Beneficiary: Defence Infrastructure Organization (DIO)
Year of implementation: 2016
In 2015, after the completion of the HMS Queen Elizabeth, the first aircraft carrier in the new Queen Elizabeth Class, the End Recipient modernized the Portsmouth harbor in order to be able to receive and host the ship.
The works, apart from the extension of the harbor area, also included new navigational lights system, that was designed to change the destination of the harbor from commercial to military, and vice-versa. While military operations were performed, the commercial traffic is stopped and the ships need to have clear information regarding this status.
This system was composed of more than 40 marine smart-lanterns equipped with IOT monitor and control modules, capable of communicating with the gateway using LoRa protocol.
Our company was in charge of developing the custom software application (Windows 10) which is used to monitor and command all the lights in the Portsmouth harbor area.
This included:
- Assistance during the development of the communication protocol between the IoT modules and the gateway;
- Complete software with redundant TCP-IP channels to monitor and control more than 40 modules;
- Custom developed user management system;
- Intuitive map & monitor/control interface with periodic automatic reporting.
The application was ready and validated during the maiden voyage of the HMS Queen Elizabeth, which was made in the presence of the highest ranking officials of UK, the Royal Navy and press representatives.
