IoT in agriculture: cell phones for pregnant cows and flowering fields
"Moocall" is the name of the sensor equipped with an IoT SIM card that is attached to the pregnant cow's tail and detects special movements during labor. If the birth of a calf is imminent, the farmer is alerted in good time - via a text message on their smartphone. Farmers and vets around the world have already been able to save the lives of around 5,000 newborn calves by intervening early at birth. The Internet of Things is already a welcome helper for modern farmers in other areas too: sensors installed in fields above, on and below the ground measure soil water availability, air temperature and humidity as well as nitrogen content and determine the perfect harvest period. Networked by Vodafone, the data is transmitted, processed and sent to the field owner's smartphone. In this way, the solution helps agricultural associations, the seed industry and the processing sector to increase harvests and avoid crop failures in the long term.

IoT for our dearest four-legged friends: safety for pets
V-Pet provides additional security for pets. A small sensor on the dog's collar transmits via the Internet of Things and always tells the owner where the four-legged friend is at any given time. Pet owners can also use an app to call up activity data, such as sleep information or calorie consumption, locate animals if they have escaped and are automatically notified if Bello crosses a digital fence. More than 5,000 dog owners have already equipped their animal friends with the compact helper.

IoT for cities, train stations and public facilities: from smart garbage cans to networked waste collection
The Internet of Things keeps cities clean and pollution-free: in its own IoT Future Lab, Vodafone has developed intelligent waste garbage cans that know exactly when they need to be emptied. Via the Internet of Things, they sound an alarm at the logistics center immediately before the maximum fill level is reached. The emptying of the smart bin can then be adjusted accordingly. Entire refuse collection vehicle fleets are already using the Internet of Things. This allows vehicle fleets to be managed more efficiently and vehicle routes to be optimized.

IoT against illegal painting: The wall that can smell sprayers
In the IoT Future Lab, Vodafone has developed a wall that can smell illegal sprayers. In future, the graffiti detector will help to catch sprayers as they carry out their work on garage doors, highway bridges or trains. Among other things, a sensor detects the tiny paint particles and propellants in the graffiti paint. If an uninvited painter begins his work, the sensor sounds an alarm and sends it directly to a control center via Narrowband IoT, Vodafone's machine network. From here, security forces can be alerted and deployed. To deter perpetrators before they even start painting, the sensor can also trigger an alarm directly on site.

IoT for road traffic: intelligent e-bikes put a stop to thieves
More than 10 million cars are already connected to the Internet of Things at Vodafone. This year, Vodafone and ZEG have now also developed the intelligent e-bike - making life difficult for thieves. Every day, 910 bicycles are stolen in Germany. According to police crime statistics, thieves struck a total of 332,000 times in 2016. Premium e-bikes from Zemo automatically raise the alarm if they are stolen and the thief flees with them from an area specified by the owner. This is made possible by a secure IoT SIM card permanently installed in the frame and a telematics app from Vodafone. The owner can use them to communicate with their bike at any time via mobile communications - and locate thieves precisely in the event of an emergency.

Infrastructure for the Internet of Things: The machine network connects things everywhere
Vodafone's new machine network will be the infrastructure for the Internet of Things. In December, the Düsseldorf-based telecommunications group activated this new network in Düsseldorf, specifically for the networking of objects. The expansion of Narrowband IoT is also currently underway in Berlin. The machine network should be up and running here at the beginning of January. By the end of the financial year, 13 major German cities should be connected to the machine network. The Germany-wide expansion is now being driven forward on LTE 800 frequencies. The machine network even transmits data in places where mobile communications would otherwise be difficult to reach: behind thick house walls and underground. The narrowband IoT sensors' extremely long battery life of up to ten years enables data transmission even without an external power supply. Back in February, Vodafone opened the IoT Future Lab in Düsseldorf - Germany's first research laboratory specifically for applications in the machine network. Since then, the Düsseldorf-based telecommunications group has been working here with partners along the entire value chain on solutions for the Internet of Things.

Vodafone Germany is one of the leading integrated telecommunications companies and also the largest TV provider in Germany. With its 14,000 employees, the Group supplies Internet, mobile communications, fixed network and television from a single source. As a gigabit company, Vodafone is leading the way in infrastructure expansion in Germany: with ever faster networks, the Düsseldorf-based company is paving the way for Germany to become a gigabit society - whether in the fixed network or in mobile communications.