1. Developers use IoT Hub to provide free Wi-Fi
“We rapidly built an end-to-end proof of concept that brings a variety of data into Azure via IoT Hub.” – Oliver Keyworth, Development Manager
Emirates Air Line cable car, owned by Transport for London, runs 1.5- kilometers across the Thames River in London, England. The developers at Microsoft partner TBS Services figured out a way to provide free Wi-Fi service to passengers, building a solution that combines Microsoft Azure, TV White Spaces, and other technologies. As a value added, the developers combined Azure IoT Hub with CCTV to gather accurate and timely insights about traffic flow in order to improve operations and perform predictive maintenance on the cable car equipment.
Transport for London wanted a low-cost way of installing Wi-Fi networks and sensors in its cable car cabins and cable car stations on both sides of the river. The solution included:
A moderate bandwidth network providing Internet-connected Wi-Fi in its cable car cabins and stations using Microsoft TV White Spaces network technology. By connecting the Wi-Fi to smart closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, the transport authority could count pedestrians passing through the stations. TV White Spaces would also provide free Wi-Fi inside all cabins, with the quality of service monitored using dedicated devices that report data to Azure IoT Hub.
A LoRaWAN network connecting long-life battery-powered temperature and humidity sensors in the cabins and at the stations. By measuring temperature and humidity, they could reduce maintenance costs and increase service availability. The goal was to cover a 5-km radius from the North Greenwich station.
Transport for London hired TBS Mobility, a Microsoft partner, to help it build an IoT solution on the TaskMaster enterprise mobility platform and Microsoft Azure.
Azure IoT Suite
Microsoft TV White Spaces
23,500
Transportation
United Kingdom
TBS Mobility
Dynamic Spectrum and Predictive Analytics
Get code and architecture on GitHub