The team of researchers from Project Custodian, in which ISEL’s Future Interternet Technologies (FIT) research group collaborates, surpassed the world record for maximum distance using the LoRaWAN protocol and The Things Network (TTN).
After 3 years of the previous record, the new global maximum distance was set at more than 1336 km, with the installation of LoRaWAN sensors on the buoys of the fishing boat “Estrela de Sesimbra”, off the coast of Sesimbra, Portugal, which established contact with a TTN gateway installed in the Canary Islands, Spain.
Carlos Mendes, responsible researcher at ISEL in the Custodian project, member of FIT and professor at the Department of Electronic and Telecommunications and Computer Engineering (DEETC), highlights that the fact that this record was achieved at sea level is even more relevant since previous records used metrological balloons to achieve this. It is for this reason that this record is also an exceptional achievement.
In partnership with Solvit, a company incubated at ISEL and which leads the Custodian project, researchers are currently developing work in the Azores to test the reach of LoRaWAN technology with other project members and other vessels, in order to test the technology in a environment in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
The Custodian project aims to reduce pollution and ghost fishing produced by lost fishing gear and is funded by EEAGrants under the Bluegrowth program.
It is important to note that ISEL was also present in previous distance records, participating at the time with the TTN gateway installed by the FIT/ISEL team in a tower in Amoreiras.
