Call a Bike, Deutsche Bahn’s bike sharing service, uses LTE-M SIM cards and Telekom’s IoT Solution Optimizer to optimize its offering and product development.
For those who value sustainable mobility, Deutsche Bahn is hard to miss: in long-distance travel, its trains carry passengers across Germany using green electricity. What can, however, cloud the environmental balance of travelers is the journey through the city to or from the train station – the so-called last mile. If passengers rely on taxis or private cars with combustion engines, harmful CO₂ emissions are generated.
To ensure that environmental protection is not neglected on the way to the station, travelers in many cities and municipalities can use Call a Bike, the bike-sharing service of Deutsche Bahn Connect GmbH, a DB subsidiary. With these bikes, they can reach the train – or any other destination in the city, whether it’s the supermarket, the workplace, or the theater – in a sustainable way. At the same time, they avoid traffic congestion on the roads. This allows Deutsche Bahn to offer a holistic, environmentally friendly, end-to-end mobility service.
The core of bike-sharing services is the smart lock, which enables bikes to be rented via smartphone. In the past, to borrow a bike, users generated a code on their smartphone and entered it on the handlebar display. These steps were necessary, among other reasons, because communication between the bike and the DB Call a Bike backend was based on 2G and 4G technology. For improved connectivity in its new generation of locks, DB Call a Bike turned to Deutsche Telekom.
The bikes first had to be equipped with future-proof connectivity. DB Call a Bike had already installed the new design of the backend and the electronic locks with their built-in SIM cards and communications module. The network technology had to be so powerful that hiring and returning bikes took just seconds. It also had to be as energy-efficient as possible. DB Call a Bike and Telekom opted for LTE-M Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) technology. LTE-M can process optimally the swift movement of bikes between radio stations. Switching from one radio or base station to the next presents no problems and the low latency of LTE-M when compared with, say, NB-IoT is is in this use case an advantage.
Simply fill out the contact form – we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
Bike hiring is faster and easier than ever. LTE-M enables bikes to be unlocked in next to no time. That is also partly due to the newly developed backend, which in performance is an improvement on the previous system. Hiring is easy. Users simply scan the bike’s QR code with their smartphone’s camera to unlock the bike by means of the app. Returning the bike also takes no time at all.
Thanks to the high level of energy efficiency the communication modules can communicate continuously with the backend while the bike is on the move. An LED on the bike indicates to users when they stop whether or not they are in an authorized parking area. Give it a try first? Complicated, may need to be repeated more than once if you want to return the bike to a drop-off place, and no longer necessary thanks to LTE-M. Improvements of this kind are designed to make Call A Bike appeal to users, and environmental and climate protection stand to benefit in the long term.
Along with various cities and municipalities Deutsche Bahn has been able to convince the automobile and motorcycle manufacturer BMW of the advantages of its bike sharing service. BMW uses the bikes as a works fleet in the public space, enabling employees to travel quickly, easily and sustainably from one deployment location to another.
LTE-M technology also offers DB Call a Bike itself future benefits. Combined with other factors such as the solar panels that are now a feature of the bikes, low energy consumption ensures that the bikes less frequently need to be collected and recharged. They can be used for longer, increasing value creation and cutting running costs. Throughout the entire project Telekom has provided DB Call a Bike with comprehensive support to ensure the interplay of components as part of the new connectivity.
The bike sharing provider also plans to use the IoT Solution Optimizer, a cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution, to plan and implement IoT projects optimally. DB Call a Bike can use it to trial new developments on a digital twin, a virtual image of a real object. How long do different types of battery last in different hardware constellations? How do different reception conditions affect energy consumption?
These tests can show the bike sharing provider which changes or new technologies are promising. If, for example, a battery’s service life does not meet requirements in certain framework conditions the company can rectify matters before launching the real hardware and thereby avoid bad investment and waste of resources. In this way the IoT Solution Optimizer – like LTE-M connectivity – is a Green IoT technology. And Deutsche Bahn’s sustainable mobility concept combines environmental protection, profitability and an optimal user experience.
Sustainable mobility is not the only area in which Telekom Green IoT solutions are used. In transportation and logistics, for example, IoT sensors help monitor sensitive or perishable goods. If the temperature rises too high in a truck’s cargo space and foodstuffs may perish, the system sounds the alarm. In farming the Internet of Things now helps to optimize irrigation, which is especially important in parts of the world with low rainfall. A Spanish company, Hidroconta, has paved the way: its smart and connected plantation irrigation systems enable farms to use water targetedly and thereby sustainably. That and many other use cases demonstrate how technological progress and environmental protection join forces in many Telekom solutions.
Smart, connected products provide insights into customer needs, enable innovative services, and open up new revenue streams. This allows you to not only offer customized services but also align product development and marketing strategies with precise customer needs.
Since 2015, Pauline has been passionate about the variety of the IoT world. She has gained a lot of experience with the Internet of Things from different perspectives by working with customers, partners, and start-up companies. For the Telekom IoT blog she writes about technological trends, products, and innovations in the Internet of Things which are implemented in different industries.
Rising energy costs, climate protection – there are many reasons why companies should manage their energy consumption more efficiently. A key strategy in all this? The right energy efficiency in business. But what exactly does that mean, and how can it be implemented?
From storm warnings to food rescue: IoT sensors help to secure basic areas of life and basic human needs - especially in areas where climate change is already taking full effect and having social consequences.
How much electricity, water, and gas do we actually use? And how can we reduce energy consumption? Two questions that companies must address in times of constantly rising energy prices. Smart meters could quickly provide answers in this case. Read more in this article!