The Internet of Things solutions developed by OrbiWise are used in a wide range of fields. The company’s software, based on LoRaWAN® technology, is suitable for networks of all sizes and is used by millions of smart city devices around the world, facilitating the transition to a sustainable society.
The Internet of Things (IoT) enables a wealth of relevant data to be collected, making it an ideal tool to help accelerate the transition to a sustainable society. One company that has quickly become a major global player in this field is OrbiWise, which was set up in 2014. Its software, OrbiWAN, is based on LoRaWAN® (Long Range Wide Area Network) technology, which enables connected objects to communicate with each other over a long distance, with very little energy and with no need for a licence. This scalable solution enables any company or public authority to become an IoT operator, and it can be adapted to networks of any size, anywhere in the world.
OrbiWise’s priority markets are North America and Europe, although its solutions are also used in South America and Asia. The company has also helped to set up a national IoT network in India, through its collaboration with Tata Communication. While the Indian giant uses OrbiWAN in numerous ways – for example, to improve worker safety on industrial sites – it mainly employs the software in smart city applications, such as parking control, waste management and street lighting. “A smart public lighting system saves energy, reduces maintenance costs and cuts CO2 emissions,” says Domenico Arpaia, CEO of OrbiWise. The Swiss company was also involved in the implementation of just such a network in the United Kingdom by North/Pinacl, an international leader in smart lighting.
OrbiWAN is used in the building industry too, principally in energy-saving applications, one example being smart water meters. “This type of device allows you to read consumption almost in real time,” says Arpaia. The software is already installed in tens of thousands of water meters in the Australian state of Victoria.
OrbiWise has also developed an IoT solution for monitoring noise pollution. This is now recognised as a major problem because of its negative impact on the health of humans and other species, and on the environment in general, to the extent that it was the subject of a European directive in 2022. “In 2019, in Switzerland alone, the costs associated with traffic noise amounted to CHF 2.8 billion, 55% of which were health costs,” says the CEO. The company’s solution measures and analyses noise levels in urban areas in real time. It is already used by the cities of Geneva, Lausanne and Zurich, and by Chevron Corporation in Los Angeles, and it offers an unprecedented level of information to decision-makers, enabling them to take rapid corrective action against noise pollution.
