Tokyo, December 18, 2018 - NEC Corporation (NEC; TSE: 6701) today announced that it will participate in the trial of an Internet of Things (IoT)-driven smart water meter as part of collaborative research between the Kyoto City Water Supply and Sewage Bureau and private enterprises. In this collaborative research, NEC will verify the workability of LoRaWAN, which will be implemented from December 2018 to May 2019.

IoT communication trials will be implemented in a mountainous area of Kyoto, which served as the capital of Japan for over 1,000 years. Smart water meters will automatically measure water consumption and transmit data to distant areas, enabling meter reading without visiting the site. In addition to improving work efficiency, this is expected to improve customer service through the visualization of water consumption and early detection of water leakage.

In these trials, NEC aims to confirm the communications status between LoRaWAN-enabled devices and wireless base stations, even in harsh weather conditions, such as snow, as the stations are deployed with the Water Supply and Sewage Bureau. LoRaWAN is a LPWA wireless communication technology that achieves wide-area communication with low power consumption. Furthermore, NEC will verify the power consumption of LoRaWAN devices that must transmit data for a long period of time using only batteries. Through these methods, the workability of LoRaWAN will be confirmed in a realistic environment, helping to identify the strengths and challenges of the technology.

In the future, it is expected that the use of LoRaWAN will expand as an IoT communication network suitable for wide-area data collection with low power consumption. In preparation for this, NEC has launched a partner program with LoRaWAN related companies to promote the creation and spread of services utilizing IoT.

Going forward, NEC will continue its efforts to promote the use of LoRaWAN as it focuses on the Social Solutions Business and helping to create a secure, safe, efficient and fair society where IoT is utilized.

***

About NEC Corporation
NEC Corporation is a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies that benefit businesses and people around the world. The NEC Group globally provides "Solutions for Society" that promote the safety, security efficiency and fairness of society. Under the company's corporate message of "Orchestrating a brighter world," NEC aims to help solve a wide range of challenging issues and to create new social value for the changing world of tomorrow. For more information, visit NEC at https://www.nec.com.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nec/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/NECglobalOfficial
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nec.global/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NEC_corp

NEC is a registered trademark of NEC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Other product or service marks mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners. © NEC Corporation.