A Survey of LoRaWAN for IoT: From Technology to Application

LoRaWAN is one of the low power wide area network (LPWAN) technologies that have received significant attention by the research community in the recent years. It offers low-power, low-data rate communication over a wide range of covered area. In the past years, the number of publications regarding LoRa and LoRaWAN has grown tremendously. This paper provides an overview of research work that has been published from 2015 to September 2018 and that is accessible via Google Scholar and IEEE Explore databases. First, a detailed description of the technology is given, including existing security and reliability mechanisms. This literature overview is structured by categorizing papers according to the following topics: (i) physical layer aspects; (ii) network layer aspects; (iii) possible improvements; and (iv) extensions to the standard. Finally, a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis is presented along with the challenges that LoRa and LoRaWAN still face.

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K-Means Spreading Factor Allocation for Large-Scale LoRa Networks

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s19214723 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (21) ◽

pp. 4723 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Muhammad Asad Ullah ◽

Junnaid Iqbal ◽

Arliones Hoeller ◽

Richard Souza ◽

Hirley Alves

Keyword(s):

Low Power ◽

Long Range ◽

Large Scale ◽

Research Work ◽

Wide Area ◽

Area Network ◽

Wide Area Network ◽

Spreading Factor ◽

Worst Case ◽

Simulation Results

Low-power wide-area networks (LPWANs) are emerging rapidly as a fundamental Internet of Things (IoT) technology because of their low-power consumption, long-range connectivity, and ability to support massive numbers of users. With its high growth rate, Long-Range (LoRa) is becoming the most adopted LPWAN technology. This research work contributes to the problem of LoRa spreading factor (SF) allocation by proposing an algorithm on the basis of K-means clustering. We assess the network performance considering the outage probabilities of a large-scale unconfirmed-mode class-A LoRa Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) model, without retransmissions. The proposed algorithm allows for different user distribution over SFs, thus rendering SF allocation flexible. Such distribution translates into network parameters that are application dependent. Simulation results consider different network scenarios and realistic parameters to illustrate how the distance from the gateway and the number of nodes in each SF affects transmission reliability. Theoretical and simulation results show that our SF allocation approach improves the network’s average coverage probability up to 5 percentage points when compared to the baseline model. Moreover, our results show a fairer network operation where the performance difference between the best- and worst-case nodes is significantly reduced. This happens because our method seeks to equalize the usage of each SF. We show that the worst-case performance in one deployment scenario can be enhanced by 1 . 53 times.

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LPWAN Technologies: Emerging Application Characteristics, Requirements, and Design Considerations

Future Internet ◽

10.3390/fi12030046 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (3) ◽

pp. 46 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Bharat S. Chaudhari ◽

Marco Zennaro ◽

Suresh Borkar

Keyword(s):

Low Power ◽

Traffic Management ◽

Interference Management ◽

High Capacity ◽

Media Access Control ◽

Battery Life ◽

Area Network ◽

Wide Area Network ◽

Design Considerations ◽

Wide Range

Low power wide area network (LPWAN) is a promising solution for long range and low power Internet of Things (IoT) and machine to machine (M2M) communication applications. This paper focuses on defining a systematic and powerful approach of identifying the key characteristics of such applications, translating them into explicit requirements, and then deriving the associated design considerations. LPWANs are resource-constrained networks and are primarily characterized by long battery life operation, extended coverage, high capacity, and low device and deployment costs. These characteristics translate into a key set of requirements including M2M traffic management, massive capacity, energy efficiency, low power operations, extended coverage, security, and interworking. The set of corresponding design considerations is identified in terms of two categories, desired or expected ones and enhanced ones, which reflect the wide range of characteristics associated with LPWAN-based applications. Prominent design constructs include admission and user traffic management, interference management, energy saving modes of operation, lightweight media access control (MAC) protocols, accurate location identification, security coverage techniques, and flexible software re-configurability. Topological and architectural options for interconnecting LPWAN entities are discussed. The major proprietary and standards-based LPWAN technology solutions available in the marketplace are presented. These include Sigfox, LoRaWAN, Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), and long term evolution (LTE)-M, among others. The relevance of upcoming cellular 5G technology and its complementary relationship with LPWAN technology are also discussed.

