IoT Anywhere—A Low Power Sensors and Long-Range communication for IoT

A special issue of Electronics (ISSN 2079-9292). This special issue belongs to the section "Networks".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2021) | Viewed by 24524

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Electronics and Telecommunications and Computer Engineering, Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa, 1500-335 Lisbon, Portugal
Interests: mobile computing; mobility models; cybersecurity; internet of things; smart cities; intelligent transportation systems
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Guest Editor
Cisco Internet of Things Connected Group, Cisco Systems, 11, rue Camille Desmoulins, 92782 Issy les Moulineaux CEDEX 9, France
Interests: internet of things; field communications; networking; industrial automation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Guests Editors are inviting submissions to a Special Issue of Electronics on the subject area of “IoT Anywhere—Low-Power Sensors and Long‐Range communication for IoT Applications.” A founding pillar of the IoT concept and the growing market is the availability of low-cost low-power devices with wireless technologies providing both sensing and actuation. In the past decade, the research community has produced proven solutions to build low-power networks. One output of this work is represented by the long-range IoT (LoRa, Sigfox, and NB-IoT) connected devices that provide energy optimization techniques for new device classes that extend the previous device timespans. Low-power wide area networks for the Internet of Things (e.g., LoRa, Sigfox, and NB-IoT) have attracted increasing research interest and efforts recently. Despite their rapidly increase, there are many challenges and unsolved problems in this area regarding real large-scale applications. Machina Research forecasts: 1) The total number of IoT connections will grow from 6 billion in 2015 to 27 billion in 2025, which corresponds to a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 16%; 2) In 2025, 11% of connections will use LPWAN connections, such as Sigfox, LoRa, or NB-IoT; and 3) By 2025, IoT will generate over 2 zettabytes of data but it will account for less than 1% of cellular data traffic. This is a likely scenario with significant scientific and commercial potential.

The MDPI journal Electronics solicits paper submissions to this Special Issue and aims to bring together researchers and application developers working on the intersection of IoT with next-generation low-power sensor development associated with distributed long-range communication, providing IoT applications with real-time, secure, and privacy-preserving computing. We also aim to explore the application of novel IoT computing results, describing and assessing their impact. Research topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

  • Optimization and trade-off analyses of connectivity/scalability versus energy
  • Development of long‐range IoT communication solutions for remote places
  • Development of low-power sensors for a new range of IoT solutions
  • Successful commercial implementation, deployment experiences, case studies, and lessons learned
  • A testing solution of long‐range IoT communication, evaluation, and testbeds
  • Real-time IoT data analysis on the cloud, at the edge, and on the move, including localization, personalization, and contextualization of IoT data
  • IoT security and privacy for IoT devices, also with limited computing resource and connectivity
  • Remote IoT solutions including pollution management, smart farming, and disaster management
  • Protocol design and hardware platform design of reliability, adaptability, and dependability of short- and long-range communication solutions
  • New features for long-range technologies (i.e., over-the-air updates, roaming)
  • Modelling and analysis of low-power short- and long-range communication and radio resource management
  • Regulations and policies for spectrum usage and sharing
  • Applications domains (e.g., smart cities, smart health, smart buildings, smart transportation, building management, etc.)
  • Technology surveys of current market trends

Prof. Dr. Joao Ferreira
Prof. Dr. Nuno Cruz
Dr. Patrick Grossetete
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • IoT
  • LPWAN connections
  • Sigfox
  • LoRa
  • NB-IoT
  • Sensors
  • smart cities

