Nuremberg Institute of Technology Study Reveals QoS on IoT Deployments

In an independent study published by Professor Dr. Thomas Lauterbach from the Nuremberg Institute of Technology, results showed that in a real-world Industrial IoT environment with high levels of interference from other systems and devices, there are marked differences in performance among a variety of protocols and standards, particularly in environments with competing wireless networks.

The study, which was sponsored by BehrTech, the developer and marketer of MYTHINGS, reported that in a dense interference scenario, there was a significant difference in the quality-of-service between MYTHINGS and LoRa (Low-Radio powered networks).

“Observing both networks at the same signal power, MYTHINGS successfully delivered all messages while the LoRa network lost more than 10 percent of its messages,” Lauterbach wrote. “Even when signal power was increased, there was a four to five percent packet error rate in the LoRa system.”

The study proved at the same network range, LoRa loses a significant percentage of messages while MYTHINGS reliably transmits all messages. 

Using a LoRa EU-mode MultiConnect Conduit IoT Starter Kit and the EU-mode MYTHINGS by BehrTech Starter Kit, the study evaluated network performance over both a 60-minute period and a 4-hour period under various external interference conditions based on the LPWAN Interference Model Standard developed by IEEE.

Results were measured by Packet Error Rate (PER), which refers to the percentage of unsuccessful message transmissions. Four interference scenarios were used to demonstrate different levels of signal density. The study focused on the dense level scenario which has an interference level equivalent to real-world Industrial IoT environments.

“Data is the lifeblood of Industrial IoT and with the ever-increasing number of connected devices in Industry 4.0, interference resilience is paramount to successful IoT deployments,” said Wolfgang Thieme, Chief Product Officer at BehrTech. “MYTHINGS was purpose-built to withstand the significant interference that exists in industrial environments and to provide the robust and scalable future-proof connectivity needed for next-generation IoT networks.”

“Our research with other LPWAN technologies in Industrial IoT environments aligns with the results of the study,” said Amir Azhari, Co-Founder and COO at AOMS. “Other LPWAN technologies experience quality-of-service issues in demanding and harsh industrial IoT applications. Large campus sensors networks require a level of scalability which cannot be met with conventional LPWAN technologies due to the packet error rate and MYTHINGS is unique in that sense.”

“If I didn’t come across MYTHINGS, our company wouldn’t have started to develop industrial IoT solutions,” said Christian Leuchtenberg, CEO of Applied-IoT. “Our clients operate in harsh environments and we needed a reliable wireless solution that is robust and scalable. Our team has extensive experience in the LPWAN space and legacy technologies like LoRa do not meet these requirements.”