NINE LORAWAN

Surprises for IoT

Solution Providers

An RPMA Simplicity Series White Paper

I N TR O DUCT ION
LPWA connectivity addresses a
significant need in the marketplace
The low-power wide-area (LPWA) market has been validated by several diverse and significant
players such as Sigfox with their fundraising, LoRa, by the number of partners participating in its
ecosystem, and the amount of eort the cellular standards bodies are spending attempting to
play catch-up so they may someday oer LPWA solutions of their own. These things provide
ample evidence that LPWA connectivity is addressing a significant hole in the marketplace.

As an Internet of Things solution provider, you want to use wireless technology to solve your
customers problems. You have an idea that will solve the pain points that other businesses,
citizens, parents, pet owners, and consumers feel. We at Ingenu are very excited to be a part of
your solution development journey and strive to provide feature-rich wireless connectivity while
maintaining extremely long battery life and robust connectivity. Ingenu has invested 400
person-years and tested its RPMA (Random Phase Multiple Access) with real-world customers to
develop it into the powerful low-power, wide-area wireless technology it is today. A wireless
technology meeting your development needs doesnt happen by accident; it takes real
technology research and development and feedback from customers during that process to get
the right solution.

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REAL T EC HNOLOGY D OES TH E H A RD WOR K
TO S I MPLIF Y LIFE

Internet of Things (IoT) devices are no dierent than any simplicity for you. Your wireless protocol should do
other connected devices in the following regard: you these things for you so that you can focus on your users
need the right advanced technology to meet the need experience. Failure to solve these issues interferes with
at hand. Technology development builds on advances your ability to address the pain points of your
in basic tools and scientific understanding and applies customers.
those to real-world problems.
You need the right technology
As an example, advancing silicon technology
to meet the need at hand
contributed to increasing Wi-Fi speeds by a factor of
7,000 since the 1990s and evolved from brick voice-only In this white paper series, we will look at the major
mobile phones into your current iPhone or Android LPWA technologies and see how they square against
smartphone. Real technology must also undergird the the test of true simplicity. In this white paper, we assess
success of your application, and all the applications marketing claims around LoRa, more specifically the
that make up the IoT. LoRaWAN, and those using it, and square them against
the reality of the technology being oered. For brevity
Real technology does the hard work to simplify life. In
we will refer to LoRa throughout, but with the
terms of your IoT app, real technology does the hard
understanding that we are considering the LoRaWAN
work to simplify your app development. It clarifies and
MAC which is what is being used by the vast majority of
homes in on the essential. The point of technology
LoRa users. Included in this white paper are quotes
development is that it takes a lot of work up front to get
taken directly from a third-party report done by ABI
right, but saves countless hours of work and toil for
Research, Best Fit Use Cases for LPWANs, which is
others moving forward. You know if an LPWA
available for download here. In the other white papers,
technology (or any technology for that matter) has
we will do the same for each of the major LPWA
done the hard work if it solves your problems and
approaches (Sigfox, LoRa, Cellular LPWA, and RPMA).
creates value. More specifically, you can judge an LPWA
technology by whether it solves basic wireless protocol
problems like security, two-way message
acknowledgement, or long battery life. That is true
 SURPRISE 1: SENDING MESSAGES FROM A TO B

To begin our assessment, lets assume your app needs
to send a message that is 32 bytes. This sentence is
about 32 bytes. Lets go ahead and try to send that
message using a LoRaWAN transceiver.
Before sending your message, you should understand
and be able to address a few interrelated factors:
Factor one means that you also need to monitor just
how much data your device has used, on the device,
because downlink is so meager. If you dont monitor it,
you run the real risk of running over your 1%.
Factor three combined with factor two means you are
completely responsible for developing a fragmentation
scheme that doesnt exceed the maximum payloads.

1. You, the solution provider, are responsible for
assuring your app does not exceed the 1% duty
cycle limitations.
2. You dont know when your device will use what data
rate under the LoRaWAN adaptive data rate
3. The LoRaWAN does not provide a scheme for
fragmenting and defragmenting payloads that
exceed the maximum payload size of the spec
So, if you need to send a message of any size with LoRa,
get ready to do a lot of stitching together and finagling to
make sure it gets through and does so without violating
regulations.
RPMA is a fully baked carrier-grade solution that has 400
person-years of development and years of customer
feedback from real-world deployments. RPMA is no
mass-scale wireless experiment, its proven, its real and
its here.

These factors come together when you, as a solution Sending a message from A to B with RPMA is simple, just
provider, must work out exactly how you want to send send it.
your devices messages. Factor two means that you can
only safely assume that the maximum payload at the
lowest data rate is available to you at any time. In the
US, the maximum payload size you can safely send is 11
bytes; in the EU it is 51 bytes.

