Industrial Wireless and

Low Power WAN (LPWAN)

Carina Vallejo,
ACL AOnline AE, Training v2.0
Advantech
Outiline
1. Wire and Wireless Networks
2. Global Wireless Standards
3. Wireless Technology According to the Frequency band
4. Wireless Technology According to the Range
5. PAN and WLAN Standard
• Bluetooth
• Zigbee
• Wifi
6. Cellular Network
• 2G (GSM)
• 3G (UMTS)
• 3.5G (HSPA)
• 4G (LTE)
7. LPWAN Network
8. Networks Architecture
9. How to choose the best wireless solution
Ethernet LAN vs. Wireless LAN
Wired Wireless
Transmission Electrical signal or light over a Radio waves pass through space; no
Medium cable, need for physical medium.
Standard IEEE 802.3 802.11 family
Communication • Full-Duplex (FDX) is possible • Half-Duplex (HDX) only
Algorithm • Carrier Sense Multiple Access • Carrier Sense Multiple Access
Collision Detect (CSMA/CD) is Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA)
used. is used.

Why Wireless?
• When wired connections are prohibited
• Installations where wiring cost much
• Flexible network extension in existing system
Global Wireless Network Standards

WPAN – wireless personal area network

WLAN – wireless local area network
WMAN – wireless metropolitan area network
WWAN – wireless wide area network
Wireless network purpose
Wireless Technology - Frequency band
Feature 2.4Ghz Sub 1G
Range in 2.4Ghz Not as
Range Long Range mode
good as Sub 1 Ghz
Performance in Sub 1 Ghz waves can
Range not as good with
non clear line squeeze around
obstructions
of sight buildings better
More Interference, more Much lower
Interference devices (wifi, Zigbee, interference,
bluetooth) lesser devices

vs Compatibility
Many Existing Standards in
2.4Ghz
Many Proprietary
standards
Higher Size for Sub 1
Antenna Size Lower Size for 2.4Ghz
Ghz
Wireless Technology - Range

Wireless PAN (Bluetooth) WLAN (Wifi, Cellular (2G, 3G, LPWAN (Lora,
Zigbee) LTE-M, NB-IoT) Sigfox, Sub-1G)

Range Short (<10m) Middle(<100m) Long(10Km) Long (<5km)

Status Well established Well established Developing Emerging
Environment Indoor Indoor Outdoor Outdoor

Application • Short range • Short range • Long range • Long range

• Mobile device • Mobile device • Long battery • Long battery

Not good for • Battery life • Battery life • Monthly • High data
• Long range • Long range Subscription rate
Fee
 PAN and WLAN Standard

-Bluetooth
-Zigbee
-Wifi
Networks for Short and Middle Range

Network Standard Known as Maximum data rate

definition
Personal area IEEE Bluetooth 1 Mbit/s (Bluetooth v. 1.2)
network (PAN) 802.15.1 24 Mbit/s (Bluetooth v. 4.0 for
IoT)
Low-rate IEEE ZigBee 250 kbit/s (ZigBee)
WLAN 802.15.4
(LR-WPAN)
Wireless local IEEE WiFi 11 Mbit/s (802.11b)
area network 802.11 54 Mbit/s (802.11g)
(WLAN) 1 Gbps (802.11ac/n)
Bluetooth Wireless Standard
• Is a wireless technology standard for exchanging data between fixed and
mobile devices over short distances using short-wavelength UHF radio waves
in the industrial, scientific and medical field radio bands.

Bluetooth enabled
electronic devices
connect and
communicate
wirelessly through
<10m short-range
Zigbee Wireless Standard
• ZigBee technology is simpler (and less expensive) than Bluetooth
• Easy installation, reliable data transfer, middle-range operation, low cost,
and a reasonable battery life.
Wifi Wireless Standard
• There are multiple computers and peripheral devices sharing a common
connection that has 10-100 Mbps data transmission speed and are
connected by Ethernet cables.
• LAN computer terminals may be physically connected using cables
 Cellular Network

-2G (GSM)
-3G (UMTS)
-3.5G (HSPA)
-4G (LTE)
Cellular network architecture
Cellular communication: Evolution
 LPWAN
Low-Power Wide Area Network
-Lora
-Sigfox
-LTE-Cat. M1/NB-IoT
ISM Bands
1. Lora and Sigfox operate in the unlicensed ISM(Industrial, Scientific and
Medical) radio band that are available worldwide.
2. Devices such as microwave ovens, medical equipment or baby monitors all
uses the ISM Band
3. Advantages:
• Anyone is allowed to use these frequencies
• No license fee is required
4. Disadvantages:
• Low data rate
• Lots of interference anyone can use these frequencies
LPWAN –Low Power Wide Area Network
• A LPWAN is a type of wireless telecommunication wide area network – low-
power wide-area network (LPWAN)
• Designed to allow long range communications at a low bit rate among IoT
things
• LPWAN technology, including LoRa, SigFox, and NB-IoT, is suitable for
applications requiring low-volume, long-range data transmission while
maintaining a long battery life, minimal cost, and low levels of interference.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405959517302953
Expectations LPWAN

