IoT company Senet is providing LoRaWAN connectivity for a new range of disposable and rechargeable ID cards for staff and students on college and university campuses. The smart LoRaWAN ID cards will be subsequently rolled out to corporate campuses, hospitals, elderly homes, and construction sites, it said.
The LoRaWAN solution has been developed with Neosen Energy, a developer of “wirelessly charged systems and printable technologies” for IoT systems. Texas-based Neosen Energy will make available a range of LoRaWAN devices for tracking people and assets in campus environments, it said, starting with smart ID cards.
The first offer is, in fact, a smart ID card holder, by New Jersey firm SafeKard, which accepts any key card and comes equipped with a panic button to send an instant SOS with the user’s ID and location.
It is being presented as a “campus safety product”, which makes emergency calls almost instantaneous – they are connected in a button-press, compared with an average of seven seconds to dial 911 from a phone, said Senet.
Paul Garrity, chief executive at Neosen Energy, commented: “The adoption of these safety devices and solutions is just beginning but we anticipate it will spread across numerous IoT applications that use ID cards.”
Neosen Energy and Senet are targeting applications that will “create entirely new IoT ecosystems”, they said – with the former bringing “system design and cloud expertise” and the latter bringing offering a “unique model for IoT business engagement”.
Senet puts the addressable market for ID cards among higher education campuses in the US is 31 million people. The New Hampshire firm said the propagation characteristics of LoRa technology, extending deep indoors and below street level, as well as its low cost, make it practicable for campus setups.
Bruce Chatterley, the company’s chief, said its virtual LPWA network provides a platform for cheap IoT devices and a diverse set IoT applications and use cases.
Senet claims to be in position to launch LoRaWAN networks in 80 countries, on demand. Its incentive-based ‘connectivity marketplace’ enables LoRaWAN operators, IoT infrastructure and solution providers, and system integrators to take revenue based on their contributions to the IoT network buildout.
It has recently introduced a raft of server enhancements for its LoRaWAN platform, to simplify the deployment, management and monetisation of LoRaWAN-based LPWA networks and applications.
Senet has just completed a deal with Oman-based Imtac to develop LoRaWAN solutions for smart city applications in the Gulf region, including for lighting, asset tracking, water management, and buildings.
