The department of Haute-Saône is preparing to roll out a wide-scale network of connected sensors based on LoRaWAN technology, following successful pilot phases. The deployment is led by Haute-Saône Numérique, in partnership with Alsatis Réseaux and Synox, the vendors responsible for the infrastructure and IoT integration.
During two pilot trials in the Lure and Port-sur-Saône areas, local communities installed sensors to monitor trash bin fill levels, detect cyanobacteria in water bodies, count users on greenways, and adjust heating usage in public buildings. The data platform triggers alerts (e.g. for high bin temperatures indicating early fire risk) and informs when to trigger formal lab analyses for water quality.
Thanks to full fiber coverage across all communes, Haute-Saône Numérique is using this existing backbone to interconnect LoRaWAN gateways, avoiding reliance on cellular SIM-based links that struggle in low-coverage zones. The antennas operate over radio to gather data from low-power devices, many of which can be powered by solar panels for autonomous deployment.
While no formal public budget has been disclosed for the full project, the department positions this as a lower-cost alternative to private network solutions. Under the model, participating local governments can invest in sensors and tie them into the departmental network, with data stored and managed locally — not abroad.
Full coverage of the department is slated by year-end, making Haute-Saône one of the first French departments to deploy a LoRaWAN sensor network at scale for all its communes.
