I’ve been researching this technology but don’t yet have hands-on implementation. I’m looking for guidance.
I’m working on a project for our campground and exploring whether LoRaWAN is suitable. I have several Raspberry Pis running on site and would like to incorporate them if possible.
We want to develop an emergency call system for seniors using our campground washrooms. Last summer, an older gentleman fell inside a bathroom stall and was unable to get help on his own. We have two main outdoor washroom buildings and one inside the main lodge. The property is approximately 30 acres.
My goal would be to set up a gateway using a Raspberry Pi. When an emergency button is pressed inside a stall, the system would send an SMS message to designated on-call staff, identifying the building (men’s or women’s side) and specific stall location.
Would LoRaWAN be capable of handling this type of setup? Any insight or recommendations would be appreciated.
The official answer is LoRaWAN is not suitable for safety critical applications - it shares the airwaves with others, so the signal might not get through in a timely fashion, you need reliable internet, the gateway sends the messages to an data centre, is processed and then sent on to your server that will then process the message to send out an SMS.
It’s brilliant at knowing what the temperature is or how full a water tank might be and sending that info once an hour for the next five years. If a few data points get lost, no big deal.
That said, there are soooo many ways to achieve your end goal but there’s a bit more detail needed. Thirty acres is a size, but the shape and terrain make a difference! How far apart are the buildings and can you see the outdoor buildings (!) from the lodge? Perhaps provide a link to the site?
If you only need to get a signal from the two buildings to the lodge and you have WiFi covering the site, no need for anything more complicated.
You could just have a SMS sender at each location, so the message doesn’t have to be relayed at all.
But if you do want to monitor other stuff, like how full trash cans are, if the water supply is OK, temperatures, gates left open, and so forth, then LW becomes more viable.
First I wish to thank you for your comments, they were very helpful. Now for more information - A google map link to Stayner Camp - Google Maps
I am also adding a older picture of the camp that has less tree coverage to show you distances. Everything in Red Outline is the camp. I have a Unifi Wi-Fi Network covering approx 85% of camp. Thanks for any assistance.
