IoT for smart cities and smart agriculture

Pioneering collaboration in the FutureIOT center of excellence

The FutureIOT research project, which was funded by the Bavarian Research Foundation for three years, has come to a close. The goal of the project, which had been run since 2018 by a group of scientific institutions and companies comprising over 40 partners, was to search for innovative solutions for the use of the Internet of Things (IoT) in cities and in the countryside. It involved the intelligent networking of technologies from the fields of communications, sensor technology, positioning, information security and IoT platforms.

mioty® conveys data

One contribution to the success of the project was made by our IoT transmission network mioty®. With the wireless transmission technology, data was continuously amalgamated from highly responsive sensors over long distances and comprehensively evaluated. This makes it possible to monitor, control and manage processes and conditions.

With various types of sensors involved, the use of connected technologies was broadly based. Intelligent solutions were developed for cities and also for agriculture. Acceleration sensors ascertained the behavior of cattle out in the pasture and, when the data was linked with numerous environmental parameters, allowed conclusions to be drawn about the animals’ health. Based on the data sets acquired, machine learning models were developed for the behaviors of lying, grazing and ruminating.

Sensors in the ground measured the moisture and nitrogen content of the soil with a view to optimizing fertilization and plant growth. Among other innovations, a new soil sensor was developed for this use case in collaboration with a start-up partner in the group; it is now available on the market.

Air-quality sensors fitted to urban buses continuously recorded the levels of pollutants in the air. In the long term, this data will help improve environmental management in cities. An easily accessible and precise monitoring of the indoor climate was implemented by several partners in the group on their premises.

The occupation of inner-city parking spaces was also measured by means of special sensors. This would make it possible to provide information on free spaces to drivers looking for somewhere to park.

A strong network for the future

The successful center of excellence wants to collaborate on the further development of the platform in the future as an alumni network. Further research questions are already lined up, and industrial partners and group partners are in the starting blocks. One thing is certain: connected solutions that bring direct benefits to people and the environment are the future!