Milesight 47,000 LoRaWAN IAQ Sensors in Canadian Schools
With province-wide LoRaWAN IAQ solution deployment, students and staff in Quebec’s public schools are now in a healthier learning environment with more helpful insights. Check how Milesight has made it happen!
The Situation
The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the importance of continuously monitoring indoor air quality, especially in schools. The Ministère de l’Éducation du Québec has announced in September 2021 the deployment and installation of air quality and comfort parameters sensors in more than 47,000 classrooms across the province.
Measuring indoor CO2 concentrations, relative humidity and temperature is part of a strategy developed to ensure that the best possible learning and working environment is provided at all times for students and school staff. With accurate indoor air data, well ventilated classrooms are achievable.
The Needs
- Reduce maintenance and installation difficulties
- Monitor CO2, humidity and temperature level at 5 minutes intervals during school hours
- Create an information system without the use of Wi-Fi or Cellular Internet
The Solution
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The Result
Encouraging Results from 2 Pilots
2 pilots were implemented before the client started the project. In each pilot, Milesight’s AM107 were installed very quickly in approximately 30 classrooms, and Assek’s software presented great tools to easily monitor the air quality in classrooms.
47,000 IAQ Sensors Deployed at Ease
The success of the 2 pilots proved LoRaWAN® was the right technology and the client believed it was possible to adopt this solution in thousands of schools across Quebec very easily and quickly. In result, approximately 47,000 classrooms were equipped with this LoRaWAN IAQ monitoring
Decision-Making Based on Holistic Insights
The solution is meant to help the authorities to obtain an overview of the IAQ situation of all schools. This information, unknown prior to this project, can now be used to ensure the healthiness of the learning and working environment. It allows the client to prioritize and implement corrective actions, and all users to be notified when and where fresh air is needed. The solution could soon be integrated with HVAC systems to automatically ensure good IAQ.
Technical Challenges Snapshot
Real-time Monitoring & Long Battery Life
Real-time data collection and reporting are critical for effective IAQ monitoring. However, in many cases, this will drain the battery fairly quickly. To tackle this dilemma, Milesight engineered automatic mode switch in AM107 indoor air quality sensor. In practice, the AM107 can automatically switch between different operating modes during the day and night. It responds to classroom air quality conditions as quickly as possible during the day, while saving as much energy as possible on the device’s battery in unoccupied classroom environments at night. Combined with the adaptive data rate (ADR) mode, it enables the device to achieve more than 4 years of battery life, even with a data collection frequency of 1 minute and a reporting interval of 5 minutes.
Time Accuracy
Considering that there are time zone and Daylight Saving Time differences in various regions, the time on AM107 may not be accurate if it is not adjusted accordingly. To make it correct and convenient, our AM107 is designed to automatically synchronize its time with gateway packet forwarding on a long-term basis.
IoT Security
The more complex and unique the password, the more secure the device will be. In our case, each device and password correspond to one another. The password for each sensor is randomly generated and is in the form of a long string.
Data Transmission & Integrity
To address packet conflicts and over-the-air packet loss, the AM107 has a built-in random delay reporting feature. Through this, the bandwidth and processing resources of the web server and application server can also be optimized.
Scaled Deployment & Configuration
To facilitate bulk deployment and installation, nodes and gateways are plug-and-play and automatically connect to the management platform after deployment. Users can configure and upgrade all remotely through the management platform.
