Aqua Libra, a new bottle-free range of infused sparkling waters owned by Britvic, has selected the Quectel EC25 LTE Cat 4 module, to connect its Flavour Taps IoT hubs. The company is dedicated to transforming hydration and is on a mission to become the world’s most sustainable water brand with its innovative digital tap solutions and range of infused sparkling waters. Offering pure, plastic free hydration solutions, Aqua Libra’s ground-breaking Flavour Tap technology is part of Britvic’s ‘Beyond the Bottle’ strategy which thinks beyond plastic, providing solutions for on the go, at work, in bars and in food outlets.

The digital tap dispenses still, sparkling and flavoured water with zero calories and reduces packaging waste by 99%. The Aqua Libra Flavour Tap and range of canned infused sparkling waters encourage consumers to make small changes in their everyday lives to help towards the mission of a future free from plastic waste.

Currently being deployed in the United Kingdom, the Aqua Libra Flavour Taps utilize the EC25 to connect units to the cloud. Aqua Libra selected the module because of its competitive cost and the ability to support good regional coverage.

“Our Flavour Tap range has significant IoT capability as well as digital twin presence on the AWS Cloud,” comments Scott MacKenzie, Director of BTB Platforms, Aqua Libra. “Connectivity is critical to passing this data from the device to our IoT environment. The units are currently being deployed in the UK, but there are no technical restrictions on deploying them in other countries.”

The Quectel EC25 is a series of LTE Cat 4 modules optimized specially for M2M and IoT applications. Adopting the 3GPP Rel-11 LTE technology, the modules deliver maximum data rates up to 150Mbps downlink and 50Mbps uplink. Measuring 32.0mm × 29.0mm × 2.4mm, the EC25 operates in an extended temperature range of -40°C to +85°C.

“The team had limited experience of modems and 4G technology,” adds Scott. “Having chosen an ST development board for initial proof of concept the Quectel modem – with SixFab Hat – was a simple plug and play option that provided minimal integration challenges. As we scaled our field install base, the ability to utilize AT commands via the Quectel interface provided us with key observability and modem control that optimize connectivity performance and triage connectivity issues.”

Aqua Libra says the Flavour Tap range of digital taps is the smartest, most connected hydration platform on the market and, because the complexity of creating 10,000 flavored serves without refill, increased device visibility for operations and performance are key to uptime and customer satisfaction.

Recently Flavour Taps passed two million serves. Typically, these would have been provided in a can, so there is an immediate benefit making a premium drink at the point of dispense rather than creating the drink in a factory and shipping it miles to a workplace where it is consumed. The impact of successful, efficient, reliable digital taps being used in workplace across the UK has considerable impact on single use packaging and food miles.

Aqua Libra selected Quectel because of its trusted brand and the expertise it demonstrated during the proof-of-concept phase. “The trusted brand and the performance of the module in early prototypes gave us confidence it should be the solution for our IoT requirements,” explains Scott MacKenzie from Aqua Libra. “Customers are now seeing improved hydration in their workforce, reduced reliance on single use packaging and an improved workplace environment at reasonable costs.”