Mallorca, the largest of Spain’s five Balearic Islands, is known for its white sand and crystal-clear turquoise waters. It’s no surprise the island’s popularity as a tourist destination has steadily grown to more than 10 million visitors in 2017, up from six million in 2010, and just three million in the 1970s. The residential population of this Mediterranean island has doubled from 460,030 in 1970 to 895,000 in 2017. A study by the University of the Balearic Islands anticipates an additional 32.7% population growth by 2030. The report equates this to 25 people for every meter of beach in Mallorca. With increasing environmental limitations, Mallorca’s citizens are developing smart solutions to conserve natural resources by saving water, recycling waste and reducing consumption.
LoRa®: The Right Technology for IoT Innovation
IOTLABS is a company dedicated to providing Internet of Things (IoT)-as-a-service including installation, software, hardware and maintenance. Founded in Barcelona, the company’s first project was an award-winning automatic accident detection solution installed in vehicles to immediately alert medical centers. The device connectivity technology used was based on Bluetooth, SIM cards and Cellular. As potential customers began to request new concepts, IOTLABS found it necessary to research more appropriate technologies for the applications they desired. With its simple, proven and easy to deploy capabilities, Semtech’s LoRa® devices and wireless radio frequency technology (LoRa Technology) became the IoT platform of choice.
Founders Marta Cierra and Bartolome Olivares decided to move their company to Mallorca. They perceived the island as an “isolated planet” and perfect testbed for developing and field-testing new technologies without the bureaucratic interference expected on the mainland - the Balearic Islands have been an autonomous region of Spain since 1983. IOTLABS headquarters is located in Palma, the capital city, inside an office park for tech entrepreneurs known as ParcBit.
Smart Town Expands to Smart Island – Saving 25% of Water
In collaboration with Esporles Town Hall, Innovation of the Balearic Islands (IBETEC) and the Government of the Balearic Islands (GOIB), IOTLABS connected the western municipality of Esporles. This picturesque inland town of 5,000 inhabitants installed a LoRa-based antenna on the town hall roof - making it the first smart town on the island.
IOTLABS designed and installed a comprehensive water management solution leveraging LoRa Technology. The system provides Esporles with the ability to control water mains and water usage, automatically read and report tank levels, and monitor pH and chlorine ranges to ensure water quality and safety for human consumption. The system has initially seen up to 25% of water savings.
Esporles is providing its citizens real-time water level and usage information that has successfully facilitated community participation in reduction efforts. IOTLABS and the city are currently in the process of adding air-quality monitoring solutions, as well as traffic sensors and smart parking solutions to ease congestion and pollution.
Following the successful trials at Esporles, the GOIB voted and funded a much larger project for IOTLABS: deploying across the entire island of Mallorca a network based on the LoRaWAN® protocol, and extending utility management solutions for all 53 municipalities.
The Smart Island of Mallorca is just one example of an innovative smart city application for LoRa Technology and LoRaWAN-based networks. Interested in learning more about LoRa Technology applications for smart cities? Download the smart cities e-book for a collection of smart city use cases.
Download the complete Smart Island of Mallorca use case for more details.
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