Extending the Life of Your IoT Device with LoRa®

The Internet of Things (IoT) is rapidly gaining momentum. Predictions indicate total spending on IoT technologies will reach $2.5 trillion in 2022, with the total number of devices deployed estimated to be in the billions. In a world with a billion connected devices, the reality is that many will need to be deployed in hard-to-reach places making the ability to service them very challenging and expensive. To accomplish this, developers and system integrators have to take every possible measure to provide technology that will help devices operate as efficiently as possible and prolong device life with future-proof designs.

Recently, I presented in a webinar on “Extending the Life of IoT Devices,” hosted by IoT M2M Council. Below are the key takeaways from my portion of the webinar, including advantages of Semtech’s LoRa® devices for the extension of an IoT device’s lifetime. To watch a replay of the webinar, as well as view developer resources for the developing of IoT solutions, visit the LoRa Developer Portal, a free community for LoRa-based developers.

LoRa and LoRaWAN® Fill a Technology Gap

The business case for the IoT only makes sense if the devices being deployed are low cost, can connect effortlessly to the Cloud from long distances, operate efficiently for years at a time, and can be monitored and upgraded remotely years into deployment. Semtech’s LoRa devices and the LoRaWAN® protocol are the de facto choice for IoT applications, and offer a unique feature set to enable the extended lifetime of an IoT device for any imaginable use case. LoRaWAN minimizes the operational cost of IoT solutions, driving return on investment and making it a smart choice for many potential IoT deployments.

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth low energy (BLE) are mostly associated with high-bandwidth consumer business. These technologies are mainly suitable for short-range applications including video or audio streaming. Cellular, on the other hand, supports connectivity for high value assets in the B2B world that aren’t sensitive to cost due to the nature of the licensed band. LoRaWAN, similar to Wi-Fi and BLE, uses the unlicensed band to span a wider range of network options and provide a highly secure dual encryption model to keep data safe during transfer. As a result, LoRaWAN is the perfect complement to both networking technologies, and its long range and low bandwidth capabilities make it ideally suited for the connectivity of high volumes of small things and LoRa-based sensors.

Device Lifetime: More Than a Battery Issue

Extending the life of one’s IoT devices involves much more than just using the correct battery. Two key factors at play in determining device lifetime are low power usage, more importantly, how efficiently the device is using power, and the device’s ability to be future-proofed over time.

Engineered for Low Power

In an ideal IoT device, data transmission is kept to a minimum to conserve power. LoRa-based devices help accomplish this by being “good listeners,” meaning these devices receive data without expending much power over normal resting levels. LoRa-based devices also “talk only when necessary and think twice,” meaning the power-costly transmission of data is done only when certain pre-programmed thresholds are met. Unlike other sensors that may be transmitting data constantly, a LoRa-based sensor will “think twice” and quickly determine if the input has reached the necessary threshold, and only transmit a data packet when it has to, expending energy in small, infrequent bursts. Upon transmitting a data packet to a gateway, the device will return to sleep mode, where energy use is at its lowest level. Additionally, a LoRa-based sensor does not need to pair with a gateway before sending data, which further reduces energy use and prolongs battery life.