LoRaWAN is the break-away leader in the licence-exempt Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) connectivity market. In recent months there have been a number of interesting developments in the space which might influence the growth trajectory of the technology.
In this report we examine multiple aspects of the LoRaWAN ecosystem that have evolved significantly recently or are set to develop in the near future. These include developments in the technical standards underpinning LoRaWAN including application-specific developments and initiatives to enhance coverage (for instance, by using satellite connectivity), and a review of market traction and evolving commercial dynamics. We also review other ecosystem news including the exit of Cisco from the gateways market, the use of 2.4GHz spectrum for LoRa, and regulatory pressure on licence-exempt spectrum resources.
LoRa is a physical proprietary radio communications technique, owned by the US company Semtech and operating in licence-exempt spectrum. Meanwhile, LoRaWAN is a communications protocol and system architecture that is an official ITU standard. In many cases (and particularly in China) LoRa chipsets may support communications protocols and/or architectures other than LoRaWAN, including potentially customised forks of LoRaWAN standards. Amazon’s Sidewalk is one notable such fork of LoRaWAN, using LoRa chipsets but a software stack that differs from LoRaWAN in terms of security management.
This report focusses predominantly on LoRaWAN, since this is the protocol and architecture that underpins the dominant LoRa ecosystem, which was established to drive sales of LoRa chipsets. The development of the LoRaWAN standard is managed by the LoRa Alliance, an open, non-profit, member-driven organisation.
