Low Power Wide Area Networks: A Survey of Enabling Technologies, Applications and Interoperability Needs

Low-power wide area (LPWA) technologies are strongly recommended as the underlying

networks for Internet of Things (IoT) applications. They offer attractive features, including wide-range

coverage, long battery life, and low data rates. This paper reviews the current trends in this technology,

with an emphasis on the services it provides and the challenges it faces. The industrial paradigms for LPWA

implementation are presented. Compared with other work in the field, this paper focuses on the need for

integration among different LPWA technologies and recommends the appropriate LPWA solutions for a

wide range of IoT application and service use cases. Opportunities created by these technologies in the

market are also analyzed. The latest research efforts to investigate and improve the operation of LPWA

networks are also compared and classified to enable researchers to quickly get up to speed on the current

status of this technology. Finally, challenges facing LPWA are identified and directions for future research

are recommended.