20 / 84
IoT networks that utilize low-power
Bluetooth Low Energy (aka BLE and
previously marketed as Bluetooth Smart)
can be deployed in nearly any physical
space, given its small footprint and
energy-miser architecture—which enable
small wireless sensors and controls to
operate on a battery charge for years.
Those benefits of BLE allow these small
devices to be placed into the nooks
and crannies that were unfeasible with
prior generations of wired and wireless
devices. But until now, in order to get the
data transmitted via BLE out to a cloud
server, all those nooks and crannies
needed to be in very specific geographic
locations where traditional telecom
infrastructure was available in the form
of Wi-Fi connectivity or cell coverage.
In 2017, you would think that telecom
infrastructure is ubiquitous, but the
reality is that there are huge swaths of
the map where telecom connectivity is
minimal or nonexistent. Readers of EP&T
can see that firsthand if they venture
The solution to this geographic
conundrum involves marrying BLE
short-range technology with a
new long-range, ultra-low power
technology that provides the data
relay over very long distances.
LoRa, often referred to as a LPWAN
(Low-Power Wide Area Network),
provides secure, bi-directional data
transfer and communications with
IoT networks over long distances for
years without a battery change. It
can send and receive signals up to
15km, and that distance can extend
to hundreds of kilometers with
additional gateways if needed. By
combining BLE with the ultra-long
range and low-energy capabilities
of LoRa, companies no longer have
to limit their enterprise IoT (EIoT)
deployments to a specific geographic
location, regardless of whether
there are cell towers, utility poles or
underground fiber anywhere on the
horizon.
Going the distance: LoRa
+
BLE makes it possible
for IoT to go nearly anywhere geographically
Jonathan Kaye, Laird
outside the metro areas of major cities
like Toronto and Vancouver. It doesn’t
take long for the bars on your phone to
start shrinking and other connectivity to
disappear as well.
LoRa transfers data,
communications with IoT
networks
IoT has depended on fiber and
cell infrastructure as the conduit
for data that is sent to and from
wireless sensor networks, which
has limited the geographic reach
of IoT as a result. But there is a
great big world out there where IoT
networks could be used for things like
equipment monitoring, environmental
monitoring, scientific measurement,
industrial controls and much more—
if only there were a way to send
and receive data in the absence of
traditional telecom infrastructure (or
as an alternative to expensive cell
charges in remote areas.
20 l New-Tech Magazine Europe