NetOp is using Semtech’s LoRa devices to detect abnormal energy use in cities. They monitor real-time usage trends to create safer, more efficient smart city grids.
 
NetOp develops and manufactures LPWAN-based IoT applications. It has developed a smart energy consumption monitor based on Semtech’s LoRa devices and the LoRaWan protocol. Called Octopus, it leverages LoRa devices’ advantages for real-time data monitoring to detect abnormal spikes in energy consumption in city substations.
 
“LoRa devices and the LoRaWan protocol provide the ideal IoT platform for the next generation of smart city utilities,” said Olcay Taysi, founder of NetOp. “The platform’s capabilities for consistent, accurate and real-time data monitoring allowed us to develop an application to simplify grid management. With LoRaWan, cities can effectively detect swings in energy usage and respond to, prevent or address malfunctions, illegal activity or other hazards to the energy grid.”
 
The Octopus sensors can be quickly and simply deployed to city substations and begin collecting energy usage data in real time. Applications analyse trends from the LoRa-collected data, and generate usage reports through artificial intelligence and algorithms. These reports are immediately available for energy grid managers via a mobile device or desktop application and enable the detection and geolocation of abnormal energy usage throughout the city’s electrical grid.
 
To-date, the Octopus platform has enabled a number of successful use cases, including the prevention and swift response to electrical fires and the detection and geolocation of illegal indoor grow operations, creating safer, sustainable and more efficient cities.
 
“NetOp’s smart utility solutions prove the value of LoRa devices for energy grids and cities on a macro level,” said Rémi Demerlé, director of vertical marketing for utilities at California-based Semtech. “The proven flexibility of LoRa devices and the LoRaWan protocol allows the convergence of multiple IoT applications for smarter, simpler management. Applications leveraging LoRaWan deliver highly effective municipal operations that, in addition to creating new efficiencies, enable a safer and more productive city.”
 
Offering end-to-end turnkey products from design to production, NetOp develops and manufactures hardware based on IoT devices and sensors using communication technologies provided by LPWANs, LoRa, NB-IoT, Bluetooth, Cat-M1 and GSM. The company also presents a complete hardware management platform and software development kit for many IoT applications and use cases. There are more than 100 sensors in NetOp’s portfolio.
 
NetOp offers end-to-end smart products such as those for airport projects, smart cities, parking lot management, meter reading, smart building, energy monitoring and fraud detection, industrial machine monitoring and predictive maintenance, waste bin management, and custom IoT projects.