Coop, one of Switzerland’s leading retailers, operates hundreds of supermarkets, distribution centers, and logistics hubs handling fresh and frozen goods. To comply with strict food safety regulations, staff had to manually check temperatures in cooling units several times a day — a process taking 15 to 45 minutes daily per store.
These manual checks were time-consuming, prone to human error, and provided no real-time visibility into refrigeration performance or failures. With limited technician availability and increasing compliance requirements, Coop needed a scalable, automated solution.
Swisscom designed a national LoRaWAN®-based temperature monitoring solution using Actility’s ThingPark IoT platform, enabling seamless management of thousands of connected devices.
The system integrates sensors, gateways, and a centralized dashboard to provide real-time visibility into cooling performance across stores and logistics sites.
A key differentiator is Actility’s FUOTA (Firmware Update Over The Air) technology, allowing Swisscom and Coop to securely update the firmware of all temperature sensors remotely, without site visits.
“This project with Swisscom and Coop demonstrates the maturity and reliability of large-scale FUOTA deployments over LoRaWAN®. It proves that IoT has evolved beyond pilots to become a strategic infrastructure for business operations and sustainability“
The project moved beyond pilot stage to full-scale production deployment:
This makes it one of the largest FUOTA-enabled IoT deployments in Europe, proving that large-scale, reliable firmware updates over LoRaWAN® are possible in mission-critical environments.
| Deployment Element | Quantity | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Retail Stores | 200 | Temperature monitoring in cooling units |
| Distribution Centers | 12 | Cold storage and logistics temperature tracking |
| LoRaWAN® Gateways | 2,792 | Data collection and network coverage |
| Temperature Sensors | 9,556 | Monitoring refrigeration and cold chain integrity |
| Connectivity | Swisscom National LPN (Low Power Network) | Reliable LoRaWAN® coverage across Switzerland |
“XXX.“
| Object Type | Typical Use Case |
|---|---|
| Analog Input | Temperature sensors, CO₂ levels, humidity |
| Analog Output | Fan speeds, valve positions |
| Binary Input | Contact closures, motion detectors |
| Binary Output | Relays, lighting control, digital actuators |
| Device | Metadata about the device itself |
| Schedule | Time-based automation of values |
| Trend Log | Historical logging of property values |
FUOTA ensures that Coop’s entire temperature monitoring infrastructure remains up-to-date, efficient, and resilient — a cornerstone for long-term scalability and maintenance-free IoT operations.
Through FUOTA, Coop and Swisscom can:
| FUOTA Feature | Benefit for Coop & Swisscom |
|---|---|
| Remote Firmware Update | Eliminates on-site maintenance visits |
| Multicast Class C | Simultaneous updates to thousands of sensors |
| Delta Compression | Minimizes data transmitted per update |
| Security Management | Ensures encrypted and authenticated firmware delivery |
| Scalability | Supports nationwide production deployments |
Bring large-scale FUOTA to your IoT project
Actility’s ThingPark FUOTA solution helps operators, integrators, and enterprises deploy secure firmware updates over LoRaWAN® at scale.
FUOTA stands for Firmware Update Over The Air. It allows Swisscom and Coop to remotely and securely update the firmware of thousands of connected temperature sensors via LoRaWAN®.
This eliminates the need for on-site interventions, ensuring devices always run the latest firmware versions and reducing maintenance costs dramatically.
The deployment covers 200 retail stores, 12 distribution centers, and more than 9,500 connected sensors supported by 2,700+ LoRaWAN® gateways.
This makes it one of the largest FUOTA-enabled IoT production rollouts in Europe, going well beyond small proof-of-concept projects.
Coop needed to ensure full compliance with food safety regulations while reducing manual temperature checks.
Before IoT, store employees spent 15–45 minutes daily taking manual temperature readings from cooling equipment — a process prone to human error and data delays.
With IoT and FUOTA, Coop achieved real-time monitoring, data accuracy, and maintenance-free device management.
FUOTA uses LoRaWAN®’s multicast Class C mode to send firmware updates to multiple devices simultaneously. Actility’s ThingPark platform manages the update process efficiently using delta compression — only transmitting the differences between firmware versions — to minimize bandwidth and time. This approach allows thousands of devices to be updated securely in hours rather than days.
Store employees no longer need to perform manual checks or record temperature data by hand.
Alerts and dashboards automatically flag anomalies, freeing up time for customer service and store management.
This digitalization has also simplified compliance reporting and reduced the stress of daily control tasks.
Actility provided the ThingPark platform, which is the backbone for LoRaWAN® network management, device onboarding, and FUOTA operations.
It enabled Swisscom to deploy and manage thousands of connected devices securely and efficiently across the country.
Yes. The same FUOTA technology can be extended to building automation, energy monitoring, smart logistics, or industrial maintenance use cases.
Any large-scale IoT deployment requiring secure, remote, and scalable firmware updates can benefit from Actility’s FUOTA capabilities.
While many IoT providers run small-scale pilot projects, the Coop–Swisscom–Actility collaboration demonstrates a full-scale, nationwide, production-grade FUOTA deployment.
It proves that large enterprises can manage thousands of connected devices efficiently using LoRaWAN® and Actility’s ThingPark platform.
About Actility
Actility, one of the co-inventors of LoRaWAN® technology and a founding member of the LoRa Alliance, is the leader in industrial-grade low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) connectivity and IoT tracking solutions. Actility’s ThingPark™ platform, which supports multi-radio connectivity (LoRaWAN®, NB-IoT, LTE-M), powers the majority of public networks and numerous private and enterprise networks worldwide. Through its subsidiary Abeeway, Actility offers patented ultra-low power, multi-radio trackers and comprehensive indoor and outdoor geolocation services. Additionally, the ThingPark Market boast the largest catalog of LoRaWAN® devices, gateways, and solutions available.
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