The anecdote of electric scooters and diesel trucks in Breetown

In a bustling city called Breetown, a new chapter in delivery services was being written. On one side were the venerable diesel trucks, proudly displaying their massive beds, ready to carry a gazillion 200-pack parcels. On the other, the electric scooters, are agile and environmentally friendly, but with a modest capacity of 2 parcels.

The challenge for the company, EldarLor Deliveries, was to get all these parcels to their destinations safely and on time. The diesel lorries were humming as they set off with their impressive cargo. But they soon encountered congested roads and parking problems that ate up their valuable time.

Meanwhile, the "MIOShir" electric scooters were quietly zipping through the narrow streets, skilfully weaving in and out of traffic. Although their loading areas were small, a skilled scooter driver could handle 2 parcels at a time. They were fast, agile and environmentally friendly, much to the delight of many passers-by.

As the clock ticked, the first electric scooter had already made 4 deliveries while the diesel truck was still struggling to find a parking space. The scooters added up their successes and effortlessly handled the initial load of 200 parcels, while the diesel truck was still stuck in traffic.

The moral of the story? Sometimes it's not size or volume that makes the difference. Efficiency and adaptability can be just as important. And so, in Breetown, the quiet electric scooters became the heroes of the delivery world, while the proud diesel trucks learned that sometimes less can be more.

Missionary on LPWAN in European cities

Soon I will be faced with the task of explaining the difference between MIOTY [1] and LoRaWAN [2] to people in European city councils. Many technical terms like LPWAN [3], KHz, bytes, channel occupancy time, spreading factor, multiplexing and others are foreign words to them. But the problem of traffic on the roads is something that every one of them understands. Every one of us has been in a traffic jam by car.

At the same time, I will meet my audience who have basic knowledge of physics, mathematics and electronics. To these people, I want to convey that they can talk to me about bits and bytes in detail. I want to help them understand the technology behind MIOTY and LoRaWAN and help them grasp the differences between the two approaches. By using the analogy of traffic, I will make sure that everyone has a clear idea of how these wireless technologies work and how they can make our cities smarter.

Comparing MIOTY and LoRaWAN with vehicles

To explain the difference between MIOTY and LoRaWAN to non-technical people, let's use vehicles as an analogy. Let's imagine that the required frequency bandwidth is the width of a vehicle (1 kHz = 10 cm). The time on the radio channel is the length of the vehicle. Our conversion standard for channel occupancy is 10 ms = 1 cm. Think of the data being transmitted as a puzzle with 200 pieces.

LoRaWAN is like a big, slow, wide truck trying to transport the whole load over a long distance. The truck is 125 KHz x 10 cm/KHz = 1250 cm wide. Its load area (SF12) can carry a maximum of 51 puzzle pieces. The channel occupancy time for 50 bytes is 2793.5 ms. To transport the entire puzzle, we need 4 trucks travelling in a convoy without any gaps.?A total of 11,174 ms is required. The conversion scale is 10 ms = 1 cm, so the truck is 1117.4 cm long. If a truck has an accident, the puzzle is incomplete and it has to be moved again.

MIOTY, on the other hand, uses small electric scooters for transport. The range of the scooters is even greater than that of the trucks, and the energy consumption is lower. The bandwidth is 2.4 KHz, which makes the scooter 2.4 KHz x 10 cm/KHz = 24 cm wide. The maximum occupancy time is 15 ms, and the roller is only 1.5 cm long. The 200 puzzle pieces are divided into smaller sections and doubled. This gives a total of 400 puzzle pieces. These pieces are distributed to the rollers, with each roller transporting the area of 2 puzzle pieces. Even if 50% of the rollers have an accident, the puzzle can be reassembled at the receiving point. If there are no accidents, there will be two complete puzzles at the destination. Despite transporting a total of 400 pieces, MIOTY consumes less energy than LoRaWAN.

Summary:

The MIOTY scooter takes up only 24 cm of the road width and is only 1.5 cm long. The LoRaWAN truck is 1250 cm wide and about 1117 cm long. The following diagram illustrates the comparison. The width of the scooter is proportional to the truck, but the length is not to scale. If it were to scale, the scooter would hardly be visible!

Because of the size of the truck, the probability of an accident is higher than with small scooters. The truck blocks the road.

Even if 50% of the MIOTY scooters had an accident, we could still assemble the puzzle at the destination. The scooters take up much less space on the road.

Together, the scooters use less energy than the truck.

Insight:

MIOTY scooters take up less space on the road. Many more puzzle pieces can be transported on the same road than with the LoRaWAN truck. The risk of accidents with scooters is lower. Even if 50% have an accident, it will not affect the transport of the puzzle.

The selection of 200 puzzle pieces is not random but corresponds to the data volume of a German water meter.

Feedback and criticism welcome

I hope my analogy is clear. I will show the story to non-technical people in my circle of friends and ask them if it is understandable. If there are questions, I will adapt the story. Show it to non-technical people in your circle of friends and give me feedback. Thanks in advance.

References

[1] mioty by Mioty Alliance

[2] LoRaWAN by LoRa Alliance

[3] LPWAN by Wikipedia

Imprint

• Harald Naumann, Ludwig-Kaufholz-Weg 4, 31535 Neustadt, Germany
• Contact: harald.naumann (at) lte-modem.com, Phone: +49-5032 801 9985, Mobile:+49-152-33877687