Management Information Sheet
Locations to install the Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) devices
We need your help. We are looking for locations to install the Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) devices on buildings around the county.
The Norfolk and Suffolk Innovation Network is the largest free public sector LoRaWAN deployment in the UK, funded by the Local enterprise partnership it delivers county wide connectivity to support large amounts of Internet of Things "IoT" sensors. It has the overall objective of kick-starting innovation in the region and enabling local business, schools, colleges and individuals to learn, trial, prototype and develop IoT services with this new technology.
What is it used for?
The Network is already being used for such things as Crop Management at Ben Burgess monitoring crop growth, water precipitation, soil dynamics; If your school has an allotment/gardening project maybe we can help install similar sensors to the ones being utilised by Ben Burgess. School children of all ages have been using IoT to create projects; NCC and ICT Solutions will be working in collaboration to encourage the usage of IoT throughout schools in Norfolk. Using Arduino boards, it's possible for children to create sensors for a multitude of things i.e air quality sensors, rainfall sensors.
Other uses across the county include water level monitoring on the Norfolk Broads, desk occupancy and road temperature sensors to support the winter gritting program but has unlimited applications. We are also looking to support vulnerable people stay in their homes longer, air quality management, farm protection, flood awareness and many other use cases to support the county.
What is the device, and have you installed any already?
The gateway itself is approximately the size of a home router/tablet/small laptop with an antenna approximate 0.60m in length. These gateways run on Power Over Ethernet (POE) so require an ethernet connection to them. They work on 'line of sight' so higher buildings work best.
We have already had these devices installed at 50 locations including County Hall, Norwich Millennium Library, Gressenhall Museum. We also have them installed at offices within Kings' Lynn, Dereham, Swaffham, Great Yarmouth, Wroxham, Acle, N Walsham, Aylsham as well as several Fire Stations throughout the county. We have also had devices installed at Rackheath Primary School and Thorpe High School and are in the process of speaking to several other high schools throughout the county but are looking for further suitable buildings throughout Norfolk to help this project and provide the network across the county.
Health and Safety
Please note that the frequency of this equipment will not interfere with CCTV or any other wireless equipment. All of the installs are carried out with completed Risk Assessment and Method Statements plus the Council Legal Department has drawn up a letter explaining that the council must cover all costs for the install and continued maintenance of these devices and that we'd be liable in the event of any damage as a result of these installs. There is no downtime of network or your buildings services during the installs.
Contact Us
I hope that this explains a little about what we'd like to do and the next step, if you'd allow us, is for me to arrange a suitable and convenient time for myself and possibly an engineer to visit the site to see if what we are proposing is actually viable. We will, of course, adhere to any site rules and any other regulations currently determined by COVID-19.
Please contact me to discuss further or arrange a site visit.
Steve Boyd, IMT Project Lead
steve.boyd@norfolk.gov.uk
Tel: 01603 224415