The coverage of The Things Network continues to grow impressively. But there likely will always be gaps in coverage between the cities and in remote places on the Earth. Lacuna Space is flying gateways on satellites to fill in the voids, enabling monitoring in remote locations or tracking of mobile ‘things’, no matter where they are.

We will describe the recent advances in satellite technology that have made this economically feasible, and also describe the technical challenges to be overcome, for example: establishing links over hundreds of kilometres and Doppler effects.

We will describe the results from experiments with our first satellite and also the trials that we will be performing later this year once the next three satellites are in-orbit.

Rob is a space industry veteran, having worked on satellites and space technology for over thirty years. His original specialisation was thermo-fluid dynamics where he worked on satellite propulsion systems and rockets for hypersonic launch vehicles. More recently he worked on many telecommunications satellite systems and also the space-based ship tracking system known as AIS. He co-founded Lacuna Space with Thomas Telkamp who brings a vast knowledge of Internet of Things technology and LoRa® devices as well as LoRaWAN® protocol™ in particular. Lacuna’s first demonstration satellite launched earlier this year, and there are three more satellites that will follow before the end of the year. Contact him at LinkedIn or @lacuna_space

Helena is Microsoft UK’s Smart Cities Lead. She is passionate about the positive impact which technology, sensitively applied, can have on communities and cities of the future. Technology embedded in the fabric and infrastructure of our lives should help improve our day to day experiences, but it must do so in a way which helps us build a strong sense of community with those around us, and encourages a shared sense of ownership about our immediate environment, and our impact on those further afield. Digital technologies can also transform our ability to deliver person centred care and health in the community and at home. Helena’s remit at Microsoft involves looking at how technology can help transform public services, particularly integrated health and social care, and leading on Microsoft’s smart cities programme in the UK. During her ten years at Microsoft, Helena has worked in various public sector focused roles, working with a mixture of start ups and major commercial organisations serving the public sector and with local government customers in the UK on their digital transformation activities. Prior to Microsoft, Helena managed a number of large change programmes and is well versed in the importance of the people side of change and transformation.

Many LoRaWAN devices are very simple: just a radio sending raw sensor values to the cloud. But this limits the usefulness of a deployment.

A sensor can send that it saw movement in front of it, but not what it saw. Or a sensor might notice that it’s being moved around, but not whether it’s attached to a vehicle or is just being carried around. The reason is simple: for knowing what happens in the real world you’ll need lots of data, and sending all that data over LoRaWAN quickly diminishes your downlink budget and battery.

How can we do better?

In this talk we’ll look at ways to draw conclusions from raw sensor data right on the device. From signal processing to running neural networks on the edge. It’s time to add some brains to your LoRaWAN deployment.

Jan Jongboom is an embedded engineer and machine learning advocate, always looking for ways to gather more intelligence from the real world. He has shipped devices, worked on the latest network tech, climbed upon buildings to install gateways and there's a monument in San Francisco with his name on it. He has been involved in TTN since 2015, and was a member of the LoRa Alliance Technical Committee from 2017 - 2019.

FossaSat-1 is a 5cm sided pocketqube satellite developed by Fossa Systems, a non profit juvenile association based in Spain and dedicated to the development of picosatellite technologies.

FossaSat-1 will test LoRa IoT telecommunications from space without the need of any ground infrastructure. $5 transcievers with monopole antennas at 10mW will be capable of connecting to the fully free and open network. FossaSat is a fully open source project developed by a group of Students from all over the world. Fossa aim to democratise access to space by reducing launch costs and democratise access to IoT by reducing necessary ground infrastructure.

This talk will also cover some of the less known characteristics of LoRa regarding its long range and behaviour at extreme settings (36,000km range at 7.8khz SF12 and TCXO modules) as well as practical tests beating national LoRaWan records.

Julian is a 16 year-old student, CEO and Co-Founder of Fossa Systems, a non-profit association dedicated to the development of picosatellites for IoT telecommunications. He is passionate for sharing his ideas with the world and inspiring the youth.

An exploration of how data from IoT can lead to improvements in AI by overcoming the historical biases and flawed methods that current algorithms have been built from.

