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2024/01/18
Considerations for Choosing LPWAN Technologies
Low-power wide area network technology (LPWAN) connects low-bandwidth, low-power devices over large, dense areas like cities. Common applications include street lighting, utility metering, industrial agriculture, asset tracking, oil and gas, and environmental monitoring—all cases were longer battery life, long operating range, and longevity in crowded environments are important design requirements.
In this article, we’ll cover the key characteristics of LPWAN, the best use cases for this technology, and some of the most common LPWAN solutions our customers are adopting.
All of this development happened alongside a growing market for cost-effective, application-specific alternatives to cellular technologies for connected devices. In this new landscape, cellular technologies are known for poor battery life and incomplete coverage, and emerging technologies like Bluetooth and Zigbee have limited range. While each of these technologies have unique strengths, LPWAN fills a gap for underserved applications that, by design, their counterparts have a harder time supporting.
LPWAN takes many forms, it's able to serve various protocols, encompassing both open-source and proprietary solutions. Examples include Amazon Sidewalk, Wi-SUN, Wirepas, NB-IoT/LTE-M, Mioty, Z-Wave Long Range, and LoRa.
Based on your use case and the regulatory environment in which you operate, you might narrow it down to 2 or 3 LPWAN solutions and then investigate ecosystems, interoperability, and vendor support. When considering which LPWAN technology solution to work with, ecosystem partner, application requirements, and regulations/standards are the most important factors to examine.
Collecting answers to the following questions will help you assess LPWAN solutions more effectively:
Silicon Labs offers a variety of LPWAN solutions that range from flexible application programming interfaces (APIs) for custom solutions to partner stacks and full stacks. Whether you’re well versed in RF and connectivity or just venturing in, you’ll receive unwavering support throughout the development process.
*Article Source: https://www.silabs.com/wireless/lpwan/lpwan-101-considerations-for-choosing-lpwan-technologies
In this article, we’ll cover the key characteristics of LPWAN, the best use cases for this technology, and some of the most common LPWAN solutions our customers are adopting.
What is LPWAN?
A relatively new term, LPWAN has proliferated in the industrial space with the explosion of IoT in the home. Higher deployment rates exposed the need to prioritize low power, coverage, low data rates, and security. In tandem, we’ve seen innovation in computing, power consumption, and battery power—resulting in more effective LPWAN technology.All of this development happened alongside a growing market for cost-effective, application-specific alternatives to cellular technologies for connected devices. In this new landscape, cellular technologies are known for poor battery life and incomplete coverage, and emerging technologies like Bluetooth and Zigbee have limited range. While each of these technologies have unique strengths, LPWAN fills a gap for underserved applications that, by design, their counterparts have a harder time supporting.
LPWAN takes many forms, it's able to serve various protocols, encompassing both open-source and proprietary solutions. Examples include Amazon Sidewalk, Wi-SUN, Wirepas, NB-IoT/LTE-M, Mioty, Z-Wave Long Range, and LoRa.
Considerations for Choosing LPWAN Technologies
As an emerging technology, the sub-GHz LPWAN market is subject to regulatory fragmentation. Every country has its own frequency band. Further, there are numerous use cases and ways to implement LPWAN. Within smart home, smart cities, and commercial agriculture alone, each segment has hundreds of relevant applications. With both of these factors in mind, there’s no silver bullet solution at this point.Based on your use case and the regulatory environment in which you operate, you might narrow it down to 2 or 3 LPWAN solutions and then investigate ecosystems, interoperability, and vendor support. When considering which LPWAN technology solution to work with, ecosystem partner, application requirements, and regulations/standards are the most important factors to examine.
Collecting answers to the following questions will help you assess LPWAN solutions more effectively:
- What ecosystem do you want to work in?
- Does the ecosystem offer the features you need?
- Is the ecosystem available in your region?
- Do you have vendors that support the ecosystem?
- Is interoperability possible?
- What are your application requirements?
- How long do you expect your device to be in field between servicing?
- What are your range expectations? Is range or performance more important?
- What are your battery life expectations? Is line power an option?
- What’s your link budget?
- Are there any RF sensitivity needs or concerns?
- What are your expectations for channel capacity?
- What are your bandwidth requirements?
- Is standards-based important to your application?
Designing for LPWAN
LPWAN presents operational strengths and weakness that can be exacerbated in design. For example, LPWAN technology is more susceptible to physical attacks because it’s more commonly found in the field rather than in private residences or other, more secure areas. In addition to network security, designers need to consider ways to produce tamper-proof hardware and housings. With respect to hardware, interference is a major concern in antenna design. If the product isn’t designed to meet the use case or the installer is less educated on best practices, the system won’t meet range expectations. On the software side, since LPWAN technologies rely on wake/sleep cycles, designers need a well-tuned algorithm to mitigate the energy used for waking and keep system-level power draw low.Silicon Labs offers a variety of LPWAN solutions that range from flexible application programming interfaces (APIs) for custom solutions to partner stacks and full stacks. Whether you’re well versed in RF and connectivity or just venturing in, you’ll receive unwavering support throughout the development process.
*Article Source: https://www.silabs.com/wireless/lpwan/lpwan-101-considerations-for-choosing-lpwan-technologies
