Internet of Things and LoRa™ Low-Power Wide-Area Networks: A survey

Abstract

Nowadays there is a lot of effort on the study, analysis and finding of new solutions related to high density sensor networks used as part of the IoT (Internet of Things) concept. LoRa (Long Range) is a modulation technique that enables the long-range transfer of information with a low transfer rate. This paper presents a review of the challenges and the obstacles of IoT concept with emphasis on the LoRa technology. A LoRaWAN network (Long Range Network Protocol) is of the Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) type and encompasses battery powered devices that ensure bidirectional communication. The main contribution of the paper is the evaluation of the LoRa technology considering the requirements of IoT. After introduction in Section II the main obstacles of IoT development are discussed, section III addresses the challenges and entails the need for solutions to different problems in WSN research. Section IV presents the LoRaWAN communication protocol architecture requirements while in Section V the LoRa modulation performance is evaluated and discussed. In conclusion LoRa can be considered a good candidate in addressing the IoT challenges.