IoT solutions for Marine

Solbian is an Italian company founded in 2006 by Giovanni Soldini and Marco Bianucci (Italy’s foremost sailor and an accomplished physicist) with the challenge (successfully won) of bringing photovoltaics to racing sailboats; and it has since grown, driving forward the technological development of both the new type of photovoltaic module and the control electronics.

The challenge
Meteca was asked to implement a IoT remote monitoring and control system for managing and optimising utilities in pleasure boats.
Although Solbian had been a pioneer and remained an excellence in its field, in recent years some competing companies taking advantage of technological innovation in electronic innovation and the IoT boom, had started to steal market share from them and detach themselves in terms of sales volumes and, in perspective, of prestige in the industry.
Solbian’s management realised that they needed to offer customers a broader type of control experience on their boat, including remote control, and no longer limited to the energy produced by the solar panels.
Previous technology


IOT solutions results
Advantages you get with Meteca
THE SOLUTIONS
Meteca designed, developed and produced an IoT kit consistingof control unit and sensor nodes for monitoring and managing utilities in pleasure boats.
Both the control unit and the nodes make use of Briki® technology, and in particular the control unit mounts all 3 Briki modules: the MBC-WB with Wi-Fi/BT-BLE on board, the MBC-CELL with 3G/4G connectivity and MBC-LR with LoRa SubGHz connectivity, while the nodes mount the Briki MBC-LR with LoRa SubGHz connectivity.
The sensor nodes communicate with the control unit via the MBC-LR’s SubGHz protocol, which is present on both. Then the control unit via the MBC-WB Wi-Fi technology exposes the web interface that shows the nodes’ status in real time and allows their control, while when the user is away from the system, the control unit triggers the MBC-CELL’s 3G/4G interface that allows remote monitoring and control.
By using different kinds of sensors, the kit is able, for example, to detect and manage the energy produced by Solbian’s solar panels, or to monitor elements such as the opening and closing of portholes, the presence of water in the bilge or the presence of smoke or fire on board.
In addition to sensors, actuators can be used to enable either the activation of devices for corrective action (e.g. fire-fighting systems are activated in the event of smoke or flame), and/or specific fault alarms that are sent to the user in different ways, depending on where they are (whether on the boat or remotely). A web interface is available to users when they are near the system, and a cloud dashboard when they are remotely connected.
METECA IOT KIT
Control Unit + Sensor Nodes powered by:
Briki MBC-WB with Wi-Fi / BT-BLE
Briki MBC-LR with LoRa SubGHz connectivity
Briki MBC-CELL with 3G/4G connectivity
With Webpanel (cloud)



THE RESULTS
Solbian’s enhanced efficiency through Meteca solution
Thanks to the new IoT kit, Solbian was finally able to offer its customers 24-hours monitoring of the vessel’s utilities, remote or otherwise.
With malfunction alarms, the user gets the possibility to intervene promptly in case of problems, and avoid serious damage to the vessel or even prevent breakdowns thanks to predictive maintainance.
The solution devised by Meteca allows a 20% lower energy consumption, compared to an equivalent Bluetooth solution, and at the same time a greater operating range compared to a Wi-Fi/Bluetooth only solution.
In conclusion, Solbian’s customers gained optimised consumption for greater sustainability, together with increased safety and comfort on board.
- Support in defining the best technological solution
- Hardware design
- HMI Design
- Prototyping
- Error correction of the first prototyping phase
- Design-for-manufacturing realisation
- User interface (Webpanel)
- Field testing and on-going corrections
- Dedicated and continuous technical support
- Assembly and product testing during the MP phase
DOWNLOAD
Interested in exploring the cutting-edge applications of IoT in the marine sector? Download the PDF to uncover Meteca’s collaboration with Solbian and our achievements in revolutionizing marine solutions.
The predictive maintenance will anticipate issues, monitoring vessels on-board equipment and machinery in real time, to detect problems and prevent potential failures. This helps minimize costly downtime and improve crew safety. Checking emissions in real-time will ensure compliance with environmental regulations.
Remote boat monitoring will allow to keep an eye on the status of your boat’s key parameters (battery voltage, bilge pumps status, geographical position, intrusion signals…) at all times. Via an alarm system you will be alerted on your mobile phone by SMS or e-mail if something is wrong, enabling timely intervention.
Asset tracking will allow real-time monitoring of the humidity, temperature and general condition of loads (especially perishables foods and pharmaceuticals): this information can be transmitted promptly to facilitate immediate action and improved operations.