Among the more than 100,000 attendees at the Mobile World Congress 2017 is the Itron Idea Labs team. And alongside the mobile giants we are demonstrating new technologies relevant to our industry.

The Itron Idea Labs team is in Barcelona to support the cool sensor technology developed by Itron’s gas team at the GSMA Innovation City in collaboration with Telefonica. We have pressure, methane and temperature sensors connected to LTE-M. LTE-M is an emerging standard for IoT. It provides lower costs, lower power and lower data rate. Other characteristics such as half duplex, single antenna and limited block size will let the more engineering inclined to understand why this standard is relevant and use cases. Gas pressure and temperate sensors can ensure integrity for utility infrastructure and provide real-time monitoring for the safety of consumers and their communities.

The demonstrations at the Innovation City this year are all selected to showcase products and concepts that employ the new LTE-M technology for lower-cost, longer range and better battery life. I think LTE-M can be a great addition to Itron’s technology toolbox and can help all of us create a more resourceful world.