California-based Semtech worked with Sindcon in Singapore to bring smart energy and water consumption monitoring to Singapore Zoo.

Sindcon provides low power wide area network (LPWAN) metering. The zoo project was done in collaboration with Electrique Energie & Metering.

A challenge for the project was overcoming the forested terrain of the zoo. By integrating Semtech’s LoRa devices and the LoRaWan standard into the water and energy meters, Sindcon was able to deploy more than 1000 devices in locations throughout the three parks within the zoo using LoRaWan to transmit real-time metering data every 15 minutes.

Additionally, by leveraging the power efficiency of LoRa devices, Sindcon was able to reduce the cost of power cabling, further reducing the cost and complexity of deployment.

“The immense scale of this project was a challenge for radio signal transmission due to the Singapore Zoo’s expansive area and heavily forested terrain,” said Deyu Chen, CEO of Sindcon. “LoRaWan and Semtech’s LoRa devices were the ideal solution to this problem, supporting the need of the project for low power data communication that allows smart meters to function for up to three years on a single battery while sending data uplinks every 15 minutes, relaying critical water and energy usage data in real time for the Singapore Zoo to monitor and lower its overall usage. Sindcon and Semtech’s collaboration highlights how LPWAN technologies are moving towards the future of a more energy-efficient and smarter world.”

Over the past three years, the more than 1000 Sindcon water and energy meters with LoRaWan connectivity have been deployed throughout the zoo with a data success rate of 97% according to Sindcon. The smart meters are located inside the switch rooms and are housed within electrical panels across the three parks within the zoo. Each device monitors key consumption metrics such as cubic metre throughput for water meters and kilowatt-hour, voltage, current and power consumption for electricity meters.

“LoRa devices and the LoRaWan standard deliver cost effective and flexible networking for Sindcon, driving bottom line business benefits,” said Marc Pégulu, vice president at Semtech. “Enhancing the Singapore Zoo with Sindcon through the deployment of smart water and energy meters with LoRaWan showcases how the internet of things is shaping the future of smart utilities.”

Sindcon focuses on one-stop IoT metering from device to IoT platform based on LPWAN technology. The company was established in 2015 and provides IoT services in projects across Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.