LoRa for IoT
http://www.epanorama.net/newepa/2017/03/24/lora-for-iot/

Sigfox for IoT
http://www.epanorama.net/newepa/2017/03/13/sigfox-for-iot/

Semtech SX1276 LoRa™ mbed™ Enabled Shields combine the Semtech SX1276 Low Power Long Range Transceiver with the ARM mbed™ Internet of Things (IoT) Device Platform. These tools give developers source code to enable RF tests, simple point-to-point communication, and device compatibility. The mbed shields plug into mbed microcontroller development platforms from STMicroelectronics, NXP, and others.

The SX1276MB1LAS is designed around the ISM frequency bands 433MHz and 915MHz for use in North America. The SX1276MB1MAS is designed around ISM frequency bands 433MHz and 868MHz for use in Europe and China. The connections are identical on each board so that the same software and hardware can be used with either.

Features

Semtech SX1276 LoRa Transceiver
10Mbps SPI bus controlled
Pin-to-pin compatibility
Works with various mbed microcontroller development platforms
433MHz/915MHz (SX1276MB1LAS)
433MHz 868MHz (SX1276MB1MAS)

LoRa is a wireless communication technology developed to create the low-power, wide-area networks (LPWANs) required for machine-to-machine (M2M) and Internet of Things (IoT) applications.

Key features of LoRa technology:

Long range: >15 km / 9 mi range
Low-power: 5-10 year expected battery lifetime
Low-cost: from end-node sensor cost to upfront infrastructure investment
Secure: with embedded end-to-end AES-128 encryption of data
Geolocation: enables indoor/outdoor tracking without GPS

LoRaWAN™ is a global LPWAN specification created by the LoRa Alliance™ to drive a single standard for seamless interoperability across the industry. LoRa technology is ideally suited for the applications

Digita is planning to build a nationwide Internet of Things (IoT) enabling Lora network during the autumn of 2016. The company’s existing antenna mast allows coverage to be achieved quickly.

The entire Finnish comprehensive IoT network can be used, for example, a wide range of building automation solutions and an intelligent traffic. Digita’s estimated that in 2023 in Finland could already be measured and directed the daily life more convenient for almost 20 million IoT sensor.

“For example, VVO Group takes care of its inhabitants living comfort and health of the buildings in such a way that, on the basis of network-mediated data, housing conditions can be adjusted automatically,” says Digita Chief Operating Officer Markus Hautala Lower IoT network access.

Company searches IoT deployments of new growth area alongside existing operations.

Source: http://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2016/10/05/digita-rakentaa-koko-suomen-kattavan-lora-anturiverkon/

Asked about advantages of M1 and NB1, IHS’ Lucero said, “3GPP global ecosystem supply and support, rapidly expanding global coverage footprint, connectivity using secure, licensed spectrum.”

Lucero summarized the prospects for proprietary low-Power Wide-Area (LPWA) vendors: “LoRa is immediately available for private network implementation (though Huawei has a solution coming to market for this using NB1 in unlicensed spectrum), for some specific applications. Sigfox may provide the absolute lowest power consumption/longest battery life.”

ABI’s Shey believes the biggest challenge for cellular network operators is what to charge for a LTE Cat M1 or NB1 connections. “The Ingenu’s, SigFox’s and other proprietary LPWA vendors overall have a very low network cost structure — basically only focused on thing connections — so can charge very low rates for a connection,” he argued.

Source: http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1330407&page_number=3