Actility signs agreement with Pittsburgh International Airport

The Actility Newsroom

Actility signs agreement with Pittsburgh International Airport

Actility, the industry leader in Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) networks, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Pittsburgh International Airport in a move that will greatly expand the airport’s IoT capability and position it among the most technologically advanced airports in the world.

By 2023, a high-tech $1Bn terminal will be built at Pittsburgh International Airport with plans for the best IoT technology embedded from the outset of the design phase, in order to provide the most up to date offering in a world-class facility.

Under the MOU, the airport will establish an LPWAN IoT Lab with Actility to enable different use cases to be deployed and tested to identify the best candidate devices and application partners for the overall new terminal design. Targeted areas will include asset movement, people movement and building management.

Actility CEO and co-founder Olivier Hersent said: “We are delighted to sign this MOU with Pittsburgh International Airport to undertake the first phases of the IoT Lab using our ThingPark Business Accelerator Program. We will supply the airport with the tools, knowledge, and techniques to make their IoT services successful and to demonstrate the benefits of LoRaWAN technology. We look forward to bringing the airport and its visionary management team through the critical first steps of a commercially successful IoT service.”

“Technology innovation is critical for us,” said Pittsburgh International Airport CEO Christina Cassotis. “This is one step toward our goal of building the ‘smartest’ airport in the world. Building an ecosystem of technology leaders and advanced thinking partners will enable us to learn and adapt to be the leading airport in meeting passenger and airline needs while continuing to increase efficiencies.

Actility’s Business Accelerator Program (BAP) consultative service is the first step in IoT service and business case definition. It sets the goals for client projects, tests assumptions, and establishes high-level go-forward plans for launch.

“The expected growth of IoT is exponential, and therefore, as part of our transformation to a smart airport, we need to understand how impactful and valuable this wave of technology can be to our airport and the industry,” said Katherine Karolick, Senior Vice President of Information Technology at Pittsburgh International. “We will work with Actility and the IoT ecosystem to first learn and test the value in our existing airside terminal and then refine and perfect it. When our new landside terminal opens in 2023, we will have deployed proven, reliable, secure, and innovative systems.”

Actility was launched by IoT industry and LoRaWAN experts in 2010 to accelerate low power global connectivity. Actility co-founded the LoRa Alliance and continues to pioneer low power wide area (LPWA) networking technology.

ENDS

For further information:
Actility: Anne van Gemert
anne.vangemert@actility.com / +33 6 47 37 30 21

Notes to editors:
Actility connects the industrial internet of things. Our IoT connectivity platform, tools, and fast-growing ecosystem enable our customers to create IoT solutions that transform business, industries and processes. The ThingPark LPWA platform connects sensors gathering data to cloud applications on any scale, from global or national networks to secure on-campus enterprise solutions, managing devices, data flows and monetization. Our value-added applications and business services enable roaming, device software update, geolocation and smart grid. Actility is at the heart of a thriving customer ecosystem, connecting solutions partners, supporting developers and device makers preparing their LPWA product for market, and providing an e-commerce Marketplace offering global distribution to solution providers. Actility co-founded the LoRa Alliance and continues to pioneer LPWA networking technology.

January 15, 2019May 16, 2019

A Smart Response To a Slovenian Shopping Mall’s High Energy Costs

Energy management is an economic necessity.
Tomaž Damjan, Energy Manager, BTC City

470,000 square meters
Area of BTC City

60 million kWH/year
Total energy consumption

of total budget
Energy costs

End customer

BTC City

CUSTOMER CHALLENGE

A Shopping Center The Size of a City

BTC City Ljubljana is one of the largest business, shopping, entertainment, recreation and cultural centers in Europe, located just three kilometers from Ljubljana city center and 200m from the Ljubljana ring road. It is considered a must-visit destination by city residents and tourists.

Due to the large number of facilities, wide area, high consumption of electricity, water and heating, BTC’s energy needs are comparable to those of urban centers.

“Energy management is an economic necessity,” says Tomaž Damjan, Energy Manager at BTC City.

In a bid to reduce energy consumption and costs as well as subsequent CO2 emissions, BTC sought to implement an energy management (EM) system for its multi-purpose facilities, such as those used by Smart Cities, and in line with the ISO 50001 standard, aimed at supporting organizations to conserve resources and tackle climate change.

