LPWA Deployment for Factory of the Future: LoRa or Turbo-FSK Based Technology?

Over the last years, advanced wireless connectivity (e.g., 5G, LPWA) has increased its interest for Factory of the Future (FoF). In this work, we evaluate the benefits of LPWA technologies (i.e. LoRa and Turbo-FSK) in the FoF context for massive Machine-Type Communication (mMTC) applications focusing on low power consumption and high reliability. To do so, we evaluate the impact of three factors on Turbo-FSK technology (i.e., FoF propagation models, flexibility of the PHY layer configurations and different base station architectures). Finally, we compare LoRa and Turbo-FSK for equivalent configurations under FoF conditions. The results show the trade-offs in terms of reliability, network capacity, latency and battery lifetime.