# Low Power Wide Area Network, Cognitive Radio and the Internet of Things: Potentials for Integration
## 3 Low Power Wide Area Network
### LPWAN Technologies
* **Adaptrum:** Adaptrum is a relatively newer technology compared to other known brands such as LoRa, Sigfox, and Weightless. There are few investigations available at the moment concerning the technical comparative characteristics of Adaptrum against other LPWAN technologies owing to its proprietary standards; nevertheless, it is considered to be a rare class of LPWAN technologies that claim to support TV white space usage via CR technology [36]. * **Nwave:** Nwave is a LPWAN technology often used interchangeably with Weightless technologies [37]. Nevertheless, they differ, particularly in that Weightless developers use Nwave technologies to guarantee the use of TV white spaces [38]. Although Nwave technologies are known to provide Internet facilities, nevertheless, in recent times, they have been enabled for wireless IoT services and technologies in cities, rural areas, and remote areas [39]. Technically, Nwave technologies are tightly interlinked with Weightless technologies, thereby making it difficult to differentiate them. * **Platanus M2 COMM:** Platanus is a wireless networking technology developed by M2 COMM and considered to be a LPWAN technology because it provides ultra-low energy consumption rates with network coverage far longer in range than Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee and BLE (i.e., from several meters to 10 km) [40]. Platanus is used in the Weightless-P technology to achieve fully bi-directional communication. Another LPWAN module developed by M2 COMM is the Uplynx highly integrated system on a chip (SoC) module [41], which is deployed to simplify the development of LPWAN IoT applications. There is a very tight working relationship between Sigfox and M2 COMM; consequently, both technologies are often used interchangeably in the literature; nevertheless, it is worth noting that they are distinct LPWAN technologies [12]. * **Wi-SUN:** Wireless smart utility network (Wi-SUN) is an industry alliance that promotes interoperability between wireless standards in the IoT market. They work closely with the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) in order to ensure that Internet Protocol (IP) and transport layer protocols of LPWAN technologies are adequately standardized [25]. A prominent proponent of Wi-SUN is their field area network (FAN), which poses so many use-cases for IoT applications. They adopt the 6 LoWPAN technology primarily for header compression [42]. Wi-SUN supportsfull IP frames with header compression in order to optimize bandwidth. They intend to maximize battery lifetime and guarantee long-range communication. * **Almber Wireless:** Amber Wireless GmBH is an electronics company that designs and manufactures wireless connectivity solutions. Although they may not be full-time players in the LPWAN market, nevertheless, they are known for low power products, particularly for shorter range transmission [14]. Their access modules are used primarily for home automation applications and smart metering. * **Starfish:** Starfish is a recent international wireless IPv6 network service deployed particularly for IoT applications. It is a technology developed by Silver Spring Networks [33]. Use-cases for Starfish technologies include intelligent traffic light control, wireless sensor networks applications including water, energy, traffic and safety monitoring [33]. Starfish uses a wide range of LPWAN standards-based communication protocols, particularly the IEEE 802.15.4 g. Although little may be known regarding the technicalities of Starfish technologies, nevertheless, Starfish projects are gaining wide spread use in many IoT applications. * **Symphony Link and Ensemble:** Symphony Link and Ensemble is a proprietary technology of Link Labs, which uses LoRa at the PHY layer and a different MAC architecture to provide proprietary services [43]. It uses an eight-channel base station that operates in the 433 MHz or 915 MHz ISM bands, and in the 868 MHz band in Europe. It covers a transmission range of over 16 km over a back-haul based on Wi-Fi or cellular network [43].