enabling wide area iot solutions with machineq, a comcast ... · an lpwan (low power wide area...

ENABLING WIDE AREA IOT SOLUTIONS WITH machineQTM, A COMCAST SERVICE

An Introduction to Low Power Wide

Area Networks (LPWAN)

2 - Enabling Wide Area IoT Solutions |

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In recent years, the cost of sensors has decreased

and the network capabilities designed to handle

sensor data have evolved to meet application

needs. As a result, the question for companies,

businesses, organizations, and municipalities is

no longer whether an IoT (Internet of Things)

deployment is possible —instead, the question is

how to implement wide area IoT solutions. Since

each IoT solution has different requirements, a

connectivity strategy that may be ideal for one

application may not meet the needs for another.

Selecting the wrong network puts the business

at risk of offering an IoT solution that is either

too expensive to manage (connectivity or battery

cost) or one that fails to meet objectives.

An LPWAN (Low Power Wide Area Network) is

an IoT network category designed to operate

with minimal power while sending data over

wide areas. LPWANs work well in situations

where small amounts of data need to be sent

long distances, or deep underground, from

sensors that will be in place in the field for

many years. It offers key benefits that include

long range communications, deep penetration

indoors and underground, long battery life,

cost-effective connectivity, and the security of

choosing a proven technology with an extensive

global footprint.

There are several LPWAN technologies in the

market today, but the network standard gaining

the most traction globally is LoRaWAN. Gartner,

in its 2017 analysis of LPWAN technologies,

recommended the development of LoRa-

integrated solutions to minimize long-term

viability risk and maximize market share potential.1

In addition to selecting a network with the

right technical capabilities to support your IoT

solution, you will also need to select a network

service provider. The key attributes you will want

to consider as you evaluate a network service

provider include network coverage, maturity,

reliability, affordability, and security. Comcast

machineQ™ is a Network-as-a-Service (NaaS)

offering for the LPWAN market built specifically

for IoT providing secure, fully managed end-to-

end network connectivity.

Ray, B. (2017). Market Trends: LoRa Offers Low-Risk, High

Reward LPWA Opportunity. Gartner. 15 May 2017.

1.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

With machineQ, customers can take advantage

of the latest IoT sensor, network, and software

technologies to gather, analyze and send data.

Comcast’s expansive and proven network

management capabilities reduce the risk and

maintenance costs associated with managing

and deploying an IoT solution, allowing

machineQ solution partners and customers

to focus on optimizing their applications and

achieving their objectives.

In order to help create a viable wide area IoT

solution, you will need to make several decisions

along the way. The goal of this whitepaper is to

help you:

• Know when—and why—to use cellular vs.

LPWAN connectivity.

• Understand the differences among current

LPWANs.

• Develop a list of considerations for finding

the network service provider that is right for

your application.

• Learn how other businesses, organizations

and municipalities have used LPWANs to

solve critical problems as well as build

and deploy innovative and economically

advantageous IoT solutions.

THE EMERGENCE OF WIDE AREA IOT NETWORKS

In recent years, demand for IoT solutions has

grown not just among early adopters, but also

among mainstream consumers and businesses.

This is especially true among businesses who

see IoT, and data from devices, as disruptive

to their business. Many business leaders are

now begining to see IoT as an opportunity to

generate new insights that can help reduce costs

and drive innovative business models. One of

the factors making B2B IoT solutions possible

is the emergence of connectivity standards and

the widespread adoption of cloud technologies.

These innovations have enabled the growth of the

commercial, industrial, and municipal IoT solutions

that power smart cities, smart campuses, and

smart infrastructure developments today.

Until recently, the combination of a nascent

technology, high sensor and connectivity costs,

and the power-hungry nature of connected devices

made it difficult to build and deploy viable wide

area IoT solutions. Today, the cost of smart sensors

continues to decrease and the network capabilities

designed specifically to handle the kind of low-

bit data packets common to many wide area IoT

networks have evolved.

Gartner has identified LPWAN as one of the top 10

IoT technologies of 2017 and 2018.2 The question

for the companies, businesses, organizations,

and municipalities considering wide area IoT

deployments is no longer if these implementations

will be initiated, but how.

3 - Enabling Wide Area IoT Solutions |

Gartner (2017). Gartner Identifies the Top 10 Internet of Things

Technologies for 2017 and 2018. [online] Available at:

https://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3221818

[Accessed 27 Oct. 2017].

