LoRa and LoRaWAN
Long Range (LoRa)
LoRa or Long Range is a spread spectrum modulation technique. Semtech is a leading supplier and manufacturer of LoRa devices. The LoRa devices and Wireless Radio Frequency technology by Semtech provide a long-range low-power wireless platform for IoT networks. Today’s smart IoT applications are mainly enabled through Long Range devices and the open LoRaWAN® protocol. LoRa IoT Solutions enable us to connect things or devices to the cloud creating a Smarter Planet. LoRa technology enables IoT applications. LoRa development using IoT enables devices or sensors in remote locations to be connected to the cloud transferring data in real-time. The collected data in the cloud can be used for analytics to enhance productivity and efficiency.
LoRa Gateway
LoRa Gateway integration allows sensors and other devices to send data to the cloud in real-time. LoRa gateway act as a bridge between thousands of devices and the things network. LoRa gateway design using rich interfaces, high processing capability allows it to have two-way multichannel communication and high signal receiving sensibility. LoRa gateway can be designed with waterproof ability to support outdoor deployment.
A fun and easy way to understand all about LoRa is to build your own LoRa gateway. There are many off-the-shelf LoRa gateways available like LoRa gateway Raspberry Pi Hat, Raspberry Pi LoRa gateway shield, LoRa dragino gateway, and Esp32 LoRa gateway. The off the shelf LoRa gateways allow you to set up the gateway in minutes.
Why LoRa is used
LoRa devices are used in IoT applications because of features like long-range, low power consumption, and secure data transmission. Long Range devices enable low-cost battery-operated IoT applications. It can also be easily incorporated into existing infrastructure. This technology provides a greater range than the cellular network and can be utilized by public, private, or hybrid networks.
LoRa has a connectivity range of 30 miles in rural areas and can penetrate dense urban or deep indoor environments. It has minimal energy requirements and hence longer battery life of up to 10 years. This also implies a lower battery replacement cost. It is a standardized technology offering interoperability of devices and global availability ensuring speedy deployment of IoT applications around the globe.
Advantages of LoRa and LoRaWAN
Long Range
Deep indoor coverage for multi floor buildings and star topology network design
Long Battery Life
Low power optimized, upto 10 year lifetime, upto 10x versus Cellular M2M
High Capacity
High capacity - millions of messages per base station / gateway. Multi tenant interoperability Public or Private network deployments
Low Cost
Minimal infrastructure, low cost end node and open source software.
Geolocation
Indoor and outdoor accurate without need for GPS and no battery life impact
FUOTA
Firmware Updates Over the Air for applications and the LoRaWAN stack
Roaming
Seamless handovers from one network to another
Security
Embedded end to end AES-128 encryption. Unique ID, application and network.
LoRaWAN
The LoRaWAN specification is a Low Power, Wide Area (LPWA) networking protocol designed to wirelessly connect ‘things’ to the Internet and targets key Internet of Things (IoT) requirements such as bi-directional communication, end-to-end security, mobility, and localization services.
The Low Power, Wide Area (LPWA) networking protocol utilizes two layers of security: one for the network and one for the application. The network security ensures the authenticity of the node in the network while the application layer of security ensures the network operator does not have access to the end user’s application data. There are more than 300 LoRaWAN development companies that are using LoRaWAN specifications to ensure the interoperability and scalability of LPWANs and IoT applications.
At WeMakeIoT, we provide the following services for implementing LoRaWAN infrastructure:
Sensor data ingestion to cloud
LoRa Gateway implementation
LoRa Private Gateway Network implementation
Chirpstack Network server implementation
Chirpstack application server implementation
The Things Network (TTN) integration
Use Cases with LoRa
Recent Blogs
LoRaWAN Technology & Our Experience
The LoRaWAN specification is a Low Power, Wide Area (LPWA) networking protocol designed to wirelessly connect ‘things’ to the Internet and targets key Internet of Things (IoT) requirements such as bi-directional communication, end-to-end security, mobility, and localization services. It wirelessly connects devices to the internet and manages communication between end-node…
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Smart Poultry Farming with LoRaWAN
The advancement in technology has entered into the world of farming and poultry. A smart poultry farm consists of three major components: poultry house, poultry feeder, and smart feeder. The feeder will be able to dispense the required amount of feed at the desired time to the poultry birds, and…
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Dragino LPS8 LoRaWAN gateway
One popular LoRaWAN gateway we have used is the Dragino LPS8 LoRaWAN gateway. LoRaWAN gateway has the primary purpose of bridging between LoRa and the internet. LPS8 supports both Wi-Fi and ethernet. The data from LoRa end nodes can be picked up by the gateway antenna and with the help…
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