LPWAN (Low Power Wide Area Network) is a new technology dedicated to connecting independent and frugal IoT devices over long ranges using little power. It allows battery-powered sensors to send small amounts of data to base stations kilometers away. LPWAN networks can be private, managed internally, or operated by a provider and offer mobility. Common use cases include utility metering, logistics tracking, predictive maintenance, agriculture monitoring, and health/safety applications. The leading LPWAN provider is Sigfox, which has deployed commercial networks in over 10 countries offering connectivity for up to 14 euros per year.

1. LPWAN
Overview & use cases
Hardware Club — Paris — 2015.10.28

2. LPWhat ?
• Low Power Wide Area Network
• Low Power: Battery-powered devices
• Wide Area: Can reach a base station kms away

3. Need for a new technology
• Dedicated to the Internet of Things
• Independent devices
• Frugal devices

4. Private networks
• ✗ Ready to use
• ✗ SLA
• ✗ Mobility
• ✓ 100% managed by your teams

5. Operated networks
• ✓ Ready to use
• ✓ SLA
• ✓ Mobility wherever your contract is valid
• ✗ 100% managed by your teams

6. Comparison
0
3,5
7
10,5
14
0 4 8 12 16
Zigbee
Range
Bandwidth
WiFi
4G
3G
2G Sat
LPWANBLE
RFID
NFC

7. Low bandwidth
• 100s of bits/second
• ✗ Multimedia
• ✗ Full text
• ✓ Sensors values
• ✓ GPS location
• ✓ Machine readable data

8. Use cases

9. Metering
• Tele-measuring of water/gas consumption
• No need for concentrators

10. • Fire hydrant
• Monitor leaks
• Be sure it’s functional when needed
Utilities

11. • Track the location of any good or equipment
• Post theft devices
Logistics

12. • Know when some equipment is about to fail
• Schedule maintenance works efficiently
Predictive maintenance

13. Agriculture
• Monitor environment values all over an
exploitation : light, soil moisture, ..
• Animal health & location tracking

14. Ifttt-like
• Press a button, send an empty
frame & trigger any pre
determined action
• « Mom I’m home ! »
• « Get me a taxi»
• ~Amazon dash

15. « Silver economy »
• Health monitoring, fall alerts, ..
• Without the locked-in effect of gateway-based solutions
• Track the community-payed services effectiveness
• Did the carer really come every day for 2 hours ?

16. IoT vs Gadgets
Sexy Stuff
BORING
(BUT USEFUL)
IOT

17. Solutions

18. SIGFOX
• Leader on the LPWAN Market
• Only network deployed in production in 10+
countries
• One network, no roaming
• Open hardware approach. Standard components
from established partners (TI, Atmel, SiLabs, ..)
• Max 14€/year

19. Other
• Private networks solutions
• Crowdsourced initiatives
• Not-yet finalized protocols

20. Thank you ☺
• Want a real demo: let’s talk !
• Get in touch :
• nicolas.lesconnec@sigfox.com
• twitter: @nlesconnec