Turning an AI Camera into a LoRa® Sensor

Turning an AI Camera into a LoRa® Sensor

Turning an AI Camera into a LoRa® Sensor
Turning an AI Camera into a LoRa® Sensor
07.05.2025

Turning an AI Camera into a LoRa® Sensor: Retrofitting Made Simple

Retrofitting existing systems means upgrading or enhancing already deployed equipment with new technologies - without having to replace or redesign everything from scratch.

From Surveillance Camera to IoT Sensor

The Axis Q3536-LVE camera featuring a deep learning processing unit provides processing capabilities to collect and analyze even more data than before - on the edge. The outstanding AXIS Object Analytics offers detection and classification of humans, vehicles, and types of vehicles.

Axis Q3536-LVE

To reduce the bandwidth consumption and respects privacy regulations no video stream is sent, only counting information. The gathered data can be now transmitted for further processing.

Adding LoRaWAN® to the Equation

But what happens when this setup needs to operate in areas without stable connectivity - rural roads, temporary work zones, or smart city outposts? That’s where retrofitting with LoRa® becomes a game changer.

By combining long-range, low-power LoRa® radio links with a robust network server like Actility, you gain reliable bi-directional communication over several kilometres.

Graphic Axis Q3536-LVE

Our partner Griot Conseil connected the camera to a Raspberry Pi running a local MQTT broker. Using the iU891A-XL LoRa® USB stick, this data can be transmitted securely and over long distances - without relying on 4G or Wi-Fi.

Overview technology

Data visualization

This scalable architecture ingests LoRaWAN® transmissions, processes them via the LoRaWAN® and LNS, and delivers them to an intuitive visualization platform complete with live dashboards and customizable analytics. It’s efficient, user-friendly, and eliminates the need for bespoke software development - empowering teams to turn raw telemetry into actionable insights at the push of a button.

Data visualization

Data visualization 2

Why Class C Mode Matters

This always-on configuration turns the iU891A-XL USB stick and Raspberry Pi into a real-time control gateway - perfect for instant management of devices in the field, such as rebooting the camera, triggering remote recordings, resetting counters, and more. By leveraging Actility as the LoRaWAN® Network Server, you benefit from reliable network management and scalability. It’s efficient, secure, and removes the need for complex infrastructure or manual intervention. With simple USB plug-and-play, the iU891A-XL enables effortless integration - and this same setup can be replicated to remotely pilot any API-driven equipment, as long as the device can respond to API requests generated by the Raspberry Pi.

Why Retrofitting Works

This simple architecture turns a standard camera into a LoRa®-based sensor, ideal for locations with limited connectivity. It’s lightweight, scalable, and doesn’t require rebuilding existing infrastructure. The iU891A-XL makes integration effortless with its USB connectivity.

Cookie Settings

We are continuously improving our website and your user experience. For this purpose we use cookies. For the best user-experience, we recommend accepting all cookies. Otherwise parts of the page and contents that need cookie support will be deactivated.

The use of our website is usually possible without providing personal information. Insofar as the opportunity to enter personal or business data (e-mail addresses, names, addresses) exists within the Internet offer, the disclosure of this data by the user is expressly voluntary.
Your data will be treated confidentially and will not be passed on to third parties. Also a link with below access data does not take place.

The organization responsible within the meaning of Art. 24 (1) GDPR (EC DS-GVO) is:

IMST GmbH
Carl-Friedrich-Gauß-Str. 2-4
47475 Kamp-Lintfort, NRW,
Germany

We have a data protection officer, who can be reached as follows:
23-1 Service GmbH
Moselstr. 9
47051 Duisburg, NRW,
Germany
E-mail: datenschutz@imst.com
 
You may exercise your right to access and rectify, delete or restrict the processing of your data through our data protection officer, to the extent permitted by other legal obligations.When contacting us (for example via contact form or e-mail), the information provided by the user will be processed for the purpose of processing the request as well as in case of follow-up questions. We would like to point out that data transmission over the Internet (for example via our contact form or by e-mail communication) may be subject to security vulnerabilities. A complete protection of the data from access by third parties is not possible. You have the option to contact our local Data Protection Authority or Supervisor for a complaint about your data processing.

SSL-Encryption

This site uses for security reasons and to protect the transmission of confidential content, i.e. such as the requests you send to us as a site operator, an SSL encryption. You can recognize an encrypted connection by changing the address line of the browser from "http: //" to "https: //" and the lock symbol in your browser line.
If SSL encryption is enabled, the data you submit to us can't be read by third parties.

Integration of services and contents of third parties

Our pages of the online offer may contain third party content, e.g. Videos from YouTube, graphics from other websites, etc. This causes the providers of this content (hereinafter referred to as "third party") to exercise their IP address, because without the IP address they could not deliver the content to the browser of the respective user send. The IP address is therefore required for the presentation of this content. We endeavour to use only those content whose respective providers use the IP address only for the delivery of the content. However, we do not have any influence on this if the third party providers use the IP address, e.g. save for statistical purposes. For this you will usually find the privacy policy on the respective websites of the provider.
The online offer may contain links to other websites (so-called external links). We don't have control over the fact that the operators of other websites comply with the data protection regulations. You can recognize such so-called external links by the text being underlined on the website.

Incorporation of cookies

This website uses to enable the function of our website, so-called cookies. Cookies do not harm your computer and do not contain viruses. Cookies serve to make our offer more user-friendly, effective and secure. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your computer and stored by your browser.
Most of the cookies we use are so-called "session cookies". They are automatically deleted after your visit. Other cookies remain stored on your device until you delete them. These cookies allow us to recognize your browser the next time you visit.
You can set your browser so that you are informed about the setting of cookies or allow cookies only in individual cases to be set, the acceptance of cookies for certain cases or generally exclude and activate the automatic deletion of cookies when closing the browser. Disabling cookies may limit the functionality of this website or may not be available to certain features.

Server-Log-Files

The provider of the website automatically collects and stores information in so-called server log files, which your browser automatically transmits to us. These are:

  • Browser type and version
  • Operationg system utilized
  • Referrer URL
  • Hostname of accessing computer
  • Date code of server request

These data can't be assigned to specific persons. A merge of this data with other data sources will not be done. We reserve the right to check this data retrospectively, if we become aware of specific indications for illegal use.

Data Protection for the Use of Google Analytics

Our company relies on targeted marketing and sales campaigns to attract the right customers for our products. In order to assess the effectiveness of these measures, we use tools for so-called range measurement in the Internet.
This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google Inc. ("Google"). Google Analytics uses so-called "cookies", text files that are stored on your computer and that allow an analysis of the use of the website by you. The information generated by the cookie about your use of this website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States.
Google will use this information to evaluate your use of the website, to compile reports on website activity for website operators and to provide other services related to website activity and internet usage. Google will also transfer this information to third parties if required by law or if third parties process this data on behalf of Google. Google will never associate your IP address with other Google Inc. data.
You can prevent the storage of cookies by a corresponding setting of your browser software; however, please note that if you do this, you may not be able to use all the features of this website to the fullest extent possible.

Browser add-on for disabling Google Analytics

http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de
If you do not want your site activity to be available for Google Analytics, you can install the browser add-on to disable Google Analytics. This prevents the JavaScript running on websites (ga.js, analytics.js, and dc.js) from sharing activity data with Google Analytics.
The analysis of data by other site owner tools will not be prevented if you use the add-on. You can still send data to the website or other web analytics services.