With a range of up to 10 km in rural areas and 2 km in urban areas, LoRaWan (Long Range Wide Area Network) is one of the technologies with the highest range for positioning. The low-power wireless network protocol was developed for communication on the Internet of Things, the specifications are defined and freely available by the LoRa Alliance, a non-profit organization initiated by industrial companies from all industries. In addition to the long range, the ability to penetrate buildings is one of the advantages, and to a certain extent underground rooms can also be supplied.
Pro:
- High range
- Low acquisition costs
- Very energy efficient
Contra:
- Not suitable for transferring larger amounts of data
How LoRaWAN works
Typically, the LoRaWAN network architecture is star-shaped, the end devices communicate with gateways, which in turn are connected to the network server via standard IP connections. In general, communication is bidirectional, with three device variants. Class A devices work with the ALOHA protocol. The device sends its generated data packets to the gateway, followed by two Download Receive windows, which can be used for data reception. A new data transfer can only be initiated by the mobile device during a new upload. Class B devices also open download-receive windows triggered by a beacon signal from the gateway at set times. Class C terminals are almost permanently active.
The data rate varies from 0.3 kbit/s to 50 kbit/s. Depending on the application, the battery has a service life of 2 to 15 years.