can be amortised in no time”, says the expert. Now let’s imagine a port with hundreds of thousands of interconnected devices speaking to each other and generating huge amounts of information. How can all this content be processed? How does this impact a port? “If data are collected on how the containers are moving or where the cold chain may be broken, just to cite a few examples, we can detect situations which negatively affect the port’s assets. In this way, predictive models could be generated which could anticipate and correct these situations” claims Martín Longobucco.

With this type of sensors, you can monitor the traceability of containers, the water quality of the port, mobile assets, air conditioners, to control outbreaks of legionella, the impact of waste, among others.

Having predictive data helps ports improve the fluidity of maritime traffic, avoid accidents and improve the environmental impact. It also becomes possible to “very precisely control the movement of containers. With this kind of sensor, we can monitor the traceability of the containers, the quality of the port water, movable assets, air conditioning to avoid outbreaks of legionella, the impact of waste and more”, continues Longobucco. Barcelona is a world-class SmartCity, “and by seeing how the Port of Barcelona does not want to turn its back on this entire revolution, it is showing its steadfast determination to incorporate new technologies and become a cutting-edge port because of not only the amount of traffic but also the quality of its management”, Martín Longobucco concludes.

The example of Turkey

The pilot programme that Datalong16 conducted in the Port of Barcelona is not the first to apply this technology in this kind of setting. Recently, a programme was carried out in Turkey with a multimodal company for which a system was designed to collect data in the port, on the merchant ship itself and even beyond. The goal: to make the cargo totally traceable not only for safety issues but also because of energy savings and to lower pollution in order to make this transport more economical and profitable.

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