Unlocking IoT Innovation In The Tampa Area With Expansive Public LoRaWAN Network Coverage
Senet has deployed the largest public metropolitan LoRaWAN network in North America, bringing new opportunities for innovation to one of the country’s most technology focused cities.
The capabilities of wireless networks and sensor-enabled solutions have matured to the point where they are now a major consideration in how municipal infrastructure is designed and how services are delivered.
As connected city strategies are developed, municipal leaders are faced with a critically important choice when it comes to the networks they deploy. This choice impacts everything from interoperability, scalability, security, and the performance and longevity of the services they deliver. With the right network in place, municipalities can build and scale their connected city operations faster, and expand data driven service delivery at an equally rapid pace.
In support of the connected city vision of one of the most rapidly growing technology areas in United States, Senet has expanded its public LoRaWAN network across the entire metropolitan area of Tampa Bay, Florida.
Tampa Bay is the second largest metro area in the state and a hotbed for innovation. Recently topping Forbes’ 2021 Emerging Tech Cities list, Tampa is a high-growth, progressive region with goals of broadly expanding its connected city and Internet of Things (IoT) initiatives to include utility services, traffic management, parking monitoring, flood monitoring, micro-mobility services, and a variety of other municipal and enterprise use cases.
With the completion of this buildout, Senet’s Tampa network now covers over 1,600 square miles across Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties, including the cities of Tampa Bay and St. Petersburg.
A Focal Point for Innovation in Tampa
Successful anchor applications are often the catalyst to broader technology adoption. Leading up to this regional buildout, Senet had deployed a public LoRaWAN network to support an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) project for a local water utility. LoRaWAN networks designed for AMI are among the most capable. They are high-density, built with abundant capacity, and secure. To date, Senet has designed smart meter networks for municipal water utility districts across the United States, representing millions of households.
As public AMI networks are completed, they’re becoming an entry point for utilities and municipalities to build on. By connecting to a public LoRaWAN network designed from the ground up with the capacity to support millions of connected devices, municipalities can efficiently expand their IoT initiatives.
To support this expansion, a full array of products and solutions are available today to address municipal operational efficiencies, resource conservation, and economic development, including:
- Water metering and infrastructure monitoring
- Natural gas leak detection, shut off and safety applications
- Monitoring rising flood water and stormwater levels
- Optimizing services such as trash collection and public parking
- Automating and optimizing street lighting
- Automating irrigation in public green spaces
- Tracking high-value assets
- Detecting municipal equipment failures
- Managing in-building infrastructure
- Detecting indoor and outdoor air quality
To learn more about LoRaWAN end devices and solutions that are qualified or at various stages of being qualified to operate on the Senet network, visit our device Marketplace.
A Connected City Playbook
Only with the right vision, plans, and resources in place will connected city programs reach their full potential. In developing a project roadmap and deployment strategy, municipal leaders should consider several key items related to their selection of network technology and the applications it is designed to support.
Deploying a Scalable Digital Infrastructure
At the core of any connected city, must be a secure, efficient, and affordable network infrastructure. Investing in citywide network infrastructure, data platforms, and scalable systems to support the broadest range of applications is key to long-term success.
Key considerations:
- Is the water utility in your area utilizing a public LoRaWAN network for smart metering and is it designed to scale to support multiple IoT applications?
- Are you considering networks, platforms and systems that are open, standards-based, and scalable in order to meet the long-term needs of your initiatives?
- Is your network architected to support the connectivity profile, device management, and data management requirements of the applications you want to deploy?
Engage with a Proven Technology Ecosystem
A piecemeal approach to deploying connected city applications will prove ineffective in the long run. The best approach is to find the right mix of internal teams and external partners for what you are trying to achieve. Successful connected city projects will take advantage of a robust ecosystem of partners as well as modern and creative approaches to engagement, such as network-as-a-service models and revenue sharing.
Key considerations:
- Are you working with or considering technology backed by a strong ecosystem of participants?
- Are the vendors you are considering experts in their markets and are they committed to growing with you as you expand your connected city infrastructure and service delivery?
- Do the vendors you are considering offer innovative and flexible engagement models that support your financial objectives and maximize your opportunity to expand with the pace of innovation?
Keep Pace with Advanced Technologies
The expectations of businesses and citizens continue to evolve in parallel with rapid advancements in technology. Being prepared to evaluate and adopt new technologies and applications as they emerge will allow cities to better serve their citizens, improve quality of life, and address inefficiencies while saving money and resources.
Key considerations:
- Do you have a process for identifying and prioritizing the connected city applications that will best support your municipal operations and resident-facing services?
- Are the connected devices, network, and applications you are considering developed against specifications designed for long-term operation and have they been certified interoperable?
- Are the technologies you are considering being updated frequently with new and innovative features and capabilities supported by over-the-air updates, robust security, and operational efficiency?
An Ideal Starting Point
Senet offers a modern approach to deploying and managing IoT connectivity that cannot be matched by legacy cellular models, proprietary technologies, or developer networks. Our experience establishing secure, public, carrier-grade LoRaWAN connectivity allows municipalities to implement connected city projects knowing they will be getting the required levels of performance and reliability, without the cost and burden of managing disparate IoT networks.
We invite cities and business leaders in and public services and infrastructure to join our mission to support economic development, improve safety, and optimize service delivery to citizens by utilizing innovative connectivity platforms, applications, and processes – using IoT for the greater good.
Senet’s Tampa Metro network has been recognized by the LoRa Alliance in its “Solutions That Scale” program. Download the Solution Brief.
Related articles:
Driving Change in the Water Utility Industry
The Truth About National LoRaWAN Networks and Carrier-Grade Service Delivery in the US