The term LoRaWAN stands for Long Range Wide Area Network and refers to a long-range, energy-saving radio network.
LoRaWAN is primarily designed for wireless, battery-operated systems and is a complement to the classic mobile network.
Imagine you want to record the number of visitors at all entrances in a department store. It would be a huge effort to subsequently lay the cables to all doors. With LoRaWAN, you use our battery-operated people counters and set up a central LoRaWAN gateway. All counters connect to this gateway. The gateway then forwards the data to our cloud services via your router.
Due to its long range and low energy consumption, radio technology is particularly suitable for information and data transmission in the so-called Internet of Things (Internet of Things – IoT). The intelligent networking of work and everyday objects forms the basis for modern cities of the future. The global LoRaWAN network is therefore an important building block for the digitalization of processes and the conception of smart cities.
Excursus: The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the networking of objects via the Internet. Intelligent devices and machines can communicate with each other via the network and receive and transmit data. This includes, for example, smart home solutions, such as remote control of home lighting via an app.
There are a variety of sensors for using this radio technology: occupied / occupancy indicator for desks, occupied indicator for rooms (meeting rooms), CO2 sensors, people counters, temperature meters and much more....
A particular advantage of data transmission with LoRaWAN is the high radio range: In built-up urban areas, data transmission works over a distance of up to 2 km, in rural areas a radio range of up to 15 km and more is possible. LoRaWAN also offers very good building penetration and reaches into basements or underground garages.
In contrast to other wireless technologies (e.g. WLAN or Bluetooth), the energy consumption is very lowThis is mainly due to the small data volumes and long transmission times. This has a positive effect on the battery life of the end devices, which can be up to 10 years.
However, the final energy consumption also depends on the device selected. three device classes differentiated:
- Class A: LoRaWAN devices in this class are particularly energy efficient and are also suitable for IoT applications. They are permanently in energy-saving mode and only communicate in randomly controlled time windows. These can be generated, for example, by a change in state - such as exceeding a limit value.
- Class B: With this device class, a predefined time window can be set in which the LoRaWAN module wakes up from sleep mode and transmits or receives data.
- Class C: These devices are in constant receive mode and can receive and send information at any time. However, they are also among the devices with the highest energy consumption and are therefore better suited to systems with an external power supply.
Good to know: All communication from the sensor to the network server is encrypted. This makes data transmission with LoRaWAN extremely secure.
LoRaWAN and Smart Cities: Application Examples
LoRa radio technology is a key component for the development of intelligent cities. The concept of “Smart Cities” aims to make areas such as mobility, energy or public safety more efficient and environmentally friendly. the quality of life in urban areas can be improved.
The energy-saving and long-range LoRaWAN network opens up numerous Opportunities for new IoT applications of all kinds – whether in the public sector, in industry and agriculture or for private purposes. Below we have collected a few application examples:
- control of road traffic through an intelligent traffic light system. Sensors in the vehicles can ensure smooth traffic flow without causing long delays.
- monitoring of air quality and indoor climate in offices, educational institutions or event rooms. This can increase concentration and health and optimize energy consumption in the building.
- Determination of soil moisture, temperature or precipitation amounts on farms. By measuring these values, immediate action can be taken and, for example, irrigation can be adjusted.
- Detect machine malfunctions or failures at an early stage. This is particularly advantageous in industrial and production plants. For example, an alarm can be set as soon as certain limits are exceeded or the utilization of the machines is too high.
- Level sensors for waste containers.
Source: IKB and eastek