2.

SELECTING THE RIGHT NETWORK

It is now possible to deploy wide area IoT

applications for environments like: cities,

commercial properties, farms, golf courses,

organizations, businesses, and even

consumers. Businesses now offer innovative IoT

solutions to track water leaks to help property

managers fix them before they cause damage.

Agriculture specific IoT solutions can detect soil

moisture levels so that farmers and golf course

superintendents can know what to plant and

when to irrigate. Smart City focused applications

and sensors now help cities monitor streetlights

and conserve power. IoT uses cases and

applications have grown so much over the past

few years that Gartner predicts that there will be

20.4 billion Internet-connected things by 2020.3

Simply having smart sensors deployed in the field

and generating data is not enough to guarantee

the success of an IoT solution. IoT solutions need

the right network supporting them. As you begin

to plan and build your IoT solution, you will need to

ensure that your network can deliver information

securely, reliably, efficiently, and at a price that

protects total cost of ownership (TCO) while

meeting the requirements of your application and

its users. Managed networks now offer precisely

these benefits, allowing time and attention to

remain focused on operational objectives.

The network requirements of every IoT solution

vary widely, therefore connectivity strategy

that works for one application may not work

for another application. Applications with

heavy transmission demands, as is the case with

video applications, need a network with high-

bandwidth capability.

Choose the wrong network, and you are at risk

of offering an IoT solution that fails to meet

your objectives or costs more money than can

be justified.

When deciding which network is best for your

IoT solution, begin by considering two primary

factors. The first factor is payload, which refers

to the size of the data you need to transmit.

Depending on whether you are transmitting large

data flows such as audio or video or small bits of

data that may provide only a binary “yes or no”

answer or track specific measurements, you’ll

want to consider different types of networks. The

second factor you’ll need to consider is range,

which means that you’ll need to understand the

distance needed to collect and transmit your

data. You’ll also need to consider whether you are

syncing a device and gateway within a building or

transmitting data across a development or city.

For the purpose of this discussion, we will

put aside local area wireless networking

technologies such as; RFID (Radio frequency

identification), BLE (Low energy Bluetooth),

Zigbee, and Wi-Fi. While familiar and ideal for

pairing devices and transmitting data across

short distances such as within a car, shop or

home, these network technologies typically

play a very limited role in widely dispersed

IoT applications. These technologies also tend

to pair a device to a particular gateway, and

present challenges when trying to have sensors

send data using several gateways.

Those with applications that must cover a wide

area, be it a city or an apartment complex, are

evaluating the two most common long-reach

networks – Cellular and LPWAN. They both

have their place.

4 - Enabling Wide Area IoT Solutions |

Gartner (2017). Gartner Says 8.4 Billion Connected “Things” Will

Be in Use in 2017, Up 31 Percent From 2016. [online] Available

at: https://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3598917.

3.

Cellular connectivity

As the ubiquity of mobile phone use increased

in the early 2000s, so too did the demand for

more data and greater data speeds. This led

to the development and rapid deployment of

3G networks around the world. Today, cellular

networks cover a vast majority of the world’s

population, providing extensive coverage across

many global markets. Furthermore, the popularity

of cellular networks has created a large ecosystem

for vendors, manufacturers, and providers,

ensuring continued support of the network for

the future. Cellular networks are built to handle

massive volumes of traffic, enabling transmission

of large data packets such as audio and video –

but this comes at a high cost.

As it relates to wide area applications, cellular

network concerns include higher costs, poor

battery life, and limited propagation deep indoors

and underground, making it a viable option for

high bandwidth and power-hungry applications

(see Figure 1). Perhaps the largest obstacle for

cellular in wide area applications is the continuous

evolution of new protocols. Consider how quickly

cellular networks have advanced. 2G, which was

once among the most advanced innovations in

connectivity, soon advanced from 3G to 4G and

soon to 5G—many 2G networks have now been

phased out. Each time the previous technology

is phased out, field endpoints are orphaned and

must be replaced at a significant cost to all involved

Depending on the use case, these costs can be

incredibly high.

