Revolutionizing Urban Spaces with First Snow's LoRaWAN® Connectivity Solutions

First Snow is an IoT solution provider specializing on the Smart City market (Public/Public Enterprise). Leveraging local government's private LoRaWAN networks, it offers comprehensive services including planning public service applications, tech consulting, and network communication infrastructure creation. Their expertise lies in project planning, system development and implementation, and post-care and maintenance, making them a leading choice for IoT solutions in the Korean market.

Creating smart city solutions proves challenging due to the complexity and numerous variables involved. The development of a comprehensive platform for specific applications necessitates the initial deployment of a network designed to accommodate the majority, if not all, potential use cases. Additionally, it must comply with local legal restrictions and regulations, which can vary by country or region.

Securing approval and access to construct or utilize government networks requires adherence to specific security measures even before a company can contemplate product development.

The true challenge lies in integrating the products and the network effectively.

The goal is to build a two-pillar smart city solution:

• Building a communication infrastructure
  • Network integration
  • LoRaWAN and TVWS (TV White Space)
  • Wired/wireless network
  • Remote end device and а terminal system
  • Intelligent operating management system for out-door CCTV enclosure
  • Smart pole
  • Village crime prevention - CCTV monitoring system
  • Wireless AP (Wi-Fi)
  • Security/Server system
  • Network linkage system
  • Security Systems such as firewall
  • Virtualization server
  • Access control system
  • Integrated control system
  • Integrated control solution
  • Intelligent CCTV
  • Intelligent screening control system
  • Password management solution
• System implementation of Smart City (safety)
  • Smart City Integrated Platform
  • Smoke/flame/heat sensing system
  • Local bus information system
  • Socially disadvantaged (traffic) protection system
  • Traffic protection system
  • Water supply quality (environmental) monitoring system
  • Smart pedestrian crossing system
  • Smart streetlight (pole) system
  • Environmental monitoring system
  • Safety map system
  • EMS system
  • Village crime prevention system

Korea

First Eye V2.0 is a noteworthy product. This intelligent, enclosure-cased operating management system features an on-site "probe" equipped with an environmental sensor, power switch, digital door lock, F/E, G/E (Fiber Optic), and RFID module. The system comes complete with remote management software, centralized GIS web service software, and a mobile app. Its primary function is to efficiently monitor the environment and provide a swift response to troubleshooting or status events.

In terms of hardware, First Eye is housed in a compact, external cabinet-style facility that adheres to specific standards for protection, storage, and internal mounting. It includes terminal devices that perform electricity, communication, and security functions in various outdoor facilities such as CCTV or traffic signal controllers.

While First Eye isn't a LoRaWAN solution itself, it still plays a significant role in the smart city infrastructure. In their mission to create an improved urban environment for all, First Snow has developed several solutions using LoRaWAN connectivity to address different aspects of daily life such as:

• BIT service for small/medium, urban/rural types of cities - Delivering high-quality smart bus information services.
• Fire detection/alarm monitoring service – Providing 24/7 fire safety supervision.
• Water supply remote advanced metering service - Enhancing the operational efficiency of local government's water supply control initiatives.
• Crime prevention CCTV monitoring system - Monitoring service for "Village Crime Prevention CCTV" that operates independently from the Control Center.
• Electric-powered assistive devices (electric wheelchair) - Safety management service for the elderly, offering protection for the socially disadvantaged.

However, none of this can function properly without a reliable network infrastructure, comprised of numerous gateways. First Snow began exploring possibilities in this sector with WisGate Edge Max gateways. These durable gateways, coupled with comprehensive technical documentation, make an excellent starting point for such a deployment.

To meet Korea's high standards, something extra is required. That's why First Snow is transitioning to the WisGate Edge Pro V2, continuing to offer and enhance their smart city solutions. With its white label option, it's a perfect addition to any brand, but the standout advantage here is the new and improved WisGateOS 2, particularly the Extensions feature supported by the operating system.

The Extensions functionality of WisGateOS 2 offers additional features and functions that can be added or removed based on the user's needs. This array of custom plugins and add-ons enhances the gateway's functionality with options not provided out of the box. Later this year, RAKwireless will offer users the ability to build their own extensions.

For now, the extensions are created by RAKwireless to meet the client's requirements. In this particular case, for First Snow to securely connect to the government network, a specific VPN service was necessary. RAKwireless delivered – the DCUBE VPN extension, a secure connection add-on for the WisGate Edge Pro V2, designed to meet the demanding Korean market's needs.

As IoT becomes more prevalent and diverse, so does edge processing. Given the fragmented market demand, different enterprise users have distinct requirements for building the gateway network infrastructure for their solutions. Balancing such diverse needs and solutions in a streamlined and universal form, while considering the enterprise's interests and various market demands under the limited resources of the standard gateway, becomes the crux of the solution.

In this context, the scalability of the network and ease of third-party integration have become core competitive factors for the gateway as a product. The smart approach is to combine custom needs for specific use cases and users with a unified, user-friendly interface. This can be achieved by integrating third-party owned software and custom in-house extensions, and supporting users to carry out secondary development.

Previously, the hardware limitations of the standard LoRaWAN gateway meant that many urgently needed functions couldn't be quickly deployed on the gateway, creating a bottleneck for large-scale application of solutions.

However, the intelligent operating system of WisGateOS 2, coupled with enhanced hardware of the new gateways, supports the installation and management of these much-needed extension plugins. Users can develop their own plugins or reach out to RAKwireless for assistance (as First Snow did), and integrate them with the gateway OS for convenience and versatility.

Extensions revolutionize the way customization is handled. There's no need for additional firmware or hardware enhancements to meet a customer's demand, nor for extra consumption of system resources. Flexibility in later maintenance, production, and release are among the benefits of introducing extensions to your solution.