Glasgow internet of things network gets coverage boost 

Glasgow’s Internet of Things network, the most advanced of its kind in the UK, has enhanced the quality and range of its coverage with the addition of a ninth gateway at the City of Glasgow College’s new Riverside Campus on the south bank of the Clyde.

The consortium behind the city’s LoRa™ network – Stream Technologies; Semtech Inc.; Boston Networks; and CENSIS, the Scottish innovation Centre for Sensor and Imaging Systems – will also begin working with the college’s staff and students to help them use the new technology.

To be announced today at CENSIS’s fourth annual Technology Summit, the extra gateway adds to the eight already placed around the central, west end, and northern areas of the city. It will extend coverage to Glasgow’s south east and improve the consistency of connectivity for devices in the city centre, particularly those inside and under buildings.

Each gateway can connect as many as 10,000 devices within a radius of at least three miles in urban areas. The Glasgow network has already been used to monitor river levels, the capacity of public bins, and pollution levels in the city centre, with a host of other trials underway.

Dr Mark Begbie, Business Development Director at CENSIS, said: “The City of Glasgow College’s Riverside Campus is the ideal location for the latest addition to the Glasgow LoRa™ network – enhancing the city’s existing coverage and extending it to the south east.

“It will also act as an important engagement point for us with the college’s staff and students, giving them the best possible opportunity to use the IoT. We look forward to working with them on new applications and projects for this exciting technology in the near future.”

Douglas Morrison, STEM and Innovation Project Lead at City of Glasgow College, added: “We are delighted to partner on this exciting project. Glasgow is very much a Smart City and the continued growth of IoT means we are always on the look out for innovative education solutions across our super college.

“Not only is City of Glasgow College an established technical and professional Centre of Excellence, our Riverside campus is the most technologically advanced maritime and engineering campus anywhere, so this is a great fit. Each day we work to ensure that our students are equipped with relevant and modern skills to flourish in the workplace. We look forward to further developing this relationship with CENSIS.”

The CENSIS summit today is expected to attract more than 400 delegates from across industry and academia. The conference covers a range of topics, including the development of Smart Cities, cyber security, and the opportunities presented by IoT technologies and Industry 4.0.

The audience will hear from a range of speakers, including Edinburgh Napier University’s Professor Bill Buchanan OBE; the University of Glasgow’s Professor Muffy Calder OBE; Alan Norbury, Industrial Chief Technology Officer at Siemens UK; and Frank Frederiksen, Head of Corporate Strategy at U-blox.

Dr Begbie added: “There is no better place to announce this latest development on Glasgow’s LoRa™ network than at our annual summit. Now in its fourth year, the conference has made massive strides, growing from 100 delegates in 2014 to more than 400. It’s testament to the depth and diversity of Scotland’s technology scene that we’re able to consistently attract so many industry leaders from across the UK and beyond.”