LoRaWAN Explained

LoRaWAN is a communication protocol, and works in conjunction with LoRa (Long Range – the physical layer). Combined, they form a Low-Power Wide-Area Network solution. Besides its range capabilities, its asynchronous nodes are on standby and only establish a communication, if data needs to be sent/received. These unique capabilities make LoRa an attractive solution for numerous use cases in the IoT and M2M landscape. The LoRaWAN protocol is managed and maintained by the non-profit organisation LoRa Alliance.

LoRaWAN History

What was later to be known as LoRa, was developed by two Frenchmen in 2009, with the goal of creating long-range modulation technology that consumes as little power as possible. In 2012, together with a third partner, they started a company called Cycleo, which aimed to provide solutions for the utility sector.

Their solutions utilized the much-renowned CSS modulation technology, which was mostly utilized by space, aviation, and maritime operations. While Cycleo didn’t create CSS technology itself, they were to first one to utilize this modulation technology to send data between nodes.

In 2017 LoRa achieved a record-breaking data transmission when a single packet was received 702km away using LoRaWAN.

LoRaWAN Characteristics

The features and characteristics of LoRaWAN can be summarized as follows:

LPWAN protocol managed and maintained by the LoRa Alliance
Bi-directional communication
Utilizes gateways, which are produced by licensed manufacturers, who are members of the LoRa alliance.
No complex mesh routing
No repeaters
Low deployment and maintenance costs
Low power
Long battery life
A relatively simple network architecture that serves various usecases.

Based on the characteristics mentioned above, the following LoRaWAN IoT use cases become evident. Your IoT network may benefit from our LoRaWAN IoT solutions if:

Your IoT devices need to send or receive small amounts of data.
You need small, compact IoT devices.
You need long battery life for IoT devices.
You need connectivity over large geographical areas.
Large ecosystem om device manufactures.

Thanks to these unique attributes, our LoRaWAN solutions provide the following benefits to IoT solution provider:

Low data transmission cost

As a LoRa solution provider, our data charges are considerably lower than other comparable communication standards.

Affordable hardware lowering the barrier of entry

Compared to other devices with mobile networking capabilities, LoRa-enabled devices are cheap to produce, and there is no need to buy SIM cards.

Long-range communication

Low device maintenance costs

LoRa sacrifices high data rates for low power consumption. Having a longer battery life drastically lowers the maintenance costs and makes the job of IoT network operators and his/her engineers a lot easier. Additionally, its long-range means, fewer LoRa devices are needed to cover a certain area, further decreasing overall maintenance costs.

Thanks to these unique attributes, our LoRaWAN solutions provide the following benefits to IoT network operator:

Easy rollout our IoT network

Low totala cost of ownership (TOC)

Low technology barrier with included operation and support

New revenue stream with unique revenue share model

LoRaWAN Use cases

Compared to other connectivity protocols, LoRaWAN may as well be the “most LPWAN” out there, and thus serves a wide variety of use cases. Our LoRaWAN solutions may be the ideal approach for your IoT/M2M network, if:

You are looking for a protocol with low deployment and maintenance costs that can be easily scaled to hundreds or thousands of devices at any time.
You want to deploy an IoT network, that needs to cover an extremely wide area or an area that is concrete dense or underground

Opt for our 5G solutions instead if you:

Your IoT devices need to transmit large amounts of data (e.g., live CCTV footage).
Higher latency or minor package loss are intolerable (First responder, emergency services).

Future of LoRaWAN

In light of the above-mentioned advantages of LoRaWAN, the future of IoT is moving closer. The global LoRa footprint is already well-established as several traditional market-leading network providers or various countries have committed to nationwide deployments of LoRa.

LoRaWAN Explained