LPWAN

Low Power Wide Area Network technologies have

an extensive global footprint. With large-scale

use proliferating in cities and municipalities across

the globe, LPWANs can be found throughout

Europe, North America, the Asian-Pacific region

and are being deployed in emerging markets

across South America and Africa.

Low Power Wide Area Network is a network

category defined by two characteristics. The first

characteristic is that the network is low power,

which means that the network sensors can operate

for many years on small, inexpensive batteries. The

second characteristic is that the network covers

a wide area, which means that it has an operating

range with single transmissions often reaching up

to 30 miles, depending on the application.

Its narrow-band characteristics make it extremely

suitable for virtually all connected devices that

require small amounts of data to be transmitted.

Low Power Wide Area Networks work well in

situations where small amounts of data need to

be sent over wide areas by sensors that will be in

place for long periods of time and are well suited

for easy field programmability and updateability.

In fact, many of the products certified by the LoRa

Alliance (www.lora-alliance.org), an international

non-profit devoted to standardizing LoRa, the

leading type of LPWAN technology, are designed

to have a battery life of up to 10 years or more,

depending on the application. In addition to

keeping energy-related costs low, these long-

lasting batteries are critically important for use

cases where sensors are located in hard-to-

reach areas such as underground or deep within

buildings or other structures because they greatly

reduce the cost of maintaining the entire system.

5 - Enabling Wide Area IoT Solutions |

As clearly summarized by Gartner, compared to

traditional cellular networks, LPWANs provide the

technical features and operational cost for IoT

applications that need wide area coverage along

with relatively low bandwidth, good battery life,

low hardware, and high connection density.4

Figure 1. Bridging the Connectivity Gap

LPWAN: UNDER THE HOOD

To understand why LPWANs are often an ideal fit

for wide area civic and enterprise IoT solutions,

it is important to understand the network’s

technical features.

Long Range of Communications: Data

transmitted across LPWANs can travel as far

as 30 miles, depending on the application,

making it ideal for transmitting data across wide

geographic areas.

Deep Penetration Indoors and Underground:

Whether sensors are placed on a rooftop, in a

below ground sewer, or indoors, LPWANs still

collect and transmit data from its source to

gateways and network servers.

Low Bit Rates: LPWAN sensors are designed

to send small data bits, communicating

simple points of information (i.e., on/off, flow

measurement, temperature) instead of more

complex data (i.e., streaming video).

Long-Lasting Batteries: Batteries that

power LPWAN sensors can last for many

years depending upon the environment and

application. In some use cases, sensors are

programmed to send information and then go

to sleep for a prescribed period of time. In

others, sensors stay asleep until a prescribed

event triggers the sensor to send an alert. The

combination of small bit sizes and intermittent

transmissions (as opposed to continuous

transmissions) means that sensor batteries

can last 10 years or more, depending on the

application, without needing to be replaced,

ultimately saving costs.

Proven Technology: LPWANs have been

deployed throughout the world for over a

decade and power a wide range of enterprise

and civic IoT solutions.

Owing in part to these technical features, one

of the biggest benefits of LPWANs is that they

are the most cost-effective option for wide area

IoT solutions. Not only are the smart sensors

themselves designed to operate more cost

effectively, but LPWAN connectivity costs are also

much lower.

6 - Enabling Wide Area IoT Solutions |

Gartner (2017). Gartner Identifies the Top 10 Internet of Things

Technologies for 2017 and 2018. [online] Available at:

https://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3221818

[Accessed 27 Oct. 2017].

4.

COST-EFFECTIVE CONNECTIVITY Unlike cellular networks and the powerful

endpoint devices (e.g., smartphones) they were

designed to support, LPWANs were envisioned

and designed for low-complexity endpoint

devices. The majority of an LPWAN’s computing

capability is moved upstream to the cloud. This

Network Function Virtualization (NFV) design

keeps costs low for endpoint devices, opening up

new use cases with new form factors, that are not

practical if using higher cost cellular hardware and

higher cost cellular connectivity (see Figure 2).

In publicly available cellular pricing, connectivity

costs can exceed $25 per sensor per year. In

contrast, LPWAN connectivity costs range from

$1-$15 per sensor per year. This cost difference

means that being able to choose an LPWAN for

your IoT solution can garner two to five times the

savings over cellular options.

