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Software Engineering
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Case studies
Product Vision and Strategy
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Solution Architecture
North Yorkshire County Council
Driving sustainable smart city technology to combat pollution in North Yorkshire
Our Goal
Create a sustainable waste management system using smart technology to reduce petrol consumption, and save time and money.
→ Results
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The Brief
North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) oversees the public services for North Yorkshire, covering an area of 3,103 square miles and a population of approx 618,000 people. NYCC develops policies and initiatives aimed at improving residents' quality of life and promoting economic growth.
NYCC noticed that smart city technology had a lot of potential, and they looked to us to help them exploit that potential. As an R&D hub, systems integrator, and installer for NYCC's smart city devices, Parallax provided the technical expertise needed to achieve their vision for a smarter, more connected North Yorkshire.
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→ From the client
The Approach
Over the years, we have fostered a collaborative partnership with the council and maintained regular contact during and between projects. This means we can work closely with them to identify potential IoT use cases and develop customised solutions that meet their requirements.
We're also equipped to handle the integration and installation of devices that the council already owns, so they can work together seamlessly, and more efficiently.
With our team of dedicated IoT specialists, back-end software engineers, DevOps, and front-end developers, our approach centred around identifying the right technology and utilising a breadth of disciplines to provide maximum value.
The Solution
Our solution was focused on LoRaWAN, a networking technology that offers long-range coverage while using very little power. By leveraging this technology, we were able to design sensors that can run for up to 10 years on a single AA battery.
LoRaWAN was a perfect fit for NYCC's needs, thanks to their familiarity with the technology and their nynet function, which provides LoRa coverage for use in public services and the private sector across North Yorkshire. NYCC gateways connect to our LoRa server, which processes data from sensors and sends it to our back-end platform for storage and manipulation.
Our IoT platform currently monitors outdoor air quality, refuse levels in on-street bins, and parking spot occupancy, providing NYCC with valuable insights that enable them to make informed decisions. Our senior developer took the low level cryptic data and crystallised it into something that was understandable and usable.
NYCC now has data in areas that were previously non-existent, which empowers them to make more informed decisions. It’s still very early days on this long-term journey but there is a clear path to operational improvements and efficiency, making tax payers money go further and improving the environment.
We are always looking at more use cases, with indoor CO2 monitoring, road traffic counting, and the use of sensors with built-in AI to detect kinetic faults in heavy machinery currently in development too.
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→ From the client
“To ensure these schemes work, we rely on monitoring pollutant levels. These new sensors, using the latest technology, will help us achieve this and adapt our approach to continually improve air quality across Harrogate and North Yorkshire.”
Councillor Phil Ireland
Harrogate Borough Council (Carbon Reduction and Sustainability)