Both the SIGFOX technology and LoRa technologies are restricted to a

1% duty cycle that makes any downlink very time consuming for large
payloads.
-ABI Report
The user is left with the complexity of designing a fragmentation
scheme for payloads other than the 11 bytes supported in the
LoRaWAN, and designing and implementing industry standard
authentication.

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 SURPRISE 2: BATTERY LIFE

One of the defining features of low-power, wide-area (LPWA) wireless technologies, of which LoRa is
considered one, is the ability for connected devices to last a very long time on a battery. As a solution
provider, this is probably one of the main reasons you are considering LoRa.

Battery life is one of those beasts that requires a lot of thought, R&D and deployment in the field for
accurate assessment. LoRa claims its adaptive data rate helps it achieve longer battery life. The problem is
that LoRa closes its adaptive data rate loop far too infrequently, from some accounts, once a day. That is
an eternity in the world of radio waves. Once devices are in the field, it will become apparent that the
touted adaptive data rates that in theory lead to longer battery life, will not work to minimize battery life.

In fact, the Things Networkan open source LoRa based network that uses the same LoRaWAN found in
operator-run networksgives a much more realistic assessment of LoRas battery life:

Can last months (hopefully years) [sic] on a battery. TTN,

https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/wiki/LoRaWAN/Limitations

Theres no need to guess how long your battery can last. Battery life depends on how much data a device
uses and other factors, and our top-notch engineers have the tools to make that assessment simple for
solution providers. RPMA has customers with devices in the field with 20+ years of battery life.

With RPMA, you simply get superior battery life.

The net result is that power consumption characterization is

something that can only be done within the framework of the actual
use case after the system is deployed in real-world scenarios.

- ABI Report
SURPRISE 3: MOBILIT Y

The ability to transmit while a device is mobile is a key RPMA adjusts its data rate on every single transaction
capability for many verticals and use cases. A key to match the channel conditions right then. That is
aspect of supporting mobility is consistent reliable how RPMA robustly supports mobile applications. With
delivery. Reliable delivery means that the data will be RPMA, mobility is simple - just keep moving, and
successfully received as the temporary channel outage sending messages.
resolves. By contrast, lack of reliable delivery means
that the data is simply lost during these temporary
outages. Low data rate approaches (like LoRa, Sigfox,
and RPMA) experience certain temporary outages from
a combination of speed and changing channel
conditions as the device moves. If these havent been
addressed in the technology, then these outages
destroy the link. Thats exactly what has happened
with LoRa.

Another key aspect is the ability to accurately adapt the

data rate. The optimal data rate is the maximum that
the channel can support which minimizes these
temporary outages. A link that does not have a
mechanism to accurately determine what the optimal
data rate should be (like LoRa) will rarely be able to
transmit data at all in a mobile channel. As stated
before, LoRa only adjusts the data rate once a day
which in the world of radio waves is an eternity. Its like
adjusting your clothing for the weather once a decade;
you may serendipitously get it right, but more often
than not, youll be way o. Channel conditions change
all the time. Mobility, even traveling at 1 MPH,
drastically changes the channel conditions. And, the
LoRaWAN spec assumes fixed devices, so mobility
support was never even intended in the first place.

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SURPRISE 4: GLOBAL AVAIL ABILIT Y

As a solution provider, you want to be able to solve real problems - problems that make a dierence, while also
keeping your company profitable. Often, these problems, and thus your solutions, are not specific to your own
country. You would love to be able to sell your solutions to anyone who has interest in buying themthats good
business. So, what does LoRa technology do to make that simple for you?

Sell Your App in a Global Market

LoRa uses a sub-1GHz band commonly known as the 900 MHz band, though many of the bands are well outside of
the 900 MHz frequency band. In Europe, LoRa uses the 868 MHz frequency, but in the United States it uses the 915
MHz band. Japan, Korea and others use the 315 and 426 MHz bands, China and others use the 500 and 780 MHz
bands, with much of Africa using the 433 MHz band, and South America being a patchwork of various frequencies in
the range from 868 to 915 MHz. In other words, its a pretty big mess.

To launch a global application youll need to design, test, certify, manage and maintain applications and their SKUs
for each of these regions. Also, many regions of the world do not even have available sub-GHz spectrum. Thats not
the smoothest road to reaching a global marketplace.

