# IoT Services for Monitoring Food Supply Chains
## 2 Literature Review
### Advanced IoT Architectures and Smart Sensor Technologies
This is particularly crucial for applications where bandwidth is limited or costly. Furthermore, low power consumption is crucial, as many IoT devices are deployed in environments where access to power sources is limited or nonexistent. This combination of requirements underscores the specialised nature of food quality monitoring applications within the broader IoT landscape, underscoring the need for tailored solutions to address these challenges effectively. Dominant technologies include LoRa/LoRaWAN, WiMAX, LTE-M, SigFox, and Narrowband IoT, characterised as medium- to long-range technologies, which possess many technological features that enable the reliable transmission of necessary data. At the same time, the required low energy is another significant feature. Briefly comparing IoT technologies, short-range and narrowband technologies differ primarily in their coverage, frequency, and use cases. Short-range technologies, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Near Field Communication (NFC), operate within limited distances, typically ranging from tens to hundreds of meters. They are designed for high-speed data transfer and are widely used in applications such as wireless connectivity, smart home devices, and wearable technology. These technologies operate at relatively high frequencies and are ideal for densely populated areas where rapid communication between devices is essential. On the other hand, narrowband-range technologies, like NB-IoT (Narrowband Internet of Things) and LoRa (Long Range), prioritise extended reach and power efficiency over high data rates. They are optimised for devices that communicate over longer distances, often spanning several kilometres, while consuming minimal energy. This makes them suitable for environmental monitoring, smart agriculture, and urban infrastructure management applications. While short-range technologies excel in local and immediate data exchange, narrowband technologies focus on low-power, long-distance communication, which is essential for IoT ecosystems. Concentrating on the LPWAN standards that match these requirements reveals that NB-IoT depends on previously established 3 GPP networks and high-cost network deployments. It also has a narrower range than SigFox and LoRa. In terms of technological specifications, SigFox and LoRa are comparable. However, LoRa, among other things, has the advantage of being an open protocol that allows the creation of a low-cost network, unlike other corresponding wireless standards. As can be seen from the technical specifications review that follows, LoRa/LoRaWAN is considered the ideal protocol for developing the project, based on our requirements [20]. LoRa, Wi-Fi, ZigBee, SigFox, and NB-IoT are wireless technologies commonly used in IoT applications, each with distinct characteristics. LoRa (Long Range) is designed for long-range, low-power communication, offering ranges of up to 15 km in rural areas and data rates between 0.3 and 27 kbps, making it ideal for IoT devices that require infrequent data transmission over large distances. Wi-Fi is a high-speed, short- to medium-range technology (up to 100 m) operating at 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, with speeds reaching up to 9.6 Gbps, and is widely used for broadband internet and local area networks. ZigBee is a low-power, low-data-rate technology primarily used in home automation and sensor networks, supporting mesh networking for enhanced coverage. It typically operates in the 2.4 GHz range, with speeds of up to 250 kbps and a range of 10-100 m. SigFox operates in the unlicensed ISM bands and is optimised for ultra-low-power, low-data-rate communication, with a range of up to 50 km in rural areas and a data rate of around 100 bps, making it suitable for applications like asset tracking and environmental monitoring.