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Toyama City LoRaWAN IoT Sensor Network for Smart Infrastructure

Solution Overview

The Toyama City Sensor Network was built as the FY2018 Toyama City Infrastructure Development Project for the Promotion of the Smart City.[2] Using a group of LoRaWAN communication standard receiving antennas, the wireless communication network is expected to cover 98.9 percent of the population in the city because it is installed at government facilities such as schools and local community centers.[2] By using this network, the city government can perform the role of a telecommunications carrier to offer a communication network that can be used via IoT sensors.[2]

Technical Components

The LPWA network was developed in 2018, and antennas were installed in about 100 public facilities in the city.[3] The wireless communication network is installed at 100 places as of January 2020.[2] This infrastructure consists of wireless communication networks that can be used via IoT sensors and others and the system to manage the information collected from sensors through a platform.[2] The network covers 98.9% of the resident population.[3] With the installation of a variety of sensors, the system collects information that includes the movement of people and things and environmental information such as river water level and atmospheric temperature.[2]

Implementation Details

Municipal authorities launched the network in 2018 as part of the city's smart infrastructure initiative.[2][3] The implementation strategically positioned receiving antennas at government facilities such as schools and local community centers to maximize population coverage.[2] In FY2019, Toyama started a demonstration experiment that allows private businesses to utilise the sensor network free of charge, with 23 case studies (36 groups) adopted from applications in fields such as transportation/people flow, agriculture, remote monitoring/disaster prevention, welfare/nursing care, and performance evaluation/facility management.[3] In Toyama City, school children carried GPS trackers in their school bags so that the local authorities could track their actual routes to and from school, and implement safety measures to specific points according to the results.[1]

Benefits and Impacts

The network is expected to perform an important role as a monitoring device for disaster mitigation—for example, in the prevention of flooding during heavy rain by collecting information that includes the movement of people and things and environmental information such as river water level and atmospheric temperature.[2] The demonstration experiment enabled diverse applications across multiple sectors, with 36 participating groups testing use cases ranging from transportation monitoring to disaster prevention.[3] The GPS tracking application for school children enabled local authorities to implement targeted safety measures at specific points based on actual route data.[1]

Climate Adaptation Relevance

This approach directly addresses extreme precipitation and flooding hazards through real-time environmental monitoring capabilities. The system's ability to collect river water level data and atmospheric temperature information enables proactive flood prevention measures during heavy rain events.[2]

Business Analysis

The municipal government structured the initiative to function as a telecommunications carrier, offering IoT sensor connectivity as a public service.[2] The FY2019 demonstration experiment provided free network access to private businesses, attracting applications from diverse sectors including agriculture, welfare, nursing care, and facility management.[3] This public-private partnership model enabled 23 case studies across 36 participating organizations to test commercial applications without upfront infrastructure costs.[3] The strategic placement of antennas at existing government facilities optimized capital deployment while achieving near-universal population coverage.[2][3]

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