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Both NB-IoT and LoRa technologies belong to LPWAN (low-powerWide-AreaNetwork, low-power wide area network), that is, wide area network communication technology.

LoRa technical features:

1. Low power consumption: more than two years of battery life

2. High capacity: tens of thousands of connections (according to business model)

3. Low cost: the communication module is less than 5 yuan

4. High penetration: +20db, penetrate several floors of basement

5. Wide coverage: 3-5 meters communication distance

 

NB-IoT has four major technical characteristics:

1. Narrow spectrum: 200kHz; the terminal transmits a narrowband signal, which improves the power spectral density of the signal, improves the coverage gain of the signal, and improves the efficiency of spectrum utilization;

2. Wide coverage. It has the ability to support massive connections. Compared with other short-range IoT protocols, NB-IOT can connect more devices and improve the density of the number of devices per unit area;
3. Lower power consumption. NB-IoT sacrifices speed in exchange for lower power consumption. The simplified protocol and more suitable design greatly improve the standby time of the terminal. For some NB terminals, the standby time can reach 10 years.

4. Lower module cost. The cost of communication modules is very low, and each module is expected to be within 5 US dollars or even lower, which is conducive to large-scale purchase and use.

 

Commonalities and Differences:

1. Technical aspects

NB-IoT technology has four major advantages: first, wide coverage, NB-IoT coverage is 20 db better than traditional GSM network, and a base station can provide 10 times the area coverage; second, it can support massive connections; third, low power consumption , the NB-IoT communication module battery can work independently for ten years; the fourth is low cost. Compared with LoRa, NB-IoT does not need to rebuild the network, and the radio frequency and antenna are basically reused.

The main technical feature of LoRa is that it can carry out long-distance transmission of 1-20km; the number of nodes can reach 10,000 or even millions, and a gateway can connect multiple nodes or terminal devices; the data rate range is 0.3~50kbps, which can make the battery life reach 3-10 years; In terms of coordination mechanism and protocol, for terminal nodes, LoRa protocol is simpler, easier to develop and more suitable and compatible for microprocessors than NB-IoT.

2. Frequency band, quality of service and cost

LoRa works in the unlicensed frequency band below 1GHz, so there is no additional charge for application. NB-IoT and cellular communications use licensed frequency bands below 1GHz. The frequency band between 500MHz and 1GHz, the frequency band between 500MHz and 1GHz is the optimal choice for long-distance communication, because the actual size and efficiency of the antenna are quite advantageous.

LoRa uses free unlicensed frequency bands and is an asynchronous communication protocol, which is the best choice for battery power and low cost.

3. Battery Life and Downlink Latency

(1) LoRa nodes are born for low cost and long battery life, and there are certain deficiencies in frequency band utilization. LoRa is an asynchronous ALOHA-based protocol, which means that nodes can sleep longer or shorter according to the needs of specific application scenarios; in NB-IoT, this synchronization becomes less but still occurs regularly, so that additional The battery power is consumed.

(2) NB-IoT can provide fast data transmission rates for applications that require a large amount of data throughput, while LoRa's Class B periodically (by programming) wakes up the terminal to receive downlink messages and shortens the delay of downlink communication.

4. Network coverage and deployment schedule

The essential requirement of node work is network coverage. The entire industrial chain of lora is relatively mature. One of the outstanding advantages of the industrial chain is that members of each link have autonomy, while the industrial chain of nb-iot will be affected by frequency bands, operators etc. restrictions.

5. Equipment costs, network costs and hybrid models

For end nodes, lora is simpler, easier to develop and more suitable and compatible with microprocessors than nb-iot. The modulation mechanism and protocol of nb-iot are more complicated, which requires more complicated circuits and more cost.

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Examples of NB-IoT Applicable Scenarios

(1) Shared bicycles: Wide distribution, small unit density, suitable for using the operator network; 

(2) Smart meter reading: The owner does not have high acquisition frequency, does not have high requirements for network availability, and does not want to consider self-built base stations;

(3) Monitoring of stagnant water/pipe network: wide distribution and small unit density;

(4) Universal wearable series: terminals are distributed throughout the urban area, suitable for the use of operator networks;

(5) Intelligent parking: The change of the magnetic field is sensed by the geomagnetism to judge the vehicle entering and leaving the parking space. The uplink and downlink wireless links adopt the NB-IoT standard, and are connected with OneNET to support the application of the parking platform of the 5G Lianchuang Laboratory.

 

Examples of applicable scenarios of LoRa

(1) Intelligent meter reading: The owner has high requirements on the collection frequency and needs to do data analysis, and has high requirements on network availability;

(2) Road parking detector: the collection frequency is high, and there are certain requirements for the terminal life;

(3) Wild suburbs, such as mining, mining, suburban heavy industry, etc.;

(4) Regional centralized type: users in universities, general education, and parks want to build private networks to manage their own facilities and applications.