Authored by Dr David Pugh, technology analyst at IDTechEx, the report considers the emerging market for low power networks communicating on unlicensed spectrum. It warns that this could be threatened by the emergency of new cellular standard of communication, using existing infrastructure to roll out a global IoT network in a very short amount of time.

Emerging low power wide area networks (LPWANs) are being deployed worldwide, using both licensed and unlicensed spectrum to connect devices to the internet.

The report covers both the well-established wireless personal area networks (WPAN) in the ‘smart home’ and wearable space, as well as LPWAN technologies, both using unlicensed and licensed spectrum. There is analysis of the difference between each network type, and of real world uses and case studies.

Areas covered include the smart home, with intelligent building networks to make homes and offices more efficient, smart city, primarily street lighting and environmental monitoring, asset tracking, where GPS is popular but with high power requirements, and agriculture, where technology is used to monitor crops, water usage, environmental conditions and other aspects for uniformity and good yields.

The report offers a detailed overview of all these areas as well as 10-year forecasts on deployment, hardware and subscription market values. This report is of use to individuals across the value chain seeking to gain value from low power wireless networks and understand the potential and limitations of such technologies, says IDTechEx.