LoRa and Sigfox, which can provide long-distance transmission and low power consumption, have become popular application technologies with the rapid rise of Internet of Things applications in cities, allowing the realization of batch deployment of applications such as asset tracking, supply chain, agriculture, smart cities, intelligent buildings, smart homes, and smart metering. This article will introduce the development of LoRa and Sigfox technologies, and the solutions introduced by MuRata.
Choose the most suitable technology according to the characteristics of the requirements
It is required to have a long transmission distance and low operating power consumption in order to match the abilities of devices operated by batteries in a wide range of internet of things applications. Therefore, LPWAN (Low Power Wide Area Network) came into being. Currently, the most focused on technologies regarding LPWAN are LoRa and Sigfox, which have their own advantages. The owners can choose the most suitable communication technology in accordance with different fields and use requirements.
In terms of types, LoRa is like a small private network domain, with a transmission distance as far as 20 kilometers. You may set up your own base station with higher freedom as long as you master the technology. The transmission distance of Sigfox can reach 50 kilometers, which can meet the needs of large-scale Internet of Things applications. The device has long battery life, low device cost, low connection cost, high network capacity, and long range.
However, to achieve the goal of low power consumption, LoRa and Sigfox have limited daily transmission times, and the transmission time in a day is very short, which is suitable for fields without real-time communication requirements, such as sensors with daily fixed return data, which can measure specific environmental data such as temperature and humidity, PM2.5, etc, and form a large-area Internet of Things application through long-distance and few transmission modes.
LoRa and Sigfox have the characteristics of long distance and low power consumption just like the technical characteristics of LPWAN, which can prolong the battery life and form a wide range of information transmission. Both of them use the unlicensed Sub-1GHz ISM frequency band and do not need to pay extra licensing fees. In addition, due to the breakthrough of electronic chip manufacturing technology, the hardware manufacturing costs of these two technologies are constantly decreasing.
LoRaWAN is optimized for battery life and low cost
LoRa is the abbreviation of "Long Range", which is a physical layer (PHY), which can realize ultra-long distance communication, and has optimized energy efficiency and reliable signals. The wide area network composed of LoRa technology is called LoRaWAN, which is one of the main technologies of LPWAN, and LoRaWAN is the foundation of the LoRa Alliance. LoRa and LoRaWAN are becoming more and more popular in several European countries, and the popularity of LoRa in other parts of the world (such as the United States and Asia-Pacific region) is also on the rise.
LoRa PHY and LoRaWAN protocols are optimized for battery life and low cost of terminal devices. They can support GPS-free and low-power tracking applications, reduce costs by relying on infrastructure investment, operating expenses, and terminal node sensors, improve global interoperability through standardization, accelerate the adoption and launch of LoRaWAN-based networks and IoT applications, and are specially designed for low power consumption. The battery life can be extended to 20 years. A single base station can provide deep penetration in dense urban/indoor areas and connect to rural areas up to 30 miles long. End-to-end AES128 encryption can be embedded to improve communication security and support millions of messages per base station. It is very suitable for public network operators serving many customers. In addition, LoRaWAN is a network standard jointly promoted by various industry alliances, which provides open technology, so that individual applications can be developed as long as the key contents are obtained.
Sigfox realizes the deployment of a global Internet of Things network
Unlike LoRa's openness, Sigfox is a technology developed by a French company with the same name, which has mastered the operation and deployment of the core network and intends to deploy the network base around the world as an independent operator. Meanwhile, Sigfox has been able to use linkable domains and devices in 45 countries at the same time. Sigfox provides a cheap, reliable, and low-power solution to connect sensors and devices. The Sigfox protocol focuses on the hardware used in devices on the network, and Sigfox optimizes every step to make it as cost-effective as possible.
Sigfox is a global Internet of Things network, which aims to achieve cost-effectiveness, energy efficiency, and remote area coverage. It connects billions of objects around the world to the Internet, and the data will be stored in the cloud. Because of its low cost and easy configuration, Sigfox can be used as an auxiliary solution for any other type of network (such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPRS, etc). Sigfox is a public network, and the devices rely on the infrastructure deployed by local Sigfox operators to communicate.
In addition to its connection services, Sigfox also provides location services for all devices equipped with a Sigfox certification module without GPS, and can upgrade specific hardware or update software without upgrading. The so-called Sigfox Atlas service is suitable for cases that do not require measurement accuracy, for example, tracking moving items through a complex supply chain.
Cost-effective small size LPWAN wireless module
To meet the market demand, MuRata joined the LoRa Alliance™ and cooperated with STMicroelectronics and Semtech to design an economical and efficient wireless module with a small size which can support various sensors and remote wireless fidelity. The Type ABZ (part number is CMWX1ZZABZ) module introduced by MuRata has been pre-certified by the radio regulatory authorities, and can run in the 868 and 915 MHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) spectrum in most geographical areas of the world, and provides well-verified hardware and software for developers on the LoRa platform.
CMWX1ZZABZ-078
Type ABZ is a new, compact, low-cost, and low-power LPWAN wireless module, which supports LoRaWAN or Sigfox remote wireless fidelity. The new independent module is only 12.5 x 11.6 x 1.76 mm in size, and is packaged with a metal shield, including a Semtech SX1276 ultra-long-range spread spectrum wireless transceiver and STMicro STM32L0 series ARM Cortex-M0+ 32-bit microcontroller (MCU). It has a powerful integrated TCXO with low drift thermal characteristics, which can provide an accurate clock source for RF transceivers.
The Type ABZ module communicates through a UART, SPI, or I2C peripheral interface. An ADC and up to 18 GPIO provide enough flexibility for connecting sensors, switches, and status LEDs. The module is powered by a 2.2-3.6 VDC power supply, and its normal output power is +14 dBm. However, PA boost function can be selected to increase the RF output to +20 dBm, which can be used in remote applications or where an end-device is located in a place with a poor indoor signal. The MCU includes 192 kB flash memory and 20 kB RAM, and has enough memory to embed client applications and host other modulation stacks.
B-L072Z-LRWAN1
In addition, the Type ABZ module can embed (as an option) "Trusted Objects TO-Protect", which is a security software library of the general MCU, which can provide enhanced security for LoRaWAN. IoT application developers can easily evaluate solutions using the evaluation kit B-L072Z-LRWAN1 equipped with this small module. Typical applications of this module include smart metering, wearable devices, tracking, M2M, and IoT edge nodes. The module can work in the temperature range of -40℃ to +85℃, and can adapt to various temperatures.
Conclusion
The application of internet of things has moved from smart home to smart city, truly realizing the internet of things world with all things connected. For devices with long distance, low power consumption and battery operation, LPWAN will be the best solution, and the LoRaWAN or Sigfox protocols can be selected according to application requirements. The Type ABZ module developed by MuRata can meet various requirements of LPWAN applications and will be the best choice for developers of related application products.
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