The LoRa Alliance has trumpeted growth in the Asia Pacific region, ahead of its bi-annual meetup in Tokyo in October. It claimed “millions of sensors” have been added in the region in the first half of 2023 on the backs of “large projects” in China, Japan, Korea, and India. It highlighted deployments by Tata Communications in the Middle East (300,000 end nodes) and India (250,000) and by advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) provider Leotek in South Korea (250,000 sensors), plus a number of others variously in sub-50,000 volumes, as examples.
The alliance, comprising IoT-vendor champions of LoRaWAN (and increasingly other IoT technologies, alongside) for low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) solutions, said: “The continued evolution of LoRaWAN networks is increasing accessibility [and] further accelerating growth.” Its Tokyo-date (October 11-12) reflects growing interest in LoRaWAN in the region; in China, in particular, LoRaWAN has fallen some way behind cellular-based LPWAN solutions, based mostly on NB-IoT – as a consequence of government initiatives via big operator firms.
The LoRa Alliance said support for the technology in the wider region has been strong, and getting stronger; it is considered an option, as elsewhere, for battery-powered water and gas metering, management, and leak detection, plus for environmental monitoring and for street lighting and related public safety applications. It might be noted, although not made overly-important, that Sigfox-owner Unabiz, newly-part of the alliance, has had some success in Japan, via a long-time tie-up with KDDI-owned Soracom and a headline deal with Japanese gas utility NICIGAS.
Donna Moore, chief executive and chair of the LoRa Alliance, commented: “The Asia Pacific region has consistently been at the leading edge of LoRaWAN deployments, and the trend has been accelerating through the first half of 2023. As digital transformation accelerates and demand increases for more effective, efficient and environmentally sustainable solutions to protect the planet and people’s wellbeing, LoRa Alliance members have engaged in numerous deployments in the region to support a wide variety of applications.”
For reference, the alliance has listed the below deployments to underline LoRaWAN’s credentials in the Asia Pacific region. The following text is lifted directly from its press statement on the matter. Links are retained where they go directly to further explain the deployments; all overt marketing-fluff has been scrubbed from the descriptions.
– Tata Communications has scaled two significant deployments; the first enables a connected worker solution covering more than 250,000 end nodes to monitor health, safety and productivity across large manufacturing organizations in segments like metals and mining, oil and gas, automotive, [and] pharmaceuticals; the second harnesses LoRaWAN for smart lighting automation solutions for more than 300,000 end nodes across India and the Middle East to manage streetlight infrastructure across large geographies.
– Packetworx and Actility are deploying a nationwide public LoRaWAN network in the Philippines with over 6,000 gateways.
– Semtech is a partner in a water metering deployment of 250,000 sensors in Korea. Leotek Company supplies advanced water metering infrastructure services to major local governments in Korea using SJI LoRaWAN modules.
– Milesight has completed multiple deployments across China, with approximately 50,000 LoRaWAN devices deployed. Projects include: [a] lighting control system upgrade to improve management efficiency of the site campus and reduce power consumption; digital transformation including lighting control, device control, energy and environment management, and space management, with the help of a smart building using LoRaWAN to enhance working efficiency and productivity; and sustainable and productive building management with LoRaWAN smart bin sensors and water leak detectors, improving operational efficiency, ensuring customer satisfaction, and integrating legacy systems.
– iWOW Technology [has] installed a network of over 400 TEKTELIC LoRaWAN gateways to service over 25,000 sensors for smart metering and emergency response services.
– IoT Ventures is deploying more than 8,000 sensors to support its LoRaWAN end-to-end solutions, including the Water2Milk Water Infrastructure and Pasture Growth irrigation solution, HorseSafe horse wellness solution and GrainSure silo monitoring solution.
– Lacuna Space and IoT Ventures [are deploying] a water monitoring system to track the availability of clean drinking water captured and stored in tanks within remote communities in the South Pacific. The early warning system avoids the need for infrastructure by messaging direct from sensor to satellite, allowing authorities to take action before the situation becomes critical.
– One of the largest subway companies in Japan [has] introduced Yokogawa Electric Corporation‘s Sushi Sensors to monitor hundreds of ventilators and air conditioning equipment units located in its stations and tunnels. The company plans to install Sushi Sensor on all its subway lines’ ventilators and air conditioning equipment.
– SenRa [has] collaborated with a large building management system (BMS) company in India to optimize and expand its LoRaWAN deployment covering a 65-acre site and leveraging more than 250 sensors in the initial phases of the project to support water metering and management, leak detection and remote monitoring. Phases planned for later this year are slated to expand into street lighting, energy metering and parking solutions adding thousands of sensors.
– Kiwi Technology has launched two significant IoT FOT deployments; the first supports LNG gas metering and leverages a third-party network control unit that uses LoRaWAN with Class B to connect and monitor gas meters in real-time and potentially reduce gas leaks. The current Taiwan LPG deployment follows a similar project in Japan that went online in late 2022 and the second harnesses LoRaWAN for smart temperature management solutions across food retail and cold chain, as well as medical logistics to manage food and pharma safety to meet HACCP/GMP regulations.
– Semtech [has] supported Aeon Delight in equipping 90 administrative facilities in Japan with solar panel-driven LoRaWAN sensors commercialized by Ricoh to measure temperature, humidity, CO2 levels and light remotely, reducing both labor and running costs.
