LPWAN Antennas are a critical component in Internet of Things(IoT) system which are designed to support the requirements of Low-Power Wide-Area networks at a lower cost and with higher power efficiency than traditional wireless networks.
Note: LPWAN is a classical wireless technology built for :
- Long Range: several kilometers in urban areas, up to 50+ km in rural, line-of-sight
- Low Power: the battery life for IoT devices measured in years, not for days or hours
- Low Cost: for both devices and network connectivity
- Low Data Rate: transmitting small, infrequent packets of date (like sensor readings and status updates)
Common LPWAN Technologies:
- LoRa / LoRaWAN (Unlicensed Spectrum)
- Sigfox (Unlicensed Spectrum)
- NB-IoT (licensed Spectrum based on cellular)
- LTE-M (licensed Spectrum based on cellular)
The Key Characteristics of LPWAN Antennas
1. Frequency Band :
- EU/AS : 868MHz (LoRa, Sigfox), 900MHz (NB-IoT)
- US/CA: 915MHz (LoRa, Sigfox), 700-900MHz (NB-IoT, LTE-M)
- AS: 433MHz, 780MHz
2. Physical Size
3. Polarization
4. Gain:
- Device Antennas: Typically low gain 0-3dBi
- Gateway Antennas: High gain of 3-12dBi
Common Types of LPWAN Antennas
1. For End-Devices (sensors or trackers)
- Whip / Stubby Antenna
- Flexible / Wire / Internal Antenna
- PCB Trace
- Chip / Ceramic
2.For Gateways or Base Station
- Omni-Directional Antenna (Collinear Antenna)
- Sector Antenna
- Directional Antenna (Yagi or Panel)
LPWAN Antenna Applications
LPWAN antennas are generally chosen to extend the battery life of smaller devices, and some batteries can be extended for as long as 10years.
Its major applications include: Smart Metering, Smart Lighting, Asset Monitoring and Tracking, Smart Cities, Precision Agriculture, Livestock Monitoring, Energy Management, Manufacturing, Industrial IoT devices and so on.
MS TELECOM has a wide range of LPWAN antenna solutions, starting from the smallest board embedded antennas or internal antennas which are designed for smaller IoT devices. A wide range of remote antennas or terminal antennas are available which can offer a compact external antenna solution for IoT devices requiring more range.