A Comparative Survey of LPWA Networking

TL;DR

This survey compares various LPWA networking standards, highlighting their suitability for scalable, long-range IoT deployments and providing a systematic framework for use case evaluation.

Contribution

It offers a comprehensive classification and comparison of existing LPWA technologies, including cellular and proprietary solutions, to guide future IoT network development.

Findings

LPWA standards vary significantly in range and power consumption

Cellular LPWA options are emerging as viable alternatives

Proprietary solutions still dominate certain application niches

Abstract

Motivated by the increasing variance of suggested Internet of Things (IoT) applications and the lack of suitability of current wireless technologies in scalable, long range deployments, a number of diverging Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) technologies have been developed. These technologies promise to enable a scalable high range network on cheap low power devices, facilitating the development of a ubiquitous IoT. This paper provides a definition of this new LPWA paradigm, presents a systematic approach to defined suitable use cases, and undertakes a detailed comparison of current LPWA standards, including the primary technologies, upcoming cellular options, and remaining proprietary solutions.