Additional reasons for LPWANs’ lower costs

include:

• Lower Cost Devices: Today’s LPWAN modules,

the components inside sensors that transmit

and/or receive radio signals, generally cost less

than $7 and the cost is expected to continue

to fall over the next several years as the

market grows. The low power requirements

of an LPWAN sensor also control costs

associated with smaller batteries and longer

replacement cycles.

• Lower Base Station Costs: In contrast to

cellular towers, LPWAN gateways are stateless.

The sensor is paired to an application in the

cloud, so the sensors and gateways do not

have to establish a session to communicate.

This allows the network to push complex

operations to the cloud. As a result, the

gateways cost less to deploy in a network. The

point to multipoint signaling protocols used by

LPWANs can be received by several gateways

simultaneously. This, in combination with the

excellent coding techniques, provides excellent

range and reliability.

• Unlicensed Spectrum: LPWANs use unlicensed

spectrum, which means operators do not need

to spend billions of dollars at FCC auctions

to acquire private spectrum. These savings

represent very significant cost benefits to

operators and end users.

• Low Power: LPWAN sensors are designed to

use very little power to gather and transmit

data. The battery-powered sensors transmit

simple low bit rate responses that require

far less power budget than gathering and

transmitting large packets of data associated

with applications like audio or video. A dense

network of LPWAN gateways reduces the

distance from a sensor to a gateway, and

further reduces the energy requirements for

the sensors.

• Low Maintenance Costs: Lower power

budgets mean that LPWAN sensor batteries

can last 10 years or more, depending on the

application. Since broad deployments create

challenges to servicing a large number of

sensors often in difficult to access locations,

IoT solutions deployed on an LPWAN reduce

not only battery cost but also the maintenance

budget associated with replacing batteries and

end devices.

7 - Enabling Wide Area IoT Solutions |

Ray, B. (2017). Market Trends: LoRa Offers Low-Risk, High

Reward LPWA Opportunity. Gartner. 15 May 2017.

lora-alliance. (2017). lora-alliance. [online] Available at:

https://www.lora-alliance.org/.

5.

6.

Figure 3. The machineQ Network Architecture

Figure 2. LPWAN Technology’s Distinct Advantages

The combined effect of these cost benefits

means that the total cost of ownership for an

IoT solution enabled by an LPWAN network is

far lower than it is for competing networks that

require frequent maintenance and are designed

for high bandwidth applications.

WHAT IS LoRaWAN™?

After you have decided that an LPWAN is the best

way to deploy your wide area IoT solution, you might

consider which type of LPWAN radio technology is

best for your specific application. There are several

LPWAN technologies in the market today, but

LoRaWAN is gaining the most traction as a best in

class LPWAN protocol.

In its 2017 analysis of LPWAN technologies, Gartner

points to LoRa’s low-risk, high-reward opportunity

recommending the development of LoRa-integrated

solutions to minimize long-term viability risk and

maximize market share potential.5

For the physical layer, the LoRaWAN protocol

leverages LoRa radio modulation technology, which

is the wireless modulation that enables its long-

range communications links. LoRa leverages a chirp

spread spectrum modulation. This modulation has

been used in military and space communications

for decades but LoRa represents its first low-cost

implementation in commercial applications.6

Of the four different types of spread spectrum

signal transmission techniques, chirp spread

spectrum is the option that operates best at very

low power. For these and other reasons, it is

ideally suited for wide area IoT networks where

sensors transmit small data packets intermittently.

LoRaWAN is also unique in that its architecture

(see Figure 3) differs from traditional mesh

network architectures (e.g., Zigbee, Thread).

8 - Enabling Wide Area IoT Solutions |

In a mesh network, devices act as sensors as

well as repeaters that pass information from

one device to another and finally back to a

gateway. While the mesh strategy increases

communications range, it suffers from added

complexity, reduced capacity and only powered

devices or nodes can receive and pass along

information from other nodes. LoRaWAN

employs a long-range star architecture that

enables long-range connectivity while preserving

battery life. In the LoRaWAN design, a sensor is

paired to the cloud. This allows the operator to

deploy as many gateways as possible, without

worrying about how to provision millions of

sensors on millions of gateways.

