5G 和 LoRaWAN 服务物联网

There is little doubt that 5G will play a major role in our society’s future. As a veteran of the telecommunications industry who has developed generations of hardware and software, I have a deep appreciation for what 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is doing with 5G, and am excited to see how it will change lives in the years to come.

5G offers a significant advancement over 4G technology, from the air interface to the core network. The result is a sophisticated and complex communication system. To help organize the capabilities, 5G has been broken into three main use cases: Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Ultra-reliable and Low-latency Communications (uRLLC) and Massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC), or Massive IoT. As you can see from the diagram below, there are a broad set of technological capabilities being addressed, from low latency to high bandwidth and massive capacity. Photo Credit: International Telecommunications Union

 As you can see from the diagram, one of the advantages of 5G is its incredible versatility in providing value into many industry verticals. After the spectrum auctions are complete, networks are deployed and devices are available. The number of customer applications supported by this will be enormous.

但能支持各种各样的复杂用例，也意味着5G 对某些用例来说“大材小用”，反而变成了次优解。对那些用例而言“正好合适”的技术于是应运而生。现在已经可以在市面上看到这样的技术。以我的拙见，3GPP 对其低功耗广域网 (LPWAN) 技术做了太多妥协，令 NB-IoT 和 LTE-M 看起来像是简化版 LTE。全球 LPWAN 市场正好利用了 3GPP 的这一缺陷，于是开放式 LoRaWAN® 协议对许多应用而言成了事实上的解决方案。展望未来，我预见 5G 可以在一定程度上缩小技术差距，但像 LoRaWAN 这样高度专业化的网络技术永远会有一席之地。

得益于由 LoRa Alliance® 管理的开放标准和蓬勃发展的全球生态系统，LoRaWAN 同样具备 5G 的一些优势。与 5G 不同的是，LoRaWAN 是一种相对简单的网络协议，它从一开始就被设计用于各种不同用例。LoRaWAN 的典型用例是应用于一些以电池供电的器件，这些器件需要以 15 分钟到一个小时的间隔传输几个字节的数据，且在没有电线的情况下能在现场持续使用 10 年以上。LoRaWAN 的通信距离可轻松达到 10 千米以上，远超 Bluetooth®、Wi-Fi、毫米波 5G。它不适合需要流式传输视频或语音呼叫的应用，对超低延迟应用而言也非最佳选择。LoRaWAN 更适合特定用途，它能经济高效地完成指定任务。

LoRaWAN 服务于一个定义明确的技术用例，可用于许多应用。最典型的应用包括水表、燃气表计和智能停车，其中器件必须由电池供电、低成本，并可以在现场使用 10 年以上。在建筑物内使用 Semtech 的 LoRa® 器件和无线射频技术（LoRa 技术）也有许多优势，可监测泄漏、入住、舒适度等所有方面。相比安装有线器件或使用无法覆盖更长距离和实现低功耗的无线技术，在建筑物内安装低成本的电池供电器件要便宜得多。5G 将面临 4G 用户正在面对的信号传播挑战，这影响着 5G 信号穿透建筑物等实体结构的能力。随着 5G 迈向更高的频率，这些问题将更加恶化。

Of course, 5G will serve an enormous number of applications but it will not be the best fit for every IoT use case. Particularly, the LPWAN sector will demand a solution with an extremely low total cost of ownership (TCO) for many business cases to be feasible. Several factors will affect the total cost of ownership equation beyond the obvious monthly connectivity fees and device cost. Provisioning, installation and maintenance fees will all play a major factor in the TCO. The difference between two and seven years of battery life could easily make or break the business model due to extra maintenance fees. Depending on the application, sometimes 5G will be the best fit and sometimes LoRaWAN.

归根结底，在 5G 得到更广泛部署和器件硬件上市之前，我们只能推测 5G 和 LoRaWAN 之间的差距会有多大。对于 LoRaWAN 可提供有效支持的许多应用，市场无需等待。基于 LoRa 的器件和基于 LoRaWAN 的网络现已出现，并且这种经过验证的成熟技术已在全球进行了无数次部署。根据我的经验，客户期望一个可行且符合其预算的解决方案。他们想要智能停车，而不是 5G 智能停车。他们想知道建筑是否存在泄漏情况，而不是用 5G 传感器去检测泄漏情况。LoRaWAN 很有效地支持这些应用，现在已经上市，并将在未来许多年与 5G 很好地共存。

 LoRa Alliance™ member eleven-x has deployed Canada’s first and only coast-to-coast LoRaWAN-based network for IoT. Learn more about their innovative networks, solutions and partners on the eleven-x website.

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