This was our first meeting at a new venue, the Innovation Centre of Manchester Science Park. There was around 20 attendees, mostly new faces to LoRaWAN and our Things Manchester group.
We opened with a short presentation giving a round-up of what the group was doing, and why we started Things Manchester;
*The background of The Things Network (TTN) and the communities involved
* What opportunities The Things Network and LoRaWAN provided, compared to traditional IoT models
* What kinds of devices and usage was suited to the network
* How the network was operated and supported
* How systems could integrate with the network
We examined devices and hardware that could connect to the network, getting an idea of the type of ‘amateur’ and professional infrastructure was available.
With the new Pi-Supply ROK833 Hat adapter for the Raspberry Pi in tow, we looked at how cheaply and easily gateways could be deployed for lower-power networks.
Finally, we had an open discussion about what people were interested in and talked about the suitability of TTN and LoRaWAN for a number of use cases. Building Information Management (BIM) was a popular topic, and Julian from Open Data Manchester spoke about a project at Federation House about building intelligence for better environmental performance and ways TTN was providing data for a live project about the rhythms and insights they were getting from a LoRaWAN sensor network deployment there.
Informal discussions about the movement of the commercial sector towards adopting a Things Network-style model continued afterwards, as ever, at a nearby inn, where we learnt more about possible uses for TTN in a cultural context, and discussed its suitability to control sausage-firing cannons. This is a concept developed by FoxDog Studios — apparently vegetarian sausages are better ballistically.
We are looking forwards to further adoption, particularly with the new Manchester Metropolitan Cybersecurity programme, and an increasing membership for our next meeting — so if you are interested in how to build and use open infrastructure, have an idea or device to connect, come along to the next meeting on Monday 11th March 2019.