The world around us is quickly digitalizing, with breakthroughs in IoT, Big Data, AI and more. Talkpool is a part of this digitalization, having set out on a mission to enable solutions that allow people and things to communicate efficiently. An essential part of this is the collection of data by IoT sensors, the development of which has been a focus point of Talkpool since 2015. Using its expertise in radio and security, Talkpool started developing sensor devices based on innovative LoRaWAN technology.

Talkpool’s strategy to the development of new sensors is to work together with domain partners. These companies have built up expertise in their respective domains and are looking to digitalize their business with LoRaWAN connectivity. Talkpool is the bridging partner between the analogue and digital world, by its development of high quality LoRaWAN sensor devices.

One key example is that of the LoRaWAN water meters in Talkpool’s product portfolio. These meters measure the water flow in pipes, for example in residential utility metering or water distribution applications. The mechanical water meter is produced by B Meters, an Italian company with a long standing track record in water metering. Talkpool developed an IoT communication unit to fit on top of these water meters.

“We see the capability to communicate the values measured by the water meters as an important characteristic for our products. Our meters previously had for example m-bus connectivity options. To enable the next generation of smart water metering, we saw the development of LoRaWAN add-on units for our water meters as an ideal next step. Talkpool has been a crucial partner in realizing this, with their expertise in Internet of Things product development. This cooperation has resulted in LoRaWAN connectivity add-on units for our full range of water meters.”

Igor Donadelli, Product Manager at B METERS

Another exemplary use case is that of the carbon dioxide meters Talkpool has developed in collaboration with SenseAir. SenseAir, being the leading manufacturer of carbon dioxide sensor modules worldwide, realized the potential of having LoRaWAN connectivity.

OY1310 LoRaWAN Single-jet smart water meter, co-developed with B METERS

“Talkpool is a key partner in the development of the technology to make wireless sensors and has made it possible for our air quality sensors to be part of the Internet of Things revolution. We strongly believe in the potential these new sensors have, to improve indoor air quality all around us”

Peter Lageson, CEO of Senseair

The LoRaWAN technology Talkpool bases its sensor devices on, is a Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) technology. The sensor devices can communicate small data packets over a long distance, with a long battery life and at low cost. This makes the sensor devices perfectly suitable for the mass market IoT.

 “For Talkpool, it has been an incredible opportunity to partner up with leading industry players such as B Meters and SenseAir. This strategy ensures that our sensor devices meet the industry demands and at the same time this enables quick go-to-market. The sweet spot for our sensor development is when there is a demand for large volumes of sensors, that, with long battery lifetime, periodically report the measured values in small data packets. Our current product portfolio is focused on the smart buildings area, one of the leading verticals within IoT. We will continue to develop LoRaWAN sensor devices that are of market leading quality and price.

Our sensor device design house is established in Sweden, as is our factory. This allows us to develop our sensors in an iterative process, where the design and manufacturing of the sensors are closely tied together. The result is fast product commercialization and a high quality standard for mass deployment. All of our units are compatible with the LoRaWAN protocol, so that they can be used on all of the different LoRaWAN networks our customers worldwide are using. This means that all the security features of the LoRaWAN protocol are part of the firmware stack on our sensor devices as well. On top of this, we equip all our devices with a cryptographic co-processor, a special hardware feature to improve the device security.“

Stefan Lindgren, CTO at Talkpool

OY1210 LoRaWAN CO2 meter, co-developed with Senseair