Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1423232
Report Title: Wi-Fi & LoRaWAN ® deployment synergies Issue Date: September 2019 Version: 1.0. final version 33 LoRa Alliance & Wireless Broadband Alliance Confidential & Proprietary Copyright © 2019 Most use cases require use of hybrid LoRaWAN ® / Wi-Fi and sometimes Bluetooth and GPS location methods, making such trackers sophisticated multi-radio devices. LoRaWAN ® / Wi-Fi is the core location method, as the ubiquity of Wi-Fi makes this location method as accurate as GPS in most urban environments, and available indoor. Tests of Abeeway, the company manufacturing Orange "C'est ici" multi-technology tracker shows that in over 95% of cases, Wi-Fi geolocation is better than GPS in urban environment: not only the accuracy is similar, but also power consumption for each fix is much lower. Low-Power GPS techniques have also been developed [25], but they are relevant only for outdoor country geolocation where Wi-Fi is not present. In urban areas, the combination of LoRaWAN ® and Wi- Fi is ideal: large shared bike/scooter projects selected it as it is both low-cost and low power. Wi-Fi chips and modules are in massive volume and very cheap. Cheaper and easier to integrate than GPS. Also, the power consumption of using Wi-Fi as just a receiver to find APs is less than GPS. The bidirectional nature of LoRaWAN ® is key to the performance of multi-technology trackers, as the control system can dynamically adjust the preferred technology in use depending on use case and location. For example, rely on periodic low power, low-resolution methods such as LoRaWAN ® Time- based network triangulation (TDoA) most of the time, and then based on geo fencing or on-demand require high-accuracy fix. Indoor geolocation is a much-segmented market with many niche applications; however the LoRaWAN ® / Wi-Fi and LoRaWAN ® / Wi-Fi / Bluetooth combination addresses most use cases when an accuracy of 5 to 10 meters is sufficient - Tata Communications is deploying employee safety solutions for workers who are at the risk of exposure to hazardous areas by combining these technologies. Wi-Fi itself, with recent fingerprinting techniques, such as developed e.g. by HERE technologies, has around 10m of accuracy, depending on Wi-Fi deployment density. Often this is sufficient for most of the indoor areas, with occasional requirements for higher accuracy tracking, or rather check pointing, is specific areas such as work positions. The latter requirement is fulfilled by dedicated deployment of Bluetooth beacons in such checkpoint places. Overall, the combination remains ultra-low power and serves the vast majority of use cases. Large factories use this technology for smart-employee badges, which also beep or vibrate when entering hazardous areas, and in case of emergency allow rescue teams to monitor evacuation. Hybrid LoRaWan ® / Wi-Fi provides both indoor and outdoor tracking as well as the possibility for transitioning between indoor / outdoor with only two radios. This is a unique value proposition that meets the needs of large construction projects, industrial manufacturing, campus' and mining. 9 Network Roll-out 9.1 Deployment models Network strategy: a game changing opportunity Network deployment strategies have been widely documented based on the experience of operators. The emergence of Low Power Wide Areas technologies has game changed the roll-out options as follows: • Diversity: shift from a cell topology (1 frame received by only 1 gateway) to a macro diversity topology (same frame received by several gateways).