Low-Power Wide-Area Networks for Industrial Sensing Applications

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) allows to interconnect a large number of devices and sensors to improve the operation of industrial installations and processes. Low-power wireless communication capabilities enable battery-powered condition monitoring applications that avoid the cost of wiring. Low-power wide-area networks (LPWANs) are a novel class of wireless communication systems that are tailored for long-range connectivity at low data rates using resource-constrained devices (e.g., battery-powered wireless sensor nodes). LPWAN protocols are designed to operate in unlicensed parts of the radio-frequency spectrum. As the transmission power within these bands is limited by regulations, LPWAN technologies reduce data transfer rates to operate at a higher link budget and thus provide larger communication ranges than short-range wireless protocols (e.g., Bluetooth, WiFi). In this paper, we provide an overview of the different LPWAN protocols and discuss their integration into industrial sensing applications. In the second part of this study, we present the evaluation results of a multi-week industrial condition monitoring case study with a focus on three selected LPWAN technologies: LoRa, IEEE 802.15.4g, and a proprietary narrow-band communication scheme (TI CC1310 long-range mode). Our experimental results have shown that LoRa modulation provides the largest communication range and reliability in our industrial indoor setup followed by the TI CC1310 narrowband communication protocol. However, IEEE 802.15.4g is a viable choice for scenarios where a smaller link budget (and thus smaller range) are required as it consumes about an order of magnitude less energy to send a radio packet compared to the other protocols in our test.