As LoRaWAN communication technology is getting adopted by more and more cities during the last years, BETTAIR aimed at supporting this technology in their nodes.

There are three main advantages with the adoption of LoRaWAN. Firstly, the power consumption is reduced, reducing battery requirements. Secondly, as a result of removing the 3G module, all the costs related to data transmission will be almost negligible, reducing the overall costs of the nodes. Last, but not least, supporting LoRaWAN will enable BETTAIR to deploy in LoRaWAN-enabled cities, where the infrastructure of LoRaWAN is already in place.

On the other hand, updating the hardware platform has enabled new features in the BETTAIR node. With the migration to a new platform based on the STM32 microcontroller family, there is a new range of possibilities, including a minimum longevity commitment and support of 10 years, Unique Security features and support of Over the Air update, enabling future remote updates of deployed infrastructure without the need physical access to the nodes.

Considering both goals, FED4SAE is a perfect match, as STM is one of the platform providers, while DigitalCatapult and the University of Cantabria have large testbeds that support LoRaWAN testing in different Smart City scenarios.
On the other hand, FED4SAE STMicroelectronics industrial platform provider, delivered support for the implementation for the STM32 platform.

It is worth mentioning that FED4SAE has supported BETTAIR with intensive pitch training and innovation management and facilitating introduction to investors at FED4SAE London event in February 2020.

Product development and FED4SAE support

FED4SAE provided the access to LoRaWAN- enabled testbeds to test the implementation of this communication technology in the nodes. This is important as BETTAIR nodes address harsh environments, such as cities, where communication can be unstable depending on the circumstances. Therefore, the possibility of testing it in a real environment provides useful insights to fine-tune the implementation.

BETTAIR results and future plans

The results from the work carried out have enabled the company to improve their environmental monitoring solution, which enables any city worldwide to monitor pollutants and other environmental parameters with high accuracy.

Thanks to these results and the support of FED4SAE, along with the rest of new developments carried out, BETTAIR aims at increasing its presence in new cities worldwide during the forthcoming years, supporting them to improve their citizens’ quality of life.