- LoRa Alliance CEO Alper Yegin says LoRaWAN can bridge AI to the physical world via massive, low-power sensor networks
- The alliance highlights three AI layers: edge (on-device processing), core (network automation) and apps (smart cities, asset tracking)
- They’re positioning LoRaWAN as a complement to cellular, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth – not a competitor
It might sound strange that a low-power IoT technology like LoRaWAN is angling to become the perfect partner for power-hungry AI, but that’s exactly how the LoRaWAN Alliance is framing it.
“The next thing for AI is to get its hands on the physical world and for that, it needs to start sensing the physical world and commanding that,” LoRa Alliance CEO Alper Yegin told Fierce. “We are in the best position to be the main connection between the physical world and the AI.”
With more than 10 years behind its foundation as an IoT specification, LoRaWAN certainly enjoys a robust ecosystem. More than 625 devices are certified and more than 125 million LoRaWAN devices are deployed globally, boasting a 25% compound annual growth rate.
The alliance is positioning the technology – which uses low power to transmit over vast distances – to provide the connectivity foundation for IoT to become the “digital nervous system” for AI.
“The overarching story is we are connecting AI to the physical world and among the wireless technologies, we are the best positioned for the widest adoption in terms of number of devices and number of applications we’re serving,” Yegin said.
LoRaWAN and AI – everywhere
According to the LoRa Alliance, there are three distinct ways AI and LoRaWAN technologies are working to add value to IoT deployments: AI at the edge, AI in the core and AI in the application.
AI at the edge: More and more LoRaWAN-enabled sensors and other devices are enabling AI processing at the far edge of the IoT network inside the devices rather than at the RAN. One of the big advantages: On-device AI processing eliminates the need for large amounts of data to be sent to the cloud, thereby lowering latency.
One example of this is LoRaWAN-connected cameras that are deployed for the purposes of event detection and people counting.
AI in the core: AI processing in the LoRaWAN core network allows operators to monitor network patterns and flag anomalies.
For example, Kudzu Technologies, a LoRa Alliance member, offers its CanopyNOC product to leverage agentic AI for autonomously observing and identifying network anomalies so they can resolve core network issues as they arise.
AI in the application: Here’s where smart cities, asset tracking and wide-area industrial monitoring come into play. Integrating AI into IoT applications can help the apps run more efficiently and provide more accurate information about the location and status of LoRaWAN-connected assets, according to the alliance.
LoRaWAN particularly stands out in smart agriculture deployments. Rak Wireless, a LoRa Alliance member, deployed LoRaWAN to track 500,000 dairy cows in New Zealand and Australia.
“Cellular won’t be present there. Wi-Fi won’t give you the range or won’t give you the low power nature of LoRaWAN,” Yegin said. “That’s why we have very good traction with smart agriculture.”
Critical IoT – and the rest of IoT
In the grand scheme of things, there are two classes of IoT applications. One is critical IoT – these are the applications that require tremendous amounts of data and/or real-time communication, such as connecting a car or an airplane.
LoRaWAN doesn’t serve that market. That market is well served by cellular IoT, Yegin said.
That leaves the other class – and LoRaWAN claims that in spades.
“What we serve are the rest of the applications where there are a tremendous number of devices but they send a few packets a day or hundreds of packets a day. They transmit kilobytes of data, but not megabytes.”
The latter group includes smart buildings, smart cities, smart homes and remote metering. “Ninety-five percent of the applications fall under that category,” he said. “That’s exactly what we’re serving with LoRaWAN.”
In fact, LoRaWAN is very complementary to cellular IoT, he said. “As such, our vision and the direction we’re pursuing is building the fourth pillar of the wireless communications industry. LoRaWAN as a new pillar, complementing Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and cellular IoT. Every one of these technologies has a feature that the others don’t have and they are very complementary to each other,” he said.