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Kathleen Martin
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The Internet of Things (IoT) offers the potential to connect up billions of devices around the globe with infrastructure that link directly to enterprise systems. Connecting up sensors to monitor all kinds of equipment across the IoT gives tremendous advantages in providing data about smart buildings, smart cities, tracking, monitoring and utilities. With this data, machine learning can provide key insights into the operation of all kinds of systems, optimising their performance and even predicting when they will need maintenance.
Over 75 billion IoT devices are expected to come online by 2025 according to market research firm Statista. However, many of these are in rural or remote locations that lack traditional connectivity networks.
One of the key technologies for connecting up these devices is low power wide area networking (LPWAN). These networks operate in the sub-GHz Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) frequency bands at 868MHz in Europe and 915MHz in North America. These frequencies allow long distance connections, often several kilometres, to connect smart sensor nodes to a gateway. This gateway can feed the data back into the internet and enterprise systems to enable detailed analysis elsewhere in the world.
One of the leading LPWAN technologies is Semtech’s LoRa devices. This was developed in 2009 with a specific modulation called chirp spread spectrum (CSS) that has a high level of immunity to noise to achieve both low power and long-range capability. LoRa can support low power transmission of data at rates up to 50 Kbit/s, although data rates of 1kbit/s to 5kbit/s are the norm to extend the battery life.
Using this protocol enables battery life of up to 10 years, removing the need for costly replacements and cutting OPEX costs, making the deployment of smart sensor networks at scale possible. The low power of the transceiver chips means smart sensors can also be powered by energy harvested from the environment via solar panels or even from the surrounding RF radio waves.
Continue reading: https://www.information-age.com/what-is-lorawan-why-is-it-taking-over-internet-of-things-123497659/
Over 75 billion IoT devices are expected to come online by 2025 according to market research firm Statista. However, many of these are in rural or remote locations that lack traditional connectivity networks.
One of the key technologies for connecting up these devices is low power wide area networking (LPWAN). These networks operate in the sub-GHz Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) frequency bands at 868MHz in Europe and 915MHz in North America. These frequencies allow long distance connections, often several kilometres, to connect smart sensor nodes to a gateway. This gateway can feed the data back into the internet and enterprise systems to enable detailed analysis elsewhere in the world.
One of the leading LPWAN technologies is Semtech’s LoRa devices. This was developed in 2009 with a specific modulation called chirp spread spectrum (CSS) that has a high level of immunity to noise to achieve both low power and long-range capability. LoRa can support low power transmission of data at rates up to 50 Kbit/s, although data rates of 1kbit/s to 5kbit/s are the norm to extend the battery life.
Using this protocol enables battery life of up to 10 years, removing the need for costly replacements and cutting OPEX costs, making the deployment of smart sensor networks at scale possible. The low power of the transceiver chips means smart sensors can also be powered by energy harvested from the environment via solar panels or even from the surrounding RF radio waves.
Continue reading: https://www.information-age.com/what-is-lorawan-why-is-it-taking-over-internet-of-things-123497659/
