TechInsights’ Jefferson Chua and Daniel Yang have published a comparative piece looking at the four main low-power wide-area networking (LPWAN) technologies currently vying for the Internet of Things (IoT): LoRa, Sigfox, NB-IoT, and LTE-M.

In the piece, published on Electronic Design, the pair compare the four primary LPWAN standards currently available, along with a look at five complementary short-range wireless standards, in a novel manner: as well as looking at their specifications, including power requirements, frequencies used, and data rates, the analysis extends to high-quality photographs of transceiver dies – offering a means of comparing the hardware used for each standard in a way not normally available outside each companies’ respective design labs.

“The explosion of the IoT market has resulted in a new type of network technology – LPWAN – that supports the long-range communications, low power usage, and affordability required by IoT standards guidance and industry use,” the pair explain by way of introduction. “We have examined the four main LPWAN technologies from the reverse-engineering angle by means of semiconductor die analysis. Each technology has its advantages and will continue to have its place in the IoT market. We believe that the LPWAN market will grow very quickly in the near future, and we look forward to seeing its impact on IoT technology.”

The full article, with high-quality die shots for all four major LPWAN standards, can be found over on Electronic Design now.