TIM, Telemetria and Qualcomm deploy smart city technology in Porto Alegre public lighting

This is a machine translation of TIM's press release

Porto Alegre (RS), May 25, 2023 – TIM, in partnership with M2M Telemetria and collaboration with Qualcomm Serviços de Telecomunicações Ltda. (Qualcomm Brasil), announce an innovative Smart Cities project already in operation through remote management of public lighting in Porto Alegre (RS), using 4G NB-IoT technology. The initiative is one of the pioneers in the massive use of this type of wireless connectivity for Smart Lighting in Latin America and will be used by IPSul, the concessionaire responsible for public lighting in the city.

In all, more than 22,000 smart light fixtures were installed and activated in this phase on the main avenues and streets of Porto Alegre, encompassing approximately 20% of all lighting points in the city. The expectation is that, by combining intelligent telemanagement technology with the use of LED luminaires, energy savings will be 12% higher compared to that generated by modernization alone.

The use of NB-IoT technology by IPSul for telemanagement puts the city of Porto Alegre at the forefront of adopting internet of things technologies and is part of initiatives to offer more efficient services. “This project is in line with our commitment to offer continuous improvements to the population, improving the management of public lighting”, says Raimundo Dantas, Executive Director of IPSul.

For Marcos Felipi Garcia, municipal secretary of Urban Services of Porto Alegre, the telemanagement system is an important advance in the search for a smarter city. “This type of monitoring brings innovation and savings. We will be able to act preventively and have more efficiency in the services provided", he declares.

In the project, the luminaires report and receive essential information for all functionalities in the cloud network through TIM connectivity, which has the largest mobile network in Brazil. “Connectivity will allow for better energy management in the city. We have expertise in smart city projects, and our differential is having a network with 100% national presence. We are very happy to be able to use our expertise once again to support the provision of more efficient public lighting services and improve the lives of the population of Porto Alegre”, says Paulo Humberto Gouvea, Director of Corporate Solutions at TIM Brasil.

M2M's Intelligent Telemanagement modules, based on the Qualcomm® 9205 LTE Modem and TIM's connectivity, allow the monitoring and remote control of the luminaires. With M2M's devices and service management platform, it is possible to monitor energy consumption, control lighting, receive real-time alerts about faulty lighting, in addition to turning devices on or off. Another important differential is GPS location, which allows for more efficient management of assets and brings more security, inhibiting equipment theft. In the future, it is expected that these technologies will allow the preventive and safe maintenance of city lighting.

“The innovative initiative is already running successfully. It is a plug and play solution, that is, the customer can install and operate it, taking advantage of the device's benefits. It is a significant gain in the quality of services provided, in energy savings and even in security”, says Felipe Fulgêncio, CEO of M2M Telemetria.

"This project shows that NB-IoT solutions are capable of expanding coverage, in addition to being economically viable", says Leonardo Finizola, Director, Sales, Qualcomm Serviços de Telecomunicações Ltda. "The technology provides more efficiency for the smart lighting sector and the expectation is that the trend will be confirmed among dealership managers who seek excellence in these services".