Long Range Max. Lifetime Multi Usage Low Cost

Wireless LPWAN Technologies Comparison
Technology LoRa SigFox LTE-Cat. M1 NB-IoT
(eMTC)
Standard LoRa SigFox 3GPP 3GPP
ISM ISM Rel. 13 Rel. 13
Frequency 915 MHz 915 MHz 7~900 MHz 7~900 MHz
868 MHz 868 MHz
433 MHz
Data Rate ~50kbps 100 bps 1 Mbps ~100 Kbps
600 bps
Environment Outdoor Indoor/outdoor Indoor/outdoor Indoor/outdoor

Application Industrial Campus Open Space Open Space Open Space

Water Treatment (Water / (Water / (Water /
Metering) Metering) Metering)
Range ~5km urban ~10km Depends on the Depends on the
base station base station
Topology Star Star Star Star
LPWAN Topology
LPWAN data transmission process
LPWAN data transmission process
Transmission of RF signal, LPWAN
LPWAN data transmission process

ACK
LPWAN data transmission process

ACK
 LPWAN Application Scenario – Smart city
Gateway

Cloud
Cloud Cloud

NB-IoT

Smart Agriculture

Smart Parking

Smart Logistic

Smart Lighting
Smart Metering
LORA
What is LoRa?
• LoRa (Long Range) is a patented digital wireless data communication IoT
technology transmits over license-free sub-gigahertz radio frequency bands
like 433 MHz, 868 MHz (Europe) and 915 MHz (North America).
Difference between LoRa & LoRaWAN

Application

LoRa MAC

LoRaWAN™ defines the MAC Options

communication protocol
and system architecture
for the network Class A Class B Class C
(Baseline) (Baseline) (Continuous)

LoRa Modulation Physical Layer

(PHY)
the LoRa® physical layer Regional ISM Band
enables the long-range
communication link.
EU 868 EU 433 US 915 AS 430 --
Types of LORA devices
Application : Pipeline data collection with LORA
Application
• Using Wireless Technology to collect pipeline data
• Collecting Gas/Water meters from the pipeline and power meters data via
Modbus RTU, and processing the data into Modbus TCP format for customer
legacy SCADA system

Advantages
• Hardware-based LoRaWAN Private Network
• Supporting Modbus RTU master (node)
• Supporting Modbus TCP Server (gateway)
Sigfox
What is Sigfox?
• The SIGFOX global IoT network operates in several European countries and
will begin deployment in the U.S.
• The network is designed exclusively for long range, small-message device
communication.
• SIGFOX drive IoT device cost, service cost and power consumption
dramatically down compared to traditional cellular or Wi-Fi connectivity.
• This effectively eliminates existing cost barriers and battery service life
constraints for connected device deployment.
How does Sigfox work?
• SigFox sets up antennas on towers (like a cell phone company), and receives
data transmissions from devices like parking sensors or water meters
• SigFox wireless systems send very small amounts of data (12 bytes) very
slowly (300 baud) using standard radio transmission methods (The slower
you transmit, the easier it is to “hear” your message.)
• Things like basic alarm systems, location monitoring, and simple metering
are all examples of one-way systems that might make sense for this network
NB-IoT
What is NB-IoT?
• The NB-IoT standard, it is defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project
(3GPP)
• NBIoT technology It is a Narrowband IoT (also known as NB-IoT or LTE-M2)
is a proposed LPWAN technology.
• NBIoT is a Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) radio technology
standard that has been developed to enable a wide range of devices and
services to be connected using cellular telecommunications bands.
• NB-IoT deployment on low frequency bands has more efficiency due to
deep indoor coverage; mostly suggested bands for the technology are
700MHz, 800MHz, and 900MHz
How does NB-IoT work?

User’s mobile
phone
eNodeB/NB-IoT

EPC(IoT) IoT platform IoT application

server(3rd party)
eNodeB/NB-IoT

Smart water
meter
Networks Architecture
Networks Architecture
1. Short range network – with Gateway
• Implications of wired on-site connectivity (firewalls, NAT, port and
protocol filtering)

2. Direct Long range LPWAN – without gateway

What is the best connectivity solution?
The best solution depends on different factors:
• What is the scope of the project, what’s the use case?
• How much data is being sent, at which range and at which speed and intervals?
• Do you need a hybrid approach with several connectivity solutions, including
cellular, WiFi and more
• What about costs? Data range? Outdoor? Indoor? Both?
• Is there a partnership ecosystem in your area upon which you can rely?
• How important is the autonomy (and battery life) of your devices?
• Etc…
Go Together,
We Go Far and Grow Big