LPWAN & Smart Water Metering

The purpose of this article is to share an understanding of new wireless technologies that are opening new opportunities for smart water metering. It will also give an overview of these technologies and how they compare to one another in terms of technical capabilities and business models.

What is LPWAN?

Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) is a category of wireless communication technologies. In the past few years new LPWAN technologies have emerged to fill a gap in the market where there is a need to send small messages over long distances with low power consumption and low cost. Many of these technologies cater to use cases beyond just water metering. This addresses the rapidly growing requirements of the Internet of Things (IoT)which is the concept of enabling internet connectivity for a wide range of ‘things’ from smart water meters to parking sensors, weather stations, GPS trackers, and countless other objects. The purpose of IoT is to deliver additional value from physical devices and objects through data collection, analytics, machine learning, and driving insights into usage behaviours. Smart water metering is a perfect example of IoT where it enables new labour, economic, and sustainability efficiencies.

Similar to other forms of wireless networks, LPWANs consist of devices with compatible radio modules to send and receive messages, radio receivers similar to those of mobile phone networks although often much more compact, and server infrastructure to manage and distribute data.

Unlike 3G, 4G, and WiFi which are designed to carry large volumes of data such as audio and video with great speed, LPWAN technologies cater to the efficient wireless delivery of relatively small packets of data such as meter readings and other sensor measurements.

All wireless technologies must strike a balance between 3 parameters:

1) Range and penetration: how far coverage extends and how well it penetrate through walls and underground pits

2) Power consumption: how much energy is required to send messages

3) Data-rate: the speed that data can be transferred and therefor the size of the messages which can be sent

LPWAN technologies achieve long range, signal penetration, and low power consumption but offer only relatively low data-rates. Cost is of course another factor and LPWANs address this through lower connectivity pricing and simpler, lower cost radio components than other wireless technologies.

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