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

31 pages, 1759 KiB  
Article
Survey of IoT for Developing Countries: Performance Analysis of LoRaWAN and Cellular NB-IoT Networks
by Stephen Ugwuanyi, Greig Paul and James Irvine
Electronics 2021, 10(18), 2224; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10182224 - 10 Sep 2021
Cited by 43 | Viewed by 6326
Abstract
Recently, Internet of Things (IoT) deployments have shown their potential for aiding the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Concerns regarding how the IoT can specifically drive SDGs 6, 11 and 9 in developing countries have been raised with respect to the [...] Read more.
Recently, Internet of Things (IoT) deployments have shown their potential for aiding the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Concerns regarding how the IoT can specifically drive SDGs 6, 11 and 9 in developing countries have been raised with respect to the challenges of deploying licensed and unlicensed low-power wide area network (LPWAN) IoT technologies and their opportunities for IoT consumers and service providers. With IoT infrastructure and protocols being ubiquitous and each being proposed for different SDGs, we review and compare the various performance characteristics of LoRaWAN and NB-IoT networks. From the performance analysis of our networks, NB-IoT, one of the standardised promising cellular IoT solutions for developing countries, is more expensive and less energy-efficient than LoRaWAN. Utilising the same user equipment (UE), NB-IoT consumed an excess of 2 mAh of power for joining the network and 1.7 mAh more for a 44-byte uplink message compared to LoRaWAN. However, NB-IoT has the advantage of reliably and securely delivering higher network connection capacity in IoT use cases, leveraging existing cellular infrastructure. With a maximum throughput of 264 bps at 837 ms measured latency, NB-IoT outperformed LoRaWAN and proved robust for machine-type communications. These findings will help IoT consumers and service providers understand the performance differences and deployment challenges of NB-IoT and LoRaWAN and establish new research directions to tackle IoT issues in developing countries. With Nigeria as a case study, for consumers and organisations at a crossroads in their long-term deployment decisions, the proposed LPWAN integrated architecture is an example of the deployment opportunities for consumer and industrial IoT applications in developing countries. Full article
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17 pages, 35705 KiB  
Article
Robust Downlink Mechanism for Industrial Internet of Things Using LoRaWAN Networks
by David Todoli-Ferrandis, Javier Silvestre-Blanes and Víctor Sempere-Payá
Electronics 2021, 10(17), 2122; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10172122 - 31 Aug 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2323
Abstract
The adoption of LoRaWAN as a technology for wireless deployments in many applications, such as smart cities or industry 4.0, still presents challenges such as energy consumption, robustness, or reduced throughput in harsh, noisy scenarios. Class B is a MAC mode that allows [...] Read more.
The adoption of LoRaWAN as a technology for wireless deployments in many applications, such as smart cities or industry 4.0, still presents challenges such as energy consumption, robustness, or reduced throughput in harsh, noisy scenarios. Class B is a MAC mode that allows better performance in downlink traffic but has difficulties regarding scalability and its response to channel interference. This article introduces, via simulation software, the possibility of testing deployments, adding interference sources that model industrial scenarios, and proposes an adaptive data rate (ADR) mechanism to enhance the operation for downlink and class B devices, called DROB (downlink rate optimization for class B) to study the impact of these conditions in a network with detailed event characterization. Full article
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12 pages, 5423 KiB  
Article
Performance Evaluation of LoRa 920 MHz Frequency Band in a Hilly Forested Area
by Bilguunmaa Myagmardulam, Ryu Miura, Fumie Ono, Toshinori Kagawa, Lin Shan, Tadachika Nakayama, Fumihide Kojima and Baasandash Choijil
Electronics 2021, 10(4), 502; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10040502 - 20 Feb 2021
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 4535
Abstract
Long-range (LoRa) wireless communication technology has been widely used in many Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications in industry and academia. Radio wave propagation characteristics in forested areas are important to ensure communication quality in forest IoT applications. In this study, 920 MHz band propagation characteristics [...] Read more.
Long-range (LoRa) wireless communication technology has been widely used in many Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications in industry and academia. Radio wave propagation characteristics in forested areas are important to ensure communication quality in forest IoT applications. In this study, 920 MHz band propagation characteristics in forested areas and tree canopy openness were investigated in the Takakuma experimental forest in Kagoshima, Japan. The aim was to evaluate the performance of the LoRa 920 MHz band with spreading factor (SF12) in a forested hilly area. The received signal strength indicator (RSSI) was measured as a function of the distance between the transmitter antenna and ground station (GS). To illustrate the effect of canopy openness on radio wave propagation, sky view factor (SVF) and a forest canopy height model were considered at each location of a successfully received RSSI. A positive correlation was found between the RSSI and SVF. It was found that between the GS and transmitter antenna, if the canopy height is above 23 m, the signal diffracted and RSSI fell to −120 to −127 dBm, so the presence of the obstacle height should be considered. Further research is needed to clarify the detailed tree density between the transmitter and ground station to propose an optimal propagation model for a forested environment. Full article
