LPWAN (LoRa, NB-IoT)

LPWAN (Low-Power Wide-Area Network) covers radio technologies built for low-bit-rate sensors that need long range and multi-year battery life, chiefly LoRa/LoRaWAN in unlicensed ISM bands and NB-IoT in licensed cellular spectrum (3GPP Release 13 onward). In ports and terminals they backhaul container, gate, reefer, and asset-tracking sensors over kilometers at a few kbps. NB-IoT rides operator LTE networks for managed coverage; LoRaWAN uses private gateways. Both trade throughput for range and power, complementing high-bandwidth Wi-Fi or VSAT for shore-side IoT rather than replacing it.