This paper introduces the FIT IoT-LAB testbed, an open testbed composed of 2728 low-power wireless nodes and 117 mobile robots available for experimenting with large-scale wireless IoT technologies, ranging from low-level protocols to advanced Internet services. IoT-LAB is built to accelerate the development of tomorrow's IoT technology by offering an accurate open-access and open-source multi-user scientific tool. The IoT-LAB testbed is deployed in 6 sites across France. Each site features different node and hardware capabilities, but all sites are interconnected and available through the same web portal, common REST interfaces and consistent CLI tools. The result is a heterogeneous testing environment, which covers a large spectrum of IoT use cases and applications. IoT-LAB is a one-of-a-kind facility, allowing anyone to test their solution at scale, experiment and fine-tune new networking concept.

Wireless networks are now a part of the everyday life of many people and are used for many applications. Recently, new technologies that enable low-power and long-range communications have emerged. These technologies, in opposition to more traditional communication technologies rather defined as "short range", allow kilometer-wide wireless communications. Long-range technologies are used to form Low-Power Wide-Area Networks (LPWAN). Many LPWAN technologies are available, and they offer different performances, business models etc., answering different applications’ needs. This makes it hard to find the right tool for a specific use case. In this article, we present a survey about the long-range technologies available presently as well as the technical characteristics they offer. Then we propose a discussion about the energy consumption of each alternative and which one may be most adapted depending on the use case requirements and expectations, as well as guidelines to choose the best suited technology.