BTC turned to Solvera Lynx, the region’s leading provider of comprehensive energy management solutions, to help devise their own system to monitor and reduce energy consumption.

Specialists from Solvera Lynx described the key to greater efficiency and energy management coordination was to provide BTC City with “systematic control” over energy consumption.

“Due to the large number of BTC facilities, it was important to control the consumption of individual energy products and monitor consumption by individual end-users,” explained Janez Klančnik, Project and Energy Manager at Solvera Lynx. “BTC needed tools that allowed the easy collection of data, performance analysis and production of automated reports.”

SOLUTION

Applying Smart City Energy Management Tools

Solvera Lynx set several objectives for implementing their Smart City EM solutions:

To gain remote control over energy consumption
To implement an alarm system
To define and analyze key energy efficiency indicators in real time
To introduce an energy accounting system with a clear, transparent view of energy use
To provide a tool for employees to carry out relevant and efficient energy management activities

To achieve these objectives for BTC, Solvera Lynx had four types of communication equipment in mind: GsmBox.WG, ComBox.M, ComBox.L and GsmBox.X4. These wireless, long-range sensors utilize LoRaWAN technology to send data to GemaLogic, an advanced energy management software platform.

The idea was to connect and deploy this network of sensors and communication equipment throughout the entire BTC City, digitizing utility meters that could then send data on electricity, heat, natural gas and water consumption from all facilities to the GemaLogic software, where energy managers could constantly gather, process and analyze the data and produce automated reports.

Deploying a network of indoor/outdoor sensors requires a special communication technology to overcome a variety of obstacles. LoRaWAN was the natural choice and Actility supported the Solvera Lynx team on its use.

To easily understand the benefits of LoRaWAN-enabled sensors, it is useful to compare it to WiFi, the commonly known indoor, wireless networking technology. Covering the wide area of BTC City would require dozens of WiFi access points, whereas only two LoRaWAN gatewayswere needed. With LoRaWAN, BTC City was able to set up its own private network within a week.

In addition, the battery life of LoRaWAN-powered sensors is much higher—5 to 8 years on average.

The most exciting aspect for Klančnik was observing the small time intervals of sending data from normally inaccessible places.

“Once we connected the meters in the water shafts to the ComBox.L devices, we could receive data on water consumption every 15 minutes. Before, that was not possible and water leakages were not detected in time,” said Klančnik.

This was just the tip of the iceberg.

BENEFITS

Steep Reduction in Costs and Consumption

Once Solvera Lynx implemented the network, deployed the sensors and connected them to the GemaLogic platform, results were instantly observed.

For example, once the energy data was digitized, energy managers could immediately start monitoring and analysis in real time, and start benchmarking and forecasting. Solvera Lynx EM solutions also include an alarm system that can detect deviations in consumption, such as those caused by a water leakage, alerting the managers for a quick response. EM systems can be improved over time and the easy monitoring leads to taking effective measures to continuously increase BTC City’s efficient consumption of energy.

In fact, after one year of implementing Solvera Lynx’s EM system, BTC City has reduced its energy consumption by 5%. Even more staggering, BTC City has observed that before, water loss was measured at 40%, whereas after the EM solutions were installed, that figure plummeted to 4.5%. Moreover, early detection of equipment defects, such as in air-conditioning units, has led to replacement of parts that have cut electricity consumption by half!

In the past year BTC has invested massively in its infrastructure to guarantee and maintain the highest level of efficiency for its operations. The company has a strong environmental strategy and is dedicated to optimizing and reducing water leakages and energy consumption, serving an example of sustainability on a national level.
With all the measures the BTC energy team have introduced they have reached successful results – in the last 10 years of constant monitoring and improving they have reduced water leakages up to 20% ”

“The system has paid-off,” said Tomaž Damjan, Energy Manager at BTC City. “We will continue using the GemaLogic energy management platform.”

Meanwhile, the case study has also been a major win for the collaboration between Solvera Lynx and Actility, according to the former’s Toni Žužek.

“We really appreciate the timely and professional support from Actility’s experts,” said Žužek. “They helped meet our needs and strategic milestones, as well as plan and organize more effective sales and marketing activities in order to promote our advanced EM software and hardware solutions.”

