LoRa Alliance highlights growth & innovation in 2023 report

The LoRa Alliance, a global association of companies backing the open LoRaWAN standard for Internet of Things (IoT) low-power wide-area networks (LPWANs), has released its 2023 Annual Report. The report underlines the LoRa Alliance's achievements throughout the year while providing updates on LoRaWAN deployments, technology, and certification advancements.

The report identified key trends, including robust global deployment growth for LoRaWAN across multiple vertical markets such as smart buildings, utilities, cities, agriculture, and industry. There is a continued diversification in the Alliance's collaborative ecosystem, facilitating the execution of end-to-end IoT solutions. Another highlight was that deployment is yielding strong returns on investment (ROI), accelerating the decision-making processes for new users and projects.

Smart cities are progressively insisting on LoRaWAN-certified end devices in their RFPs. Also, LoRaWAN has taken a commanding position in Industry 5.0 due to its ability to fulfil sustainability, efficiency, and quality-of-life requirements. The benefits and ROI of deployments increase exponentially when end users team up with system integrators and solution providers.

LoRaWAN also leads in the burgeoning satellite-based LPWAN communications market, with multiple member companies providing networking via satellite, in turn expanding deployments in this sector. The Alliance has responded proactively to the emerging workforce demands of IoT through its LoRaWAN Accredited Professional programme, giving end-users confidence to select their vendors.

Donna Moore, CEO and Chairwoman of the LoRa Alliance commented, "In 2023, key end markets such as cities, buildings, and utilities widely embraced LoRaWAN and the ROI it provides, leading to large-scale deployments that sparked further innovation in use cases. Confidence in LoRaWAN was further reinforced through our Accredited Professional programme."

Robin Duke-Woolley, CEO and Chief Analyst at Beecham Research, noted, "We continued to see strong growth globally in IoT deployments in 2023, with LoRaWAN clearly established as the market leader in LPWANs... With its established and active ecosystem...and expansive features, including connectivity via satellite, we expect LoRaWAN will see strong growth again in 2024 as the IoT continues to mature."

Additional highlights from the 2023 report include the validation of LoRaWAN for smart metering by IEC and CEN standards, which build on the prior adoptions of the OMS Group and DLMS-UA. Two Technical Recommendations were released to improve and augment LoRaWAN functionality. Pre-testing of firmware updates over the air (FUOTA) and relay specifications using the LoRaWAN Certification Test Tool (LCTT) were also enabled, along with new reporting features. Furthermore, an extensive study by Beecham Research on networking technologies for smart cities, buildings and utilities has been conducted, releasing two useful reports.

In the coming months, the LoRaWAN community will gather once again at the LoRaWAN Live event in Munich, Germany, scheduled for June 19-20, 2024. The event will be public and will focus on markets and in-depth success stories from around the globe.