PORTSMOUTH, NH, MAY 1, 2020 -- Senet, Inc., a leading provider of cloud-based software and services platforms that enable global connectivity and on-demand network build-outs for the Internet of Things (IoT), has announced significant progress in designing, constructing, and operating smart meter networks for municipal water utility districts across North America. Over the past 24 months, Senet has designed LoRaWAN networks for water metering and Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) projects representing millions of households.
The demand for water has increased significantly due to rapid urbanization, increasing population, climate change, and most recently, the need for employee and community safety due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. As a result, governments and municipalities are developing strategic water management frameworks and comprehensive strategies for long-term water resource management and operational safety. These dynamics and resulting policy initiatives are driving water utilities to modernize aging water and wastewater infrastructure to reduce water losses and deliver enhanced water metering and management services.
For metering and infrastructure monitoring applications - most of which have relatively low data payloads and seldom require high bandwidth - LoRaWAN networks offer the range, propagation characteristics, extended meter battery life, ease of deployment, and cost profile the water industry requires. Providing long-term investment protection, water AMI solutions are also supported by the ten to fifteen year in-field lifespan of LoRaWAN meters, compared to the typical three to five year refresh cycle of 3G, 4G, NB-IoT and 5G cellular products and services.
“Our Network-as-a-Service offering and other flexible network deployment models enable meter manufacturers and AMI solution providers to facilitate the modernization of the water delivery infrastructure and deliver cost saving and new services to their customers through enhanced distribution and consumption data,” said Bruce Chatterley, CEO at Senet. “Through a combination of advanced metering technology and cloud-based network management solutions offered by Senet and our metering partners, utilities can focus on their core business and recognize the full value of AMI without the operational burden of building and maintaining the system infrastructure.”
In addition to supporting water AMI initiatives, Senet’s LoRaWAN networks are serving as platforms for creating new opportunities for multi-utility service providers and municipalities as they explore a variety of water and gas metering, safety, energy management, and sustainability use cases. These opportunities are driving new business initiatives with system integrators, energy service companies (ESCOs) smart city consultants and solution providers looking to engage in this fast-growing market.
Delivering additional value, these densely deployed, public LoRaWAN networks are available to support a variety of other IoT applications as municipalities evolve their service delivery and Smart City strategies. Environmental monitoring, smart street lights, smart parking, and smart trash collection are all solutions that can be connected to the Senet’s LoRaWAN networks, initially deployed for AMI, and used to benefit the community at large over time.
Senet’s Network Design Services provide an easy way for solution providers and utilities to get started. Services include site selection, RF propagation planning, spectrum analysis, and network construction and installation. An AMI Network Planning Request can be initiated directly form the Senet website.
