Comparison of NB-IoT technology and LoRa technology

Comparison of NB-IoT technology and LoRa technology

1. Technical aspects

NB-IoT technology has four major advantages:

One: wide coverage, the coverage of NB-IoT is 20 db better than the traditional GSM network, and one base station can provide 10 times the area coverage;

Second : it can support massive connections;

Third : low power consumption, the NB-IoT communication module battery can work independently for ten years;

Fourth : low cost. Compared with LoRa, NB-IoT does not need to rebuild the network, and the radio frequency and antenna are basically multiplexed.

The main technical feature of LoRa is that it can carry out long-distance transmission of 1-20km; the number of nodes can reach tens of thousands or even millions, and a gateway can connect multiple nodes or terminal devices; the data rate range is 0.3~50kbps, which can make the battery life reach 3-10 years; in terms of coordination mechanisms and protocols, for end nodes, the LoRaWAN protocol is simpler than NB-IoT, easier to develop, and has better applicability and compatibility for microprocessors.

2. Licensed spectrum

Since NB-IoT is developed for carrier-grade networks, this huge advantage gives it the technology and foundation to deploy a nationwide wide-coverage network. However, the unlicensed low-power wide-area network represented by LoRa cannot be deployed and operated in carrier-grade networks. From this perspective, NB-IoT products are better than LoRa.

However, in the current information and communication market, in addition to the operator's 5G/4G public network, there are also private networks for a large number of industries such as public security, transportation, and logistics. These private networks can also achieve high-speed communications similar to 5G/4G.

In the future, in addition to the low-power wide area network deployed by operators, similar to the public network in the existing communication field, there will also be a large number of industry or enterprise users building private networks based on their own business needs. And these private networks are the huge market for smart products based on LoRa technology.