In a LoRaWAN network, data transmitted by a

node is received by any gateway close enough

to hear the transmission. Each gateway will then

forward the received packet from the end-node

or device to the cloud-based network server via

some backhaul (either Cellular, Ethernet, Satellite,

or Wi-Fi). The intelligence and complexity are

pushed to the network server, which manages the

network and will filter redundant received packets,

perform security checks, etc.7

As you can imagine, the LoRaWAN architecture

is well-suited to leverage Comcast’s nation-wide

infrastructure, enabling even greater advantages

for machineQ customers.

The key benefits of a LoRaWAN network include:

Simple Implementation: LoRaWAN’s radio

protocol is comparatively simple to implement

compared with other networks. This simple

implementation means that sensors can be

easily incorporated into IoT hardware solutions

and lower complexity equals less cost and

better battery life.

Efficient Deployment and Management: The

LoRaWAN standard and technology roadmap

drive towards increased levels of integration

and decreased chip geometries, all of which

contribute to reduced power consumption,

reduced device sizes, reduced battery use, and

ultimately reduced costs.

Optimized for Connectivity: LoRaWAN

technology has been optimized to work within

unlicensed spectrum with multiple tools to

avoid network congestion and interference.

Global IoT Roaming: Global roaming enables

IoT devices to connect and move between

LPWANs around the world, supporting large-

scale deployments and enabling new global

services such as cargo tracking.8

Throughout the world, there are several hundred

million sensors that have the potential to support

the LoRaWAN protocol, ultimately enabling the

connectivity of billions of LoRa-based sensors

within the next few years.9 Of those millions,

there are over 150 unique types of sensors

that enable you to monitor everything from

temperature to water levels to tracking high value

assets. Well-known operators such as Comcast,

Orange, SK Telecom, Tata, and KPN deploy

LoRaWAN networks, and LoRaWAN also enjoys

the support of major technology companies such

as IBM, Alibaba, Bosch, Cisco, and Nokia.

9 - Enabling Wide Area IoT Solutions |

Semtech (2017). Semtech’s LoRa Technology the Platform of

Choice for Sensor-based IoT Applications. [online] Available

at: http://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/Semtech-

s-LoRa-Technology-the-Platform-of-Choice-for-Sensor-based-

IoT-Applications-1002361737.

LoRa Alliance™ (2017). LoRa Alliance™ Enables Global IoT

Roaming and Device Deployment; Convenes in China for 9th All

Members Meeting Hosted by ZTE. [online] Available at: http://

www.loraalliance.org.

LoRa® Alliance Technical Marketing Workgroup (2015).

LoRaWAN™: What is it? A technical overview of LoRa® and

LoRaWAN™ [White paper]. Retrieved from LoRa® Alliance.

9.

8.

7.

Figure 4. LoRaWAN Network Coverage

With 57 network operators, LoRaWAN is

currently deployed in over 100 countries around

the world.10 As the dominant LPWAN technology

on the market today, it is ideally suited for

powering IoT solutions over a wide area. LoRa is

also supported globally by the LoRa Alliance, the

international non-profit standards body with over

Comparing LPWAN Technologies

There are multiple radio technologies used to

enable the benefits of LPWANs. In addition to

LoRa, two others are popular today.

Sigfox is a well-known LPWAN technology

used in deployments throughout Europe and

parts of Asia. Sigfox’s proprietary networking

solution makes it useful for only the very lowest

bandwidth applications that need to send small

and very infrequent bursts of data. The vertically-

integrated Sigfox controls every aspect of the

network technology with all messaging traffic

routed through Sigfox servers. This means

that the success of IoT applications running on

Sigfox networks is entirely dependent on Sigfox’s

operational capacity and its organizational health.

Ingenu Random Phase Multiple Access (RPMA) is

a proprietary LPWAN technology stack developed

by Ingenu. The RPMA architecture boasts strong

uplink and downlink capabilities and operates

in the globally-available 2.4GHz spectrum, most

commonly used by Wi-Fi. This in turn results in

decreased range and less battery life. Like Sigfox,

applications running on its network are beholden

to the company’s success. Service interruptions or

organizational failures of the Ingenu software can

lead to network and application failures.

10 - Enabling Wide Area IoT Solutions |

lora-alliance. (2017). lora-alliance. [online] Available at:

https://www.lora-alliance.org/ [Oct. 2017].

10.

