LoRaWan of the community
Since summer 2024, the municipality of Rüdersdorf near Berlin has been building its own prototype network using the LoRa radio standard. LoRaWan stands for Long Range Wide Area Network. The radio standard enables the energy-efficient transmission of data over long distances. The technology is low-cost and low-maintenance.
The network in the municipality is to be expanded step by step. Both non-public and public use cases are being tested and realised. The aim is to make the administration's work more effective by, for example, determining how full the rubbish bins are or measuring the moisture content of street trees.
Levels or temperatures of the lakes can also be read.
Three components are required to set up LoraWan:
| Sensors | Sensors are available for almost all applications. These measure various values and send them to an undefined destination. |
| Gateway | Gateways are receiving and forwarding stations. They receive the data from the sensors and pass it on to a data platform via an internet connection. A gateway can cover a very large area of several kilometres. |
| Data platform | This is where the data from the sensors is played out and displayed, usually graphically, for public or non-public utilisation. |
The gateway for the district of Hennickendorf is currently in operation. Commissioning is planned for the districts of Rüdersdorf, Herzfelde and Lichtenow in the near future.
The municipality's LoRaWan project is operated without funding and as a prototype, so that the setup is only expanded step by step if capacities and financial resources are available.