Sharon is an entrepreneurial thinker, tinkerer and talker with a background spanning cognition and computing. She is a doctoral researcher at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, University College London. Her research is focused on cognitive analytics and spatial intelligence. Sharon previously worked in the ICT industry, advising industry and government clients worldwide about emerging technologies disrupting human behaviour.

The development of LoRaWAN and IoT in Wales.

Peter has spent over 20 years working on key Digital delivery and awareness raising projects in Wales, often playing a hands on role in explaining the benefits to organisations, businesses and stakeholders. In 2013, Peter moved to the Digital Infrastructure Department within the Welsh Government, supporting and leading Digital Infrastructure Developments in the Local Growth and Enterprise Zones, these include the Superfast Cymru Programme, Mobile Infrastructure Project, village and town WiFi Projects, and more recently has led or initiated LoRaWAN pilots and trials. A fluent Welsh speaker originally from North Wales, and a former farm worker during his teenage years, Peter is convinced some of the best ideas for LoRaWAN will come from farmers, referencing Frank Rennie's book - 101 uses for Baler Twine.

Using optimisation techniques, machine learning models can now run on small microcontrollers, enabling raw sensor data to be turned into actionable insights locally.

This technology is the perfect partner to LoRaWAN sensors, enabling just the event metadata to be transmitted.

Since joining Microsoft in 1994, Paul Foster has worked across a wide range of sectors and customers, providing a mix of technical and strategic guidance around the creative use of technology in relation to their business needs. Paul is currently a senior software engineer at Microsoft. Paul is currently focusing on the building of next generation sensor webs which automate the gathering of data from disparate sources, and how to enable the creative analysis of this data to start a new era of perception. He is the initiator of The Things Network Norfolk community group. For a short-time Paul was a member of a high-wire flying trapeze circus troupe, is a keen roboticist and an international marathon runner.

At a time when the world seems to be waking up to the effects of our consumptive economy, the plastics in the oceans, fast fashion, e-waste and climate change – what role can the design of “Things” take in helping to shape a sustainable future? One where products are designed considering their lifetime and not for landfill.

Erica works in sustainable design and innovation strategies for organisations large and small, connecting her technical product design background with an ever questioning and human focus. Her specialist areas are around circular design and developing sustainable business / organisational models.

From parking sensors that tell when a bay is in use or tagged cows broadcasting their location on a farm, LoraWAN has many practical applications, but is what’s connected to it secure? Is the cloud the best place to hold that information? Based on my experience of buying an iKettle that had the sellers credentials in it and was findable on wiggle.net I’d say “maybe not”.

In this session you’ll get a solid understanding of the security and implementation of mobile API’s and Industrial IoT on the internet e.g. A/C disinfectant and oil drilling rigs.

We’ll also explore why hard coded credentials and poor coding within the connected devices present such a risk, and why addressing updates in the production and development cycle is so important, as is telling the users.

Nigel is a senior consultant with Pen Test Partners specialising in transportation and critical national infrastructure security. Having managed highly complex maritime security testing projects from drilling rigs and bulk carriers to cruise liners and private yachts, Nigel is ideally placed to provide an insight into the threats facing the maritime industry today. He has presented to the House of Lords Select Committee on Maritime Cyber Security, as well as at events such as the International Security Expo, and the European Associate of Airport and Seaport Police Conference.

The vision of the CityGate platform is to collect, integrate and analyse big data to improve urban systems and quality of life.

This will lead to smarter and greener cities that are of great importance to billions of people.

Adel is an experienced mobile computing, IoT and Networking Associate Professor with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry. He is a strong information technology professional skilled in computer networks and Internet of Things.

For years we’ve talked about how ubiquitous technology will be transformational.

Imagine a world where that’s matched with more people equipped with the tools and digital skills to embrace that change.

LoRa is supporting an emerging phenomenon for everyone to innovate with low-cost sensors and data rates, and provides an opportunity to talk about sustainable growth that is socially inclusive. In this session we will look at examples including community-led projects focused on improving air quality and boosting diversity in the digital talent pipeline.

