Leveraging IoT and LPWAN to Transform Data Collection in Trade Industries

Fakri Sadeh, vice president of network technology, strategy and development at Sigfox USA, explains how the Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) can finally break the long‑standing data‑collection bottleneck in trade sectors such as fishing, farming, and marine research.

For decades, these industries relied on manual sampling—an approach that is costly, labor‑intensive, and prone to human error. With the advent of Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technology, however, businesses can now deploy sensors that automatically gather and transmit critical data across vast, remote areas at a fraction of the cost of traditional cellular or satellite links.

A New Dawn for IoT in Trade Industries

LPWAN’s long‑range coverage—extending up to 20 miles offshore—makes it possible to connect devices in remote fields, deep waters, and other hard‑to‑reach locations. Unlike conventional cellular networks, LPWAN can penetrate large distances and complex terrains, allowing even the most isolated operations to tap into real‑time data streams.

For instance, Gloucester Innovation, a technology‑driven solutions provider, needed a reliable way to monitor ocean health around Massachusetts’ shellfish beds. By attaching LPWAN‑enabled sensors to lobster traps, the team collects daily measurements of pH, depth, temperature, and contaminants. When lobstermen haul the traps, the sensors transmit concise data packets to a cloud service, enabling near real‑time analysis without disrupting routine harvesting.

“Leveraging Sigfox USA’s LPWAN technology has proven the feasibility of ocean‑floor data harvesting in real time,” says Ric Upton, founder of Gloucester Innovation. “Its cost‑efficiency and ease of scaling to thousands of sensors give local Blue Economy stakeholders unprecedented visibility into changing ocean conditions, ultimately enhancing operations and sustainability.”

LPWAN also reduces deployment costs. Satellite‑based sensors can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars, whereas LPWAN units transmit only when data is available, cutting maintenance and replacement expenses.

From Data Influx to Actionable Insights

With data flowing faster and more reliably than ever, trade industries must evolve their analytics practices. Traditional manual analysis becomes impractical at the volumes generated by IoT networks. Data mining—automated pattern discovery—offers a scalable solution. By clustering and classifying incoming sensor data, businesses can uncover hidden trends, predict equipment failures, and optimize resource use.

As the amount of data grows, the accuracy of mining algorithms improves, turning raw numbers into strategic intelligence that can be acted upon in real time.

Author: Fakri Sadeh, VP of Network Technology, Strategy and Development, Sigfox USA.