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22 pages, 5264 KiB  
Article
Experimental Evaluation of LoRa in Transit Vehicle Tracking Service Based on Intelligent Transportation Systems and IoT
by Felipe Jurado Murillo, Juan Sebastián Quintero Yoshioka, Andrés David Varela López, Ricardo Salazar-Cabrera, Álvaro Pachón de la Cruz and Juan Manuel Madrid Molina
Electronics 2020, 9(11), 1950; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics9111950 - 19 Nov 2020
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2788
Abstract
Long-range (LoRa) technology is a low power wide area network (LPWAN) technology that is currently being used for development of Internet of things (IoT)-based solutions. Transit transport, mainly in medium-sized cities where transit vehicles do not have exclusive lanes, is a service that [...] Read more.
Long-range (LoRa) technology is a low power wide area network (LPWAN) technology that is currently being used for development of Internet of things (IoT)-based solutions. Transit transport, mainly in medium-sized cities where transit vehicles do not have exclusive lanes, is a service that can be improved with a tracking service using technology such as LoRa. Although some proposals exist, there is not enough experimental information to validate the LoRa technology as adequate. This article: (a) evaluates the operation of LoRa technology in a transit vehicle tracking service in a medium-sized city, based on an Intelligent Transportation Systems architecture and IoT; and (b) investigates optimal LoRa technology configuration parameters for the service. Experiments were performed in a semi-controlled environment using LoRa devices and a gateway, by measuring the received packets and the receive signal strength indicator (RSSI) and modifying: (a) distance; (b) number of devices; and (c) the main LoRa transmission parameters. Obtained results show the ideal values of parameters vary considerably with distance and number of devices used. There were very few settings of the experiments in which the RSSI and packet levels were adequate while distance and number of devices were both changed. Full article
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12 pages, 10164 KiB  
Article
Polarization-Insensitive Fractal Metamaterial Surface for Energy Harvesting in IoT Applications
by Sandra Costanzo and Francesca Venneri
Electronics 2020, 9(6), 959; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics9060959 - 9 Jun 2020
Cited by 33 | Viewed by 3903
Abstract
A novel fractal-based metamaterial unit cell, useful for ambient power harvesting, is proposed to operate within the 2.45 GHz Wi-Fi band. The simulated fractal cell offers very high absorption coefficients, a wide-angle and polarization-insensitive behavior, and very small size. A 9 × 9 [...] Read more.
A novel fractal-based metamaterial unit cell, useful for ambient power harvesting, is proposed to operate within the 2.45 GHz Wi-Fi band. The simulated fractal cell offers very high absorption coefficients, a wide-angle and polarization-insensitive behavior, and very small size. A 9 × 9 fractal-based metamaterial harvester is designed and simulated, by demonstrating a very high harvesting efficiency equal to 96.5% at 2.45 GHz. The proposed metamaterial configuration could be very appealing for the implementation of high efficiencies and compact harvesting systems for wireless sensor network applications. Full article
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19 pages, 2290 KiB  
Article
SDN Controller Placement and Switch Assignment for Low Power IoT
by Kostas Choumas, Dimitris Giatsios, Paris Flegkas and Thanasis Korakis
Electronics 2020, 9(2), 325; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics9020325 - 13 Feb 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3126
Abstract
Software defined networking (SDN) complements low power Internet of Things (IoT), since the former offers dynamicity and the latter is susceptible to environmental changes. The SDN controller placement refers to the selection of the IoT sensors running the controllers, while the switch assignment [...] Read more.
Software defined networking (SDN) complements low power Internet of Things (IoT), since the former offers dynamicity and the latter is susceptible to environmental changes. The SDN controller placement refers to the selection of the IoT sensors running the controllers, while the switch assignment is the process of mapping each sensor to a controller. Both choices affect the volume of the control traffic, a significant metric in low power wireless IoT networks where bandwidth is scarce or energy consumption is important. In this paper, we model an optimization problem for minimum control traffic, assess its complexity and devise a set of heuristic algorithms for expediting its solution. We initially present a fast and simple heuristic algorithm, which is then extended to two iterative algorithms with even better performance at the cost of time complexity. Our simulations and testbed experimentation reveal close to optimal performance of all heuristic solutions with significantly less computation time than explicitly solving the optimization problem. At the end, we provide insights for further enhancements of these heuristics with a bias for minimum control delay. Full article
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