The difference between
4G, 5G, LTE, CAT-M, LTE-M, CAT-1, NB-IoT, and LoRaWAN for a tracking project

Communication, sensing, power, control, memory, and computing are the main technologies used in a tracking project. The mainstream tracking technologies include GNSS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi RSSI, Bluetooth angle of arrival*, UWB, ultrasonic, SLAM, RFID, network TOF, Infrared ray**, etc. SLAM requires high bandwidth and data rate for image and video streaming; others use several or tens of bytes per positioning message. Considering positioning accuracy, power consumption, product
dimension, cost, and network availability or communication distance, there are many options for communication technology, and this paper introduces the most recent mobile network technologies and their characteristics. By comparing similar ones, it analyzes the pros and cons of each technology for a tracking project and helps readers choose which one to use in a personal or asset-tracking project.