Says the relays are suitable for use by utilities, smart cities and in industrial applications
The LoRa Alliance has expanded the LoRaWAN link-layer standard, adding a relay specification. The Alliance is a global association of companies that backs the open LoraWAN standard for IoT low-power wide-area networks (LPWANs),
The new specification is for relays that are battery-operated, easy to deploy and expand network coverage “at a fraction of the cost of additional gateways”. Being battery operated means the relays don’t need access to a power supply.
This extends LoRaWAN’s usefulness in environments such as deep indoors or underground, or to relay data on satellites connected by LoRaWAN devices.
Relay is suitable for any application monitoring static assets in challenging environments, such as for example, for meters inside metal cabinets. The Alliance thinks it should boost take up by utilities as well as in smart cities and buildings, and for industrial IoT.
Donna Moore, CEO and Chairwoman of the LoRa Alliance said, “The new relay feature is a direct response to market needs and provides an essential building block to enable massive IoT.”
The LoRaWAN TS011-1.0.0 LoRaWAN Relay Specification document describes the relaying mechanism used to transport LoRaWAN frames bi-directionally between an end-device and gateway/network server via a battery-operated node.
By enabling relay, the device can transfer LoRaWAN frames between an end-device and network when there is insufficient coverage from the gateway.
One of the first markets to adopt relay is metering in the utilities sector. VDC Research estimates that worldwide LPWAN communication services revenue will reach $2.47 billion by 2025.
Join the LoRa Alliance webinar about the new relay on October 4 at 7am US PDT, click here for information or to register.