Development and Range Testing of a LoRaWAN System in an Urban Environment
This paper describes the construction and operation of an experimental LoRaWAN network surrounding the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom. Following successful installation, an experimental node design is built and characterised, with particular emphasis on radio range. Several configurations are investigated, including different data rates, and varying heights of node. It is concluded that although range can be great (over 8 km in this case), environmental topology is critical. However, shorter range implementations, up to about 2 km in an urban environment, are relatively insensitive although care is still needed. The example node and the relatively simple base station reported demonstrate that LoraWan can be a very low cost and practical solution to Internet of Things type applications for distributed monitoring systems with sensors spread over distances of several km.
[1] G. Xu, W. Shen and X. Wang, “Applications of Wireless Sensor Networks in Marine Environment Monitoring: A Survey,” Sensors, vol. 14, no. 9, pp. 16932-16954, 2014
[2] Fadel, Etimad; et al, “A survey on wireless sensor networks for smart grid,” Computer Communications, vol. 71, pp. 22-33, 2015.
[3] “LoRa Modulation Basics,” Semtech Inc, (Online). Available: http://www.semtech.com/images/datasheet/an1200.22.pdf.
[4] Semtech Inc., “LoRaWAN Specification,” (Online). Available: https://www.lora-alliance.org/portals/0/specs/LoRaWAN%20Specification%201R0.pd.
[5] “LoRaWAN Specification,” Semtech Inc, (Online). Available: https://www.lora-alliance.org/portals/0/specs/LoRaWAN%20Specification%201R0.pdf
[6] X. Vilajosana, M. Dohler and A. Yegin, “Transmission of IPv6 Packets over LoRaWAN,” (Online). Available: https://www.ietf.org/proceedings/96/slides/slides-96-lpwan-5.pdf.
[7] M. Centenaro, L. Vangelista, A. Zanella and M. Zorzi, “Long-range communications in unlicensed bands: the rising stars in the IoT and smart city scenarios,” IEEE Wireless Communications`, vol. 23, no. 5.
[8] D. Ilie-Ablachim, G. Cristian Pătru, I.-M. Florea and D. Rosner, “Agriculture, Monitoring device for culture substrate growth parameters for precision,” in RoEduNet Conference: Networking in Education and Research, 2016..
[9] N. Harris, A. Cranny, M. Rivers, K. Smettem and E. G. Barrett-Lennard, “Application of Distributed Wireless Chloride Sensors to Environmental Monitoring: Initial Results,” IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, vol. 65, no. 4, pp. 736-743, 2016.
[10] P. Neumann, J. Montavont and T. Noël, “Indoor deployment of low-power wide area networks (LPWAN): A LoRaWAN case study,” in Wireless and Mobile Computing, Networking and Communications (WiMob), IEEE 12th International Conference on, 2016.
[11] S A. J. Wixted, P. Kinnaird, H. Larijani, A. Tait, A. Ahmadinia and N. Strachan, “Evaluation of LoRa and LoRaWAN for wireless sensor networks,” SENSORS, IEEE, 2016 .
[12] A. Back, “Building a Raspberry Pi Powered LoRaWAN Gateway,” (Online). Available: https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/building-a-raspberry-pi-powered-lorawan-gateway. (Accessed 01 08 2017).
[13] Semtech Inc, “Github | Lora-net/packet_forwarder,” (Online). Available: https://github.com/Lora-net/packet_forwarder.
[14] O. Brocaar, “Github | brocaar/lora-gateway-bridge,” (Online). Available: https://github.com/brocaar/lora-gateway-bridge.
[15] “Mosquitto: An Open Source MQTT Broker,” (Online). Available: https://mosquitto.org/.
[16] O. Brocaar, “Github | brocaar/loraserver,” (Online). Available: https://github.com/brocaar/loraserver.
[17] Libelium Comunicaciones Distribuidas, “Waspmote - Open Source Sensor Node for the Internet of Things,” (Online). Available: http://www.libelium.com/products/waspmote/.
[18] F. Adelantado, X. Vilajosana, P. Tuset-Peiro, B. Martinez and J. Melia, “Understanding the limits of LoRaWAN,” arXiv, vol. 1607.08011.
