An Analysis of the Energy Consumption of LPWA-based IoT Devices

The unique challenges posed by the breadth of Internet of Things applications have resulted in the development of a number of different Low Power Wide Area wireless solutions. These technologies enable scalable long range networks on cheap low power devices, facilitating the development of a ubiquitous Internet of Things. The energy efficiency of these wireless technologies have a significant impact on battery lifetime. In this paper we propose an approach to energy efficiency calculations suited to this new paradigm by focusing on daily throughput. We present a set of deployment cases, develop energy models to represent each of the technologies studied, and use these models to provide a thorough comparison in terms of predicted device lifetime for a range of daily throughputs. This quantitative analysis of network device efficiency vs. daily throughput enables identification of the changeover point between optimal solutions. Our contributions are the integration of different energy models that have not been previously compared into a common framework, and the identification of the energy-efficiency crossover points between these models. This enables the selection of the most efficient wireless solution for specific Internet of Things applications, which is a key factor in optimising device lifetime.