Allnet.Italia collaborates with Gruppo SIGLA for Innovation 4.0
Starting from 2019 and continuing in the following years Gruppo SIGLA has established a new technological partnership with Allnet.Italia, distributor of innovative solutions in information technology and telecommunications, for the development of an important experimental project dedicated to environmental monitoring and energy efficiency that involves the use of IoT solutions based on the innovative LoRaWAN® protocol. The collaboration involved PickUP, an ambitious proof of concept co-financed by the penultimate POR FESR call of the Regione Liguria, and created by a consortium of renowned companies, led by Gruppo SIGLA, with the support of the University and the National Research Council (CNR-IAS and CNR-IBF) of Genoa.
The goal is to create a reference model, able to be expanded and replicated also in other contexts, based on advanced methods and tools for energy, environmental management and consumption reduction in agglomerations of interconnected buildings or in heterogeneous urban districts. This new generation solution will be available to Energy Managers, municipalities or local administrations, to shape modern smart cities, increasingly advanced and efficient, which exploit the elaborations of multi-disciplinary information on consumption, energy production, emissions and occupancy, to support their decision-making processes.
Specifically, PickUP uses a network of IoT and Edge/Fog Computing sensors, based on LoRaWAN protocol. These sensors were then integrated with new models of predictive control, machine learning of energy data analysis and architectures for the aggregation and integration of distributed electrical generation sources (micro-grids) and demand-response flexible demand. The PickUP solution has been tested and validated thanks to the involvement of three pilot sites, at two of which the aforementioned Internet of Things infrastructures have been installed, also realized through the solutions provided by Allnet.Italia. In particular, advanced LoRaWAN® sensors have been supplied, both indoor and outdoor, able to provide a quality of the first level data, aimed at monitoring different parameters such as brightness, CO2, bVOC, temperature, humidity, pressure, PM, light, movement and sound. Subsequently, these data are transmitted via access points to gateways, and collected on a server, specially implemented for their analysis and the development of predictive models.
This experimentation allowed Gruppo SIGLA to test the functionality of the LoRaWAN protocol by creating functional monitoring infrastructure models and, above all, scalable and reconfigurable in other urban contexts for the creation of more efficient cities, sustainable and healthy to live in. This experience opens up the possibility of creating numerous projects aimed at efficiency in multiple areas of application: from the smart factory, ranging from installations for intelligent logistics, to solutions for smart cities, smart buildings, agriculture processing and waste management. Consider, for example, the initiative implemented in some municipalities in Northern Italy, relating to "smart bins", which monitor the filling status through the use of sensors installed inside them, with a view to optimizing the collection process waste. Or, to some smart irrigation projects, which by virtue of the information collected allow to save water based on weather forecasts and, much more, such as public safety, traffic, roads, etc. areas in which Gruppo SIGLA is already at the forefront and is planning new investments for the implementation of this technology in innovative contexts, with projects dedicated to experimental, educational and industrial purposes.