Press Releases

LoRa Alliance widens certification program, adds SCHC over LoRaWAN testing

November 29, 2022

Posted by: Shriya Raban

Donna Moore of LoRa Alliance

The LoRa Alliance, the global association of companies backing the open LoRaWAN standard for Internet of Things (IoT) low-power wide-area networks (LPWANs) has announced that LoRaWAN certification is now available for end-devices using static context header compression (SCHC). Certification is based on the LoRa Alliance technical specifications for IPv6 published last May, which enable the deployment of IPv6 over LoRaWAN solutions.

As previously announced, the first applications to leverage SCHC for IPv6 over LoRaWAN are smart metering and IoT applications in the smart grid, just two of many applications requiring the use of IPv6-based standards. Solutions using LoRaWAN for metering include proactive consumption monitoring, leak detection warnings and automatic shutoffs, and solutions for balancing electricity supply and demand. Easy and cost-effective to deploy, LoRaWAN is ideal for identifying and managing unmeasured losses, which currently reach into the billions of dollars each year, in addition to helping to conserve energy. Similar benefits can be realised for water and gas metering, with LoRaWAN Certified devices communicating over open standards enabling scale to address these growing markets.

“As deployments continue to grow to the tens or hundreds of millions of devices, the importance of using open standards has never been greater,” says Donna Moore, CEO and chairwoman of the LoRa Alliance. “Certifying IPv6 over LoRaWAN for end-devices gives end users the level of certainty needed to deploy and benefit from IP-based solutions. With vendors now able to certify LoRaWAN end-devices using SCHC, customers can confidently commit to massive utilities deployments. This will further drive digital industrialisation across a wide variety of new markets and applications, which will in turn enable massive IoT.”

The certification of IPv6 over LoRaWAN using SCHC confirms that the end-device meets the functional requirements of the LoRaWAN IPv6 Adaptation Layer Specification TS010-1.0.0. End-devices must already be LoRaWAN Certified as a prerequisite of SCHC over LoRaWAN certification. The full testing suite for SCHC over LoRaWAN has been added to the LoRaWAN Certification Test Tool (LCTT), which is available for download now.

LoRaWAN IPv6 adaptation layer

The IPv6 adaptation layer facilitates and accelerates development of secure and interoperable applications over LoRaWAN and furthers the Alliance’s commitment to ease of use. IP-based solutions, commonly found in enterprise and industrial solutions, can now be transmitted over LoRaWAN and easily integrated with cloud infrastructures. This allows developers to quickly enable internet-based applications, while significantly reducing time-to-market and total cost of ownership.

Learn how LoRaWAN supports utilities markets at Enlit

The LoRa Alliance will be onsite at Enlit from November 29 to December 1, 2022, in Hall 12.1 Stand B192. LoRa Alliance members participating in the booth will showcase how LoRaWAN supports the utilities market and standards-based technologies, including:

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