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Strategy of smart meter infrastructure implementation using LPWAN technology, pilot project PLN Bali Case Study

MATEC Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/matecconf/201821803013 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 218 ◽

pp. 03013

Author(s):

Gunawan Wibisono ◽

Nofiandri Badruzzaman

Keyword(s):

Low Power ◽

Swot Analysis ◽

Pilot Project ◽

Wide Area ◽

Area Network ◽

Smart Meter ◽

Wide Area Network ◽

Smart Meters ◽

Advanced Metering ◽

The Right

To realize the Bali Eco Smart Grid program, state electricity company (PLN) Bali implemented the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) through the deployment of a pilot project of 1,000 2 ways smart meters based on LoRa WAN in the Kuta area, Bali. The selection of long range wide area network (LoRa WAN) as smart meter access technology is due to low costs, low power, ease of implementation and technology readiness. LoRa WAN is one of low power wide area network (LPWAN) technology. For deploying smart meter AMI based on LoRa WAN throughout Bali, the right strategy is needed. This research will analyze the strategy of deploying smart meter AMI based on LoRa WAN using strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat (SWOT) analysis. The stages of SWOT analysis are through the collection of internal and external factors obtained through techno-economic studies and surveys to customers, the general public, and PLN employees. Next, matching it by compiling an internal and external evaluation matrix, where an appropriate strategy is a progressive strategy (SO strategy). Components S and W are obtained from the survey while O and T are obtained from observing conditions outside of PLN. It is shown from the SWOT analysis results, obtained S-W = 5.95 and O-T = 2.59, so the strategy is in location (5.95, 2.59) quadrant I. Strategies for deploying smart meters based on WAN LoRa are progressive strategies.

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LPWAN-based hybrid backhaul communication for intelligent transportation systems: architecture and performance evaluation

EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking ◽

10.1186/s13638-021-01918-2 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2021 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Taghi Shahgholi ◽

Amir Sheikhahmadi ◽

Keyhan Khamforoosh ◽

Sadoon Azizi

Keyword(s):

Low Power ◽

Intelligent Transportation Systems ◽

Intelligent Transportation System ◽

Road Traffic ◽

Intelligent Transportation ◽

Traffic Monitoring ◽

Transportation Systems ◽

Area Network ◽

Emergency Vehicle ◽

Wide Area Network

AbstractIncreased number of the vehicles on the streets around the world has led to several problems including traffic congestion, emissions, and huge fuel consumption in many regions. With advances in wireless and traffic technologies, the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) has been introduced as a viable solution for solving these problems by implementing more efficient use of the current infrastructures. In this paper, the possibility of using cellular-based Low-Power Wide-Area Network (LPWAN) communications, LTE-M and NB-IoT, for ITS applications has been investigated. LTE-M and NB-IoT are designed to provide long range, low power and low cost communication infrastructures and can be a promising option which has the potential to be employed immediately in real systems. In this paper, we have proposed an architecture to employ the LPWAN as a backhaul infrastructure for ITS and to understand the feasibility of the proposed model, two applications with low and high delay requirements have been examined: road traffic monitoring and emergency vehicle management. Then, the performance of using LTE-M and NB-IoT for providing backhaul communication infrastructure has been evaluated in a realistic simulation environment and compared for these two scenarios in terms of end-to-end latency per user. Simulation of Urban MObility has been used for realistic traffic generation and a Python-based program has been developed for evaluation of the communication system. The simulation results demonstrate the feasibility of using LPWAN for ITS backhaul infrastructure mostly in favor of the LTE-M over NB-IoT.

