Enterprises deploying Internet of Things architectures are presented with a wide variety of options for the technologies they can use to connect all of their things. There are multiple cellular IoT connectivity solutions, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, SigFox, Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN), and others. Companies may make their deployment decisions based on cost, availability, range, scalability, and other considerations.
A new capability being touted by the LoRaWAN Alliance may help strengthen that technology’s argument to provide the connectivity foundation for more IoT use cases. The alliance announced this week that it has expanded the LoRaWAN link-layer standard with the addition of a “Relay” specification that can help extend LoRaWAN connectivity to handfuls of devices situated in low-density “extreme remote” locations.
Carlos Tinella, Senior Product Manager, Wireless and Sensing Products Group at Semtech, said during a LoRaWAN Alliance webinar this week that Relay enables this extended coverage through deployment of battery-operated, easy-to-install devices that will be less expensive than the more traditional IoT gateways that otherwise would need to be installed everywhere a company wants to enable IoT connectivity.
While it may be good news that enterprises are far along enough to be expanding their IoT architectures into less-dense areas, and are finding more use cases in remote locations, deploying more gateways to extend connectivity makes less sense for these particular needs.
The LoRaWAN Relay feature is described in-depth in the LoRaWAN TS011-1.0.0 LoRaWAN Relay Specification document. This explains the relaying mechanism used to transport LoRaWAN frames bi-directionally between an end-device and gateway/network server via a battery-operated node. By enabling relay, the device can transfer LoRaWAN frames between an end-device and network when there is insufficient coverage from the gateway.
One of the first industries to adopt LoRaWAN’s Relay is the utilities sector for remote meter reading, the alliance said. Utilities represent a massive opportunity for IoT, with VDC Research estimating that worldwide LPWAN communication services revenue will reach $2.47 billion by 2025. Adding relay to the LoRaWAN standard to achieve coverage for even the most difficult cases (e.g., meters inside metal closets) significantly strengthens LoRaWAN’s market position in metering and utilities, and more broadly across key verticals including smart cities and buildings, and industrial IoT.
Relay also could be used in concert with satellite IoT connectivity to extend coverage indoors to IoT devices, or in logistics applications to extend coverage inside containers, Tinella said.
“We accomplish this by lowering the capex requirement to reach the devices at the extreme edge,” he said.
A capability like Relay could prove to be a boon to IoT service providers and users alike, as it not only extends coverage, but gives providers a path to add at least a little more revenue to deployments that sometimes do not offer them much margin for profit with the expenses involved to deploy IoT connectivity.