Subject: New Non-WG Mailing List: lp-wan -- Low-Power Wide Area Networking (LP-WAN), also known as LPWA or Low-Rate WAN (LR-WAN)

From: IETF Secretariat <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 2015 12:05:12 -0800

A new IETF non-working group email list has been created.

List address: [email-masked]
Archive: https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/search/?email_list=lp-wan
To subscribe: https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/lp-wan

Purpose:

An LP-WAN has unique constraints, not seen until now - operation in the ISM bands (unlicensed spectrum), very low throughput (300 bps - 50 kbps), very high density (10 000-100 000 nodes per Access Point (AP)), infrastructure networks (star topology, no need for routing), AP diversity (several APs can receive the same signal), coexistence of public networks (country-wide) and private networks (city, building, campus). Asymmetric links are also common, with at least one major technology providing exclusively unidirectional data services. 

LP-WANs will form the backbone of major IoT applications related to many domains, such as Smart City, Smart Metering, ITS and are expected to connect 3 billion devices by 2020. There are several such LP- WAN radio technologies (Semtech LoRa, SigFox, Qowisio, others), each having a proprietary, locked-in, non-standard solution for addressing, localization, security, provisioning, AAA, etc. This is the case because the stringent LP-WAN constraints do not allow for classical approaches to be used as-is. 

The goal of this mailing list is to discuss the problems that arise in LP-WANs and how the IETF-based solutions apply to them. This is the place to identify the candidate LP-WAN technologies, their specific constraints and limitations, consider the corresponding IETF approaches, and discuss the need for profiles or adaptations of the existing solutions.

For additional information, please contact the list administrators.