Technology

Olarm's GSM communicator now with LoRaWAN™ & Sigfox

Jul 2, 2023

Olarm Sigfox
Olarm Sigfox

Olarm's latest communicator, the Olarm MAX, is our most connected communicator to date sporting 5 different communication technologies including 4G / LTE, 2G, 2.4GHz Wifi, LoRaWAN™, and Sigfox.


GSM Communicator

The Olarm MAX is a Dual SIM GSM communicator which primarily tries to connect to mobile networks using 4G but will fall back to 2G should there not be 4G coverage and there is 2G coverage. The SIM cards are pre-installed in Olarm communicators and are managed by Olarm as part of the subscription. Both Vodacom and MTN SIM cards are used in South Africa and a single multi-IMSI roaming SIM is typically used for other countries ensuring sufficient redundancy for security communications.


Wifi Communicator

2.4GHz Wifi allows the alarm communicator to connect to the customer's local network for internet connectivity to the Olarm cloud. This allows customers to self-provision network at their premises and provide the required network and power redundancies to ensure that the communicator stays online and connected.


Sigfox & LoRaWAN™ Alarm Communicator

LoRaWAN™ or Sigfox are used as backup mechanisms to send alarm events or alarm signals to the Alarm Receiving Centre in the event that 4G, 2G, and Wifi are not available.

LoRaWAN™ uses a radio communication technology called LoRa (Long Range) which can use a range of frequencies to communicate depending on the territory. In South Africa, we use spectrum in the 868MHz range but our communicators support a wide range of frequencies to suit virtually any country. LoRa makes use of Chirp Spread Spectrum modulation which is very robust and can operate in relatively noisy environments. While Olarm uses LoRa, a wide range of other modulation techniques exist including AM, FM, FSK, GFSK, and DSSS to mention a few.