Where will the development momentum of LPWAN come from in the next five years?

So where will this new impetus come from? Before answering this question, we must first understand the current bottleneck in the development of LPWAN applications.

First of all, unlike the high-speed mobile networks we are familiar with, the fragmented nature of the LPWAN application market is quite significant. According to Transforma Insights' forecast, by 2030, more than half of LPWAN connections will come from industry vertical applications, of which 29% will come from the consumer market and 20.5% will be cross-vertical industry applications. This decentralization of target applications also means that the network form of LPWAN will be diverse. In addition to public networks, private networks and dedicated networks will also be a major deployment and operation model for LPWAN. Transforma Insights' research data shows that by 2030, 54% of unlicensed spectrum LPWAN devices will be connected through private networks; and it is worth noting that NB-IoT and other licensed spectrum LPWANs based on public networks are also actively trying to incorporate private network models, or trying to connect private networks to public networks.

This trend also means that in the LPWAN field, it is impossible to use only one network to meet all user needs. The correct approach should be to customize its network deployment and operation plan according to the actual needs of terminal applications. However, considering the actual situation, compared with the network deployment and operation model that people are accustomed to, this approach is obviously both laborious and costly.

Figure 3: LPWAN industry application distribution map in 2030 (Data source: Transforma Insights)

Secondly, fragmented applications also mean the diversification of terminal devices. In addition to some typical LPWAN application scenarios that people can imagine in the early stages of development, more innovative application cases will continue to emerge, such as requiring network terminals to support multi-module LPWAN communication technology, support wireless wide area network and local area network communications at the same time, or support geographic information functions such as GPS. A single technical architecture obviously cannot meet such needs, so a more integrated application development platform is needed to support it.

How to break through the development bottleneck?

The LPWAN ecosystem industry has become increasingly aware of the challenges brought about by market fragmentation. Therefore, explorations around this are being carried out in full swing, and there are many innovative solutions and models for reference.

For example, in terms of application development platforms that support multiple standards and multiple scenarios, Avnet recently launched the AVT9152 module that supports LTE-M/NB-IoT, Bluetooth 5.2 and GPS. Based on Nordic Semiconductor, the module integrates the nRF9160 low-power SiP components of the LTE-M/NB-IoT modem and GPS, as well as the nRF52840 Bluetooth 5.2/BLE advanced multi-protocol SoC. In a package of only 26mm x 28mm, it can provide a variety of functions including cellular LPWAN, 2.4GHz-based multi-protocol radio (including Bluetooth 5, ANT™, Thread, Zigbee, IEEE 802.15.4 and unique 2.4GHz RF protocol), and satellite positioning. In the fields of medical-related contact tracking, logistics and asset tracking, vending machines, self-service terminal equipment, medical equipment, and smart building automation, it can become a highly flexible and scalable technology platform. Based on the AVT9152 module, Avnet also launched the AVT9152 evaluation kit, providing developers with a complete device connection to the cloud platform, thereby helping customers shorten time to market and providing assistance in realizing innovative LPWAN applications.