LoRa Alliance unveils QR codes to accelerate massive rollout of IoT | The Paper Source University

The LoRa Alliance, the global association of companies backing the open LoRaWAN standard for Internet of Things (IoT) low-power wide-area networks (LPWANs), has introduced itsLoRaWAN Device Identification QR Codes for Automated Onboarding that simplify and accelerate LoRaWAN network management.

These new QR codes carry all the required identification information to add devices to a network.

The new QR codes enable zero-touch onboarding by facilitating network acceptance of LoRaWAN devices via automated information exchange.

Now, QR codes can be printed on devices, and contain all of the required device and vendor information, preformatted to ensure standardized input into a vendor’s network management system.

The new QR codes use industry-accepted norms for information processing, allowing members to implement a quick, easy, secure and interoperable method for onboarding a device through optical reading.

This greatly improves the deployment experience while significantly accelerating the onboarding process.

Donna Moore, CEO and chairwoman of the LoRa Alliance, said: “One of the LoRa Alliance’s key goals is to simplify LoRaWAN deployments.

“Implementing QR code-based network management offers tremendous advantages by automating a previously manual process. These benefits build on our recent enhancements of the LoRaWAN 1.0.4 specification, which now provides every element needed for easy development, certification testing and deployment of LoRaWAN. This commitment to ease of use is a strategic goal of the LoRa Alliance and is key to achieving massive IoT globally.”

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Alper Yegin, vice chair of the Board of Directors and chair of the Technical Committee for the LoRa Alliance, and director of advanced technology development at Actility, adds: “As the LoRaWAN ecosystem grows, the alliance is constantly working to identify and implement approaches to accelerate deployments.

“As massive IoT is ramping up and the number of IoT devices being deployed accelerates, we identified a clear need to streamline the device provisioning process to replace the existing manual one. The Technical Committee has developed the QR code approach to support the continued growth of LoRaWAN and the market need for true zero-touch deployments.”

LoRa Alliance members are each assigned a dedicated vendor ID. Use of the codes provides members a competitive advantage in the marketplace by simplifying business operations and driving sales, thanks to improved ease of use. It also provides competitive differentiation, as only LoRa Alliance members can use the new onboarding process.

These vendor IDs initially support the QR code functionality and will be used for future applications to further drive standardization for LoRaWAN deployments. The QR codes are just one of the many benefits of LoRa Alliance membership.