Semtech Sensors Detect Fires, Grow Houses on Electricity Grid

Semtech Corp. has developed a smart energy consumption system to detect abnormal spikes in energy usage in city substations, the company announced Wednesday. The monitor, called the “Octopus” was made with NetOP, a London developer and manufacturer of low power, wide area network-based Internet of Things applications, and uses Camarillo-based Semtech’s long-range, low-power, or LoRa, devices and the LoRa wide area network (LoRaWAN) protocol. Octopus sensors can be installed quickly to city substations and begin to collect energy use data in real time. Applications then analyze the data and produce reports to energy grid manager that enable the detection of abnormal energy usage in a city’s electrical grid. To date, the sensors have been used in the prevention and swift response to electrical fires and the detection and geolocation of illegal indoor grow operations. Rémi Demerlé, director of vertical marketing for utilities in Semtech’s Wireless and Sensing Products Group, said that NetOP’s smart utility products prove the value of LoRa devices for energy grids and cities. “The proven flexibility of LoRa devices and the LoRaWAN protocol allows the convergence of multiple (Internet of Things) applications for smarter, simpler management,” Demerlé said in a statement. “Applications leveraging LoRaWAN deliver highly effective municipal operations that, in addition to creating new efficiencies, enable a safer and more productive city.” Shares of Semtech (SMTC) closed Wednesday up 59 cents, or just more than 1 percent, to $52.20 on the Nasdaq.