Wireless Connectivity
For wireless connectivity there are many design choices that need to be made. For nearly all cases, the most power efficient applications are those that minimize the amount of time that the radio or network interface is on. For example, an LTE-M module's active transmission mode has thousands of times higher power consumption than its Power Save Mode (PSM). Typically, the transmission phase utilizes the most power and can be particularly penalizing to battery powered devices.
There are a few best practices applicable to Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) use cases:
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Reduce the amount of time the radio is on
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Use the appropriate technology for the use case. Using the wrong technology type can lead to data retransmission and reduced power efficiency
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Reduce the amount of data transmitted
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Use LTE network session resumption mechanisms as much as possible to reduce lengthy handshakes
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Use advanced error handling techniques and advanced buffering techniques to properly manage degraded network conditions
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Optimize application and network settings to improve the chances of successful communication
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Monitor your device fleet via network information to continuously optimize device applications
Given below are details on specific wireless technologies, along with guidance from the above list that is specific to each technology.
