Connecting to low-powered devices with LoRaWAN
First, let’s understand what Long Range (LoRa) is, as well as its benefits and drawbacks.
LoRa
LoRa operates at Layer 1 (physical) of the OSI model. You could think of it as the equivalent of a Cat-6 RJ-45 cable. You can’t do much with that on its own.
LoRa
LPWAN radio technology was developed by Semtech and designed for use in IoT. It is based on a spread spectrum technique called Chirp Spread Spectrum (CSS), which allows data to be transmitted over long distances (up to several kilometers) with low power consumption.
Benefits of LoRa
The following are some of the benefits of LoRa:
- Long range14: 40 kilometers/25 miles (rural environment) and 5 kilometers/3 miles (urban environment)
14 These figures represent best-case line-of-sight range, or the radius of coverage with an omnidirectional antenna. Further, they can vary depending on the design of the gateway.
- Low power: Designed to consume minimal...
