Academy for LoRaWAN®

The Internet of Things has become important in how we manage the world around us. Short-range wireless IoT solutions, such as connecting your smartphone to your car, generally rely on a Bluetooth connection. Other solutions, such as Smart Home devices that can manage your thermostat, alarm, and entertainment systems, may rely on Wi-Fi. Longer-range solutions, such as asset tracking or monitoring utility usage, often rely on low power wide area networks such as LoRaWAN.

In all of these cases, for the devices to work, they need to be able to exchange data via the cloud. However, there are many challenges when it comes to getting data to and from the cloud. Connectivity is one challenge: what do you do if your devices are located somewhere that doesn’t have cellular or Wi-Fi coverage, such as inside some buildings, in remote areas, or while in transit from one location to another?

Another challenge is power consumption. You need to consider what kind of data you want to send and receive. Cellular and Wi-Fi solutions allow you to exchange fairly large data packets quickly, but they also require a considerable amount of power, which leads to shorter battery life.

When it comes to industrial and agricultural IoT solutions, it can be very expensive to install and maintain Wi-Fi hardware on premise, and the recurring monthly operational expenses of Cellular solutions are also quite high.

With a LoRaWAN solution, however, you can choose to contract with a LoRaWAN network provider or you can build your own scalable network that includes data and security features—without contracts or third-party restrictions.