LoRa vs NB-IoT, What is the difference between the two LPWAN technologies?
The proliferation of interactive data requires the support of corresponding network technologies, and the network technologies applied at this stage are not yet able to meet the needs of long-distance and narrow-bandwidth communication scenarios, in such a context, the Internet of Things was born. The low-power network, as an important technology for IoT, is developing at the fastest pace.
LoRa technology in LoRa vs NB-IoT
In LoRa technology, the protocol has certain uniqueness, which can make corresponding changes according to the customer’s needs in time, and the cost of network deployment is relatively low.
In general, LoRa technology can be used in sites with special requirements, such as enterprises and government agencies, and is flexible and cost-effective. Not only that, LoRa can meet the needs of location tracking amount, power consumption is relatively low and its connection volume is relatively high.
In our cities, there are many highways, and national and provincial roads are also being developed, and in this context, smart roads are emerging.
On the basis of LoRa technology, the idea of a smart road has been developed, using LoRa signal coverage to effectively deal with the many emergencies on the road and alleviate traffic congestion.
(1) Emergency terminals
In the event of a car accident or vehicle problem on the road, the emergency terminal can be installed in the street light pole to send a request for help to the road management cloud platform.
In the road management cloud platform, after receiving the corresponding request, to get 䀐 GIS, you can accurately grasp the location of the incident, and then arrange the appropriate personnel, accurate to the location of the incident, effective handling of traffic accidents.
(2) Mobile APP user side
In the APP client, the user is able to receive the traffic situation information sent by the road management cloud platform, in the road management cloud platform, can send to their own vehicle traffic information of their road section, in the intelligent road, the information provided is more accurate.
(3) Road management cloud platform
For the road cloud platform, the main functions include two aspects, first, receiving requests for help from emergency terminals; second, in the APP client, providing customers with timely feedback on road conditions.
NB-IoT technology in LoRa vs NB-IoT
NB-IoT is established based on cellular technology, and its service quality is relatively high and recognized by many operators.
Due to the designation of international standards, in addition to the implementation of regulatory policies, operators have vigorously promoted Narrowband-IoT technology, which has been widely used in network deployment and has obvious advantages in public networks as well as carrier-grade phase networks.
In the market, after the application of NB-IoT technology, it can meet the scenario of low transmission rate and also the scenario of less time extension, the specific application examples are as follows.
Based on NB-IoT, such smart hydrants can effectively make up for the shortcomings of traditional hydrants, especially in terms of hydrant theft, water leakage, tilting and knocking down, and fault detection.
For NB-IoT technology, the main advantages when applied to smart hydrants are the following.
Status monitoring
Monitoring the status of fire hydrants in all streets of the city, as well as whether the power supply and water pressure are normal and intact; hydrant boiling water monitoring and monitoring of the duration of boiling water; hydrant integrity monitoring (tilting, knocking over).
(1) Abnormal real-time alarm
In the event of an unexpected situation, the system automatically sends an alarm message to notify the relevant personnel to take emergency measures for the location with hidden safety to avoid accidents.
(2) Water theft and leakage monitoring
The hardware solution has a built-in sensor that senses the twisting of the hydrant spindle to obtain the degree of valve opening and closing of the hydrant and to monitor water theft and leakage.
(3) Personnel identification
By integrating RFID identifiers into the embedded motherboard and equipping each maintenance manager with a corresponding IC card, the opening, and closing of the hydrant can be accurately determined as normal maintenance, enabling intelligent management.
(4) Precise map positioning
The system is built on a GIS geographic information system (GIS) platform, which locates hydrant data within the fire protection district on a map, visually displaying the geographical location and status of each hydrant.
LoRa vs NB-IoT, Technical comparison
(1) Operating band and quality of service of LoRa vs NB-IoT
The LoRa technology incorporates linear frequency modulation (FM) technology to ensure low power consumption in the operating band and, to a large extent, to increase the communication distance compared to wireless communication networks in other industries.
For NB-IoT technology, which is mainly based on cellular technology, the authorized frequency band below 1 GHz is used.
Compared to NB-IoT, LoRa technology is more resistant to interference and enables parallel processing of multi-channel data, but it cannot provide the same quality of service as NB-IoT, and more resources are needed to achieve a higher quality of service.
Among NB-IoT technologies, the foundation for quality of service can be laid by authorizing frequency bands and synchronization protocols, while for LoRa technologies, the scenarios in which they are applied cannot demand a high quality of service for this technology. By comparison, NB-IoT is more reliable and can provide high-quality service with a better user experience, and most operators prefer NB-IoT.
(2) Network coverage and cost of LoRa vs NB-IoT
In terms of network coverage, NB-IoT has a much larger coverage area. In suburban areas, the transmission distance can only reach 15 km with LoRa technology, while with NB-IoT technology, the transmission distance can reach 35 km, more than twice the former.
In terms of deployment, LoRa is superior to NB-IoT, and when deploying NB-IoT, the signal strength depends on the 4G/ITE situation, for example, NB-IoT cannot be deployed in rural areas where 4G coverage is not available.
In terms of cost, although NB-IoT has a better quality of service, it can cost a lot of money in terms of band licensing, with a minimum investment capital of US$15,000 in each base station.
For LoRa technology, the quality of service is not high and it can only be used in less demanding scenarios, and in terms of deployment costs, it is much less than NB-IoT.
(3) Battery life and frequency band utilization of LoRa vs NB-IoT
For the IoTaWAN protocol, the communication frequency of the nodes can be reasonably adjusted according to the actual application scenario, effectively reducing the operational energy consumption, both the bee value current and the sleep current are relatively small, effectively extending the battery life.
Development of LoRa vs NB-IoT
After a lot of analysis, it is clear that LoRa and NB-IoT have their own technical characteristics and their market characteristics are also different.
In LoRa vs NB-IoT, the technology is not complete, and according to the current development of IoT, it is clear that the common development of LoRa and NB-IoT is the future development direction, and after the joint application of these two technologies, they can complement each other’s advantages and thus establish a more sound IoT network layer and expand the three-dimensional pattern of the IoT.
To sum up of LoRa vs NB-IoT, in the IoT market, after the application of LoRa and NB-IoT technologies, a new pattern of IoT has been created and the development of various industries has been promoted. For LoRa technology, it can be effectively applied in network deployment, while NB-IoT technology has a higher quality of service and is worth promoting its use in public networks.
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