Technology LoRa SigFoxIngenu(RMPA)

LTE-M/Cat-M

NB-IoT 3G/4G

Module Cost1 $4-$6 <$3 $10 $10-$15 $10-$15 $20-$40

Annual Connectivity Cost1

(Per device)$1-$157 $1-$13

Not available

~$248 Not available

$25-$36

Range4 Up to 30 miles

Up to 30 miles

up to 8 miles

Up to 6-7 miles

Not commercially deployed

Up to 43 miles

Max Packet size 242 bytes3 12 bytes FlexibleFlexible

(~1000 bytes)Flexible Flexible

Max Data Rate (kbps)

5 0.3 41 1000 200 200

Deployment

Macro-based, cable strand-deployable,

cost-optimized picocells

Macro-based

Macro-based

Macro, small cells

Macro, small cells

Macro, small cells

Battery Life High High Moderate Low Low Low

Frequency 915 MHz (US) 915 MHz 2.4 GHz700-

2000MHz700-

2000MHzMultiple bands

Default Spectrum ISM6 ISM ISM Licensed Licensed Licensed

Resistance to Interference7 High Low Moderate n/a n/a n/a

Gateway ModeFull or Half

DuplexHalf Duplex Half Duplex

Full or Half Duplex

Half DuplexFull or Half

Duplex

Standardization

Global standard

body through LoRa Alliance

Single Source

Network

Global IEE Standard

3GPP 3GPP 3GPP

Network Topology

Star Star Mesh Star Star Star

Total number of Publicly Available

Devices120 mill 10 mill

Not available

Not available Not

available Deployed at

Scale

Complexity2 Low Low Moderate Moderate Moderate High

Global Presence1

57 29 29+ 143 None Saturated

1. BasedonthemostrecentpublicdataasofSeptember2017

2. Complexityasdefinedbyhowmuchmemoryandprocessingpoweryouneedonyourenddevice

3. Maxpayloadof242bytesatSF7;smallestpossiblepayloadof11bytesatSF10.

4. Basedonthemaximumrangeacrosspubliclyavailabledataforbothruralandurbanranges.

5. NumberofIoTdevicesconnectedtoAT&Tnetwork

6. Reservedinternationallyfortheuseofradiofrequencyenergyforindustrial,scientific,andmedicalpurposes(ISM)

7. CurrentrangeofmachineQpricingoptions—subjecttochangebasedonusecaseandtransmissionprofiles

8. https://opendevelopment.verizonwireless.com/news/article/Verizon-LTE-CatM-Launch

500 members (see Figure 4). machineQ has

a seat on the LoRa Alliance Board of Directors

and is active in the Technology and Certification

Committees as wel as the Roadmap Task Group.

Unlike other technologies, LoRa’s viability does

not depend on the financial success of any

single company.

HOW TO SELECT AN LPWAN SERVICE PROVIDER: CRITERIA TO CONSIDER

Selecting a network type is about finding the

technical capabilities you need to support your

IoT solution. Selecting a network service provider

is about finding the partner to help you achieve

your IoT goals.

The clear benefits of partnering with an

experienced service provider like Comcast is

that the network will support your continuously

expanding requirements and manage wide area

network connectivity. By contracting with an

LPWAN communications service rather than

purchasing your own network equipment, you

also “future-proof” your system. For example,

Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) networks

supporting early smart grid applications depended

on cellular backhaul, often with proprietary

“last mile” wireless solutions. As the cellular

providers update their technology every few

years (2G GPRS/EDGE, 3G UMTS, 4G LTE, etc.),

IoT applications using that type of network must

update field equipment in order to stay compatible.

Even though different network service providers

may operate on the same type of network, each

network service provider will ultimately offer

different capabilities. When you evaluate network

service providers, you will want to consider how

they compare across several metrics.

Here are some of the attributes you will want

to consider as you evaluate a network service

provider for your LPWAN.

• Affordability: Service providers with multiple

offerings share network development and

improvement costs across a multitude

of customers and markets. In contrast, a

purpose-built AMI network, for example,

is requisitely expensive since it typically

performs only a few functions and is idle for

much of the time.

• Network Maturity: You will want to

consider network providers that either

cover your geographical area or plan to

have it covered as part of their ongoing

plans for building out their network. While

many mature service providers may already

have both the equipment and protocols for

installing sensors and gateways, it is not

uncommon for startup organizations to

lack this capability. Lastly, you will want

to look for networks that can identify and

self-report problems.

