Some people may rely too much on 5G for the future of the Internet of Things (IoT) network connectivity, but there are also other options like the LoRaWAN technology. You can know more about capacity simulation and field tests of the LoRaWAN on this page.
The 5G technology may revolutionize the internet and society, but it has its security threats. In the financial, agricultural, medical, energy, military, education, and industrial fields, 5G can undoubtedly do a lot.
However, 5G is not the only option out there. Nowadays, a lot of IoT applications have achieved cost-effectiveness and low consumption of energy. However, they are different in their reliability, latency, range, and data rate. Another thing is that their address security can also vary. Aside from 5G, there are other wireless technologies like LoRaWAN.
Why Get into LoraWAN?
Some of the most common short-range radio technologies are operating at the home range or personal levels. Bluetooth and Zigbee are just some of the examples of these.
Aside from 5G, there are other long-range solutions like cellular communications (4G, 3G, and 2G) that provide more extensive coverage in mobile. However, they may consume a lot of energy like device batteries, and they have many latencies.
It is not surprising that many IoT applications need to develop new wireless communication techs like the LPWAN or Low Power Wide Area Network. This is designed to be cost-effective, has a more extended range, and lower power requirements. Some LPWAN technologies are cellular ones that operate with the need for a license.
LoRaWAN can Help when 5G is Not Available.
There is also the Long-Range Wide-Area Network or LoRaWAN, and they are some of the non-cellular techs that are in for the large-scale Internet of Things deployment. They can be accessed through the LoRa gateways, and they enable the devices to connect more efficiently. Some believe that the LPWAN techs will be ideal for 5G because they provide longer battery life, and they can reach the underground areas where some electronics exist.
In many Smart Cities where the population density is much higher than what a planned 5G deployment can handle, LoRaWAN can be the best available solution. 5G may support only one mission phone and computers per square kilometer, but the LoRaWAN can provide an extra nine million more.
With private networks, sometimes, the deployment of 5G is not the best option. For example, there are MTC apps in larger-scale deployments, and they have non-time-critical sensors with lower requirements for the Quality of Service. In this case, LoRaWAN can continue to be implemented even if the 5G networks have already been deployed. While it is expected that the new 5G will be the best catalyst for the massive deployment of IoT, many believe that there are better approaches where the combination of NB-IoT, LoRaWAN, and other technologies can provide that are based on their strengths. It is indeed true that many network operators and other consumers are working through a mix of non-cellular and cellular technologies, and this is why the combinations are worth considering.
More Information about the LoRaWAN
IoT devices can connect even if they are far from each other. This long-distance connectivity is designed on a battery-operated and wireless network. This is a solution between the long-range and short-range high-power consumption network that is present in many techs. This type of wide-area network is one of the more dominant globally, and it has over 500 vendors present in more than a hundred countries. This is one of the patented technologies presented by Semtech.
The chirp spread spectrum is where the physical layer RF modulation of LoRa originated. It is considered to be low-cost and is commercially implemented. This was previously used in space communication and the military because they have an extended range of uses that they can achieve. This chirp has the same characteristics as the FSK or frequency keying modulation that has an increased capacity and used various legacy wireless systems in the past.
While the physical layers of the LoRa enable the possibility of long-range connectivity and communication, it is usually the network architecture and protocols that influence most of the battery lifespan, quality of service, network capacity, and security of the entire system.
On the other hand, there is the LoRaWAN with the lower frequencies based on many unlicensed spectrums. They are included in the ISM or Industrial, Scientific, and Medical bands. The band in China is 470 – 510 MHz; in the US, it is 902 – 928 MHz, and in Europe, it’s 867 – 869 MHz.
The technology behind LoRaWAN is different from the well-known LTE, 3G, Bluetooth, and GSM. Know more about 3G at this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3G. The LoRaWAN is essentially providing a cellular network with the flexibility of WiFi and Bluetooth, and they are specially made to support the devices’ battery life. If you are concerned with cybersecurity, it is worth noting that the design is more focused on battery life, and this is one of the areas that may need improvement.
The complex algorithms of encryption cannot be efficiently utilized by IoT devices that are energy constrained. The advanced cryptography algorithms are not also well-suited to IoT devices because they usually have a more limited memory space and energy. Most of the algorithms require larger computing capability and storage space.
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There were issues about improving IoT security in some instances, but the result is that energy management has become impacted negatively. Many are still waiting on how LoRaWAN is going to deal with this issue.
Some of the most important characteristics to know about are the following:
- Long-range (can connect with rural environments, urban communities, and more
- Penetration in areas that cannot be reached by 5G.
- A long battery life of over ten years
- Low data range of about 0.3 bps up to 50 kbps
- Native geolocation
- Low-cost modules
- Open Standard
- Unlicensed radio frequency spectrum
- Bidirectional communication
The LoRaWAN has its limitations, like more significant packet losses and low network efficiency. The ideas used for them are when you have a simple sensor that does not have to submit more frequently, but there are many other use cases like flood monitoring and nationwide smart metering.
