After W and N, Weightless-P seeks to revolutionize LPWAN for the IoT

In yet another move in the race to offer the simplest, easiest on-ramp to the Internet of Things (IoT), the Weightless SIG last week announced the availability of Weightless-P technologies tailored to deliver on the promises of low power, wide area network (LPWAN) technology for IoT connectivity.

With Weightless-P, which follows Weightless-W and Weightless-N, the SIG says it is delivering the best compromise for the widest range of IoT applications. It's an open standard technology with adaptive data rates up to 100 Kbps and scalable "cellular-inspired" network technology that operates on sub-GHz spectrum, with the option to work in licensed spectrum, using 12.5 kHz narrowband technology.

"Weightless-P is revolutionary; it will transform the LPWAN space by providing the very first clean slate open standard designed from the ground up for both public and private IoT deployments," Derrick Wei, CEO of M2COMM, said in a press release. "From our experience in ultra-low-energy wireless networks, we are able to offer fully featured technology at a fraction of the complexity and energy consumption of cellular alternatives."

Professor William Webb, CEO of the Weightless SIG, went so far as to characterize Weightless-P as a turning point in LPWAN technology: "No longer does the IoT community need to compromise between performance and cost when making connectivity decisions," he said in the release. "Weightless-P is the definitive open standard for wide area IoT connectivity".

Weightless technology is designed to operate in multiple licensed and license-exempt frequency bands. Before Weightless-P, it was available as the Weightless-W Standard, which defined a technology designed to operate in TV white space spectrum and was completed in early 2013. The Weightless-N Standard defined a technology designed to operate in ISM spectrum and was completed in early 2015.

The Weightless SIG has a lot of company in the field to simplify the Internet of Things. Verizon (NYSE: VZ) announced a plan to address the fragmentation in the IoT world by offering up its network and expertise for connecting more "things." Both Verizon and AT&T (NYSE: T), which established a name for itself in IoT years ago, say their networks offer the security that's required in the IoT world and say their networks will be able to handle the demands to come. Verizon plans to devote a new LTE network core to the cause starting in 2016.

The Weightless SIG says its LPWAN connectivity offers the long range capability of GSM-based technologies with the low cost and power consumption characteristics of LAN/PAN.

For more:
- see this New Electronics article
- see this release

Related articles:
LoRa Alliance prepares to tackle Internet of Things with LPWAN
NWave joins Weightless SIG to drive IoT specification
Weightless 1.0 standard takes TV white space into M2M realm