LoRaWAN gains traction for in-building & campus

Adtran LoRaWAN 230

LoRa (Long Range) networks are optimized for low power, low-cost connections for the Internet of Things. The initial deployments were regional for applications like meter reading and pipe management. It works, but the takeup has been far less than hoped.

Adtran sees a better market serving individual buildings or campuses. It has just introduced the very small 7310-08 LoRaWAN IoT Gateway that can be mounted on a wall and powered over Ethernet. It can be managed by an iPhone using Bluetooth.

It should be able to transmit throughout most of a building, where 5G might need several units. The price hasn't been released, but it should be a heckuva lot less than 5G.

(Irrelevancy. The name comes from Harald Bluetooth, a king of Denmark in the 10th century. Some engineers have a sense of humor.)  

LoRaWan uses 900 MHz spectrum, free to use in many countries. The speed is only 0.3 kbps to 50 kbps, enough for even battery-operated devices to occasionally phone home. The protocol is optimized for, yes, long range. At low baud rates, it can be highly reliable.

There's a 60-minute video Everything you need to know about LoRaWAN if you want an introduction to the technology.

ADTRAN Streamlines Enterprise IoT Evolution with New LoRaWAN Gateway

 
 
 
Micro-sized, 8-Channel solution seamlessly supports Smart Building applications

HUNTSVILLE, -(April 20, 2021)— ADTRAN®, Inc., (NASDAQ: ADTN), a leading provider of innovative business and residential connectivity solutions, today announced its Internet of Things (IoT) Gateway based on LoRaWAN® technology. This micro-sized, Bluetooth®-enabled gateway will enable LoRaWAN network operators, service providers, VARs and solution integrators to easily add support for growing enterprise IoT initiatives to their service portfolios and generate new revenue opportunities.

Businesses are developing IoT strategies to increase visibility into operations and ultimately reach new efficiencies in productivity and costs. Perfect for Smart Building applications, the enterprise can create more intelligent processes for a broad range of activities, including asset tracking, equipment monitoring, lighting controls, room occupancies, biometrics, motion sensing and contact tracing. The ADTRAN 7310-08 LoRaWAN IoT Gateway makes it easy to support the massive amount of sensors deployed in an enterprise IoT environment and connect them to a private or public cloud network. ADTRAN makes set up simple, too—this gateway is the latest of ADTRAN’s products featuring Bluetooth-enabled configuration. Simply use the Apple® iOS-based Bluetooth® App, and you can log in to the device to securely access the system stats, Ethernet configuration and the LoRa Radio and sub-band status.

“The number of businesses realizing the value that IoT initiatives can deliver is growing exponentially year over year. Looking forward, we forecast the global installed base of IoT devices across automotive and transportation, commercial and industrial electronics, consumer and medical to exceed 30 billion by 2030,” said Joshua Builta, Director, Internet of Things at Omdia. “Critical to this market growth are solutions that make it easy for service providers to support the requirements of IoT networks. That means solutions must be scalable, small in size, affordable, require small amounts of power, and also work seamlessly with other IoT technology.”

This ADTRAN 7310-08 LoRaWAN IoT Gateway model is an indoor solution with a small, inconspicuous design that can easily be mounted on a wall or ceiling. The gateway can be powered via PoE, eliminating the need for installing a power outlet. ADTRAN’s LoRaWAN IoT Gateway was developed to work seamlessly with the broader elements within the LoRaWAN ecosystem, like other gateways and sensors.

“We are committed to helping our customers build their best network and create new opportunities for revenue. For many, that means leveraging the capacity we helped them create in the access network to expand service portfolios with IoT solutions,” said Keith Atwell, Head of Global Business Development at ADTRAN. “This latest gateway in our IoT portfolio makes it extremely easy to deploy a long-range LoRaWAN overlay network. This provides an affordable connectivity option and creates a simple path to support an almost endless amount of revenue-generating IoT applications.”

For more information, please visit adtran.com/IoT-Gateways.