Low-Power Wide-Area Networks

Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWANs) have become an important enabler for the Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity. Application domains like smart cities smart agriculture intelligent logistics and transportation require communication technologies that combine long transmission ranges and energy efficiency. Recent and future trends make Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) and Narrowband-IoT (NB-IoT) the most prospective drivers of the IoT business. In this paper after discussing the main features of the two technologies we carry out a fair quantitative comparison between the two investigating different performance indicators in order to guide designers in the selection of the most appropriate technology depending on the application requirements.