Semtech Corp., vendor of high performance analog and mixed-signal semiconductors and advanced algorithms, announced that MachineMax, a provider of smart solutions for fleet management, construction and mining applications, has integrated Semtech’s LoRa devices and wireless radio frequency technology (LoRa Technology) into a new smart construction machine usage tracking solution.
Machine idling, where a machine’s engine is running but the machine is not actively in use, accounts for an estimated 37 percent of the time a construction or mining machine is operating on average. Idling results in an increased amount of fuel waste and machine wear, without creating productive machine output.
Previously, monitoring the usage status of a mining or construction fleet was accomplished manually, with site managers continually checking on the use status of machines, an expensive and time consuming task. MachineMax developed a LoRa-based solution which can be deployed onto fleet machines in under a minute.
The devices attach magnetically and gather real-time data on machine usage status, such as whether or not a machine is idle. With real-time data on when a machine is in use, site managers can make more efficient use of a machine’s time to prevent idling, reducing the amount of fuel used and prolonging machine life.
Semtech’s LoRa devices and wireless radio frequency technology is a widely adopted long-range, low-power solution for IoT that gives telecom companies, IoT application makers and system integrators the feature set necessary to deploy low-cost, interoperable IoT networks, gateways, sensors, module products, and IoT services worldwide.
IoT networks based on the LoRaWAN specification have been deployed in 100 countries and Semtech is a founding member of the LoRa Alliance, the fastest growing IoT Alliance for Low Power Wide Area Network applications.
“With Semtech’s LoRa Technology, we were able to create simple, easy to deploy solutions which effectively monitor machine status from anywhere on a construction or mining site,” said Amit Rai, CEO at MachineMax. “Real-time data from the sensors is presented to site managers, offering tangible insight into their fleet’s efficiency. Managers can use this data to identify problem areas at their site, and work to reduce machine idling, reducing fuel waste and maintenance costs.”
“LoRa Technology enables the capacity to track data and diagnostics across entire fleets, making it the ideal IoT technology for MachineMax’s solutions,” said Marc Pegulu, vice president of IoT for Semtech’s wireless and sensing products group. “MachineMax’s sensors easily deploy in less than a minute, requiring no external power source or additional infrastructure. LoRa-based devices offer real-time and reliable data communication, allowing the end users to analyze their usage trends and make the changes necessary to save money.”