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Smart Monitoring and Controlling of Appliances Using LoRa Based IoT System

Designs ◽

10.3390/designs5010017 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 17

Author(s):

Nur-A-Alam ◽

Mominul Ahsan ◽

Md. Abdul Based ◽

Julfikar Haider ◽

Eduardo M. G. Rodrigues

Keyword(s):

Power Consumption ◽

Low Power ◽

Modular Design ◽

Real Life ◽

Environmental Data ◽

Automation System ◽

Area Network ◽

Wide Area Network ◽

Long Distance ◽

At Home

In the era of Industry 4.0, remote monitoring and controlling appliance/equipment at home, institute, or industry from a long distance with low power consumption remains challenging. At present, some smart phones are being actively used to control appliances at home or institute using Internet of Things (IoT) systems. This paper presents a novel smart automation system using long range (LoRa) technology. The proposed LoRa based system consists of wireless communication system and different types of sensors, operated by a smart phone application and powered by a low-power battery, with an operating range of 3–12 km distance. The system established a connection between an android phone and a microprocessor (ESP32) through Wi-Fi at the sender end. The ESP32 module was connected to a LoRa module. At the receiver end, an ESP32 module and LoRa module without Wi-Fi was employed. Wide Area Network (WAN) communication protocol was used on the LoRa module to provide switching functionality of the targeted area. The performance of the system was evaluated by three real-life case studies through measuring environmental temperature and humidity, detecting fire, and controlling the switching functionality of appliances. Obtaining correct environmental data, fire detection with 90% accuracy, and switching functionality with 92.33% accuracy at a distance up to 12 km demonstrated the high performance of the system. The proposed smart system with modular design proved to be highly effective in controlling and monitoring home appliances from a longer distance with relatively lower power consumption.

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An Autonomous Low-Power LoRa-Based Flood-Monitoring System

Journal of Low Power Electronics and Applications ◽

10.3390/jlpea10020015 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 15 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mattia Ragnoli ◽

Gianluca Barile ◽

Alfiero Leoni ◽

Giuseppe Ferri ◽

Vincenzo Stornelli

Keyword(s):

Low Power ◽

Monitoring System ◽

Area Network ◽

Test Results ◽

Wide Area Network ◽

Web Structure ◽

Flood Monitoring ◽

Node Architecture ◽

Different Types ◽

Wireless Module

The development of Internet of Things (IoT) systems is a rapidly evolving scenario, thanks also to newly available low-power wide area network (LPWAN) technologies that are utilized for environmental monitoring purposes and to prevent potentially dangerous situations with smaller and less expensive physical structures. This paper presents the design, implementation and test results of a flood-monitoring system based on LoRa technology, tested in a real-world scenario. The entire system is designed in a modular perspective, in order to have the capability to interface different types of sensors without the need for making significant hardware changes to the proposed node architecture. The information is stored through a device equipped with sensors and a microcontroller, connected to a LoRa wireless module for sending data, which are then processed and stored through a web structure where the alarm function is implemented in case of flooding.

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Worldwide Connectivity for the Internet of Things Through LoRaWAN

Future Internet ◽

10.3390/fi11030057 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 57 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Lorenzo Vangelista ◽

Marco Centenaro

Keyword(s):

Internet Of Things ◽

Low Power ◽

Cellular Network ◽

Wide Area ◽

The Internet ◽

Area Network ◽

Wide Area Network ◽

Frequency Bands ◽

The Moment ◽

The Internet Of Things

The low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) paradigm is gradually gaining market acceptance. In particular, three prominent LPWAN technologies are emerging at the moment: LoRaWAN™ and SigFox™, which operate on unlicensed frequency bands, and NB-IoT, operating on licensed frequency bands. This paper deals with LoRaWAN™, and has the aim of describing a particularly interesting feature provided by the latest LoRaWAN™ specification—often neglected in the literature—i.e., the roaming capability between different operators of LoRaWAN™ networks, across the same country or even different countries. Recalling that LoRaWAN™ devices do not have a subscriber identification module (SIM) like cellular network terminals, at a first glance the implementation of roaming in LoRaWAN™ networks could seem intricate. The contribution of this paper consists in explaining the principles behind the implementation of a global LoRaWAN network, with particular focus on how to cope with the lack of the SIM in the architecture and how to realize roaming.

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