Universities and Colleges turn to low-power wide area network sensor solutions to monitor and manage critical infrastructure, equipment, and sustainability initiatives.

Facility professionals at higher education institutions, from operations to maintenance to engineering to sustainability, are finding that they can “do more with less” by investing in battery-powered wireless sensors running on enterprise-grade LoRaWAN and other LPWAN wireless networks. What are some of the reasons that facility managers are turning to these sensor or IoT solutions?

Collecting operating data on critical equipment, such as pumps, blowers, motors, steam traps, grease-traps, and cold storage on a frequent basis, is important for optimizing preventive maintenance planning, extending useful lives of equipment, and mitigating service outages to the university campus. Remotely acquiring that data from indoor equipment rooms rooms can be difficult or costly with short-range wireless technologies, traditional cellular coverage, or hard-wired connections … while certain LPWAN technologies offer more reliable indoor connectivity, easier installation and support, and lower cost infrastructure.

As more higher-education institutions take a lead on sustainability and wellness, wireless sensors can also play an important role in early detection of water loss, abnormal water and energy consumption, and unhealthy indoor and outdoor air quality. The costs of certain wireless sensors and network infrastructure has declined to where these technologies can be deployed across dorms, research and teaching facilities, and administrative and operation buildings.

One of the most interesting use-cases that higher education facility managers are discovering is remote and continuous monitoring of restroom infrastructure, including faucets and toilets, to detect equipment outages and unusual water consumption patterns. Instead of relying on housekeeping or unhappy students or faculty to report on equipment failures, facility managers can now proactively detect and respond to plumbing concerns before they become a problem.

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