Claire co-founded The Foundation for Digital Creativity with Andrew Robinson in 2017, with a mission of removing barriers to learning and making technology accessible to tackle real world social and environmental problems. Educational activities centre around adults and children motivated by curiosity and the desire to understand how technology innovations can positively impact on issues relevant to them. Current programmes span across schools, industry, community and university settings, taking a ‘KS1 to PhD’ learning framework to develop and extend the digital talent pipeline. With a background in teaching and creative computing, Claire is currently a postgraduate researcher at Leeds University. Her research focuses on ways that ‘maker education’ in schools can impact on children's well-being.

A presentation on examples of how organisations have used KoolZone LoRaWAN technology to schedule predictive maintenance and achieve beneficial results.

Ali has previously worked in senior roles within companies such as Hewlett Packard, Oracle and Informix, in both management and global sales. Although her career has been focused mainly on commercial roles in the past, she also has a BSc (Hons) Degree in Electronic Engineering from UCL. Ali is now a Co-Founder and Investor of KoolZone. KoolZone has built a LoRaWAN real time monitoring solution that initially focused on temperature and humidity from within commercial fridges and freezers. The solution has expanded to monitor many other data types, including power, energy, pressure, GPS and CO2. Customers can now be found around the world and come from a range of industries including Food, Pharmaceuticals, Life Sciences and Logistics.

Tony will discuss the challenges of installing a complete network consisting of Gateway and nodes more than 4 hours drive from home.

He will review the real life experience of installing 12 nodes and several gateways, and consider the future developments required before this can be accomplished by a non-technical customer with a site visit.

He will also discuss the concept of an automated test set which can provide site evaluation of the backhaul system.

Tony is a professional Electrical Engineer who has worked as an RF Engineer as well as in the telecommunication industry. Currently his day job is in Manufacturing. Tony has a long history of using Raspberry Pi and since 2012 has installed around 100 Raspberry Pi systems in industrial applications. After hours Tony is involved in commercialising an innovative method to determining plant health by remote sensing which utilises LoraWan. To that end, Tony designs and builds his own electronic circuits and printed circuit boards for use in both Nodes and Gateways. Tony has also trialed his LoraWan Nodes with Fleet Space (also based in Adelaide) and appeared in their first marketing video.

This workshop talks about hands-on low level Embedded engineering. It revolves around the problem of powering and running ultra-low power devices. It teaches you to respect batteries and how to test if they are up for the job. After attending you will have the confidence in designing your own Ultra-low power device. You will learn what to do and what to avoid.

What users will need to participate in the workshop

A bit of time (30-40 minutes) and a listening ear.

What level of knowledge / experience is required for the workshop

Basic Electronics.

Workshop where we build a reference antenna for each member to take home.

Bart is a passionate electronics designer with a soft spot for RF technology. Recognising the potential of LoRa, he went on designing the first LoRa products back in 2014. Bart has his roots in servicing and repair of electronics from the tube era, right into the transistors and IC’s of now. Counting 40+ years of getting the most out of the electronics experience he has developed himself as an all-round electronics designer. Bart owns and runs his electronics design company Ideetron b.v. where he and many more engineers think up all sorts of new and exiting electronic devices for lots of happy customers. He is a specialist in wireless telecommunication, analog design, digital design and power electronics. Bart is author of 'Draadloze communicatietechnologie', ISBN: 9789053812037

Using optimisation techniques, machine learning models can now run on small microcontrollers, enabling raw sensor data to be turned into actionable insights locally.

This technology is the perfect partner to LoRaWAN sensors, enabling just the event metadata to be transmitted.

Since joining Microsoft in 1994, Paul Foster has worked across a wide range of sectors and customers, providing a mix of technical and strategic guidance around the creative use of technology in relation to their business needs. Paul is currently a senior software engineer at Microsoft. Paul is currently focusing on the building of next generation sensor webs which automate the gathering of data from disparate sources, and how to enable the creative analysis of this data to start a new era of perception. He is the initiator of The Things Network Norfolk community group. For a short-time Paul was a member of a high-wire flying trapeze circus troupe, is a keen roboticist and an international marathon runner.