Semtech has taken great strides to help solution developers realize the potential for LoRa® devices in the smart home space. With the launch of its LoRa Smart Home™ transceiver earlier this year, Semtech is making it easier for developers to leverage the benefits of long range, low power and low cost end devices based on LoRa for the consumer market.

This is the third blog in an ongoing series about LoRa® devices and the LoRaWAN® protocol, and its capabilities to transform next-generation networking applications built on 5G. This blog series follows Semtech’s “5G Fact vs. Fiction, and How LoRaWAN Plays a Role” webinar, featuring Charter Communications, MultiTech and Orange, and moderated by Beecham Research, and addresses some of the pressing topics offered by the audience during the webinar’s Q&A. Read the introduction to the new series in part one, and explore large scale LoRaWAN networks in part two, featuring MultiTech.

In part three below, Ronan Le Bras, Head of Technology Strategy at Orange, and Rémi Lorrain, Director of LoRaWAN Networks for Semtech, discuss Cellular devices, network management, regional deployment differences, and roaming/satellite communication.

Helium’s LoRaWAN® network infrastructure has grown to over 1,000 cities in North America, including Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Miami, and Austin. The world’s first peer-to-peer wireless network based on Semtech’s LoRa® devices and the LoRaWAN protocol is also expanding throughout Europe.

Semtech recently announced the availability of two new Internet of Things (IoT) kits designed to accelerate the development of smarter, more efficient solutions for Enterprises and Systems Integrators. The Smart Building and Asset Tracking Kits are the result of collaboration between Semtech and IoT ecosystem leaders, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and TensorIoT, and offer the smart integration of Semtech’s LoRa® devices and the LoRaWAN® protocol with AWS’s leading IoT services. Systems Integrators and Enterprises can now leverage AWS IoT and key native services to accelerate the production lifecycle of their applications. The kits are the first vertical market product offerings based on the LoRaWAN protocol that utilize AWS IoT Core and a serverless architecture.

The low power, affordable and reliable performance of today’s leading Internet of Things (IoT) solutions make them ideal for critical workplace safety applications, including contact tracing, facility hygiene, room and desk usage, and social distancing enforcement. Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, many governments, organizations and institutions are relying on Semtech’s LoRa® devices and LoRaWAN® protocol to combat the disease’s spread in workspaces.

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly raised facility hygiene awareness among enterprises across the globe. As businesses reopen and resume operation, enhanced cleaning and disinfecting practices have been instituted to address the health and safety of workers, tenants, customers, and others who pass through facilities. The Internet of Things (IoT) and Semtech’s LoRa® devices have emerged as the building blocks enabling safe and secure workplace solutions – allowing companies to adapt and maintain new levels of hygiene.

Two decades ago, communication between a host computer and other devices was a complex and difficult task. The Universal Serial Bus (USB) was developed by a group of companies in 1994 to replace the multiple slow buses with a single bus that could exchange data between the host system and the peripherals. Following its release, USB quickly became very popular due to its ease of use and fast data transfer rate. Fast forward a little over two decades, all consumer electronic devices now come with integrated USB interfaces. The USB interface has evolved a lot to support modern demands of very high speed communication with host devices and their innovative features. Since its introduction, the USB specification has progressed as USB1.1, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, USB 3.1, USB 3.2 (Gen 1, Gen 2, Gen 2x2), USB Type-C supporting Thunderbolt, HDMI and DisplayPort via special modes, and finally, towards USB 4.

In many parts of the world the COVID-19 lock-downs are gradually opening up, requiring businesses to improve facility hygiene and protect itself from a virus outbreak. Many companies – in particular, factories, distribution centers, and logistics warehouses where people work very closely to each other – will also have to revisit its business processes. Yet, businesses of all sizes must now create safe and secure workspaces to mitigate infection risk and safeguard the health of workers.

In 2018, the U.S. made up 35 percent of the global smart home market, which is expected to grow five-fold to a $192 billion global market by 2023. The same data from IHS Markit shows that over a third (38 percent) of U.S. households already have at least one smart device. Consumers in the market for smart home devices are faced with an overwhelmingly wide variety of device options and technology platforms. Among those offering the longest range and lowest power consumption are YoLink LoRa®-based devices offered by YoSmart. Smart home sensors leveraging Semtech’s LoRa devices are only a few clicks away, available now on Amazon in the U.S.

Leveraging smarter technology allows us to address the world’s toughest problems. Semtech’s founding principal of delivering advanced solutions that have a social and environmental impact is being fully realized in our challenge to combat the global COVID-19 pandemic today.