YoSmart, a manufacturer of smart building IoT devices, announced that it will integrate Semtech Corporation’s proprietary wireless radio frequency technology, LoRa, into its smart building and home products.
“YoSmart provides large buildings like campuses and hotels with flexible solutions to maximize efficiency. Semtech’s LoRa Technology provides IoT connectivity in large, dense environments where hundreds of connected devices need to be managed independently. This allows managers to make better choices, leading to more efficient energy use and lower energy costs,” stated John Xu, CEO of YoSmart.
The Irvine California-based global provider of smart home products will integrate Semtech’s LoRa technology into sensors and IoT devices in thermostats, sprinkler controllers, door locks, leakage monitors and gas and smoke alarms to remotely monitor smart building operations in office and multi-unit residential buildings.
LoRa which stands for “long range” is a patented digital wireless data communication technology originally developed by French company Cycleo, which was acquired by Semtech in 2012.
It uses license-free radio frequency bands to provide long-range data transmissions of up to 15 kilometers with low power consumption.
Increasing adoption of LoRa for in-building IoT connectivity
LoRa has emerged as a viable network technology for in-building wireless IoT connectivity due to its ability to better penetrate walls and cut down on interference as compared to wireless IoT connectivity options like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, and Z-Wave.
According to Semtech’s Vivek Mohan, director of IoT Wireless and Sensing Products Group, LoRa’s capability to penetrate dense building materials make it an ideal platform for IoT-connected smart building applications.
“Semtech’s LoRa Technology for enterprise buildings can connect many different applications under the same network – from thermostats to security systems. This allows for convenient oversight by the property managers, and smarter solutions to cut down on expenses due to utility waste or maintenance,” stated Mohan.
Unlike the traditional frequency-shift keying systems, LoRa’s network architecture is typically a star topology that can eliminate synchronization overhead which substantially reduces power consumption.
LoRa has been dubbed as the next-gen wireless standard for IoT deployment and has received substantial interest in recent years for its ease of deployment, scalability and lower cost of connectivity which make it an attractive option for property owners of large enterprise and commercial office buildings.
More than 80 million LoRa connected devices are deployed across 100 countries in the world today and according to Semtech, this number is supposed to grow at CAGR for 100% or double each year.
After asset tracking, smart meters deployed by energy and water utilities will become the second largest vertical using LPWAN networks for device connections, and contribute to more than one-third of the global LPWAN device connections, according to ABI research firm.
While LoRa’s impact on the smart building marketplace remains yet to be fully realized its long range of coverage and low power properties will continue to propel its adoption to connect IoT devices in smart buildings, cities and grids.