## 3 State of the Art
### Financial Viability of Selected IoT Communication Technologies
By considering the complete cost spectrum, decision-makers can gain insights into the total cost of ownership and make informed choices regarding the adoption and implementation of these technologies. As LoRaWAN and NB-IoT technologies continue to evolve and find applications in various sectors, understanding their financial viability is crucial for organizations and stakeholders. Robust financial analysis, encompassing both direct and indirect costs, helps in evaluating the return on investment, optimizing resource allocation, and mitigating financial risks. Moreover, considering the financial viability of these technologies provides valuable insights into their long-term sustainability and enables strategic decision-making for their successful implementation in the ever-changing technological landscape. Several studies have addressed the life cycle costs of various IoT communication technologies, including LoRaWAN and NB-IoT [28]. A big number of research works conclude that, among the plethora of low-power wide area network (LPWAN) technologies, the cost-effectiveness of IoT is not certain for IoT service solutions. Another study conducted by the authors in 2020 [29] compared the applicability, including the costs, of LoRaWAN and NB-IoT for industrial applications. However, it is worth noting that these studies have some limitations. For example, they focused primarily on specific applications and did not consider the impact of the size and scale of the IoT system on life cycle costs. The following table highlights important aspects of the financial viability of NB-IoT and LoRaWAN technologies for IoT applications. Table 2 provides a general overview and comparison of the financial viability aspects between NB-IoT and LoRaWAN technologies for IoT applications. It is important to conduct a comprehensive analysis specific to the use case and context to obtain accurate financial viability assessments. To address these limitations, a holistic approach to life cycle costing is needed, one that takes into account not only the economic but also the environmental and social impacts of IoT communication technologies. While there are some studies that have applied life cycle costing to IoT systems in general, there is currently a lack of a holistic artifact that specifically addresses the economic and financial viability of LoRaWAN and NB-IoT technologies. Such an artifact would provide a comprehensive framework for evaluating the life cycle costs of these technologies, taking into account all relevant cost components. Additionally, it would allow for the comparison of the economic and financial viability of LoRaWAN and NB-IoT across a range of applications and scenarios. Approach to Constructing the Scientific Artifact \"Pragmatic Computational Tool\" for Calculating the Life Cycle Costs of IoT Devices Based on Design Science Research  
The present study aimed to develop a pragmatic computational tool using a design science research (DSR) approach for calculating the life cycle costs of IoT devices based on relevant parameters such as hardware (sensors and gateways), software costs, server costs, personnel-related costs, etc. The first step in the DSR approach was problem identification, which highlighted the lack of a comprehensive tool for life cycle cost analysis of IoT devices. The proposed tool aimed to fill this gap by providing a user-friendly and reliable way to calculate the life cycle costs of IoT devices that could be customized as per users' needs [30]. The design phase involved creating a model of the proposed artifact, which was a computational tool capable of taking various inputs, such as hardware, software, server, and personnel-related costs, and generating outputs, including the total cost of ownership, return on investment, and payback period. The tool was designed to be customizable, which enabled users to tailor the inputs and outputs to suit their specific needs [13]. The next step involved the implementation of the model in the form of a working prototype.