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The Incredible efficiency of Battery Operated LoRaWAN Water Level Sensor

Writer's picture: Amar MAmar M

As a company primarily focusing on Battery Operated products, we emphasise making sure our devices stay awake for as little time as possible and consume as little energy as possible when they are asleep. As we work with different LPWAN technologies like NB-IoT, LoRaWAN, Low Power Satellite and Wirepas, we can observe and compare popular networks in production loads within similar constraints other than the network-specific infrastructure.


I wanted to discuss energy efficiency and our observations working with the LoRaWAN water level sensor in this article. Our devices are primarily designed to work on LoRaWAN class A which is meant for long periods of sleep and short transmission times. For monitoring applications, this is the ideal scenario. We observed that LoRaWAN devices are 20% more efficient during long sleep hours than their NB-IoT counterparts. At the microampere scale, this might mean just a few microamps and for devices that must transmit frequently, this may not be a difference maker, but for remote water tanks that used to be manually monitored once a week or twice a week, a device that transmits three or 4 times a day increases observability on the tank and at the same times lasts more than 10 years on a single battery charge.


A graph showing reduced battery efficiency with increasing Spreading Factor
If a device can transmit 100 times with an SF7, it can only transmit 30 times when using SF12.

LoRaWAN battery efficiency during transmission depends greatly on the spreading factor the device operates on. It can either make or break a LoRaWAN deployment. To explain in simple terms, the Spreading Factor (SF) in LoRaWAN is a parameter that determines the duration of the signal transmission and, thus, the range and energy consumption of the transmission. If you use your own gateways or know that your network has a gateway nearby, you can use a lower spreading factor, and the efficiency of the network stays intact.


But the spreading factor becomes a non-issue when it comes to water tanks or water troughs in a rural location or spread over large farmland. You can position gateways to accommodate all your assets for an SF closer to 7 and transmit with up to 50% less power compared to NB-IoT.


As you read through this blog post, you might have gotten the feeling that LoRaWAN is incredibly efficient, but it must operate less frequently and have gateways not too far from its location. While it is true that stars have to align for the peak performance of any IoT application, the difference between the most efficient deployment to the least efficient deployment is very high in the case of LoRaWAN. There are situations where NB-IoT shines compared to LoRaWAN, such as when you need a simple plug-and-play installation or to track a moving asset like a water delivery truck.


For stationary applications like water tanks or water troughs in farm areas, the efficiency of LoRaWAN is unbeatable If you spend the time setting up your own LoRaWAN network or use a public LoRaWAN network with gateways nearby. The deploy-and-forget nature of battery-operated IoT solutions comes to life with LoRaWAN, where devices operate in the field for 10 years on a single charge, in rain or sun, or winter's biting cold.

 

The devices mentioned in this post


Ellenex PLS2 - Submersible Level Sensor
Ellenex PLS2 - Submersible Level Sensor




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  • Air Compressor Operation Monitoring

  • Asset Cathodic Protection Monitoring

  • Asset Temperature Monitoring

  • Boilers Pressure and Temperature Monitoring

  • Building Structural Health Monitoring

  • Chemical Tanks Level Monitoring

  • Data Centre and Clean Room Pressure Monitoring

  • Diesel Delivery Management

  • Differential Pressure Monitoring

  • Dump Truck Overload and Operation Monitoring

  • Dust Collection System Monitoring

  • Farm Fish Operation Monitoring

  • Flood Monitoring

  • Frozen Food Delivery Management

  • Grain Silo Level Monitoring

  • HVAC Air Filter Performance Monitoring

  • HVAC Airflow Monitoring

  • Hydraulic Systems Overload Monitoring

  • Industrial Gas Cylinders Level Monitoring

  • Industrial Water Meters Digitalisation

  • Land Movement Monitoring

  • Liquid Storage Tank Level Monitoring

  • Manhole Blockage Monitoring

  • Milk Tank Level Monitoring

  • Negative Pressure Monitoring

  • Operational System Digitalisation

  • Pipe Temperature and Pressure Monitoring

  • Pump Pressure Monitoring

  • Rain Level Monitoring

  • Remote Diesel Tank Level Monitoring

  • Soil Moisture Monitoring

  • Trucks Overload Monitoring

  • Underground Water Pipeline Pressure Monitoring

  • Waste Liquid Delivery Management

  • Wastewater Pipe Pressure Monitoring

  • Water Filter Performance Monitoring

  • Water Quality Monitoring

  • Water Supply Monitoring

  • Water Tank Level Monitoring

  • Water Wells Level Monitoring

Key pre-configured Industrial IoT solutions

Main Industrial IoT Sensors: 

  • PTS2: Industrial Pressure (0.2bar to 1,000bar)

  • PTC2: Corrosive Resistant Pressure

  • PTD2: Pressure Sensor with Built-in Temperature Sensor

  • PTDH2: High Temperature Pressure and Temperature Sensor

  • PTG2: Pressure with Built-in GPS

  • PTS3: IP68 Pressure Sensor

  • PTF2: Flush Type Pressure Sensor

  • PTF2: Thich film Flush type Pressure

  • PTE2: Earth Pressure Sensor

  • PDS2: Industrial Differential Pressure Sensor

  • PDG2: DP with Built-in GPS

  • PDT2: Ultra Low Range Air Pressure and Temperature

  • PLS2: Submersible Level (1m to 200m range)

  • PLC2: Corrosive Resistant Level (Titanium)

  • PLD2: Level Sensor with Built-in Temperature

  • PLG2: Level Sensor with Built-in GPS

  • PLS3: Submersible Level Sensor with IP68 Housing

  • PLM2: Well Level Sensor (15.8mm Sensor Head, 2in Housing)

  • PLMD2: Well Level and Temperature Sensor

  • TTS2: Industrial Temperature Sensor

  • TTG2: Temperature Sensor with Built-in GPS

  • TTS3: Temperature Sensor with IP68 housing

  • TTS2: Pipe Temperature Sensor

  • DUS3: IP68 Ultrasonic Level Sensor

  • DRC3: IP68 Corrosive Radar Sensor (8m and 30m range)

  • FMS2: Industrial Water Meter Interface

  • CSD2: Conductivity Salinity and Temperature sensor

  • CTR2: Turbidity and Temperature Sensor

  • CPH2: pH, ORP and Temperature Sensor

  • CDO2: Dissolved Oxygen and Temperature Sensor

  • MSS2: Soil Moisture Sensor

  • MAS2: Outdoor Humidity Sensor

  • MRS2: Rain Sensor (Tipping bucket)

  • ECP2: Cathodic Protection Sensor

  • RS1-4/20: Single channel 4-20mA Interface

  • RS1-P: Single channel Pulse Interface

  • RS1-SDI: Single channel SDI-12 Interface

  • RS1-M: Single channel Modbus Interface

  • RS1-Pt: Single channel Pt100 Interface

  • RM1: Multi-channel Interface

  • RM4-4/20: Multi-channel Interface (4 x 4-20mA Sensor)

  • RM4-Pt: Multi-channel Interface (4 x Pt Sensor)

  • RM4-M: Multi-channel Interface (4 x Modbus)

  • RM4-mV: Multi-channel Interface (4 x mV Sensors)

  • RM4-Pulse: Multi-channel Interface (4 x Pulse Counter)

  • RM4-0/10: Multi-channel Interface (4 x 0-10V Sensor)

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