Putrajaya City Council, Perbadanan Putrajaya (PPj), has partnered with Vectolabs Technologies Sdn Bhd (Vectolabs), a Malaysia-based Internet of Things (IoT) solutions provider, to use LoRa (long-range) technology to set up the first municipal operated IoT infrastructure in the country, in line with the Putrajaya Smart City Blueprint initiatives. The pilot project is planned to be completed in August 2021, after the transfer phase for training and handover from Vectolabs to PPj.
President of PPj, Muhammad Azmi Mohd Zain stated that the IoT development is currently at the beginning phase and will be further developed to encourage creativity with its uses. The partners are in the process of setting up the new smart street lightning in Presint 15, Putrajaya. The smart street lighting has various functions, including the following:
- Manage all types of street lighting assets, which include feeder pillars.
- Organize all types of street lighting, from the smart-ready LEDs to the High-Pressure Sodium (HPS) luminaires.
- Track work orders for the faulty street lighting
- Resolve faulty street lighting with the automated notification system, by utilizing the information on possible faulty components, specific location of the luminaire, and the feeder pillar, circuit and phase the luminaire is connected to.
The National Technology and Innovation Sandbox (NTIS) is the main funder for the pilot program, which will be implemented in collaboration with PPj, Vectolabs and the Wireless and Photonics Networks Research Centre (WiPNET) of Universiti Putra Malaysia within the Single Site Innovation Sandbox Category. Putrajaya will be the first municipal-operated IoT infrastructure by leveraging on LoRa technology – a Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technology, which uses a wireless modulation method to create long-range communication links with low power consumption, thus ideally transmitting sensor data from IoT devices. A single gateway can range 2-5km radius in urban settings. Once finished, Putrajaya’s smart city and IoT adoption model will be potentially emulated in other Malaysian cities, including full ownership and control of the infrastructure, devices, and data.
(Sources: News Straits Times; Digital News Asia)
