Semtech and SAS democratise IoT solutions

“SAS and Semtech offer proven technologies and innovative industry solutions that address complex challenges in communities. Combining SAS IoT analytics solutions – i.e., data, streaming analytics and AI, with the LoRaWAN standard, strengthens our collaborative vision of providing innovation to create a smarter, safer world,” said Alistair Fulton, Vice President and General Manager of Semtech’s Wireless and Sensing Products Group.

“IoT is forcing a fundamental shift of business and operational strategies as organisations adopt new models for agile IT, edge analytics and platform-based security,” said Jason Mann, Vice President of IoT at SAS. “SAS IoT and Semtech are building an ecosystem of partners to drive the right digital infrastructure strategy to harness IoT data and enable the right set of applications that deliver meaningful results.”

SAS' IoT solutions, built on Microsoft Azure, provide real-time insights into IoT data and analytics generated across multiple use cases that help solve specific challenges and offer an interconnected world with better ways to monitor and safeguard communities, people and resources. These use cases include:

• Flood prevention: Floods are the most frequent type of natural disaster and cause widespread devastation, resulting in loss of life and damages to personal property and critical public infrastructure (World Health Organization). The number of people to be harmed by floods will double worldwide by 2030 (World Resource Institute) and in the US alone, 23.7 million properties are at risk of flooding according to FEMA 2021. Individual, battery operated, sensors, integrated with the LoRaWAN standard, connect through gateways to continuously collect data, which allows IoT solutions to remotely measure and detect issues before they become a crisis. Since LoRa devices demand extremely low power, these devices can last for years and remain in the environment without the need for maintenance.
• Livestock wellness and precision ag: The current world population of 7.6 billion is expected to reach 8.6 billion in 2030, 9.8 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100 (United Nations). This rapid growth is putting pressure on farmers to find sustainable ways to feed the population. IoT technology can provide insights that enable farmers to measure environmental conditions that influence crop production. It can also allow ranchers to track the health of livestock and enable efficiencies that can reduce environmental impact, maximise yield and minimise expenses.
• Energy forecasting: By 2026, nearly 20% of smart meters deployed by energy and water utilities worldwide will be connected using noncellular low power wide area (LPWA) networks. (ABI Research Whitepaper). With limited visibility into behind-the-meter assets, networks have struggled to forecast and control their grids and have often had to impose constraints or make costly capital investments in the absence of data. Now, improvements in grid operation and advancing technology are helping to overcome these challenges (EY). Implementing Smart Energy Optimisation and Gas Safety Systems within cities by leveraging LoRa device data, combined with SAS Analytics, can help maximise grid efficiency and predict and mitigate risk, keeping citizens safe.

“As the driving force behind LoRa technology, Semtech plays a vital role in the development and deployment of LPWANs for IoT devices,” said industry analyst Steve Hoffenberg, Director of IoT & Embedded Technology at VDC Research. “This new collaboration will bring more existing SAS customers to the IoT, and bring the advantages of data analytics to current and prospective IoT users, enabling enterprises and organisations to solve problems and improve efficiencies in a wide range of use cases, from industrial automation and asset tracking, to agriculture and environmental management, and many more.”