Today we are interviewing Leonardo Cerri, our programmer engineer behind the development of the new DeepWave system, to find out more about the latest LoRa monitoring solution presented by Tecnosoft last week and which is already raising great interest.
1 - Hi Leonardo, when did Tecnosoft decided to develop a new system for real time monitoring?
A: The previous system, based on the ZigBee protocol, had communication limitations in addition to the fact that the configuration of the radio network alone was complicated. Furthermore, some components were starting to be difficult to find on the market so we decided to develop this new solution, also because Tecnosoft stands out, among other things, by the fact that it always implements the most advanced technologies and most suitable for our applications of interest. The choice to use the LoRa protocol seemed the best as it guarantees the transmission of a good amount of data even over long distances.
2- What were the stages of development?
A: First we outlined what the characteristics of the system should be in general. Having already quite an experience in the field, we know what is most requested by users. In addition, we wanted to eliminate all the configuration difficulties of the previous system. However, this is a system that must be based on an existing LAN, therefore a minimum of configuration is necessary, but in the end the system is as plug & play as possible. Furthermore, all the configuration part of the sensors, alarms and users enabled for data management is very flexible and is managed by a single software.
3- What were the biggest difficulties in development?
A: Choose the best radio modules, the best antennas and find the right combination that would allow a complex system in itself to be as comfortable and streamlined as possible for the user.
4- How far did you manage to transmit?
A: LoRa claims to transmit even tens of kilometers. We arrived in the open field from the terrace of our offices in Peschiera Borromeo to the ring road of the Idroscalo (an artificial lake at the gates of Milan, used in the past to land seaplanes): it is a little more or less than 3 km. We can cover the entire Tecnosoft building located on two floors and a basement, which is also monitored without interruption of communication with a receiver located two floors above.
5- Can you tell us which new project you are working on?
A: They told me that I can't, I can only reveal that it will also be a wireless project, but with a totally different radio protocol and for another application.
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