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The city’s longstanding battle with ear-splitting irritants could be getting a new weapon as a pilot project looks to test a network of real-time noise monitors that could flag disturbers of the peace at the speed of sound.

For years, the city has struggled to put a damper on the din from festivals, construction and vehicles, relying primarily on complaint-driven enforcement of its noise bylaw.

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Noise is a popular beef among callers to the city’s 311 call centre, who have logged 3,076 complaints so far in 2018.

But thanks to a technology called LoRaWAN — a long-range, low power digital wireless network which now reaches every corner of Calgary — city IT planners are hoping to harness its potential in a number of areas.

Nan Xie, the city’s IT leader, said it’s still early but the possible applications of the powerful city-wide network are far-reaching.

“We are all getting very excited — it’s an evolving process,” said Xie, noting the city reached out to the University of Calgary to propose potential applications for the technology.