City of Gold Coast launches Australia’s largest LoRaWAN

Australia’s “largest and most diverse” LoRaWAN network has been launched in the City of Gold Coast with the capability to support more than 600,000 sensors and real-time management tools.

The Gold Coast has a vision to be Australia’s leading digital city by 2021.

Commercial use

The network is being made available for commercial use and the deployment of wide-ranging IoT applications including home automation, logistics and wearable technologies.

“This is a large-scale LoRaWAN network with coverage across the city that will provide significant opportunities for residents, visitors and businesses on the Gold Coast,” said Ian Hatton, chief innovation and economy officer, City of Gold Coast.

“By using the LoRaWAN technology, which is becoming one of the world’s most commonly used networks, we can offer the greatest coverage to support large-scale deployment securely, reliably and cost effectively.”

The National Narrowband Network Co (NNNCo) has been contracted to build and operate the city-owned network.

The city will be the first user of the network with scale implementation of new applications, such as smart water meters, to commence over the coming months.

“New approaches are also being developed for a range of services, including waste management and parking”

“We have been successfully running IoT test cases using LoRaWAN technology for the last two years,” added Hatton.

“This means that we’re ready to rapidly deploy projects across the network, starting with smart water meters. New approaches are also being developed for a range of services, including waste management and parking.”

He continued: “This will enable us to deliver services more efficiently, whilst at the same time making more information available to residents and visitors to enhance their customer experience, and help them make decisions.”

One year ago, the city introduced Australia’s largest council-owned fibre optic network.

“We used the Commonwealth Games as a catalyst to accelerate digital infrastructure and we have committed further investment over the last year,” said Tom Tate, mayor, City of Gold Coast.

“We now have one of the largest council-owned digital networks in Australia that will enable us to accelerate the delivery of cutting-edge services while keep rates low. By utilising our own network, we anticipate that we’ll be able to save approximately $12m per annum in avoided costs once all of the IoT systems are installed.”

Source: https://bit.ly/2wagc8j