brighton everynet - files.meetup.comfiles.meetup.com/20458263/meeting no. 1 vision +...

Brighton Everynet

Vision and Progress to date

The global Things Network

• The global Things Network started life in Amsterdam in 2015 – Team of volunteers took just six weeks to build a crowd-sourced

IoT network across the city – Open network which is free to use – Went on to launch a highly successful Kickstarter project – Now a global phenomenon with citizen-led projects in more than

70 countries – Many towns and cities in UK building community networks on this

model

01/11/2016 Author: Bill Harpley (Astius Technology) 2

TTN communities 30/10/2016


TTN Gateway


What is the Brighton Everynet? • It’s a dedicated low-power IoT network for the

Greater Brighton area

– Low-power => battery life of sensor nodes 10+years

– Low-cost to build and operate

– Secure ( 128-bit AES encryption )

– Suited to very low-bandwidth sensor applications

• Smart meters

• Object tracking (e.g. pets, hedgehogs)

• Monitoring (e.g. air quality)

– Employs long-range LoRa wireless technology


Why we love LoRa

• LoRa™ is a wireless technology developed by a major semiconductor company called Semtech

• The software that powers the network is called LoRaWAN – It’s an open standard developed by the LoRa Alliance

– Supported by major players such as Cisco, HP and IBM

– Open standard means more choice and lower costs • Commercial solutions ( hardware + software )

• Open source solutions ( hardware + software )

• “Long range” means wide area coverage – 5-10km in urban areas

– 10-15km in suburban areas

– 15km+ in rural areas

• Can be used for static and mobile applications


http://www.semtech.com/wireless-rf/lora.html

http://www.lora-alliance.org/What-Is-LoRa/Technology

Overview of LoRa network


Base stations


Indoors Outdoors

End-points (mote)


Low-power WANs (LPWANs) • LoRa is a example of what has come to be known as a

Low-power WAN ( or just LPWAN , for short) – Long range – Very low power operation (long battery life) – Suited to endpoints (sensors) which send small packets of data

at intermittent intervals (e.g. ~ 4x an hour, ~2x a day)

• There are a number of LPWAN technologies vying for market-share – SigFox – Weightless – Ingenu RPMA – Cellular IoT

• LoRA and SigFox are the dominant players at this point in time


Original concept • Inspired by principles of the global Things Network

– Crowfunded / crowdsourced

– Community owned

– Built by volunteers

– Opportunities for citizen involvement (e.g. hackathons)

• Envisaged original stakeholders would be: – B&H Council

– Brighton University

– Sussex University

– Brighton Digital Catapult

– Local businesses (tech and non-tech)


http://thethingsnetwork.org/

Funding the project

• There are three ways to fund this project:

– Crowd-sourcing invite local organisations and individuals to purchase and host a base station

– Crowd-funding launch a campaign to raise funds for specific projects (e.g. purchase and install 50 air quality sensors)

– Grant-funding apply to charitable bodies and local authorities for grants

• We intend to combine all three approaches


Team Structure

• Work started on the project in early 2016

• Ashley Bowen and Bill Harpley worked to

– build strategic relationships within the community

– Identify economic & social value of the project

– Build website and social media presence

– Liaise with other TTN groups

• Assisted by Steering Committee which met about once every two months


Original plan (‘Plan A’)

• The Everynet would provide a low cost innovation platform for Smart City projects

• Phase 1: pilot project covering busy corridor from Lewes to Brighton Pier ( ~ 18 months) – Assumed that universities would host base stations – Assumed that we could have base station mounted on roof of

New England House – Assumed we would have no obstacles to use of lamp-posts for

end-points

• Phase 2: build out across whole of Greater Brighton ( ~ 2 years)

• Using this phased approach would provide room for experimentation and learning


New concept

• Despite strenuous efforts, we failed to engage:

– B&H Council

– Brighton University

– Sussex University

• Current supporters include:

– Brighton Digital Catapult (Wired Sussex)

– Brighton & Hove Economic Partnership

– Coast2Capital LEP

– Fastnet (local ISP)


New Plan (‘Plan B’) • Start to build network in Brighton & Hove:

– Expand inland to Lewes / Haywards Heath – Expand along the coast Newhaven -> Bognor

• Possible sites for base stations: – Roof of Fastnet building (Ditchling Road) – Barclays Eagle Labs (Preston Circus) – EDF building (Portslade) – All are as yet unconfirmed

• Aim to have at least 15 base stations running by end of 2017 – We need active volunteers to make this happen!


What are the benefits? 1. It will help us broaden our technology base for the

future

2. It will help to raise the national and global profile of the tech scene in Brighton

3. It will help us to build and retain new skills within the community

4. These skills will provide the basis for new jobs and businesses

5. Graduates will find employment for their new skills

6. Teaching and research resource for academia

7. Help DigiCat fulfil mission of ‘Internet of Place’


Value propositions

• We have created draft value propositions for

– Education sector (schools, colleges, universities)

– Technology & Business sectors

• Ashley has created a Lean Canvas model to define stakeholders and benefits


Community ownership

• We have explored how to set up some form of community ownership – Community Interest Company ( CIC )

– Co-operative ownership structure

• Having a CIC for the project would – Make it easier to raise funds for the project

– Provide a clear framework of governance

• We would need volunteers to sit on the board – Opportunities for individuals to serve their

community and enhance their C.V.


Current promotional assets

Project has formal community status on the Things Network website

Twitter account @TTN_Brighton

Meetup account Brighton & Sussex Everynet

Website www.everynet.network

kindly hosted for free by Fastnet


https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/community/brighton

https://twitter.com/TTN_Brighton

https://www.meetup.com/en-AU/Brighton-Sussex-Everynet/

http://www.everynet.network/

http://fastnet.co.uk/

The national context Showcase ‘smart city’ projects in Glasgow, Bristol,

Milton Keynes and Manchester, all funded by Government money

Scottish Government has just announced that four more LoRa networks to be built

London is to have its own pilot LoRa network with 50 base stations (funded by Digital Catapult)

IoTUK announced open call for three LPWAN testbeds

LPWAN World Forum expo and conference in London on November 9th-10th

Cellular operators such as Vodafone expected to begin deployment of Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) in late 2017


Local context

• Brighton Digital Catapult is helping to develop a data-driven economy

– Internet of Things (IoT)

– Blockchain

– 5G future networks

• The Everynet project bridges the gap between IoT and 5G

• Plenty of scope for people to get involved in the project


“What’s in it for me?” • Volunteers for Everynet can expect to develop

these skills (according to personal preference):

– Hardware & embedded systems skills

– Software architecture and coding skills

– Wireless technology skills (LPWAN, Bluetooth, 5G)

– Data Analytics and Visualisation

– Organisational and project skills

– Community engagement skills

– Connections into the wider global TTN network

• Above all, we aim to make it fun and sociable


Any questions?


Take a break


brighton everynet - files.meetup.comfiles.meetup.com/20458263/meeting no. 1 vision +...

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