Steve Rogerson talks with Alper Yegin, CEO of the LoRa Alliance, about making LoRa a utility and taking the standard into space.

There are times when you are almost bowled over by someone’s enthusiasm, not just a barrage of marketing hype – we have all faced those – but what comes across as a real love for the subject. You don’t get that often with communications technologies but I did feel that when I talked last week with Alper Yegin, the new CEO of the LoRa Alliance.

Alper took over the reins of the alliance in October but had been involved with the trade body for a number of years, including being vice-chair for six years. At the time, he was CTO of Actility and has a career that has seen him working for Sun Microsystems, NTT Docomo and Samsung, mostly on the cellular side.

This month saw the release of the first LoRa Alliance annual report under his leadership, so it seemed a good opportunity to catch up and see what the alliance was planning. I was not disappointed.

But first, why is a man who has seen the cellular industry move though 3G, 4G and now 5G, and invested so much time in this progression, now putting all his efforts into non-cellular connectivity?

“I decided I didn’t want to do another G,” he said. “I had fallen in love with M2M, as we called IoT in the early days, because it didn’t have the baggage of cellular. So running the LoRa Alliance presented itself as a huge opportunity to make a large impact. When the opportunity arose, it seemed natural for me to volunteer. This is making something for our grandchildren and the planet. I have been having a blast since I took on the role.”

I told you he was enthusiastic. Even more so as he has a vision of turning LoRa into a utility. Let me explain. If I go into a washroom almost anywhere in the world and turn on a tap, water comes out. If I plug a device into a socket, electricity flows. I don’t know or need to know who is supplying that water or power. Alper wants the same to happen with LoRa.

Now, in a way that has sort of happened with wifi. You can find a wifi connection in most places, and often there are lots to choose from, some private that you can’t get on, some public that you can, normally these days for free, though it may involve an initial registration. And there is the difference.

When I turn on that tap, I don’t have to know which water company is involved, I don’t have to sign on or register, it is just there and wet. Alper wants that to happen with LoRa.

“You will be able to hold a LoRaWan device in your hand and just turn it on and connect,” he said. “This might be your own network, it might be a neighbour’s network, or whatever, but it will look like one network, just like the power at the outlet or the water at the tap.”

The other area that is exciting Alper is the extension of LoRa into space. An advantage cellular has over non-cellular networks is the wide coverage across borders. LoRa is tackling that with more roaming agreements including now with satellite operators, both LEO and GEO.

“We have lifted LoRaWan up to space,” he said. “We have gateways up on LEO satellites, and even on a GEO satellite, though it needs a licensed band to get there.”

This now means LoRa is reachable in the more out-of-the-way areas of the planet. It can track goods as they are transported across the oceans or detect faults on power cables as they stretch through rural areas.

“It is not practical to have basestations at sea, on some weather stations, in the countryside, on transmission lines and pipelines,” said Alper. “It is not practical to install and run basestations in these places, so we have them above, in space.”

One recent win for LoRaWan, and a bit more down to earth, has been with the Starbucks (www.machineq.com/customer-success/starbucks) coffee chain, with its deployment in 10,000 stores.

“We are seeing large organisations, such as Starbucks, adopting LoRaWan,” said Alper.

So from Starbucks to the stars, Alper is proud of LoRa and reflects on that in the LoRa Alliance 2024 annual report (resources.lora-alliance.org/document/lora-alliance-2024-end-of-year-report) when he says: “We started this journey as an alliance nearly ten years ago and have experienced a steadily growing market. While other technologies have come and gone, it is clear that LoRaWan’s unwavering growth will endure.”

With such enthusiasm, he might just be right. Reflect on that next time you have a coffee at Starbucks.