SPECTRUM FRAGMENTATION
LEADS TO MANY SKUS
TECHNOLOGY
LORAWAN

868MHz
915MHz 315/426MHz

500/780MHz

HIGHLY
915MHz
FRACTURED 433MHz

*
With RPMA, one SKU works everywhere. As an example, KONARs pressure sensor working in the Dominican
Republic is the same exact SKU that saved Shell Oil $1M in Nigeria. Because RPMA uses the 2.4 GHz band which is
available over the entire world, there is no regionalizing your products.
Want a single app thatll work anywhere in the world? With RPMA its simple, just build one.
How does LoRa simplify your path to a global marketplace? It tries, but falls far short. Even with roaming agreements
in place, a device in one region cant be used in another region. The hardware has to be there. If you try to attack that
with multiple modules, youve just doubled the cost and drastically decreased your battery life. Not to mention,
youll need to program your app to handle the hando. Thats certainly not a simple path to a global market. As the
map shows, there are at least five dierent regions to reach a global market. We say at least because South America
is fraught with irregular regulations.

With the ability to have one RPMA module work in any country around the world, its simple, just ship it.

1 SKU WORKS EVERYWHERE

2.4GHz
Universally
Available Spectrum

To achieve long range, some LPWA technologies have adopted the

sub 1 GHz bands. These bands are highly fragmented, with typically
the frequencies between 902 to 928 MHz, referred to as the 915 MHz
band oered in North America and Australia. The 433 MHz and 868
MHz bands are oered in Europe and Australia and 780 MHz in
Asia....This leads to region-specific hardware.

-ABI Report

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S URP RISE 5: UNC LE AR CA RRI ER COMMI TMEN T

Most of the carriers deploying LoRa are not overly concerned about these scalability issues because they tend to be
committed to the NB-IoT/LTE-M roadmap.

At the end of the day, I dont know how many years LoRa will have before a
regular network will take over.
With NB-IoT we will learn from the work we did with LoRa.
- Luc Bretones, VP at Orange
In other words, most carriers deploying LoRa as a public network are only doing it as a stopgap to remain relevant in
the LPWA market, not as a technology that they will remain committed to in the longer term. With the cellular
standards coming out in a few years, carriers need a way to stay relevant to the IoT, and LoRa provides that stop-gap.

As the same article continues:

LoRa is effectively a stop-gap as ETSI gets to grips with standardising cellular

technology in the form of NB-IoT
LoRa is just 2G all over again, except at least this time some carriers are willing to come right out and say it.

Ingenu is completely dedicated to the IoT. Weve partnered with companies like Microsoft, u-blox, Arrow Electronics,
and others to bring decades of robust IoT connectivity.

With RPMA, long-term plans are simple, just use it.

S URP RISE 6: DE ALING WI TH COV ER AG E A N D
S CAL ABILIT Y ISSUE S

Fundamentally, the LoRa waveform has adequate capacity for a Local Area Network (LAN), but will have challenges
supporting a successful Wide Area Network (WAN). Also, there are significant problems around the selectivity of the
LoRa waveform that can cause poor interactions between public and private LoRa networks. Any roaming
agreements are really a simple cover-up for the fact that these networks have zero selectivity. In other words, your
private network transmissions will be picked up and can interfere with public LoRaWAN networksand vice
versano matter what you do.

Limited Scalability
Capacity on a network can be exhausted either by adding devices to your own network, or by someone nearby
putting up their own private network. Regardless of roaming agreements or not, your network will suer capacity
losses. And, to make matters worse, LoRa did not design in transmit power control and thus cannot add base
stations as meager capacity is exhausted. This has been verified by multiple studies and by simple users of public
networks like the Things Network.

In a successful LPWAN, if the original capacity is exceeded, additional

base stations must be deployed to scale up the capacity. Transmit
power control is the feature that allows for end points better covered
by additional infrastructure to connect to the added base station and
not continue to load capacity on the original base station. This feature
is very similar to the 3GPP LPWA protocols and allows RPMA to easily
scale up.
-ABI Report

RPMA takes care of all of these issues with transmit power control, extremely nimble adaptive data rates, and other
innovations. With RPMA, coverage and scalability are simple, just connect.

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S URP RISE 7: IOT SEC U R I T Y

Security is much more than merely encryption. For a fuller description on what goes into providing industry-grade
security for the IoT, download our white paper, Security for the IoT.
Authentication is what lets your app know that its connecting to the real network leveraging the concept of a digital
signature, and lets the network know the connecting app is legitimate, and allows the app to know that the network
is legitimate.
LoRaWANs actual security capabilities are a bit hidden in the specification. The LoRaWAN uses the AES128 method
for a session key, but only uses a 32-bit signature or Message Integrity Check (or MIC as shown in the below image).
Its like having a lock that has eight pins but only using two of those pins to match your key. Who cares what the lock
is capable of if you only use of its abilities.

