Low-power wide-area networks (LPWANs) are gaining popularity in the research community due to their low power consumption, low cost, and wide geographical coverage. LPWAN technologies complement and outperform short-range and traditional cellular wireless technologies in a variety of applications, including smart city development, machine-to-machine (M2M) communications, healthcare, intelligent transportation, industrial applications, climate-smart agriculture, and asset tracking. This review paper discusses the design objectives and the methodologies used by LPWAN to provide extensive coverage for low-power devices. We also explore how the presented LPWAN architecture employs various topologies such as star and mesh. We examine many current and emerging LPWAN technologies, as well as their system architectures and standards, and evaluate their ability to meet each design objective. In addition, the possible coexistence of LPWAN with other technologies, combining the best attributes to provide an optimum solution is also explored and reported in the current overview. Following that, a comparison of various LPWAN technologies is performed and their market opportunities are also investigated. Furthermore, an analysis of various LPWAN use cases is performed, highlighting their benefits and drawbacks. This aids in the selection of the best LPWAN technology for various applications. Before concluding the work, the open research issues, and challenges in designing LPWAN are presented.INDEX TERMS Low-power wide-area networks, wireless networks, Internet of Things, design objectives, network topology, architecture, and applications.
I. INTRODUCTIONThe Internet of Things (IoT) has the potential to change the way we live and work by providing its essential services to all the smart devices which are connected to it. IoT alleviates various challenges of wireless networks such as robust internet connectivity among a large population of smart devices, energy constraints in mobile edge devices, fast data transfer, efficient bandwidth utilization, and increased data gathering capability/reliability at the receiver. To achieve these goals, the devices must be optimally connected to the network, resulting in a fast exchange of sensed data facilitating intelligent decision-making to control the physical world phenomenon yielding a smart ecosystem. Several independent studies have predicted that in coming years IoT plays a crucial role in various social and commercial applications such as smart healthcare, intelligent transporta-tion, climate-smart agriculture, rescue operations, logistics, smart cities, industries, utilities, smart buildings, consumer electronics, security, asset tracking, smart waste management systems, cognitive manufacturing, and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications [1]-[5]. Furthermore, it has been estimated that by 2025, the adoption of smart M2M gadgets and electronic goods can overtake the number of human subscribers utilizing smartphones, desktops, notebooks, and similar objects. According to the analys...