BENEFITS

Guarantee traceability throughout the disposal chain

Recycling bins throughout Dutch cities provide clear evidence of this successful IoT implementation. A sensor placed in each bin signals to collectors when it is full. As a result, waste vehicle collection routes can be optimized to reduce cost, traffic, and pollution. The same solution is deployed in public places such as airports and train stations. The cleaners are informed when trash bins need to be emptied, improving the workload and efficiency of the cleaning staff. In both cases, IoT brings a higher quality of service and well-being for everyone.

Suez is also connecting waste collection trucks, equipped with load sensors. Treatment facilities are informed almost in real-time of the amount of trash expected from each truck. LPWA technologies ensure that even in complex city environments and at long distances in the countryside the trucks remain connected, improving their operation and streamlining the process. Optimal visibility and control of waste management are particularly critical when collecting hazardous waste: knowing exactly how much waste has been collected is a key tool in optimizing the treatment phase. For companies dealing with industrial waste, Suez’ IoT innovations help improve collection and especially guarantees traceability throughout the disposal chain.

Some cities are encouraging their homeowners to sort their waste by installing smart bins in individual homes. These bins weigh the amount of litter received, allowing for per usage consumer billing. This incentive-based program encourages everyone to be proactive and responsible in their personal behaviors.

Suez is proud to lead the waste management revolution to make it more:

circular since it aims to regenerate resources essential to life
concrete in so far as it involves tangible and innovative actions securing resources
collaborative: it engages every contributor to better manage resources for the future.

RESOURCES

You can download the case studies here

July 10, 2017January 22, 2019

Cisco Live in the city of lights!

The Actility Blog

Cisco Live in the city of lights!

Cisco Live is Cisco’s premier education and training destination for IT professionals worldwide. This year, Actility sent two hands full of their crew to support its very own booth at the edition in Las Vegas, running from 25-29 June. Over 28000 partners and customers attended the event and benefited from a curriculum of more than 1,000 sessions offering unique opportunities to acquire cutting-edge knowledge and skills on innovative technologies. Cisco Live is a five-day immersion in sessions and specialty programs on numerous topics including, of course, IoT. It is a chance to see and be seen by suppliers and customers, to see and deliver demos, to explore and assess the latest solutions from all markets and meet the industry’s top vendors.

For Actility, this event was a tremendous success. The LPWA market in the US is just getting traction and now is a fantastic time for us to position ThingPark™ as the leading Network Server in that space. We come back fully energized and rich from the experience. We realized we were capable of grabbing real attention from visitors. The attendees interested in IoT and in connected objects were drawn to our booth, impressed with the possibilities Actility’s ThingPark delivers and the power of LoRaWan in the LPWA landscape.

We spent our days evangelizing. Our booth focused on Smart City solutions, as our market analysis tells us this is the ‘low hanging fruit’ in the US. We had numerous devices to demo on our booth, such as a Smart Streetlight powered by Flashnet, a Smart Parking solution with our partner PNI, a SmartBin waste management solution, the ever-popular connected mousetrap and others focused on that vertical market. And our biggest hit was our live shuttle bus tracking demo, powered by Actilitys’ ThingPark and Abeeway™ tracking devices and using Cisco IXM gateways.

Cisco used seven gateways, of which four deployed indoor covering the entire convention center and only three were necessary outdoors to cover the shuttle route on the entire southern part of the Las Vegas Strip. Cisco placed Actility’s Abeeway trackers inside the buses taking participants to and from the Convention Center and their hotels. And the demo was impressive! Shown on our booth as well as Cisco’s, and on the information desk in the lobby. We got people’s attention. Here is when we truly contribute to making people’s lives easier and smarter: using an app on their smartphone or public screen to determine the arrival time of the next shuttle bus between their hotel and the Mandalay Bay Convention Centre, attendees could wait for their shuttle inside, and avoid waiting in the Nevada heats they had to last year!

The general theme of the event was Calling all Super Heros, You’re IT. I can tell you, we brought our Super Hero, and his name is Gabor Pop! Each day Gabor had a 15-minute presentation, in which he introduced Actility and explained a use case. We chose Smart Parking, Tracking, Smart Lighting and Smart building. His presentations stopped traffic, and guided people to our stand afterwards. We played our cards well. We found new channels to help us bring ThingPark to US market, we found new customers, some with immediate projects, others we need to develop. With a complete team based across the US, Actility is invested and betting the US LPWA market will catch up to the Europeans and Asia/Pac. Thank you Cisco Live! We enjoyed playing, meeting many superheros, and winning new relationships!

Tag: Smart Building – Facility Management