All frames contain a 32-bit cryptographic Message Integrity Check (MIC)

signature computed using the AES algorithm with a 127-bit secret key, the
Network Session Key. Each end-device has its own Network Session Key
only known by the end-device and the network server.
TECHNOLOGY

ENCRYPTED
LORAWAN

HEADER MIC
PAYLOAD

NETWORK AES128
SESSION KEY SIGNATURE
So, if you want to have your 32-byte message authenticated on the Machine Network (Ingenus RPMA powered
public wireless network) its simple, just send it.
Weve already built-in the industry standard 128-bit authentication into all the messages. We dont mess around
when it comes to security.

LoRa implements authentication using 32-bit keys.

That is better than Sigfoxs 16-bit digital signature,
but is far less than the industry accepted 128-bit
authentication.

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S URP RISE 8: FIRMWA RE UP G RA D ES

Firmware upgrades allow solution providers to future-proof their devices. With firmware upgrades, you can improve
your hardware after it leaves the shop. But, often overlooked is the ability to send security updates to adjust for
hackers who may have found exploits. Without firmware upgrades, you and your customers are stuck and vulnerable.
LoRa does not support over-the-air firmware upgrades. The reason is simple, they have virtually no downlink, no
fragmentation scheme, and no built-in multicast scheme. This means any device you build will have to stay exactly
how it is when it ships. A bit discomforting, eh?
TECHNOLOGY
LORAWAN

RPMA not only oers over-the-air firmware upgrades, but they are downloaded in the
background. That means your device will be able to operate as normal, keeping your
users data flowing and your users happy.
With RPMA, upgrades are simple, just send them.
S URP RISE 9: BU ILT-IN LOCATI ON SUP P ORT?

According to the actual LoRa wide-area network deployment organization, Things Network, the GPS location support
is more wishful thinking than location support. They are pretty straightforward about that in their LoRaWAN no list:

Geolocation / Triangulation - use GPS or wait a couple of years until LoRaWAN can do it
In other words, if you were hoping for built-in geolocation with LoRa, youll be disappointed. Using a GPS receiver on
LoRa is really the way to go. Geolocation with RPMA also utilizes a GPS receiver, and with our superior battery life,
you can track assets longer. With RPMA, geolocation is simple, use GPS.

However, given that signals will be received from multipath

reflections as well as the direct path, this type of geolocation may
not be as accurate as GPS-based systems
-ABI Report

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 CONC LUSION

Real technology makes the task of putting together end-to-end solutions simpler. In this white paper we
discussed some surprises about the LoRaWAN and how those surprises complicate solution providers goals.
Surprise one revealed that all of the work of sending messages over the LoRa protocol is left to the developer,
including meeting 1% duty cycle limitations and fragmenting and defragmenting messages. With RPMA,
sending messages is simple as we take care of all of the fragmentation and other hard work a messaging proto-
col is supposed to; just send them. The second surprise was just how poorly substantiated LoRas battery life
claims are. For years, RPMA has proven the longevity of its device battery life with real-world customer deploy-
ments. Surprise number three is, LoRa doesnt adjust to channel conditionswhich change even at 1 MPH
well enough to support mobility. RPMA adjusts to channel conditions for each message it sends, and that is
how we support mobility as well as long battery life. In Surprise four, LoRa suers from the same fragmented
spectrum that Sigfox does, with more than five SKUs required to achieve anything close to a global presence.
With RPMA, all you need is one radio to reach the entire global market. The fifth surprise shouldnt be too
surprising, as carrier representatives have stated [they] dont know how many years LoRa will have before a
regular network will take over. RPMA only partners with companies that consider the devices first. As made
clear in surprise six, LoRa is not designed as a scalable wide-area network. With no ability to reduce the power
at which LoRa devices transmit, these devices will be heard by all nearby gateways, which means adding more
gateways doesnt necessarily add capacity. RPMA has transmit power control built right in, so we can add
capacity indefinitely. One tidbit that often gets overlookedand is surprise number sevenis the fact that
LoRa only uses a 32-bit MIC in their authentication scheme, which is well below industry standard 128-bit
authentication. In addition to 128-bit authentication, RPMA oers six security guarantees to provide
cellular-grade security for every application on the network. Need to update your LoRa device firmware? Want
to make a security patch on your LoRa device? Well, surprise number eight says you cant. With RPMA,
over-the-air firmware upgrades are simple, and take place in the background. The final surprise, number nine,
is that the built-in location support from LoRa is severely lacking, indicating that applications should just use
GPS. RPMA has taken care of the details; making solution development simple for our partners.

Contact us to learn more >> info@ingenu.com

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