Evaluation of energy consumption of LPWAN technologies
EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking volume 2023, Article number: 118 (2023 ) Cite this article
The majority of IoT implementations demand sensor nodes to run reliably for an extended time. Furthermore, the radio settings can endure a high data rate transmission while optimizing the energy-efficiency. The LoRa/LoRaWAN is one of the primary low-power wide area network (LPWAN) technologies that has highly enticed much concentration. The energy limits is a significant issue in wireless sensor networks since battery lifetime that supplies sensor nodes have a restricted amount of energy and neither expendable nor rechargeable in most cases. A common hypothesis is that the energy consumed by sensors in sleep mode is negligible. With this hypothesis, the usual approach is to consider subsets of nodes that reach all the iterative targets. These subsets also called coverage sets, are then put in the active mode, considering the others are in the low-power or sleep mode. In this paper, we address this question by proposing an energy consumption model based on LoRa and LoRaWAN, which optimizes the energy consumption of the sensor node for different tasks for a period of time. Our energy consumption model assumes the following, the processing unit is in on-state along the working sequence which enhances the MCU unit by constructing it in low-power modes through most of the activity cycle, a constant time duration, and the radio module sends a packet of data at a specified transmission power level. The proposed analytical approach permits considering the consumed power of every sensor node element where the numerical results show that the scenario in which the sensor node transfers data to the gateway then receives an acknowledgment RX2 without receiving RX1 consumes the most energy; furthermore, it can be used to analyze different LoRaWAN modes to determine the most desirable sensor node design to reach its energy autonomy where the numerical results detail the impact of scenario, spreading factor, and bandwidth on power consumption.
The term Internet of Things (IoT), being an umbrella indication, covers a wide area of applications. The conversion from conventional wired infrastructure to wireless connection has enabled further devices, applications, and services to interact with each other. IoT assures the integration of smart objects, sensors, internet protocols, and wireless technologies, to distribute data and interact through specified protocols [1]. The Internet of Things (IoT) will extend the reach of the internet from only computers and smartphones to encompass other aspects of our environment, i.e., home automation, digitized health, smart parking, smart farming, smart grids, industrial internet, process controlling, etc. [2]. IoT key characteristics involve the capability of smart objects to collect data comprehensively, send the required data in a secure mechanism, and create intelligent post-processing on the accumulated data [3]. The fast-growing electronics, RF technologies, networking, and the development in computational power have made internet-empowering technologies more affordable, and continue to do so. The employment of radio-frequency identification (RFID), quick response (QR) codes, and wireless technology are determined by their short-range and high-throughput. Furthermore, the cellular networks 2G, 3G, and 4G are long-ranged and have a high throughput, forming approaches to facilitate the interaction among humans, people to devices, and devices to devices [4]. Machine-type communications (MTC) is a model that empowers devices to transfer information autonomously and execute transactions without human interference. MTC technologies can connect devices to virtually everything within a single network. These devices merge in a smart grid, business, energy sector, and smart houses [5, 6]. Sensor nodes enable the IoT paradigm by the transformation of wireless connectivity in a natural and harsh environment. Thus, nodes that need to function among various technologies should feature large-scale network infrastructure with low power consumption. These restrictions promote the introduction of the low power wide area network (LPWAN). The LPWAN technologies presented in Fig. 1, show a radical communication that assures the long-range with low power consumption and low-cost deployment [7]. It is mainly intended for applications that expect few messages per day to be transmitted in a wide radio range. In that regard, SigFox, LoRaWAN, and NB-IoT are the most popular technologies [8]. Energy consumption represents an essential role in IoT, particularly for battery-powered devices installed in remote or unattainable areas where a lifetime of 10+ years is coveted. Each task of the consumed power needs to be carefully developed, and the design choices significantly influence the lifetime of the products. These design choices and trade-offs will be the subjects of investigation in this paper.
