With the theme "Wireless for Wide Area with Low Power", this year's Wireless Congress Systems & Applications has chosen the current trend towards Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN) as its motto. Up to now, utility companies, e.g. for energy and water, have been almost the sole users of these still new wireless technologies. However, market researchers at IHS Markit are already predicting strong growth for the use of LPWAN in industrial applications next year. For the following years up to 2019, they expect even higher growth for LPWAN technologies, which will be largely driven by industrial applications. In 2019, almost 80 million LPWAN-enabled devices for use in industry are expected to be delivered, out of a total of just over 110 million LPWAN devices (Fig. 1).

Figure 4: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Axel Sikora, Offenburg University of Applied Sciences and Hahn-Schickard Gesellschaft für Angewandte Forschung e.V., opened the 13th Wireless Congress Systems & Applications on November 9 at the International Congress Center, Munich.

© Horacio Canals

The participants of the 13th Wireless Congress Systems & Applications were welcomed by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Axel Sikora, Offenburg University of Applied Sciences and Hahn-Schickard Gesellschaft für Angewandte Forschung e.V. (Fig. 4), who opened the congress. He also moderated the panel discussion on the second day of the congress on the topic of "Low Power Wide Area Networks for Industrial IoT - Licensed versus Unlicensed Bands?".

During the discussion, Aurelius Wosylus, Director Sales & Partners at Sigfox in Germany, emphasized that the previously rather sluggish mobile communications industry had adopted new standards such as LTE Cat NB1 in less than a year in response to the introduction of LPWAN technologies in the unlicensed sub-GHz band. He also drew attention to price-sensitive applications for which communication via mobile radio would simply be out of the question for cost reasons.

Smart is not always intelligent

Figure 5: Cees Links, General Manager Low Power Wireless at Qorvo, Inc., opened Session 1 "Wireless IoT" with an outlook on the "Internet of Services".

© Horacio Canals

Everything is or will be smart in the future. The house will become a smart home or smart building, consumption meters will become smart meters, the electricity grid will become a smart grid. The term "smart" is in vogue and is being used in an almost inflationary manner. However, most of the products advertised as "smart" today are anything but intelligent. This was the tenor of the presentation "The Internet of Things is a Service Application" by Cees Links, General Manager Low Power Wireless at Qorvo, who opened Session 1 "Wireless IoT" (Fig. 5).

He began the presentation by describing his experience with the gas supplier's smart meter. The newly installed "smart" consumption meter documented the consumption of the uninterrupted hot water boiler in the unoccupied basement of his house over several days. It was only days later that he noticed that he could hear the gas boiler running non-stop. He then had to wade through water on his way to the gas boiler on the first floor. A leak in the hot water pipe had caused a continuous demand for hot water, flooded the lower rooms of his house and later left him with a "smart" bill from the gas supplier.

He would expect an intelligent consumption meter to be able to detect abnormal modes of operation and inform the user. His conclusion: the Internet of Things will only be able to become what is so loudly propagated today through a meaningful evaluation of information.

Successful with a new concept

The Wireless Congress 2016 - which has been jointly organized by Elektronik, Electronica and ZVEI for the past 13 years - once again proved to be an important platform for the exchange of information and networking among wireless experts. 450 participants from all over the world attended this year's Wireless Congress on November 9 and 10 at the International Congress Center Munich - around 25 percent more than in the previous year. They were able to choose the topics relevant to them from the two-day program with 64 presentations, eight tutorials, two keynotes and a panel discussion. Compared to previous congresses, the tutorials on both afternoons were extremely popular. For the first time, they ran after the sessions with the presentations and no additional ticket had to be purchased for participation. This meant that participants could even switch between the tutorials.

Anyone who missed the 13th Wireless Congress Systems & Applications can purchase the conference proceedings afterwards to find out about the latest technical developments in the field of wireless. It is available in electronic form at a price of 240 euros and can be ordered by sending an e-mail to the editorial office([email protected]).