The mioty MAC and higher-layer documents define how application data are mapped to the telegram-splitting PHY, how addressing and security are managed, and how medium access, acknowledgements and retransmissions are coordinated. The MAC specification supports a star topology in which end devices transmit uplink telegrams asynchronously; downlinks are delivered only in response to uplink transmissions and are scheduled by the base station and service-center(s) to respect regulatory duty-cycle limits and network capacity constraints. Primary MAC/LLC features documented in the specification include: •
Addressing and authentication: devices are identified with persistent EUI-64 identifiers; the MAC carries compact address hints and authentication tags so that base stations can resolve device IDs and verify message integrity on partial receptions. •
Network and application security: the stack defines network-level encryption (session keys, AES-128 based primitives) and supports application-level end-to-end encryption, with
key management performed via the network service centre. •
Acknowledgements and retransmissions: the MAC supports acknowledgement strategies and retransmission management that leverage the PHY’s FEC and sub-packet diversity; because the PHY can reconstruct messages from partial receptions, the MAC may avoid unnecessary retransmissions in many collision or interference cases. •
Timing and duty-cycle compliance: uplink transmissions are asynchronous but the service-center and base station coordinate downlinks and duty-cycle budgets to comply with regional regulations; the MAC tracks timestamps and assigns downlink windows approximately seconds after an uplink reception to ensure correct delivery and regulatory compliance. •
Logical Link Control (LLC): a separate LLC layer handles attachment/detachment, over-the-air management, and service-center interactions for device provisioning and de-duplication of messages received by multiple base stations. •
Comparative behaviour versus other LPWAN MACs: unlike some LPWAN protocols whose MAC layer provides adaptive data-rate or tight channel coordination (for example certain
LoRaWAN network server features), many of mioty’s capacity and reliability properties stem from the telegram-splitting PHY (time-frequency diversity and strong FEC) rather than from heavy MAC-layer channel arbitration. This design favours massive concurrent access and interference resilience in dense sensor deployments. •
Performance, capacity and mobility: mioty documentation gives numerical performance examples (e.g., single-gateway capacities such as ≈3,500,000 messages/day within 200 kHz of spectrum under stated assumptions, projected multi-year battery lifetimes for low reporting intervals, and mobility support up to vehicular speeds when the base-station receiver implements advanced processing). These figures are presented as examples in the Fraunhofer/mioty technical documents and ETSI TS-UNB profiles and depend on message size, duty-cycle limits and regional regulations. •
Standards and ecosystem: the TS-UNB protocol and telegram-splitting concept are formalised in ETSI TS 103 357 (initial release) and the updated TS 103 357-2; the mioty Alliance (Fraunhofer IIS among its originators) publishes the public technical documents that describe PHY, MAC and higher layers and acts as an industry forum to promote interoperability and ecosystem adoption. == Applications ==