Coffee machine monitoring with SimplePack

Read more about our coffee machine monitoring project across the Sigfox network worldwide here. 

How does it work?

The vibration monitoring works in such a way that we sample vibration each second, we count 0 and 1 within 255 seconds and form a value of one byte. We combine 10 bytes together into one Sigfox message. So we send a message every 255×10 seconds that are each 42.5 minutes.  In case there is no vibration (e.g. during the night) we don’t send any message in order to save Sigfox messages and battery life. We can say precisely how many seconds the machine was working and the lowest “resolution” in this case is 255 secs. The sensing period can be shortened or prolonged via downlink for different use cases.

4 reasons why coffee machine monitoring is a great business case:

1. Coffee bean suppliers want to lock customers into their brands. So by giving away SimplePack free of charge that monitors the consumption, they can deliver the right amount at the right time
2. The office manager can monitor real coffee consumption so that coffee supplies are not (e.g. by cleaning services or even staff!)
3. The duration of vibrations can distinguish between coffee preparation or the cleaning program so the office manager can be notified if the machine is not maintained properly
4. There is a button that can display the Coffee bean brand and this can serve as a re-ordering button.

Battery life with different versions of SimplePack

SimplePack 2.0 ~ 1 year battery life

SimplePack 3.0 Plus ~ 3 years battery life

SimplePack 3.0 Plus Advanced Edition we are aiming at ~ 5 years battery life

How else can the "Monitor me" mode can be used?

This ‘Monitor me’ mode can be used for office chair monitoring, fridge compressor monitoring, any engine monitoring. The sampling intervals can be shortened or prolonged very simply by downlink

IoT platform

• Map view - Custom markers based on device status, tracing history, the difference between home position and current position
• Notifications - SMS and email notifications set on device level
• Subscription plan utilization  - Review how you utilize or overuse your subscription plan
• Subscription details and renewal - You will find the expiration date and current subscription plan for each device. It is very convenient to register a new device and buy/renew your connectivity. 
• Multi-language support and full localization (EN, FR, JP, CS and even more)
• API for integration with 3rd party applications