11 - Enabling Wide Area IoT Solutions |

• Security: You may have implemented the

most protective security protocols for data

while it is in your application, but unsecured

networks can leave your data exposed while

it is in transit. In the most secure networks,

data is encrypted from the device to the cloud

using industry standard AES 128 encryption. A

managed network offers real-time monitoring

for irregularities. Network service providers

with these security protocols make devices on

the network secure and easy to deploy.

• Reliability: Because shared networks incur

lower operational costs, providers can invest

more heavily in network equipment to ensure

higher network redundancy and resiliency.

Additionally, service providers with dedicated

teams to maintain and manage their network

(as opposed to individuals who have other

competing priorities) drive higher network

reliability. Organizations with a proven track

record of network management and significant

capital are more likely to offer reliable service

than many newer service providers.

machineQ: DELIVERING A BETTER LPWAN EXPERIENCE

machineQ is Comcast’s LoRaWAN NaaS offering.

With machineQ, you can take advantage of

the latest IoT sensor, network, and software

technologies to securely gather and analyze data

from the physical world and confidently activate

that intelligence using the strength of machineQ’s

LoRaWAN infrastructure and Comcast’s proven

network management capabilities. This ensures

our LoRaWAN customers’ focus can remain on

optimizing their applications and achieving their

program objectives.

Comcast’s network leverages deployed assets,

specifically its hybrid fiber coax (HFC) and

Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification

(DOCSIS)-based gear. These capabilities make

Comcast uniquely able to implement “dense

LPWANs” which yield tremendous cost, scale and

security advantages that few other providers can

match (see Figure 5).

The combination of Comcast’s widely-deployed

built assets and network management experience

means that machineQ helps ensure the success

of your IoT solution. Here is how machineQ lands

on the key metrics you need to consider when

selecting an LPWAN service provider:

Affordable Network: By leveraging Comcast’s

existing built and installed infrastructure, which

includes building, street, underground and

premise equipment, machineQ implementation

costs are low and network costs are shared

Figure 5. machineQ’s IoT Network

12 - Enabling Wide Area IoT Solutions |

by the many other applications and uses

of the Comcast network. Additionally,

Comcast manages the reliability and ongoing

maintenance of its network—meaning costs

for ongoing network improvements and

maintenance are covered.

Extensive Network Coverage: Comcast’s

extensive network leverages their assets

throughout major markets to ensure

widespread and speedy deployment of

machineQ LPWAN gateways wherever they

are needed. Other network providers must

settle for sparse LPWAN architectures

and suffer the slow and costly process of

building new infrastructure. machineQ’s

team of experienced engineers have

developed an optimal design plan for dense

deployment and rapid network expansion.

With the Connectivity OnDemand model,

our ecommerce platform offers pre-

provisioned gateways to anyone interested

in connecting to the machineQ network,

but happens to be outside of our existing

network footprint. We also handle all

capital and operation expenditures from site

lease to power to backhaul.

Network Management Monitoring Tools:

machineQ will leverage its centralized Network

Operations Center to monitor service availability

and key performance metrics 24/7. In addition,

we utilize a scalable network performance

reporting tool, developed in-house, which

enables our engineers to identify performance

degradation, service disruption, and deviant

network elements. This tool has various data

analytics functions that allow for both real-time

view and historical data trending. We create

“top-down” views of the devices, gateways, or

applications that are critical to our partners’

businesses, allowing us to create visualization

and reports to monitor service performance.

Unparalleled Support: By leveraging Comcast’s

existing processes and infrastructures,

machineQ can deliver at all levels from market

insights and network subject matter expertise

to responsive technical support 24/7, year-

round. Comcast can provide immediate

assistance based on a highly efficient system of

proactive alarms and ticket triage.

More Reliable Network: Comcast owns and

operates one of the largest and most complex

hybrid fiber coax networks anywhere in

the world. With decades of experience of

deploying, managing, and maintaining an

expansive network that serves millions of

residential and commercial customers, few

network service providers can deliver service

that is tested and proven at Comcast’s scale.

Superior Security: For Comcast, data and

network security are paramount thus we

encrypt data using industry standard AES 128

encryption, rendering it virtually impossible to

attack via brute force. Only the end customer

has the keys to decrypt data sent through

machineQ. Additionally, state-of-the-art network

management helps spot irregularities in real time

while machineQ’s unique dense LPWANs inhibit

denial-of-service (DoS) style attacks.

