18 December 2014
Communications infrastructure company Arqiva has launched what’s believed to be the UK’s first nationwide Internet of Things (IoT) network. The company has partnered with French IoT specialist Sigfox which has already established machine-to-machine (M2M) networks in several other countries.
Arqiva says its IoT network will enable a range of smart city and intelligent building applications.
The two companies first announced their partnership to create a dedicated UK IoT network in May 2014. Their initial commitment was to connect the country’s ten largest cities: Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Sheffield. Earlier this month, sites in each of these cities went live and are now connected to Sigfox’s global IoT network.
Arqiva says it will connect more UK cities but has yet to decide which. Wendy McMillan, the company’s MD of M2M solutions, says: “We plan to roll out nationally over the next couple of years but have not yet decided on the specific details of the next phase. Our next phase of expansion is, however, likely to be influenced by where we see strong demand for Internet of Things services emerging.”
Sigfox is providing the key infrastructure needed, including cellular base stations and antennas using license-free 868MHz spectrum. It will also host and operate the back-office IT systems needed to manage the network.
Arqiva says it has installed a radio mast at each site. These will receive signals from the connected ‘things’ using Sigfox’s radio network. The signals are then routed to the Sigfox Connectivity Cloud, enabling customers to access and check the data their devices are sending.
The potential of the IoT is subject to much speculation. A Cisco study earlier this year predicted there will be 50 billion connected devices globally by 2020, and it suggests that each household in developed markets could host up to 500 connections.
Arqiva expects many different types of companies to use its network. McMillan says that together with existing connectivity such as street-level Wi-Fi, the UK’s biggest cities are becoming hubs for digital innovation. “A whole host of smart city and intelligent building applications
can now deliver benefits, from smart parking and waste level monitoring through to connected smoke alarms.”
Sean Weir, the firm’s business development manager, provides further examples of users: “A logistics firm wanting to track items along the distribution chain, health management companies wanting to check on the well-being of people in their care, buildings and facilities managers wanting to check and manage lighting and heating systems – there is lots of interest from all sectors of business. We are just at the start of the journey.”
Greenwich is one of the first sites to go live in London. The borough aims to establish itself as a leader in smart city innovation and recently announced that it will host a pilot scheme for the introduction of driverless cars in the UK.
Council leader Denise Hyland says the IoT network will bring benefits to all residents, and will ultimately improve how the borough delivers its services. “This technology will help cities tackle economic and social challenges and will help solve issues like traffic congestion as well as enhancing security, and making heating and lighting more efficient.”
Sigfox says its network complements existing high-bandwidth systems by providing economical, energy-efficient, two-way transmission of small quantities of data. It claims that this lowers barriers to wide implementation of IoT and M2M solutions, and greatly extends the battery and service life of connected devices.
The company’s global network is deployed through its network operator partnership programme, and is said to have already covered more than a million square kilometres.
In Spain for example, it has worked with Abertis Telecom on the rollout of an IoT network. One of its customers includes security alarm supplier Securitas Direct. It found that burglars were using GSM jammers to stop its alarms sending signals to the control centre. By using the IoT, Securitas’ burglar alarms can now bypass public cellular networks, and instead send signals via Sigfox’s network, thus rendering the burglars’ GSM jammers useless. Securitas now has five million devices connected through Sigfox.
