Long Range (LoRa) Transmission Through Ice: Preliminary Results

Abstract

Long Range (LoRa) has rapidly become one of the most widespread transmission technologies for the development of distributed monitoring systems for a wide range of applications within the Internet of Things (IoT) framework. Indeed, thanks to its robustness and high performances in terms of low power consumption and long transmission range, it has been employed in a wide range of critical application scenarios. In this context, this paper analyses the usability of LoRa as solution for data transmission in icy environments. While the technical feasibility of radio transmission channel in ice has been widely demonstrated, this paper aims at demonstrating the effectiveness of a low cost transmitter developed using off-the-shelf components, when completely immersed in ice. Fields tests were performed by embedding a Low Power Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) compliant node inside a 10 cm block of dry ice, positioned then in an environmental chamber, at a −10°C temperature. Preliminary tests demonstrate the operation of the transmitter in these operating conditions, while the achieved link margin suggests the usability of this technology even in case of notably thicker layers of ice.