13 - Enabling Wide Area IoT Solutions |

WHAT COMCAST machineQ CAN DO FOR YOU: REAL WORLD LPWAN SUCCESS STORIES

The LoRaWAN technology has been designed

to respond to use cases where a sensor

communicates small amounts of data a few times

a day. It is well suited for situations requiring

accurate localization, energy efficiency, wide area

coverage and easy installation.

The following are several examples of successful

deployments of wide area IoT solutions using

machineQ:

• Property Management: Smart water sensors

can detect fixture, appliance, and apartment

level water usage and identify leaks in multi-

dwelling apartment units.

• Water Utilities: Networks supporting advanced

metering infrastructure technology provide

utility companies with meter readings and

automatic shutoffs to better serve customers.

• Wastewater Treatment: Multi-year battery life

of sensors allows utility managers to install

solutions in hard to reach places and receive

frequent data transfers without replacement

for many years.

• Crop Irrigation: Soil moisture-monitoring

devices provide farmers with real-time insight

into crop moisture levels to ensure crops are

being watered exactly when needed.

14 - Enabling Wide Area IoT Solutions |

Dense vs. Sparse LPWANs

In most wide area network deployments, gateways are deployed judiciously to keep cost down. Networks

are designed so that each IoT sensor can reach one or two gateways, so gateways are generally sighted a

few miles apart.

However, when you study the power required by a sensor to send a single packet to a gateway 100 yards

away versus the power it requires to send a single packet to a gateway that is 5 miles away, it becomes clear

that a “dense LPWAN” with more gateways situated in closer proximity to sensors has a clear advantage.

Since less power is needed, batteries can be miniaturized, which results in overall longer battery life.

But how to do that without increasing costs?

machineQ is uniquely able to take advantage of Comcast’s existing infrastructure to create gateway

density without incurring prohibitive costs that would otherwise ruin the economics of most LPWAN

solutions. In addition to tower and building-based gateways common to most LPWANs, Comcast’s

footprint offers the ability to bring gateways close to the sensors sending them data. Comcast’s extensive

local infrastructure will enable greater proliferation of wide area network gateways, adding to one of the

world’s largest dense LPWANs.

• Municipal Lighting: IoT lighting systems give

city facility managers the ability to monitor

lighting systems in near real time, enabling

safer, more efficient repairs.

• Product Storage: Temperature and pressure-

monitoring solutions protect fragile products

through storage and transportation for life

science and healthcare companies.

• Agriculture Management: Power-efficient

communications protocols enable golf course

superintendents to monitor turf quality over

long distances for extended periods of time.

• Activity Monitoring: Strategically placed

sensors allow golf course managers to track

golf cart movement and manage pace of play,

resulting in improved course maintenance and

scheduling of games.

MAKING THE STRENGTH OF COMCAST machineQ YOUR OWN

No matter where in the United States or

around the globe you want to build and deploy

your IoT solution, Comcast’s machineQ team

can help you do it. machineQ offers NaaS,

which enables you to take advantage of its

unparalleled LPWAN offerings:

1. Wide Area Network: Metropolitan Coverage.

machineQ has deployed LoRaWAN networks

in more than 15 of the top U.S. metropolitan

areas to enable fast and efficient connectivity

for your solution.

2. Connectivity OnDemand

With Connectivity OnDemandTM, anyone

interested in connecting to the machineQ

network can get LoRaWAN connectivity.

machineQ’s NaaS enables customers to

purchase gateways that are pre-provisioned to

connect to our network. Just select the type,

quantity, and delivery location of the gateways

you need and we handle the rest. That’s

connectivity on demand.

INNOVATE WITH USmachineQ is a network built for IoT and we possess a diverse set of resources

available to help you achieve your IoT goals: dedicated subject matter experts on

LoRaWAN board design and software development who can help address technical

questions; vetted ‘design and build’ firms who can assist with your LoRaWAN

migration; funding resources to support your conversion efforts; opportunities to

partner on the Comcast sales channels and relationships; and, potential investors to

help scale your IoT business.

If you are ready to get started and make LoRaWAN work for your latest IoT

applications, visit us at www.machineQ.com or email us at machineQ@comcast.com.