Mallorca Develops First LoRaWAN®-based Smart Island
Quick Facts
Company
IoT Labs
Customer Profile
IOTLABS is a Barcelona-founded technology company specializing in IoT-as-a-service, offering end-to-end solutions including hardware, software, installation, and maintenance. Now based in Mallorca, the company focuses on sustainable innovation, using LoRaWAN® technology to develop smart city and environmental monitoring applications that support resource conservation and improve quality of life.
Objectives
- Monitor real-time water storage levels.
- Notify citizens regarding consumption and quality.
Results
- Real-time water management endto- end solution.
- Citizen awareness and participation in reducing water usage.
- Successful pilot with city of Esporles expands to entire island.
Products & Services
Introduction
IOTLABS Manages Fresh Water and Sustains Natural Resources
Mallorca, the largest of Spain’s five Balearic Islands, is known for its white sand and crystal-clear turquoise waters. It is no surprise the island’s popularity as a tourist destination has steadily grown to more than 10 million visitors in 2017, up from six million in 2010 and just three million in the 1970s.
The residential population of this Mediterranean island has doubled from 460,030 in 1970 to 895,000 in 2017. A study by the University of the Balearic Islands anticipates an additional 32.7 percent population growth by 2030. The report equates this to 25 people for every meter of beach in Mallorca.
Challenge
LoRa®: The Right Technology for IoT Innovation
IOTLABS is a company dedicated to providing Internet of Things (IoT)-as-a-service, including installation, software, hardware, and maintenance. Founded in Barcelona in 2015, the company’s first project was an award-winning automatic accident detection solution installed in vehicles to immediately alert medical centers.
The device connectivity technology used was based on Bluetooth, SIM cards and Cellular. As potential customers began to request new concepts, IOTLABS found it necessary to research more appropriate technologies for the applications they desired.
Founders Marta Cierra and Bartolome Olivares decided to move their company to Mallorca. They perceived the island as an “isolated planet” and the perfect testbed for developing and field testing new technologies without the bureaucratic interference expected on the mainland - the Balearic Islands have been an autonomous region of Spain since 1983. IOTLABS’ headquarters is located in Palma, the capital city, inside an office park for tech entrepreneurs known as ParcBit.
In previous summer months when the water supply would become low, the city would unexpectedly turn off the water to residents. The municipality, now armed with data, has control mechanisms to better manage and proactively regulate consumption.
Solution
Smart Town Expands to Smart Island – Saving 25 Percent of Water
With its simple, proven and easy to deploy capabilities, Semtech’s LoRa devices and the LoRaWAN® open protocol became the IoT platform of choice.
“When we discovered LoRa devices it was great news and knew we had our backbone for an IoT platform with endless opportunities.” —Marta Cierra, Cofounder, IOTLABS.
In collaboration with Esporles Town Hall, Innovation of the Balearic Islands (IBETEC) and the Government of the Balearic Islands (GOIB), IOTLABS connected the western municipality of Esporles. This picturesque inland town of 5,000 inhabitants installed a LoRa-based antenna on the town hall roof - making it the first smart town on the island.
IOTLABS designed and installed a comprehensive water management solution leveraging LoRa devices. The system provides Esporles with the ability to control water mains and water usage, automatically read and report tank levels, and monitor pH and chlorine ranges to ensure water quality and safety for human consumption.
Benefits
The system has initially seen up to 25 percent water savings.
Esporles is providing its citizens real-time water level and usage information that has successfully facilitated community participation in reduction efforts. IOTLABS and the city are currently in the process of adding air quality monitoring solutions, as well as traffic sensors and smart parking solutions to ease congestion and pollution.
Following the successful trials at Esporles, the GOIB voted and funded a much larger project for IOTLABS: deploying a LoRaWAN network across the entire island of Mallorca, and extending utility management solutions to all 53 municipalities.
“Everything you do in data, and in software, you have to be creative – it is easier to be creative in a place like paradise.” —Benjami Villoslada Gil, Director of Technological Development, GOIB.