[1] G. Xu, W. Shen and X. Wang, “Applications of Wireless Sensor Networks in Marine Environment Monitoring: A Survey,” Sensors, vol. 14, no. 9, pp. 16932-16954, 2014
[2] Fadel, Etimad; et al, “A survey on wireless sensor networks for smart grid,” Computer Communications, vol. 71, pp. 22-33, 2015.
[3] “LoRa Modulation Basics,” Semtech Inc, (Online). Available: http://www.semtech.com/images/datasheet/an1200.22.pdf.
[4] Semtech Inc., “LoRaWAN Specification,” (Online). Available: https://www.lora-alliance.org/portals/0/specs/LoRaWAN%20Specification%201R0.pd.
[5] “LoRaWAN Specification,” Semtech Inc, (Online). Available: https://www.lora-alliance.org/portals/0/specs/LoRaWAN%20Specification%201R0.pdf
[6] X. Vilajosana, M. Dohler and A. Yegin, “Transmission of IPv6 Packets over LoRaWAN,” (Online). Available: https://www.ietf.org/proceedings/96/slides/slides-96-lpwan-5.pdf.
[7] M. Centenaro, L. Vangelista, A. Zanella and M. Zorzi, “Long-range communications in unlicensed bands: the rising stars in the IoT and smart city scenarios,” IEEE Wireless Communications`, vol. 23, no. 5.
[8] D. Ilie-Ablachim, G. Cristian Pătru, I.-M. Florea and D. Rosner, “Agriculture, Monitoring device for culture substrate growth parameters for precision,” in RoEduNet Conference: Networking in Education and Research, 2016..
[9] N. Harris, A. Cranny, M. Rivers, K. Smettem and E. G. Barrett-Lennard, “Application of Distributed Wireless Chloride Sensors to Environmental Monitoring: Initial Results,” IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, vol. 65, no. 4, pp. 736-743, 2016.
[10] P. Neumann, J. Montavont and T. Noël, “Indoor deployment of low-power wide area networks (LPWAN): A LoRaWAN case study,” in Wireless and Mobile Computing, Networking and Communications (WiMob), IEEE 12th International Conference on, 2016.
[11] S A. J. Wixted, P. Kinnaird, H. Larijani, A. Tait, A. Ahmadinia and N. Strachan, “Evaluation of LoRa and LoRaWAN for wireless sensor networks,” SENSORS, IEEE, 2016 .
[12] A. Back, “Building a Raspberry Pi Powered LoRaWAN Gateway,” (Online). Available: https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/building-a-raspberry-pi-powered-lorawan-gateway. (Accessed 01 08 2017).
[13] Semtech Inc, “Github | Lora-net/packet_forwarder,” (Online). Available: https://github.com/Lora-net/packet_forwarder.
[14] O. Brocaar, “Github | brocaar/lora-gateway-bridge,” (Online). Available: https://github.com/brocaar/lora-gateway-bridge.
[15] “Mosquitto: An Open Source MQTT Broker,” (Online). Available: https://mosquitto.org/.
[16] O. Brocaar, “Github | brocaar/loraserver,” (Online). Available: https://github.com/brocaar/loraserver.
[17] Libelium Comunicaciones Distribuidas, “Waspmote - Open Source Sensor Node for the Internet of Things,” (Online). Available: http://www.libelium.com/products/waspmote/.
[18] F. Adelantado, X. Vilajosana, P. Tuset-Peiro, B. Martinez and J. Melia, “Understanding the limits of LoRaWAN,” arXiv, vol. 1607.08011.
@article{"International Journal of Electrical, Electronic and Communication Sciences:76848", author = "N. R. Harris and J. Curry", title = "Development and Range Testing of a LoRaWAN System in an Urban Environment", abstract = "This paper describes the construction and operation of an experimental LoRaWAN network surrounding the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom. Following successful installation, an experimental node design is built and characterised, with particular emphasis on radio range. Several configurations are investigated, including different data rates, and varying heights of node. It is concluded that although range can be great (over 8 km in this case), environmental topology is critical. However, shorter range implementations, up to about 2 km in an urban environment, are relatively insensitive although care is still needed. The example node and the relatively simple base station reported demonstrate that LoraWan can be a very low cost and practical solution to Internet of Things type applications for distributed monitoring systems with sensors spread over distances of several km.", keywords = "Wireless sensor network, LoRa, internet of things, propagation.", volume = "12", number = "1", pages = "43-9", }
