CommuniThings, a LPWAN (Low Power wide area network) smart parking startup, announced the commercial launch of the first smart-parking solution over Orange Belgium's NB-IoT network in the city of Liège.
The "Shop & Drive" solution assists commuters to find available parking space via a mobile application while stimulating shopping activities through increased vehicle rotations at each spot, says CommuniThings. The Smart Parking solution introduces low-power wireless sensors and open-data applications serving residents, retailers and municipalities.
CommuniThings is one of the 3 start-ups selected by Orange Fab BeLux, Orange accelerator program for start-ups, focusing on supporting them to scale up thanks to business partnerships with Orange in Belgium and Luxembourg as well as internationally.
This technology has unique advantages:
- It allows very long battery life of the connected equipment and reduces the cost of the electronic components inside the connected objects.
- It also enables full bidirectional communication between the object and the network allowing firmware updates over the air.
- Its signal penetration inside buildings is very strong and in the future the connectivity abroad (roaming) on other operators' mobile IoT networks is guaranteed.
The Company plans to deepen its cooperation with Orange's technical experts to introduce additional dedicated low-power solutions for different segments across cities and enterprises.
LiegeEtay Oren, CEO, CommuniThings
Once parked, they are allowed 30 minutes of free parking in order to carry out necessity shopping. Parking controllers are informed in real-time of the parking duration. Parking managers receive statistics on usage patterns per parking and comparative analysis between periods (hours, days etc.).
Michael Trabbia, CEO of Orange Belgium
CommuniThings was one of the winning start-ups of the first season of Orange Fab BeLux, the accelerator program of the Orange Group that helps scale-ups who develop new products and innovative services in sectors such as Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, grow.
