IOT NEWS

Industrial IoT News

Industrial IoT Home

Natural Gas Detection with Integrated NB-IoT/LTE-M Connectivity, Courtesy of eLichens and Sequans

By Alex Passett
September 05, 2023

As this article’s title indicates, we’re covering an incredibly serious safety topic today. So, rather than me risking fumbling the bag (in terms of describing this severity and what needs to be done). I’ve got a simple quote that still does this much better:

“Gas leak detection is crucial because leaks cause serious environmental and economic damage to people, households, and the environment. Accelerating the deployment of natural gas detection across the entire energy value chain is becoming a major goal and an essential part of global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

The source of that quote? eLichens CEO Wahid Issa.

Since late 2014, eLichens has pursued the best-possible ways to respond to our planet’s ongoing climate issues; specifically, how to most efficiently detect environmental gases and action sustainable solutions. Already supporting several markets (industrial safety, gas distribution applications, outdoor methane leak detection, oil and gas sectors, etc.), eLichens works true to its namesake, since lichens derive water and essential nutrients from the atmosphere, which can lead to a rapid accumulation of pollutants. Lichens are often used as bio-indicators of air quality, so eLichens is a digital marker of air quality in our connected-everything environments today.

In this vein, eLichens has officially announced its collaboration with cellular connectivity solutions developer and supplier, Sequans. Together, the two are unveiling the newest edition of eLichens’ Avolta NGD (Natural Gas Detector) that harnesses NB-IoT/LTE-M tech.

In particular, Sequans’ Monarch-2 SiP platform.

With Avolta NGD, driving significant reductions in emissions and safeguarding future energy resources (while ensuring individuals’ and environments’ safeties) is the active goal. Avolta NGD can be an essential part of net zero programs, while also creating a whole host of new energy market opportunities.

Based on the patented eLichens optical gas detection technology, Avolta NGD capably detects natural gas leaks with high selectivity and without drift over time. Through the integration of Sequans Monarch-2 LTE-M/NB-IoT connectivity into its Avolta NGD, the eLichens team is making it more consistently possible for gas utility service companies to quickly deploy cost-optimized gas leak detection initiatives by leveraging existing wireless infrastructure.

In other words, the IIoT-capable and battery-operated Avolta NGD offers near-infrared spectroscopy to detect methane’s unique signature on the light spectrum, delivering pinpointed accuracy while effectively mitigating the risk of interference from other household chemicals.

Wahid Issa also added, “We chose to integrate Sequans' Monarch-2 connectivity because of its low power consumption, high performance, and production readiness. Integrating Sequans Monarch-2 into Avolta enables gas utilities to deploy ubiquitous NGD at an optimized cost of ownership, and ensures compliance with FirstNet certification and standards such as UL1484 and EN50194-1.”

For more information, read here.




Edited by Greg Tavarez
Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. [Free eNews Subscription]
SHARE THIS ARTICLE
Related Articles

Red Hat and Intel Deliver Smarter Solutions for Industrial Environments

By: Alex Passett    9/29/2023

Courtesy of Red Hat and Intel, manufacturers will now have access to a new industrial edge platform that helps build smarter, software-defined factori…

Read More

The Next Generation of IoT: Energous and Veea are Partnering to Work Out Industry Challenges

By: Alex Passett    9/25/2023

Energous and Veea Inc. joined forces to combine wireless power and edge computing for real-time asset tracking capabilities in rapidly growing IoT sec…

Read More

HARMAN DTS and Lexmark Innovate via New IIoT Solutions

By: Alex Passett    9/20/2023

HARMAN Digital Transformation Solutions (or HARMAN DTS) and Lexmark have partnered to co-develop IIoT applications that solve specific industry challe…

Read More

Rockwell Automation Acquires Clearpath Robotics to Improve Autonomous Production Logistics

By: Alex Passett    9/19/2023

Rockwell Automation's acquisition of Clearpath Robotics is expected to full-on accelerate Rockwell's end-to-end autonomous production logistics to pro…

Read More

Smarter Factories and Supply Chain Ops: Ericsson, AWS, and Hitachi America R&D Make it Happen

By: Alex Passett    9/18/2023

The collaboration between Ericsson, AWS, and Hitachi America R&D focused on real-time digital video and AI across a private 5G network that supports s…

Read More