The establishment of industry standards is frequently cited as a key challenge for the Internet of Things (IoT), and while some progress is being made, by any measure there's quite a long road ahead on this front. Still, it's impressive to see how quickly the LoRa Alliance has grown since its inception in March 2015.
The group, which works on the open LoRaWAN specification for carrier-grade, low-power wide area networks, now has 250 members and 50,000 people working on LoRaWAN-based projects, the group announced this week. In addition, 15 countries have announced plans to deploy LoRaWAN nationwide and more than 100 networks are already live around the world.
LoRa Alliance is holding its first U.S. "all members" meeting next week in California, and plans are afoot for an Asian member meeting later this year, according to a statement.
With the technical flexibility to address multiple IoT applications, both static and mobile, and a certification program to guarantee interoperability, the LoRaWAN™ is already being deployed by major mobile network operators and is anticipated to widely expand in 2016.
LoRaWAN was the subject of a recent profile in The Verge, which nicely sums up what the technology is and where it fits on the spectrum:
At the heart of LoRaWAN is a tiny chip made by Semtech that only costs a buck when purchased in enthusiast quantities. It’s capable of a meager bi-directional data rate between 0.3kbps and 50kbps on either 433MHz, 868MHz (most of Europe), or 915MHz (USA) frequencies. You can think of LoRaWAN as a network for the big "I" Internet of Things (IoT) that’s meant to augment, not replace, the big "I" Internet that connects bandwidth- and power-hungry devices like laptops, servers, and tablets. LoRaWAN is to IoT as 3G/4G is to smartphones.
Imagine living in a neighborhood that notifies you when a parking spot is free, or a nearby charging station for your Chevy Bolt is no longer in use. Imagine garbage cans and dumpsters that alert sanitation crews when they’re nearing capacity, instead of just overflowing onto the sidewalks.
The Verge report also tells the story of The Things Network, a free-of-charge LoRaWAN-based network that covers the city of Amsterdam. Backers set up the network with just 10 gateways that cost $1,200 each. LoRaWAN gateways can communicate with sensors up to 10 miles away, depending on what sort of obstructions are in the line of sight, notes the report, which is well worth the full read.
LoRaWAN represents "the third step in ubiquitous, low-cost so called ‘stick and sense’ sensors, so now all we need is low power and low-cost transmission," says Constellation Research VP and principal analyst Andy Mulholland. For shorter-range IoT applications in factories and offices, other standards such as Zigbee have been around, "but external mobile stuff—thats not been solved," he adds.
"Here is where these guys come into the scene with 'carrier-grade’ as the second important part of the tale," Mulholland says. "For telco carriers, this is a key move to get them into the market as currently they can do it with powered stuff on 3G and 4G, but battery life just isn't good enough for where they need and want to be. Just imagine having to find a mobile device and charge or replace batteries every few weeks."
[Read Mulholland's extensive IoT coverage right here.]
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