Students lay the Foundation for a Smart City of Kufstein
Next to companies, municipalities and cities, too, are investing in digital technologies, including the city of Kufstein. The aim of these digitization processes is to generate added value for the population. Central to this mission are networked sensors that record environmental conditions and visualize them. This is why Stadtwerke Kufstein commissioned a practical project group of the Smart Products & Solutions master’s degree program to implement a prototype of an IoT sensor box. The function of this sensor box is to measure different classes of particulate matter concentration in the air and to store this data on a central server via the existing LoRaWAN network of the municipal utility, so that ultimately this data can be visualized on a dashboard.
PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION
The Internet of Things, i.e. the networked and intelligent management of everyday objects and data, formed the basis for the students’ practical project. With the help of agile project management, the team step by step designed and implemented solutions that would deliver a decisive added value for the population and the client.
The result was a networked and intelligent sensor unit, controlled by a micro-controller and consisting of two sensors. These are used to record data from the environment, e.g. to measure and output particulate matter pollution (by means of an air quality sensor) at the current location (by means of a GPS sensor). The system is powered by a photovoltaic module combined with a battery. The processed data are then visualized on a dashboard that can be accessed by conventional electronic devices such as smartphones or laptops.
ON THE RIGHT TRACK TO BECOMING A SMART CITY
Sustainable and self-sufficient energy management is a central objective of the Kufstein municipal utility company within the context of the smart city. Thanks to the project work of the student group, the foundation has been laid for Kufstein to become a smart city. But the underlying cooperation between the client and FH Kufstein Tirol is far from over. Stay tuned for news on which projects will be tackled next to support the city of Kufstein in this age of digitization.